Today, I'm joined by Chris Newman, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Mintz.

Chris has spent his entire career inside AmLaw 100 firms and he's built a reputation for walking into ambiguous, undefined roles and turning them into growth engines. He's also the first-ever president of LSSO and has held leadership roles with LMA.

What I love about this conversation is the through-line: chaos isn't the obstacle, it's the opening. Chris got that advice from a senior partner at Cravath early in his career, and you can trace it through every move he's made since — the blank-canvas BD role where he used Bloomberg terminals to spot the '08 crisis before the partners did, the cross-sell culture he built at Cooley, the nine years at McDermott where he helped build the BD system that a lot of the Activator Advantage research came out of.

We also get into why he pushes firms past their own comfortable vocabulary, why "full service" is quietly hurting your cross-sell, and why the how is almost always harder to move past leadership than the why.

If you're in a role nobody has clearly defined, or you're trying to change behavior at a firm that likes how it's always done things, this one's for you. Let's get into it.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Cold Open: Lean Into the Chaos

00:01:00 The BD Combo Meal: Chaos Creates Opportunity

00:03:04 Authenticity Starts at the Top (The Sneaker Story)

00:05:36 Simplify to Maximize — and Why We Keep Chasing the New

00:08:47 Origin Story: Falling Into BD at Cravath

00:13:10 Seeing '08 Coming: How Bloomberg Built His Credibility

00:17:07 Cooley: Building a Cross-Sell Culture From Scratch

00:20:59 A Healthy Daily Diet of Information

00:24:14 The "Full Service" Trap and Disrupting Firm Language

00:27:28 McDermott: The BD System Behind the Activator Advantage

00:31:33 CRM: The Expense Report Hack That Changed Behavior

00:35:44 What Effective Attorney BD Training Actually Looks Like

00:40:24 Year One at Mintz: The Mobilizers Team Charter

00:44:32 Can You Actually Influence Leadership?

00:48:47 The Why Is Easy. The How Is Where Behavior Changes.

00:50:51 Client Experience Is the Next Frontier

00:54:24 LMA, LSSO, and the Case for Smaller Conferences

00:56:00 Wrap Up

Today, I’m joined by my friend Lydia Donnell, the VP of Business Development at Root Engineering, a commercial real estate design firm based right here in Dallas-Fort Worth.

On this podcast, I usually talk to professionals who have a decade or more of experience in business development. But what I love about this conversation is that Lydia is exactly three and a half years into her BD career. She's right there on the ground, reflecting on exactly what it takes to build a sustainable, revenue-producing network from absolute scratch.

We talk about the hard transition from casting a wide net to finding your firm's "slam dunk zones," why trying to be a "jack of all trades" is the worst thing you can do for your marketing message, and the controversial truth about whether office drop-ins actually work. We also get into the weeds on how to leverage ancillary relationships - like general contractors and developers - to feed opportunities directly to your ideal clients.

If you are in the first few years of your business development career, or you're a firm leader trying to figure out how to properly support your newest BD hire, you're going to get a lot out of this one. Let's get into it.

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Cold Open: The Pride of Landing Your First Big Deal

00:00:19 Introduction: Neil Welcomes Lydia Donnell

00:01:34 Why We Are Talking About the First 3 Years in BD

00:02:10 The BD Combo Meal: 3 Hot Takes in 5 Minutes

00:02:48 Take 1: Why Leadership Support is Make-or-Break

00:04:40 Take 2: Do Office Drop-Ins Actually Work?

00:07:31 Take 3: The Danger of the "Jack of All Trades" Marketing Message

00:10:39 Getting Uncomfortable and the Vulnerability of "Making the Ask"

00:12:44 Lydia's Origin Story: Starting BD from Scratch at a Bank

00:17:13 Why Casting a Wide Net Will Kill Your ROI

00:21:20 Finding Extreme Clarity in a New Industry

00:24:23 The Trap of the New: Balancing Prospects vs. Existing Clients

00:26:45 How to Build a Powerful Network Using Ancillary Relationships (COIs)

00:29:45 The Golden Hour: Why In-Person Lunch Meetings Drive the Best Results

00:32:39 Evolving Your Role: Offloading Admin Tasks to Focus on Revenue

00:35:27 The BD Handoff: Earning Trust With Your Technical Delivery Team

00:38:09 The Exact Questions Lydia Asks to Uncover Client Pain Points

00:40:14 Sourcing and Closing That Critical First Deal

00:44:03 Opening a New Office and Enabling the "Seller-Doer" Model

00:47:11 Final Advice: The Go-Giver Mindset and Intentional Networking

In this episode of I Hope This Email Finds You Well, Neil sits down with Brooke Pratt, Senior VP of Growth at Praesidium, to discuss how to build a highly focused business development engine from the ground up. If your firm is struggling with stalled deals, this conversation reveals why giving prospective clients too many options creates avoidance, and why educating your buyers without driving a decision is a massive waste of time.

