client development Archives

6 03, 2013

How to Properly Shorten Client Meetings That Drag On

2019-03-11T21:19:59+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|2 Comments

In my last post, I wrote about how to recognize bad clients before you make the mistake of taking on the representation. Among the responses I received, there was a request to discuss how to deal with basically good clients with a few unappealing behaviors. These are clients you want to keep, but you just wish that it was a little easier to deal with them in some respect. In this post I’ll make some suggestions on how to wrap up meetings with clients who take up too much of your time. […]

12 02, 2013

Picking the Wrong Clients? You Can’t Blame the Wreck on the Train

2019-03-20T22:20:16+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|2 Comments

Lyrics from the song: “You Can’t Blame the Wreck on the Train” by Terri Sharp:

“When the gates are all down
And the signals are flashing
And the whistle is screaming in vain,
And you stay on the tracks, ignoring the facts
Well then, you can’t blame the wreck on the train.”

Almost all lawyers have rued their decision to take on some client, and with hindsight can recognize the warning signs that they disregarded. Many of us learned our lessons the hard way, but you don’t have to. Well…you probably will learn the hard way that a difficult client can cause you a lot more harm than the lost fees you wind up writing off. But after one such experience, if you ignore these warning signs, then you can’t blame the wreck on the train. […]

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. […]

7 09, 2010

Why Lawyers MUST Get Their Heads Out of the Sand about Social Media

2019-02-10T23:15:58+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|6 Comments

The mushrooming popularity of social media creates novel legal issues to be resolved, as well as a lot of opportunities for mistakes by lawyers and their clients. Wake up! How can you answer your client’s questions or warn them about potential legal infractions, if you aren’t familiar with the medium? Could you be completely missing a good business development opportunity?

Many lawyers tell me their clients don’t use social media, but have they really checked? Or is that just an assumption? How do you check, if you don’t engage in social media yourself? Not long ago I spoke to about 50 lawyers, most of whom knew very little about social media. The room got very quiet when I started putting up on the screen the logos of their clients who had Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. If you asked your clients last year whether they used social media, they may have a different answer now. Could your competitors be enhancing their relationships with your clients via social media, while you remain oblivious?

Even if your clients don’t officially have a social media presence, their employees, customers, or competitors may be posting things that affect your clients. When they ask you what to do about it, how will you be able to advise them if you don’t understand what they are talking about?

Here are some examples of how you might be called on in your law practice to address social media issues.

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16 03, 2010

Nice Guys Are Good for Business

2019-02-10T23:15:57+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|2 Comments

Back in 2005 I wrote Who Says Nice Guys Finish Last? The post recounted how attorneys have generated more business by putting their focus on helping others, even in ways that have nothing to do with the law. It also discussed the psychological underpinning of their success.

In the wake of the financial meltdown, there is growing evidence (cited by Time magazine, Fortune magazine and Harvard Business Review) that the “do well by doing good” philosophy is gaining a foothold in the corporate world. Maybe we are getting beyond the Gordon Gekko/ Ivan Boesky philosphy that “greed is good.” I hope more of our legal colleagues take note, too.

At least one Harvard Law grad is leading the way. Dov Seidman, author of the bestseller HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything … in Business (and in Life) opines that “winner-take-all” strategies are obsolete. He partially credits the increased difficulty in hiding unethical and greedy business behavior in this era of bloggers, YouTube, Twitter and other social media.

Fortune Magazine recently published Why Doing Good Is Good for Business about Seidman’s rise as a management guru from providing training in ethics and legal compliance. The Fortune article says he
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15 08, 2007

Avoiding the Commoditization of Your Law Practice

2007-08-15T16:57:47+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|1 Comment

My last article about some of the potential ramifications of law firms going public generated quite a number of reader responses. Thanks to each of you for sharing your thoughts with me.

One email asked a question that intrigued me. The reader asked how he could keep his law practice from becoming commoditized. Both small and large law firms should be asking themselves that, because the tide has already turned toward the commoditization of many legal services.

What are commodity legal services? Generally legal services that involve routine and predictable legal issues that can be systematized into forms and processes. They don’t involve complex legal issues, or the issues have already been addressed with such frequency and regularity that they have become routine. Often each individual claim or matter involves a relatively small amount of money at risk, necessitating an inexpensive process or the economies of large volume. Through the use of questionnaires, checklists, decision trees, step-by-step instructions, standard processes and similar methods, technology enables rapid and cheap production of the relevant legal advice and documentation.
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10 06, 2007

Get Remembered

2007-06-10T07:36:39+00:00By Debra L. Bruce, JD, PCC.|1 Comment

Years ago at an early morning meeting Jimmy Brill, a veteran estate planning lawyer and the founder of Solos Supporting Solos, asked each of 30 lawyers to introduce themselves and their practices. I didn’t know any of them, and they all faded into a blur, except for one tall gentleman in a straw hat and seersucker suit. He said, “I’m a proctologist in the courtroom.” He got some chuckles and my attention.

I often ask the attorneys I coach on business development to analyze their client list to determine how they obtained their previous clients. Most of them report that the majority of their new clients come as referrals. If your business depends on referrals, your success depends on the likelihood that others will remember you when someone has a problem you can solve.

A couple of months after that morning meeting, I asked someone in the group, “What’s the name of that guy who’s the proctologist in the courtroom?” “Ted Hirtz,” he responded immediately. Ted’s introduction stood out and triggered the memory of enough people for me to locate him again.

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