LinkedIn and Gmail
I've been a big fan of LinkedIn for quite some time, and since I abandoned Outlook (and LinkedIn's amazing Outlook plugin), I've been using the Firefox and Gmail extensions pretty regularly. When I logged in today to invite a few of my contacts, I noticed I could import all of my contacts from my Gmail (and Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL mail) address book, and invite them at once.
From your LinkedIn home page, click on the "+Expand Your Network" button on the upper right and follow the instructions. Very easy and very cool!
Take your Client's Stakeholders to Lunch
Joyce Wycoff suggests taking internal stakeholders to lunch:
Identify all of your stakeholders … the people who are affected by your work, immediately and at a distance. Your monthly report may only go to 3-4 people but the information in it may get passed along or acted upon by dozens of others. Start to invite your stakeholders to lunch one or two at a time and just get to know them.
This is great advice, and equally applicable to the stakeholders in your clients' organizations. Just make sure they know you are not billing them for the lunch!
Why Clients Don't Listen
Wonder why your clients don't listen to you? Perhaps this article explaining why men ignore nagging wives may give you some insight. In short, many people will act in ways that are not in their own best interest, just because they wish to avoid doing what others want them to do. This is called "reactance," and is defined as, "a person's tendency to resistsocial influences that they perceive as threats to their autonomy." The article describes two interesting experiments that demonstrate just how ingrained this behavior can be:
In the first experiment, participants were asked to name asignificant person in their lives whom they perceived to be controllingand who wanted them to work hard, and another significant andcontrolling person who wanted them to have fun. Participants thenperformed a computer-based activity during which the name of one or theother of these people was repeatedly, but subliminally, flashed on thescreen. The name appeared too quickly for the participants toconsciously realize they had seen it, but just long enough for thesignificant other to be activated in their nonconscious minds. Theparticipants were then given a series of anagrams to solve, creatingwords from jumbled letters.
People who were exposed to the name of a person who wanted them towork hard performed significantly worse on the anagram task than didparticipants who were exposed to the name of a person who wanted themto have fun.
"Our participants were not even aware that they had been exposed tosomeone else's name, yet that nonconscious exposure was enough to causethem to act in defiance of what their significant other would want themto do," Fitzsimons said.
A second experiment used a similar approach and added an assessmentof each participant's level of reactance. People who were more reactantresponded more strongly to the subliminal cues and showed greatervariation in their performance than people who were less reactant.
"The main finding of this research is that people with a tendencytoward reactance may nonconsciously and quite unintentionally act in acounterproductive manner simply because they are trying to resistsomeone else's encroachment on their freedom," Chartrand said.
Though the article pokes a bit of fun at the husband/wife dynamic, this kind of behavior has very serious implications for advice-giving professionals and our clients. I'd encourage you to read the entire study (cost: $30.00).
Cure (Brief) Writer's Block
Having a hard time writing that brief that's due next week? Here's a great list of tools, toys and inspirational sites to get you from your Statement of Facts all the way to your Table of Authorities -- or at least inspire you to write some poetry or the next great American novel.
Hang Around for Business Clients
Right after I wrote the Sand Imprint Post, I found another clever way to advertise: Hangvertising. From the geniuses at Hanger Network come EcoHangers(tm), a recyclable, paper hanger that has advertising printed on it. Just think, you could find the dry cleaner in the most expensive part of town, and ask them to use the EcoHangers (with your business-appropriate ad) on all business suits they dry clean.
Brilliant.
Ask Your Clients for Ten Ways You Can be Better
Guy Kawasaki shares a study by Craig R. Fox (pdf) that compares two groups of students, each asked to evaluate an MBA course:
One group was asked for two ways to improve the course; the other wasasked for ten ways to improve the course. The group that was asked tolist ten ways showed a higher level of satisfaction with the course.
So, when will you start asking all of your clients for ten ways to improve your service?
Footprints (and a toll-free number) in the Sand
Do you practice near a beach? Here's a great marketing idea (hat-tip to Church Relevance) that just might get your firm noticed: environmentally safe ads that are imprinted in the sand.
Of course, it may be hard to "save" the advertisement for those pesky bar advertising rules.
Join Me March 8th for a Teleseminar
I'd like you to join me for a teleseminar on March 8th, titled: Think Real BIG -- Ten Creative Strategies for Building an Innovative Law Practice. It is part of the online-only Career & Practice Development Conference.
I will share ten unique and easy-to-implement strategies to help you create an innovative, service-centered law practice that you'll love as much as your clients do.
The teleseminar takes place from 1:00 - 2:00 pm EST and the cost is $59.00. You can register here.
I'm Sorry, I Don't Remember How to Say I'm Sorry
Joel Spolsky shares Seven Steps to Remarkable Customer Service that shares lessons his software company has learned (in come cases, the hard way). Many make sense for professional service providers. My favorite, though, is this one
Memorize Awkward Phrases.
It’s easy to get caught up in the emotional heat of themoment when someone is complaining.