Brooke shares her exact playbook for scaling firm growth without relying entirely on your busy consultants. You will learn how to transition a firm from passive, word-of-mouth referrals to a proactive revenue machine by qualifying the right leads and keeping client conversations focused on the actual problem.

Chapters:

00:00:00 The Consulting-Led Growth Trap

00:00:22 Introduction

00:01:53 The BD Combo Meal

00:07:13 Brooke's Career Journey

00:11:59 Getting Consultants to Create Content

00:14:40 Testing New Growth Initiatives

00:17:40 Building Presidium's Foundation

00:21:45 Implementing CRM and Messaging

00:26:38 Structuring the BD Team

00:30:39 Hiring for Business Development

00:32:04 Keeping the BD Team Focused

00:36:06 Developing an Annual Growth Plan

00:41:17 Building the BD Tech Stack

00:42:53 Industry Benchmarking for Revenue

00:46:04 Outro

In this episode of I Hope This Email Finds You Well, Neil Barrow sits down with Darryl Cross, Chief Global Collaboration Officer at Norton Rose Fulbright, to dissect exactly what it takes to build a high-performance business development culture. Darryl breaks down the critical mistake most professional services firms make: confusing basic training with actual coaching.

If your firm is relying on a few natural rainmakers or struggling to get professionals to consistently drive new business after an 8-hour seminar, this conversation provides the blueprint. Darryl shares his "proficiency model" for scaling BD skills across hundreds of professionals, why you must stop pitching your past credentials (The SWAN Principle), and why treating business development like elite sports coaching is the ultimate key to firm-wide growth.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Introduction & The BD Combo Meal

  
  

• 01:41 The "SWAN Principle": Sell the Future, Not the Past

  
  

• 03:16 Why You Need a Real Reason to Collaborate

  
  

• 04:14 Walking Backwards in the Client's Shoes

  
  

• 05:27 Darryl's Origin Story: Selling Gym Memberships at 16

  
  

• 14:41 The Trap of "Credibility Pitching" vs. Real Differentiation

  
  

• 20:44 The Critical Difference Between Training and Coaching

  
  

• 24:06 The "Proficiency Model" for Scaling Firm Revenue

  
  

• 28:55 Reflective Coaching: How to Actually Coach a Partner

  
  

• 30:35 The Astronaut Analogy: Why Simulation is Mandatory

  
  

• 34:22 Navigating Global Business Development Cultures

  
  

• 36:51 Using Data to Predict What Your Clients Need

  
  

• 39:36 The Secret to Elite Performance (And The "Closed Door")

In this episode of I Hope This Email Finds You Well, Neil Barrow sits down with Abby Fuqua of Venturity to discuss the hard truths of driving revenue in professional services. Abby shares her unconventional journey from having the cops called on her during door-to-door cold-calling to becoming a top-performing business development driver.Abby pulls back the curtain on why she willingly stepped down from a VP management role to return to the trenches. She breaks down the "militaristic" time management required to balance aggressive pipeline goals with raising three kids, why you have to track leading indicators instead of lagging outcomes, and how to successfully navigate the evolution of a professional network. From delegating CRM tasks to running mutual-qualification discovery calls, this episode is the ultimate playbook for taking extreme ownership of your firm's growth.Chapters:00:00:00 Introduction00:02:09 The BD Combo Meal00:07:09 Building Resilience00:09:08 The Professional Services Shift00:10:48 The 15-Meeting Metric00:14:01 Cross-Pollination00:18:32 Managing the Network00:21:48 The Discovery Process00:26:19 The Abundance Mindset00:27:24 The Player-Coach Trap00:32:00 Stepping Down to Drive Revenue00:34:39 Militaristic Time Management00:43:27 Tracking Your Inputs00:46:58 Flattening the Rollercoaster00:48:36 Getting Back to Basics

In this episode of I Hope This Email Finds You Well, Neil Barrow is joined by Tracy Kapteyn, the Chief Growth Officer at Duffy Kruspodin, to break down why so many marketing departments fail to generate actual firm revenue.

Tracy explains the "Ivory Tower" trap - where marketing teams get completely disconnected from the boots on the ground - and shares the exact playbook for aligning marketing efforts with the realities of business development. From getting back to the unglamorous basics of pipeline visibility and referral tracking, to overcoming the partner egos that block cross-selling, this episode provides a masterclass on shifting your firm's focus from brand awareness to tangible lead generation.

