Archive for category: Blog

Jon, a midcareer lawyer working in a boutique law firm, handles white-collar criminal defense matters.  Most of his clients come through referrals from other lawyers.  Far too often, those lawyers fail to appreciate that they need someone who practices in the area every day.  Instead, they try to handle a matter themselves.  After doing the best they can and finding that their best is insufficient, they discover that they need someone who knows the government prosecutors and who can read the subtle signals in government requests.  That’s where Jon comes into the picture.

Jon can only get referrals early in the process–early enough to be of maximum assistance to the client–if the lawyers who send those referrals, think of him as soon as a white collar issue arises.  A prevalent myth holds that simply being a great lawyer who gets great results is enough to bring in business.  Unfortunately, if you are not top-of-mind for your clients and contacts, they won’t think to call you even if they do need you.  What’s more, especially if you deal with clients who are not legally sophisticated, they may need you and not even know it.

In an ideal world, your contacts will always think to call you when there’s a matter with which you might be able to help.  In the real world, your contacts are likely to be so preoccupied with their own concerns that they won’t think of you unless you have taken steps to ensure that they know your skills and that you regularly engage with them.

What’s the solution?  Deliver interesting and useful information to your clients (including former clients) and contacts on a regular basis, and use that delivery of information to build and maintain relationships with them.  When you engage in a useful way with your contacts, you raise your profile with those contacts.  You may become the go-to person in a particular area of practice by virtue of the relationships you build over time.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Create a clear description of your practice, including examples.  Test it to be sure that a wide variety of people understand what you do and what kind of work you handle.
• Share that description (in a natural way) when you talk with others, and share the stories that will root that description in their memory.  We’d all like to believe that a single explanation of the work we do is sufficient, but chances are that it isn’t.
• Look for opportunities to deliver useful information.  That delivery can come in the form of widely distributed newsletters or client alerts, or you can send interesting articles or thought snippets one-by-one.  Just be sure the information you share is relevant and adds value for the recipient.
• Whenever you get in touch with someone in your network, create opportunities to build the relationship just a little more.  Relationship-building doesn’t have to mean a 3-hour lunch.  It can be as simple as, “Did you catch the game last night?  Do you follow [seasonal sport]?  Who’s your team?”  When you keep in touch, you’ll have plenty of chances to have a short exchange that will grow your relationship.

Everyone is operating inside his or her own bubble, and it’s your job to reach into the bubble (in a welcomed, non-intrusive way) as a reminder that you’re a likeable person who’s ready to help.  Done properly, that message will be exemplified in everything you do, and you’ll feel much less pressure to make a plea for business.

Before you decide to speak or to write an article concerning your area of practice, you must ensure that your time will be well invested.  Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Will this reach the right audience?  Writing for or speaking to the wrong audience (meaning, an audience composed of people whom you do not serve) will not bring enough benefit to justify the investment of time, so ask this foundational question before you begin.  Your business development plan will define the right audience.
2. How much time will this require?  Short, practical articles (done well) will deliver good results in a reasonable time.  Longer articles can be valuable in building your credibility, but they take a greater investment of time.  Speaking always requires preparation, especially if you’re delivering a new presentation.  Be realistic in your estimate of the time required — before you begin.
3. What results would make the expenditure of time worthwhile?  As with any business development activity, you must measure the results that you get from writing or speaking.  What’s more, you must know, before you begin, what results would make it worthwhile for you to have taken on the activity.  You may find that writing an article will pay off significant dividends for credibility enhancement, for example, but if you’re hoping to bring in new business in the near future as a direct result of the time you put in, writing almost certainly isn’t your best bet.
4. How does this opportunity to write or speak compare to more immediate high-yield activity?  Regardless of how terrific your article is, and regardless of the subject matter and the kind of results that you achieve, writing is a slow-yield opportunity.  It is incredibly unlikely that you will write an article, have it published, and have your phone ring with a potential client calling you only because they saw that article.  So, you must consider, before you begin, whether you would be better advised to invest your time in something that is a higher-yield activity.

Writing and speaking can be an effective way to increase your professional reach, or it can be a time-consuming approach that delivers disappointing results.  Going through these questions will help you to make foundational decisions that will get you on the right track — before you begin.

We’re down to 41 days left in 2013…  Just 25 days, excluding weekends, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.  Not much time to make a big shift…  Or is it?

The stereotypical lawyer’s answer:  it depends on what you do with that time.  And that’s why I’m inviting you to accept the 2013 Finish Strong Challenge.

