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What’s their “why”?

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I’ve written over and over about the importance of knowing why you want to build your own book of business. Why gets to the root of your motivation. It will carry you through the difficult times when business development work seems like too much on top of your billable and other responsibilities. It will give you the reason to persist even when your effort isn’t yielding the results you’d hoped. Most importantly, it gives you a way to measure whether what you’re doing is moving you toward satisfaction or away from it. If it’s been a while since you’ve given this some thought, I’d encourage you to spend some time with your why soon.

But today, let’s focus on the why your client or potential client holds. Their why matters on two levels:

  • Level One: the substantive purpose (what they hope to accomplish through the work you’ll be doing) For example, if you’re a litigator and your client or potential client is contemplating filing a breach of contract claim against a supplier, the substantive why is addressing an issue (quality, cost, etc.) that arguably violates the terms of the agreement. If a criminal defendant is considering hiring you, their fervent desire is for you to show that they aren’t criminally liable for their actions.  This is the kind of why we learned about in law school, it’s the why that determines the strategy we use to approach a matter, and it’s the kind of why that we focus on day in and day out.
  • Level two: the motivation that underlies the matter, which may speak to a larger strategy or an emotion For example, the breach of contract claim might be lodged to clarify rights and responsibilities in an ongoing relationship, it might be lodged to terminate a relationship, or it might be designed to seek recompense for problems in a relationship that’s irretrievably broken. The criminal defendant might want simply to avoid liability, or they might have taken the steps they did because they want to test the validity of the underlying law.

The secondary why often plays the stronger role in business development. Why is this business development client/potential client approaching you to discuss this matter? What do they hope to accomplish through the representation?

When you understand the motivation behind the contemplated action (or the desired secondary outcome in the case of a litigation defendant whose first goal is obviously to avoid liability), you’re better positioned to demonstrate that you understand your client/potential client. You’ll be able to present your relevant experience and to discuss the approach you might take considering the underlying motivation. You can slant the conversation toward the underlying desire. Sometimes the desire won’t be attainable or shouldn’t be pursued (revenge fantasies, for example), but when you demonstrate you understand the business development client/potential client’s motivation, you let them know they’ve been heard and that you’ll work toward their objectives as best you can.

The why also comes into play when a potential client expresses reservations about the cost of hiring you. When you understand their motivation underlying the matter, in addition to explaining your methods of cost containment, you can connect the motivation to the cost of the desired outcome. Budget is often an issue for a routine matter, but if the motivation underlying a matter is particularly critical, you can use that to explain why the costs are as they are. (To be clear, I’m not suggesting a premium for a matter that’s particularly important; this is simply a method to help explain the budget you might propose.)

Finding your client’s/potential client’s why is as simple as asking questions. What would you like to take away from this transaction? What matters most to you about this? Why would you or wouldn’t you consider settlement, if we can find common ground? In negotiating this deal, is there anything you must have or can’t agree to give up?

Both business development and successful representations require you to understand your client’s motivation. Start laying the groundwork when you meet new business development contacts. As you’re learning about them and (where appropriate) their business, ask questions that will help you to understand their values, their emotional temperature, and the reason they do the things they do. The more you know, the better you’ll be able to position yourself for BD, and the better you’ll be able to represent and/or manage your clients and their matters.

Take a Fresh Look at Your Business Development Efforts

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If you’ve been reading this newsletter for any time, you know I often urge you to review your business development plan and your BD progress. The reason is simple: it’s easy to focus on what’s right in front of you (whether that’s a success or a failure) and therefore easy to let other activities or results slide off your radar. That’s always a mistake. Even if you were to attain the practice and client roster of your dreams in the proverbial sweep of a magic wand, no one can afford to rest on success, and no one who wants to move forward professionally can let failure derail their efforts.

Let’s take a fresh look at your business development efforts this month, through the lens of appreciative inquiry. Lawyers are trained problem solvers, which means that we often look first for problems. And there’s nothing wrong with that: spotting the problem is obviously the first step to solving it, so checking on what isn’t working is an important part of your review.

It’s at least as important to look at what’s right in your business development plan. You’ll spot your obvious successes and the instances in which it appears success is right at hand. That’s easy.

Let’s look at an example.

Sarah is a midlevel associate IP litigator who focuses on the life sciences industry. Like many lawyers, she came to me with a list of business development activities and goals, but no coordinated plan. We designed a plan and put some meat on her goals by adding a time frame and measurables, and she got busy.

