Jaimie Field – Enlightened Rainmaking

Okay – I’m not of the Catholic Faith, and I am not sure to whom I am really confessing this sin.  However,  as a person who coaches attorneys on Time Management, Organization, and Rainmaking Activities including using the internet to get new clients (blogs, social media, for example) I felt the need to write this post.

It’s been 26 days since I last posted to this blog and while I can provide all of the excuses – I’ve

• Been sick (unfortunately, this is true and I have been fighting something for a month or so),
• Been busy trying to get other things done in my personal life,
• Been using other rainmaking activities to obtain new clients,
• Been doing a lot of webcasts, podcasts and live seminars,
• Been working with my new clients (yes, new clients do take up a tremendous amount of time to be able to get them up to speed, however this is an excuse I don’t let my clients use so I am willing to have my feet held to the fire on this one),
• Been burned out and needed a break (only partially true because as any entrepreneur will tell you that owning your own business is a full time investment),
• Not had anything to say (which if you knew me personally, you would know that I am not at a loss for words ever),

the truth is this:  the biggest sin that a blogger can commit is not posting on a regular basis – particularly if you would like to use it as a method to grow your book of business.

The second truth is that there is no excuse not to post on a regular basis.

Some of the people who are reading this will think that I haven’t been gone all that long or uncommunicative.  This is true to those who are members of the Rainmaking Recommendation email list.  They have been continued to receive their legal marketing ideas on a regular basis*.

The reason that Rainmaking Recommendations are always sent is that I have made sure that there is an appointment on my calendar for each of these emails.   Even if I do not get to it until the last minute, I know that I have made a promise to the members of this email list that they will receive them on the first and third Wednesdays of the month.  It is these attorneys to whom I promised Rainmaking and Legal Marketing ideas who keep me accountable.

Part of the problem with blogging is that there is really no accountability.  Or is there?

The reasons why blogs die or become places for occasional posts is that we don’t get to hear from our readers all that often.  Commenting directly on blog posts has gone down since you have other locations in which you post your comments and thoughts – LinkedIn, FaceBook, Google+ and Twitter.

We can have the tendency to think that no one is reading so why bother writing at all.  However if you start looking at the analytics of your blog you will find out something wonderful:  someone is reading.   Sometimes it is many people.

These are the people to whom you should hold yourself accountable – the readers of your blog.  Whether it is one person or one million people, if you have decided to blog,  it is like making a promise to that person who has taken the time to open up your blog page – you must do so on a regular basis.  Your readers have come to expect new information from you.

Additionally, new Information, could lead to new clients.   88 billion searches are performed monthly on Google.  This does include searches on facebook, twitter, or any other search engine (Yahoo! Bing).  Every time you add content to your blog which is optimized for the key words your client is seeking, you have the opportunity to show up in these searches.

Mea Culpa:

To the readers of this blog in the past, I am sorry for not posting new information on a more regular basis.  I am holding myself accountable to you to get you the best Rainmaking and Legal Marketing information into your hands so that you can grow your books of business.

To those new readers who have just stumbled on this blog, I promise to blog on a more consistent and constant basis.

You can hold me to this if you wish here, on FaceBook, on Twitter, on LinkedIn or Google+ or even if you wish to send me an email.

*a backlog of Rainmaking Recommendations which, as of yet, have not been posted will be going up on the site shortly.

How many clients have you had over the years?

If each of these clients could refer just one good client to you, and then each of those new clients could refer one new client to you . . . . and so on and so on, how big would your book of business be?

Each time you finish a legal matter and say “goodbye” to a client, it only takes a short period of time before they begin to forget about the great work you have done.  “Out of sight, out of mind” is a truism.

Instead, find a way to say “Talk to you Soon.”

So how do you keep yourself in their minds at all times?  Keep in Touch.

There are so many methods Rainmakers use to keep in touch on a regular basis:

• Phone Calls
• Emails
• Newsletters
• Firm announcements
• Blog posts
• Holiday Cards

No, you should not become a pain in the butt and bombard them with spam, but you should find a method that works for you to keep in touch on at least a quarterly basis.

