Creating a Growth Structure from a Lockstep Mindset
It’s not often I stumble into mid-sized and larger firms that have successfully retained a compensation system that can honestly be described as pure lockstep. Other than a number of the most profitable Wall Street firms, the rest of BigLaw and “not-so-BigLaw” long ago began incorporating some features that track originations and link individual compensation […]
Hunting in Packs: Group Meetings with Prospective Clients
If you have decided it will be advantageous for you to visit prospective clients as a pair or threesome, you need to follow certain steps carefully in order to optimize your effectiveness and minimize mistakes that can cost you a relationship before you even have one. The selection of the team who will visit the prospective client should […]
Closing Strategies: When Prospects Are Ready to Buy
“I’ve spent 18 months cultivating a relationship with an in-house litigation manager who says all of the right things but we have yet to get a lick of work. I don’t know whether to pull the plug on my efforts or keep buying him lunch . . . .” After spending many years working with […]
A Business Development Reality Check
Remember when things were busy and prosperous, and meeting a prospective client was a joy? There was a spring in your step and, while you were not cavalier, your future did not depend on any given individual so there really wasn’t a whole lot of pressure on each greeting or encounter. Remember that more senior […]
Client CLE Courses: Risk or Reward?
A common marketing tool to increase work from existing clients is the offer of a free continuing legal education (CLE) or “new developments” course. These are now often done by webinar, although the in-person version still has distinct advantages. If your firm conducts either version of these courses, have you considered the risks of doing […]
Dynamic CLE Panel Sessions
(Presented at the Professional Development Institute, Washington, DC December, 2012)The continuing legal education (CLE) program item in your hand looks promising: “Panel Discussion of Current Issues in Mergers and Acquisitions Practice.” You attend the 90-minute session. One moderator and three panelists appear. The moderator introduces each in turn. Each delivers a 25 to 30-minute lecture, […]
Client Seminars: How to Engage your Guests
There are three distinct groups of guests coming to your next seminar: Learners, Vacationers and Hostages. How can you distinguish each group? More importantly, how can you engage them? Learners This is the group that you wanted to come to your seminar. In fact you may have planned your seminar specifically for them. Of the […]
Lifelines for Partners with Dying Practices
Most all attorneys at one point or another in their careers come to view their particular practice area to be out of favor. Industry sectors to which their practices are attached are in recession, corporate law departments lose their zeal for pursuing litigation, capital markets – both debt and equity – lose their interest in […]
How to Control the Room: 7 secrets to being successful in every meeting
Careers can be made or broken in meetings. Here is how to become one of the best speakers in every meeting and distinguish yourself amongst your colleagues. 1. Say less – say it better. A good presentation is like a Scotsman’s kilt; short enough to be interesting, long enough to cover the essentials. Remember you […]
Focus on the “R” in “CRM”
Client relationship management programmes must keep the emphasis on “relationships.” Over the past few years, there has been a sharp increase in the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) programmes across all sizes of law firms. Firms that were already successfully running CRM programmes are updating to the latest technology and those who are new […]