Legal Business Development: Plans Are Important, But Nothing Happens Without Action!

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It’s obvious that action is required to bring in new business, right?  Sometimes, though, you have a great justification for not action…  When everyone is out of town or busy, when you’d like to get started with networking, but no available group feels like a good fit, when you just don’t know where or how to get published or to get an opportunity to speak, what then?

Here’s the simple truth:  you will hit roadblocks, quagmires of uncertainty or doubt, and even roadblocks in your business development journey.

A few of my clients have run into this situation, and their response often predicts (or even determines) their level of success.  Those who move forward in a helpful direction, even if it isn’t optimal, tend to do well; those who stall out and wait for the “right” conditions tend to flail and eventually fail.  The successful ones pursue a common line of analysis, and that’s what I’d like to share with you today.

Step one:  determine whether this is an obstacle, meaning a temporary challenge that can be resolve through action or by the passage of time, or a roadblock, meaning a long-lasting challenge that is due to issues you don’t control.  Imagine that you’ve identified an organization that sounds ideal for your practice.  If it’s on hiatus for the summer, that’s just an obstacle.  If your review of the events calendar shows that activity has dwindled to nothing and that the organization appears to be moribund, that may be a roadblock.

Solve or wait out obstacles; strategize an alternative approach to get around a roadblock.  Continuing the organization example, if the group is on hiatus for the summer, you can simply wait for Fall to get involved, and perhaps you can consider helping the group find ways to stay active even over the summer.  If the group is moribund, however, even though you could try to revive it, it probably wouldn’t be the best use of your resources, so you should look for another activity.

Step two:  if you’re waiting out an obstacle, get started with something else in the meantime; if you’ve hit a roadblock, go to plan B.  Could you identify some leaders in the group whom you might contact directly?  Is there a next best organization you might join?  You might choose instead to work on getting an article written and published, or you might track down a speaking opportunity that makes sense for your strategic plan.

There is always a viable Plan B.  If you find that you’re tied to a single approach, pull out a piece of paper and brainstorm alternatives, giving yourself permission to list even the silliest ideas in service of finding the right idea.

Whether you adjust your plans to move around an obstacle or a roadblock, you must keep moving.  Don’t allow an obstacle to prevent you from launching or continuing your business development plan.  There’s always more than one route to a goal.  Choosing to wait until you can execute your original plan (or even what feels like the best plan) is analogous to delaying the start of an exercise program because you plan to ride your bike but can’t because it’s monsoon season.

In summary:  make your plans, but be ready to adjust them in response to obstacles and roadblocks.  Plans are important, but when it comes to business development (and just about everything else, too), nothing happens without activity.

Nothing happens without focus

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“I know how to burn a hole in paper without a match or a lighter or anything.”  Last week while I was playing in the park with some kids, Anna, age 7, showed me how to use a magnifying glass to focus sunlight on a piece of paper and burn a hole in it.  It was magic to her until I explained that the magnifying glass focuses the sun’s rays to make them much stronger than they’d otherwise be.  And for Anna, the ability to focus was almost more exciting than the magic she’d perceived, because she could understand and repeat it.

Focus.  It’s an easy concept to grasp but sometimes a difficult one to apply, especially when you’re facing numerous demands on your time and energy.

You know multitasking isn’t the answer (you do know that, right?) but it can be so very tempting.

As I often tell clients, if you can’t focus on business development so that you act consistently on a cohesive, strategic plan–if you allow yourself to be pulled this way and that by whatever is most pressing at the moment–you will not be successful in growing your practice.

But it’s easy to get distracted, especially by something as truly pressing as billable work.  That’s why I’ve selected quotes about focus for your review (below).  Consider putting them where they will catch your attention.

That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity.  Simple can be harder than complex:  You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.  But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
~Steve Jobs

One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power.  Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.
~Tony Robbins

You don’t get what you want in life.  You get what you focus on and expect.
~Tony Rush

Often he who does too much does too little.
~Italian Proverb

 

5 Ways to Generate Content that Get You Noticed, Connected and Hired

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I was a guest on my friend and colleague Jory Fisher’s BlogTalkRadio show last week.  After talking with numerous clients who were experiencing writer’s block, Jory and I agreed to discuss content generation:  why to create content (meaning, generally, written or oral information relevant to your practice that you share with an interested audience), how to use your content, and what to do to make the creation simple.  Here’s the show description:

There it is…  The blinking cursor on the empty screen.  You need to write a blog post or article, to put together your next presentation, or even to come up with something witty and thought-provoking for social media.  You’re stuck–but you can escape the pressure.

