Resolutions III: December 16
The first week of 2007, go buy seven decks of cards. (via Eric Maisel, and this post on Worthwhile):
Get seven decks of cards with similar backs. Lay out all seven decks on your living room rug, backs showing. This is a year of days (give or take). Let the magnitude of a year sink in. Experience this wonderful availability of time. (This is a powerful exercise.)
Carefully count the number of days between two widely-separated holidays, for instance New Year's Day and the Fourth of July. Envision starting a large project on that first holiday (today!) and completing it by the second.
Resolutions III: December 15
Read “The Yes Man” by Danny Wallace – a book about what happens when a guy says “yes” to literally everything for a year. Scott Ginsberg suggested I read this book about six months ago. I did, and since then I’ve recommended this book to more people than any other book I’ve ever read. It can be a real life changer.
Resolutions III: December 14
Here’s a simple resolution for you:
Each week, identify one client and send them a hand-written card thanking them for being your client.
Resolutions III: December 13
Has your accountant told you that you need to spend some money on office things before the end of the year? Try this:
Let’s say you have $20,000 and ten employees. Tell everyone that you have $10,000 to spend to make the office better. Ask each employee what one thing (costing from $1–10K) they’d buy the office to make it a better place to work for everyone. Put the suggestions up on the wall and let everyone discuss and vote for the winner. Then buy it.
Now, take the remaining $10,000 and divide it equally among your employees (including yourself). Don’t pay it to them. Instead, ask each how they’d spend their $1000 to make the office work better for them. Then buy it.
I think you’ll be amazed at what a morale booster this will be for your office. The amount doesn’t have to be $20k either. Your employees will be happy to know that you not only value their input on making your office a better place to work, you act upon it.
Resolutions III: December 12
Yesterday, I posted about a way to have more ideas by taking a walk with a small camera. Here’s how to get your entire organization into the habit:
Step One: Get your office a camera (even better, get everyone in your office a camera).
Step Two: Take turns choosing a particular object, thing, or shape of the week.
Step Three: Ask everyone to take pictures of the subject of the week.
Step Four: Upload all of the photos taken to a common location (like Flickr).
Step Five: Discuss the best photos at a weekly staff meeting.
Step Six. Pick the best photos each week, print them out, make the photographers “sign” them, and then frame them.
Step Seven: Throw out your store-bought “art” and hang up your new original artwork.
INNOVATION BONUS: Instead of choosing an object, thing, or shape, identify a challenge your office is facing. Ask your budding photographers to take pictures like before, but suggest they make each picture relate to the challenge (or its solution) in some way – no matter how tenuous the connection. At you weekly meeting, have everyone explain how/why their photos relate to either the challenge or the solution.
15 Rules for Clients: A Mini Manifesto
UPDATE: Welcome Gapingvoid Readers. If you liked this, check out my 15 Tips for Lawyers, another mini-manifesto.
You are a client. You need a lawyer. Here are 15 rules (guidelines, actually) that may help you find and understand your lawyer:
1. You have wants. You have needs. Focus on the needs first. Wants are bonus.
2. If you are seeing a lawyer because your dispute is “not about the money, but about the principle of the thing” don’t be surprised if your lawyer runs away. You can never be satisfied. Also, it’s really about the money.
3. Your case/matter is the most important thing happening to you right now. It is not the most important thing happening to your lawyer right now. It may not even be in his top ten.
4. If you think your lawyer is trying to kill your deal, remember this: though there may only be a “one percent” chance your deal will go bad, your lawyer sees that “one percent” over and over again. She’s looking out for you. She cares about you and your business. She also doesn’t want her malpractice premiums to go up.
5. You want to buy results, not time. Most lawyers sell time, not results. Make sure you both understand the difference before your first bill arrives. You will certainly understand the difference after.
6. If you want to find a lawyer who sells results, look hard. There are a few of them out there. They are the ones who can still smile because they get to see their children before 9:00 at night.
7. Big firm lawyers are not more efficient. Or smarter. Or cheaper. They are certainly not cheaper.
8. Make sure your lawyer understands your business. If your lawyer doesn’t understand your business, find out if he’s going to learn about it on his time, or yours.
9. You are your lawyer’s boss. You are not her only boss. She has hundreds of other bosses too. Each one of them thinks their matter is more important than yours.
10. How messy is your lawyer’s desk? When they bill you for thirty minutes of “file review,” how much of that time was spent looking for your file?
11. When you call a lawyer for the first time, how long does it take for him to return your calls? After you hire that lawyer, expect it to take at least three times as long. Same goes for e-mails.