Here’s how you play:

• Choose one focus for the remainder of the year.  You could select networking, getting back in touch with former clients or other contacts, getting that article written or that blog set up and populated…  The focus depends on your own business development plan, but the key here is to choose only one focus for the challenge.
  Of course, you can choose to take on other business development activity during this time, but having a single focus point will make the challenge crystal clear.
• Decide how many days you’re going to take action.  I’m a fan of consistency in business development activity, so I’d urge you to choose daily activity. (And I do mean daily, not daily on business days.)  Your challenge can be effective if you take action on selected days, but since this is a sprint to the end of the year, give serious thought to taking action as frequently as possible between now and the end of the year.  You may even find it’s a habit you’ll want to continue!  Whatever schedule you select, be sure to note it in your calendar or elsewhere so you remember which days you set up as Challenge Days.
• Select your measurable activity.  Examples might include contacting one former client per Challenge Day by telephone, by note, or in person; commenting on  a blog relevant to your practice on each Challenge Day; or making a useful introduction to a member of your network on each of your three-times-a-week Challenge Days.
  Be sure that the activity you select fits in with your business development plan.  Sprinting through pointless activity won’t do you any good.
• Set up a tracking system for your activity.  If you’re an iPhone user, look at apps such as Habit List; if you prefer low-tech, consider adopting Jerry Seinfeld’s “don’t break the chain” system.  The key here is to track your activity and your results, so you’ll be able to see the correlation.
• Set up a tracking system for your results.  Be sure that you’re noting not just new business that you land (which, depending on your practice, may or may not happen in this short time) but also interim successes such as making useful new contacts or getting invited to speak to a group of ideal clients.
• Design an accountability system for your Challenge Days.  Get a colleague or friend in on the action and check in daily by email or short (2-minute) phone calls.  If you’re a lone wolf, check out online systems like HassleMe.
• Make your declaration.  Drop me an email, and I’ll cheer you on.  No guarantees, but I might even be able to share some extra tips with you.
• Do what you committed to do, when you committed to doing it, the way you committed to doing it.  Obviously, this is the crux of the Challenge.
• After January 1, evaluate your progress.  What did you learn?  What went well, and what didn’t?  What was effective?  How do you want to carry the challenge forward into 2014?

Will you accept the Challenge?  Take 10 minutes today to make your plans — after all, with so few days left, you don’t want to miss a single one!  (If you’re finding it difficult to get started with the Challenge, you may not have a business development plan that’s clear enough to show you what to do.  If that’s the case, send me an email requesting a complimentary consultation.  Trying to build a book of business without a carefully-designed plan will leave you wandering aimlessly, wasting time.)

Despite the best of intentions, it’s easy to let a relationship slide.  You get busy, you lose track of your contact schedule, you run out of ideas for keeping in touch…  And next thing you k now, your relationship has atrophied.

But, like a muscle, an atrophied relationship can be rebuilt.  By focusing time and attention on your relationship and maintaining consistent effort, you’ll often be able to revive a good relationship more easily than you built it in the first place.

But you might feel awkward trying to re-energize a stagnant relationship, especially if you aren’t sure that the relationship can be reinvigorated.  If you find yourself about to write off a relationship, you need to be sure that the relationship can’t be resurrected.  It’s easy to allow discomfort to lead you into turning a neglected but visible relationship into a dead one, and lawyers far too often write off relationships before they’re truly finished.  But how do you know?  Or, as someone often inquires when I’m presenting a business development workshop,  Is it ever too late to rebuild professional relationships that have languished?

The short answer is that it depends on the relationship.  The deeper the relationship, the more likely it can be resurrected.  If, however, you meet once and fail to follow up, or if you follow up only once or twice, the relationship will lack the firm footing necessary to allow it to flourish following a period of silence.  That said, it never hurts to try to rebuild a relationship, particularly if your sole reason for reconnecting is to re-establish communication and not to seek a favor.

So, what can you to do rebuild a connection that has faded?  The simplest, and often the most effective, approach is to do precisely what you would do with a friend you haven’t seen in a long time:  pick up the phone and say, “I realized it’s been a while since we’ve spoken, and you’ve been on my mind.  Is this a good time to talk for a few minutes?  How are things with you?  What’s new?”  If several months have passed since you were in touch with this contact, you may even begin the conversation by re-introducing yourself.  (This is where my recommendation to maintain a database of contacts proves especially helpful:  you don’t have to try to remember when and where you met.)  You may experience a few awkward moments as your contact gets back into the connection, but most people will pick up relatively quickly.