Tracy also details her proprietary "3x3x3" relationship framework for client retention and reveals how she is building custom AI agents to remove the friction of M&A research and cross-pollination.

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:13 The Combo Meal: BD Basics & Pipeline Visibility

00:02:40 Why Firm Growth is a Team Sport

00:04:40 AI as the "Supersize" for Enablement

00:06:16 Tracy's Career: Customer Service to CGO

00:07:31 Escaping the Marketing Ivory Tower

00:11:51 Centralizing Inbound & Referral Tracking

00:14:35 Overcoming the "Partner-Led" Approach

00:17:52 The 3x3x3 Relationship Framework

00:21:46 Building an AI Client Discovery Agent

00:25:49 The Partner Ego Trap in Cross-Selling

00:28:48 The Spray Chart Analogy for Firm Initiatives

00:33:36 The Prospecting Agent & Removing Partner Friction

00:34:41 Automating M&A Target Research

In this episode of I Hope This Email Finds You Well, Neil Barrow sits down with Stacey Dreher, the Chief Growth Officer at James Moore & Co., to unpack why having a "great personality" alone is no longer enough to win high-level corporate deals.

Stacey breaks down her proprietary "B.A.T." Framework (Behavior, Attitude, Technique), explaining why business developers must stop acting like vendors, detach their emotions from the outcome, and start treating themselves as equal peers to the C-Suite.

She also reveals the counter-intuitive playbook she used to hire her firm's first dedicated BD professional - starting them purely on inbound opportunities to guarantee early wins and build trust with skeptical partners.

If your firm relies purely on charisma rather than process, this episode provides the exact roadmap to build a rigorous two-year growth training culture, ruthlessly disqualify bad leads, and capitalize on the low-hanging fruit of your existing client base.

Chapters:

00:00:00 – Intro: Why "Having a Great Personality" Doesn't Close Deals

00:01:36 – The "Combo Meal": Treating BD as a Science

00:03:05 – The Disqualification Playbook & Time Management

00:05:01 – The B.A.T. Framework (Behavior, Attitude, Technique)

00:06:53 – Stop Acting Like a Vendor: The Peer-to-Peer Mindset

00:08:18 – Driving 98% of New Business in the Legal Industry

00:14:36 – Transitioning to the CPA Space (Where Are the BDs?)

00:21:14 – The "Inbound-First" Strategy: How to Make Your First BD Hire Succeed

00:25:51 – Defining Your ICP (Ideal Client Profile) by Industry

00:28:10 – From "Four-Letter Word" to a 2-Year Growth Training Program

00:30:29 – Back to Basics: Cross-Pollination and the Client Ranking System

About the Guest:

Stacey Dreher is the Chief Growth Officer at James Moore & Co., a CPA-led advisory firm based in Florida. With over 20 years of experience driving revenue in both the legal and accounting industries, she specializes in building elite business development teams, aligning marketing with aggressive origination quotas, and driving long-term cultural transformation within professional service firms.

In this episode of I Hope This Email Finds You Well, Neil Barrow sits down with Tony Banks, the Director of Private Equity Services at RSM, to unpack what it actually takes to build a bulletproof, decades-long career in Business Development.

Tony shares his incredible, non-linear journey to the top of the private equity space, proving that you don't need an MBA or a technical finance background to build a legendary corporate network.

He reveals how he landed a million-dollar contract for the Atlanta Olympics using a payphone outside a Waffle House, how he survived an insane 23-interview gauntlet at Goldman Sachs, and why volunteering for the "grunt work" of stamping parking tickets completely transformed his trajectory. At the core of his 30-year success is one profoundly simple piece of advice: "Do stuff, and stuff happens."

Inside This Episode:

• The "Do Stuff" Philosophy: Why proactive, relentless action is the only way to build a reputation that lasts for decades.

• The Waffle House Deal: How a stack of quarters and a payphone led to a massive Olympic contract.

• The Non-Expert Advantage: Why not being the technical practitioner allows you to be the ultimate "connector" and add massive value to Centers of Influence.

• The Parking Ticket Playbook: Why swallowing your pride to do menial networking tasks puts you face-to-face with the biggest players in your industry.

• Extreme Intentionality: How Tony structures his week, manages his pipeline, and aligns with firm partners to uncover hidden opportunities.