12. Does your lawyer have reputation for being a “bulldog?” That probably means they are an asshole. To everyone.
13. Look for a lawyer with a technology IQ no more than fifty points less than yours. If you live in e-mail and your lawyer doesn’t, learn to like your mail carrier.
14. If you hate your lawyer, fire him. He probably deserves it, and you aren’t getting his best work anyway.
15. You wouldn’t automatically marry the first person you date, so don’t automatically hire the first lawyer you see. A great lawyer-client relationship can last a lifetime. Your lawyer can be your advisor, counselor, confidant, and friend. Most lawyers are good people genuinely interested in their clients’ best interests. Find one you like, stick with him or her, and spread the word. Oh, and stop telling lawyer jokes. They aren’t really that funny. ;-)
Resolutions III: December 11
My favorite quote I found in 2006 is from French philosopher Emile Chartier, who said, “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have.” Following this advice, today’s resolution is to be less dangerous by having more ideas. Here’s one of my favorite ways:
Step One: Buy a (small) camera. This is the one I love.
Step Two: Go for a walk (don’t forget the camera).
Step Three: Take lots of pictures, focusing (pun intended) on a particular object, thing, or shape.
Step Four: Upload them to Picassa, Flickr, iPhoto, etc.
Step Five: After your walk, spend no more than 10 minutes writing down any random ideas rumbling around inside your head. For extra credit, write the ideas on the label or note section of your photo-organizing tool.
Step Six: Repeat daily.
Resolutions III: December 10
Do you use Linked In? More and more of your current and prospective clients do. If you use it, here’s a LinkedIn-flavored resolution for you:
1. Update your profile.
2. Connect with your contacts (the Outlook Plug-In works great!).
3. Ask trusted contacts to endorse your work.
Taking a bit of my own medicine here, I’m asking anyone who’s in my network already (or who’d like to join) to endorse me. Check out my LinkedIn profile in a month to see if I’ve been successful.
Resolutions III: December 9
Didn’t get your Christmas cards out on time? No worries. While I’m not sure if this is exactly a resolution or not, there is a tremendous opportunity to use your firm resolutions as a marketing tool.
Once you’ve settled on five or so firm-wide, client-facing resolutions (not things like deploy a new SQL server, or charge more for copies and postage), send a New Year’s card to each client that reads something like this:
Happy New Year from ABC Firm. While each New Year brings the promise of wealth and happiness, we know how quickly business resolutions made in January can fade by March. We’d like to help you keep your 2007 business resolutions … and we’d like you to help us keep ours.
In 2007, we resolve to (add your 1–5 resolutions here):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How about you? What do you resolve to do in 2007 to make your business more profitable, more successful and more fun? Let us know on the card attached and drop it in the mail. We will set up a time to meet with you (at no charge) and identify things we can do to help you keep your resolutions and grow your business in the next twelve months.
One last thing: We are serious about our resolutions and want you to help us keep them. If you catch us failing to live up to any of ours, or if you see anything we haven’t resolved to do that you think we should, let us know. We want to make your 2007 – and ours – the best year ever!
Resolutions III: December 8
Here’s an easy one. Tomorrow, for an hour:
1. Unplug your office from the internet.
2. Send your phones to voicemail (and make sure the ringer is off, too).
3. Have everyone in your office make a list of something, but don’t have them sign it. Thinks like:
- The things I need most to make my job easier/better/more fun.
- The thing(s) our competitors do WAY better than we do.
- The thing(s) we do WAY better than our competitors.
- Our favorite clients.
- Our least favorite clients.
- The things that I’d change around here, if only I were boss.
- If given $1000, I’d buy ______ for the office.
- My/Our biggest challenge is …
4. Every 10 minutes, put all the lists in a pile on a table, and have everyone pick another one.
5. After the end of the hour, share the lists with everyone. Leave them somewhere they can be added to.
6. At your staff meetings, discuss one list each week.
Now, go check your voicemail.
Resolutions Part III: Building the Innovative Firm
I know I’m a week behind in my annual resolution series. An unexpected (though tremendously rewarding) last-minute trip to New York City has got me playing catch-up. Come Monday, I’ll be on track again with 31 daily resolutions for the New Year.
This year’s focus: Innovation. I’ll share 31 tips, tricks, and waaaaaaaaay outside of the box ideas to turbocharge your firm’s innovation engine. I’ll back-date the posts so one corresponds to each day in December. If you are antsy to get started on some resolutions now, check out the ones from 2004 and 2005.
Resolutions III: December 7
Is one of your resolutions to get more business? Here are some ways to do just that:
1. Make a list of the one industry you serve best (or that you’d like to serve better).
2. Ask someone familiar with the industry what periodicals everyone reads.
3. Subscribe to (and read) those magazines.
4. Leave them in your waiting room when you’re done.
Extra Credit:
1. Submit articles to the magazine(s) that demonstrate your legal expertise.
2. Attend trade shows advertised in the magazines. Make sure everyone you meet knows the only reason you are there is to learn more about the industry you serve.
