How to increase coaching success - Part 2 of 3

Focus

Lawyers have little time for business development. Therefore, it is urgent that they focus the time they do have on the most productive activities. For example, if a lawyer takes a class on how to network, then later fails to actually attend networking events, the program will be a waste on all accounts.

Selling requires follow-up, and coaches have the greatest success encouraging follow-up when they concentrate on the selling activities that each lawyer is most comfortable with. This usually means starting out by coaching them on how to develop the potential for new work within existing clients.

Allowing each lawyer to set his/her own agenda and focusing on the “low hanging fruit” will also increase motivation. Psychologists such as Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin have repeatedly shown that when people have a feeling of control over their environment, they feel better and are more likely to act.

Of course, some lawyers may have trouble identifying the best low hanging fruit. Sales professionals qualify prospects by asking three questions: “Will they buy?”, “Will they buy now?”, and “Will they buy from me?” This type of thinking is often foreign to lawyers, who may be tempted to select prospects based on a variety of irrelevant criteria.

A diplomatic coach can help guide lawyers to the prospects that are most likely to lead to significant new engagements. But the key word in that sentence is “diplomatic.” Lawyers are highly intelligent people who are trained to be critical. Most respond negatively to overt pressure. So the coach’s job is to gently try to convince them to pursue the largest and most likely prospects. If that doesn’t work, one must “go with the flow,” and help lawyers to pursue the clients they care about. If it produces results, it will prove the lawyer was right. And if it doesn’t, you will now have the evidence to turn attention to better prospects.

Measurement

As management guru Tom Peters put it: “What gets measured gets done.” In every program to change behavior, coaches and therapists measure activity and results. Dieters track their calorie intake and weight. People who want to become more fit track the time they spend exercising. People with money problems track their budgets. People with medical complaints track their symptoms.

In a recent survey of 377 marketing professionals, Suzanne Lowe and Larry Bodine found that “Professional firms that said they were extremely effective [in developing new business] used three particular client-focused metrics in combination with each other…: a) Growing client revenue: ‘Did you grow revenue with your client or not?’ b) Moving the phases of a sale through a pipeline: ‘Did you close the sale or not?’ and c) Listening to the client: ‘Did you listen to your client or not?’”

As explained in my book Legal Business Development: A Step by Step Guide, in addition to these three variables law firms should also consider such measures as time spent, advances, meetings, market share, referrals, client satisfaction, and more. The precise measures to be used in each coaching program will be based on each firm’s goals and culture. What the best measures have in common is simplicity, so that something will in fact be counted consistently and followed up.

This three part series is from an article I published in the November/ December 2006 issue of Strategies: The Journal of Legal Marketing.