WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM THE 2015 SURVEY?

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About this time every year, Altman Weil releases the results of its survey of law firms. Those who work in large firms need to read the report – tellingly titled Law Firms in Transition – because it’s a good window into what other firms are doing and why, which is critical information both for firm business purposes (in other words, what’s working?) and for competitive purposes. Those not in large firms need to read it because smaller firms have increasing competitive opportunities that may increase yet further thanks to some of the problems outlined in the report.

A handful of summary points caught my attention:

  • Overcapacity of equity and non-equity partners, especially in larger firms, is endemic and a drag on profitability.
  • Non-traditional competitors are actively taking business from law firms and the threat is growing.
  • In 63% of law firms, partners aged 60 or older control at least one quarter of total firm revenue, but only 31% of law firms have a formal succession planning process.

The upshot from the report is that law firms are taking measured steps to change practice (evolutionary, not revolutionary) and that clients aren’t demanding anything more. In other words (and, to be clear, these are my words, not Altman Weil’s), law firms are like one hunter in a group running from a bear: there’s no need to be the best runner, just better than the slowest hunter. This is not a particularly good sign for large firms, but it may be good for smaller firms that are seeking to innovate and offer more client-appealing alternatives to the norm.

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READY FOR LEGAL SERVICES MARKET CHANGES?

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Last week, I spoke at a national law firm’s annual All-Attorney Meeting, and I also had an opportunity to hear Professor Bill Henderson speak about the challenges facing the legal profession. If you haven’t yet read his recent feature in the ABA Journal, I suggest you start here . A short excerpt from that article describes one of the new competitors facing lawyers: the field of legal operations.

I have gradually concluded that legal operations is not just a job within a legal department. Legal operations is a multidisciplinary field where professionals collaborate to design and build systems to manage legal problems.

A lawyer might say to a client: “Better, faster and cheaper—pick two.” A legal operations professional figures out ways to get all three. To date, the greatest advances in legal operations have occurred in legal departments, yet the same inventive methods and mindsets are cropping up in traditional law firms and sophisticated “New Law” companies funded by non-lawyer investors.

Wondering why you should bother reading the article? Here’s the only reason you should need, offered in Professor Henderson’s words:

In my travels over the last several years, I have talked to hundreds of lawyers, including many law firm partners. One of the strongest impressions I have drawn is that many partners are too immersed in their own practices to grasp the broader changes that are occurring in the profession.This is because maximizing short-term revenue has become a precondition of maintaining one’s status and income.

 . . .

This perspective is not the result of a faulty character. It is a natural feature of an industry undergoing a major transition.

Once you’ve read the article, here’s the critical question you (and all lawyers) should mull: Now what? The answer will be different for every firm and every lawyer, but one thing is for sure… Without a reasonably good answer to that question, the future looks pretty dim.

 

ARE YOU READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS?

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December begins in 6 weeks. Notice what feelings that simple statement caused in you. Are you anticipating year’s end, and why? Are you concerned about making your hours? Do you feel like this year has been super successful, and you’re ready to take on 2016? Or do you feel that this year hasn’t gone so well, and you may as well throw in the towel and begin again in January? Whatever your immediate reaction was has information for you, so notice that.

But that isn’t the point of today’s newsletter! My point today is action-oriented, and it has the potential to help turn around any disappointment you may be feeling about your 2015 business development progress.

The holiday season starts in 6 weeks, too. Are you ready? Here are some things you might work on now so you’ll be ready to take advantage of the most social time of the year.

