What greeting do your clients receive when they contact your office?

How your staff handles client contact (or how you handle it, if your practice doesn’t include staff members) will have a significant, though probably unspoken, impact on your client engagements. What’s more, whoever answers the telephone and greets visitors constitutes the first line of your marketing team, since satisfying clients may lead to repeat business and referrals.

We so easily fall into the trap  of thinking that lawyers provide client service and that receptionists, legal assistants, secretaries, and other staff members provide administrative support that really doesn’t constitute client service. While that may be true on one level, it’s wise to consider how much contact the average client has with your staff as opposed to with you.  Unless you’re a sole practitioner without an assistant, chances are reasonably good that the first person your client speaks with is a staff member.  The client will then engage with you with that first impression in mind.

It’s easy to identify and weed out those who deliver obviously unacceptable client contact. The example that comes to mind is one I overheard a few years ago while waiting for a colleague to get off a call so we could talk:  “Well, [Mr. Smith], I  know you think you’re [lawyer's] only client, but you aren’t!”  Fortunately, someone who would make a comment like that is generally either retrained or fired with haste.

But what about the subtle effects of less-offensive but thoughtless behavior? Have you ever stepped back to observe how non-attorney staff in your office interacts with your clients?

Take a lesson from an Atlanta law firm receptionist who turns visitors into welcome guests simply by greeting each visitor as if he matters. Janette engages every person who walks in.  She knows returning clients, asks how their travel has been, and makes them feel welcome.  When she meets someone new, she exchanges a few comments with them — not the kind of chatter that can annoy someone already on edge, just some niceties that pave the way for further conversation if the visitor so desires.  Every person who walks in is greeted, made welcome, and appreciated.

Here are a few areas to consider as you question what your staff contributes to client relations:

• Does the receptionist greet visitors with a smile and a friendly word? Especially in the last few years, many staff members have been asked to do more work with fewer resources, and stress has increased.  It’s important not to allow that stress to reach the client.
• How are telephones answered? Answering by barking out a business name may be efficient, but it’s hardly welcoming.
• Are clients treated as valued guests and recognized as individuals rather than being lumped together as fungible invoice-paying units?
• Are basic courtesies observed in communications? For example, if emailing an invoice, is a cover note included thanking the client for his or her business?
• Do you introduce clients to your staff members, or are staff members simply nameless, faceless people who interact with clients when you’re unavailable?  A simple introduction can transform a staff member from being regarded as only a gatekeeper to being viewed as a valuable resource.

Notice what’s happening when your clients and potential clients interact with your staff. If it’s a negative contribution, how can you help to create a shift?  And if it’s a positive contribution, do you acknowledge and reward it?

We’ve all been taught that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and there’s truth to that. I’m no hunter, but we all know intuitively that if you focus exclusively on the bird in hand and ignore all the others, you’ll have to start from scratch when you need to find another bird.

“I’m going to pause for a little while, just til I get this work off my desk.” That’s one of the most dangerous statements you can make.  Throw that out too often, and I can almost guarantee that you won’t get the results you want from your rainmaking efforts.  You’re likely to end up tired, behind the 8-ball, stressed out, and feeling like a failure.  And here’s why…

When you “hit pause”, you’re not pausing at all:  you’re just stepping into the feast/famine cycle. In this cycle, you need new business so you start business development activity; you grow your practice, only to slack off when you have substantial new business on your desk and you turn to getting the work done, which causes you to drop back on your rainmaking activity; and the result is that the flow of new business drops and at some point your realize you need more business — and the cycle starts again.

Fortunately, there’s a simple way out to interrupt this cycle. Identify the minimal amount of rainmaker activity you can do and still generate new leads and new referrals.

• You might find that you get referrals and new business from current clients, and so you might decide that, no matter what, you will make time to take one client to lunch each month and to plan a phone call to check in with others once a week.  (And if you get significant additional work from current clients, you’re in a great position, because that means that you have an opportunity to engage in business development activity every time you do billable work.)
• You might analyze where your clients have been coming from and discover that your blog is generating a lot of calls that lead to business.  If so, you should ensure that you post at least weekly, and you might even investigate hiring someone to help you with SEO or AdWords, to gain additional visibility.
• You might discover that you have an effective follow-up system and that you can expect to get measurable new business after speaking.  Develop a system that allows you to send out proposals to speak on a regular basis, and ensure that you speak at least quarterly.

