Sunday, December 31st, 2006
Saturday, December 30th, 2006
Where would any of us be without the wisdom, support, and guidance of mentors we have known over the years? As a fledgling blogger I would like to thank my three mentors-in-blogging for all their sage advice, handy tips, and encouragement.
First, a big thank you to Doug Jasinski and the team at Skunkworks Creative, for designing my blog, answering my many questions, and helping me get started.
Next, to my blog mentor Steve Matthews, thanks for the words of wisdom, and announcing my blog to the world.
And finally, to Kevin O’Keefe, thanks for the phone call, and the great advice and ideas for getting the most mileage out of my little blog.
You guys have all been great!
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Sunday, December 24th, 2006
After many years of working in-house at law firms I have developed a deep respect for the legal profession. Law is one hard working profession, and the lawyers I know put in long hours to help their clients succeed.
I remember when I first learned this. It was during my first year working at Freshfields in Beijing, watching a young associate work day and night for his client. He’d attend meetings all day and then into the evening. At close to midnight he would return to his office to begin writing up the deal, then he’d return to the boardroom the next morning with the documents ready to go. I wondered, “how does he do it?” “How does he stay awake?!”
And it doesn’t stop with associates. Partners work just as hard, or harder still.
The lawyers I have worked with over the years are careful, thoughtful, meticulous people who sweat the small stuff so that their clients don’t have to. They will work late into the night thinking about how they might better structure a deal, or what might serve as the best defence the next day in court.
Thank you to all the lawyers I know for the work you do. Thanks for the consideration you have shown me over the years. You’ve taught me to think clearly, build a strong case, watch the details, think ahead, and work hard for my clients. I greatly appreciate our many years of working together.
Wishing you all a very happy and restful holiday!
(Last night after supper I was thinking about the importance of appreciation (easy to do with a belly full of good food) and I decided to do an “appreciative” blog post or two in the morning. I awoke to discover that many of the bloggers I admire have shared this thought. Thanks to Julie Fleming Brown of Life at the Bar and Stephanie West Allen of Idealawg who chose to end 2006 by encouraging ”a flurry” of appreciation in the legal blogosphere. Gerry Riskin followed with an appreciative post of his own and I am delighted to take part as well. So, I now will past the baton on to three more bloggers.)
Posted in Appreciation | Permalink | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 21st, 2006
One of the things I have found in my work with lawyers, from new associates to senior partners, is that there can be a reluctance to dedicate time to effective goal setting. The same is true of executives, and I myself, am guilty of it from time to time.
In this fast paced world of blogs, blackberries, and instant messaging, we are all caught up in fast forwarding the action.
Coaching is about maximising effectiveness, and accelerating results. So as a coach I am all about hard work, effective use of time, and strategic action, but it is important to remember the vital step that comes before: goal setting.
Here are a few words from an executive coach I admire, Mary Beth O’Neil, from her book Executive Coaching with Backbone and Heart (2000):
Without clear goals and measures for those goals, neither leader nor coach is focused enough to choose the most effective course of action. … It is astonishing how often leaders ignore the goal setting process. I have come to the conclusion that this task - like many that involve people processes with hard-line results - is simple but not easy. Goals are simple and obvious to understand, but difficult to pull off well and consistently. (P. 112)
When you are working on your own planning this year, whether you are a managing partner, practice group leader, partner, associate, or newly called lawyer, take some time for meaningful goal setting in three key areas:
Bottom-line: Measurable revenue, profit, billable hour goals.
Work process: Quality levels of service to clients, these are goals that related to how the work gets accomplished.
Human relations: How you need to work with others to accomplish your bottom-line goals.
Robert Crosby first outlined these three types of goals in his book The Authentic Leader (1998) and O’Neil discusses them in her book. I find them very helpful in my work with lawyers because when a lawyer goal sets at these levels, he/she begins to focus beyond the the financial objectives to the changes in behaviour and processes that will be required to achieve the bottom-line results. Planning on this foundation means the actions that follow are meaningful and effective and the financial goals are much more likely to be achieved.
Posted in Strategy, Executive Coaching | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 20th, 2006
The best place to invest your non-billable time? With existing clients. This is the rule, tried and true, which I learned many years ago as a fledgling legal marketer, and it has not changed since then.
