Archive for category: Blog

Last week, I visited the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming. This multimedia-focused tourist/educational center presented stories about the emigrant trails that passed through Wyoming:  the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, and the Mormon Trail.  The primary focus was on life on the trails, of course, but the exhibit started with an examination of why the emigrants left home.

Some left in search of adventure, some for the promise of great fortune, and some for the hope of freedom. Whatever the pull, it had to be strong, because success on the trail was by no means certain.  Most travelers walked the entire 2000ish mile journey, and graves littered the route.  Boredom and exhaustion were constant companions, and accident, disease, and attack threatened with every step.  What would be enough motivation to make you leave home under those circumstances?

As I walked through the center, I realized that the impetus to get on the emigrant trail isn’t so different from the motivation to begin business development activity. Whenever I have a consultation with a potential client, one of the first things I want to know is, why do you want more clients? Answers vary.  Some senior lawyers have built a practice as a service partner and then discovered that the new economy demands that everyone bring in new business — or else.   Others are setting out on their own to launch a new practice or a new business and they need clients to survive.  Generally speaking, a strong motivation is apparent, something that’s drawing this person to embark seriously on the rainmaker road.

But occasionally, I’ll talk with someone who seems so lackadaisical that I suspect they won’t make it. Without a strong pull forward, the effort required may be too much.  The pain of learning new approaches and new ways of being can easily overwhelm someone who isn’t truly committed to bringing in new business.  I won’t coach those who lack commitment, because I know they’ll probably see lackluster results (at best) because they’ll be too quick to throw in the towel — and we’ll both end up frustrated.

So, before we embark on the trail (even though you’ll view the tips from the safety of your office or your home), consider these questions:

• Why do you want to get new business?
• What are your goals?  (Think both immediate and long-term.)
• How important is it to you to meet those goals?  (Are they your goals?  If not, are you willing to adopt them as your own?  If not, I can virtually guarantee that you’re going to struggle.)
• What will stop you?  Lack of time?  Lack of money?  Hearing “no” from a potential client?  Be honest with yourself here.

I insist that my clients be clear on why they want new clients and what they want to achieve. That kind of clarity offers something to hang onto when the road gets difficult and long — and it will get difficult and long.  Knowing what you’re moving toward and why is one of the best insurance policies you can have for business development — in fact, it’s the only one you can have.

Your assignment:  make a list of at least 20 reasons why you want to land new business, and post it in a place where you’ll see it often. If anyone asks why you have that list, just tell them… this is your insurance to guard against failure.

The Go-Giver (Bob Burg and John David Mann)
and
The Referral of a Lifetime (Tim Templeton)

I’ve never reviewed two books in a single review before, but these two are such neat parallels in both style and message that I just can’t resist the temptation.  The message of both of these short, quick reads is simple:  if you genuinely care about other people and helping them to succeed, your business will grow well and authentically.

Both books are written as parables, using the story of a struggling business person’s meeting with a kind and mysterious, all-knowing mentor to illustrate how exactly to go about creating meaningful business relationships.  I don’t care for the parable style of business book, simply because it typically rings a little hollow and sometimes permits the teaching to stay at a superficial level, never getting the specifics.  Both The Go-Giver and The Referral of a Lifetime avoid these problems.  The Referral of a Lifetime excels particularly, because it includes an appendix with templates and samples that the reader can adapt for his or her own needs.  The parable style is also handy to convey a great deal of information without pedantic repetition, and it ends up being quite effective in both books.

Each book is based in just a few simple principles.  The four principles offered in The Referral of a Lifetime are:

1. The 250 by 250 Rule:  It’s not only who you know that counts, it’s who your clients know that is important.
2. Build a database [of your contacts] and ABC it.
3. Just Let Me Know:  Educate your clients about how you work and your value to them through regular, tangible actions performed without fail.
4. Keep in touch consistently, personally, and systematically.

The Go-Giver shares what it calls The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success:

1. The Law of Value:  Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.
2. The Law of Compensation:  Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.
3. The Law of Influence:  Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.
4. The Law of Authenticity:  The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
5. The Law of Receptivity:  The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

The principles set out in these two books are consistent and mutually supportive, yet the two books are quite distinctive.  The Referral of a Lifetime teaches you a system for defining and harnessing your already existing network of clients and other contacts, whereas The Go-Giver offers more of a general approach to living and doing business and less of a step-by-step system.