If, like many lawyers, you’d rather do nine hours of painstaking document review without a coffee break than pick up the phone, you do have other options.  For example, you might consider the following:

• Send an email to reconnect.  You might suggest talking by telephone and either arrange a time to let your contact know you’ll be calling.  While you’ll still have to pick up the phone, you’ve created an expectation that you will call, and chances are good that you’ll avoid an awkward beginning.  If you suggest that you’ll call, though, you absolutely must do so — or run the risk of looking like a flake.
• Send an article or other resource that will interest your contact.  The resource may address a legal or non-legal issue, but it must be tied in some way to a conversation you’ve had with the contact.  Attach a note that says, “I remember talking with you about [topic of resource] at [wherever you had the conversation] and thought of you when I saw this [resource].  Hope it’s useful!”  By doing so, you not only reconnect by offering assistance, but you do so in a way that will bring your conversation back to your contact’s mind and refresh the relationship.
• Issue an invitation.  You might invite your contact to an open house or to attend a CLE or other seminar of interest with you.  If you deliver an invitation by mail or email, be sure to attach a note saying that you look forward to reconnecting.  This personal touch will indicate to your contact that your interest in genuine.
• Seek out news about your contact.  This may be a more challenging approach if you’re seeking to reconnect than to maintain a relationship, but it’s worth a quick search to see whether your contact has been in the news recently.  You may find news of a professional event (an honor awarded, a trial won, a leadership position attained) or a personal event (a new marriage, a new baby, a recreational or community activity).  Such news offers an ideal reason to get in touch again.

Take a few minutes this week to review your list of contacts.  With whom should you reconnect?  Choose three to five people and reach out to them.  Building and maintaining your network is always a valuable activity, and keeping relationships alive will often pay off (often in unexpected ways) over time.

You’ve probably heard the time-proven suggestions about email:  set aside the first 90 minutes of your day for productive work, not for checking email; disable “new email” notifications; be careful when you address an email; use descriptive subject lines…  On and on and on.  If these tips are new to you, you have an opportunity to recover some of the time you’re now spending on email.

But these tips don’t tell you what to do when you’re faced with an overflowing in-box filled with client communications and requests, administrative matters, newsletters of professional and personal interest, and who knows what else.  An in-box isn’t designed for storage; important emails can easily get lost.  You need to take charge so that your daily activity isn’t subject to other people’s priorities as expressed through their emails.

Here’s how to process an overwhelming in-box easily and effectively, so you can get on to the real work.  (Be sure to set aside a block of time — at least an hour — to complete these steps if you have more than 100 emails.)

1. Sort the folder by sender.  Sorting by sender will let you drill down quickly based on how important the information is likely to be from a particular email correspondent.
   1. First, handle emails from clients, opposing counsel, or other professional contacts.  Respond quickly if possible, and if a response requires more thought or research, highlight or flag those emails or move them to a folder labeled “Respond ASAP” or similar.  Whatever you do, do not allow them to recede back into the chaos.
   2. Delete any emails that you don’t need to read, including those from retailers and spammers.  Yes, you might miss the deal of the century, but it is unlikely — and certainly not your top concern.
   3. You will likely find any emails that contain good information — perhaps ABA newsletters or other newsletters that you find useful (maybe even this newsletter).  Delete them.  If you’re concerned that you’ll miss something, move the emails to a “Review Later” folder and calendar a date by which you’ll delete anything you haven’t otherwise handled.
2. Sort your in-box by subject.  Sorting by subject may help you recognize important emails that you haven’t already caught.
   1. Delete or file everything that does not require a response.  (And note that the standard is “require”, not call for or deserve.  Your goal is to streamline.)
   2. If you can respond to an email within two minutes, do so.
   3. If the response will take more than two minutes, highlight or flag the email or move it to a follow-up folder.
3. Respond to all of the emails you have marked for follow-up.  This step will require the bulk of your time.  Set a goal to have it completed in no more than a week.
4. Resolve to process your in-box regularly going forward, using these steps:
   1. Scan your email for important emails.  During this step, delete anything that you can tell immediately does not require attention, such as a reminder of an appointment of which you are well aware or spam.  Do not read any email, though, even if you know you will delete a message as soon as you have read it.  The only purpose for this step is to find anything important that may be buried in your in-box.
   2. Read each email.
      1. Delete or file every email that does not require a response.
      2. If you can respond to an email in 2 minutes or less, do so.
      3. If an email will require a more in-depth response:
         1. If you are checking email on an hourly basis, move the mail to a folder labeled “Respond Later”, and return to it during your designated time to deal with correspondence.
         2. If you are checking email only 2 or 3 times a day and processing your email fully during that time, respond to each email — and be sure to keep track of your time, if billable.  Your initial review of your in-box will allow you to address all emails pertinent to a particular matter in one block, which will facilitate billing for your email review.
   3. File or delete each email after sending your response.

Applying these steps may take some practice, but they’re integral to avoiding email overwhelm.  Where will you start?