Let your clients know that you are still there even if they do not need you at that moment.  In fact, while they might not need you at that moment, they may know someone who does.

(Starting in April 2011, the attorneys who signed up to receive the Rainmaking Recommendation in their email will receive the current tip two weeks earlier than it is posted on this blog.  This is my way of thanking them for being a part of the group.  If you would like to see the current Rainmaking Recommendation before anyone else, please sign up to be a part of the list.)

Who was your very first client?

When was the last time you spoke with them?

The clients you have worked with in the past could be the best source of new business in the future.   Many attorneys assume that once a matter is concluded, the client has no more need for their services.   At that time they lose contact with this client.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Past clients hired you because they liked you, trusted you and knew you would do a wonderful job helping them with their situation.  They could be one of the best resources for new matters or referrals to new clients.  However, you must continue to nurture the relationship you have with these clients.

or example:  you negotiated the sale of business for a client.  This doesn’t have to be the end of the relationship with the client.  Do they need a new estate plan or and updated Will to reflect the sale?  Are there tax implications that need to be addressed?

You have the opportunity to not be the attorney who does a single legal transaction (case/trial) and then exits from the clients’ life, but a true advisor.  Even if you don’t engage in these practice areas, you can still become their trusted advisor as you refer them to others who can help them with this work (this is called cross-marketing).

What if you haven’t spoken to them in a long time?

So what!

Pick up the phone, write an email, send a letter – let them know that you were thinking about them and wanted to find out what has been happening in their life, their family and their business.

Renewing a relationship with a past client could just bring you a future of big business.

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month via email to a list of amazing  attorneys who have signed up to receive them.    They are bite size tips that, when implemented will cause you to make rain.  Previously the subscribers of the tips and the readers of this blog got the information simultaneously. They are not longer being  posted immediately to this blog.  As stated above, those who are subscribed will have the Rainmaking Recommendation two weeks earlier than those who read this blog.  To get these tips sent to your email before the rest of the world reads them, please follow the instructions for subscribing.

To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq.

Did you know you can schedule an in-house, customized Rainmaking training workshop for your law firm? begin telephone or Skype individual rainmaking training from wherever you are in the world with Jaimie? Call or email for more information.

This may be a bit of an uncomfortable Rainmaking Recommendation for some. However, in order to become Rainmaker, sometimes the truth hurts.

There are two types of people in this world.

• Those who get it done, and
• Those who make excuses.

Which are you?

Are you making excuses for the reasons why you haven’t been able to bring new clients or matters into your practice?

Do these sound familiar?

• I’ve been too busy to follow up,
• I haven’t had the time (to go to the networking event, or write that blog post, or be involved with Social Media,  etc)
• I don’t know how (to write a Rainmaking Plan, set goals, organize my office or time more effectively),
• They don’t call me back,
• They may say “no”,
• The weather has been awful so I haven’t been able to leave my office.

Are these and anyone of a plethora of excuses the reasons that you haven’t gotten it done?

If you have a multitude of “reasons” for why are you are not doing the activities which will bring you in new clients, you will never bring in new business.   Stop making excuses find the mentors or teachers who can help you and start making plans to be a Rainmaker.

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month and then posted immediately to this blog .  They are bite size tips that, when implemented will cause you to make rain.  Previously the subscribers of the tips and the readers of this blog got the information simultaneously.  However, beginning in April 2011, those who are subscribed will have the Rainmaking Recommendation a week earlier than those who read this blog.  To get these tips sent to your email before the rest of the world reads them, please follow the instructions for subscribing.

To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq.

Did you know you can schedule an in-house, customized Rainmaking training workshop for your law firm? begin telephone or Skype individual rainmaking training from wherever you are in the world with Jaimie? Call or email for more information.

