For years, TM TKO clients have been using our unlimited trademark watching services for years to identify new potential clients that grow their trademark practices. TM TKO has now simplified the process of setting up business-development-focused watches to find new trademark clients.

I. Find Trademark Clients – Use the “Business” Tab

After you log in, you’ll see a new “Business” tab along the top. This wizard will help you quickly set up watches that will identify unrepresented trademark applicants who could use your help. With pre-set options for new applicants, new Office Action recipients (including the option to limit by issue type), new Notices of Allowance, or various types of abandonments, you can set up and customize an array of business-generating watches in just a few clicks. Make sure to pay attention to the customization advice on that page – there’s more advice on that front below, in this post.

Need something different? Just let us know and we can help you set up the watch that you need.

II. Making the Most out of Business Development Watching – Tips & Tricks

How can you get the most mileage out of business development watching and expand your trademark practice? There are two keys.

II.A. Find Your Audience and Your Pitch to Acquire Trademark Clients

Give potential clients a strong reason to pick your services. Two strategies can be especially successful.

Geography – You like where you live, so connect with others in your city or state who need your help! The option to have face-to-face contact can sway people’s choice of legal counsel, even if you end up communicating primarily or exclusively via email or phone.

Industry – Is there an industry where you have special knowledge? Are you a musician, or do you have deep knowledge in biomedical science, or do you have a background in fashion or retail? Focus your watching on applicants in the International Class or Classes that are most relevant, and stand out by emphasizing your expertise in your outreach.

Language Skills and Foreign Relationships – Targeting foreign applicants can be especially useful if you have strong language skills. Similarly, if you already do a lot of work with foreign counsel from a country or a region, targeting international applicants of the sort you’re already helping – and highlighting your expertise in doing so – can be especially fruitful.

II.B. Be Systematic and Active to Grow Your Practice

Systematic activity is the key – fortunately, it’s not hard to set up a repeatable process that requires little manual effort. TM TKO’s watching sends you a list of business prospects in CSV format every morning, tailored to your ideal client set. You can use either an email service (like Constant Contact, MailChimp, Emma, or EmailOctopus) or a print-and-mail service (like VistaPrint or Click2Mail) to contact these potential clients. You can customize your outreach to the industry or the type of legal issues they are facing, and you can even use intermediaries like Zapier to completely automate your outreach process.

III. Don’t Forget Your Current Clients!

Your best clients are the ones you already have. If you haven’t used Portfolios to set up watching across your existing trademark portfolio already, it’s really simple. In minutes, you can make sure you can protect your clients in several ways, finding:

(1) new applications similar to their marks,
(2) applications that are newly published for opposition that are similar to their marks, and
(3) any new 2(d) citations from the Office citing one of your clients’ marks.

TM TKO gives you a simple way to protect their marks and expand your own dispute-related book of business.

IV. Contact Us!

Trademark business development watching is available with any TM TKO subscription; there are no extra fees. Subscribers get unlimited access to all of our trademark clearance, watch, Office Action research and analytics, and other prosecution tools, too – a great value. If you have any questions about setting up business development or existing-client watches, or have special needs, please reach out to us at support@tmtko.com.