The Legal Compass

Motivating Partners for Business Development

At our consulting practice, we've received a lot of calls from partners in leadership positions asking,  "How can we motivate the partners to follow up, make calls......etc.?"  In an article about motivating sales people, sales specialist Jeff Thull identifies four motivating traits and three success factors.  These traits and factors are easily applied to professionals who, as an active member of their partnership must play a role in building business from new or existing clients.  To deliver results, however, leadership has to convey these messages, provide a supportive environment for succeeding and show interest and recognize the results.  Is leadership motivated to do this?  We hope so.

Putting the Client at the Center

In Dennis Snow and Teri Yanovitch's book, Unleashing Excellence, they talk about creating an environment where "Everything Speaks."  In other words, Clients know they are dealing with professionals.  They suggests that employees and professionals "create service wows."  Clients should feel special.  How do you inculturate excellent service at your firm?  Is it about the partners or is it about the clients?  Are you modelling the behavior you expect of one another and your administrative professionals and support teams?  Are you the Ritz Carlton of law firms? Or, if I'm a client and I leave your office, do I see your associate or secretary outside the building smoking?  Is your office messy or is it clean and neat--is it "client ready?" Think of the impression (as a last impression) of your firm that is left in the clients' minds.  Everything Speaks.  It's a great goal to strive for. 

COOs and CMOs--A Tangent

A Management Tangent--Of late I've heard from more people about their COO/CMO relationships.  Mainly, big problems exist.  Part of the problem is that CMOs should not be reporting to COOs--since when did that begin to happen?  Most COOs by the way, come from CFO backgrounds--the fit just isn't correct.  And so, several $250K plus jobs have remained open for more than a year for a CMO because the positions report to the COOs of the firms.  Get a clue all--leadership starts with the managing partner/management committee and then the next level are the firm's officers.  Officers don't report to one another! They are on a level playing field and their expertise and experience dictates that they are equal in rank.  The number of problems this reporting structure has created are endless and the examples we have are numerous.  More time is wasted by CMOs justifying their existence and their strategies to people who have NO experience in this area; to people whose job it is to manage the firm's finances not the firm's strategies and client relationships.  This reporting structure has become such a significant issue with many Top 100 firms it is causing many talented people to flee as quickly as possible from law firms back to the other professional services and corporate worlds from where they came.  Tighten up that team and focus on building strong, solid relationships among them and not by placing one of them in a higher position than the others.  Good things will happen.

It's Baseball Season!

Baseball is back in action and the beloved home Team--BoSox--won yesterday!  All the fuss about Damon heading to Yankee land; well, Coco Crisp made everyone forget quickly.  Which goes to show--laterals can come and go--some with the promise of huge deliverables--but it's all in the final showing.  I've talked with more law firms lately about how disappointed they are with the laterals they've brought in. Ask any managing partner about how the laterals in his/her firm are doing and you'll hear a sigh.  Well, even the best players need coaches--think about it!  Making a significant move carries with it a lot of new pressures and hiring a coach for those laterals is a smart move for the team.  For information on coaching, visit CoulterConsultingGroup or Sales Results Inc. for good coaching experts and advice.

Conference Mania

This year's 2006 20th anniversary Legal Marketing Association's conference was a great success.  One of the highlights was ABA President-Elect Karen Mathis.  Mathis, an eloquent speaker, challenged the marketers to go back to their firms and spread the word about helping to empower today's underprivileged youth.  In fact, she challenged President Kim Perret and President-Elect Nat Slavin of Inside Counsel fame, to assign a committee to work with ABA on her vision.  Conference chair Roberta Montafia (a former LMA President) stepped up to the plate immediately.  A long-time friend of Mathis, Roberta, I suspect, will take the lead and carry the LMA flag.  Seems a worthy cause to build bridges with ABA--something LMA should work hard at and soon!  Opportunity truly exists everywhere.

Opportunities to Learn

Seminars are everywhere!  And, that's OK from my point of view.  There are endless opportunities to learn about marketing; leadership; sales; in-house counsels' views; competitive analyses, etc., etc.  With today's busy schedules, having all these choices is great. There is no excuse now not to understand what your firm should be doing in the way of competition and to stay on top of clients' expectations. Coming soon is the Legal Marketing Associaiton's 20th anniversary conference in Chicago; the Legal Sales and Service Organization's annual conference in DC and a myriad of other conferences around the country.  So grab your managing partner or marketing partner and go go go!

Accountability is a Great Thing

I spent some time the past weekend talking with a partner from one of the largest firms in the world.  She was telling me about how the partners in her firm are held accountable to standards of behavior.  Treating everyone with respect is one of those standards, along with behaving properly, billing on time each and every month, and other standard protocols.  What happens when someone ignores these?  They are held accountable--they are put on notice of sorts. This is one of the best run firms in the world and one of the most profitable. People are men and women of their word.  It would be so great if everyone in every firm had the same expectations of one another and stuck to them. Try it--I think you'll like it. Leadership. Accountability. Respect. It's great to work in a place like that.

Resources Resources

Everyone tells me they lack the time to do business development.  As scarce a resource as time is, setting aside some of it for business development is key to your future.  So where to begin?  I asked a number of rainmakers this question.  Here are some answers:

1.   Make it part of every day--even one phone call a day to an existing contact or client is an important step in business development.  When did you last call your clients from three to ten years ago to say hello?

2.   Have a list of your contacts at home office; office; car and call someone from that list every day. The people you know are the best leads/sources of new business. 

3.  Phone and ask the people who have been promising you business and have not delivered, "when are we going to do some business?"  And, wait for their answer before speaking again--even better if you do this in person.

These solid tips work well.  As Nike says, Just do It!

Leadership quote for the day: Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing. Warren Bennis, Ph.D.

New Year Forecast

Happy New Year! 2006 will see a continued rise in the number of firms that are acquired (some will call it a merger but we know that's not the case); and on my list are at least three AmLaw 100 firms that will no longer be around by 2007.  Stay tuned for the names to see if my predictions come true.  What will make or break a firm faster than anything right now?  BAD MANAGEMENT.  Leadership development will be the most critical factor in determining whether a firm is going to make it or break.  Whether you agree with the top leaders' decisions or not is irrelevant.  Making decisions (versus inability to make a decision); delegating authority to the c-level team; being responsible for steady firm growth; holding everyone--partners especially--accountable for numbers and behavior, will be key.  Let's see how this plays out. Best of health to your firms.

What Can The iPod Teach Law Firms?

Remember the days Apple as a company was in jeopardy?  Corporate America tried to impose itself on the company and made it worse than ever. iCEO Jobs was invited back and whoosh! the company took off for round two. Someone came to him with a new idea from outside the company and he decided it made sense--so they gambled and won.  The result? The iPod. What law firms can learn from this is that no matter how much we try to keep things heading in the same direction, they are going to change and the change is due to the way the world around us works with our services. Technology has a big part in this.  So, what can you learn about managing your firm from Apple's experience?  A lot.....try it on for size and have fun with reinventing your firm. You'll blow the competition away and never look back.