Innovation Innovation

Unreasonable Requests

I had the pleasure of a long telephone conversation with Lisa Haneberg yesterday.  Lisa gave me some great tips I’m sure to implement in my Innovation Coaching Program, but one thing she told me really got my attention.  Each week, she resolves to make at least five “unreasonable requests” to people she has no business asking for favors.  She reasons that if just one request is granted, she’s gotten a bit of a bonus that week.  Doing a quick google search, I realize I’m not the only one impressed by Lisa’s approach.

I’m working on my list of unreasonable requests now.  I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.

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Extras Extras

A note from my friend, Doug Sorrocco

This comes from my friend, Doug Sorocco, of PHOSITA and Rethink(IP) fame, who e-mailed me this note today.  I think so highly of Doug that I wanted to post his note in full:

As many of you know, I am the Chairman of the Spina Bifida Association of America which advocates on behalf of those affected by spina bifida and the 65 million women of child bearing age that are at risk for having a child with spina bifida – the most commonly permanently disabling birth defect compatible with life. 

Our annual fundraiser is coming up in October – the Roast of Barbara Walters by members of Congress.  If anyone is interested in attending, it is a lot of fun and there are many opportunities to hang out with media and governmental “movers and shakers”.   Along with the Roast, we raffle a Porsche Boxster – only 2005 tickets will be sold, so there is a 1 in 2005 chance of winning the car.  This event and raffle are the primary fundraising events that we host each year and the money raised is well stewarded – these funds are used for health promotion campaigns such as folic acid awareness (up to 75% of the occurrences of spina bifida can be prevented by taking folic acid prior to conception) as well as research into the effects of living with spina bifida (aging, medical etc.)

I know y’all have quite extensive networks and contacts including throughout the blogger-sphere as well as personally and I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to get this raffle in front of these folks.  If you could forward this brochure on to the folks that you believe would be interested, I would greatly appreciate it (the link is here).

I did actually blog about my work with the SBA once and if you are interested in reading it, it can be found here.

Thank you for your support and allowing me to intrude into your email inbox.

Douglas

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Law Office Economics Law Office Economics

I'll gladly repay you the second Tuesday of next week.

My newest issue of Brainmail appeared in my inbox this week, and as usual, it is full of interesting tidbits, most that make me say, “huh?”  Here is one that struck me like a ton of bricks, not because it was odd, but that it made so much sense:

 Here is interesting story about human behaviour. A   childcare centre in Israel was having problems with parents that were picking their children up late. As a result they introduced a fine for lateness. The result was that lateness increased. Why? Because the fine normalised the behaviour.

Makes me wonder: if you include a late fee provision on your bill, does it make your client more likely to pay late?

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Innovation Innovation

Announcing LexThink Innovation Coaching

I have spent the last two months working on a project I’m happy to announce here first:  LexThink! Innovation Coaching.  The formal announcement will come September 1, 2005, but I wanted to share a sneak peak at my business plan with my blog readers.

  • Seventeen Clients:  I’m absolutely focused on giving my clients the best coaching experience they’ve ever received.  Each coaching class will be limited to seventeen clients because that’s the number I can best serve.
  • Seventeen Days:  My ideal coaching client is a busy professional who is unwilling to make a long-term commitment to a business coach.  That’s why I’m limiting the duration of the coaching program to seventeen days.  Here’s how it will work:
    • For the first three weeks (Monday through Friday), coaching clients will get twice-weekly coaching calls from me, take part in small group discussions, and complete daily creativity and idea-generation exercises as they learn to make innovation a regular part of their business day. 
    • The last two days (day 16 and 17) will be spent in a LexThink-like collaborative brainstorming retreat where clients and I will get to spend time with one another, build lasting relationships among ourselves, and put our innovative ideas into practice.
  • Virtual Assistance:  I want to give my clients the gift of time to fully invest in the coaching relationship, so each coaching client will have access to a virtual assistant for the duration of the program, at no extra charge.  The clients will be able to offload delegable tasks to their virtual assistants so they can spend more time working on their businesses and not just in them.
  • Access to the Experts:  Each week, there will be a Saturday School conference call where my coaching clients will have access to a business or productivity superstar for an hour.
  • Technology that Works:  Each individual coaching telephone call and small-group discussion will be recorded and made available as a podcast for the clients to listen to again.  Each coaching client will have their own web-based portal to keep track of their milestones, assignments, upcoming calls, goals, and to-do’s.
  • Continuing Collaboration:  Every year, I’ll invite all of my coaching clients back for an Idea Retreat where they can meet old friends and make new ones.
  • All Inclusive Price:  The coaching, conference calls, virtual assistance, and retreat (hotel and food) are all included in the price, which is $3,000.  I’m giving a $1,000.00 discount to the first seventeen clients who sign up and agree to be my “Beta Testers.”  The first coaching group will start mid-September. 
  • Satisfaction Guarantee:  If you are not completely satisfied with your LexThink Innovation Coaching experience, and feel that you’ve gotten less than a 3 to 1 return on your investment, I’ll gladly refund whatever portion of your fee you feel I haven’t earned.

