Length Doesn't Matter
Are your best clients those who have been with you the longest? Apart from the fact that your longest-term clients may be paying your lowest rates, just because someone has been with you since 19xx doesn’t mean that they are your best client — or even that they love/appreciate/tolerate the work you do for them. In a post talking about a long-term client’s dissatisfaction with (perceived) higher billings, Jeffrey Phillips hits the nail on the head and shares six lessons his company learned from the episode:
We perceive that we work in the best interests of our clients, often redirecting or turning down work that we think is unnecessary for the client - or attempting to find good, lower cost alternatives. However, doing this doesn't necessarily mean the client recognizes those efforts as beneficial to them. I've learned a few things:
- never assume that because a relationship is long that it is necessarily a good one
- never assume that silence means that a customer is happy
- have the data to support your positioning that you are doing things for the good of the client
- toot your own horn to the client ocassionally. No one else does.
- recheck your assumptions and value proposition periodically. What a customer valued a year or two ago may not be so important now
- keep the customers that value the benefits you provide, and fire the customers who can't establish a trusted relationship with you.
The first two should be written on top of every file, don’t you think?
Easy, not Free, Does It
Joyce Wycoff suggests that “Easy” is the New “Free” on herGood Morning Thinkers! blog. She recounts her experience applying for a mortgage, both in person at her local bank, and online. She raves about her “easy” experience with QuickenLoans and asks a question we all should take time to answer:
So, how could you make life easier for your customers (internal or external)? It may be the most powerful thing you could do.
Indeed. How often have we focused on making things easier for us (as professionals) but not for our customers? In fact, do any of us know what our customers/clients want or need? What would make it “Easy” for our customers to do business with us?
Go ask them.
Relaxify Your Office
Steve Pavilina shares 10 suggestions for creating a more relaxing workspace. Though most of the tips are to make your office more relaxing for you, some of the same suggestions would help “relaxify” (his word) your office for your clients:
2. Clear out the clutter. One look at a cluttered workspace, and you get a sense that the person working there is stressed, overwhelmed, and disorganized. Years ago I read about a study that concluded most managers will not promote a person with a messy workspace into a position of responsibility. It’s assumed that if you can’t organize your physical environment, you’re probably incompetent to a certain degree and can’t be trusted. And if layoffs happen, you can imagine who the most obvious targets are.
But even more critical is the effect a cluttered workspace has on your focus. It’s difficult to feel centered when you’re surrounded by unfinished tasks that constantly remind you of what you haven’t done yet. Ideally the only paper items on your desk should be directly related to the current task at hand. Store everything else in drawers, shelves, or cabinets. Many people notice a dramatic improvement to their productivity when they try this.
If managers won’t promote a person with a messy workspace into a position of responsibility, why should you think your clients will trust you with even more of their business if you work in a pig sty.
4. Make it smell good. Australian dentist Paddy Lund has his staff bake fresh muffins for his patients daily. Think about how a dentist’s office usually smells. Now imagine walking into one that smells of blueberry muffins. Along with other changes, this reportedly helped Lund increase his income by a factor of 10. I’m not suggesting you add a Holly Hobby Easy Bake Oven to your workspace, but there are plenty of practical ways to make it smell better than cleaning supplies.
Personally, I’d choose chocolate chip cookies.
9. Personalize your space. Does your workspace look like an automaton works there, or does it include elements that are uniquely you? Remember that your workspace is your living space for much of your day, so make it livable and not just workable. A good way to accomplish this is by adding items that hold emotional significance for you.
Photographs are an easy way to personalize your space. I have some typical family photos in my office and the requisite wedding picture, but there’s one particular photo from when my wife and I first met that was taken by my (now deceased) grandfather that’s very special to me. I like being able to see it when I work. It also reminds me that I’m not alone — my wife and I are sharing a wonderful path together, and I’ve seen plenty of signs that my grandfather is watching over us.
For lawyers, “personalize” doesn’t mean “display your diplomas.” Instead, make sure you have some family photos and things that hint that you are a regular person. These are great conversation starters, though I’d be a bit careful with golf stuff and your membership certificate in the BMW Owners Group, as these really play into many client’s negative stereotypes of lawyers.
In a final tip (and my favorite, to boot) Steve suggests we:
10. Establish uninterruptible periods. Negotiate a period of time each day where you turn off all outside communication, and encase yourself in a cocoon of concentration. Put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign, turn off your phone, disable your instant messenger, and don’t check email either. Use this time to work on the tasks that would cause you the greatest stress or which require your utmost concentration. It’s easier to relax and focus when you know you won’t be interrupted.
