Super Bowl of Client Development Tips

Super Bowl of Client Development Tips

Legendary football coach John McKay In response to a question about his team's execution said - "I'm all in favor of it."

We are just in the 1^st quarter of this year but is momentum wearing your teams colors or are you already playing a couple of scores down?

I had a manager fresh out of college that was a Tennessee grad and spoke almost exclusively in football clichés. Was a great manager and still good friend. Although some of them were a stretch, they rattle around in my mind when thinking about client development and sales opportunities from time to time. Here are some of my favorites that I hope you will enjoy:

Getting a deal comes down to blocking and tackling: How are you on the fundamentals of planning. How are you executing on each move? What is your plan for the 1^st hour of the day? Who are you calling? What are you doing? Look at successful people and are they executing the little things all day or relying on a big play to pull them through.

Goal line stand: Protect your brand. Protect your name. Protect what you are about. When it gets down to there it is who wants it more.

Punt: Risk/ reward. Sometimes the best deals are the ones that you never make.

Matriculate the ball down the field: If the goal is to score and ultimately win, what does everything that leads to that look like? It’s the actions that set up other actions, deliverables that lead to the final result. What measurable events (10 yards at a time) are you planning and executing on to get to your goal? How do you identify areas where you can do better the next time you have a chance?

Calling an audible: When faced with competition that has you matched well, change the play in your favor.

Executing the 2 minute offense: When the pace is picked up and time is not on your side, where does precision come in? It comes from preparation, teamwork, communication. Everyone has their role and everyone is dependent on each other to do their job.

Nose for the football: Know when a play is about to be on, anticipate, and make your move. Always be looking and listen for opportunities. Be in position to capitalize.

Don’t be the quarterback with happy feet: When the pressure is on, questions are flying at you, you may not have as much time as you think, slow things down in your head and rely on your ability.

Pin your ears back and go after them: When your competition is back on their heels a bit, aren’t executing, and you have momentum, go after them. You do them no favors by letting them believe they are better than what they are.

Hand the ball to the official after a touchdown: Scoring touchdowns are what you are supposed to do. Winning, growing business, executing, is why you are hired, and what is expected. Act like you been there before and just hand the ball over..

Gut check time: I’ll never forget what my manager said on a low day in his office. I had produced a few excuses for a bad sales month and he said, “Whatever problem you think you have, you will own it. If you think people won’t buy because of this reason or that, they won’t. Use any excuse you want, they all work..” If you think you can’t develop clients because you are an associate or never have before, you won’t. You have to see yourself above your plan. Everything you do from that point on is an exercise in getting there.

Have a firm retreat coming up or want to get your team all pulling in a higher revenue direction?

Looking for speakers through lunch and learns or webinars/ audio conferences? Have had tremendous feedback on customized presentations specific to individual firms goals and plans. Please read some testimonials at www.Wilcox-legal.com

Please contact me: Andrew Wilcox, Andrew@Wilcox-legal.com, 850-893-8984.

Does your firm have a client retention strategy?

Does your law firm have a client retention strategy?

So much time and effort is spent on new client development. The national average on client attrition is between 12-15% from year to year. How does your firm compare to this average?

What is striking are the issues as to why clients leave at all. Has your firm measured the value of retaining each client %? How much would that mean to your bottom line?

According to a recent study by Lexis Nexis:

• Clients that have more than 5 partners working with them, 90% of them stayed with the firm.
• Although clients that had 100% of the work done by partners were only 50% likely to stay with the firm
• Clients that stay with a firm/ lawyer for more than a year were 80% more likely to stay with them for the long term.
• 35% of the clients that used a firm for one area of practice ceased using the firm after the issue was completed.

Bill rates had very little to do with retaining clients. Low price shoppers were more likely to leave anyway.

So when forming your client retention strategy, how do you optimize efforts? Understanding that some clients are best not held on to for a variety of reasons.