  1. Choose gifts (whether and what you’ll send) for your top contacts. (In The Reluctant Rainmaker framework, this is your A list.)Being mindful of any corporate policies that could restrict your options and think about gifts that draw on your contact’s interests. In general, the more important the contact, the more carefully selected the gift should be. If you don’t have time for shopping, contact a concierge service and describe the contacts for whom you need a gift plus a price range, request three options for each, and let someone else do the legwork.
  2. Choose gifts for other contacts. (In The Reluctant Rainmaker framework, this is your B list.) These can be more general, and you might consider something that has a tie-in with you or your practice. For example, a lawyer I know once found a vineyard that shares his name, so he sent wine to a number of contacts.
  3. Make your list and check it twice. Ideally, you will have kept up with your contact list through the year, so sending holiday cards (to all contacts, including your C list) will be a breeze. If not, this is the time to update it, cull out anyone who no longer fits, and add new contacts. Decide (assuming you have the option) whether to send electronic or paper cards, and get the cards ready to go. Sending your cards early reduces the likelihood that they’ll get lost in the mid-December pack.
  4. Make your party plans.  You can’t predict which individuals will have holidays parties, in the absence of long-standing tradition or your own decision to serve as host, but you can check calendars for organizations you’ve joined. You probably won’t be able to attend every gathering, so calendar them early and be clear on which parties are your priority. Then, as other invitations flow in, you’ll know what business-oriented gatherings are already scheduled, and you won’t miss a good business development opportunity for a run-of-the-mill personal party.
  5. Make a date. Because the holidays tend to be so social, it’s often an easier time than usual to line up lunches, coffee meetings, and so on. Again, you can’t do it all (and neither can your contacts), so take some time to identify the people you most want to see and issue your invitations early. These meetings are a good opportunity to develop or rekindle relationships and even to dig into your contact’s upcoming plans to see what help you might offer.

It may feel like a long time before we start issuing “Happy Holidays” wishes, but the season is actually right around the corner. Start planning now so you can make the most of the seasonal opportunities.

HOW DO YOU DISTINGUISH YOURSELF?

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Do you ever feel that you’re just one lawyer in a large sea of competitors? Hundreds or thousands of other lawyers may occupy the same niche that you do, and you may wonder how to set yourself apart. The challenge lessens if you have specific expertise in a niche, but re-emerges for everyone at some point in business development.


Here’s the bigger problem: lawyers’ websites often read almost identically. Everyone has “years of experience” that will “create value” for their clients through “excellent client service.”  Important, necessary, but oh-so-very-dull, isn’t it?  In today’s economy, if that’s all you can say about yourself and your practice, you’re in trouble.

If you fail to differentiate yourself from other lawyers and law firms, you’ll fail to capture attention—or if you get attention, your audience may not be able to remember who you are. Of course, you must follow certain ethics rules, but looking like everyone else will do you no favors.

So… How can you differentiate yourself? While the options are potentially limitless, three examples may help you to create your own ideas.

1. Narrow your niche. You can speak to a specific audience (same sex parents for estate planning purposes), a specific legal need (helping closely held or family businesses navigate sale or purchase), or a specific part of practice (appellate litigation). When you go narrow in scope, you must go deep in focus so that you become a leading voice in your field. Going deep offers strong content marketing opportunities, and you can distinguish yourself by speaking with laser focus.

2. Create a unique experience for your clients. What can you offer clients that other lawyers can’t or don’t? The opportunities vary widely by practice area, but any value-added service is a good step toward differentiation.And remember: how you practice is just as important as what you do in practice. Be attentive to the habits that may set you apart from others. Opportunities to set yourself apart abound: quick responses to telephone calls and emails, regular case updates, and educational resources on topics such as how to prepare to give deposition/trial testimony or what to consider when getting ready to make estate plans, to give a few examples.

3. Become active and visible in the community. Volunteering, serving on boards, or working with non-profits in other capacities is a good way to become known. It provides a context and opening for conversations that reluctant networkers may find more comfortable. Your pro bono work may even present you the opportunity to offer guidance and suggestions that serve as a taste of the service you offer clients. Moreover, you may have opportunities to speak or write through these channels, both of which will serve to raise your profile. Just a caveat: if you expect this community work to support you in building your practice, make sure there’s a logical nexus between the community work and your practice either by topic or overlapping audiences.

What’s not on this list of ways to set yourself apart from others? General descriptors that suggest you’re smarter or more savvy than other lawyers won’t cut it without something specific to back it up. Your strategic insight may in fact differentiate you from others, but your target audience won’t believe you if you tell them. Demonstrate these qualities by sharing representative matters or an article that displays your strategic approach. 

Successful lawyers are clear about what makes them different from others, and they know how to communicate that persuasively. If you want to differentiate yourself from other practitioners, it’s imperative to connect with an internal compass that will point to what does indeed make you different. If you don’t know what that is, you won’t be able to convince anyone else. Get feedback from colleagues, clients, and/or an outside source.

HERE’S HOW TO WIN FROM FAILURE.

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The end of the year is rapidly approaching. (According to some stores, Christmas is just around the corner, which accelerates the feeling!) I hope you’ve been reviewing your business development plan throughout the year so you can adjust your plans to match what’s actually happening, but if not, now is the time to revisit your plan and evaluate your results. If your results are good, keep on keeping on… But what if you see failure and dead ends?