Some jobs obviously require more solo concentration time than others. A computer programmer may need a lot, while a receptionist may need virtually none. Determine how much you need to be productive, and do whatever is necessary to get it.
links for 2006-06-26
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I hate Illinois Nazis -- and their cats.
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Barefoot Sandals -- Kind Of.
This Calls for a Round on the House
Next time you find yourself having a cold beverage with friends or clients, remember this list of toasts, courtesy of Modern Drunkard Magazine. Just a few of my favorites:
Here’s hoping you live forever. And mine is the last voice you hear. — Willard Scott
It is better to spend money like there’s no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there’s no money. — P.J. O’Rourke
Wise, kind, gentle, generous, sexy. But enough about me, here’s to you. — Anonymous
Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold drink—and another one. — Irish
links for 2006-06-23
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OK, so this is a commercial for "AXE" body spray, but if you've ever played the drinking game "Quarters" you've got to watch this video.
Carnival of the Leftovers, The Legend of Curly's Gold
After hosting my Spring Idea Garage Sale, and realizing there was still some more stuff sitting around my bookmarks folder, I’m back with a final installment of the Carnival of the Leftovers. Like a box of kittens, these ideas and links are Free for a Good Home:
If you want to build your idea, share it. If you're afraid someone will steal it, then how will you sell it? If a copycat could take you out, then nothing can turn your idea into a gravy train.
Customers Really Aren’t Stupid:
I've had several customer service jobs. I've recently come to realize that the customers aren't stupid. It may seem like a disproportionate chunk of the people you see every day are complete idiots, but the fact is that they've got more going on in their lives than, say, renting a movie. So if they don't know the late fee policy at your rental store, it's because they haven't spent the time to learn the policy, not because they are too stupid to understand it.
I feel stupid for not knowing this already:
When rinsing your toothbrush, flick the bristles facing down towards the sink rather than facing up towards the mirror. You will never have to clean the toothpaste off the mirror again.
Today at noon, however, Yahoo got serious about Hack Days by making it Yahoo-wide. Every Yahoo engineer is invited to participate, and other employees are joining in as well. Anyone with an idea is encouraged to gather a team up and spend a day coding. Tomorrow (Friday) at noon, the hacking stops and everyone will get together to review what’s been built.
We show ourselves in moments of system failure and panic and change and difficulty and crash-landings, not calm. Does true self emerge only (or especially?) when tested? Lessons about others come, perhaps, from their response to great fear or significant peril or the opportunity for sacrifice either taken or not. My colleague had failed that test before, but it was this final failing grade that made it clear: I could no longer work with him. He got his pool time; we gave our speech. I walked off that stage and never worked with him again. I knew I needed different seatmates for the rest of my flight.
1. Package it – Given the nebulousness of selling intangibles, Harrison coined the term i-Stuff. To shed i-Stuff of this stigma, one idea is to package it with manuals and other tangible material that helps define what the know-how is. People understand exchange of funds for tangible goods, so to the extent to which you can make the intangible seem tangible helps bridge the gap. If you don’t have a unique name for you know-how, name it, make it a “thing” that people can talk about. A three-letter acronym can be good, but another thing to think about is a name that communicates the value-proposition of the know-how. What problem does it solve? What benefit does it impart if you have it? From what I’ve heard, it can be difficult to sell know-how because your buyer may have trouble admitting they don’t know what you know. By packaging it, you give them a way to pitch it to their boss without making it sound like the valuable part they’re buying from you is the knowledge. Help your buyer save face.
Ten Steps to Guarantee Failure:
8. List why it's impossible - Now we are getting into the mental game of failing. This is quite possibly your greatest weapon against achievement because it destroys hope and optimism. So as soon as possible, set aside some time to create a long list of how impossible your goal really is. No matter what your target is, I am sure you can come up with plenty of reasons why it's impossible. Be creative, make up some if you have to (i.e. "It's impossible for me to lose weight because I was kidnapped by space aliens and injected with a fat-serum.") Bonus: You get extra points if you can come up with an excuse using UFOs, ghosts or the Bermuda Triangle.
What I Did Wrong when Starting My Business:
I charged below market rate for my services. This was because I did no research and had absolutely no idea what the going rate was for an outside consultant. I was so totally thrilled that anyone would hire me that I was prepared to pay THEM. The embarrassing thing is that my second client actually offered to pay me more money without me even asking. Is that humiliating or what? Lesson: Research the market for your product or service. Be realistic about where your pay scale should be based on your experience. Then charge it unapologetically.
