Another Great Client Question

Found this interesting idea at life(over IP):

Once I [asked a realtor] … "What's one sign I can look for to get you leads - besides someone saying "I want to buy or sell my home"?" He told me that 83% of For Sale By Owner listings end up listing with a broker, so those were good leads for him.

The reason I mention this is that in the last 3 weeks, I've supplied my friend Fred, whom I knew from my old job, and who sold our house here, 3 leads from For Sale By Owner signs.

So, what hidden signals can people look out for that have good chances of generating business for you? If you can tell your network about them, you may be able to get a leg up on your competition.

Does LexThink Strike Again?

Jeremy Blachman, a LexThink attendee, wants to improve big firm life:

I just feel like there's some room for thinking here, there's some room for brainstorming about institutional change, and putting some smart people together to solve this puzzle of why so many people working at these places don't seem all that happy about it and what some better models might be, or way to fix these models, or maybe even just explain why the current model is actually working quite well. And to get the fresh perspectives of people who are first going into this, and the perspectives of people already there, people who love it, people who don't, I don't know -- I feel like maybe something good and interesting and fun could emerge.

Suck Less

Brad Feld says he’s not using the term “World Class” anymore, and tells this story about his first software company, where “We Suck Less” became its mission statement:

When we told our clients something like "we are better than the last guys", they either groaned or laughed maniacally since they had already heard that a few times from the people that came before us. But when we told them “the thing we are doing is really hard, the guys before us sucked, but we are going to suck less and try our hardest to be successful for you" our clients usually related (at least when they laughed, it was with a smile on their face.)

We delivered more often then not. So - while we never achieved that elusive "world class" status, we definitely sucked less most of the time. And - when I wandered down the hallways saying "guys - focus on sucking less - that's the key to our success", people rallied a lot more than if I had shouted "we are going to be world class" from the rooftops.

 Great advice. 

How did you get to where you are?

Jason Womack has a question that every lawyer should ask their client early on in the client relationship, “How did you get to where you are?”

I've heard from musicians, writers, company presidents, artists, parents, and more...What the question brings up is much more than a description of what they do; I get a glimpse into their background and their character. And, I'm reminded that it's the journey, not the destination, that engages me every day.

In a comment to Jason’s post, reader Dwayne Melancon suggests his favorite question that should also be in every lawyer’s arsenal:

 If you could wave a magic wand right now, what would I be doing for you?

The World is Flat?

Connie Crosby has some great quotes from an interview with Thomas L. Friedman, author of the book The World is Flat:  Where Were You When You Realized the World Is Flat? (Or Have You?).  Some really interesting food for thought:

We are led by lawyers who do not understand either technology or balance sheets. I am hoping, though, that many of them have kids, who, when they have a moment to take a break from their iPods, Internet, or Google, will explain to their parents running the country just how the world is being flattened.

Go to Connie’s post for a bunch more quotes, and if you are interested, buy the book.  It just made it on to my reading list.

Chickens in your backyard, and other cool trends.

I really love my Trendspotting newsletter.  This table of contents for  this month’s edition includes:

Urban farming
Cruises for the MASS CLASS
Design or die!
Pleasure Cards
Three innovative t-shirt concepts
TRYVERTISING intermediairies

Check it out by subscribing here.

Take Five and be a Better Boss

Rosa Say has another great tip in her post titled The Daily Five Minutes.  She suggests that each day, managers give five minutes of “no-agenda time” to at least one employee.  Here are some benefits to the managers:

In the process of developing this habit, they greatly improved their own approachability. They had nurtured a circle of comfort for their employees to step into and talk to them——whenever time presented itself. The Daily Five Minutes itself soon became a more personal thing. Employees started to share their lives with them——what they did over the weekend, how their kids were doing in school, how they felt about a local news story. Managers began to know their employees very well, and their employees began to relate to them more as people and not just as managers. They were practicing the art of ‘Ike loa together. 