  
  

Chapters:

• 00:00:00 – The $1M Olympic Deal from a Waffle House Payphone

• 00:04:11 – Breaking Into the Industry Without a Finance Degree

• 00:07:43 – The Consultative Mindset: Building Trust Instead of Pitching

• 00:13:38 – Targeting Foundations to Build a High-Net-Worth Network

• 00:16:34 – The "Connector" Superpower: Winning Deals Without Technical Jargon

• 00:20:45 – Surviving 23 Interviews at Goldman Sachs

• 00:27:17 – Becoming the "Face of the Firm" in Professional Services

• 00:35:15 – Stamping Parking Tickets: The Ultimate Networking Hack

• 00:38:20 – The "Do Stuff" Philosophy: The Secret to a 30-Year Reputation

• 00:46:11 – How to Stay Relentlessly Intentional and Create Opportunity Daily

About the Guest:

Tony Banks is the Director of Private Equity Services at RSM. With a 30-year career spanning manufacturing, Goldman Sachs, and top-tier accounting firms, Tony has built a legendary reputation as one of the premier relationship-builders and connectors in the private equity space.

In this episode of I Hope This Email Finds You Well, Neil Barrow sits down with Danielle Reynolds, the Business Development Leader at Whitley Penn, to unpack one of the biggest misconceptions in professional services: the idea that you need to be a technical expert to win high-value corporate deals.

Transitioning from campus recruiting into a premier business development role, Danielle shares why not being a CPA is actually her biggest advantage. Without the burden of technical jargon, she explains how she builds deeper trust, asks better big-picture questions, and positions herself as an invaluable "connector" for her prospects. Danielle also breaks down her highly structured pipeline strategies, including how to build a frictionless inbound web-lead process, the 365-day rule for reviving "closed-lost" proposals, and why her firm hired a dedicated associate to run outbound campaigns.

Chapters:

• 00:00:35 – Intro: Welcome Danielle Reynolds

• 00:01:34 – From Campus Recruiting to Leading Business Development

• 00:06:06 – Why Selling to Interns is Exactly Like B2B Sales

• 00:10:40 – The Non-Expert Advantage: Why Not Being a CPA is a Superpower

• 00:14:30 – Building a "Go-Giver" Network and Asking for Intros

• 00:21:24 – The Ultimate Question to Ask Every Single Prospect

• 00:24:40 – Delegating Outbound: Hiring a Dedicated BD Associate

• 00:26:07 – Stop Wasting Web Leads: Rebuilding the Inbound Pipeline

• 00:35:03 – The 30-Minute Discovery Playbook for Frictionless Intake

• 00:46:04 – The 365-Day Rule: How to Revive "Closed-Lost" Deals

• 00:49:23 – Using Intent Data to Find Prospects Actively Searching for You

• 00:51:28 – LinkedIn Strategy: Finding New CFOs and Getting Warm Intros

• 00:58:28 – Why BD and Marketing Must Be Strictly Aligned

• 01:02:19 – Final Thoughts: The Crucial Balance of Confidence and Humility

Join Neil Barrow for a one-of-a-kind episode featuring a mother-daughter Business Development duo: Kelly (a 25-year BD executive in professional services) and Molly (who is 18 months into her BD/Investor Relations career at a financial services firm).In this episode, we bridge the generational gap to uncover the timeless truths of generating high-value conversations. Kelly shares her journey from grinding out 45 cold calls a day in wholesale lending to navigating complex, matrixed professional service deals with the C-suite. Molly reveals how she leverages modern tactics - like direct LinkedIn DMs and 2:00 AM emails - to secure meetings with executives decades her senior. We also dive into overcoming the "head trash" of cold calling, why a "high motor" is the ultimate hiring metric, and why taking career risks early on is essential for massive growth.

Outline:00:00:44 Intro: Neil Barrow welcomes Kelly and Molly Krohn to discuss their BD experiences.00:01:34 How Kelly got her start 25 years ago making 45 cold calls a day in wholesale lending.00:06:32 Overcoming "head trash" and the internal conflict of picking up the phone.00:09:10 Navigating the 2008 crash and transitioning to C-level treasury sales.00:14:28 Molly on translating technical jargon and building confidence as a young professional.00:19:40 The three-sentence rule: Why long emails fail and how to build curiosity instead.00:28:10 Why you must ask for referrals and use professional persistence to build influence.00:38:02 Hiring for BD: Why consistency and a "high motor" are the most crucial traits.00:43:58 Balancing internal and external responsibilities and setting proper expectations.00:46:16 Context switching: How Molly structures her week across marketing, follow-ups, and outreach.00:53:48 The major differences between traditional sales and matrixed professional services BD.01:06:04 Trusting your intuition and the importance of authenticity in outreach.01:09:59 Kelly’s current "Greenfield" strategy: Combining direct outreach with internal detective work.01:17:45 Molly’s strategy for landing meetings through LinkedIn DMs and late-night emails.01:23:05 Final thoughts: Overcoming the fear of cold calling and the importance of taking bold career risks.