An Exemplar Example of the New Law Firm:
At Exemplar our interests are aligned with the client and we have an incentive to get them to their destination as safely and promptly as possible. We have a pricing committee of professionals who are dedicated to understanding value from the customer's perspective. They make sure that the intake process is effective at getting the right information so that we understand how to design our services around exactly what the customer wants. What's more, centralizing the pricing function in an organization is critical to providing a consistent customer experience. This also allows us to communicate, learn, and correct any errors in the process that would not otherwise be discovered if attorneys priced individually.
If Law Firm Offices Were Built for Productivity, Instead of to Impress Clients:
The office should be a hang out: a pleasant place to spend time. If you're meeting your friends for dinner after work you should want to meet at the office. As Philip Greenspun bluntly puts it: "Your business success will depend on the extent to which programmers essentially live at your office. For this to be a common choice, your office had better be nicer than the average programmer's home. There are two ways to achieve this result. One is to hire programmers who live in extremely shabby apartments. The other is to create a nice office."
Give favors. One of my great pleasures in life is helping other people; I believe there's a big Karmic scoreboard in the sky. God is keeping track of the good that you do, and She is particularly pleased when you give favors without the expectation of return from the recipient. The scoreboard always pays back. You can also guess that I strongly believe in returning favors for people who have helped you.
Ask for the return of favors. Good schmoozers give favors. Good schmoozers also return favors. However, great schmoozers ask for the return of favors. You may find this puzzling: Isn't it better to keep someone indebted to you? The answer is no, and this is because keeping someone indebted to you puts undue pressure on your relationship. Any decent person feels guility and indebted. By asking for, and receiving, a return favor, you clear the decks, relieve the pressure, and set up for a whole new round of give and take. After a few rounds of give and take, you're best friends, and you have mastered the art of schmoozing.
I’ve thought about this a bit and I’ve decided if I could only have one marketing tool or activity, it would be business cards. A business card, with a compelling message about your offering, is the most effective marketing tool you can have…if you can only have one.
Beyond simple contact information, you should have a statement about your key benefit. Make your card a mini postcard about your most compelling offer. Use both sides of the card and get creative.
Business cards are the most underused marketing tool available. You can carry them with you anywhere. And they’re inexpensive enough to give away to everyone you meet.
Everyone you come in contact with should walk away with a card or two to remember and refer you when a need arises.
Would you just hire anyone because you needed help? Even someone that you can’t stand being around? Even someone that doesn’t have the skills to get the job done? If no, then why would you just take any job? Even a job you can’t stand doing. Even a job that won’t let you flex your skills. Even a job that will embarass you when it’s all over. What’s the point? To stay in business just so you can take on another job that you don’t want to take on?
While there are almost half a million lawyers practicing in the United States today, there are (gasp!) more than 125,000 in school right now. No matter what you believe about lawyers creating ever more work for ever more lawyers, there's no question that with so many of them, they're hardly scarce.
Carry Your Files to Court with an Octopus
Here’s One of the Coolest Tech Toys I’ve Seen This Year:
scanR is a service that helps you capture information contained in paper documents or whiteboards. scanR lets you use your mobile camera phone or digital camera to scan photos into legible, searchable digital PDF files and send them via email or fax.
links for 2006-06-17
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It turns out the worst kind of multitasking is between two related tasks, because they use the same parts of the brain.
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Some great conversation starters to try with clients.
links for 2006-06-15
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-- If you think something might come in handy, leave it at home. If you know you can't get along without it, bring it.
By the Time Our Future Gets Here, It Will Already be Gone for Everyone Else.
Warning, minor rant ahead:
Marianne Richmond and I spent Monday morning pitching a LexThink-ish conference for social workers to a local university. Don’t know if it will happen or not, but there was one thing the person we met with said that keeps rolling around in my mind:
“We are in year three (of four) of developing our ten-year plan.”
What if you started in 2003 planning your “Ten Year Internet Strategy” for the years 2007–2017. How much of the work you did in 2003 (or 2004) would still be relevant today? And does this mean that students today are learning what “the plan” developed eight or nine years ago thought they should? I’m afraid I know the answer. And do I think law schools are any different? No.
Idea Garage Sale and Spring Cleaning
As I'm finally getting settled into my new place, I'm no longer surrounded by boxes and piles of "things" that need to be put away. I still have, however, piles of ideas, bookmarks and links that have been residing in my head or my "to blog" folder.