If you are interested, e-mail me at Matt@LexThink.com. 

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Marketing, Practice of Law Marketing, Practice of Law

Thank you, and good night.

Bert Decker has some really fantastic tips for ending a presentation.  Decker suggests that the last three seconds of any presentation are among the most important.  His tips:

  1. Don’t step back.  If anything, take a half-step toward your listeners at the end.  Don’t step back verbally, either, by softening your request to “I surely hope something…” or worse, “There seems to be a need…”  Keep saying “we” and “you” to the end.
  2. Don’t look away.  Some people harken back to the last visual-aid, as if for reinforcement.  Some people look aside, unwilling to confront listeners head-on at the last words, the murmured “thank you,” or the instant of silence that follows.  Stay with them.
  3. Don’t move on the last word.  Hold still for a half-beat after the “you” in “thank you.”  You don’t want to look anxious to get out of there.  If anything, you want to let people know you’ve enjoyed being with them and are sorry you have to go.  Don’t rush off. 
  4. Don't raise your hands.  In our seminars, we recommend “clean and firm endings” to actually show people you’re finished.  You must “let them go” visually.  If you keep you hands up at waist level, you look as if you have something more to say.  You’re still “holding them.”  (You can see this same phenomenon in on-on-one seated conversations:  the person whose hands are up still “holds the floor” and the listener will not begin talking until the hands themselves are finished.)  In speaking, think of yourself as the gracious host or hostess as you drop your hands with an appreciative “thank you.”  That image prompts you to be warm and natural. 
  5. Don’t rush to collect your papers. Or visual aids, or displays.  Stop and chat with people if the meeting is breaking up, then begin to tidy up in a calm, unhurried manner.  Otherwise you might be contradicting your calm, confident demeanor as a presenter.
  6. Never blackball yourself with a critical grimace, a shake of the head, eyes rolled upward, a disgusted little sigh.  So what if you’re displeased with yourself?  Don’t insult your audience by letting them know you were awful; they probably thought you were pretty good.  One lip curl in those last three seconds can wreck 30 minutes of credibility.

Bert’s blog is one of my new favorites.  It is chock-full of great tips like these.  Add it to your aggregator.  You won’t be sorry.

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Client Service, Law Office Economics, Marketing Client Service, Law Office Economics, Marketing

The Best Business Advice for Professionals

Tom Asacker, guest blogging for Fast Company’s Blogjam shares this tremendous insight into building a business:

Today the game is all about going deep, with highly relevant products and services and particularly information, into a unique subculture. Forget about things like reach and frequency. The future of branding is collaboration with -- and for -- a passionate subculture of like-minded people. It's no longer wise to be famous for fifteen minutes. Mass market celebrity is fleeting. Instead, become famous to fifteen people.

I think Tom is right on here.  Because small-firm lawyers, architects, accountants, and other professional service providers will never be able to serve the mass market anyway, it is important for them to take Tom’s advice to heart.  Identify 15 people/businesses you want to serve.  Now, how can you be famous to them? 

