PipelinePlus Business Development Institute

From Informal to Intentional: Build Confidence as a BD Coach

BDI: Coaching Intensive — Fall 2025 Cohort

If you’re already having informal coaching conversations with professionals who are both sellers and doers in your firm — but you want to do it more intentionally, with structure and real impact, the BDI: Coaching Intensive (BDI:CI) is for you.

This six-month program helps marketing and business development professionals become more confident and credible coaches within their firms. You’ll learn how to shift your approach from ad hoc guidance to focused, productive conversations that help business developers take meaningful action and deliver measurable results.

Work alongside a supportive peer cohort and receive practical tools, frameworks, and one-on-one feedback from seasoned coaches who understand the unique challenges of coaching in professional services firms, creating a secure and comfortable learning environment for you.

Who Should Participate

This cohort is designed for:

Practice group BD managers, BD managers and directors, marketing & BD directors, marketing managers, industry business development reps — anyone coaching seller-doers.

Teams that are welcoming new laterals, prepping senior associates for promotion, or recently merged firms.

Professionals who already do informal BD coaching but want to build more structure and consistency.

Those who want a clear roadmap, proven tools, and real-life guidance to grow their confidence and credibility as a coach.

Those who are ready to build an internal coaching program.

You don’t need years of coaching experience — just the willingness to learn, practice, and apply what works for your firm’s culture.

Program Structure

Four live Zoom sessions (each 60 minutes) will cover practical frameworks, real-world examples, and peer discussions, ensuring you receive tangible value from each session.

Two individual one-on-one coaching sessions with your PipelinePlus coaches, Melissa Hoff and Jennifer Castleberry, to tackle your specific questions and situations.

During this six-month commitment, you’ll have the opportunity to build your coaching mindset, practice your skills, and shift from informal coaching to intentional, impactful support. This extended period allows for deep learning and application, ensuring you’re fully prepared to take on the role of a confident and credible coach within your firm.

September

Session 1: Introduction to Coaching

What coaching is — and what it isn’t
Coaching vs. training
Earning trust and credibility as an internal coach
Meet your cohort for the next six months

First individual coaching session with your PipelinePlus Coach (October)

November

Session 2: Creating a Plan

How to prepare for your first structured session
Using an intake questionnaire to guide your approach
Following up strategies and tracking progress
Tailoring for laterals, partners, and associates

Break for the December holiday season.

January

Session 3: Building and Sustaining the Relationship

Keeping coaching moving forward after the first session
Managing expectations and setting goals
Coaching through uncertainty and change
Overcoming blockers – Helping business developers get “unstuck” and overcome barriers to success
Showing ROI to keep leadership invested

Second Individual coaching session with your PipelinePlus Coach (February)

March

Session 4: Refining Your Approach

Recognize whether your coachee is in growth, maintenance, or change mode
Overcome common BD inertia
Capstone presentation: put it all together

What Sets BDI:CI Apart

Designed and led by experienced BD coaches who understand the unique realities of coaching inside a professional services firm.
Individual coaching sessions to work through real scenarios with trusted advisors.
Our practical frameworks, built from the methodology used in The Short List, are designed to be immediately applicable. You’ll receive a structured approach and tools you can use right away, without any generic fluff, ensuring that your coaching is effective and impactful from day one.
Builds your confidence and mindset, enabling you to transition from informal “water cooler” coaching to sustainable, results-driven support.

Secure Your Spot

The next cohort starts in September 2025. Space is limited to maintain a collaborative and highly interactive group.

Enroll Today

Meet Your Instructors

FINAL 2023_Melissa_Hoff_color_cropped LinkedIn

Melissa Hoff brings a wealth of knowledge with over 25 years in the legal industry, focusing on business development, coaching, and client relationship management. Melissa’s expertise lies in her ability to develop and implement tailored coaching programs that align with firm goals while fostering individual growth. Her engaging teaching style and deep understanding of the industry make her a sought-after coach and mentor.

Jennifer Castleberry is a seasoned legal marketing professional with over two decades of experience. As a certified coach, Jen specializes in helping business development teams and legal professionals cultivate the skills necessary to thrive in a competitive market. Her approach is grounded in practical, results-oriented strategies that have consistently driven revenue growth and client engagement for the firms she has worked with.

Endorsements from Our BDI Alumni

“Ackert’s Business Development Institute provides useful content with concrete examples that clearly demonstrate the strategic and valuable role that business development plays in a law firm. The seasoned presenters provided invaluable insight into the various topics that we are confronted with on a daily basis as BD professionals in the legal industry. So happy that such a tailored and credible training is now offered to marketing and BD professionals of all levels.”

Eleftheria ManioudakisDirector of Business Development

“The takeaways I got from the Business Development Institute have made me a more well-rounded marketing and BD professional. I’ll be able to look at marcom programs with a more holistic approach and seek out BD opportunities that can result from them. The program gave me valuable takeaways that I can use to help attorneys develop their BD plans and maximize my own time on strategic initiatives.”

Kevin DixonMarketing and Business Development Manager

“The thing I found most valuable about BDI is hearing the different perspectives of various BD professionals who work in different sized firms and have implemented various initiatives that allow their attorneys to achieve various BD goals. It was also very helpful for the BDI course to recognize that implementation is often in itself difficult to carry out and recommend strategies to get buy-in from the various stakeholders in the firm. Thank you for your team’s support throughout this course (BDI Essentials). This may have been the best professional development course that I have attended.”

Jessica KuBusiness Development Coordinator

Want to learn more about BDI: Coaching Intensive?

Submit your contact information and we’ll be in touch

CONTACT US

818.804.5491

marketing@pipelineplus.com

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