As I was reading these books, I saw them in action with a friend and colleague.  Late on Friday afternoon, I received an email from this person, looking for help because a shipper had failed to pick up a pallet of her product from a manufacturing facility in a small town.  She was facing two separate time crunches:  her product would expire if not shipped promptly, and she needed it to be delivered to her customer more than a thousand miles away no later than Tuesday at noon.  Her shipper couldn’t help, and she sent out a request for help after all of the obvious solutions proved unworkable.

A note about this person:  in addition to having a fabulous product, she genuinely seeks to help everyone she meets.  She’s one of these “never met a stranger” types of people who loves nothing more than sharing her contacts and resources.

Within just a few minutes of sending out her SOS, my friend has received a bunch of ideas and suggestions.  Within a couple of hours, one of her contacts arranged for the product to be shipped at a price less than 1/3 of the price that other shippers had quoted for slower service, and that same contact had introduced her to a potential joint venture partner.  Good luck that this contact saw my friend’s email?  Sure.  But it was their relationship (and his adherence to the values behind The Go-Giver and The Referral of a Lifetime, whether he’s actually read those books or not) that prompted him to swing into action.

If you read only one of these books, I’d encourage you to start with The Go-Giver.  It’s a very fast read, and the principles it shares will affect the way you see and do business.  Once you’re convinced that giving to others is not just the right thing to do but the smart business move, then read The Referral of a Lifetime to get specific ideas on how to implement the principles into your day-to-day life.  Even if it takes you some time to figure out how to build your own system, I almost guarantee that the books will change how you approach others in business — for the better, for you and for them.

Sway:  The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman

Nobody likes to lose.  With our self-selection to be competitive and to be risk-averse, lawyers perhaps tolerate loss even less than others.  According to the Brafman brothers, authors of Sway:  The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, the more meaningful a potential loss is, the further we will go to avoid that loss, and the more likely it becomes that we’ll be swept into an irrational decision.

This irrational tendency is well illustrated by the story of a wealthy stockholder who held the great majority of his assets in a single stock.  His financial advisor recommended selling a set percentage of the stock every month “to take the emotion out of the decision” and to create increasing diversification, but the stockholder declined.  He did sell about 10% of the stock at $47, but he held as the stock dipped to $42, having decided that he would sell when it hit $47 again.  Of course, it slipped lower — to $38, and the stockholder decided he would sell when it hit $44.  Alas, the stock continued to drop until it ended at 12 cents per share, and the once-wealthy stockholder had lost nearly his entire investment.

The cause of the loss is no surprise:  loss aversion plus commitment.  The same cause is responsible for irrational bidding in an acution designed by Harvard Business School professor Max Bazerman.  He auctions a $20 bill in class with two rules:  the bids must be in $1 increments, and the runner up must pay his bid even though she receives nothing for it.

The bidding goes quickly to the $12-to-$16 range, at which point bidders realize that everyone is bidding for the same outcome and drops out, leaving only two bidders.  These two continue long past the point of reason, neither wanting to be the sucker who pays close to (or more than) $20 for nothing.  The record bid?  $204 for a $20 bill.  Each bidder’s commitment to the effort plus the desire to avoid loss brings on irrational behavior.

The authors identify irrational behavior at hand when we’re able to make a diagnosis, such as choosing the best job applicant or selecting high  potential leaders.  The Brafmans show that when we brand or label individuals, they tend to become “psychological chameleons” who take on the charateristics of the label.  For example, a study that followed Israeli soldiers through training arbitrarily assigned the soldiers as having high, regular, or unknown “command potential.”

The officers were required to learn each soldier’s “command potential” ranking, and in testing after the 15-week training course, the randomly assigned high “command potential” soldiers outperformed the others by 22.7%.  (We’ve all heard of similar examples of students underperforming when labeled as “slow learners” or “troublemakers” and excelling under the tutelage of a teacher who refuses to recognize those labels.)  The moral?  When we label others, they pick up on our subtle messages and cues and, as a result, they take on the characteristics of the label.

What’s in it for lawyers?  Sway illustrates that even when we fully believe we’re operating entirely from logic and reason, irrational psychological influences can undermine the logical perspective we believe we hold.  This recognition is critical for lawyers who may be swayed by these irrational influences in practice, whether while representing clients or while managing their own businesses.  Even more, lawyers must be aware of their clients’ illogical, irrational emotions and perceptions that can undermine rational decision making.