As long as you have a reasonable rationale for your minimal level of rainmaking activity and you stick to it, you’re likely to avoid the feast/famine cycle. You’ll continue to see some variation from time to time, but when you’re strategic and consistent, those swings will be much less significant.

Here’s your checklist for determining your MERA (Minimal Effective Rainmaker Activity):

1. Review the sources of your business over the last two years. What activity generated the most business?  What generated the least?  Be sure to distinguish activity that’s slow yield from activity that’s low yield.
2. Set a minimum activity level in the top producers. Calendar whatever it is that you’ve determined you’ll do, and don’t allow yourself to delay, even when you’re busy.
3. Delete all other rainmaking activity from your calendar…FOR NOW. This approach is not designed to generate the most business possible.  It’s designed to defeat the feast/famine cycle.  It contains the seeds for long-term success, but you’ll need to do more in the long run to produce the maximum results.
4. Set your date for re-evaluation and don’t get complacent. The only downside to MERA is that you can lull yourself into thinking that any activity is adequate for any circumstance, and that just isn’t true.  MERA is only for the times when you’re tempted to press pause.

If you don’t know how to determine what activity is most likely to yield results for you, you’ll have trouble with this task. Building a practice requires you to know what produces results so you can do more of that.  If you don’t, we should talk.  Contact me, and we’ll arrange a time for a quick conversation.

You’ve put in your dues.

How can you leverage all of that activity to build relationships so you can bring in more business? The answers to that question are as varied as the number of people who might ask.  The four ideas I share here will form the springboard for what you decide to do.

1. Be sure you have all of that activity listed in your biographical sketch. I’m always surprised when a new client tells me about past activity that I can’t find anywhere in his or her sketch.  You did the work, so be sure you get credit for it.

   What’s more, listing the work you’ve done will help to build a bridge with contacts who review your sketch. How so?  Your activity shows your involvement with various groups, and if you and a new contact have both taught at your local community college or law school, you’ll have a connection that can form the basis of conversation.  You can get relationships off to a firm footing by having a well-rounded bio sketch.

2. Reach out to the people you’ve met while doing your credential-building activity. Most often, you’ll build working relationships while building your credentials, and it’s up to you to take the next step and to move those relationships outside of their initial context.  So, let’s say you’ve been working on a project with a committee of colleagues who may serve as referral sources.  Reach out to those people, let them know how much you enjoyed getting to know them in the committee, and invite them to coffee or lunch (or, if you aren’t local, a scheduled telephone conversation) to talk about your mutual professional interests.  They already know you, and if you’ve done your work well, they probably like and trust you.  Build on that.

   (What?  The others with whom you’ve been working are in your field and aren’t good referral sources? Get thee into a new group, where your professional strengths compliment, not duplicate, the strengths of others.  Get started today.  And remember this going forward:  it isn’t business development activity if you’re marketing to people who do exactly the same thing you do.)

3. Leverage your credential-building activity by bringing it to contacts who don’t know about it. So, let’s say you wrote an article that was published recently.  Send it to your clients, your former clients, your referral sources, and your warm contacts who will find it interesting.  Nothing fancy here:  just a copy with a quick note, perhaps offering to chat if the article raises a topic they’ve been concerned or thinking about.

   Sending your article out offers the personal touch, can lead to further conversation, and shows that you have in mind the people to whom you send it. And that’s ideal for relationship-building:  by showing that they’re at the top of your mind and sharing something useful, you bring yourself to the top of their mind.  (Worried they already received the article through its original publication?  Don’t be.  You’re offering the personal touch, and even if it’s a duplicate, they’re likely to appreciate the effort.) You can also use what you’ve created to build relationships with new contacts, and to invite them to receive your useful article and your newsletter. (You don’t have a newsletter or some other mechanism for providing regular, substantive contact?  We need to talk.  Seriously.  Drop me a note, and let’s set a time.)

4. Take the expertise you’ve developed to a new forum. Once you’ve written or spoken on a topic for one group, look for ways to expand your reach.  Take your presentation to a business networking group, to a specialty association, or to a different educational organization.

   More importantly, for the purposes of this discussion, broaden your exposure in a strategic way with a focus on relationship-building. If you speak, consider whether you (or your firm or business) might sponsor a reception following your presentation.  Assuming the timing is right, people typically enjoy a meet’n'greet with a featured speaker, and you’ll have opportunities to follow up with the people you meet.