Have business conversations with business people. Are your attorneys talking with a single point of contact (General Counsel) about legal matters? Have you considered talking with the C-suite or VP of HR about their business related legal issues? May secure labor an employment work for someone in a referral network, or products liability work, or transactional work.

Establish success metrics- How do you and how does your client want the attorney/ client relationship measured? Can you discover metrics beyond wins and losses to save your client money, time, resources? What is the value of your work to your client? Is this a client that makes sense for you to retain, or is it costing you money?

Build your bench - Associates are your future partners. What is your firm’s succession strategy to get associates involved in partner matters like client development. The clients should be comfortable with the firm’s talent and resources from the receptionist to the managing partner. Free up the time for partners to do more client development. Consider what work your associates can help with and gain greater understanding around to ultimately better serve your clients?

Qualify, Qualify, Qualify… There are 2 winners in the client development game. The firm who gets the client and the firm who got out first without spending time, money, resources that could have been better spent elsewhere. If your bill rate is $650/hr and this is a prospect that won’t pay more than $500/hr, then move on to other prospects. If this is a prospect that understands the value and doesn’t treat legal work as a commodity, they will pay your bill rate.

Do you have a firm retreat coming up? Let’s discuss how to merge your marketing plan with your attorney’s client development and retention efforts through Client Development Process.

Email me at Andrew@Wilcox-legal.com. You may also visit my website http://www.wilcox-legal.com/. 850-893-8984

http://www.linkedin.com/in/wilcoxlegal

Client development and the Earth's rotation

http://www.wilcox-legal.com/Client%20Development%20Process%20Overview%20podcast.mp3

Client Development and the Earth’s rotation

Let me be the first to say I have no idea what relation the Earth’s rotation around the sun has on client development opportunities or exploration of career options.

However, it seems like decisions and planning are always made at the end of the quarter, end of the year…

As we approach that turn I am having several conversations with attorneys daily about planning. Not Y2K the world is ending planning, but what will 2010 look like. More importantly, how folks want it to look.

It can look the same or worse than 2009, or you can use the Earth’s rotation to your advantage.

5 tips on client development planning:

1. Develop goals with what you want the end of 2010 to look like and work backwards. How many seminars do you need to do per month? How many calls or emails to prospects do you need to make weekly? Who can you set up a referral network with inside and outside of your firm (think complimentary practice areas.) Most attorneys that I speak with that do not have a book of business, do not have a business plan.

2. Commit to taking a client to lunch. At least once a month. Things have been tough on everybody. Everybody is looking at bottom lines. What better time to reset a relationship. Bring a notepad. Find out what “business” issues they are dealing with. Take notes. If the issues don’t match your practice areas, what better way to provide a referral to someone in your network.

3. Referral networks are like the holiday season, better to be in a giving mood. Nothing will kill a referral network quicker than a group of people that are together to take and not give. Always be listening for opportunities to feed your network.

4. Go outside of your profession to create a network. Financial planners, doctors, real estate agents, engineers, IT, business leaders. Amazing how much you can learn about how a business works and the issues that business people deal with when you hear from them first-hand. Possibly facilitate the deal between business people.

5. Establish success metrics for yourself and qualify opportunities in or out as quickly as possible. Time management is so tough. There are two winners in a deal. The one who gets the business and the one that gets out first without commiting time, money, and resources toward a prospect that you know you will not represent.

Whether you sit on boards, give seminars, join groups, spend the time up front to determine if it is something that you can be passionate about. Do they have contacts that you can leverage, but more importantly develop strong long –term relationships with? Nothing is less inspiring than someone that is going through the motions in a chase for the dollar.

Andrew Wilcox
President
Wilcox and Hackett, LLC
Andrew@Wilcox-legal.com
www.Wilcox-legal.com
(850) 893-8984

Taking it personal

Do you go to work everyday and do your job, or do you take it personal?

I speak with people all of the time who are trying to find and edge. They step outside of their day-to-day, try and do what others competing with them do not, all good things.

