The World Cup has reminded me why I love football.

Not American football. The game the rest of the world calls football.

After weeks of watching extraordinary players, brilliant coaches, and unforgettable matches, I am already wishing I could watch this level of competition year-round. The talent is incredible, but talent alone does not explain why certain teams consistently perform at the highest level.

Behind every successful team is a coach who evaluates the players, develops the strategy, makes adjustments, and keeps everyone moving toward the same goal.

The parallels to legal business development are hard to miss.

Many lawyers believe that hiring a coach means paying someone to motivate them or hold them accountable. Those things matter, but they represent only a small part of effective coaching.

A great coach changes how a player prepares, performs, evaluates results, and improves. The same is true for lawyers who want to build a substantial book of business.

Here are five ways the right business development coach can change the game.

1. Identifying the Gaps

Before a football coach can develop a player, the coach needs to understand what that player brings to the field.

What are the player’s strengths? Where are the weaknesses? What experience do they have? How can their natural abilities best serve the team?

Legal business development coaching should begin the same way.

Before developing a strategy, I evaluate the lawyer’s current relationships, reputation, network, communication skills, time management, activities, and goals. I also look at what they have already tried and why those efforts have or have not produced results.

In about 30 minutes, I can usually identify the primary gaps standing between a lawyer and the next level of their practice.

Sometimes the issue is time management or lack of focus. Sometimes it is poor targeting, inconsistent follow-up, ineffective messaging, or an inability to convert relationships into opportunities. In many cases, the lawyer has significantly more potential than they realize. They simply do not have the business development systems, skills, or structure to access it.

The evaluation tells us where the player is starting. Commitment and execution determine how far that player can go.

2. Building a Winning Game Plan

No World Cup team walks onto the field without a strategy.

Coaches study the opponent, select the lineup, assign responsibilities, and determine how the team will attack and defend. The plan may change during the game, but the players begin with a clear understanding of what they are trying to accomplish.

Most lawyers do not have anything resembling that level of preparation for business development.

They attend events, schedule lunches, post on LinkedIn, and reconnect with old contacts. While those activities may be useful, they are often disconnected from a larger strategy.

Every lawyer I coach develops a clear business development plan, a tracking system, and what I describe as a personal GPS. They know which relationships to prioritize, what activities deserve their time, and what actions should move those relationships forward.

A strong plan also tells us when someone has gotten off track. Rather than losing six months to random activity, we can quickly identify the problem, adjust the route, and continue moving toward the goal.

3. Reviewing the Game Tape

Every serious sports team review game film.

Players and coaches’ study what worked, what failed, and what should change before the next match. They do not rely solely on memory or assume that experience automatically creates improvement.

Lawyers rarely do this with business development.

They move from networking meetings to conferences to prospective client conversations without stopping to evaluate their performance. As a result, they may repeat the same mistakes for years.

I encourage my clients to call me after an important meeting or complete one of our debriefing forms. We review what happened, what questions were asked, how the other person responded, where the conversation gained momentum, and where it may have stalled.

That real-time feedback can be incredibly revealing.

A lawyer may have talked too much, failed to ask an important question, missed a buying signal, or left without establishing a next step. The purpose is not to criticize the performance. It is to improve the next one.

Experience only becomes valuable when we take the time to learn from it.

4. Calling the Plays Before the Meeting

Coaching does not only happen after the game.

Before a conference, pitch, networking meeting, or important client conversation, my clients frequently call to talk through their approach.

They may already have several good ideas. I may contribute a few more. Together, we identify the strongest options and decide how they should enter the conversation.

Who should they meet? What questions should they ask? How can they position their experience? What outcome would make the meeting successful? What should the next step be?

This preparation can transform a routine conversation into a significant business opportunity.

Lawyers often improvise because they are intelligent and accustomed to thinking on their feet. But preparation does not limit spontaneity. It gives the lawyer more confidence, greater focus, and better options when the conversation changes direction.

The best players make difficult situations look natural because they prepared before stepping onto the field.

5. Providing Support on and off the Field

The strongest coaching relationships extend beyond plans, forms, and scheduled meetings.

When lawyers work with me over time, they know they have my complete attention. We become partners in their success, and in most cases, we become lifelong friends.

I recently met with one of my most successful clients from 15 years ago. We spent 45 minutes strategizing about how he could finish the year strongly. He is no longer an active coaching client, but he knows I am still in his corner.

That kind of long-term support matters.

Building a book of business can be isolating. Lawyers face rejection, internal politics, demanding clients, unpredictable schedules, and pressure to produce immediate results. Having someone who understands the game, recognizes patterns, and provides honest feedback can help them navigate those challenges without losing momentum.

Great coaching does not replace talent, effort, or personal responsibility. It helps bring those qualities together.

The World Cup’s best teams do not leave performance to chance. They evaluate their players, develop a plan, review the game tape, prepare for critical moments, and provide support throughout the journey.

Lawyers who want to build the book of their dreams should expect nothing less.

To evaluate your legal business development potential and identify what may be holding you back, schedule a 30-minute conversation with me at Fretzin.com/letstalk.

Build your book. Own your future. BE THAT LAWYER.

Steve Fretzin is a five-time bestselling author, host of the BE THAT LAWYER and Future Rainmakers podcasts, and a business development coach who works exclusively with attorneys. For more than 18 years, he has helped lawyers build strong books of business without selling, pitching, or chasing, using his proven Sales-Free Selling™ approach. His clients consistently become top rainmakers and credit his coaching and systems for driving meaningful, measurable growth. Steve can be reached directly at steve@fretzin.com, or through his website at bethatlawyer.com. Connect with him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefretzin. His ALL NEW BE THAT LAWYER Community is changing how lawyers develop the skills never taught in law school. Learn more at bethatlawyer.com/community.

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