Michelle Golden has a great post on this subject. Here’s an excerpt:
As we coach professionals of all levels on their individual marketing efforts, it seems like we constantly need to emphasize the importance and benefits of spending a greater percentage of energy or effort on nurturing existing clients (versus new biz development). Existing clients should receive this heavier focus for many reasons:
- increasing the level of service to increase the level of satisfaction/delight;
- affect longevity in customer relationships;
- inspire referrals from current customers; and, oh yeah,
- increase the number of project opportunities relative to meeting customer needs–needs you won’t know about or be able to help them with if you aren’t TALKING with them.
I agree with Michelle and would just add that “talking” with clients means asking questions about their business and spending most of the time listening to the answers.
Visit your client’s place of business. If your client runs a pulp mill, then put on your hard hat and head down to the operation and have a look. This is the best place to invest your non-billable time. There is no faster route to new files.
Posted in Client Relations, Business Development, Marketing | Permalink | 1 Comment »Tuesday, December 19th, 2006
As New Year approaches it is time to start thinking about developing your personal marketing plan for 2007.
As a new associate the most important thing for you to do in your first few years of practice is to experiment: Explore what sort of legal practice you want to build, what kind of clients you like, and in terms of marketing, what you enjoy doing. Take control of your future by becoming actively involved in developing the habits, skills, and contacts that will help you to build the practice you design for yourself.
The following is a list of marketing tips for you to consider as you begin to plan for 2007. Starting with the most important - your personal marketing plan!
The goal of a personal marketing plan is to help you focus your attention and energy on doing the things that will best help you to turn your professional aspirations into reality.
Personal marketing plans, or indeed business plans, in general work along three simple lines:
1. They begin with a close and realistic description of where you are at currently.
2. Next they look at where you want to be.
3. Finally they describe how you are going to get there.
Below you will find some suggested activities and approaches that you might consider for your plan in 2007.
The personal touch. In this internet age, the personal touch counts more then ever. As much as possible take the time to write a thank you note, a condolence note, or a nice to meet you note. These notes should be hand written, not dictated to a secretary. In addition to being a “good” lawyer, the most effective marketing tools are the handshake, the unexpected, non-billable act of kindness, the follow up phone call, and the personal note. In your plan outline how you will begin to incorporate the personal touch into your practice.
Find your own style. Experiment and find out what you do best. Play on your strengths. If you are a talented speaker, seminars and conferences might work well. If you don’t enjoy public speaking try a one-on-one approach. The same goes when developing your marketing plan. Think carefully about your strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, then plan accordingly.
Talk less and listen more. One of the most common errors lawyers can make is talking to much and failing to listen. In some cases, inexperienced business developers will try and talk their way to new business. Learn to listen deeply and look for the ways in which you can help people out. You will find that helping others will lead to others helping you.
Develop a meaningful introduction. Learn to introduce yourself to people in a way that emphasises how you and your firm help your clients. The unfortunate reality is that introducing yourself as “a lawyer” shuts conversations down. Instead open the conversation up by explaining what you do in a way that invites people to ask questions. For instance, an estate lawyer might say: “I assist clients with estate planning. I help them ensure that their wishes will be followed while keeping the taxes and probate fees down at a minimum.”
Marketing is a contact sport. It is important to step out of your office and start meeting people. Get to know the other people in your firm. Get active in your local business/professional community. Join the business organisations related to your practice. Join community organisations. Become actively involved, join a board, help out, meet people.
Get organised. Keep track of the people you meet with a contact management system. Find a method that works for you to organise the business cards you receive and store information about your contacts such as where you met them, and what their interests are. Write all of this down so you can instantly find it. Make sure to get everyone’s email address.
Trade associations. If you are targeting a specific business or consumer groups, look into the trade associations (or other influential organisations) with which your target prospects are most likely to be associated and become actively involved in the association. Not only will you have a chance to network, you will also have the opportunity to learn more about your prospects’ industry, and their business concerns.
Become a presenter. Volunteer to be a speaker with the business and trade organisations you are involved with.
Write articles. The same associations will be dying for articles. Write a column for a local publication. Find a newsletter or web site that is read by your clients and write articles for them. Start a blog!
Use your lunch hour for networking. Call people who can refer you business and take them out to lunch. This would include your local realtor, accountant, lawyers at larger firms, bankers, etc. Also, contact all your law school classmates, just to say hello. Find out what they’re doing and stay in touch with them. Have lunch with people you are genuinely interested in getting to know, and learn about them.