Take Control of The Wine List
Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach®

Imagine this — You are seated at an upscale restaurant with one of your best clients and then handed a wine list thicker than a college textbook.  You want to pick out the “perfect” wine to impress your client but everything looks like it is written in a foreign language.  After only a few minutes the server asks if you have made your selection so you decide to order the most familiar thing on the menu.  You are not sure your selection will coordinate with your meals and it costs more than your boss will tolerate for a client dinner.  By the time the bottle arrives you have broken out in a cold sweat and are ready to take a big gulp!  The good news is that understanding the three main ways wine lists are organized is the first step to preventing this from ever happening to you.

There are three primary types of wine lists:  those organized by the grape varietal, by geography or where it is made, by flavor profile.  Keep in mind that some lists blend several of these methods.  Let’s explore each of these three types of wine lists:

By Grape Varietal.  Organized by the main grape variety used to prodice the wine, this type of list definitely appeals to our varietally conscious culture.  It may be further organized by country or state.  Thinking of the grape varietal first and the origin second is an American trend.  Many European countries are trying to focus on the grape varieties despite regulations that ban the top rated wine from listing them on the label.  Sections for the popular varietals, e.g., Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, are usually listed, as well as an “other varietals” category for white and red.  These lesser known varietal sections can often be more interesting, and is where many bargains can be found!

By Geography.  This wine list is organized by countries of origin and ofen has the more specific subcategories, like the regions or state, which is the traditional type of win list.  If you love French wines, this type of list makes it easy.  Flip to the French section and then look at what regions or wines are offered.  The grape varietal used may (or may not) be listed next to the wines in this type of list.  This is not an issue for most wine from the US since the wine is usually labeled by grape varietal, e.g., Chardonnay or Pinot Noir.  The European wine industry, however, tends to focus on the region and assume we know what grapes are grown.  Even though the principal grapes of Burgundy are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, they won’t appear on the bottle of Burgundy’s finest wines.

Progressive.  This type of list is a relatively new approach that is organized by the flavor and body profile.  A typical category might be dry-light-bodied whites and the wines in that category may be ordered from mildest to fullest.  This allows diners to look for the type of wine they enjoy and then order options in the same flavor and body category.  Your favorite grapes or countries may be located in many different categories.  Once you get the hang of these lists, they are tons of fun.  They don’t require any special knowledge of geography or grapes — just a knowledge what you like.

Knowing these categories will give you a better understanding of the three most common ways restaurants will organize their lists.  The geographic and grape varietal lists will account for 80% of the lists encountered, but the progressive list may be a growing trend for the future.

Secrets to Ordering a Great Bottle of Wine Every Time!

• Ask the sommelier or server for suggestions.  Most are eager to help and have tasted most (if not all) of the wines on their list.  Those of us who have chosen wine as a career enjoy drinking wine every night but don’t necessarily have large budgets.  Sommeliers and servers will know the best bargains because that is what we are drinking at home!
• If you are on a budget but don’t want the client to know that, point out a wine in your price range and then for ask for an alternate suggestion.  Any good server will recommend something within $10 of the wine you pointed out.  Don’t go for the least expensive bottle however; look for the second or third level wines.  The lowest priced wines are actually marked up the most (sometimes 4 or 5 times ccost) whereas higher priced wines might only be marked up 2 times cost.
• Let’s face it, we are not experts in French, Spanish or Italian, but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying the wine, right?  If you find a great wine you want to order but are afraid to pronounce it, look for the Bin Number listed to the left of the wine.  Many restaurants use these as a method to organize their wine inventory.  If the list does not use bin numbers then point to the wine in question and any astute server will get the message.
• Resist the temptation to order the cult favorites like Opus One or other highly sought after wines with name recognition.  These wines are expensive because, like Gucci or Cartier, the brand’s status is part of what you are paying for.  Many times you can find wines that are similar in quality for much less, especially if you are willing to try lesser known grape varietals or regions.  Ask your sommelier or server — they will be able to recommend the best buys.
• Try to taste as much as you can at home or at free in-store tastings.  Retail wines are usually only marked up 30-50% over cost as opposed to the standard 2-3 times markup at a restaurant.  Experimenting at home will give you the experience to order great wine you’ll love when you are out!

