SPEAK AND WRITE ON NARROW TOPICS
"Litigation Updates" or "Tax Tips for 2008" are perfectly
good topics, but no one will call and hire you after they read the article or
see you speak. However, if you focus on a narrow subject, even though it's interesting
to a much smaller audience, you are more likely to get hired based directly upon
that, because clients probably don’t know an attorney who does that specific
thing. They might have a lawyer who handles their business disputes, but if you’ve
written on "Resolving Offshore Construction Disputes with Mexican Companies," prospects
with that issue are more likely to call you directly after reading it.
---------------------------------------------
USE HANDOUTS
When you're giving a speech, always have a handout available with
your biography and contact information. To identify the really hot
prospects, mention that you have another article or checklist available
for further information, and ask them to leave you their business
cards for a free copy. Those who drop their cards are the hottest
prospects, the ones with the most pressing need for this particular
service. Emailing them the handout puts your material on their computers,
gives them another way to remember you, and creates the opportunity
for you to follow-up with them to see if they have any questions
you might help them with. Often, they will.
--------------------------------------------- NETWORK
Networking is the foundation of client development (no network =
no clients). You can’t get business if the right people
don’t know and trust you, and rainmakers typically have hundreds
of them. Commit yourself to gradually building a network of the right contacts.
Begin by identifying the most likely sources of new business for
the practice you are trying to develop — your “target audience.” Next,
find out which trade associations or industry groups they belong
to and which meetings they attend. Then join those organizations and
work toward a leadership position. This is a long-term professional-development
activity. See Gale Publishing's Encyclopedia of Associations for
the multi-volume list of associations to choose from, available at
all major libraries. It's the pot of gold at the end of the marketing
rainbow.
--------------------------------------------- IT IS BETTER TO BE INTERESTED THAN INTERESTING
Many of those charming, gregarious, "life of the party" shmoozers
have thousands of contacts but no business. Great chatters are not
necessarily good listeners, and listening is how you identify
the opportunity to develop new business. If you care about helping
other people, in learning what is keeping them up at night and helping
them solve their problems, you will always have loyal clients.
--------------------------------------------- CLIENT VISITS
Volunteer to visit a small client’s facility, at no charge, simply
to learn more about them and invest in the relationship, so you can
gain a more intimate understanding of their business and enhance
your service. Tour the office and meet their key people, learn how
they do business, but DO NOT market to them during this visit in
any way. If your relationship is not sufficiently mature, this offer
might seem like stalking, so be judicious, but if the offer wouldn’t
seem to come out of left field, clients appreciate it. Top rainmakers
will admit that they regularly visit their clients simply to stay
in touch. Although they do not actively seek it, approximately 80%
of the time they return with new business. Yeah, I know you're too
busy -- but if you do nothing else, do this.
--------------------------------------------- WHAT'S WHAT RE: WHO'S WHO
Without commenting on the credibility of Super Lawyers, Leading Lawyers,
Best Lawyers, Top Lawyers, Super-Duper Attorneys, My Precious Lawyers,
or any specific "Gosh, You're a Wonderful Lawyer"-type publication,
we know that some of them are legitimate, credible, statistically
valid, and useful marketing and referral tools, while others are
bogus, high-pressure, pay-for-play, ego-driven advertorials compiled
and printed just because the publishers know that some lawyers will
buy anything if you: (1) stroke their egos, and (2) tell them that
their competitors have already bought one.
No offense intended -- people don’t get
their egos stroked very often, and it's always nice to have someone
tell you you're special. Plus,
because they're not full-time professional marketers, most lawyers
don’t
regularly encounter these types of publications. Given the choice
between (1) "How nice -- someone recognized that I'm good at my job," and
(2) "I'm nothing special but they want my money," I think most
normal people would opt for the former interpretation.
Just be careful
about wasting scarce marketing resources on publications that offer
dubious honors. Be wary of the $20,000 display ads or $3000 individual
listings -- or the leather-bound book, or crystal trophy, or mahogany
wall plaque -- unless those purchases appropriately advance the firm's
marketing plan and don’t suck dollars away from higher-priority
activities.
--------------------------------------------- READ INDUSTRY PERIODICALS
Subscribe to — and read — your clients' industry or trade association
magazine(s), to learn more about their businesses. This is typically
a good place to advertise and write an article as well.
--------------------------------------------- CO-AUTHOR YOUR ARTICLES
An effective way to increase your visibility in a specific industry
(e.g. insurance, agriculture, oil and gas, chemicals, or pharmaceuticals),
is to write short industry-focused articles for trade association
publications. When writing an industry-oriented article, consider
inviting a client to co-author it with you. You'll do most of the
heavy lifting, obviously, but do them a favor by running the near-final
draft by them and giving them co-authorship credit and a photo with
the byline.