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Marketing Marketing

Blogher Business Cards

A few weeks ago, I blogged about some cool business card ideas.  Getting ready for Blogher, I realized I needed some more cards.  Since I’ve been using 3x5 cards a lot lately as I implement the Hipster PDA, I decided to try index cards.  Liberally stealing from both Eric Mack and Garrett Dimon, I came up with this design, printed on the front and back of a plain white index card, which Halley Suitt calls the “The Awesomest”:

Business Card Front

Business Card Back

The best part of the design is that I can scribble notes on the front of the card before I hand it to the person.  The back of the card contains far more info about me than I’d be able to convey in a brief conversation.  Though I may change them a bit, I’m really starting to like this format.  I’d love your thoughts and comments.

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Innovation Innovation

Tips to Liven Up Boring Meeting Space

These great tips for making boring conference/meeting space more conducive to creative thought come from Eva Niewiadomski, founder of Catalyst Ranch (an absolutely amazing conference space in Chicago where we hosted our first LexThink!):

  • Bring a small boom box and a couple of homemade CDs with an eclectic and exoticly wild mix of music to set the mood for the meeting. Try to pick music that most people are not familiar with, but that is energetic.
  • Use an unusual noisemaker to get people’s attention or to tell them when to start or finish an exercise (ie. bike horn, rattle, maracas, dinner bell, gong).
  • Set up a station near the door where participants create their nametags instead of using preprinted or standard issue nametags. Provide them with different colored markers, stickers, mini-stamper markers and tell them to have some fun.
  • Have the group actually create something during the icebreaker exercise that will give the room some character.
  • Drape a few feather boas over several of the chairs.
  • Place various ties, hats and wigs around the room and on the chairs.
  • Bring small nerf guns and hoola-hoops.

Eva also suggests a few things to place on the tables:

  • Pipe cleaners in cool containers
  • Play-Doh
  • Small etch-a-sketches
  • Funny rubber noses
  • Containers of crayons, coloring pencils and colored markers/funky colored pens
  • Small mazes, puzzles
  • Bowls of wild mixed candies and chocolates
  • Yo-Yos
  • Interesting books and magazines with lots of pictures
  • Postcards you’ve received over the years
  • Coloring books

Finally, Eva shared a bunch of “icebreakers” to use to start a meeting.  My favorite?  A backwards spelling bee:

Compile a list of reasonably common words with over 8 letters. Place them each separately on a colored index card. Give a pile to each team. Each team goes one at a time and is allotted 3 minutes in which to correctly spell as many words backwards as they can. One team member is in charge of reading off the words and each team member must take their turn. Of course, no pencils or paper are allowed.

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Innovation Innovation

Conference Idea Management

This is one of three announcements from me this week.  My friend Ed Poll, legal management guru, is promoting a Speaker’s Conference that takes place in Palm Springs, California.  Ed and I had lunch the other day and we started brainstorming a bit on ways to improve the attendees’ experience.  I suggested adding on a LexThink-like component of brainstorming, idea collection and sharing on to the conference and Ed thought it was a great idea. 

So, after much more thinking about what could work (and what wouldn’t), I’m happy to announce that LexThink! will be providing the Conference Idea Management for the National Speakers Association’s event.  Here is what we’ll do:

  • Provide a means to capture (in a very analog way, probably with markets and various sized Post-it notes) breakthrough ideas and insights from the attendees before, during, and after each speaker’s program.
  • Collect and organize those ideas by posting them in the LexThink! Lounge — sort of an “idea gallery” situated in the conference hotel.  Attendees can browse the gallery, add new insights, move notes around, and engage in conversations about the cool ideas they see.  We’ll make sure the speakers spend some time there too.
  • Set out a place to collect and share all of the “dumb questions” and “stupid ideas” people have, but are afraid to state in public (I’m betting the best ideas from the event will be first found on the “stupid” wall).
  • Integrate certain brainstorming and creativity exercises into the conference to get people ready to “Think Big Thoughts.”
  • Collect real-time feedback on the efficacy of the conference, and things that could be changed.
  • Digitize the ideas and share them with the attendees via e-mail/wiki/blog so they can continue to be energized by the creativity of the group.

Ed has been gracious enough to let us test our concept at his group’s event.  If it works as I believe it will, we’ll be doing this more regularly.  If you have interest, ideas, or suggestions, let me know.

