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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.

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.

Freshen Up for Successful Business Development in 2023

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Happy New Year! You probably spent some of the last days of 2022 or the first of 2023 working on your business development plan, right? If not, hop to it! A current plan will coordinate your BD actions so that everything you do is working in a cohesive way toward a strategy you’ve defined. It’ll keep you on track and avoid wasting time on efforts that aren’t aligned with your objectives. (Not sure where to start? Check out these free Rainmaker resources.)

But did you do your New Year’s freshening up for your business development strategy? The beginning of the year (along with the beginning of the school year, in the fall) is a natural time to look at work you’ve done previously to make sure it’s current. Some suggestions:

  1. Update your LinkedIn profile. This LinkedIn for Lawyers article has a good list of items to consider. Also, be sure that you’ve updated your credentials including professional history, publications, certifications, etc. Ask yourself what a client seeking a lawyer in your practice area would find important and use that answer to guide the information you highlight in your summary as well as other parts of your profile. Start with identifying what you do, not solely your role within your firm, as your headline.
  2. Review your firm bio sketch. How well does its content mirror what you’ve shared on LinkedIn, and vice-versa? While the two profiles should not be copies of one another, the information and the tone should be consistent. This is also a good time to make sure that your sketch is indeed up to date.
  3. Review and update your contact list. Ideally, you’ve been maintaining your contact list throughout the year, but check it now. The list should include up-to-date contact information, an indication of each person’s relevance for business development purposes (A list, B list, or C list), and perhaps personal information that will help you build a deeper professional relationship.
  4. Schedule the conferences you plan to attend this year. Successful conference attendance requires advance preparation; knowing which conference(s) you plan to attend is step one. Schedule the conferences that fit your Business Development strategy and make a note three months before each conference to make a final decision on attendance and to begin preparations. You may be able to get some mileage even from conferences you don’t attend: see items 3 and 4 on the article linked above for pre-conference tips that you can adapt.

Completing these steps will ensure that your Business Development foundation is solid as you prepare for a successful year of growing your profile, your platform, and your book of business.

 

Biz dev is a marathon.

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A friend recently ran her first marathon. She didn’t know how it would feel to run 26 miles, and she was concerned about giving up partway through if she started to feel too tired. She even used a marker to write on the inside of her arm, “Your mind will give up before your body. Don’t stop.” She not only finished: she finished almost 15 minutes faster than she’d imagined she might.

Her tip? Don’t let the mind run the show when it’s tired, stressed, and worried. Make a commitment to action and keep going even when it gets hard.

That approach works for literal and metaphorical marathons. And that’s another reason why it matters so much that you have a business development plan with clear interim and ultimate goals: you’re less tempted to stop even when it gets hard if you can look to your interim goals to mark progress and focus on your ultimate goals to provide continues motivation. (Your ultimate goal means not originating and/or serving $X of business, but doing that so that you can make partner or pay cash for your kids’ college tuition or stay at the Four Seasons on your next vacation.)

Here’s the bottom line:

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.

Project Your Power

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Leadership presence, which includes the ability to project power, is critical in any kind of interaction, whether you’re speaking with one person or to a crowd of 1000.  Failing to exhibit the kind of power that demonstrates self-confidence may leave your audience uncertain about your skill, but overdoing a display of power may come across as arrogance, which is a turnoff for almost everyone.

Amy Cuddy’s presented her research on “power poses,” which demonstrates that adopting or even just visualizing a confident pose delivers self-assurance in one of the most viewed TED talks of all time.  One of the fascinating aspects of that research is that taking a “power pose” can affect levels of testosterone and cortisol. In other words, this is not just a “fake it til you make it” shortcut: taking a powerful stand causes physiological effects that can change how you present yourself and thus how others perceive you.

Stanford professor Deborah Gruenfeld, who spent years studying the psychology of power, discovered that simply understanding the research is not enough to reap its rewards. She eventually teamed up with a theatre instructor to teach a Stanford Business School class called Acting With Power. Watch her micro lecture Playing High, Playing Low and Playing It Straight on YouTube, and you’ll pick up tips on how to project authority and approachability. It’s a worthy investment of time if you’ve ever felt a lack of confidence if you’ve ever received feedback that you come across as tentative, or if you’ve ever worried that you’re coming on too strong.

What does this have to do with business development? Simple: no one wants to hire or refer business to someone who may not be able to handle it. While leadership presence isn’t necessarily indicative of actual professional skill, it’s the stand-in that others will evaluate (consciously or not) as they decide whether you’re trustworthy.

Take a few minutes to check out these resources, and if you’re uncertain about how you come across (especially in situations that are uncomfortable to you), ask a trusted colleague. Your presence will have a significant impact on your career, so don’t delay.

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.

What’s your agenda?

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One of my favorite questions is, “What’s your agenda?” I’ve noticed, however, that we tend not to ask that question of ourselves often enough.

Setting an agenda is a classic time management strategy. If you’re looking to make meetings shorter and more productive, circulate an agenda in advance and expect everyone to come prepared. If you want to make your day more productive, set your own agenda. Of course, other issues may arise in the course of the meeting or the day, but if you set your agenda first, you’ll at least know what you intended to accomplish and you won’t lose track of necessary tasks.

Knowing your agenda is critical for networking. Meeting new people requires you to have a sorting agenda in place: do you want to meet lawyers, bankers, or parents? Are you interested in officers in closely-held businesses, or would you prefer to meet officers in public corporations? Knowing who you want to meet will help you to identify the best groups to investigate and to target the right people for follow-up, which is where the networking magic happens, if at all.

Having an agenda is the difference between effective follow-up meetings and purposeless coffee dates that accomplish nothing. If you have some idea of what you’d like to discuss during a follow-up meeting, you’ll be able to tailor your conversation to be sure that you ask the right questions or offer the right information. It’s easy to wing it for follow-up meetings, but taking a few minutes to think about what you want from the meeting will make you much more effective.

Finally, when you’re talking with someone with whom you’re considering joining forces (for marketing or to form a new practice, for example) ask them directly (or ask yourself) what their agenda is.  Poorly phrased, the question is a bit confrontational, but the more you know or intuit about someone else’s objectives, the better your decisions will be.

Take a few minutes to answer these questions (or others that fit your circumstances):

  • What’s your agenda for today?
  • What’s your agenda for your practice?
  • What’s your client’s agenda?

Business Development Trades in Promises

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Sales. Selling. Sales pitch. How do those words come across to you? Positive, negative, or no charge at all? Studies show that a significant number of people have some bad impression about selling, though most people have no negative association with buying. (See Daniel Pink’s To Sell Is Human for more on this.)

But if you’re to grow your practice, you have to be able to secure new work, and that requires sales skills. I know, you didn’t go to law school to sell stuff (nor did I)… And yet, if you’re uncomfortable in a sales conversation, your potential client will perceive that discomfort and may think you’re uncomfortable with the matter or the client, or even that you’re trying to hide something.

I’m always on the lookout for alternative ways of looking at sales because you must master your comfort with the idea of sales before you can master the skill itself. And I found a new perspective in a recent article that you cannot afford to miss.

Here’s a teaser: “What we’re really trading in is promises.”

Take two minutes to read the post, then five or ten to contemplate its implications. It’ll change your perspective on both sales and client service.