So, like I've done before, I'm throwing them up here in a kind of Carnival of the Leftovers, Part Duex:
Some quick thoughts:
On Interstate 44, all the way from the Oklahoma Border to St. Louis, why is it necessary to have mile makers EVERY 2/10'ths OF A MILE? You can actually see the next mile marker as you are passing the previous one. Stupid. Seriously, how much money did it cost Missouri taxpayers to do this?
And if we're walking in circles, let's at least make a cool map.
Cool Idea Number One: Start a Swing for the Fence award.
Cool Idea Number Two: Bathroom Bingo:
During the tour [of the otherwise unspectacular church building] we were also shown the restrooms. As the pastor opened the door to the ladies room (it was empty), we stepped into an oasis. Plush walls and carpets, gorgeous faucets, changing rooms, and a spa-like atmosphere gave a new meaning to the word "rest-room." The men's room was almost as impressive, but with slightly less floral patterns.
The pastor said they chose to spend a significant amount of money on the restrooms instead of anywhere else in the building because they were convinced that the return on investment would be higher than anywhere else. He's probably right.
Cool Idea Number Three: Name Tags that Do More.
Speaking of Ideas (from an amazing essay):
Pay attention to the idea that won't leave you alone -- this is taken from Paul Hawken's Growing a Business. Sometimes an idea catches hold of you and you find you can't put it down. Pay attention to that! Just start working on it. Can't get yourself to do anything on it? Move on. Find yourself waking up out of bed to write down new ideas about it? That's a good one to choose.
If you keep your secrets from the market, the market will keep its secrets from you -- entrepreneurs too often worry about keeping their brilliant secrets locked away; we should all worry much more about springing a surprise on a disinterested market (anyone remember the Segway?). To quote Howard Aiken: "Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats."
Immediate yes is immediate no -- does everyone immediately tell you your idea is great? Run away from it. If the idea is that obvious, the market will be filled with competitors, and you'll find yourself scrambling. One good test: when the New York Times Magazine puts out its annual "Year in Ideas" issue, is your idea in it? Then don't do it. You're already too late.
Burning down the professional service firm? The Phoenix of Professional Service Firms.
Open up your own firm's Idea Market:
Rite-Solutions has created an internal idea stock exchange where employees can suggest the company invest in new technology, enter into a new business channel, implement a cost-efficiency initiative ... etcetera. Submitted ideas become mock stocks and employees read an “expect-us” (not a prospectus) detailing how the idea can benefit the company. These ideas-turned-stocks are then listed in the Rite-Solutions “Mutual Fun” board where every employee is given $10K in stock market fantasy funds to buy, sell, and trade in the ideas they believe Rite-Solutions should focus on.
Find your firm's Innovation Fulcrum:
What's the number of product or service offerings that would optimize both your revenues and your profits? For most firms, it's considerably lower than the number they offer today. The fact is, companies have strong incentives to be overly innovative in new product development. But continual launches of new products and line extensions add complexity throughout a company's operations, and as the costs of managing that complexity multiply, margins shrink. To maximize profit potential, a company needs to identify its innovation fulcrum--the point at which an additional offering destroys more value than it creates.
The second key takeaway was the impact of the goal granularity to successful collaborations. Said another way: collaborating around a shared mission can be much less effective than collaborating around a shared project goal.
Corporate Lawyers, are you ready for this world:
Capitalism normally does a good job of aligning the needs of buyers and sellers. Make a better widget and the world is yours. Capitalism is built from certain legal and financial building blocks. Contract law, tort, competition law. Property rights. Stable currencies to enable exchange of value over time as well as space. Freedom of expression is part too — the message “better widgets! over here!” is an essential part of “the market”.
But I feel we’re not there yet. We’ve created many new “ownership” and “transaction” technologies over time. Limited-liability corporations, partnerships, co-operatives; equities, debt and derivatives.
We just don’t have the mechanics to deal with a networked world and mass-participation in that network. Municipal networks are controversial because the only co-ordination mechanism is the force of government and the state. This is crude and dangerous; we contaminate the network with the power to tax, and the centuries of fighting we’ve undertaken to limit and mollify that urge.
Legal technology vendors, are you ready for this one:
In the summer of 2006, twenty-somethings will be busting out of graduate school [or law school] powered by a brand new set of productivity tools. Think about the jump from typewriters to word processors. Think about how, in the 1980s, our parents had to struggle to learn to use spreadsheets like VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3. We are on the verge of experiencing a jump in the capabilities of office tools that is just as significant as the jump that occurred when the first PCs landed on people’s desks. Why is this jump so big, and what does it have to do with the class of 2006? What are these people capable of? Well, to begin with, for most of them, the internet has been around since before they started high school.