The solution is to memorize some key phrases, and practicesaying them, so that when you need to say them, you can forget yourtestosterone and make a customer happy.
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t accept your money. The meal’s on me.”
“That’s terrible, please tell me what happened so I can makesure it never happens again.”
It’s completely natural to have trouble saying “It’s myfault.” That’s human. But those three words are going to make your angrycustomers much happier. So you’re going to have to say them. And you’re goingto have to sound like you mean it.
So start practicing.
Say “It’s my fault” a hundred times one morning in theshower, until it starts to sound like syllabic nonsense. Then you’ll be able tosay it on demand.
One more point. You may think that admitting fault is astrict no-no that can get you sued. This is nonsense. The way to avoid gettingsued is not to have people who are mad at you. The best way to do thisis to admit fault and fix the damn problem.
links for 2007-02-06
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My dad had thirty years of Mechanics Illustrated, Popular Mechanics, and Popular Science. I'd read all of them.
Define Your Firm's Rules of Engagement
Guy Kawasaki shares some "Rules of Engagement" from a company called SuccessFactors. Here they are:
Rules of Engagement
I will be passionate—about SuccessFactors’ mission, about mywork. I will love what we do for companies and employees everywhere.
I will demonstrate respect for the individual; I will benice and listen to others, and respect myself. I will act withintegrity and professionalism.
I will do what it takes to get the job done, no matter what it takes, but within legal and ethical boundaries.
I know that this is a company, not a charity. I will not waste money—I will question every cost.
I will present an exhaustive list of solutions to problems—and suggest actionable recommendations.
I will help my colleagues and recognize the team when we win. I will never leave them behind when we lose.
I will constantly improve Kaizen! I will approach every dayas an opportunity to do a better job, admitting to and learning from mymistakes.
I will selflessly pursue customer success.
I will support the culture of meritocracy and pay for performance.
I will focus on results and winning—scoring points, not just gaining yardage.
I will be transparent. I will communicate clearly and bebrutally honest, even when it’s difficult, because I trust mycolleagues.
I will always be in sales and drive customer satisfaction.
I will have fun at work and approach my work with enthusiasm.
I will be a good person to work with—I will not be an asshole.
I agree to live these values. If my colleagues fail to live up toany of these rules, I will speak up and will help them correct; inturn, I will be open to constructive criticism from my colleaguesshould I fail to live by these values. I understand that my performancewill be judged in part by how well I demonstrate these values in mydaily work.
Any professional service firms out there with similar "Rules" for their employees?
Branding on the Cheap
Here is a great resource for web startups that has a few gems for lawyers too: Little Known Ways to Brand on the Cheap. Just a few favorites:
26. E-profiles: manage your reputation. If a potentialcustomer types in your name into a search engine, what sort of resultswill they see in the top 10? It’s key for you to secure the top 10results in Google, Yahoo and MSN for searches relating directly andindirectly (if possible) to your brand. You need to be the one definingwhat people see when they search for you, not your competition. Startby building e-profiles on authority domains such as MySpace, Squidoo, AboutUs, WordPress, Blogger/ Blogspot, MSN Spaces, TypePad, Newsvine, LinkedIn, Rollyo, Wikipedia, etc. Don’t let someone else define who you are.28. Get listed on local authority websites. Manycities will have a large, centrally operated online business directory.A link from a local government site (.gov) will boost your visibilityand build your search engine rankings. Often that requires no moreeffort than doing a GoogleSearch for “(your city) business directory”and emailing the webmaster.
36. Design with a focus on MDA. Design your blog with a focus on visitor experience that leads the user to your MDA (Most Desired Action). Test various designs before launch by asking friends and family to go to the site and see where they click and when.
39. Design for scanners, not readers. I know, you’veput a lot of time into your content, so you want people to read everylittle word. But the truth is, people online are scanners, not readers.So if you want to get your message across, you need to tell them yourunique selling points in a bullet list or in short crisp sentences.
77. Do something outrageous. Or at very least unusual, and document the action itself and reactions others had to it. Randy’s Affiliate Marketing Programs Blog discusses a few of the more famous outrageous branding ideas, from Alex Tew’s Million Dollar Homepage (the original dollar-a-pixel site) to John Freyer’s All My Life for Sale (a wildly-successful eBay project).
91. Guerilla marketing. Head down to your locallibrary and hunt down books relevant to your topic. Then insert yourbusiness card or flyer into the book at the very front. This guerillamarketing can work on an individual level, but the benefits canmultiply dramatically if your persistent activity starts to create buzz.
94. Be a star. Call up your local public cable access channel and ask to be interviewed. They are desperate for content and may go for it.
See You in NYC!
Forgive the light posting, but it has been crazy lately. I'm off tomorrow for ALM's LegalTech in NYC. If you'd like to meet up, drop me a line at Matt@LexThink.com or call me at 618-407-3241. I hope to see you there.
links for 2007-01-10
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Misplace your cell phone? Here's one way to find it.
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Find cliches in your writing.