3. Host a quarterly or twice-yearly event highlighting industry trends for local industry members. If there is some sort of continuing education requirment in the industry, get your event certified.
Extra, Extra Credit:
1. Compile all of the important materials, books, magazines, etc. for the industry in your office.
2. Call this an “Industry Lending Library” or something similar.
3. Make sure everyone in the industry knows they can stop by and borrow what they need (and not have to subscribe to/buy the materials themselves).
4. Write a “Best Of” Report for each conference you attend. Mail it to each industry member in your community. Or blog it.
Extra, Extra, Extra Credit:
1. Send me $5,000 as soon as someone identifies you as an “Industry Expert.” ;-)
Resolutions III: December 6
Resolve to be the place your clients turn to for innovative ideas. Here's just one way:
First, go to each of your business clients in the next 90 days and ask them this question (taken from this post by Kathy Sierra): "What is the one thing that you are most afraid of that could put you out of business before the decade's over?"
Second, once all of your clients have answered the question, identify the three or four most common answers and find people who can help the clients with their perceived problems. Invite clients (5-10 at a time) to meet with these people and brainstorm solutions. Don't charge for these brainstorming sessions (you will identify enough new business out of them to justify the time).
Third, record the ideas, share them with all your clients, and help clients to implement them.
Finally, plan a hell of a party around New Year's in 2010 and celebrate with the clients who've survived the decade.
Resolutions III: December 5
Add this question to your client intake form:
What is something that you want to accomplish but you need someone else’s help in order to make it happen?
From The Ripple Effect
Resolutions III: December 4
Niche is an amazing new St. Louis restaurant in the Benton Park neighborhood. After making reservations several weeks ago, I went for the first time Saturday night. It was fantastic!
The Menu has three main categories: First Things First, On to Bigger Things, and Sweet Dreams (appetizers/salads, entrees, and desserts). Though the items listed in each course have individual prices, the restaurant offers diners their choice from each for a flat $35.00. Not surprisingly, almost everyone chooses the “three for thirty-five” option.
Taking a page from Niche’s menu, here’s the resolution for the day: Build A Menu for Your Firm.
- Pick a practice area you are very familiar with, and divide the typical representation into three phases.
- Under each phase, list the kinds of things that you would do for the average client (like initial meetings, fact gathering, pleading preparation, etc.)
- Now, review old bills to get a sense of how much you really charge for each service, and come up with a price for each.
- Prepare a “Menu” modeled on the one from Niche.
Even if you don’t plan on using the menu, it will force you to think about the attractiveness of the flat rate price. Still not sure? Ask your former clients (who’ve previously utilized the services you’ve set forth on the menu) what they think – and most importantly, what they’d have thought if you’d presented them with the menu before they hired you.
BONUS: If you are going to adopt the menu pricing model, go to a good restaurant supply store and have your prices printed in actual menus!
Oh, and one more thing: while you are developing a menu, don’t forget the “Whine List.” Make a list of all of the things the typical client complains about. Try to address those complaints with the client at the beginning of the representation, not at the end.
Bon Appetit!
Resolutions III: December 3
Build an office gallery:
Ask your employees to bring in the artwork of their children/grandchildren/nephews/neices/etc. and hang it in your firm’s “Gallery.” Every year, have an art show, where all the kids are invited (with parents, of course) to see their work.
Resolutions III: December 2
Find your five favorite clients. Take them to dinner. Don’t let them leave until they answer this question: What can I do to get more clients like you?
Resolutions III: December 1
Build a 2007 Resolution Wall.
Find a blank wall in your office where everyone can post as many firm-related “resolutions” as they want on 5x8 inch Post-It Notes.*
At the beginning of 2007, draw a line ( tape) down the middle of the wall. Label one side “Someday” and the other side “Now.”
Ask every staff member to pick JUST ONE resolution they personally commit to achieving and move that Post-It from the Someday side to the Now side.
Every week, review the resolutions and ask everyone for an update on their progress.
Once a resolution is achieved, place a huge checkmark (or big gold star) on it, and move another over from the Someday side to the Now side.
Repeat as necessary all year long.
* If you are feeling particularly brave, ask your clients to add their resolutions for your firm to the wall, and keep them up-to-date on your firm’s progress.
Blogging for Fortune, from Fortune
The Fortune Innovation Forum is about to get underway. I'm going to be immersing myself in the event today, and recapping as much as I can this evening. So far, it looks to be an amazing event.