“What do I do when the person I am speaking to is boring?” 

In essence, business development for lawyers is all about building trusting relationships. The quickest and most sure-fire way to build trust is to spend more time listening than speaking. To be a good listener you need to be a good questioner and learn to ask about things that get people interested and speaking about subjects that matter to them. 

Or, as Mark Hunter commented in his Slaw column last week: ”ever notice that people do business with people they like?” Being a good listener is the fast track to being likeable. 

So what happens when you can’t listen? What do you do if you find your client or important contact boring?

Faking interest never works.  And just imagine being on the receiving end with someone looking at you with boredom. The natural reaction is to feel insulted and to then judge the person to be arrogant, aloof and yes, unlikeable.  

The answer:  It’s up to you to find what is interesting about the person. Push aside your judgemental inner voice and place your focus firmly on the other person. Everyone is interesting, your job is to uncover this.  Use questions to get the person speaking about things that are important to him/her.  Follow your curiosity. The goal here is to listen and discover, not to prove how interesting you are.  Some sample questions that can open up a conversation are:

• How did you get into being a …. ?
• What are you looking forward to this weekend?
• I’m curious, what made you decide to… (go to that school, travel to Palm Springs, etc.)

Another approach is to ask for advice when the opportunity arises. The majority of people enjoy teaching. 

Take me for example. I don’t golf. I have never held a gold club. What do I do when faced with an avid golfer?  Instead of getting bored and shifting the subject, I dig into it. I confess my general ignorance and then ask to be enlightened.  What are the best golf courses in town? Has it been good for business development? What’s the best age to start kids in the sport? What have been the best golf courses they have ever played on? What I discovered is that while I am not interested in the sport  I am interested in what people like about it and get out of it. 

The bottom line: it’s up to you to turn it around. It is in your power to turn boring into interesting. 

When you show you are interested and really listen to the person you will distinguish yourself from the majority of people who do not.  The end result is that the person will then likely become interested in you and it will be your turn to tell your story.

My favorite resource on all things to do with listening is Just Listen by Dr. Mark Goulston.   He reminds us all that we are responsible for our own degree of interest with this quote: 

“Boredom is what happens when I fail to make someone interesting.”  Warren Bennis, Founding Chariman, USC Leadership Institute

At a client panel I took part in last month one of the big themes that emerged was that clients want to hire a lawyer who “gets them” – who has a depth and breadth of knowledge of their industry, their profession, their business, or in essence their issues.

So a great way to build your practice is to focus on developing some niche expertise and getting known for it.  The question for a lot of lawyers is how do I find my niche? 

Kevin O’Keefe of Lexblog has a helpful post on finding your blog niche (which was inspired by a freelance writer’s post on finding your writing niche).  In addition to his handy niche questions I have a few to add of my own:

Think about your background. What jobs did you do before becoming a lawyer? What degrees do you have?  Does your family run a business?  I was working with one client who casually mentioned his parents, his uncles, and his brother were all in the same type of manufacturing business and that he had worked for them before becoming a lawyer – that became his niche. 

Kevin says “find what inspires you.”  I agree.  What is it that fascinates you?  How might you draw the connection with your legal practice? Here in British Columbia one lucky lawyer dominates the ski hill business and another has secured the winery niche.  There must be some nice perks with clients like those.

Another question to consider is what kind of clients do you like working with most?  What do they have in common? 

Ultimately finding your niche is about discovering what you like best about your legal practice and getting more of it.   And for associates it’s an effective strategy for gaining ground rapidly, raising your profile, and securing your own clients. 

It was a dynamite session. Paul Reynolds of 2nvision consulting moderated the discussion.  He spoke with three public sector in-house counsel on the factors influencing their retention of external counsel, what distinguishes the great lawyers they have worked with, and why they fire some firms.

Doug Jasinki, from Skunkworks Creative, and I are developing a five minute podcast with highlights from session for posting to the LMA Vancouver website.  In the meantime here’s a brief excerpt from my notes on the session:

The best lawyers are:

• Responsive.  They are prompt and respond in a timely manner to requests.
• Pragmatic.  They work the file appropriately.
• Aware of context.  They repeatedly invest in learning about the organization, not just for the initial sales call, and are sensitive to the organization’s particular requirements
• Team players.  They work closely with in-house counsel, communicate well, and keep counsel well apprised of what is going on in a file
• Flexible.  They are able to work at odd hours and on short notice when  necessary.
• Pleasant to deal with!  They are well mannered, and treat their clients with respect.

Listening between the lines today it seemed to me that the panelists had experienced some atrocious examples of bad client service.  Here’s my take on the five easy ways to get fired:

1. Don’t meet deadlines.  If the client requests the Opinion for their very important meeting at 2:00 pm then hand it in at 4:00 pm. 
2. Communicate with the client as little as possible.  Keep them in the dark.  Don’t keep them updated on the file.  If nothing happens on the file for weeks or months, you don’t have to contact them! Better to just let them wonder what is going on.
3. Bill the client for the friendly chat you had with them on the phone.
4. The client is a public agency and under public scrunity, but who cares?! Advocate as aggressively and sharply as possible, regardless of any negative media fallout.
5. Be as arrogant as possible.  When the CEO enters the room don’t stand up, don’t shake his hand.  Turn up late for meetings and act like you are doing everyone a favour for being there.

The panelists were refreshingly candid and many of us left with a stack of notes on such topics as how to structure your business development approach, how to respond to RFPs, how to stand out as great counsel, and what are the most effective marketing tools.

The feedback I am hearing about the event has been overwhelmingly positive.  As one lawyer concluded, it was great to have the opportunity to get “find out the answers to those questions that lawyers typically don’t have the guts to ask!” (Guts is my word.  He used a more descriptive one!)

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:

1. increasing the level of service to increase the level of satisfaction/delight;
2. affect longevity in customer relationships;
3. inspire referrals from current customers; and, oh yeah,
4. 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.

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!

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!