Client Development for Lawyers Archives

13 11, 2012

Cultivating the Courage to Ask for Business – Part 3

2019-03-20T22:22:33+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|2 Comments

This is Part 3 of a 3 part series in which Debra L. Bruce talks to attorneys about less painful and more effective ways to ask for business from potential clients.

Networking Is Key

So how do you get into conversations with potential clients, or create the connections that can improve your likelihood of success, without making cold calls or being pushy? Networking is key. One in-house counsel said, “I enjoy talking to new people who introduce themselves at a conference or an event, particularly if they are confident, poised and friendly – without being overly aggressive.” Another said, “In order for a law firm attorney to have some chance of getting my business, I almost always would need to have met that person and ideally have had an opportunity to interact with them in a legal setting, such as serving on a bar committee or participating on the same seminar panel or co-authoring an article with them.”

So don’t give up on speaking, writing, bar service and trade association activity just because your phone doesn’t ring the next day. You are demonstrating your expertise and putting in place relationship building blocks. If you don’t meet a potential client, you might get to know someone who can later make an important introduction or referral. Corporate counsel frequently seek referrals from lawyers they trust, particularly other corporate counsel. […]

8 11, 2012

Cultivating the Courage to Ask for Business – Part 2

2019-03-20T22:23:24+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|2 Comments

This is Part 2 of a 3 part series in which Debra L. Bruce talks to attorneys about less painful and more effective ways to ask for business from potential clients.

First Downs vs. Touchdowns

If your prospect hasn’t jumped at the chance to retain your services, he may not have the necessary confidence that you can bring real value to him. Or perhaps he doesn’t have the authority to move forward. Instead of going for a touchdown by asking for the business, just try to keep scoring first downs. Consistent first downs will eventually turn into a touchdown, if you don’t fumble. […]

6 11, 2012

Cultivating the Courage to Ask for Business – Part 1

2019-04-01T20:52:45+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|3 Comments

This is Part 1 of a 3 part series in which Debra L. Bruce talks to attorneys about less painful and more effective ways to ask for business from potential clients.

Many lawyers, both men and women, blanch at the thought of having to ask for business, and I don’t blame them. In my opinion, it’s often a mistake, and it should be scary to do something clumsy or annoying. Common advice about “asking for the business” may drive sales in low risk transactions, but drive away potential clients with complex and risky issues.

Nevertheless, lawyers do need to develop business, and expressing your interest in working with someone can make a difference. How do you drum up the courage to do that? In short, it’s a lot less scary if you have laid the right groundwork beforehand. To help illustrate what potential clients want to hear from lawyers, I did an informal survey of a number of in-house counsel about how they like to be approached for business. My thoughts and their responses are intermingled in this article. […]

15 12, 2011

Identify Red Flags That Warn of Bad Clients

2019-03-19T23:19:28+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Identify Red Flags That Warn of Bad Clients

“Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.” ~ Franklin P. Jones

Every experienced lawyer has had at least one client that she wishes she never took on. Most of us have had quite a few. To stop repeating the same mistakes, make a list of all those undesirable clients. Think back on the initial conversations and meetings you had with them before you signed the engagement agreement. Were there any red flags that you ignored? What do those undesirable clients have in common with each other? Did they quibble over a retainer? Did they fail to bring requested documents to the first meeting? Were they wedded to victimhood? Were they unduly suspicious of you? Did their story seem to have holes in it? Did several of them come from the same referral source? Did you have an uncomfortable feeling about them that you just couldn’t nail down? Did their problem require you to do a lot of work that you don’t enjoy?

Write down whatever you noticed in your review, and keep the list handy. From now on, before you sign up a new client, take a moment to review that “Red Flag List,” and remember how you regretted ignoring it before. Turn mistakes into wisdom, by learning from them.

7 02, 2011

Got Clients? How Did THAT Happen?

2019-04-01T20:49:16+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|1 Comment

“I’ve spoken many times at CLE programs, and I never got any business from it.” Rick Albers’ jaw dropped when he heard that. Why was Rick so surprised? A lot of lawyers (and legal marketing experts) say that speaking at CLE programs is a waste of time. It just educates your competition.

Rick was stunned because he himself had referred four different matters to the lawyer who said that. Rick, a Texas real estate lawyer, chose that attorney because he heard him speak at bar association programs, and concluded that he was very knowledgeable. In fact, it was because they both got involved in bar association work that Rick came to know him in the first place. Perhaps the lawyer thought Rick referred the matters to him just because of their acquaintance. If so…he was wrong. […]

20 08, 2010

3 Ways to Capitalize on a Referral Source Call

2019-02-10T23:15:57+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|1 Comment

Lee Rosen recently blogged about 5 Ways to Mess Up a Referral Source Call. He was talking about how some people make contact with a potential referral source, then start selling themselves and virtually assure that they’ll never get any referrals from that contact.

I commend you to his post as an easy-to-digest reminder of 5 common blunders. They all boil down to being far more interested in getting your message out, than in listening to the other person and finding out how you can help them.

Now that you know what not to do, what can you do to make it more likely that the contact will actually turn into a referral source? That really boils down to 3 basic principles.