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Innovation Innovation

Blogher Brain Dump

I just returned from Blogher and I had a wonderful time.  Though one of only a handful of men, I was made to feel welcome, and learned far more than I’d hoped.  I made dozens of new friends and connected in person with some old ones.  I’ll expand my thoughts more later, but here are a few of my random notes, ideas and to-do’s, in no particular order (I’ll come back and add links later):

  • Music videos playing on a big screen before conference started — great idea!
  • All name tags had blog address, not hometown or company name.
  • The biggest problem with “technology” conferences?  Too much technology.  At some round tables every attendee had laptops on while they furiously blogged the event.  This seriously hampered the opportunity for face-to-face interaction.  I’d wager some people sat across from someone they’d love to meet, but never introduced themselves because they were too busy using their computers.  If the best part of conferences is personal interaction, why even allow laptops? They are a barrier to communication — it is almost as if everyone was in their own personal cubicle.  Do laptops promote the “cubiclization” of conferences?  If everyone is going to be blogging the event the whole time they are there, why not just do a “virtual” conference instead.  (NOTE: There were plenty of opportunities for talk at Blogher, so this is more of a general impression about use of computers during conferences then a specific criticism of the Blogher.)
  • Every table had powerstrips under it!
  • Apple laptops were used by at least half of the attendees.  Though I went totally analog (Moleskine and pen) and didn’t use my tablet, I don’t think I saw more then two other Tablet PC’s the rest of the event.
  • Is blogging a crutch?  Is it a valid substitute for face-to-face conversation?  I think blogging should be used as an introduction to people you want to meet in person, because no matter how cool someone is on her blog, she is much more interesting in person.
  • They took away a men’s restroom and gave it to the women.  Touche!
  • Some interesting phrases overheard:
    • “Tina Turner the microphone,” which means put it closer to your mouth so your voice is amplified.
    • Yoga “really zenned her out.” 
    • “There was a circus going on in his brain.”
    • “Xanga drama.”
  • Speakers, don’t depend upon wi-fi for showing web pages during presentations.  Download the pages and be prepared to show a static screen shot.  Sure beats the blank screen.  This is the third conference in a row where I’ve seen this happen.  This tip needs to be in the speaker guidelines for every conference.
  • Adancedtools.blogspot.com has tips and tricks from a great presentation.
  • Do men comment on blogs differently than women do?  I’d love to see a study that strips (or changes) gender identity from negative blog comments and see if the comment is perceived differently if it came from a woman vs. a man.
  • We need software to mash up API’s from different services.  I want to combine maps with flickr with google with delicious with technorati with ta-da lists with whatever else cool comes out tomorrow — and I want it to be as easy as posting to my blog.
  • Women are often described with codewords like “emotional”  and “sassy” that never are used to describe men.
  • While anger can be used as a tool, sometimes the person who’s angry is a tool.
  • When more people use RSS to get their blog content, does that marginalize the importance of blog design and use of comments?  Put another way, if more and more readers only see your blog via RSS, but don’t visit individual posts to read the continuing dialog in your comments, will the two-way conversational nature of blogs begin to matter less?
  • Myth:  If a book has pink on the cover (or stripes or shoes) and is classified as “chicklit” it is not the same quality as a book with an airplane or other weapon on the cover.
  • I think I heard this stat:  90% of bloggers are between the ages of 9 and 29.  If so, this will have a tremendous impact on how Generation Y judges the quality and credibility of the people and products they will buy.  Lawyers, if you think blogging today is important, think about not having a blog when a huge percentage of your potential customers will use it as a measuring stick of your “with-it-ness”.  Just as lawyers felt they had to be included in Martindale Hubbel to be credible 10 years ago, they’ll need to have blogs to be credible 10 years from today.
  • Another teen stat:  9 out of 10 teens are online, with 50% online every day.
  • For teen “identity bloggers” (another great term used to describe bloggers who write about their daily experiences), what impact will living their life online have upon them when they reach adulthood?  Is identity blogging like getting a tattoo?  Easy to impulsively justify today, but hard to reverse tomorrow?
  • Is reading teen identity blogs engaging in Real Time Anthropology?  What should parents and teachers do if they know their children or students blog?  Is there an obligation (analogous to mandatory reporting of child abuse) to read these blogs and intervene if child/teen blogs about dangerous behavior.  Does every teacher need to subscribe to their students’ RSS feed? 
  • Taking the Real Time Anthropology in a different direction:  what are businesses doing to capitalize upon this tremendous insight into the minds of their current and future customers?
  • Someone introduced a speaker as someone who “blogs for a non-profit.”  I’d argue we all blog for non-profits.  ;-)
  • Interesting question from another (female) attendee:  Does credibility equate with appearance for women more/less than it does for men?  I think that blogs can replace that first impression with a virtual one.  If you know someone’s blog and read it, you are likely to have already formed a first impression of them. Their appearance matters less when you later see them in person.
  • Another great line:  She looks like her blog.
  • There is a market for RSSperts out there.  Heard RSS described as “TiVo for the web.”
  • From an unremembered study cited by a panelist:  We trust marketing message more if we have control over the method by which that message is delivered. 
  • I want to be able to add a feed to my aggregator from a link in a post that I’m viewing in my aggregator.  For example, if I read a post that links to a great blog, I want to be able to add the new blog to my aggregator without having to visit it –– particularly handy if I’m reading off line.
  • In a legal software package, each case needs an RSS feed.  Lawyers and clients will then be automatically updated when something happens in their case(s).
  • I also want an RSS feed for stale to-do items so they get delivered to me as reminders.  Alternatively, I want to be able to “snooze” a feed in my aggregator so it comes back to me in a defined amount of time.