--------------------------------------------- MAKE CONFERENCE SPEECHES
An effective way to increase your industry visibility is to become
a frequent speaker at trade association conferences. Lawyers
too often think about the obvious conferences, e.g. bar association
meetings, instead of smaller groups where you can really stand
out. Consider inviting a client to co-present with you, if possible,
to enhance your relationship. Call the association management company
to learn who is arranging the conference speakers. They often book
long in advance, so get started early. Make sure that once you're
there, you take the time before and after to network. It's not about
being the guy behind the podium, you have to form personal relationships,
and giving a speech is a good reason to talk to the attendees afterwards.
--------------------------------------------- ATTEND CLIENT MEETINGS
The most effective marketing is not done indirectly, through brochures,
newsletters or seminars. It is done directly, face-to-face with clients
and prospects. Offer to attend their internal meetings, gratis,
to learn more about them, and suggest ways the law can help them
accomplish their goals. Roll up your sleeves, give it away for free,
and start acting like their lawyer even before they've hired
you directly. Show them what it would be like if you actually were their
lawyer.
--------------------------------------------- ENTERTAIN CLIENTS
Every two months, entertain a client for a lunch, dinner, sporting
or special event, etc. Golf, lunch and other stereotypical marketing
activities work as rainmaking tools only when used to learn more
about a client's company, industry, plans, strategic goals, competition,
challenges, etc.
The best rainmakers have a tremendous amount of information about
their clients, obtained because they are genuinely interested in
them. Remember, it's better to be interested than interesting. It's
better to be interested than interesting. Repeat, it's better to
be interested than interesting…
--------------------------------------------- LET THE CLIENT TALK
The best rainmakers and salespeople know that knowledge is power,
and when they're talking they're not learning. Promise yourself that
you will do no more than 20% of the talking and then doit.
Ask interested, probing questions. Learn about them, they will appreciate
your interest. Of course, it's not a cross-examination, just a chat,
keep the interrogation friendly and casual.
--------------------------------------------- SEND CLIPPINGS
Staying in touch is critical to maintaining a strong relationship. "Out
of sight, out of mind" is a painful lesson in client relationship mis-management,
which is why regular newsletters are useful. Another easy way to
stay in touch and show your interest is to send newspaper clippings
on developments relevant to the client's business.
When clipping and
sending the same article to multiple clients, do not simply photocopy
the article for each of them. Apart from the obvious copyright violation,
to show clients that you really care about them, purchase more magazines
so each can receive an original clipping, then handwrite a brief
note in the margin in blue pen.
-------------------------------------------- BEING FIRST
"The basic issue in marketing is creating a category you can be first in.
Who was the first person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo? Charles Lindbergh.
Who was the second person? The third person? If you didn't
know the second person you might figure you had no chance to know the third
person. But you do. It's Amelia Earhart. Now, is Amelia known as the third
person to fly the Atlantic solo, or as the firstwoman to
do so? If you didn't get into the prospect's mind first, don't give up hope.
Find a new category to be first in. It's not as difficult as you think. Pick
a narrow industry, a sub-specialty practice, particular geographic region,
or combination of them. See Al Ries & Jack Trout, The 22 Immutable
Laws of Marketing.
--------------------------------------------- THE COST OF CLIENT DEFECTIONS
"A 5% decrease in client defections can lead to a 100% increase in profits."
- "Zero Defections Comes to Services," Harvard Business Revue, Sept/Oct
1990
What have you done lately to ensure that your top clients STAY
that way? Make sure that you spend at least three times as much time
and effort cementing existing client relationships as developing new ones.
In fact, spend ten times as much. Spend some time attending to your
best clients TODAY, it's a critical investment in your future. Out of sight,
out of mind. Out of mind, out of revenue.
--------------------------------------------- INCREASE THE VOLUME OF EACH CLIENT'S BUSINESS
"Instead of selling as many products as possible over the next
sales period to whomever will buy them, the goal is to sell one customer at
a time as many products as possible over the lifetime of that customer's patronage."
Peppers and Rogers, The One-to-One Future: Building Relationships One
Customer at a Time
Cross-selling services is among the most difficult
marketing challenges lawyers face, but it's a key to a firm's future.
Learning more about your clients will help you discover the full
range of their legal needs, and identify additional areas in which
you may be of service. Learning about your firm's lawyers and their
specialty practices will help determine who might have something
special to offer the client.
--------------------------------------------- MARKETING AND SELLING
Marketing and selling are two discrete, and equally necessary, steps
in the client-development process. Marketing is the activities that
help you get in front of the potential buyer. Selling is the actual
face-to-face meeting in which a specific deal is discussed. Few purchasing
decisions can be made without both components. Lawyers new to the
process often rush to the "sale" without doing the background
research necessary to identify where the true opportunities lie.