So, what can you do to leverage your credential-building activity for relationship-building purposes? The basic point here is to think about how you can bring the credentials you worked so hard to acquire to people who can benefit from your expertise and to use the products of that activity to build relationships.  (And, incidentally, this conversation should illuminate for any doubters why the minimum professional credentials won’t cut it.)

Is this all you need to do to build relationships? No, absolutely not.  The Reluctant Rainmaker:  A Guide for Lawyers Who Hate Selling offers many relationship-building suggestions for lawyers, as will my forthcoming book, tentatively titled The Reluctant Marketer:  A Guide to Igniting Your Client-Based Business.  But these steps are a beginning point for leveraging your past work for relationship benefits.

Do you reward naughty potential clients by letting them hire you?  Just about every lawyer has had the truly awful client: one who doesn’t pay or pays so slowly that the process is agonizing, one who blocks your efforts to get information you need to handle the representation, one who’s routinely rude or unduly demanding or critical, and so on.  Unfortunately, naughty clients come in a lot of flavors.  The good news is that you can avoid many of them if you know what to watch for during your initial conversations.  A few red flags:

• You’re the third or fourth lawyer this person has consulted or (worse yet) hired on this, or a closely related, matter.  Clients fire lawyers for good reasons sometimes, but you should explore to find out what went wrong.  Trust your gut as you listen to the explanation.
• The potential client balks at your fee.  As I discussed with a client yesterday, a negative reaction to your fee may be sticker shock, or it could be a sign that the potential client isn’t going to value your services and will argue every step of the way.  Listen carefully.
• The potential client misses the first appointment, is very late for it, or arrives unprepared.  This isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker because, as we all know, sometimes life interrupts the best-laid plans.  But pay attention.  As with dating, the behavior you see early is likely to be the best behavior you’ll see in a representation.
• The potential client seems to have unrealistic expectations and is unwilling to hear a contrary point of view.  Clients often expect a more favorable result than their lawyer.  If you explain counterveling considerations that make a matter less certain or less favorable and hit a brick wall, think carefully before you proceed. 
• The potential client blames everyone and everything for his or her problems.  Chances are high that you’ll end up on the blame list, and possibly on the wrong end of a malpractice claim or bar complaint.

None of these red flags necessarily means that you shouldn’t accept the matter, but if one arises, you need to listen carefully to what is and isn’t said and to pay attention to non-verbal communication.  And trust your gut.

That reaction is so common.  It’s so discouraging to work at something — especially something as important as business development — and to see no results.  But three mistakes often come clear when I talk with someone who has worked hard at rainmaking without meaningful results.

1. The lawyer is measuring the wrong thing.  Sure, new business is the clearest measurement of rainmaking success, but that’s like starting a diet and measuring success only by reaching goal weight.  There are all sorts of midpoints that indicate success: making new contacts, developing relationships, building a strong reputation in your field, and so on.  These “interim successes” indicate forward movement — assuming, of course, they’re measured as progress toward the ultimate goal of bringing in new business and not as an end in themselves.
2. The lawyer hasn’t brought in new business. . . Yet.  “Patience & perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish,” John Quincy Adams observed.  In other words, don’t give up before an activity has had time to produce results.  Networking is a key place where lawyers fall short here.  A single conversation is incredibly unlikely to generate new business.  Mere membership in a group, or attending a meeting once or twice, is equally unlikely to be successful in any measure.  Hopping from one activity to another generates a lot of motion but very little forward movement.  Choosing one or two marketing tactics is almost certain to bring better results — unless. . .
3. The lawyer is doing the wrong things, or doing them in the wrong way.  No matter how persistently the task is undertaken, if it’s fundamentally flawed, it won’t work.  Let’s take networking again.  If your idea of networking is attending meetings, talking incessantly about yourself, your skills, your qualifications, and your experience, plus pressing your business card on anyone who happens within an arms’ length, you are destined to fail.  That’s networking at its worst and it’s unattractive to just about everyone.  In the example that opened today’s post, the lawyer was doing a lot of good activities, but none of them involved actually talking with potential clients and referral sources.  Good activity done wrong does’t work.

Your task this week: are you making any of these mistakes?  Check to see how you’re measuring your success especially.  Because lawyers are trained to focus on the end game (here, landing the new business), this is one of the key mistakes that I often see among new clients.

