Friday, March 30th, 2007
One of the highlights of the Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Conference in Atlanta last week was the screamingly funny ”mocumentary” presented at the opening session. This exposé of the real world of legal marketing had conference participants in side-splitting laughter and tears.
Great news – the video is now available for viewing on You Tube!
Entilted “Truth Justice & Credibility” the video was developed for the conference by Jeff Reade of Cole Valley Software - in just two weeks time!
Reade appears in the firm in the role of the proto-typical Managing Partner. The Marketing Director is played by a member of the LMA, Michele Golivesky, the Marketing Director for the firm Swift Currie in Atlanta.
While satirical, the video underlines some of the universal truths of legal marketing. Take a minute out of your busy schedule and have a look today!
Posted in Marketing | Permalink | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
I attended a great LMA Vancouver lunch hour seminar today presented by Tim Leishman from Kerma Partners. (Kerma Partners came into existence in late 2006 and has already developed into an alternative to Hildebrandt in the professional services consulting arena.)
Leishman first penned an article on lawyer practices styles in 1998, and the ideas he set out provide a helpful tool for thinking about and understanding the contributions lawyers make to the success of a law firm.
Leishman sets out four categories of contribution that lawyers make to their firms: Rainmaker, Point Person, Hired Gun, Brain Surgeon. In very short form here’s how he describes each of these types of lawyers:
Rainmakers are interested in connections. They are into meeting new people. They are initiative takers. They are high intensity networkers. They approach business development from the standpoint of “how can I help this person?” Or, “how can I make it easy for them?”
Point Persons are the client managers par excellence. They are most interested in loyalty. They approach their client service from the standpoint of how can I make this person look good? They are natural team players and consensus builders.
The Hired Guns are motivated by credentials. They like to focus on publishing, presenting and building their profile and reputation. They help strengthen the firm’s reputation for expertise.
Brain surgeons are those lawyers whose insight, and intellectual prowess, put them in a category all to themselves. They are highly knowledgeable in key niche areas of law and are known for their outstanding legal abilities.
Leishman’s point is that firms would be best to work to lawyers strengths rather then trying to get them to improve in their weak areas. Trying to get a Brain Surgeon become an effective practice group leader is likely an exercise in futility! Leishman sets out two priorities for law firms:
First, lawyers should be guided to develop in accordance with their relative strengths and talents.
Second, firms should learn to identify the natural abilities and talents that are associated with certain practice styles and learn from lawyers with those abilities so that those abilities can be developed in others.
Once you know your strength you can then maximize the intensity you are putting into it, and get the most out of it.
Attendees at the seminar also offered some of their own thought provoking questions and comments. One person commented that the difficulty for many firms is that they have a number of lawyers who fall into neither of the above categories. In these cases, coaching can help to support the lawyer in discovering and developing their strengths.
Another point raised was that there is a lot to be gained for firms in having practice group leaders learn to manage their groups by leveraging the strengths of their group members in each of these areas. Rainmakers, Point Persons, Brain Surgeons and Hired Guns when brought together as a team can bring about some powerful results for a firm. The challenge is that there are currently few practice group leaders given the time, training, and support from the firm to effectively manage, or learn to manage their groups in a way that maximizes the strengths of the members.
I encourage you to take a moment to read Leishman’s article. It’s a valuable tool for thinking about lawyer marketing and business development strengths and maximizing our investments in them.
Posted in Business Development, Leadership, Marketing | Permalink | 1 Comment »Monday, February 19th, 2007
This Friday I am presenting on Marketing for the Solo and Small Firm along with Lorne MacLean of the MacLean Family Law Group at the CLE BC’s Solo and Small Firm Conference 2007.
Lorne and I have been chatting with each other over the past few weeks about what really works for building profitable and interesting practices at solo and small firms. Here are ten pointers for you to consider when planning your solo or small firm marketing initiatives for 2007:
1. Alignment. Take the time to determine what kind of firm and practice you want to build and make sure your decisions align with those goals. Develop a clear message that describes what you would like your potential clients to know about yourself and your firm, and that will distinguish you from other lawyers. Focus your marketing efforts on delivering that message.
2. Plan. Take the time to plan your marketing. Decide what you want to achieve in a given period of time and develop a simple plan of what you are going to do to get there.
3. Clients. The number one source of new work is from your current clients. Would they be open to sending you more work? Will they refer their contacts to you? Investing in your current clients is the vital first step of any marketing plan.
4. Network. The vast majority of work comes in through word of mouth referral. After your clients, your personal network of contacts is your biggest marketing asset. Have you got a system in place for keeping track of the names, addresses, phone and email for your contacts? Have you established a system for staying in touch with your most important contacts? How are you currently investing in building this network?
5. Research. Each time a new client joins your firm track how they heard about you. Talk to your clients. Find out what publications they read. Do they prefer email or printed newsletters? Do they look at legal blogs? Do they even know what a blog is? Do they use your website for anything? What would make your delivery of legal services easier for them? The more information you can uncover about your clients preferences the better you can tailor your marketing efforts.
