What are your rainmaking priorities?

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“All things being equal, people will do business with – and refer business to – those people they know, like and trust.” This quote, from Bob Burg’s excellent book Endless Referrals, sums up why it is that relationships serve as the basis for rainmaking. It also clarifies what your priorities should be for business development. Focus first on those who already know, like, and trust you, and then seek to expand those sources of business. That order of approach dictates, in turn, the priorities that you should set as you work to develop your book of business.
1.    Priority #1: Current clients. Your current clients are your “low hanging fruit.” Your top priority should be providing them excellent client service. Consider these aspects of client service:
  • Communicate with your clients and observe their preferences for amount and kind of communication that they want.
  • Be responsive. Manage your clients’ expectations and ensure that your clients always know how to contact you or someone in your office.
  • Share bad news appropriately. Deliver the news as soon as possible. Explain the news, what it means, and advise the client about next steps.
  • Be reliable with cost estimates and billing.
  • Facilitate your work with your clients. Anything you can do to make it easier for your clients to do business with you is likely to be well received by your clients.
  • Spend time with your clients. Consider spending time with clients in a social setting or (where appropriate) by visiting their place of business to develop a more full understanding of their business.
  • Deliver extra value to your clients. By providing some assistance, promotion, or service to your client that is over and above the legal services you’ve agreed to provide, you demonstrate the importance you place on your client relationships generally and on that client specifically.
  • Conduct client satisfaction interviews or surveys. Unless you ask, your clients are unlikely to volunteer their level of satisfaction unless they’re dissatisfied to the point of considering terminating the relationship or effusive in praise.
2.    Priority #2: Former Clients and Referral Sources. The second priority for business development efforts is former clients and referral sources. These contacts already know and, presumably, like and trust you.
 
3.    Priority #3: “Warm” Potential Clients and Referral Sources.If you have some connection to a potential client or a contact who might be in a likely position to refer business to you, consider these individuals to be “warm” contacts. They don’t yet know, like, or trust you, but if you’re introduced by someone in whom they have confidence, you’re more likely to be able to develop a relationship with greater speed than without such an introduction.
 
4.    Priority #4: Strangers. Converting complete strangers into clients is by far the most arduous form of business development. It’s necessary to determine the potential client’s needs and to match your abilities to those needs – assuming that those needs aren’t currently being met by another lawyer – and, raising the level of difficulty yet further, the process of getting to be known, liked, and trusted begins at ground zero. While strangers do become clients, the path is typically longer and less direct that the path from warm contact to client. Wooing strangers should be the lowest priority task in business development activity because it has the lowest potential of yielding new business at any given time.

When you apply these priorities to your business development efforts, something surprising will happen. You’ll begin to view your billable work as a rainmaking activity as well as the heart of your practice. You’ll also begin to see relationships as the “must do” meat of your business development plan, and you’ll understand why you shouldn’t expect to move a new contact quickly from stranger to client. As a result, you’ll be able to stage the rainmaking work you do so that you put time in where it’s most effective. And over time, you’ll find that your business development work yields much better results.

Book Review

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The 29% Solution:  52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies
by Ivan Misner by Greenleaf Book Group Press

I heard a lot of response to last week’s suggestion that networking is the most important thing a lawyer can do to grow a practice.  A few disagreed with my assessment, but most responded by asking how to network well.  Some introverts mentioned their discomfort in walking into a room of strangers.  Others said that they’d tried networking but didn’t see good results, and wondered what went wrong.  And a few said they worried about being obnoxious or being cornered by pushy or mercenary people.

Although legal rainmaking is different in many respects from other kinds of sales, good networking encompasses a universally applicable system of skills and strategies.  This week’s book review, The 29% Solution, presents those must-take approaches and ideas in a simple, easy-to-apply yearlong program in which you take on one new skill each week through the year.  Do so successfully, and at the end of the year, you’ll join the estimated 29% of people who are separated from the rest of the world by just six degrees.

Section One sets out foundational steps such as setting goals for networking, blocking out time for networking, and creating a network relationship database to help you track the connections among your contacts.  By week seven, you begin to get into the meat of networking strategies with the “Top 10 Traits” of master networkers:

  1. Timely follow-up on referrals
  2. Positive attitude
  3. Enthusiasm/motivation
  4. Trustworthiness
  5. Good listening skills
  6. Commitment to networking 24/7
  7. Gratitude
  8. Helpfulness
  9. Sincerity
  10. Dedication to working one’s network

Section Two recommends ways to grow a network of contacts and points out in week 12 the danger that many lawyers face:  being a “cave dweller.”  Many reasons surely exist not to network:  discomfort, the press of business, desire to do other activities instead.  To succeed in networking, however, you will have to step out of your cave and into the wide world, where you can practice the steps presented in the previous subsequent chapters.