Over time, Sarah experienced a variety of successful outcomes. She’d wanted to raise her professional platform, and she did so through several writing opportunities. She attended a seminar attended by in-house counsel and was able to start building relationships with several people working in-house in life sciences companies. A law school classmate had invited her to events attended by other lawyers (both in-house and outside) and she was growing her network substantially.

She also had some less positive outcomes, including attending other affinity group meetings with zero life sciences company attendance, working to grow relationships but not being successful in getting follow-up conversations or meetings scheduled, and taking part in some unsuccessful pitches.

My client consulting relationships start with a seven-month engagement, and we always conduct a green/yellow/red light analysis at the end of the seven months to ask what the lawyer should continue doing, continue but evaluate again soon, and stop doing. You can probably make a good guess at those lists based on what I’ve shared about her activities.

I asked Sarah to take a deeper look at her business development activity. Beyond the wins, losses, and lack of movement already identified, what’s going right? After some discussion, Sarah came up with several things that were going right and logical next steps:

  • Sarah had a business development-focused conversation as a part of her year-end review, along with an offer for regular BD discussions with her team leader, and Sarah devised a non-intrusive way to keep the team leader up-to-date about her BD efforts;
  • She noticed that a partner in her firm had been including Sarah in client meetings and helping her to build relationships with senior-level client representatives, so she decided to be proactive in asking for client introductions;
  • She reflected on a difficult experience on a matter that left her feeling that a senior associate lacked confidence in her and asked, What else might be going on here? Sarah identified three alternate reasons for what happened that allowed her to consider whether the events were actually about her, how she could follow up to determine whether her feelings were grounded, and how she might approach the senior associate in the future;
  • She discovered that conversations she’d had with several contacts revealed interest in a particular legal topic, so she explored writing an article about that topic and was able to secure a tentative agreement to publish her piece in a journal that would reach her ideal clients both internally and externally; and
  • She realized that through her networking, she’s started to develop business relationships with several people who might serve as referral sources, so she planned to have conversations with them about referrals that could run in both directions.

Without appreciative inquiry, Sarah likely wouldn’t have noticed or addressed these events in the same way, and she would have missed valuable information and opportunities that support her business development work.

Now, it’s your turn: beyond the obvious, what’s going right with your business development efforts?  What does that inquiry reveal about next steps you might take to shift a “going right” activity to a full-fledged win?

Trust is the fuel

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The quality of our relationships often has a significant effect on how satisfied we are with our lives, including our work lives. Relationships are critically important for business development and in day-to-day practice, since they can open the door not just to new business but also to a wide variety of professional opportunities and resources. Who you know frequently influences what you get to do.

I’ve written extensively on relationship-focused topics like internal and external networking, reestablishing relationships, building a peer network, etc. Today, let’s focus on what makes any kind of relationship work, professional or personal: trust.

During the early days of the pandemic when many parts of the country were shut down, I advised client after client to pick up the phone and call their clients and contacts—just to see how they were doing, not to further any business development objective. Those who followed this suggestion often discovered that the people they called appreciated the human-to-human connection. This wasn’t intended to be a slick trick to get more business, just a way to connect, to demonstrate that the lawyer placing the call cared about the person they’d called, not just what that person could do for them. Even so, the calls often paid business dividends. More importantly, they helped to build (or to further) trust.

Trust is the fuel for lasting business relationships with clients and colleagues and pretty much anyone else, too. Think about it this way: whether you’re facing a difficult personal situation, a challenging client matter, or a high-stakes pitch, wouldn’t you prefer to work with someone with whom you’ve developed a relationship of trust? So would most clients.

Being trustworthy requires:

Doing the right thing. And doing things right.

– Don Peppers

Other than personal contacts made in times of crisis, what else builds trust in business? It’s a limitless list, but a few ideas that might serve as a springboard for your own:

  • A sense of partnership. Not “I’m doing this for you,” but “we’re in this together.”
  • Meeting the other party’s preferences, where possible. When you make things easier for a client, whether that’s following their preference for email vs. telephone communication or sending regular reports so they’re always up-to-date on a pending matter, you’re building trust by conveying the message that you’re working to make their experience as friction-free as you can.
  • Avoiding surprises for your client. If an invoice is larger than usual, for example, you might give your client a warning your client before sending the invoice.
  • Inviting your client’s substantive input where appropriate and giving them time to offer their thoughts. Inviting input with a deadline that would require your client to drop everything to respond in time, on the other hand, telegraphs the message that you aren’t aware of (or you don’t care about) their other demands.
  • Letting your client know when they might expect to hear from you when they call or email you and you aren’t immediately available… And then following that timeline.
  • Proactively providing information or suggestions that are useful to your client shows that you’re aware of their needs and on the lookout for helpful resources.