Would you like to make 2010 your most profitable year in practice yet?  If so, perhaps you should consider joining the Lawyers Business Development Boot Camp, which begins next week.  You’ll get step-by-step directions on what to do to make your rainmaking successful, opportunities to have all of your rainmaking questions answered, and weekly office hours so you can schedule 1-on-1 appointments with me to get candid feedback and brainstorming.   The work you put in over the next 8 weeks will start your 2010 with power and ensure that you’ll be successful.  (Worried about the fee?  Don’t be.  It’s almost certainly less than three billable hours at your fee, and for the majority of readers, less than two.) 

The earlybird registration ($100 off!) ends at midnight ET on December 3 (that’s this Thursday) and seats are filling.  Don’t delay — visit this page or paste this into your broswer: http://www.lawyersbusinessdevelopmentbootcamp.com/  Questions?  Call 800.758.6214, ext. 3 or email info@lifeatthebar.com.

I’ll begin today’s lesson with a story.  After I’d been in practice for several years, I referred an acquaintance to a lawyer who was a family friend — let’s call him Keith.  I wasn’t expecting anything more than a quick “thanks for the referral” and a good representation if my acquaintance hired Keith — the most I’d received for other referrals I’d previously made to other lawyers.  Instead, I received a “thank you” email, a handwritten note, and (on 9/12/01, a date when anything kind was a welcome distraction) a lovely gift basket.  And periodically over the next few months, when Keith and I crossed paths, he would mention something about my acquaintance’s matter — nothing invasive, of course, but an aside that the matter was proceeding, that he enjoyed working with my acquaintance, and so on. 

When the matter concluded, Keith sent me another note to let me know it had ended and that he appreciated the opportunity to work with my acquaintance.  Meanwhile, my acquaintance let me know what a terrific lawyer Keith was and how much she appreciated being in his capable hands.  I felt fantastic about that referral!  Not because of the multiple forms of “thank you” that I received — though I certainly did appreciate them — but because the matter was handled so skillfully.  I’ve referred other matters to Keith over the years, and every single time, the response has been similar.  I absolutely love referring people to him!

A story for contrast.  About the same time, a member of my family (also a lawyer) referred a matter to someone I knew very well professionally.  My family member (let’s call him John) didn’t receive any direct thank you, though the lawyer to whom he’d referred the matter (whom we’ll call Lawyer X) asked me to tell him thank you.  No big deal, but it struck me as peculiar, especially in view of the multiple forms of thanks that I’d received for my referral.

What came next was astonishing to me.  Lawyer X not only didn’t let John know how things were going, but he also didn’t pull out any stops to take good care of the client who’d been referred to him.  Yes, the representation was competent, but nothing more.  When John checked in with the person he’d referred (who was, in fact, his client referred out because of a conflict), he learned that the client felt unnoticed, as if he had to make a lot of noise before getting Lawyer X’s attention.

And during the course of the representation, a few things even slipped through the cracks.  Nothing big, as far as I know, but a few promises went unmet, and some pieces of the matter didn’t happen in a timely manner.  All of this information went back to John, who was appalled.  He felt that he had made a bad referral that not only had the potential to harm his client but also to harm his client relationship.  Within a few months, John had vowed never to make another referral to that lawyer.  And, indeed, he never did.  My guess is that Lawyer X has no idea, to this day, how poorly John (and his client) felt the referral went.

These two stories go beyond expressing gratitude for referrals and into client service, but let’s focus for today on how to thank someone for a referral.  Sending an immediate thank you, followed by another thanks (perhaps with a gift), and yet another with a larger (but still appropriate) gift sends a clear message of gratitude.  Equally importantly, keeping the referral source updated on the matter, while protecting your new client’s privacy, allows the referral source to be confident that the matter is being handled well.

Today’s assignment: create your own plan to thank those who send you referrals and to continue the flow of information.  If you’re feeling stuck on what that plan might be, check out this abstract of an article by Nancy Myrland.

On last week’s call Business Development Made Simple, I introduced the Lawyers’ Business Development Boot Camp, a 7-week program that’s designed to harness the opportunities that come at the end of 2009 to propel you into your best year in practice yet.