In last week’s article, I suggested you take a fresh look at business development missteps to see what you can learn from them. Sometimes you may find not just missteps but a series of closed doors, assumptions that proved to be wildly untrue, or concerted efforts directed to groups of potential clients or referral sources who simply couldn’t care less. Then what?

You Can Change the plan reminder on a notice boardWhen you see failure, think pivot. Here’s Jeff Goins’ description of a pivot:

In basketball, you are allowed to take only two steps after you stop dribbling the ball. When you take that last step, the foot you land on becomes a “pivot foot.” That foot must remain fixed, but the other can freely move about, allowing you to spin around and find a teammate to whom you can pass the ball. 

Although you are confined to where you are and how many steps you can take, at no point are you locked into any direction. That’s the beauty of the move. Even when all other opportunities are exhausted, you can always pivot. 

A pivot is powerful not just in sports but also in life, because it takes away your excuses. It puts you back in control of the game you’re playing. Pivoting isn’t plan B; it’s the only plan that works. 

Goins’ article (published as a guest post on Michael Hyatt’s blog) The Surprising Success We Find in Failure: How Pivoting Can Snatch a Big Win from Near Defeat offers specifics about the pivot and three questions that can help you discover the fixed point around which a pivot is possible. Read Goins’ post. 

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What can you learn?

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Here’s a quote to bring your Q3 2015 to a close:
       “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”
                            —Thomas A. Edison
 

 

While it may be obvious how to apply this quote to widgets (Post-it® Notes, for example, are the result of a lab experiment gone wrong that turned out exceptionally well for 3M), it applies to business development as well. 

Most likely, something you did this year for biz dev didn’t go the way you’d hoped. So here’s the challenge: what can you bring out of that biz dev “mistake” that can be useful? Maybe you have an opportunity to make an ally. Maybe you generated a conversational opener. Whatever is on your “I can’t believe this happened” list, look at it with fresh eyes and see what opportunities may be hidden in the mistake. Asking this question at the close of Q3 may open interesting doors for Q4. 

CHOOSE ONE THING

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My favorite question to ask is, What one thing could you do this week that would have the most significant effect on your practice? Distraction and a divided focus can undermine any effort. And if your efforts take you outside your comfort zone, trying to do too much at one time generally results in little or no movement.

Your business development plan will incorporate multiple activities, but choosing one high-value focus per week (or month or quarter, depending on your plan) ensures that you make significant headway. What’s more, making the decision about which activity is currently the highest value will prompt you to evaluate your plan and to keep it as a living document instead of a one-and-done plan that stays on the shelf.

Pull out your business development plan right now (if you don’t have one, perhaps we should talk) and choose one activity to focus on this week. It might be as large as working on an article or a presentation, or it could be as targeted as setting up a conversation with a key contact. Whatever it is, block out the time on your calendar and complete that activity this week.

CRISIS OF TRUST AND CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR PRACTICE

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Have you noticed over the last five or ten years how many leaders in industry, sports, politics, and more have been revealed as untrustworthy? Let’s name a few names. Bernie Madoff: trusted financial advisor. Lance Armstrong: trusted cancer-survivor-turned-multiple-Tours-de-France-winner. Politicians too numerous to count. Even entire organizations, like Countrywide Financial Corp.

Closer to home for lawyers, we have the lawyers whose billing practices are outlined in this unbelievable-but-true article. (Subscription required.) The article includes examples such as a a series of bills that showed one lawyer charging 42 hours in a single day and a lawyer who had rented a VIP box at the home stadium of the Indianapolis Colts and “tried to charge his client for the catered food and alcohol for the entire box by listing it on his bill as ‘dinner while attending deposition in Indianapolis.'” And then we have the leaders of Dewey & LeBoeuf now on trial and the handful of lawyers who give the rest of the profession a bad name. All aberrations, but their antics contribute to a niggling lack of confidence that some may feel about lawyers as a group.
Unfortunately, when attorneys hit the news as being untrustworthy (especially in the context of other people, professions), and industries are being unmasked as deceitful, it’s harder to gain trust. That impacts not just business development, but also (at least in some instances) client and other relationships.

