Barry Moltz has a recap of the 10 Lessons his students should have learned in his entrepreneurship class. The best one:
Every Business is About Solving Pain. Find the People that will Pay for it.
This should be an easy one for lawyers in particular. What pain do you solve?
Interesting advice: Look for the second right answer.
Resolve to get your picture taken professionally. Especially if you haven’t done it in a while. Make sure you get a high-resolution digital file for yourself that you can use in your electronic and print materials.
Here’s last year’s resolution:
As I get caught up on my resolution series, here is a great post from one of my favorite new blogs, Marketing eYe. Read the entire post about how Alexander became “the Great.” The resolution I took away is this:
The best and the quickest way to become more successful is to focus on your one main problem. Focus on your "Darius." When your main problem is solved, you will find that the other minor problems you had took care of themselves or are not a problem anymore!
My main problem is procrastination. What is yours? What are we going to do about it?
There is an interesting conversation taking place between Neil Witmer (via Larry Bodine’s blog) and Gerry Riskin about the ability of legal “grinders and drones” to become rainmakers.
A question that seems a bit lost in the discussion is just how do big-firm lawyers become grinders or drones? With the tremendous number of billable hours big firms require, might the firms be responsible for their own plight — by turning otherwise social, interesting young lawyers into grinders and drones to get those billable hours in? I do know this, big firms aren’t complaining when a second year associate ignores his/her family, forgoes a social life, and loses touch with former classmates while clocking 2,417 billables.
If the firms spent more time nurturing the skills that help young lawyers become rainmakers, instead of letting those skills atrophy, perhaps there would be a bunch more rainmaking partners.
UPDATE: Check out the Greatest American Lawyer’s Post on the same topic. As usual, he says it better than I did.
Resolve to buy some coffee. Here’s my orignal post:
Rosa Say passes on a great way to spend your marketing dollars:
This morning Kerwin and I walked into a Prescott Starbucks and both ordered their strong-brew coffee of the day to then find it was free. The barista at the cash register motioned over to a gentleman sitting in an animated discussion with a group of about six others, and said, “Your coffee is on Mr. Perez this morning.”
As Kerwin stirred cream and sugar into his coffee, we read a poster on the wall right above the condiment station with a picture of Mr. Perez’s smiling face explaining that every Wednesday morning from 8:30am-9:30am he buys coffee at that Starbucks for all his customers and anyone else who wants to talk story with him about investment banking and Prescott’s promising future.
Absolutely, frickin’ brilliant.
And here is last year’s resolution:
Look around your work and your life: Is there a promise you made that you can "over-deliver" on? Go for it, and let's hear it for the "little bit of extra" that goes a long, long way. (From Jason Womack).
Resolve to improve the way your receptionist (or you) answers your phone. Read this for some great tips.
Here’s last year’s resolution:
If you are interested at all in learning about how other businesses have mastered the art of client service, read Secret Service by John R. DiJulius. DiJulius runs a string of spas in Ohio and details many practical yet ingenious ways he uses to deliver an unforgettable (and profitable) customer experience. I came away with literally hundreds of great ideas from reading this book. One of the three best books I’ve read this year.
I still find this is one of the books I recommend most often.
Give your office a makeover. Start by taking these two steps.
Resolve to buy a digital camera to leave in the office. You can use it two ways:
First, take a photo of every client you meet with. Keep the picture in the client’s file so everytime you pick up the file (or access it digitally) you are reminded of who you are working for. You can also keep a private “face book” to review from time to time in case you have a hard time “putting a name with a face.” This also helps avoid those embarassing moments you see a client in public in a different context, and can’t remember his/her name.
Second, take a picture of you and your happy client shaking hands after the representation ends (or when a favorable result is reached). Put the picture in a binder titled “Our Happy Clients” and leave it in your waiting room. Make sure to get each client’s permission first! (thanks to Michael Cage for this one, originally blogged about here).
Here’s last year’s resolution:
This one is easy, and should be on all of our "to do" lists everyday. Think about that one person who helps you the most to do what you do (for me, it is my secretary Janelle). Go to that person today and thank them.
Resolve to rethink your advertising and marketing strategy. Here’s my all-time favorite advertising idea (WARNING, may not be ethics-safe for lawyers).
Here is last year’s resolution:
One of my favorite ideas I've found since I've been blogging is the one I blogged about here called "Stop, Start, Continue." Divide your staff into three groups and identify a single problem or question you need to address in your practice (or your life).
Ask the first group to brainstorm and answer the question, "In order to _______, we need to stop doing _______." The second group does the same with the question, "In order to _______, we need to start doing _______." Finally the third group answers, "In order to _______, we need to continue doing _______."
After all three groups have come up with a number of answers to their question, have everyone rotate and repeat the process two more times. Get everyone together, review the answers, and then devise a plan to put the ideas into action.
Resolve to give each of your clients at least five minutes every month (off the clock) to check in and see what they are up to. For more, check out this post talking about Rosa Say’s “Daily Five Minutes.”
Here is last year’s resolution:
Review the look of your normal invoice. Then ask a seven year old to do the same. Are they readable and easy to understand? Do they have all of the information your client wants or needs? It also wouldn't hurt to call a few of your best clients (or the people in charge of paying those clients' bills) and ask them if there is anything you can do to make your bills easier to read and understand.
This is a bit of a plug for a new friend of mine, but if you are serious about changing your new year, check out Jim Canterucci’s book Personal Brilliance (if you order soon, he’s got a lot of goodies for you).
How could I not link to this: The Billable Hour Timepieces. Now, if they just had one suitable for young kids to get them in that tenth-of-an-hour habit early.
Continuing the theme from Day 4, don’t just ask for referrals, ask for testimonials. I have done this several times after LexThink! events (and even here at this blog) and the results have been fantastic.
Also: Last Year’s Resolution
OK, I know it may be a bit late for this year, but before your Aunt Hilda starts crocheting next year’s Christmas gift, discretely pass her a link to this site.
Ask everyone for referrals. From this Michael Cage post:
Ask everyone for referrals. People who buy from you? Ask for referrals. People who don’t buy from you? Ask for referrals. Here’s a simple, no-cost way to increase your referrals: Before you deliver a solution, tell your client that you prefer getting new business by referral. Less money spent on advertising means better deals for clients like him/her, and you’d like to work with more people like him/her. Ask them, “after we’ve delivered this and you are thrilled with how things work, would you refer us to your friends/colleagues?” After you’ve delivered, make sure they are thrilled, and only then ask for a list of friends or colleagues who would want the same service and expertise.
Also: Last Year’s Resolution
