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Client Development

Being Brilliant is Over-Rated

Way back before the cell phone, we had a telephone in our reception area for clients to use. At the same time, my doctor had a sign in his reception area advising patients that the doctor’s phone was for his staff’s use and clients could use a payphone in the lobby. The difference? We lawyers had to market ourselves to find clients and then convince them to pay our bills. My doctor worked under a government health care system and did not have to worry about either of those things.

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Client Development

Hawkers and Hookers

In 1971, Xaviera Hollander published her first book titled, “The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.” It sold twenty million copies.

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Client Development

Would You Rather Die or Give a Speech?

“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”                   Jerry Seinfeld

Early in my career I spoke to a group of lawyers about opinion letters. I was awful. I read the entire presentation, which was chock full of technical details, and bored the audience to tears. To this day, if I close my eyes, I can still hear them snoring and crying at the same time.

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Client Development

I Give this Post a Five Star Review

I was a super-fantastic lawyer. Really, almost everyone says so.  And yet, there were a few clients who did not appreciate what I did for them or what it cost to have me do it.  Luckily for me, during most of my career Google Reviews were not much of a thing. And until they were, those few and far between ignorant and unappreciative ingrates who did not like me did not have much of a public forum for spreading their lies.

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Client Development

Call ME, Maybe!

There once was a law firm which marketed itself as being a team of lawyers with deep expertise in different areas of the law who worked together seamlessly to deliver the best possible outcomes for the clients. Let’s call them “Super Team Lawyers.”

Super Team compensated its lawyers for bringing in business by awarding origination credits to the lawyer who introduced the client or referral source to the firm and paying them a percentage of their originating credits.

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Client Development

The More Things Change, the More Lawyers Still Screw Up Marketing

“Either you follow-up or you fold-up.”  

Bernard Kelvin Clive

I recently observed a law firm doing some impressive online marketing. At the same time, to quote Shania Twain, when it came to the follow-up, “that [didn’t] impress me much.”

Here is my story:

I was doing a bit of research, hoping to find an answer to a legal question to solve a personal issue. I quickly came across a great website for a boutique firm which appeared to have all of the expertise that I need. Great articles, videos with a lawyer who has personality plus, and the offer of a free discovery session. Clearly this firm had the expertise that I required to solve my rather discreet problem.

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Client Development

Never Trust a Lawyer Who Doesn’t Make Mistakes

Back in the day, I would have an Associate join a client meeting with instructions to speak up if they thought I was getting something wrong. Of course, they would only do so occasionally because I was not wrong all that often. When they did, if their point was not so great, I would respectfully acknowledge it and move on, but if it was valuable, I would say so and say to the client something like, “that’s why I had her sit in.”

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Client Development

Bah, Humble

I spoke to a young lawyer the other day who hails from another country. I will call her Natalie.  Natalie explained to me that where she comes from, the culture is such that self-promotion is frowned upon.  In her country, people do not think much of braggarts and blowhards. They respect people who are humble.

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Client Development

Buying Clients

Back when I was practicing law, ignoring my health, and always exhausted, there were oh so many things to think about.  One of them was referral fees.

Of course the Law Society has rules about referral fees, as they should. (There are a whole bunch of other things that they have rules about which they should not be involved in, but I will save my rant about that for another day.)

In our firm, we kept our rules about referral fees a whole lot simpler than the Law Society rules. We did not pay referral fees and we did not accept referral fees.

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Client Development

The Slow Game

You think that baseball is a slow game? It has nothing on networking.

Here is a story for you.

Many years ago I met a tax accountant named Michael. Capable guy. We built up a trusting relationship and referred business back and forth from that day forward to my retirement.