Growth gets easier when the firm stops treating BD like extra credit.
Harbor's Zena Applebaum sits down with Kori Fahrner of Benesch and Beth Cuzzone of Intapp and LSSO to explore what turns business development from an individual effort into a firmwide growth habit. Together, they trace the systems behind Benesch's decade of growth: rainmaker collaboration, leadership accountability, relationship intelligence, and AI-enabled pipeline discipline.
What we cover:
- Why sales culture works best when everyone understands their role in growth
- Team Everest — how Benesch scaled its rainmaker program from 19 to 35+ partners
- What drove 327% revenue growth over a decade and whether it's replicable
- Relationship intelligence, DealCloud, and CRM as a "system of action"
- How AI can reduce BD friction without replacing the human side of client relationships
- What law firms can borrow from outside sales cultures
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Key moments:
- 01:51 Twenty Years of Legal BD: What's Changed and What Hasn't & Why Beth Founded LSSO
- 06:58 Inside Team Everest: The Rainmaker Program
- 18:29 CRM as a System of Action: What the Strongest BD Cultures Do Differently
- 21:05 The Non-Tech Tool Every BD Team Needs
- 23:21 Lightning Round: Myths, Mistakes & the Future of BD
Partners
- Business development
- CRM
- Operational performance
- Show all 7