Fundamental marketing
theory shows that someone in the market for apples, and only apples,
will not buy oranges even if convinced that they are really superb
oranges. A lawyer who doesn’t fully comprehend an existing
or prospective client’s wants and needs may inadvertently offer legal
service oranges to an apple buyer. This process begins by asking
you to conduct background research to discover the needs of these
clients and then determine how you can provide for them. Start by
reviewing the company web site, especially the "About Us," "What's
New" and "Press
Releases" sections.
--------------------------------------------- THE MOST COMMON LAWYER SALES APPROACHES
Lawyer A,
who asks: “So, tell me what your company does” is
viewed as unprepared -- not a trait clients particularly look for
when hiring a lawyer. Clients resent this lack of preparation, especially
since the lawyer invited the client to lunch to try to sell him something.
Lawyer
B, who spends the lunch hour talking about herself and her firm.
(In kindergarten we called this Bragging. Why do we think that having
an advanced degree changes this into Marketing? It's still
distasteful.) Successful salespeople
talk less and listen more. Experts claim that a salesperson who does
more than 20% of the talking will not succeed.
Lawyer C, who has done
his homework on the company and can ask more specific questions to
flesh out some of the most likely opportunities wherever they
happen to exist, and discover possible additional opportunities. This lawyer
says, “I see that you are considering expanding into a new market,
have you considered . . . .”
--------------------------------------------- LEARN WHAT THEY'RE BUYING
A few years ago, my wife was in a serious car accident with my two
young children in the car, rear-ended on the expressway [they're
OK]. Inherently distrusting the car salesperson, we walked into the
dealership with an inch-thick stack of Internet printouts on features
and pricing, on the defensive, and wanting to replace the wrecked
car with an inexpensive used model. With a few interested questions
("What
brings you here today? Is this your first minivan? Will you be trading
in your old one?")
the salesperson locked in on our unspoken hot-button issue -- safety.
Within
15 minutes, he had sold us the costliest brand-new car on the lot
-- the one with the highest four-star safety rating, and we left
satisfied. If he hadn't asked those initial questions, he might have
tried to sell features we cared little about which would have turned
us off and lost the sale. It's Sales 101: Ask informed questions,
listen carefully to the answers, find out what they're buying, then
sell it.
--------------------------------------------- FREQUENT FLIER PROGRAMS
Airlines have long understood the long-term value of maintaining
top client relationships by introducing frequent-flyer programs that
make their biggest, most profitable customers even more loyal, increasing
the airline's share of their business. In a commodity-type industry
like airlines, the company that creates more incentive to use it
than the others gets the next piece of business, and price becomes
less important. The passenger simply finds it more valuable to use
that same airline the next trip, all things being equal. From a clients'
perspective, law firms often appear equally qualified. How can you
lock in your clients in the same way? What pricing structures, technology
advances, mutual business opportunities, etc.
can you conceive that will increase the cost of their switching to
another firm?
--------------------------------------------- NEVER LEAVE WITHOUT ARRANGING THE NEXT STEP
Typical post-marketing conversation:
"How did the meeting go?"
Great, I'm
sure he's going to hire me to handle their next case .
"Really, that's great! When?"
He'll call
when he needs me.
And then months go by waiting for the call. . . .
The most critical part
of a client meeting is finding a reason to have the next, follow-up
meeting. Remember, approach every client development meeting with a pre-planned
reason to have another meeting. It
can be as simple as promising to send along some written materials,
but never leave without some tangible steps to be taken by a certain date.
Without it, the sales process languishes. (See SPIN Selling by
Neil Rackham.)
And if you're uncomfortable calling it "sales," your
aggressive competitors are going to eat your lunch. For better or
worse, times have changed.
--------------------------------------------- GUILT BUYING
Although clients might deny it in person, studies show there's still
a lot of "guilt buying" going on. In other words, if you do
enough favors, stay in touch regularly, stay helpful, and make the
client look good, human nature leads clients to send work. This does
not come from sending mass-mailed unsigned holiday cards or generic
ill-focused newsletters, but rather by consistently going the extra
mile. Taking the high road, providing useful information, helping
them do their job pays solid dividends. And it feels better too.
--------------------------------------------- CONTROL YOUR OWN PR
Public relations can be an especially effective way to enhance an
individual or firm’s professional reputation. If you are interested
in increasing your media exposure, this is most easily accomplished
by developing your own personal media relationships. Before deciding
to pursue a personal PR program, you must remember that the ability
to control the content of the message decreases its credibility.
Public relations enhances the reputation of the quoted individual
by connecting it to the credibility of the publication, but places
the content of the message at the mercy of the reporter. This risk
is unavoidable. To control the content, you must pay for the privilege
-- through advertising which,
of course, is perceived as less trustworthy. Everything's a trade-off.
