Representing An Unrealistic Client
One of the most challenging client relations issues that lawyers face is representing an unrealistic client. It’s easy to see how a client can fall into what is, objectively, an unrealistic expectation about his situation. After all, many clients (corporate and individual) are deeply invested in their matter, and many clients (especially individuals) are likely to have few legal […]
Identify The Problem, Define The Solution.
When you aren’t achieving the results you want to see from your business development activity, you almost certainly have one of three problems. Identify the problem, make a thoughtful shift, and you will likely see your results change. (The difficulty, of course, is in knowing what change to make, but that’s another topic for another day.) So, what are the […]
Tend Relationships To Grow Your Practice
While discussing business development plans, I often tell my clients that rainmaking is all about relationships. I also tell clients that good relationships, personal or professional, should be nurtured – even that low-level employee of a corporate client may prove to be a valuable contact one day. This past weekend confirmed that for me. Clients sometimes […]
Two Sides Of Business Development Disaster
Two levels of activity can undermine your business development efforts: doing too much and doing too little. Think I just won the obvious award? Stick with me for a minute. It’s no secret that doing too little business development activity means you won’t build the kind of practice you want. If you want word about you […]
Don’t Let Your Business Development Efforts Derail Your Firm’s Plans.
How does your business development activity fit with your firm’s plans?The tagline for Fleming Strategic is Building the practice within the firm. Unless you’re a sole practitioner, you must recognize that while your business development objectives and activities are personal to you, they have to fit within the strategy, approach, and culture of your law firm, or you’re […]
Overcoming All-Or-None Thinking
Lawyers often have perfectionistic tendencies, according to study after study. And while perfectionism can seem like a useful attribute when details matter as much as they do in the practice of law, it actually tends to cause more problems than it avoids since perfection is more often than not an impossible standard to reach. See […]
Business Development Priorities Explained
When I begin working with a new client, one question comes up more than any other: how should I focus my business development time? There’s no single answer to that question, of course, since each lawyer is in a unique position. But there’s one answer that I give more than any other, and it often […]