In today’s market, “content is king”.  Whether you write or speak (or both!), the information and expertise that you share is the key to getting found by your ideal clients and the media, gaining entree into the right business circles, and landing new business.  Join us to discover five simple ways to ramp up your content generation and how to use the content you create to advance your business.

Generating information that is useful to your target audience and that showcases your knowledge and skill is a key way to market your practice…  But sometimes, it just seems like a pain to do.  And sometimes, even when you’ve put in the effort and produced the content, you may wonder how to make the most of it.

Five Easy Ways to Generate Amazing Content will show you how to create great content easily and how to use content you create for maximum effect.  Although the interview was focused on women entrepreneurs of faith (Jory’s client base) rather than lawyers specifically, every bit of it is applicable for legal business development.

The interview is some of the best content I’ve offered in quite some time, so be sure to check it out.  In the meantime, here are the 5 ways to break writer’s block and streamline your content creation:

  1. Read a daily news source or blog (Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review blog, your local business journal) and find ways to relate your business/offerings/message/purpose to at least one story daily.  You may not choose to use what you come up with, but it’ll get your brain moving.
  2. Keep a list of client questions and case studies.  Bonus:  make it your habit to write down one story each day, something that has occurred to you or a client or contact, and relate that to your practice.  Always watch for teachable moments.
  3. Read blogs in your area of practice and watch for ideas with which you disagree.  You can add your two cents as a comment on the blog or through your own blog, article, etc.
  4. Track what people are discussing on social media that’s relevant to your practice.  Expand the topics and offer your perspective.
  5. Make a prediction:  what do you see trending in your industry or with your clients?  Then connect the dots for your audience by recommending how they can take advantage of changes or avoid upcoming problems.

If content creation is a part of your business development strategy (and, almost without exception, it should be!), download the show and give it a listen.

Habits determine outcome, so get your habits right

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Every single one of my clients faces the need to build new habits at some point.  Whether it’s replacing an unhelpful old habit or building a new one from scratch, the process of illuminating automatic behavior and changing it can be quite difficult.  At the same time, building a habit that operates without conscious thought and that supports desired outcomes is a marker for success.

You have to have the right habits.

Especially when it comes to business development, I’m a proponent of building strong habits.  Why?  Because habits build a structure that takes over in the face of challenges.  Habits are behaviors that we perform without thought.  They just happen.  And when they don’t, we feel so uncomfortable that, for better or worse, we usually revert to the habit.  There’s a lot of power in a habit.

But it isn’t easy to establish a new habit, and it’s often even harder to break an old one.  We’ve all heard the “do it for 28 days and you’ll have a habit” advice.  That doesn’t match my experience, though, and too often it doesn’t match my clients’ experience.

Several recently published books explore habit, but Duhigg’s The Power of Habit captured my attention.  In an Amazon Q&A, Duhigg shares what sparked his interest in habit:

What sparked your interest in habits?

I first became interested in the science of habits eight years ago, as a newspaper reporter in Baghdad, when I heard about an army major conducting an experiment in a small town named Kufa.

The major had analyzed videotapes of riots and had found that violence was often preceded by a crowd of Iraqis gathering in a plaza and, over the course of hours, growing in size.  Food vendors would show up, as well as spectators.  Then, someone would throw a rock or a bottle.

When the major met with Kufa’s major, he made an odd request:  Could they keep food vendors out of the plazas?  Sure, the mayor said.  A few weeks later, a small crowd gathered near the Great Mosque of Kufa.  It grew in size.  Some people started chanting angry slogans.  At dusk, the crowd started getting restless and hungry.  People looked for the kebab sellers normally filling the plaza, but there were none to be found.  The spectators left.  The chanters became dispirited.  By 8 p.m., everyone was gone.

I asked the major how he had figured out that removing the food vendors would change peoples’ behavior.

The U.S. military, he told me, is one of the biggest habit-formation experiments in history.  “Understanding habits is the most important thing I’ve learned in the army,” he said.  By the time I got back to the U.S., I was hooked on the topic.

Duhigg’s book is divided into three parts:  The Habits of Individuals, which explores how habit works and how to create and change them, The Habit of Successful Organizations, which describes how various businesses use (and perhaps abuse) habit formation, and the Habit of Societies, which investigates societal habits and related ethical questions.  Filled with stories, anecdotes, and tweetable insights, the book is a quick read that seems to be well-grounded in research and experience.