Section Three presents advanced strategies.  While not especially unusual, these tips are commonly practiced only by highly skilled networkers, and they tend to produce excellent results because most people don’t use them.  For instance, Week 19 recommends sending a handwritten thank-you card following a meeting, and Week 20 exhorts readers to follow up “TODAY.”

The “how to” tips of great networkers are the focus on Section Four.  Touching on topics such as event sponsorship and looking constantly for opportunities to develop relationships, these chapters reinforce helpful approaches that go above and beyond the typicaly networking tips.

Section Five focuses on how to communicate while networking and offers a golden tip:  ask others the questions you’d like to answer, because people will generally turn the question around to you after answering.  If you apply the chapters in Sections One through Five, you will become an effective networker.

If you want to become a masterful networker, continue on to Sections Six (which encourages you to become an expert, through writing and speaking), Seven (which offers some approaches for promoting yourself using client feedback and success stories), and Eight (which encourages the reader to do what others won’t do).

The 29% Solution offers the eminently practical (some might say obvious) reoommendation that you engage in smart networking, which is defined as focused, strategic, and delivering a high return on investment of time, money, and energy.  While this recommendation borders on being so obvious as to be a turn-off, it can be forgiven since it serves as a valid reminder not to strike out and flail about in a thoughtless flurry of networking activity.

If you’re uncomfortable in networking settings, pick up The 29% Solution and browse its ideas.  I would not recommend adhering to the weekly schedule, because you might delay or miss helpful ideas.  For instance, week 43 offers the helpful suggestion that you adopt the mindset of a host; this is one of the top tips I recommend to introverts, and I hate to think that someone might suffer through 42 weeks without finding the suggestion that, with a simple shift in attitude, can transform networking.

If you’re looking for information specific to networking in a legal setting, check out The Reluctant Rainmaker: A Guide for Lawyers Who Hate Selling.  You’ll find step-by-step recommendations on how to begin networking and how to become a master at growing connections with the right people to advance your law practice.  Visit TheReluctantRainmaker.com to learn more and to pick up your copy today.

The Reluctant Rainmaker video

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I’ve received terrific feedback about my new book The Reluctant Rainmaker: A Guide for Lawyers Who Hate Selling, and people have asked what made me decide to write this book now.  Here’s a short video with my personal story about why helping lawyers learn to excel in business development (especially helping the lawyers who think they don’t have the “magic touch” necessary to bring in new clients) is so important to me.

TRR LA June 25

What’s the best way to grow your practice?

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One of the keys to success is efficient and effective action.  We all know that’s true in billable work, and we study time management and time mastery to find ways to optimize daily activity.

Nowhere is this principle truer than in business development.  Most lawyers don’t get excited at the prospect of undertaking rainmaking activity, and thrashing about aimlessly (meaning, inconsistenly and without a solid strategy) is almost guaranteed to produce poor results.  And poor results tend to produce a heavy sigh and a, “See, I knew I’m not destined to be a rainmaker” attitude – which tends to doom future action.  It’s a nasty cycle, and avoiding that cycle entirely is much easier than breaking it once it’s started.

So, it follows that the best way to grow your practice is by taking consistent, strategically determined steps toward your goals for you practice.  Once you become aware of the importance of consistency and strategy in rainmaking, you’ve unlocked the first key to business development success.

However, you still have to know what to do, and that’s the source of the popular question, “What’s the best way to grow my practice?”  It isn’t possible to give a blanket answer for every lawyer and every practice.  Advertising, for example, is a good tactic for some practices, especially those that depend on immediate and urgent need and a high volume of matters.  It’s less likely to pay off for practices that center on more complex matters that are ilkely to generate high fees.

One rainmaking tactic, however, tends to perform well no matter the practice area:  making personal contacts.

As Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals, wrote, “All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like and trust.”  In other words, the more people who know you and think well of you, the more likely you are to receive business and referrals.

While you might argue about whether all things are ever equal, think about how you select any servicee professional you hire.  Whether you’re looking for a dentist, a house painter, a baby sitter, or a lawyer, chances are that you check with at least one or two or your contacts to get a referral, and a significant number of clients who seek your services will do the same.  Knowing more people increases the chance that someone in need of your services will find out about you.

