Podcast: Opening and Closing the Deal with Sales Professionals

Episode 18

Brenda Pontiff is the Director of Business Development, Diversity and Inclusion at Horvitz & Levy LLP based in Burbank, California. She started her career as a Water District paralegal at Houston’s Vinson & Elkins in the late 1980s. After only a few months, her boss put her in charge of pitching a new service line to existing Water District clients and eventually leveraged the growing niche to begin relationships with new water districts.

Meanwhile, Brenda was also developing her stand-up comedy career at Houston’s Comedy Workshop and in 1993, moved to Los Angeles after becoming a new face at Hollywood’s famed Improv Comedy Club. After touring in comedy clubs and appearing in a few sitcoms, she settled into a Big Four sales career by selling and marketing litigation support services to corporations and law firms, eventually finding her way back to law firm marketing

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How performing stand-up comedy and marketing professional services are similar.
• Why law firms have been historically reluctant to hire marketing and business management executives from one of the Big Four firms.
• Why law firms have been slow to accept front-line business development.
• How the accounting and marketing fields have changed in recent years, and how law firms can adapt to be more competitive.
• Why networking, building continuing relationships and communicating with existing clients are important to marketing growth.

How to contact Brenda Pontiff:

• Website: www.horvitzlevy.com
• Twitter: @BrendaPontiff and @HorvitzLevy