I was surprised to learn that, according to cited Duke University research, more than 40% of actions are habits rather than action motivated by conscious decision.  Duhigg defines habits as “the choices that all of us deliberately make at some point, and then stop thinking about but continue doing, often every day.”  That’s when I began to pay close attention to the book.

Habits are based on a three-step process:  a cue that triggers the action, the action itself, and the reward.  Using examples such as the habit of checking email (routine) in response to a message waiting alert (cue) to relieve boredom (reward).  Duhigg explains why habits are so difficult to change.  When a cue triggers us, we crave a reward, and the habit occurs automatically.

To change a habit, Duhigg teaches, choose a cue and a reward, then focus on the reward until you crave it, and preferably join a group composed of others who believe that change is possible.  It sounds easy enough, and Duhigg offers plenty of examples, but he also acknowledges that habits become deeply and often unconsciously engrained, making change difficult.

I was particularly intrigued by Duhigg’s recitation of research that demonstrates the success of those who make specific plans for action well in advance and know how they’ll work around obstacles.  We’ve all watched carefully cultivated habits fall apart when work gets unusually busy or a child gets sick, and Duhigg’s recitation of finding after finding serves as a strong prompt to anticipate obstacles.

What’s in it for you?

The Power of Habit offers both conceptual and concrete tips on how to make habit-building more conscious and more successful.  As noted above, every single client I’ve worked with in the last six years has bumped into habits at some point.  Bad habits (such as returning to the office with intentions to follow up with a new prospect only to watch days slip by without any movement) have to go, and new ones take their place.  Implementing Duhigg’s suggestions will  help.

I wish The Power of Habit had offered more discussion around identifying harmful habits that are not obvious, such as the realization that Iraqi riots wouldn’t occur without food vendors’ presence.  It’s one thing to know what habits are getting in the way, and it’s another entirely to see a pattern of blockages without being able to identify the linchpin habit that’s creating problems.  (Very often, an outside observer is the best way to spot that habit.)  Once you’ve identified the deleterious habit, though, Duhigg can help you to change it.

I’m studying The Power of Habit to help my clients find more effective ways to build automatic behaviors.  If time is limited, I’d strongly recommend that you read at least the first four chapters.  You’ll get a good grounding in how to create and change habits, and you’ll likely find yourself at least skimming the rest of the book.

In the meantime, ask yourself:  what do I do with little or no thought that’s getting in my way?  What reward am I craving?  How can I get that reward without the harmful behavior?  What should I substitute?  Even if your study of habit remains on that relatively surface level, you and your business will benefit.

 

The Art of the Ask: How to Ask For Business (And When Not to Ask)

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How do you ask for business?  We all know intuitively (or through training) that those who don’t ask typically don’t get business.  However, many lawyers are reluctant to ask explicitly for business, and rightly so.  A flat request can disrupt a relationship if the answer is “no”, and, under some circumstances, asking can even be an ethical violation.  Even when those concerns are not in play, some lawyers may feel pushy if they ask for business.  And yet, the inner voice cautions (or should caution!), if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Knowing whether and how to ask for business requires  you to check several considerations.  A few examples are:

  • Listen to your gut…  If you’re sensing that an explicit request for the business may be too pointed, you could be correct.
    Try a gentler approach (something like “I’d be happy to suggest an approach for that”) may blunt the approach and yet get the message across.
  • …But notice how often your gut tells you not to ask.  If your gut almost always tells you that asking would be too pushy, it’s time to do some work on your comfort level.  What conditions would have to exist for you to feel comfortable in asking for business?
  • Look for the win / win.  Lawyers often use rather violent language for business development:  “eat what you kill” compensation systems, “killer instinct” in pursuing new work, and “bagging a client”, for instance.  This language casts the lawyer as the hunter and the potential client as the victim or the target.  Although few lawyers actually regard their potential clients in that way, the fear or being perceived as a ruthless hunter may prompt a lawyer to hold back.  It may even prompt lawyers to ask for business so tentatively that the request implies that the potential client would be doing the lawyer a great favor by hiring him.  When you issue a good request for business, you know the benefit and value you’re bringing, and you can weave it into your request.
  • Listen to the potential client’s concerns and offer some feedback, leading naturally into an offer of further help.  If you take this approach, be sure that you don’t stray into giving legal advice without sufficient knowledge of the facts.  You can suggest potential avenues or approaches for consideration, though, and offer to help if your contact would like to explore them.
  • Invite a potential client to your office for a consultation, and specifically mention that you’ll discuss your engagement letter and answer any questions they may have.  If you know enough about the client and the matter to be sure that you would be willing to accept it, this can be a natural way to move the conversation forward.