Likewise, your current and former clients know and, one would hope, like and trust you.  They also have had the experience of working with you, so they know how you serve clients and may be able to evaluate, to some extent, your legal ability.  As a result, current and former clients may be even more likely to refer business to you and, where your practice is amenable, bring you additional work themselves.

So, the bottom line is that the more people you know, the more likely you are to bring in new business.  And it follows naturally that, without knowing any information about your specific practice or your strengths, my top recommendation for growing your law practice is to work on increasing your network of contacts, consistently and strategically.

Consider these questions to kick-start your networking:

  • Are most of your clients referrals, or do clients contact you directly?
  • Where do your ideal clients congregate?
  • Where do your ideal referral sources congregate?
  • What organizations offer a natural fit for your practice, by virtue of subject area or membership, and how can you get involved?

If you’d like to learn more about where and how to network, you may want to investigate The Reluctant Rainmaker: Business Development for Lawyers Who Hate Selling.  You’ll find step-by-step recommendations on how to begin networking and how to become a master at growing connections with the right people to advance your law practice.  Visit TheReluctantRainmaker.com to learn more and to pick up your copy today.

Don’t underplay yourself

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When a law firm hires me to work with a junior associate, very often one part of the engagement centers of the associate’s leadership presence and self-confidence – how he or she presents to others.  (Of course, that focus is not by any means unique to junior associates.)  Although reviewers may use a variety of words such as proactive, poised, assertive, or self-assured, they’re usually looking to see to what extent the lawyer is able to present as a leader, as someone who is sufficiently self-confident to inspire others’ confidence.  Such a person typically contributes to conversations, asks insightful questions, and is willing to express an opinion or espouse a position.

Interactions with someone who lacks this level of confidence tends to leave others (supervising lawyers and client alike) uncertain of the message being conveyed.  Does a lack of contribution indicate lack of comprehension?  Boredom?  Something else entirely?  It may be difficult to interpret what what’s happening, but the result is a lack of clarity and an unwillingness to rely on the lawyer whose self-presentation is found to be lacking.  The consequences can be significant, including unduly slow career progression (or even being fired) and difficulty in building client relationships.

For instance, I was working with one client (let’s call him Tom) who was hoping to make partner and entered coaching to strengthen his performance so he’ll be a strong candidate.  He’d picked up on some comments that made him question whether he was viewed as partner material.  I found Tom to be intelligent, personable, and funny.  I also noticed that when I’d ask him a question about his work, he downplayed the role he’d played.  It puzzled me, because I could tell from the kind of work he was describing that he was a heavy lifter on the cases, but to hear him talk he was simply supporting work done by others.  One day, Tom said that a particular concern he held about making partner was that it didn’t seem like anyone regarded his work as being important or notable.  He explained the evidence for his feeling, and then I asked his permission to share an observation.

I told him that when he described his own work, he minimized and understated his contribution.  To hear him tell the story, he contributed little more than hours – and certainly nothing critical in terms of strategy or deep analysis.  But when I asked specifically and pressed, he’d tell me about tasks he’d done and decisions he’d made that were quite high-level.  My assessment was that because he was so careful not to overstate his contribution – and perhaps so uncomfortable being in the spotlight – he didn’t give a fair opportunity for someone to understand the kind and level of work that he was doing.

We devised a plan for Tom to share more about his work, and he discovered that when he changed his communication style and became more open about what he was doing, people began to appreciate the scope of his work and to understand what he was capable of doing.  He got more and better work, and he felt that others’ perception of him was more accurate.

Michelle, another client, was upset to receive a review that indicated that some clients didn’t want to talk with her because they felt that she didn’t have a sufficient grasp of the right legal strategy to accomplish their aims.  When pressed for details, a reluctant partner admitted that although he knew Michelle understood exactly what was at stake and how to advance the clients’ interests, her comments were so often peppered with words like maybe and possibly and her inflection was so often questioning that she just didn’t seem to be sure of what she was saying,.  The result was that her communications undermined his confidence in her even though he knew she was almost invariably right about what she was saying.  After making a concerted effort to notice the habits that the partner identified, Michelle started speaking with more authority and more clarity, which over time (and along with other changes that Michelle implemented) increased the confidence that others put in what Michelle said.

 How do you know if your presence isn’t as strong as it should be?  Here are three common signs:

  1.  You create “wiggle room” with your word choice or with your vocal inflection.
  2. You feel the urge to speak up or to ask a question but you stop short – and then someone says what you’ve been thinking, and you feel frustrated.  (Or you do speak up but your comments aren’t much noted, and then someone says effectively the same thing and gets more attention.)
  3. You find that you generally speak much less often than others in a meeting.  (But this can be a sign of strong presence if, when you speak, others give significant weight to your comments.)