The Boot Camp includes several components:

•  Four 90-minute teleconferences that will walk you through each step of my Legal Rainmaker System (plus recordings and transcripts of each call – 6 hours of content deivery)
•  The opportunity to ask questions and have them answered during the teleconferences, in writing, or during 1-on-1 consultations
• A series of worksheets and templates that you can use to simplify your business development activity – not just now, but for years to come
• Weekly progress forms to report your activity so you stay accountable
•  Weekly opportunities to schedule 1-on-1 consultations with me, so I can give you immediate feedback and ideas for your rainmaking activity
• Two tickets to a 2010 Rainmaker Live one-day meeting, in a city of your choice (the schedule currently includes Atlanta, Dallas, Washington DC, Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and Seattle; I’ll be adding New York and Chicago)

To make this program accessible to as many people as possible, your investment for the Lawyers’ Business Development Boot Camp is almost certainly less than your fee for three billable hours of your time. (It’s probably even less than your fee for 2 billable hours for most of you.) Using the strategies and tactics I’ll share in the Boot Camp, you’ll be able to generate a many-fold return on your investment.

Click here to get the details and to register. (Don’t wait – I can only accept 30 participants.  Seats are filling quickly, and the earlybird rate ends at midnight ET on Wednesday, November 25!)

Last week I was in Greenfield, CT, attending my business mastermind meeting.  Once a quarter, I meet with 12-16 other entrepreneurs and business owners working in a variety of fields, and we spend time working on our businesses.  These meetings have helped me to look beyond the day-to-day work and have prompted the development of various programs and products — not to mention the challenge to write The Reluctant Rainmaker.

Who helps you to step back from your day-to-day work and look at the development of your practice?  This is a key function served by coaches and consultants, but you can also get help from dedicated colleagues or even from a set time on your calendar that you carve out for business reflection.  Especially as we head into a new year, make sure you set some time aside to check this year’s progress and to set next year’s plans.  And schedule time once or twice a month to focus on the business of your practice.  You’ll find that the results (especially if you work with someone who can give you feedback, resources, and new ideas) is well worth the investment.
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In addition to getting good ideas and feedback from my fellow mastermind members and the mentor who leads the group, I enjoy working with other business owners because it’s just plain fun.  Law is, in many ways, such a competitive profession that it can feel lonely (as a sole practitioner or a member of a megafirm) to work on one’s own practice.  But when you’re in touch with others who are doing the same thing, it creates momentum, offers encouragement, and often produces tight professional relationships.  It also helps to eliminate the “lone ranger syndrome” that so many lawyers (me included!) suffer from.  

Your assignment: identify who can hold you accountable and work with you on your business development (or other) goals.  Set specific times to meet and, if you’re joining a peer group, a format that calls for rotating leadership and responsibility for keeping the group on track.  If you’re so inclined, investigate coaches or consultants who work one-on-one with lawyers, or search out professionally-directed groups.  Getting support may be just the kick to keep you moving forward.

Please join me on Wednesday, November 11 at 12:30 PM ET for a complimentary teleclass, “Business Development Made Simple.”

Do you have all the business you want?  During “Business Development Made Simple” I’ll share my rainmaking system, including:

• How to make the most of your networking (with action items you can implement during the upcoming holiday season)… Even if you dread traditional networking
• What it takes to get business from social acquaintances and friends (with no fear of damaging the relationship)
• Why you must stay in front of your potential clients and referral sources (and how to do it in a simple way, without being a pest)
• How to set up systems that will keep your efforts moving forward – even while you’re working elsewhere

In less than an hour, you’ll get an overview of a simple and effective rainmaker system that you can put in place beginning today.

Click here to register for the November 11 teleconference (12:30 PM ET. 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 AM MT, 9:30 AM PT).

Can’t be on the line?  Click here to register anyway, and you’ll receive an MP3 recording of the call that you can listen to at your convenience.  Only those who register will receive the recording.

Good news: there is a solution – a fun, easy one at that.  The Billable Hour, a company that offers all kinds of products intended for lawyers and legal professionals, has heard the plaintive cry of the overwhelmed.  And the solution is ideal!

The Billable Hour Card Store offers a wide variety of holiday cards in addition to their usual stock, and sending them is as easy as sending an email.  (The sample to the right really tickled me.)  You can choose to type in a message (using a variety of fonts and colors) and have the card mailed directly to the recipient — along with a logo, your signature, or a photo you upload, if you like.  Or you can have the cards sent to you with addressed and stamped envelopes, so all you have to do is write a note inside, sign the card, and stuff the envelope. 

What could be easier?  Personalization for every recipient, with much less work for you.  I’m a fan of making the holiday card process simple, and this approach covers all the bases.  And I really like the range of cards that The Billable Hour Card Store offers.

By the way, I don’t receive any kind of financial incentive for recommending the products I do.  My only interest is helping you to find products and services that make your practice and your rainmaking efforts easy and effective.