The down economy (Part 9): What to do when demand disappears

My series on alternative fees will resume next week.  But first, a word about the economy.

When I opened the Boston Globe at breakfast a few days ago, I was planning to read about the Celtics first and then the Red Sox.  But I was distracted by an article on the front page with the headline “Boom times turn bleak for Boston lawyers.” 

It included a photo of a lawyer who had practiced for 25 years, lost his job a year ago, and now “has been forced to find a different way to earn a paycheck - by selling sofas and mattresses at a local furniture chain.”

I don’t think things will get quite this bad for too many lawyers, but the story certainly got my attention. 

That same afternoon, I had a Train the Trainer telecon with an internal business development coach at an 1,800 lawyer firm.  She is being certified to use our LegalBizDev Success Kit and other proprietary materials in her coaching, and she asked for my advice on how to help a lawyer from her office whose practice has been hurt by the economy.  For many years, he had a very successful practice doing big real estate deals.  These days, there are not enough deals to go around.  What should he do?

He should start by asking other lawyers in the office whether there is anything he could do to help them.  I’ve explained the basics of cross-selling in another series of posts, but the most important point is to start by asking people, “How can I help you?” not “How can you help me?” 

Mind you, it probably won’t work miracles in this economy.  But it’s the logical first step to take in a big firm, and it will prevent you from missing a project that is just a few doors away. 

Then I’d do a little thinking about the bigger questions of how to provide more value to the clients you have today, and the new ones you would like to get.  To do this, you must get out the door and start meeting with people.  For background, see these posts: 

o The down economy, Part 5: Defensive marketing
o The top ten ways for lawyers to increase client satisfaction
o The down economy, Part 8: What to do if your revenue goes down
o The most important trends in legal business development
o Alternative fees (Part 2): An idea whose time has come?

If you want more information after that, consider buying The LegalBizDev Success Kit.

Then I’d schedule a lot of lunches with clients and with colleagues in your area of specialization, asking their opinions on where things are headed.  Before each meeting, make a list of questions, and aim to listen 50-80% of the time.

These conversations will require some delicate decisions about what you say, and how you say it.  They should be frank exchanges of ideas between two people who find themselves in the same leaky boat.  But if you talk too much about your own need for work, you may sound desperate and the conversation could become awkward and counter-productive. 

I’d recommend that you schedule the first few lunches with your B and C contacts to get some practice with people who are not absolutely critical to your future.  Don’t make lunch reservations with your A contacts until you have some experience seeing how those discussions develop.

If you’re lucky, new ideas and opportunities for work will come out of these meetings.  If they don’t, it may be time to take a cold hard look at the future of your legal specialty.  See my post on “How to define your niche” and ask yourself such questions as:
• What type of legal work do I like to do?
• How much of a market is there for that kind of work?
• Is the market for those services stable, growing, or shrinking?
• What type of client do I want to work with?
• What experience do I have?
• Who do I know?
• How important are lifestyle issues vs. revenue?
• What types of risks and sacrifices are acceptable, and what types are not?

But avoid sudden moves, and keep meeting with everyone you know, even if they are all facing their own economic challenges.  Marketing works best with people who already know you and trust you.  So even if you need to move in a new direction, it is your old friends who can get you there the quickest.

You don’t need me to tell you that we are living in challenging and confusing times.  But there is no question that the world is changing, and we are all going to have to figure out how to change along with it.