Asking for business requires both the right mindset and the right words or technique.  You might get hired without asking for the business, but until you master this skill, you can’t count on growing your book.

Think about your current “low hanging fruit”, or the potential clients most likely to retain you right now.  What approach would be most helpful for them?  What approach will open the possibility of working with you most effectively?  When have you held back from a request, and how might you recover and adjust your habits going forward?

What are you willing to risk to grow your practice?

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What are you willing to risk to grow your practice?  The reality is that reward almost always requires some risk, whether it’s the risk of stepping outside your comfort zone, the risk of putting an investment on the line, or the risk of rejection.

There’s no point in taking foolish risks, but without taking some risk, you’re unlikely to accomplish your goals–unless, of course, you aim too low.  By nature and by training, we lawyers tend to be a bit risk-averse.  This month’s quotes offer food for thought on risk…  How do you decide when to take a risk and what stakes to accept?

It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win.  ~John Paul Jones

You can measure opportunity with the same yardstick that measures the risk involved.  They go together.  ~Earl Nightingale

Life is inherently risky.  There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.  ~Denis Waitley

Often the difference between a successful man and a failure is not one’s better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on his idea, to take a calculated risk, and to act.  ~Maxwell Maltz

Can’t-Miss Articles

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There’s a lot of analysis these days about practice and law school in light of the recession and the recovering economy.  Most of these articles are focused on large law firms (for a variety of reasons ranging from the better availability of data to the different economic pressures), but the discussions are relevant whether you’re a sole practitioner or working in one of the largest firms in the country.  Practices aren’t fungible, but the “legal industry” is a system, and what happens in one sector will create an effect in another sector.

Here are a few articles that you can’t miss.  I’d suggest you make time to read them today, but don’t let next week start without your having read and digested each of these.

1.  The Last Days of Big Law:  You can’t imaging the terror when the money dries up.  This articles takes a critical view of large firms (and the lawyers who inhabit them), using Mayer Brown as the prime example of all firms of its size and caliber.  While some of the points seem unduly negative (painting life for all partners as “demeaning” and “altogether soul-crushing” for associates), it makes some important points.  Most notably, the article recounts the challenges that more junior lawyers (associates and income partners) face in landing new business and receiving credit when they succeed in doing so.  (And see also this response from a former Mayer Brown partner.)

Who needs to read it?  Anyone working in an AmLaw 200, and most especially those who are midlevel or more senior but not yet equity partners.  Those who are in AmLaw 51-200 may want to read especially closely:  these firms are earning a decreasing share (48% in 2003 vs. 42% in 2013) of the market, which is itself increasing–3% in the last year and 84% in the last ten years.

And if you’re in a smaller firm, you’d better read it too, since there’s usually a trickle-down effect (positive and negative) from the larger firms.

My take is that there’s some interesting anecdotal information that’s heavily skewed to the negative, but there’s also some truth that deserves exploration.  I do think too many lawyers are hoping for a return to “business as usual” and that only those who can adapt to the changing economy and business landscape will prosper.  I’m dubious that the fear and predatory competition that the article describes is systemic, and I expect that the profession will continue to evolve to meet the business.  Still, this is the can’t-miss article of the week.

2.  Is Law School a Good Deal After All?  Analyzing a recent paper titled The Economic Value of a Law Degree, this article concludes that:

“over the course of a career, your average J.D.-holder will make almost $1 million more than a similar worker with just a bachelor’s degree (or about $700,000 after taxes).  Even law grads on the low end of the salary scale seem to fare better than their merely college-educated peers.  Crucially, the paper finds no evidence that the earnings premium has declined since the economy crashed.”

Worth a read, both for the pro and con points.

3.  Planting Trees, And The Reason Business Development Is Difficult.  This article illustrates one of the easily overlooked common-sense rules of business development:  it takes time.  No matter how talented or skilled you are, you have to invest time into listening, engaging in dialogue, and delivering value.  If you’ve wondered why your stop-and-start business development efforts haven’t paid off, this will explain it.