The average MBA graduates in 2006 are not just knowledge workers. They are capable of being highly networked internal entrepreneurs and innovation creators. Their ability to connect is not just about email, BlackBerries, text messages and voice-mails. They are intimately familiar with all those tools, but ultimately, expertise with those one-to-one connectivity tools is just the price of admission.
What makes these new graduates so effective is their ability to work efficiently with large virtual teams and their amazing ability to maximize the power of their personal networks.
Real Estate Lawyers and Agents, are you ready for this one:
Take a few more bricks out of the anticompetitive walled garden real-estate agents have built around their unearned 6 percent commissions. The Times reports today on the imminent and much-anticipated launch of Zillow — a site from the founder of Expedia with big backing that will provide more open data on home prices — and throws in other sites aiming to break up the real-estate gang: Redfin, which will allow online bidding and negotiation, and PropertyShark, which takes listings in 15 cities. Add these together and you have the means to knock agents out of pricing and listing and negotiation.
Great Advice:
From Mike McLaughlin: Sadly, too many of us fail to create compelling and understandable descriptions of what we actually do for clients.To keep options open for serving a wide range of clients--across industries and business processes--consultants risk a loss of clarity in their marketing. The result: no one knows what they do.
From Kathy Sierra: Risk-aversion is the single biggest innovation killer, and of course it's not just Microsoft that's been infected. Taking risks is... risky. But if not taking risks is even riskier, then WTF? ... Blogging has not made this easier... if anything, the idea that a gazillion bloggers and commenters (or even ONE loud one) will seize any opportunity to find fault with your ideas and attempts can dampen one's willingness to be brave. So here's my quarterly reminder to all (me included) that if you're not doing something that someone hates, it's probably mediocre.
From Scott Ginsberg: BE the change you want to see in the world. Be brilliant at the basics. Be the first one. Be the only one. Be unforgettable. Be interesting. Be a sleeper. Be that guy. Be the world’s expert on yourself. Be better than yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow. Be confident enough to be humble. But be somebody who reminds everybody of nobody else in the world. AND DON’T wish it was easier, wish you were better.
From Pamela Slim: Don't be influenced by either side of the feedback pendulum. Try not to get too excited when people are giving you raving accolades. In the same vein, try not to get too upset when they give brutal criticism. You need to have a very clear sense of yourself and remain focused on what your business is and how it will add value to your customers. If you try to please those that think you are great, you can get paralyzed trying to live up to an impossible standard. If you try to please your detractors and "fix" what they think is wrong with you, you will come from a place of unworthiness. Learn from all feedback and keep a steady course towards your long-term vision.
From Marcus Buckingham: Find out what you don't like doing and stop doing it.
Here's another favorite quote: "When you're done with square one, pick it up and take it with you." Horse trainer Linda Parelli (found here)
Anyone else got some ideas they want to get rid of? Tag them : idea garage sale
Now, back to the basement, I've got a bunch more stuff to give away.
I Know Something You Don't
Here’s one of the best taglines (from the presentation design company Missing Link) I’ve ever seen:
Don’t hire us because we’re fun and interesting. Hire us because you’re not.
In a blatant rip-off, I’m claiming this line to sell to my next law firm client:
Don’t hire us because we know the law. Hire us because you don’t. (TM)
technorati tags: Blogs are Child's Play
According to this study, 78% of young people have a personal website or blog. These are tomorrow’s clients and customers. They will judge you based upon your online presence, or lack thereof.
What are you going to do about it?
TypePad and FeedBurner, Together at Last
If you’ve got a TypePad Blog and a FeedBurner Feed, you’ve got to do this. Now. All of the multiple feeds TypePad publishes automatically are now consolidated with my FeedBurner feed. To the 980+ of you RSS subscribers reading this blog, thank you! Rick, you guys are doing some amazing stuff over there.
Mom, Dad, I've Got Something to Tell You ...
A Great Tip from Paul Bennett:
So try this. Buy a train ticket home for the weekend. Not your current house, but home-home, to your parents. Now sit them down at the kitchen table and, in 50 words or less, tell them what you do for a living, what product you make or sell (or if you're a consultant, what process or deliverable you sell), and what's good about it. Don't use weird words or anything with lots of syllables. Don't quit until they understand you. I told my mother once that I worked in Conceptual Marketing and I swear she thought I had joined a cult. Remember what you said. Now go back to work, and apply this principle to your job. Simple stories, truths well told, no made-up nomenclature and gilded lilies. It's more clever to be simple, don't forget that.