If you recognize yourself in these signs or if you’ve received feedback that you need to be more proactive, perhaps we should talk.  While learning to project more confidence and a stronger leadership presence requires stepping outside a comfort zone, the impact can be dramatic.  Especially in this difficult market, your job and your client relationships may depend on your ability to inspire confidence.  Ready to take the first steps?  Email jessica (at) lifeatthebar(dot)com to set up a time for us to get acquainted.

The large firm crisis

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I was in Boston last week for the ABA midyear meeting, and the mood was grim. Conversation was centered on the economy, especially in light of the announcement that nearly 800 large firm employees were laid off on Thursday, a toll that climbed to over 1000 by the end of the day Friday, according to The National Law Journal.  Anecdotal reports suggest that some smaller firms are making similar layoffs, though they’re not getting the same press.

And what if you’re a laid-off lawyer?  I’ll write more about that in the next few days.  And I’d like to extend an invitation that I made to the readers of my newsletter Leadership Matters for Lawyers: I’m considering how I might add value specifically for you, perhaps through a monthly free teleclass or report with strategies that you can implement now to help you make your next move.

I’d like your feedback: what can I offer to help you find the next job, to make sense of what’s happening in the legal economy now, or otherwise?  I can’t promise anything, but I’ll read through every response and do my best to implement some of the best suggestions.  Please leave a comment below (anonymous, if you’d like) or send me an email to Julie@FlemingStrategic.com.  I will hold all email responses confidential.

Weekly Rainmaker Activity

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This week’s task:  Review your biographical sketch and update it if appropriate.

Why is this a good activity?  Your bio sketch is likely to be your first introduction for potential clients who are referred to you, for potential clients who find you on the Internet or otherwise, for other lawyers, etc.   Your sketch may also be returned based on a Google or other keyword search online.  It’s important that your sketch be accurate, persuasive, and up-to-date.

How to undertake this activity?   Review your sketch and ask these questions:

  • Is your important accomplishments and memberships listed?
  • Is everything accurate and up-to-date?
  • Have you minimized or (better yet) eliminated legal jargon, so potential clients and referral sources will understand exactly what you do?
  • Is your your photo attractive and does it accurately represent you?  (Flattering shots are fine, but if someone would be unlikely to recognize you based on your photo, get a new one.  Typically, you’ll want a new photo every 3-5 years.)
  • Does your sketch list any community activities or other leadership involvement?
  • Does your sketch include a simple, searchable way of identifying your practice area?
  • Does your sketch include the keywords that someone trying to find a lawyer like you might enter in a Google search?

Look at your sketch online.  Is the most important information “above the fold,” meaning that it shows on the screen without requiring you to scroll down to it?  If not, reorganize.

How long will it take?  If it’s been a few years since you’ve revised your sketch, this could take as long as 1.5 to 2 hours.  If it’s reasonably up-to-date, 30 minutes will probably suffice nicely.

What will it do for me?  Completing this task will ensure that you don’t lose out on opportunities because of inaccurate or missing information.  You’ll know that you’ve put your best foot forward online.

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5 Tactics to Implement NOW

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I know you’ve been reading the negative legal news over the past few months.  Some of you have been directly affected, and some fear that you might be hit next.  Today’s post presents the five steps that you must take now.  These apply whether you’re looking for a new job (voluntarily or otherwise), trying to make yourself more valuable so your practice will flourish or so you’ll be considered indispensable at your firm, just starting out, a seasoned practitioner – you get the idea.  These five steps are also critical in business development, so pay special attention if rainmaking is on your goal list for 2009.

1.  Get crystal clear about whom you seek to serve and how to reach those clients, and then deliver more and better than they could possibly expect.  If you’re a fairly new associate at a large firm (within the first two or so years), you’re serving the more senior lawyers at your firm.  It’s important, of course, to narrow down on your niche, but your focus needs to be on the lawyers who will give you assignments.  If you’re more senior or working in a smaller firm, you may serve more senior lawyers as well as “real” clients of a particular description.  When you’ve identified the people you serve, look for ways to impress them.  Maybe it’s offering extra resources, maybe it’s proactively raising a potential problem before it turns into an actual problem, or maybe it’s offering a fresh perspective on a long-standing challenge.

