Archive for month: August, 2021

Business development can sound so easy: make a plan, execute the plan, land the business, rinse and repeat. And sometimes it might even work that way, or you discover that plans need to be tweaked to account for unanticipated opportunities. That’s what a dear friend calls a nice problem to have.

Other times, though, it feels like you’re head down, plowing ahead with business development, and making no headway at all… Maybe even losing ground. You might interpret that as a sign that you’re just not meant to be a rainmaker. Chances are reasonably good, though, that there’s a correctable problem in that way you’re approaching business development.

If you aren’t seeing the results you want, check this list to see what might be going wrong:

1. Do you have a business development plan? If you’re doing business development activity without a coordinated strategy, you’re unlikely to see great results.
2. Are you actually using your plan? If you created a plan and then put in on the shelf (literally or metaphorically), you’re unlikely to see great results. Not surprisingly, it’s important that you actually implement your plan. This sounds so obvious as to be pointless to say, but it’s amazing how often someone will overlook this step.
3. Has a storm disrupted your ability to execute on your plan? Imagine that your plan relies on face-to-face networking and your city goes on lockdown for months due to a pandemic. Imagine that there’s a major change to your area of practice—such as a repeal of the estate tax—that fundamentally changes what clients need from you. Or imagine that you need to care for aging parents or a chronically ill child, reducing the time you have available for business development. What do you do in the face of such storms? You can wait for things to “go back to normal” (if they ever do), or you can take a fresh look at your strategy and select new tactics to continue building your book of business despite the storm. (Want to know more? Join me on September 14 for the complimentary webinar Business Development for a Profitable Practice: Build a Bespoke Strategy to Weather Any Storm.)
   
4. Do you have the skills you need? If you have a plan but execute it poorly, you won’t get the results you want. This breaks down into a sub-checklist of skills, such as networking skills (are you developing relationships with the right people?), content-generation or content-placement skills (if you’re writing or speaking, are you doing so in an effective way on appropriate topics to a desirable audience?), communication skills (does all of your marketing and business development activity work together to generate attention and to inspire confidence?), and more.
5. What do you believe about business development that isn’t accurate? Several years ago, I realized that lawyers who fail at business development have accepted as true myths about how and whether to engage in rainmaking activity. The myths usually center on the necessity or urgency for taking on business development activity, on the mechanics of that activity, or on the beliefs that surround the activity or the idea of working to get new clients. As a result, they touch on every aspect of business development, from the need for rainmaking activity to the professionalism and ethics of such activity. I’ve addressed a number of these myths in Legal Rainmaking Myths: What You Think You Know About Business Development Could Kill Your Practice.
6. How are you getting in your own way? I’ve seen lawyers undermine themselves in business development in a variety of ways, such as:

• • building a business development plan around tasks that you dislike (and will therefore find reasons to avoid);
  • lacking sufficient time or focus to engage consistently in your business development activity;
  • fighting your own internal conflicts (for instance, about whether you actually want to bring in new business if you’re contemplating changing firms or leaving practice altogether, for example); or
  • dressing in a way that undercuts your professionalism or authority.

These problems are especially vexing because they’re hard to see without outside input. At times, we buy into our own stories without critical reflection, which makes it difficult to identify those stories or find a way out of them. That’s why it’s important to you get help from a friend, colleague, or coach who will show you what you can’t see.

If you’d like help in spotting what’s keeping you from getting the business development results you want, perhaps we should talk. I have three Consulting Condensed sessions available for September. We’ll meet for two hours to discuss up to three aspects of your business development strategy, and you’ll walk away with targeted input and action items you can implement right away. Contact my team to set up a short conversation to see if a Consulting Condensed session is right for you.

I strongly believe that some of the best ideas for business and marketing come from outside the legal profession. If you aren’t making time to read more general business books, you’re missing a terrific opportunity. While not everything you read will be directly applicable to the law, you’ll find that smart ideas that aren’t directly applicable will prompt you to think about how you might adapt them.

Customer and client loyalty is a top concern in any business. Apple has unlocked the secret to developing not just loyalty but raving fans, and there’s much we can learn. The book The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty, by Carmine Gallo describes Apple’s customer-focused approach, with a focus on staff (the internal customer), the external customer, and the retail environment. Quite clearly, not all of the book applies to the practice of law, but several keys points do.

Gallo describes Apple’s “five steps of service”:

• Approach customers with a personalized, warm welcome.
• Probe politely to understand all the customer’s needs.
• Present a solution for the customer to take home today.
• Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns.
• End with a fond farewell and invitation to return.

And though you’ll have to read the book to unpack each of those steps fully, the outline provides a handy guide for conducting a conversation with a prospective client. The point that requires some analogy, of course, is that (unlike an Apple sales representative) your goal is not to provide a solution for the prospective client to implement today. Instead, your goal is to describe what the solution is, how it might work, pros and cons, and (where applicable) some sense of a likely outcome, all with appropriate caveats since you undoubtedly won’t know everything that you need to know about the matter from a pitch or consultation.

Don’t read the book thinking you can apply each point directly to your practice, because you likely won’t be able to do that. Instead, read the book, reflect on the principles it offers, and think about how they might translate for your practice. It’s a great thought generator as you move into the fall and perhaps revisit your business development approach to evaluate your 2021 results and plan for 2022.