Managers ceased to judge employee situations prematurely, for they had built up a relationship that demanded all be allowed to speak first——and they wanted to speak with their employees, sure they’d receive more clarity. The Daily Five Minutes became a “safe zone” where employees felt they could talk story with their manager “off the record,” and managers learned to ask, “Are you venting, or asking for help? Do I keep this in confidence, or do you expect me to take action?” It became clearer who was responsible for following up on things.  Managers had less and less of those “if only I had known about this sooner” surprises.

Think about doing a Daily Five Minutes with all of your employees.  Then extend it to your clients and see what happens!

Welcome Technolawyer!

I had a chance to meet Technolawyer’s Neil Squillante in NYC earlier this year, and we had a great evening together talking legal tech, blogs, and marketing.  Technolawyer has now started a blog, and though Neil is still keeping some of his Technolawyer goodies inside his fabulous e-mail newsletters, there is enough great stuff on the blog to make it worth a regular visit (or an addition to your aggregator).

Billable Hour Calculator

Joshua at JD Bliss alerted me to their new “Attorney Work Life Balance Calculator” that will (according to the site) help you determine:

• how many hours you must spend in your office during the week (Monday through Friday) in order to meet the billable hour requirements of your firm (taking into account vacation, personal and other "days off"), and
• the amount of time you'll need to spend working at home after work or on weekends if you can't meet your firm's billable hour requirements solely from your time in the office during the week.

Pretty cool little application, in a kind of fun/scary sort of way.  I did an interview for a profile in JD Bliss that should be coming up in a few weeks.  I’ll alert you when it is posted on the site.

Do you have Super Clients?

Over at Brand Autopsy, John Moore published excerpts  of a Wall Street Journal interview with Greg Brenneman, CEO of Burger King.  Here was the quote from Brenneman that caught my eye:

WSJ: Speaking of indulgent, you call your best repeat customers "Super Fans" -- the 18-to-34-year-old males who come in three to four times a week. How are you strengthening efforts to appeal to them?

Brenneman: If you think about what drives our business, "Super Fans" are something like 25% of our customer base, but 50% of spending. If we just get one more visit out of the Super Fan, it's like a 10% increase in comparable sales. It's about understanding who the core consumers are and getting the kind of indulgent products they want. You can't be everything to everybody. If you look at the Enormous Omelet Sandwich, we didn't beat around the bush with the name. It's an indulgent breakfast sandwich, and it's absolutely geared at the Super Fan.

Who are your Super Clients?  What percentage of your revenues do they contribute?  Do you even know?

See if your attorney gets it.

Richard A. Hall has a really good client tip  in his Managing the Business of Law blog:

Early in their engagement on a new matter, require outside counsel provide you a written strategy for achieving your business purpose. This will be your first, best opportunity to see if they “get it”.

If their strategy is “legal focused” e.g. “Draft documents necessary to…” you know you’re in trouble. Their strategy must be oriented to your business purpose e.g. “Conclude the XYZ transaction in the shortest time with the least cost by performing….

Now, instead of being asked by a client for a written strategy, imagine providing one to the client at the beginning of a new matter.  Start the letter as Richard suggests, and start building a strong relationship with your new client.

Law Firm Branding

Check out Andy Havens’ post answering the question, “How do you brand a law firm?”

LexThink in a nutshell

 From Fast Company’s Blog:

"I don't know who discovered water, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a fish." -- Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) Media critic & writer

Something to consider:  Just like a fish can't see the water it's swimming in, you can't see the world immediately in front of you. It takes someone with a different perspective to point it out. These people can see opportunities that you can't see. They can see pitfalls that you can' t see. They can see them, ironically, because they aren't staring at them every day.

Some great tips after the jump.

Some Great Guerilla Tips

Mike McLaughlin has begun posting 25 ways to get closer to your clients on his Guerilla Consulting blog.  His first tip:  Send a Lumpy Package:

In the professional services business, small gestures have a big impact. When you land a new client, send a welcome package to your sponsor. Include a personalized letter in the package, along with other items such as firm contact information, a list of upcoming events, relevant articles, or an appropriate book.

Use the opportunity to express your gratitude to the client for engaging you, and to let her know how important the project is to you and your firm.

Send welcome packages by postal mail, not e-mail. You'll be amazed at the strong and positive impression you'll make with this one simple gesture.