These and other simple steps let your client know that you’re paying attention and worthy of their trust. The same principles apply for non-client contacts and colleagues, as well as others. Relationship- and trust-building is an art of business development that pays numerous dividends.

Your turn: What have you noticed that’s allowed you to develop trust with others? Are there professional relationships that might benefit from additional attention? This is the perfect time to lay your relationship business development plans as we move toward the close of Q3.

Does Business Development rely on thought leadership?

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The term thought leadership has been a buzzword since the mid-1990s, when Joel Kurtzman first used it to describe people who “who had business ideas that merited attention.”

It’s now a phrase that people use in their LinkedIn profiles (I wouldn’t recommend that) and something that many lawyers aim for as they work on growing a book of business. But, does this help you in your business development strategy? On one level, that makes a lot of sense: we know the value of leadership in business and in client relationships, and we know that offering that leadership in substantive matters demonstrates knowledge, skill, and value.

However, over the years, many of my clients have aimed for thought leadership and found themselves stymied. Coming up with a brilliant and original idea and the time to write about it in a way that’s authoritative and accessible can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be that hard.

Let’s look at what might constitute a brilliant, original idea for your clients.

First, let’s focus on you. You’re steeped in your practice area. You work in it nearly every day, so you touch on the basic principles, the nitty gritty. At times, you’ll delve into the reticular aspects of your topic, the intricate, interwoven, perhaps wispy ideas where new law is made. Some part of your work is likely to be somewhat rote, but you’re always thinking about the implications, legal and business, of the work you’re doing. You likely see more than someone who might know the legal principles but not put them into real-world practice.

Now, let’s look at your clients. This is where you need to know who your clients are as you work on your business development plan: what they know, how they think, and their level of legal sophistication. (I’m referencing your clients on the assumption that your clients are the kinds of new clients with the kinds of new business you’d like to attract. If that isn’t true, then substitute an ideal client description for the rest of this discussion.)

If your clients haven’t had much experience in your field of law, most any insight you share will seem original to them, it will educate them, and it will help them to understand the landscape in which they’re operating. For those business development clients, delivering a deeply insightful perspective on a highly specialized part of the law (think the kind of arguments that would end up in a court of appeals) is probably overkill. They don’t know the basics of the law and presenting a highly technical point of practice is not going to land well with them because they aren’t sufficiently familiar with the basics to appreciate the deep view. It isn’t that they’re unable to understand, but you don’t want to deliver PhD-level information to a client who’s operating at a 101 or 201 level of comprehension. (Of course, if their business requires the deep and original view, that’s another matter: this discussion is purely focused on business development.)

If your clients are highly sophisticated in your aspect of law, then you can go deeper. You can look at positions that parties are taking in appellate cases, for example, and discuss the minutiae of those arguments, then discuss what you view as the likely outcome (if you’re willing to make that forecast) and what effect that might have on your clients going forward. Because they’re familiar with the field, they’ll be able to follow and appreciate your discussion, and if they focus on this area as much as you do, they’ll be able to engage with your analysis.

But ask yourself: do even your most sophisticated business development clients focus on your slice of law in the same depth that you do? Sometimes the answer is yes, but often even those clients who work on your issues also have other responsibilities, so they’re quite familiar with the basics and some advanced parts of the topic but less so with the most technical parts.

I bet you see where I’m going here. When you can identify your clients’ and potential clients’ level of understanding, you can find the right focus for your own substantive business development work. You know the ins and outs of the law, and you can look at recent developments, for example, and decide what would be helpful for your clients to know. You can layer your discussion, leading with the general principles and then going a few layers deeper, and then you can add your own insights about why the topic you’re discussing matters to your audience. (Don’t skip that part: anyone can share recent developments and analysis of them, but not everyone can or will explain why they matter, and that’s often what clients and potential clients want to know.)

Rather than aiming for thought leadership status in your business development writing and speaking, aim for a standard of useful insight. Educate on the law and its development, and always do so through the lens of what your audience already understands and what will matter for them going forward. That’s true thought leadership, and that’s what will get the attention that you’re truly seeking with your business development work.