4.  The Small Firms Lawyer Considers Big Ideas.  It seems only fair to highlight an article that’s specific to small firm lawyers, and this is a good one because it highlights the advantages that small firms have in agility and entrepreneurial thinking.  In a larger firm?  The question, as always, is how you can apply similar principles to your own practice, even though your firm will operate very differently.

That rounds up my top four articles for this week.  What have you read that I missed?

Legal Business Development: How to Decide Whether to Write an Article, Deliver a Presentation, or Attend a Conference

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“Should I write an article for this publication?  Should I accept this invitation to speak?  Should I attend this conference?”  Since neither time nor money is unlimited, you’ll have to make some difficult decisions about which business development activities to pursue and which to let pass.

Especially if you’re eager to get new business, it’s easy to accept any opportunity to accept any opportunity that crosses your path.  Accepting scattershot opportunities will leave you with scattershot results, sap your energy and resources, and ultimately leave you exhausted.

When you’re evaluating an opportunity, ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Will this activity reach the right audience?  Whether it’s writing for, speaking to, or networking with the wrong audience 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.  Who are your ideal clients and referral sources?  That’s your audience.
  2. How much time will this require?  Be realistic in your estimate — 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.  What’s more, you must know, before you begin, what results would make it worthwhile for you to have undertaken this activity.
  4. What’s the opportunity cost of this activity?  In other words, if you take on this activity, what must you give up?  Look at the cost in both time and money.  Consider, before you begin, whether you would be better advised to invest elsewhere.
  5. What non-business development benefits will you get from the activity?  Depending on your stage in practice and your personal finances (or revenue from your practice), other benefits may outweigh a lack of clear business development payoff.

Depending on your strategy and plans, any activity can be a simple way to increase your professional reach or a time-consuming and ineffective approach.  Going through these questions will help you to make foundational decisions that will get you on the right track — before you undertake any new activity.

 

Legal Business Development: What You MUST Learn From Law Firm Layoff Trends

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On Monday morning, I read a Wall Street Journal article sharing the news that law firms have “regained some of their pricing power” and that hourly rates are up an average of 4.8% from 2011.

Later Monday, other news started to roll out:

  • Weil Gotshal announced a layoff of 60 associates (7% of its associates) and 110 non-lawyer employees.  Weil further announced that about 10% of its partners will see “meaningful adjustments” to their compensation.  See articles here and here.  The layoffs were explained by the shrinking market for premium legal services that are a part of the “economic realities of the new normal”.  According to the firmwide memorandum that announced the action, Weil remains strong on a variety of economic indicators that have been linked to the demise of Dewey LeBoeuf.
  • Jones Day announced a “reorganization, which includes a realigned management structure and the elimination of 65 positions around the Firm.”  All of these positions are staff.

This follows earlier stories of firm layoffs, including:

Does this signal a return to the cuts of 2008-2009?  I don’t think so, though I do think it’s quite likely we will see additional layoffs and firm failures.  Instead, these layoffs seem to be signs of large firms’ efforts to adjust to the “new normal,” a change that is neither comfortable nor simple.

But the trend that’s becoming clear should be a wake-up call, whether you’re practicing by yourself or in a large firm.  There has never been much room for non-productive personnel in a law firm, but the measuring stick for contribution is much tighter now than it might have been in the past.  And thanks to shifting client demands, smaller and less elite firms have opportunities to gain from clients unwilling to accept law firm business as usual.

Here’s what you need to know today:

  1. If you are a service partner, you may be at risk.  I’m hearing from more and more service partners who have seen their compensation cut, sometimes by as much as 50% over the last three years, and moving to another firm may be difficult or even impossible without a demonstrated ability to bring in business.  Technical expertise is only one component of a successful practice, and if you don’t have your own clients, you may soon find reduced opportunities to demonstrate your expertise.
  2. If you are a junior associate, you have to “learn the law,” but you’d better spend time developing your network and beginning to lay the foundation to build a practice as well.  You may hear that you don’t need to worry about bringing in business yet,  but you need to lay the groundwork well before you need to see results, especially in more sophisticated practice areas.
  3. If you’re working in a midsized or larger firm and don’t have your own book of business, it’s time to get moving and to look for ways to facilitate introductions for your firm.  Even the very most junior lawyers may have an opportunity that results from conversation and culminates in an introduction to a more senior lawyer who is more likely to land the business.  That opportunity won’t happen if you aren’t looking for it, however.
  4. If you’re working in a small firm or as a sole practitioner, you have opportunities.  Larger firms are historically resistant to change, whether because of institutional beliefs and expectations or simply because it’s harder to shift the approach of a firm of several hundred (or thousand) lawyers than to shift the approach of a firm of a dozen lawyers.  This is a time to reconsider practice and to look for ways to meet your clients’ (and desired clients’) needs and preferences, even those that may not have been fully expressed yet.  Read Mitchell Kowalski’s intriguing book Avoiding Extinction:  Reimagining Legal Services for the 21st Century for inspiration.
  5. Whether you’re a highly successful rainmaker, an aspiring rainmaker, a reluctant rainmaker, or a lawyer in denial, relationships matter.  It’s critical that you focus on building a network that’s composed of clients and former clients, referral sources, colleagues, former classmates, and other contacts.  This network is your lifeblood, whether you’re looking for business, for a job, or for a new dentist.  Build it before you need it, and always seek to add more value to your network than you extract.  (If this is a scary thought to you, email me and I’ll be happy to send you a list of networking resources that will help.)