How can you conduct yourself so you’re recognized as trustworthy? Here are a few foundational steps:

  1. Do what you say, when you say you’ll do it, the way you say you’ll do it. It’s a simple standard that isn’t necessarily easy to meet, but each time you do, you’re demonstrating that you’re reliable. This is especially important when you’re establishing a relationship with a potential client or referral source.
  2. Tell the truth. That’s a given, right? Perhaps not, at least not fully, in certain instances. There are plenty of opportunities to shade the truth about a likely outcome by suggesting the best-case scenario, possibly without even realizing that the suggestion is misleading. And it extends in other areas as well, to telling the truth about problems and mistakes, including being willing to confront difficult situations rather than sweep them under the rug. In such circumstances, telling the truth may be difficult, but it shows you to be credible.
  3. Put your clients’ interests first, and where appropriate, acknowledge that you’re doing so. Most clients have probably wondered at one time or another whether a lawyer could have performed some task more quickly or if there might have been a more expedient route to the final outcome. (That’s part of why we have alternative fee arrangements now.) When you demonstrate day in and day out that you put your clients’ interests first, your clients won’t have to wonder again, and they won’t feel the need to question anything you tell them. You will become the much-desired trusted advisor.
  4. Be predictable, in all the right ways. This is a corollary to points 1 and 2 above, but it’s worth stating separately. Be on time for meetings. Return calls within the time frame you promise, or let your client know (before that time frame expires) when you will be able to call. Small behaviors like these again demonstrate your credibility and build trust.
  5. Be sure everyone else who interacts with your clients and contacts uses the same approach. Behavior of your staff and colleagues reflects on you. Make sure that reflection reinforces your credibility.

It’s dramatic to identify a crisis of truth, but that crisis is very real. Consider how it may affect your professional relationships and your business development opportunities. For more food for thought, read this blog post.

Two powerful words for success

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September in the United States means back to school. After spending over half my life in school, I always feel a certain fresh energy in the fall that prompts me to take a fresh look at my goals. I start thinking about what I need to learn, what I need to do differently, and even what I’ve been promising myself I’d change. And if conversations with clients is any barometer, I’m not alone.

Regardless of the time of year, it’s easier to feel enthusiastic while setting goals than it is to maintain the necessary energy and determination to make progress toward those goals. That’s the problem with new year’s resolutions, right? It’s fun to imagine a whole new life or business or body, but it’s a lot of work to get there. 

I recently ran across this article from leadership and platform-building expert Michael Hyatt, in which he suggests that two words can “set you up to win every time.” Using these two words allows you to make “implementation intentions” that address the things that keep you from reaching your goals and declare what you’ll do differently. (Read the post—it’s a quick one—for specifics on how to set implementation intentions and what these two critical words are.) 

Here’s the action step that Hyatt prescribes at the end of his post, and I invite you to take the same inquiry specifically in the context of business development and growing your practice: 

“Think about one goal that matters to you right now. What hinders your progress? Create a list of implementation intentions. Like the examples [provided in the post] put these in the first person, and review them often.” 

Identifying obstacles and planning how to overcome them is a simple and highly effective way to make progress toward your goals. Do this today, and you can create remarkable results.

Do you compare?

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Last week a client bemoaned the fact that his peers were all advancing more rapidly with business development than he was, that they all seemed more confident than he felt, and their opportunities were endless whereas he had to work hard for every opportunity he had. Ever had a day like that? If there’s data to support those feelings, it’s worth taking a look at what’s going on… But if you’re making judgments about your comparative success based on nothing more than feelings, you’re almost certainly not seeing reality, whether you’re selling yourself short or inflating your success.

Here’s the quote I shared with my client:

“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” Steven Furtick

This is true on social media; it’s equally true in the business world. Comparison can be valuable when it
helps you to identify a route you hadn’t considered before or a strategy worth considering, but much of the time it’s demoralizing because most of us highlight success while concealing failure.

If you’re watching others and feeling that you don’t measure up, look to the data. Ask whether you know the background story. For example, was your colleague offered a highly coveted speaking opportunity on the basis of reputation alone, or did she network her way into the right group and then request a speaking role? Was her proposal turned down four times before it was finally accepted?

You likely know the analogy of the swan serenely gliding across the surface of the pond while paddling like crazy underneath the water. When you compare yourself to a swanlike colleague, be sure you can peek under the surface level to see the paddling. Chances are, you’ll realize that your colleague is succeeding as a result of consistent, strategic work—and that you can, too.