--------------------------------------------- PR: THE WARTS
Anyone who regularly deals with the media has learned that he or
she occasionally will be misquoted, unflatteringly quoted, or not
quoted at all (even after a lengthy interview). Media attention is
never entirely positive; if the reporter fails to include the warts,
the story becomes suspect, a “puff piece.” Experts remind those
who have received negative publicity that although their world currently
revolves around this story, few unaffected people notice or care,
and even fewer will remember the story next week. As long as an organization’s
overall media coverage weighs more heavily toward the positive side,
they should keep doing it.
--------------------------------------------- NEVER BE LATE
Vince Lombardi said, "If you are 10 minutes early, you are late."
If you are early to a seminar, meeting, or conference, you can choose
who you will meet and sit next to; if you are late you can't. When
attending a conference for networking purposes, the most critical
time is the half-hour of mingling before and after the program --
you can't meet people during the speaker's presentation. Get there
early, and make effective use of that time.
--------------------------------------------- KNOW WHO WILL BE THERE
Find out who will be at the event you will be attending. Call the
event sponsor the day before the program and request the attendee
list. Typically, it's not proprietary information. Scour the list
to determine whom you want to meet. Get there early and seek them
out.
--------------------------------------------- THE HALF-GLASS TRICK
A top marketing consultant always ordered a half glass of beer at
conferences. His rationale: at events where his goal is to make contact
with those whom he might eventually turn into clients, if he's trapped
in a conversation with someone who is not within his target audience,
he is never more than a half-glass away from having an excuse to
exit the conversation. "'Scuse me, I've really enjoyed speaking with
you. I need to freshen my drink." (I don’t know who first came
up with this idea, but my old friend Jeffrey Horn taught it to me.)
--------------------------------------------- JOIN ONE INDUSTRY ORGANIZATION
Get involved and network. Do not limit yourself to meeting other
lawyers (unless they're your target market, e.g. PI, divorce,
and criminal lawyers). Don't join too many groups or it is impossible
to get sufficiently active. Paying dues doesn't get you business,
getting active and attaining a leadership position does.
--------------------------------------------- WRITE IT DOWN
When was the last time you received a handwritten note? In the era
of quick-and-easy email, a handwritten note packs a punch. Every
time he sees a friend or client's name in print, a lawyer I know
dashes off a quick handwritten note on his preprinted stationery. It's
not long, twenty words, tops, in blue felt-tipped marker on a card
small enough that it doesn’t take much to fill it. But that's not
the point; the act of taking the time to write the note creates enormous
impact, and it's the kind of impact you want to create in your marketing
and relationships. Make it part of your busy schedule and reap big
rewards. Relationship-oriented politicians write dozens of brief
notes every week -- to great effect.
--------------------------------------------- ATTEND BUSINESS-DEVELOPMENT EVENTS ALONE
Meeting new people is stressful and difficult for most people. Attending
a business-development event with a friend or colleague makes it
less likely that you will make the effort to meet someone new. If
you must go with a friend, agree in advance to separate at the door
and not talk again until you're on the way home.
--------------------------------------------- ALWAYS WEAR A NAME TAG
Other people want to know what firm you represent, and it draws people
to you. A nametag helps them ask you questions and remember your
name later. Put it on your RIGHT lapel so it can be seen more readily
when shaking hands. It's a clip-on business card; write large and
legibly, so that it conveys a professional image. Women might have
to plan ahead -- if you're not going to pierce your silk blouse with
a pin or clip a name tag to it, be sure to wear a blazer on those days.
--------------------------------------------- PREPARE AN INTRODUCTORY DESCRIPTION OF YOURSELF
Create a verbal picture of yourself in answer to "what do you do?"
Which
is a more helpful answer:
"I'm a lawyer."
or:
"I help mid-sized Chicago-based businesses avoid employment disputes with
their union workers."
Of course, you must ask them this question first,
so when asked in response, you can phrase your truthful answer in the way most
useful to their needs.
--------------------------------------------- ALWAYS CARRY BUSINESS CARDS
It's how people will
remember you after an event. At an event, keep them handy, so you're
not fumbling around trying to pull a dog-eared leftover out of
an obscure compartment in your wallet. Keep them
in your suit coats, blazers, overcoats, jackets, trench coats,
sports bags, gym bags, glove compartment. . . everywhere. Use them
as bookmarks in your vacation paperbacks by the pool. Men,
your suit coats typically have a secret business-card pocket inside
your coat, near your left hip. Women, your blazer "pockets" are
usually just flaps, so plan your wardrobe to ensure you can effortlessly
pull out a card. Don't leave home without them.
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