The days of having a practice supported by being a “great lawyer are gone forever.  In today’s economy, every successful private practice lawyer is a rainmaker who has created an effective plan for building a consistent pipeline of new business.  Rainmakers harness their unique strengths and perspectives to create a cohesive, strategic, simple-to-implement plan–and they take consistent, focused action on that plan.

Don’t delay.

Legal Business Development: Where do you stop yourself from getting results?

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A few days ago, a colleague and I were swapping stories about our business missteps:  the things that just didn’t work, and the things that were colossal, flaming failures.  To listen to us, you might think that neither of us had a viable business, must less a successful one–but fortunately, that isn’t at all the case.

Although the failure stories are fun to tell (with sufficient hindsight and success in the time since), the real story is in how we respond to the failures and, more importantly, how we turn failures into success.  Stella and I shared experiences in which we’d had to undertake massive action to change course and shift our results.  Sometimes graceful, usually not, we’d refused to quit until we had succeeded.

Toward the end of our conversation, Stella said, “That’s the difference between success and failure:
knowing when to quit, and when to dig in and do what it takes to succeed.”

Are you stopping yourself when instead you should shift strategy and keep going?  Here are some indicators:

  • Have you put in enough effort?  I attended a Christian high school, and every classroom included a poster that read, “Bless me, Lord, according to my preparation.”  Religion aside, if your preparation has been half-hearted, you can’t expect good results.  Be honest:  have you put in the necessary time and energy to get the results you want?
  • Are you picking apart opportunities unfairly?  Lawyers are highly skilled at finding problems, and that skill sometimes undermines business development.  For example, are you waiting until you find the perfect opportunity to get active in a relevant industry organization?  Are you searching for the perfect speaking opportunity?  If no action seems to have a sufficient likelihood of success, you may stop yourself from taking any action at all — and that’s a certain route to failure.
  • Are you unconsciously looking for proof that you can’t land business?  If you believe that business development is a talent that you may lack, you may unintentionally expect and then highlight any evidence to support that proposition.  Do you expect to succeed?
  • Do you feel disheartened? It’s ok to feel discouraged for a time, but recognize that feeling as an impotent emotion.  When you’re disheartened, you’ve given up and your activity will grind to a halt.A client once consulted me on an upcoming pitch and described some of the challenges that might prevent him from getting the matter.  Rick’s tone was downcast, though he put a good face on it by asking how he could address the problems in the future, so he might succeed next time.  He had already given up on the pitch, which ensured that he would not be successful.I pointed out that he had declared failure prematurely and challenged him to buckle down and shoot for success or to bow out of the pitch contest altogether.  Rick chose to strategize how to meet the challenges that had consumed him.  He was irritated (first with me, then with the challenges themselves) and he used that energy to create and deliver a powerful pitch, and a few days later he received the good news that he’d been retained.

    When things aren’t working out, take a bit of time to be disappointed, but then get your energy flowing.  Do whatever you do to pump yourself up (work out, listen to powerful music, review a list of your successful engagements) and then get active.

  • Do you have a partner who can push you forward?  I pushed Rick forward, and many times my mentors have urged me to continue when I really wanted to give up.  Be sure that you have a mentor who can offer objective insight into whether you should keep going and who will give you a swift kick if you stop yourself.  You may find this a difficult determination at times, and outside help and support makes all the difference.

A successful business development plan will require you to give up unsuccessful activities, but before you stop, be sure that you’re stopping for the right reasons.  Don’t allow the discomfort or discouragement to stop you short.