Call it Spring Fever but I am offering ladies & gentlemen who practice law in the USA the following offer (part of this is very selfish – I had a great time doing this in June of last year): 

Would you like a

• free,
• no obligation, and most importantly
• no sales pitch

45 minute Telephone* Rainmaking Training Session with Jaimie Field ($275.00 value)?

The first 25 Attorneys to sign up for the bi-monthly Rainmaking Recommendations email by following the instructions listed on this page and to like Marketing Field, LLC’s Facebook fan page will be contacted to arrange a date and time.

Please mention in your email that you read about this offer and have liked the Facebook Page.

Terms and Conditions for this Offer:

1. It is only open to the first 25 Attorneys who respond to this offer and who are licensed to practice law in the United States of America.
2. You must be a brand new subscriber to “Rainmaking Recommendations” and have not received a training session in the past.
3. The Training Session Must Occur between April 25, 2011 and June 3, 2011 .  A mutual time will be determined by email.
4. You must follow the instructions listed here and by liking Marketing Field’s Facebook page
5. You must be truly want to become a better Rainmaker and are willing to do the work – I cannot do it for you.  However, I can coach you on how to create relationships, find the places to meet new clients, and obtain new business.
6. This offer ends after the first 25 Attorneys who reply or on Friday, June 3, 2011 at 5:00PM  EDT which ever comes first.

* If your office is within a 20 mile radius from Morristown, NJ we can discuss scheduling an in-person session where I will come to you.

(Comments below will not qualify you for this offer – but feel free to make any comments you would like)

The economy seems to be turning around, albeit slowly; still many attorneys are finding themselves with more and more work on their desks.

Unfortunately, this is when many attorneys put their rainmaking activities on the back burner.  “I’m too busy right now,” is the reason they give.

They discontinue networking activities, they stop following up with prospective clients, they let their other marketing activities fall by the way side.  They are so busy trying to bill the hours of work that are now on their desk that they neglect to cultivate the relationships which will bring them more business in the future.

Big mistake!

Now is when you need to continue your rainmaking activities.  Not when you don’t have any business on your desk, but when you do.   At some point the case will be over, the project will be finished, the client will no longer need your services at this time.  Then you will find yourself desperate for new projects, cases and clients with which to work.

By lining up new prospective clients or matters with current clients on an ongoing basis you mitigate this risk.   You have the ability to stop the cycle of “feast or famine” as it relates to your book of business by continuing to market yourself and your services consistently and constantly.

*Many thanks to Fleetwood Mac and Classic Rock Radio which inspired this Rainmaking Recommendation when I heard this song.

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month.  They are bite size tips that, when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you would like to have these tips sent directly to your in box, please sign up here.

Did you know you can schedule an in-house, customized Rainmaking training workshop for your law firm? begin telephone or Skype individual rainmaking training from wherever you are in the world with Jaimie? Call or email for more information.

Cordell Parvin, an amazing Rainmaking Coach and Trainer, (who is a brand new friend and whom I have sought to emulate as a role model – although he didn’t know that but now will), recently wrote an fantastic blog post, Client Development Coaching: You will learn what will work for you

He wrote:

“One of the most important things I can do as a coach is help each lawyer find what will work most effectively for him or her.  Many lawyers I coach come into the coaching with pre-conceived stereotypes of rainmakers and fear they cannot be successful because they are not like that stereotype. My job is to help those lawyers see their own path to success.”

This is a mission and philosophy I share.

Often I am asked by prospective coaching clients whether I have a set formula or modules for coaching them to rainmaking success.  I always give them the attorney answer:  “Sort Of” (we attorneys never say “Yes” or “No” but always try to think of all of the shades of grey in between those black and white answers).

While there are definitely things I want to teach them which will help them grow their books of business, like setting effective goals, the various tactics they can use to achieve them, the attitudes necessary, as Cordell wrote, each attorney is different.    I work with attorneys by moving at their own pace, not mine.

I would never begin by suggesting to an attorney who has a phobia of speaking in front of audience to start giving speeches, nor would I suggest that someone who hates to write begin blogging.  These are only two of many different tactics which are effective – but there are so many out there which could be used to grow a book of business.