And now, the next time you take an important client (or that special someone) to dinner, they will be impressed with your ability to find the right wine in no time!

About Laurie:
Laurie Forster, The Wine Coach® is a wine educator, dynamic speaker and author of the award winning book The Sipping Point:  A Crash Course in Wine.  Laurie’s specialty is creating unique corporate keynotes, team building events and group tasting seminars where she can deliver on her mission to demystify wine one glass at a time.  Laurie is a regular contributor to several magazines and a sought after guest expert on radio stations across the country, including most recently Martha Stewart radio.

To receive Laurie’s FREE audio CD “The 7 Secrets to Flawlessly Ordering Wine” visit:  www.thewinecoachsecrets.com.

The No [Censored] Rule
By Robert Sutton, Ph.D.

Note:  To avoid triggering filters, I’m substituting the word “jerk” for the censored word in the title.  You can see the original in the image.

Dr. Robert I. Sutton is a champion of the civilized workplace, created and maintained through careful enforcement of the no “jerk” rule.  Expanding and deepending his 2004 Harvard Business Review article entitled “More Trouble Then They’re Worth,” Sutton’s 2007 book The No [Censored] Rule offers valuable tips for eliminating or avoiding nasty people in business.  As its tag line promises, this truly is “the definitive guide to working with — and surviving — workplace bullies, creeps, jerks, tyrants, tormentors, despots, and egomaniacs.”

In less than 200 entertaining pages, Sutton explains how to identify a workplace jerk (even how to tell if you’re the jerk) and describes the damage these jerks wreak on the organizations in which they work and the clients and colleagues with whom they come into contact.  He also addresses how to handle a workplace jerk, while warning of the dangers of “jerk poisoning.”  According to Sutton, a jerk is one who oppresses, humiliates, de-energizes, or belittles his target (generally someone less powerful than himself), causing the target to feel worse about herself following an interaction with the jerk.   (And, as his numerous examples prove, this behavior is not by any means limited to male perpetrators or female victims.)

These jerks use tactics such as personal insults, sarcasm and teasing as vehicles for insults, shaming, and treating people as if they’re invisible to deman others.  This behavior is sometimes hard to distinguish from routine bad behavior, but (like obscenity) you’re likely to know it when you see it.  Sutton distinguishes temporary jerks (because, as he notes, we all have the potential to act like jerks at times, particularly when we’re stressed) from certified jerks, who routinely show themselves to be nasty people.  The latter, he argues, must go.  He also carefully distinguishes constructive, even noisy, arguments about ideas from behavior that descends into a nasty personal attack and disavows any hint that spineless or obsequious people are the preferred alternative to jerks.

Having diagnosed the problem, Sutton then recommends how to implement and enforce a “no jerk rule,” how a jerk may reform himself/herself, and how to survive working in nasty environments or with nasty people.  Survival mechanisms include looking for small wins that allow you to sustain (or regain) confidence and a sense of control, reframing the situation and detaching from it, limiting exposure to the jerk, building situations of “safety, support, and sanity,” fighting and winning the right small battles, and leaving the job that’s put you in contact with the jerk.

Sutton also discusses the dangerous topic of the benefits of the jerk’s behavior, such as motivating fear-driven performance and perfectionism.  Though he is careful to note that these benefits don’t justify bad behavior, the “virtues of nastiness” are as real as the damage nastiness causes.  Sutton includes five key tips for those who want to be effective jerks, while noting that even these tips are inherently dangerous:

1. Expressing anger, even nastiness, can be an effective method for grabbing and keeping power.
2. Nastiness and intimidation are especially effective for vanquishing competitors.
3. If you demean your people to motivate them, alternate it with (at least occasional) encouragement and praise.
4. Create a “toxic tandem” with someone who will play good cop to your bad cop.
5. Being all jerk, all the time, won’t work.

Although the jerk partner (or senior associate or paralegal or…) is, unfortunately, almost an archetype in law firm life, it’s just as important to identify nasty clients — or better yet, nasty potential clients.  Those are the clients who will demand and demean, who will push good lawyers to make bad arguments, who will cause their lawyers untold stress.  Lawyers must know when to refuse a case, and evaluating the cost of representing a jerk is a critical underlying skill.  Check this previous blog post for tips on identifying red flags for potentially difficult or nasty clients.