Personal Contacts: The Foundation of Every Successful Legal Business Development Plan
I clerked for a Federal judge in my first job after law school. Among the many lessons Judge Forrester taught me was to look for the existence of a “Q case”, the source from which the rest of the precedents would flow. In practice, I learned that some questions require the thorough search that would […]
Make the Most of Your Summer with These Productivity and Efficiency Tips
Over the years, I’ve put together a lot of tips about how to accomplish more, how to get energized, and how to make the most of time away from the office. In honor of the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. (and vacations everywhere!), I’m sharing a potpourri of greatest hits here. Click on […]
Legal Rainmaking: To Sell Is…
This week, I met with a lawyer who’s been in practice for 50 years, who will be using The Reluctant Rainmaker to teach a law school class on business development. We touched on how the practice has changed over the years and why he encouraged his sons to become lawyers, but the bulk of our […]
Legal Marketing: To Sell Is Human
The subtitle of Daniel Pink’s recent book To Sell Is Human is The Surprising Truth About Moving Others. I’m not entirely sure that the truths shared in the book are altogether surprising, but the book puts a human, approachable face on a necessary skill that suffers from a bad reputation. Pink starts by proving that […]
Why You MUST Track Your Rainmaking Results
How do you track the results you get from your business development efforts? I recently spoke with a potential client and asked that question. Her response? “I don’t need to track my results. I know what’s working.” She had a $25,000 book of business, and based on our conversation, I suspect she could triple that […]
Legal Business Development: Do this & never compete on price again
Warning: Being a fungible billing unit is bad for growing your law practice! I’ve written previously on finding your Unique Service Proposition, which distinguishes you from other lawyers (and non-lawyers) serving your ideal clients’ legal needs. In that article, I noted that if you are one of a pool of fungible practitioners, you’ll be forced […]
Tips to Simplify Legal Newsletters
Newsletters offer a way to stay in contact with a large number of contacts easily, consistently, and productively. Newsletters focus on substantive information, and assuming you’ve defined your areas of practice carefully enough, your content will be valuable to recipients and therefore welcome. Better yet, if your topics are timely and if you include an […]