When you target the right level of understanding and make it relevant to and useful for your audience, they’ll pay attention, and they’ll regard you as a leader and a reliable source of pertinent, practical information. Pure thought leadership isn’t the key to your business development activity; accessible authority on subjects that matter to your clients is.

Take a few minutes right now, or calendar a time to do this later, and list three topics that your clients need to know about, both from the purely legal perspective as well as why it matters to them. The more focused the topics, the better, so that you can write a short, focused, useful article that your audience will actually read. It’s easier to write, and it’s more likely to be consumed.

Three Business Development Steps to Take Right Now

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Have you accomplished at least 10% of your marketing goals for the year? Now that we’re into February, pause and take stock of what you have and haven’t accomplished from your 2023 business development plan. Give yourself credit for reviewing and/or updating your plan, but look for specific actions that you’ve taken that are likely to lead to business and/or to raise your professional profile.

Even if you haven’t yet landed new business this year, you should be able to identify the actions you’ve taken so far, the results you’ve seen, and what ultimate outcome you’re realistically aiming toward. Stop right now and send yourself an email with that information. If you can’t make a cogent statement of activity and accomplishments, schedule time to review and update your business development plan (if you haven’t) and then calendar specific steps you’ll complete this month.

If you can point to progress you’ve made toward your business development goals since January 1, then take a look at these three steps and add, as appropriate, to your calendared BD activity for the next month.

Complete this relationship circles exercise to grow your network.

While a network’s strength lies in strong, reciprocal relationships, you must consistently be meeting people and growing the scope of your business development network. That will, of course, allow you the opportunity of meeting new people who may deliver business or professional opportunities to you. Moreover, as you grow your network, you’ll put yourself in an ever-better position to make referrals and introductions that benefit key contacts.

If your network pipeline feels a bit dry, try this simple exercise. Using the schematic below:

  1. Select six groups of people you can access easily. These groups might include a professional organization such as AUTM (previously known as the Association of University Technology Managers), a business group such as a Rotary Club, your college or law school group of friends, or the PTA at your child’s school. Write those group identifiers on the lines above each circle. Ensure that there’s a reasonable connection between each group that you identify and your business development plan.
  2. Brainstorm four to six names of people you should contact in each circle. You’ll end up discarding or delaying many of the opportunities you identify, but you’ll come up with at least a handful of relationships that you may be able to cultivate starting now.
  3. Calendar a reminder to contact those people and follow through. This exercise will generate a list of people with whom you might develop a beneficial relationship. Designing a plan to deepen your contacts and implementing that plan is up to you—and the particulars should be defined in a thoughtfully-crafted business development strategy.

You can repeat this exercise as often as you’d like, proving that you have a full supply of useful contacts…or that it’s time to join some new formal or informal groups of people.

Keep your eyes on the economy – your clients certainly are.

Clients almost always appreciate proactive communication. In today’s environment, one topic that nearly every client will be watching is the economy. That has two consequences for you.

  1. Couch your advice with an eye to the economy and the effect your client will likely experience. Tailoring advice based on financial exposure is something that you should always be doing, but when the financial pundits are discussing whether a recession is on the way or already present, that’s more important than ever—even if your clients don’t specifically raise financial considerations. You’ll put yourself in good stead when clients know that you’re conscious of what matters to them and seeking to focus your work accordingly.
  2. Stay current with your billing and collections. Think back to the beginning of the pandemic, and you’ll see how quickly a client’s generous budget can dry up due to a change in external circumstances. Don’t put your practice behind the financial eight-ball by letting billing slide.

Review Denney’s 20 Marketing Maxims.

Having practiced law for some 45 years and then consulting on matters including business development, Bob Denney was recognized as a leader in strategic planning, leadership, and management. He had a talent for providing a great deal of insight in just a few words, and that’s perhaps best demonstrated by his Twenty Marketing Maxims.

You’ll benefit from reviewing these fundamental principles of business development, but don’t stop with just a review: ask yourself whether you’re implementing each maxim and how you might adjust your business development activity to better reflect it.

How do you distinguish yourself?

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Do you ever feel that you’re just one lawyer in a large sea of clones?  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 the 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 either by topic or overlapping audiences.

What’s not on this list? General descriptors that suggest you’re smarter or savvier than other lawyers 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 share 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.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Whether you’re celebrating Thanksgiving or just going about an ordinary Thursday, please know how grateful I am for the opportunity to serve you through this blog.

P.S. The next installment of the webinar series:

Implementing Your 2021 Vision for a Profitable Practice
The webinar is scheduled for Thursday, December 17th at 1 PM ET/noon CT/10 AM PT.