2.   Set SMART goals for yourself and your practice.  SMART goals are Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based.  Setting goals in this way ensures that you can track your success as you proceed.  Instead of saying that you want your client communications to be more timely, you might decide to set a standard that you return all telephone calls within 3 hours of receipt.  Instead of setting a goal to bring in new billable work this year, you might decide to set a goal of bringing in $25,000 of new work in the next year.  (Whether that’s an achievable goal depends, of course, on your own circumstances.)

3.  If what you’re doing isn’t working, change.  You’ve probably heard the definition of insanity, attributed (probably wrongly) to Einstein: “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  Maybe that definition doesn’t always apply, but it’s accurate for operating in our current environment.

So, are you insane?  Some old approaches are still valid, but others are now a waste of time.  If you don’t know which is which, make it your business to find out now.

4.  Find valuable shortcuts.  Time remains precious, and it’s wise to eliminate as many time-wasting activities as you possibly can.  If you want to learn something new, find a mentor, coach, or training program to show you how to avoid the common traps and how to become proficient more quickly.

5.  Drop the excuses and the blame.  I must speak plainly on this one: circumstances will never be perfect, and if you wait until they’re better you’ll actually be moving backward.  If you’re unhappy in your work but you stay on because it’ll be hard to find a new position in this economy, you aren’t doing yourself or anyone else any favors.  If you choose not to invest in necessary training or resources because times are tight, you’re actually costing yourself.  While you’re waiting for just the right plan or just the right time or just the right opportunity, others are moving forward with plans and opportunities that are good enough.  They’re moving forward and gaining momentum, and you’re standing still.  As we all learned in high school physics, objects in motion tend to stay in motion and objects at rest tend to stay at rest.  That holds true for people, too.

Here’s the bottom line: if you’re stressed and worried, you aren’t alone.  You may find it tempting to hunker down and try not to open yourself to further trouble, but that’s exactly the wrong thing to do now.  Everything may begin to look brighter with the new year and new administration, or it could get worse.  Don’t wait for an external solution.  Implement these five steps now.

Got resolutions?

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The last couple of weeks of the year offers a fine time for several activities.  Finishing the last work of the year and getting bills out is task critical, but not the only one on the list.  Attending holiday gatherings and talking with clients and other contacts to express your appreciation and good wishes for the new year is likely at the top of the list.  (If it isn’t, perhaps you should reconsider.)  Recreation, relaxation, and re-energization may be on the list for many, which presents a good chance for starting 2009 ahead of the game.

I always recommend that, just as you close one day by checking on what went well or not and laying plans for the next day, you close the year in reflection and planning for the next year.  I recently challenged a client who’d been working some comfortable but unsuccessful client development activities with the observation that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  After a moment’s silence, she chuckled wryly and said, “Well, I guess I’ve always been a little off….”
So, what’s gone well this year, and what must you change to reach your goals?  Sometimes the changes are minor, like choosing to reach out to a different group of lawyers in your firm or your network in hopes of building a stronger professional community.
And sometimes, the changes demand real courage and unflinching honesty.  When I started Life at the Bar in 2005, I faced a huge learning curve.  I wasn’t getting the results I wanted, so I decided to work harder… And harder… And then finally, exhausted, I looked squarely at the facts and admitted that I needed to change something if I really wanted different results.  That’s when I began re-examining my business approach and asked for help.  I worked with a marketing coach one-on-one for several months, and earlier this year I joined a marketing mastermind group led by a coach.
My results?  As of today, I’m reaching 294% more lawyers with this newsletter than I reached when it launched on January 13, 2008, and I’m no longer exhausted.  That change is terrific for my business, and (even more importantly) it means that I’m advancing my business purpose (of supporting lawyers in developing successful, satisfying, and sustainable practices, which in turn will help lawyers help their clients, which in turn has a huge impact on our society) more and faster than ever before.  And I’m laying plans for even more next year with the support and suggestions of my coach and the members of my mastermind group.
That’s my story.  What will your story be this year?  What will it be this time next year?  What’s working well, and what would you like to work better?  Where do you need to change?  What assistance do you need?  Spend a few minutes mulling this over.  Think big: what’s your ideal?  What do you need to do to get there?  And remember all aspects of your practice and life: your legal skills, your collegial relationships, your client service skills, your rainmaking activities and results, your career advancement, and so on.  Today’s book review will help tremendously with client service, which has an impact on business development as well.
An assignment: schedule an hour or so to reflect on this year and to lay your plans for next year.  The time will pay remarkable dividends.