However, is it who they are or what they are doing? That board you are looking to be a part of, friend you are trying to make, job you are doing, is it personal or just business.

Remember the movie Jerry McGuire. Jerry told him he was "paycheck player" and that "that doesn't inspire people".

We probably know more people that do what they do for money than for passion.

I talk with people everyday that make alot of money. Alot more than most I should say. They aren't happy and want a change. I tell them if you do anything for money, you will never have enough of it. That's fine, but what inspires people?

Is it the person joining a chamber of commerce board to pass their business card out or the person feeding the homeless on a cold Saturday morning with their kids because their life is a blessing and they want to share that with the ones closest to them?

I have been very lucky to work with a broad range of companies. Some struggling, some doing well, some searching.

When I walk into a class I see something very quickly. Who is engaged and wanting to improve. Who takes it personally and who is there as if it were a prison sentence?

You see it in some peoples eyes immediately. Others have been burned before but believe in what they do. Others are paycheck players. If someone offered them more money that would trump everything else.

Ask yourself in what you do. Do I worry about my job responsibilities or do I mentally check out at some point in the day? When others stop, do I do a bit more, honestly?

Do you dive into the new initiatives or find the person/ people that is griping in the corner about how bad the new idea is?

Do you give more than you get? Are you committed to the development of others? Part of a team or a bad month affect "you".

What would inspire you in others?

Client prospecting checklist for attorneys-podcast

http://wilcox-legal.com/Client_prospecting_checklist_for_attorneys.mp3

Identifying your brand and marketing it (click for podcast overview)

Okay so you have read blogs about what other firms are doing, maybe spoke with other marketing executives at other law firms, perhaps even hired a consultant to come in and do training. Now what?

There is a reason why training without an implementation plan is called “drive by” training. It comes at you fast and furious and you get a few points that you or the attorneys at your firm can use. The shelf life is a matter of a few days to a couple of weeks though if there isn’t a process or plan of use after it is all said and done.

When was the last time that you had a cross section of employees sit in a room and identify what is unique about your firm. Better yet, when was the last time you asked your clients what is unique about your firm and why they use your services?

Does your perception meet the reality? You may think that it is the amount of rated or ranked attorneys that you have, diversity, geographic footprint, relationships, personal service, and it may very well be. But what if your brand doesn’t match your firm.

As recent as a couple of years ago, the term “brand” hardly ever came up when discussing firms goals. It was important to have websites and brochures match in color. Maybe even a firm logo or slogan.

Your brand comes from:

How do you engage clients, prospective and existing?

What value do THEY see in using your services?

What is the common theme and culture that your firm delivers on?

The quality of work that is delivered.

What do you do better or more unique than other firms, and why is that so?

All of the rest of it is marketing. The websites, blogs, seminars, trade shows, tweets, Web 2.0, yellow page, etc. Those are all vehicles to deliver messaging, but more importantly begin to ask questions.

Pick up your yellow pages or do a web search in your local area. How many times do you flip through and see: Personal Injury, Criminal Law, Family Law. What is unique in any of the 100 plus pages, besides the ones closest to the front that got hoodwinked into buying yet another double truck ad in the 20^th version of the local yellow pages? NOTHING.

Many times there is a disconnect between the real brand and how it is marketed.

First, avoid marketing jargon. You know who you are. Second, uniquely position your brand by asking questions that would lead others to either engage that as important to them or not.

Diversity may mean everything to one prospective client. How do you know if it’s not asked? A smaller firm where a client may get more personalized attention and reasonable bill rate may be more or less important than a firm with international offices and hundreds of offices.

Most importantly, are you asking questions to better understand your clients or do you assume that you know. The answers may shock you. It’s also the real brand that you have.

Market that and measure the results.

Andrew Wilcox, Andrew@Wilcox-legal.com, 850-893-8984

Client Development Process Overview-podcast

This is a brief overview of the course.

http://www.wilcox-legal.com/Client_Development_Process_Overview_podcast.mp3