Click here to register.

One size never fits all.

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There’s no secret about which activities are helpful for business development, right? Pick up any law practice management magazine, flip to one of the zillion practice-related websites and blogs, or read marketing suggestions for other professions, and you’ll find all kinds of activities that work for landing new business.

The challenge can be finding which activities work for you. There’s no one-size-fits-all template for business development. When it comes to finding your best process, you must start with self-understanding. What are your skills and opportunities for attaining credible visibility? How do you best interact with people?

It is possible to enhance and even change your natural tendencies—if, for example, there are good indications that speaking would be a productive activity but you’re not a skilled speaker. However, you’re unlikely to succeed unless you first believe you can succeed. Here’s why:

 

How do you see yourself when it comes to business development? To get a clear view, download and complete The Reluctant Rainmaker business development plan template. Part one is all about identifying attributes of yourself as well as your practice and your target clients, and part two helps you to use that information to build a plan that actually fits you.

Don’t fall for a paint-by-numbers template that fits everyone and therefore fits no one. It takes work to design your unique strategy, but that’s the only way to succeed.

P.S. Mark your calendar for the next installment of the webinar series, Mastering Your Time for Greatest Profit: Blending Year-End Billable Responsibilities and Holiday Relationship Development to Build Your 2021 Foundation.

The webinar will be held on Thursday, November 19 at 1 PM ET/noon CT/10 AM PT.

Click here to register.

Getting real about connections

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He spent the first 45 minutes typing on his phone.

My college friend Helen came to visit me recently, along with her partner of four years whom I’d never met. Tom pulled out his phone as soon as he sat down and kept it out for almost the whole evening. When we tried to draw him into the conversation, he’d respond and then return to his typing, and when Helen prompted him to talk about his work, he pulled out his phone to show us some videos related to his job. Tom has a great smile and friendly eyes, but I didn’t get a feel for who he really is. Technology prevented the connection.

Now, you’d never spend time typing on your phone when you meet someone new for business development purposes, right? But think about these instances in which one might unintentionally let technology block a beneficial connection:

  • You’re attending a conference and you spend breaks checking your email and voicemail to avoid getting too far behind instead of chatting with someone new.
  • You make a new connection on LinkedIn (or other social media) but don’t take the relationship any further.
  • You email a client or contact instead of picking up the telephone—not because you know that the person you’re communicating with prefers email, but because it’s easier for you.
  • You have a follow-up plan in place for new contacts, and it relies primarily on email or social media.
  • You’re so busy processing email during a flight that you don’t even notice the person in the seat next to yours, much less speak to him or her.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these scenarios, but if they repeat frequently, you’re probably missing out on opportunities.

Especially in the early stages of building a business relationship, you’ll benefit from making the effort to interact face-to-face or by voice. Think about the contacts you plan to make this week and ask yourself whether a visit or telephone call would advance the relationship more effectively than an email.

P.S. Mark your calendar for the next installment of the webinar series, Mastering Your Time for Greatest Profit: Blending Year-End Billable Responsibilities and Holiday Relationship Development to Build Your 2021 Foundation.

The webinar will be held on Thursday, November 19 at 1 PM ET/noon CT/10 AM PT.

Click here to register.

Want change? Think goal, not tactics.

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What if you could make it easier to change your habits and meet your goals? That’s the promise of The Key to Lasting Changes: Think Goal, Not Tactic on the Harvard Business Review Blog. Elizabeth Grace Saunders. The post’s author proposes three steps to help “identify tactics that will actually work for you and keep your focus on your big objectives:”

  1. Determine which goals you’ve been unable to meet despite your best efforts;
  2. Brainstorm other tactics you could use to achieve your goals; and
  3. Test one of your hypotheses.

As Saunders recognizes, change will always require discipline, patience, and practice. In other words, change requires effort, but it doesn’t have to be hard.

I’ve been using these steps recently to change a long-standing but detrimental habit of using my email inbox as a tickler file. Using a new folder for items that require follow up and an If This Then That (IFTTT) recipe to create a reminder on my calendar, I’ve been able to clear those items from my inbox. Not only is my inbox cleaner (which feels good), but I’m better at follow-up. That’s a huge win.

What would you like to change? Give Saunders’ process a try. I’d love to know how it works for you.

The next installment of the webinar series, Embracing Virtual and Remote Networking is tomorrow, October 15th at 1 pm EDT.

Click here to register.