Peer network. Develop a virtual, private peer network of lawyers. A secret bunch of co-conspirators you can turn to. An associate I know started a small alumni group. She and her law school alumni have lunch once a month. Just a few years in, and this has already developed into a powerful referral network.
Posted in Business Development, Marketing | Permalink | No Comments »Thursday, December 14th, 2006
There’s a firm in Texas I’ve had my eye on for a while - Munsch Hardt Kopft & Harr. I met their talented Marketing Manager, Maria Lianez, at a TAGLaw legal network conference earlier this year. What struck me about the firm is their fresh approach.
This morning I took a moment to visit their site and came across an excellent article by their chairman and CEO Glenn Callison that was published in the Texas Lawyer journal. The title “Five Lessons For New Managing Partners” caught my attention. Here is a quick summary of Callison’s top top five points:
1. Know who you are - conduct a complete evaluation of the firm’s two key assets: people and relationships.
2. Determine where you are going - engage in top to bottom strategic planning.
3. Understand how the firm measures success - use several measurement tools AND examine subjective elements such as client statisfaction and firm morale.
4. Realize leadership is by consensus and example - in law firms, in particular small to mid-sized firms, effective leadership comes through continuous communication and leading by example “rather than any power inherent in the CEO or managing partner position”.
5. Accept that change is constant - the non-stop stream of change is what quickly fills a managing partners cup to overflowing. Associates leaving the firm, associates joining the firm, compensation issues, technology issues, and 101 other necessary and time consuming bits of business can rapidly overwhelm new managing partners. Callison’s advice for the new managing partner? “Manage by looking forward, not by looking in the rear-view mirror.”
One of my favorite sections of the article is point three. It is often easy to confuse the measurement with the object measured. Law firms are complex organisms. To really begin to understand how they are working, it is crucial to measure them in a variety of ways and over at least a five year period of time (if possible), and to consider these results along with more subjective information such as client satisfaction, retention issues, office morale. Look for the gaps between what is being said and what is actually being done.
My thanks to Glen Callison for sharing these gems with us.
Posted in Leadership, Strategy | Permalink | No Comments »Wednesday, December 13th, 2006
‘Tis the season for client entertaining, gift giving, and social functions. Here’s a quick list of some great resources for anyone looking for pointers on how to make the most of the season.
First, visit Allison Shield’s holiday networking tips.
Next, take in Tom Kane’s Holiday Gift Ideas.
And finally for holiday card innovation read Seth Godin’s post on the Young Issac cheque is in the mail holiday cards - truly an innovative approach to the season of giving!
Posted in Client Relations, Marketing | Permalink | 1 Comment »Tuesday, December 12th, 2006
When it comes to clients the question to ask yourself at each point of interaction is: “How am I showing this person that I care about them, and appreciate their business?”
I just received a great email from a lawyer I know about holiday cards. Of all the lawyers at his firm, his stack of cards is the tallest. He sends out hundreds of cards. Even though he has so many, he takes the time with each and every one to write a few personal lines, extend an invitation, and wish the family well. Every year he gets calls from his clients and contacts thanking him for his card. And every year he receives a number of new files as a result of the holiday card contact.
It’s easy at this time of year to think of cards as a meaningless ritual, another chore to be dealt with, but it is essential to keep the purpose in mind. These cards are about showing our contacts, clients, and friends that we care and appreciate them. Make the most of the opportunity!
Posted in Client Relations | Permalink | No Comments »Friday, December 8th, 2006
David Maister’s December 6, 2006 post shines a bright light on the value of caring when it comes to leadership. He quotes Craig Weatherup, former Chairman and CEO of The Pepsi Bottling Group:
“People trusted me, he said, because they knew me. They knew I cared about them. You can’t fake that, he said. That’s what gave me the power to lead.”
Reading Maister’s post I immediately thought of a senior associate at a big Canadian firm who I had dinner with this week. She’s quiet, soft spoken, and a highly sought after deal maker.She described to me her approach to legal work – caring about her clients. Connecting with her clients. Listening to her clients. She doesn’t network much, nor take her clients to hockey games, instead, her caring and authentic approach (and hard work!) earns her their trust and, no surprise, the deals flood in.
Naturally she is a skilled mentor too.
We all have our own personal style when it comes to marketing and business development but it is our values that make up the hard foundation that our professional careers are built upon.
Fake it and you will never make it.
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