Amazing stuff.  I have so much more swimming in my head, but wanted to dump this on you for now.  Check back later today for a cool announcement.

Technorati tag:

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Extras Extras

Former LegalMatch CEO takes the reigns at Casepost.

I didn’t blog about Randy Wells’ departure from LegalMatch (covered here by Kevin O’Keefe), but Randy called me this afternoon and told me he is taking the CEO position at Casepost.  Frequent readers of this blog know my original opinion of LegalMatch, but Randy extended the olive branch to me, and because of him, I have gotten to know a lot of the fine people at LegalMatch.

Now that Randy has gone to LegalMatch’s chief competitor, it is going to be a very interesting time in the lawyer-client matching industry.  I don’t know enough about Casepost to offer an opinion, but I like Randy and wish him the best.  He asked me to share the full press release so here it is:

Download immediate_release_7.29.05.pdf

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Five by Five Five by Five

Five by Five Redux - Jennifer Rice

Last but not least are the wonderful suggestions of Jennifer Rice, the author of the What's Your Brand Mantra? weblog, and president and founder of Mantra Brand Communications, a brand strategy consultancy representing the voice of the customer within client organizations.

1. Focus. Pick a group like women business owners and learn what their needs are. The deeper you can understand a small group, the more effectively you can win business. You’ll begin attracting more new clients within that group because you’ll have built credibility and trust among other women just like them. Be sure to collect testimonials!

2. Find out how they perceive lawyers. Ask what their previous experience has been with lawyers; if they’ve had a bad experience, find out why. This will tell you what objections (logical and emotional) that you’ll need to overcome. You’ll be light-years ahead of the pack simply by finding out where she’s coming from.

3. If you’re a male attorney, check out how female attorneys market to women. Or find a female attorney with whom you don’t compete directly; learn new ideas and tag-team at networking events. Female attorneys are probably your strongest competition; personally, I prefer to work with women because the perceived trust level is higher. But a non-competing female attorney (or other professional like a CPA) can be a great advocate, referral partner and mentor for you.

4. Women rely on intuition more than men. Guys, you might think your argument is flawlessly logical, but women don’t make linear decisions. We pick up on small cues, usually subliminally, and incorporate emotion into our decision-making process. The end result is our ‘gut instinct’. If that bugs you, don’t try to get women clients. You won’t be on the same wavelength – which you may not pick up on, but women definitely will!

5. Yours is a relationship business; traditional advertising won’t be effective. Practice your listening and empathy skills on your wife, girlfriend, sister, and any woman that crosses your path. The quality of your relationships with the women in your life is a perfect barometer for your ability to attract female clients!

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