Building a strong book of business for Lawyers starts with deep client relationships—grounded in credible, consistent, and personalized communication. But how does a busy Attorney find the time to generate this content across their network of relationships?
Attorneys are flooded with new information, much of which doesn't always have a ton of use. Every day brings a fresh wave of news alerts, earning reports, executive changes, filings, and press releases. But while data is everywhere, actionable content is not.
Triggers and signals are the catalysts that help craft the “perfect message” at the perfect time. When used thoughtfully, they don’t just support outreach but they position attorneys as trusted advisors, communicating that they’re not only monitoring a clients business issues but also thinking meaningfully about how to solve the issues at hand.
At larger firms, Competitive intelligence (CI) teams take on this laborious, time consuming task but are stretched for capacity. Imagine an attorney juggling 10 active clients and staying aware of 90 inactive clients or future prospects. If each company generates just 100 relevant articles a month, that’s 10,000 pieces of content to review—requiring around 166 hours of reading and analysis. For one person, that level of manual effort simply isn’t realistic, let alone sustainable.
Fortunately, advancements in AI now make it possible to cut through the noise—filtering vast volumes of content to surface what truly matters and turning it into actionable insight, fast. We’ll break this down using what we’ve learned from building our own Opportunity Engine, which delivers timely signals and triggers to help attorneys strengthen relationships and drive growth.
Signals and triggers are critical tools in competitive intelligence and law firms—but often misunderstood. Knowing how they differ and work together can turn insight into real opportunity. Let’s break them down.
Richard Harris, sales expert and founder of The Harris Consulting Group defines "A trigger as anything that gives you and the target some level of commonality, so that the contact can be more personal." He goes on to claim that "nobody cares what we do. They care about the pain we solve."
Here are a few key things that triggers can help law firms identify:
When identified and used correctly, real-time triggers help attorneys stay informed about competitors and spot emerging trends in the market.
While triggers are immediate and specific events, signals are broader patterns that emerge over time. They help uncover trends, anticipate client needs, and guide strategic planning. Consider signals as the early warning system that attorneys and CI teams can leverage to stay ahead of the curve.
Where a trigger might prompt an immediate outreach, a signal helps you build a longer-term view—shaping how you monitor a client or track an industry. Here are a few key patterns that signals could help law firms uncover:
When surfaced and analyzed correctly, signals allow attorneys to anticipate risk, spot opportunity, and engage clients through actionable insight pertaining to the evolving nature of their industries and sectors.
Before the advent of tools like Google Alerts in 2003, firm research teams dedicated countless hours to manually scanning newspapers, magazines, and online articles to compile newsletters for attorneys. For instance, at one firm, the research team logged 1,800 hours to produce 20 newsletters, without any means to assess readership or engagement The introduction of platforms like Manzama and LexisNexis Newsdesk aimed to alleviate this burden by automating content aggregation.
However, these tools often delivered a deluge of information without context, leaving attorneys to sift through data to find relevance. As Paul Sammon aptly stated, "Attorneys don't want to read news; they want to read analysis." While Google Alerts provided a means to monitor specific keywords, it lacked the sophistication to discern relevance or provide actionable insights. The result was an overwhelming influx of information, much of which was peripheral or redundant.
In today's fast-paced legal environment, relying solely on manual processes or basic alert systems is insufficient. To stay ahead, firms must embrace AI-powered solutions that not only aggregate data but also analyze and contextualize it, delivering timely, relevant insights directly to attorneys. As Peter Ozolin noted on the Knowledge in Practice: The CI Chronicles podcast, "If you're still relying on manual review and curation, you're missing the window. AI is now table stakes for delivering timely intelligence."
Firms that adopt these advanced tools position themselves to transform information overload into strategic advantage, fostering deeper client relationships and driving business growth.
As noted in a 2024 Reuters article, law firms must go beyond reactive support to proactively understand their clients' industries and anticipate market shifts. Firms that embrace this mindset are better positioned to build stronger, longer-lasting relationships.
As firms look to move from reactive support to proactive engagement—as highlighted in the Reuters article—adopting AI is becoming essential. It allows CI teams to scale their efforts, reduce lag time, and deliver insights when they matter most. The comparison below illustrates how AI-enabled intelligence stacks up against traditional, manual CI and BD methods:
At Kaitongo, we’ve built the Opportunity Engine, a platform that combines real-time content scanning with law firm-specific filters and AI-driven insight delivery. Here’s a look at our Opportunity Dashboard below:
Here's how it works:
Harris offers some practical advice that applies just as much to lawyers as to sales teams.
Ultimately, the goal is to turn intelligence into interaction– not just to inform, but to engage.
If your CI team is ready to scale its impact and equip attorneys with smarter outreach opportunities, let’s talk. Get in touch to see how Kaitongo helps law firms cut through the noise and turn intelligence into action.
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