Thursday, May 31st, 2007
I was chatting with a lawyer friend over breakfast this morning and she recalled for me, with a shudder, a business development torture session from her days as a first year securities lawyer. She was told to attend a basketball game with a group of stockbrokers. “I can’t stand basketball, and the stockbrokers were appalling. I couldn’t understand why I was there. All I got out of the experience was being asked out on a date that I didn’t want to go on.”
What was wrong with this picture?
Alignment. Business development is effective when the lawyer’s goals, values, interests, and strengths are in alignment with the business development activity. In my friend’s case there was no fit beyond the fact that she was a securities lawyer and those were securities clients. This was a case of the classic rainmaker turn off.
One associates basketball horror story would be another’s great night at the game.
Sometimes you get just one chance.
So often when we are introducing marketing and business development to associates we really only get one chance. As soon as you make the mistake of sending the wrong person to the basketball game you are sending a powerful message to that lawyer. The message they get is:
“Business development is a painful and useless activity.”
“This is not me.”
“I don’t do this.”
Business development becomes something other people do.
Values are important. I have found that the clearest statements on personal values come from lawyers when you are trying to get them to do some “business development” activity that is in conflict with their values.
For example, one associate told me he couldn’t stand going to a particular industry networking event. There always seemed to be more lawyers than potential clients and it appeared to him that the non-lawyers in the room were surrounded by a pack of lawyers with carefully prepared elevator speeches and business cards at the ready.
So does this mean this associate is not a rainmaker? Does it mean that he is going to have to get over his inhibitions and jump into the fray?
No. In further conversation it became apparent that he values relationships. He values sincerity. He is truly interested in the industry and is interested in getting meaningfully involved. It’s simply a question of developing opportunities for him to meet with people from the industry that support his own further education and give him a chance to interact with the potential clients in a different setting. We found just the thing for him but as it is still in progress I can’t reveal more!
All of this is to say that there are many different paths to business development.
One partner I know in Victoria got involved in a cooperative daycare program when she had her first child. She got to know all the parents, contributed her one day a week at the centre, and no surprise, the parents who chose to trust their children to her care naturally decided to trust her to handle their legal affairs as well.
There are as many unique paths to developing business as there are individuals. The key is to support lawyers in building an approach to business development that aligns with their own goals, distinct skills, interests, and values.
Ban meaningless acts of business development. If it turns your stomach or makes your skin crawl you know that it is not for you. Instead, discover what is for you, and set it in motion.
Posted in Business Development, Training and Retention, Marketing, Thought provoking ideas | Permalink | No Comments »
Friday, May 18th, 2007
This spring I was invited to contribute to the ABA Law Practice Magazine’s April/May issue: “First Years: What every associate needs to know.”
The issue arrived in my mail last month and is now live on the web. Have a look. It’s a great guide for new associates to making the most of the first years and establishing a foundation for their legal practice.
My article is all about what new associates should know about marketing. I was directed to answer the question - what do managing partners wish their associates knew about marketing? I interviewed a number of managing partners and practice group leaders to find out what was most on their minds. Here’s what they had to say:
Understand that Law Firms Are Businesses
Invest Early and Frequently
Invest Non-billable Time with Existing Clients
Talk Less and Listen More
Develop a Meaningful Introduction
Learn How to Close the Deal
Find your Personal Style
Associates, if you want to end up with a practice you enjoy and clients you like, it is critical that you learn to chart your own course. Marketing can help you do that. It is your time to discover the kind of work and clients you find the most interesting. It is also time to explore the kind of marketing and business development activities that you like best. It might be writing articles or maintaining a blog. It could be you have a flair for presenting. Find out what works best for you while advancing you toward your goals, and do it. Don’t wait until you have some free time. Weave a little marketing into everyday. Keep your own professional goals moving forward.
Posted in Business Development, Marketing, Goals | Permalink | No Comments »Wednesday, May 16th, 2007
Yesterday I attended an outstanding seminar on mentorship hosted by Arlyn Reid and presented by Laura Reid for the Legal Marketing Association Vancouver Chapter. The handouts and PowerPoint slides were detailed and packed with great ideas. They will be up on the LMA Vancouver website later this week.
I walked away from the lunch with a number of great new ideas on the subject. But here is my number one take-away from the session:
Mentors - don’t stop at one, have three, have four, have as many as you need.
That was a very new concept for me. I was always of the view that if you are lucky you have one mentor - and by mentor I mean someone who is actively playing that role in your life as opposed to someone who was assigned the role but doesn’t show up for the job!
Laura has a number of mentors. Recognizing that no one person has all the answers Laura has collected an assortment of mentors with different strengths and perspectives. For instance she has a hard-nosed business mentor who can be counted on to give her the “reality check”. She has a creative mentor for bouncing ideas around with. And she has a number of other mentors as well.
I’ve wasted no time and am immediately expanding my team of mentors while taking on some more mentees of my own.
If you are interested in bringing some mentors into your own life, take a moment to review the handouts on the LMA Vancouver site, and contact those people who you would like to have as mentors. Most people are honored to be asked. If you are practicing at a law firm that assigns a mentor, you don’t have to stop there. Consider taking the initiative to add another mentor with a different skill set to your mix and double your opportunities for learning. Mentorship relationships can be a great source of professional development.
“A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study.” (Chinese proverb)
Posted in Mentorship | Permalink | No Comments »Thursday, May 10th, 2007
I had dinner with a close friend this week. She is a former lawyer who at ten years call left the profession to embark on an entirely new and unrelated career. She did not leave the legal profession because she was not good at it. On the contrary, she was very good at it!
When she took the bold step of leaving her firm she was amazed by the number of people who came up to her in confidence and told her how much they wished they could do the same thing.
They wished they could, but they couldn’t. There were two main reasons why they couldn’t. Here they are:
The first reason was money. They had family commitments, a mortgage, fiscal responsibilities that made it impossible to move.
The other reason was courage. “I just don’t have the courage to make a big change like that.”
I’ve told this story to illustrate two very common rut stories. In executive coaching we sometimes talk about rut stories and river stories. Rut stories are the stories we tell about our lives that keep us stuck. River stories are the ones that set us free.
I think almost all of us have rut stories we are holding on to. They are powerful stories. Some people would call them reality. Family and fiscal responsibilities are a reality. I’m not a courageous person is a reality.
Said like that, reality, becomes a sheer cliff face. No minor obstacle but an insurmountable one. A dead end. No options beyond this point.
Rut becomes river when we ask the question: what if that wasn’t a dead end? Imagine that the huge fiscal responsibility wasn’t an insurmountable wall, but was more of an obstacle blocking your path forward. How might you work around that? How could you design a professional life that both satisfies you internally and makes you enough money to care for your family? How might that work?
Rut stories are powerful. We give them meaning. We believe them. The process of transforming rut to river begins when we reflect on the limitations we impose, when we examine them, when we suspend reality - just for a moment - and new possibilities arise. Out of possibilities can arise action. Action leads to change. Rut to river.
Posted in Leadership | Permalink | No Comments »