1. Find a way to help them with something.

This is the number one way to get more referrals. Studies show that when someone gives us a gift or does us a favor, we have an urge to respond in kind. So make an effort to send them a referral or at least make an introduction that they might benefit from. If you can’t do that right now, is there some information or a resource you can share? Maybe it’s a link to an article that provides an answer to a question or problem they mentioned.

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18 02, 2009

Creating Your Personal Marketing Plan

2009-02-18T16:15:22+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Creating Your Personal Marketing Plan

In the last article we talked about preparing to create a marketing plan. Now it’s time to write down your plan. A written plan requires you to organize your thoughts, and provides some accountability guidelines for your activities. This article does not address the specifics of advertising, but if you do plan to use advertising, it should be addressed in your plan, too. Here are five steps to create your marketing plan.

1. Budget marketing time. Decide how much time you will commit to marketing activities each week. It’s important to set a minimum so you will develop a regular habit of marketing activity. You can’t postpone your marketing efforts until you are low on work, because marketing legal services is a long-term process. You have to plant and nurture seeds before you can harvest the fruit. You can’t wait until you need the apples to plant the apple seeds.

Budget a minimum of five hours per week. That will allow for 10 to 15 minutes per day for making little connections by emails, notes or phone calls. Your other marketing activities will require time blocks of approximately two hours each. You might choose two per week from the categories of (a) in-person meeting over lunch, breakfast, dinner, coffee or cocktails with a client, prospect or referral source, (b) group networking activity such as a bar, civic, or industry association meeting, (c) writing or blogging, (d) online networking in listservs, social networking sites like LinkedIn, chat rooms or forums, or (e) speaking. Some weeks all of your efforts will fall in one category, but try to diversify your efforts over time.

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21 01, 2009

Preparing to Create a Marketing Plan

2009-01-21T12:50:12+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Preparing to Create a Marketing Plan

The beginning of a new year is a good time to set a marketing plan for your legal services. Many lawyers don’t have a marketing strategy, much less an action plan. They use the “Threshold Method.” They take any business that crosses the threshold into their office.

Some attorneys write down marketing goals, but they put about as much thought into them as they do their new year’s resolutions. They resemble a wish list more than a plan. A wish list is better than nothing. At least if you stumble onto one of your goals, you’ll recognize it.

Some lawyers actually write down a plan of marketing activities for the year. This year they plan to give four speeches, attend three conferences and take four clients to lunch per month. At least they have some activities to aim for. They get off to an optimistic start, but their efforts tend to dwindle in a couple of months. Their numbers are specific, but their target audience is not. They lose momentum because they don’t have a focus.

A good marketing plan works like a treasure map, guiding you toward your goal. It gives you specific instructions, with landmarks that will help you gauge whether you are making progress toward finding what you are looking for. You know what you are trying to get to because “X marks the spot.”

You need to do some preparatory work, surveying the landscape before you create your treasure map. Get clear about the treasure you are seeking, and what kind of “X” it will be buried under. The steps described below will get you ready to map out a good plan.

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2 07, 2008

Which Marketing Book Can Help You?

2008-07-02T14:55:57+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Which Marketing Book Can Help You?

Many of my clients ask me to recommend books that can be good tools or reference materials for enhancing their law practice management skills. Today I’m sharing with you my reviews of three popular books that address business development for lawyers.

1. Rainmaking Made Simple: What Every Professional Must Know by Mark M. Maraia. Maraia writes in an easy to read style, and gives numerous real life examples of how attorneys have successfully implemented the techniques he recommends. Those anecdotes shift the conceptual into the concrete, a real strength of the book.

Maraia’s book is ideal for attorneys who find marketing daunting, unpleasant or bothersome. He teaches the reader how to make marketing fun, or at least, in his words, “less torture.” He helps lawyers find ways to market their law practice while doing things they already like doing. He teaches them how to become more effective at the marketing techniques they have already attempted, and encourages them to stretch a little into some new activities.

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14 03, 2008

Learning from Our Mistakes

2008-03-14T11:16:53+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|Comments Off on Learning from Our Mistakes

A wise person said, “A mistake is not a mistake unless you fail to learn from it.” I made my share of mistakes in my legal career, and here are a few I learned from. I thought I would offer you the chance to learn from some of mine, instead of making them all yourself.

1. Viewing speaking and writing as non-billable time. It is true that we usually can’t bill anyone for those activities or the preparation time required. When I looked at it that way, however, I tended to de-value the activity, and put it behind everything else. Of course, that means I didn’t get around to developing talks or writing articles that would showcase my expertise and expose me to new contacts. The wiser course would have been to view those efforts as important business development activities, so that I would give them the appropriate emphasis.

2. Focusing on prospective clients and not on prospective referral sources. As a corollary to the first law practice management mistake described above, I didn’t take advantage of opportunities to speak to audiences full of referral sources. At a time when I represented small businesses, the managing partner of the regional office of a large national insurance company asked me to give a talk to their sales stars about shareholder agreements in closely held organizations. I never got around to it. I saw it as a favor to them and I didn’t recognize that they would be highly motivated to act like my free sales force convincing business owners that they needed shareholder agreements backed by key-leader life insurance. I didn’t recognize the opportunity, even though I had seen how an initial small project could develop into a significant long-term client. When those life insurance clients didn’t like their existing counsel, or needed a referral for other reasons, I would have […]

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