How to get started developing new business

There are three major ways that lawyers can work to develop new business:

1. With a coach
2. With a group of lawyers
3. Independently

A coach will provide business development expertise, someone to bounce ideas off, and a regular schedule of meetings to keep you on track.  In fact, if you work with a coach, you can stop reading this week’s post, because the coach will remind you of what you need to do each step of the way. 

You can also stop reading if you own The LegalBizDev Success Kit.  Instead download this Tip Sheet:  Download TipsLawyersB.pdf that will not only summarize the information below, but also refer you to specific pages in The Success Kit for more details.

But if you’re not ready for a coach, and haven’t yet purchased your Success Kit, read on.

Work with others

Most lawyers will follow up more consistently if they work with other people, so if you can’t afford or don’t want a coach, work with a group.  It could be your entire practice group, a formal committee including business development professionals, or just two or three lawyers who meet for breakfast once a month.  Working with a group provides social support, increases accountability, and leads to steady progress.  No one wants to go to a meeting and report that they failed to follow up on all their action items.  The simple fact that you know you have a meeting coming up will help spur you to action. 

Trying to develop new business independently is like buying an exercise bike.  Most exercise bikes end up being used to hang up clothes, and most plans to work independently on business development end up being ignored when the inevitable daily crises come up.

On the other hand, working alone may not be as good as the other options, but in practice it’s much better than nothing.  And there are some people who genuinely achieve more when they work independently, as long as they find a way to assure consistency and follow-up. 

Prioritize relentlessly

When lawyers ask me about the most important advice on marketing, my answer is simple:  Ignore good ideas.  Lawyers are much too busy to spend time on ideas that are only good.  To maximize the chances of success, you must focus on the very best ideas for your practice, your personality, and your schedule. 

This requires relentless prioritization, and constantly returning to the question:  “What should I do today to increase new business?”  You must place the highest priority on tasks that are most likely to yield the type of clients you want to work with, and the types of matters you prefer to focus on. 

How can you come up with the best list of activities for your unique situation?  Review things that have worked in the past for you, for your partners, and for other firms.  Do this quickly.  Because every minute you spend planning is a minute you are not following up with clients. 

Many lawyers would rather read about marketing than to pick up the phone and call a client.  If you are one of them, you must fight that tendency, and spend as little time as you can on studying.  Just jump right in and try something.   And when you do, keep a written record of what you tried, and what worked.  If you track short-term activity and results, you will be more likely to follow up consistently. This is especially critical if you are working alone.  For details on how to do this, see my post How to assure that you follow up consistently. 

Because developing new business is like going on a diet:  There is no sense starting unless you plan to stay with it.

Comments

[probate attorney marketing]

what I have observed as the tendency for small firms to diversify their business mix this tends to weaken their core competency.