6. Technology. Web sites, blogs, email provide the best return on investment for small firms. They are cheaper then print materials, can reach large numbers of people, and are easy to keep fresh and up-to-date.
7. CMS. Make sure you have a website that you or your secretary can update yourselves. This means you have something called a “content management system” (CMS) plugged to the back-end. These don’t have to be expensive. Adobe sells a program called Contribute for US$149 that a programmer can plug into your site and will allow you or your staff to update content with only a little training. It’s so easy I taught myself how to use it.
8. Yellow pages. Don’t invest in yellow page ads. There are better and more targeted ways to get your message out to potential clients.
9. PR. Use the free announcements available in the Vancouver Sun, Business in Vancouver, Lawyers Weekly, to announce new lawyers at your firm, new partner announcements, and other related developments. Determine which newspapers, industry publications that might be interested in quoting you for time to time or printing your articles. Contact the editors and find out how they like to be approached with story ideas and articles.
10. Recycle. Time is precious. Get as much mileage as possible out of each marketing activity you invest in. If you write an article for a publication then post it to your website. Look for an opportunity to present on the content to your clients or potential clients. Use the same material in as many ways as possible.
Posted in Marketing, Solo and Small Firms | Permalink | No Comments »Tuesday, February 6th, 2007
I had the good fortune to attend a panel discussion today held by the LMA Vancouver Chapter on “How Public Sector Counsel Select Their Outside Counsel.”
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Bill the client for the friendly chat you had with them on the phone.
- 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.
- 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!)
Posted in Business Development, Client Relations, Marketing | Permalink | 1 Comment »Thursday, January 25th, 2007
A quick tip: The Legal Marketing Association Vancouver Chapter has just updated their web site. I was on it today and found a number of great articles in the reading room with information on networking, business development, client appreciation, and a primer on law firm finances among other topics.
The homepage also lists a number of the upcoming events. I’m looking forward to attending the lunch session on February 6 – How Public Sector Counsel Select Their Outside Counsel.
Paul Reynolds of 2nvision consulting will be leading a panel discussion with public sector in-house counsel from British Columbia on the factors influencing the decision to retain external counsel; their choice of lawyers; why they fire some firms and how they feel about various legal marketing approaches.
Reynolds held a similar session at this time last year, but with private sector in-house counsel. It was a highly informative event and the speakers shared candid feedback on their evaluation of legal service providers. One of the points I remember from that meeting was that only one of the counsel had been involved by their lawyers in a client satisfaction survey, and all of the speakers said they wished the law firms they hired would take the time to carry these out. I saw many local lawyers in the audience that day. I wonder if a few client interview programs were finally launched following that disclosure?
I look forward to learning more from the public sector counsel in February. If you plan on attending please stop by my table and say hello. You won’t be able to miss me – I’ll be the one giving the introduction!
Posted in Marketing | Permalink | No Comments »Tuesday, January 16th, 2007
In several of my blog posts since December I have been stressing the importance of strategic planning. A lot of time, money, and effort gets wasted because lawyers and law firms engage in meaningless acts of marketing. Strategic plans are the most important tool for ensuring you act wisely. In order to help you to accomplish this, I have developed a rough guide to strategic planning, which I will share with you in blog posts over the next month.
The first chapter of my guide starts with Mission, Vision, and Values - three simple concepts that are easy to get mixed up.
Your Mission Statement describes what your firm does and who your clients are. It captures the very essence of your practice – the relationship with the client. A Mission Statement is focused on what you do in the present.
A Vision Statement describes how the future will look if the firm achieves its mission. A Mission Statement gives the overall purpose of an organization, while a Vision Statement describes a picture of the preferred future result your firm is after. Your Vision Statement will tell a compelling story about the future you are going to create.
Once you have your Mission and Vision figured out, it is important to take some time to think about values. Values are the core beliefs at the heart of your firm’s culture, and are the foundation of all the actions you will take, and investments you will make.
Here is a list of questions to guide you through the process of determining your firm’s Mission, Vision, and Values. You can also use these questions for developing your own personal plan.
Mission questions:
What do we do?
Who do we do it for?
What is the benefit to the clients?
Vision questions:
What do we ultimately want to achieve with our practice – in terms of service to others?
What do we want the firm to be known for?
What reputation do we wish the firm to have in the business, legal, or other communities?
Value questions:
What professional and personal attributes do we value most?
What professional and personal qualities do we wish to be known for in the legal community and by our clients?
What qualities and attributes do we wish to characterize our firm?
The answers to these questions form the foundation of your plan. The next step is strategy. Stay tuned for that next week!
If you have your own questions and ideas on this topic, I would really enjoy hearing from you. I am always interested in learning powerful new questions for exploring Missing, Vision, and Values. If you have some you’d like to share, or other suggestions, please add them in a comment below or send me an email.
Posted in Goals, Marketing, Planning | Permalink | No Comments »