Keep checking back for more great tips.  I’ve read Mike’s great book, and hope to connect with him next week when I’m in San Francisco.

Hugh knows lawyers.

Is Hugh MacLeod describing your law firm?  Or your firm’s recruiting strategy?

Keep 'em happy every day.

In this post in her Creating Passionate Users blog, Kathy Sierra suggests that we’re “better off thinking about ways to delight our users and customers (and employees and family members!) with a steady stream of Good Things rather than, say, giving them one big reward.”  She then hits on a concept I’ve blogged about before:

Too many companies seem to give all the cool toys and treats to prospective customers--like trade show attendees, for example--but completely ignore you once you actually BUY the thing! That's just 180 degrees wrong. If they're pouring all this effort into enticing new customers, I can't help but think that if they channeled more of that budget to their existing customers (through both having a great product and continuing to surprise and delight them after the sale), then they'd increase their sales and marketing force by an order of magnitude as those customers go out and evangelize with way more credibility than the company reps or ads will ever have.

What is your cost to acquire a new client?  Do you even know?  Are you spending at least that same amount on keeping each existing one?

The virus is the software.

Harnish Newlands, blogging aboard his Cardboard Spaceship has this gem outlining a frustrating experience with McAffee.  The post would be funny, if it weren’t so true, and I’ve had the exact same experience.  My favorite part is the last two lines:

It really takes a lot of  ingenuity to loose free cash, and that's what McAfee managed to do.  If anyone from McAfee reads this, you need to go and kick your on-line sales head up the arse, and a good hard one.

Start your letters with "You" for better client relations

I drove down to Newport Beach today and had lunch with the incomparable J. Craig Williams, one of my Law.com Blog Network cohorts.  Craig was an amazing host and our meeting is just further proof that every blogger I’ve ever admired virtually has been even cooler/smarter/nicer/greater in person than I hoped.  (Sadly, people meeting me generally have a different experience.)

At lunch, Craig shared with me this amazing tip, and gave me permission to steal it for my blog:

Every letter his firm sends starts with “You.”  Not metaphorically or theoretically, but in actual practice.  He told me that it really keeps the attorneys in his office, including himself, focused on the fact that all client correspondence is for the client about something they care about deeply.  It is never about the lawyer.  Beginning each letter with “you” instead of “I” reinforces his firm’s commitment to its clients.

Give it a try in your practice for a month or two, and let me know if you see any difference. 

Next Stop, Law Review!

Saw this story from the Boston Globe (via Fight the Bull):

THREE MIT graduate students invented a computer program that can spit out randomly selected words to create grammatically correct research reports that make absolutely no sense. Now they have had one of those papers accepted for presentation at a July scientific conference. . . . Jeremy Stribling, Max Krohn, and Dan Aguayo call their paper ''Rooter: A Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy" -- which might have been seen as a tip-off that scientific beaks were being tweaked. After all, why would anyone want to unify redundancy?

But the four-page send-up, laced with confounding graphs, was accepted by an international conference that itself sounds like a spoof: ''The Ninth World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics."

If only I’d had their program in law school.  I may have actually made law review.

Managers should Manage

 Rosa Say, in her Talking Story Blog,  has a really great explanation of what I believe is the biggest mistake managers make.  In Work World Myth #8: Managers Should Know How To Do Everything, she says:

This is one of those old fallacies about what it takes to be a “good manager.” You often hear it voiced something like this: “Don’t ask an employee to do anything you can’t do yourself.”

There is so much evidence surrounding this to the contrary, that it astounds me this myth is still around. Even worse, mediocre managers are hiding behind it. They are not working ON business health, innovation, and vibrancy because they are “safely” ensconced IN business tasks that should be delegated and assigned to someone else.

If you want to be needed, be needed as a productivity maximizer: an inspiration, visionary, and compelling leader, not as another worker bee. And please, I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the worker bees you manage and lead; I’m just asking you to better understand what your own role is if you are their manager and a leader.

I’ve just started to regularly read Rosa’s blog, and it is really great.  Check out the rest of her Work World Myths.  Well worth your time.