I will, however, try to get them out of their comfort zones.   The Glossophobe may be steered towards a Toast Masters group, an organization which helps individuals learn public speaking skills in small groups in a supportive and trusting atmosphere.   A discussion will be held with the Scriptophobe to find out why they don’t want to write and help them to find more effective ways to express themselves.

Each attorney that I work with has their own personality, so there is no set program which I use – what is effective for one, may not be effective for others.

While this blog post may seem self-serving, the fact that I am trying to get across is that there is no one way to Rainmaking success.  Comparing yourself to the Rainmaker in the corner office and trying to copy what he or she does when it goes against your personality will lead to frustration and failure.  Find the methods that work with your personality and go with it.

The only thing that I insist upon is a true desire to become a Rainmaker.  If you are not willing to do the work necessary, I don’t want you to spend your money going to seminars, buying books or even hiring me.

Recently at a networking event, I had the distinct displeasure of shaking hands with a dead fish and a pair of vice grips.

As a quick aside:

When you are at a networking event, first impressions count. From how you are dressed, to how you carry yourself, to the pitch of your voice, all of this goes into creating an impression when someone first meets you.

While I will address these facets of an impression in later blogs, this blog is specifically about handshakes and the long lasting impression that those can make.

Back to the networking event:

During the evening, I walked over to a group of people in which there was someone I knew. He kindly introduced me around the group. The first gentleman I did not know put out his hand to shake mine. When I took his hand, there was no grip. It was like having a cold, dead, clammy fish in my hand. I actually gripped his and had to do all of the work in this particular handshake. Please, try to imagine this and not cringe . . .

Not more than a few seconds later, after being a bit turned off by shaking hands with a cadaver, I was then introduced to a woman in the group who grabbed my hand with the force and strength of a vice grip and proceeded to pump it up and down with such vigor I had this mental image of someone priming an old fashioned water-pump.

It was between the dead-fish and the dislocated shoulder /crushed metacarpals that I decided to write this post.

When I was very young, my father imparted to me the importance of a great handshake. A great handshake begins when the web of your hand meets the web of another’s hand. The “web” is the span of space from the top of your thumb to the tip of your index finger. Once joined, grip firmly enough to hold but not to crush, shake several times while maintaining direct eye contact. Sounds surprisingly simple and yet, not always done.

Handshakes have the ability to convey confidence, poise, and capability. But they also have the ability to create wrong impressions as well. So I did a bit of research on the web to see what others had to say. There are more than 2 million results as to what handshakes may mean.

The Dead Fish: This type of handshake could convey a type of lackadaisical attitude, like you just don’t care about meeting the other person. On the other hand (pun intended) it could convey the fact that you are timid and frightened.

The Bone Crusher: This handshake says you are trying to dominate the other person, to show him/her how strong you are. Many men engage in this type of handshake to try to prove they are the “alpha-dog” in the situation; when a woman does this, it comes across as trying too hard to be in-charge.

The Politico: This is when you begin a traditional handshake and then one person covers the handshake with his/her left hand. While this handshake is meant to impart a caring about the other person, because politicians have been using this handshake for years it can come across as a phony display of sincerity.

The Finger-Tip: While I hate to be sexist here, this “handshake” is performed by way too many women. Instead of offering their hands to be shaken, they offer their fingertips.  This type of handshake conveys that one is weak and insecure; someone who lacks confidence. (In fact, the only time that this does not convey this meaning is if you are the Queen of your own country.  Then, by all means offer your finger-tips.)

The handshake is an important part of a first impression. Whether you are interviewing for a job, meeting a prospective client or reconnecting with a current one, the handshake is a gesture which says more than you can imagine.

As a post script, if you are working with an international clientele, or with clients who are from certain religious backgrounds, or even people who have an aversion to germs, they may not offer their hand for you to shake. For example, the religious beliefs of Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Islams prohibit contact with members of the opposite sex, thereby precluding handshakes between men and women. Certain European countries prefer kissing on each cheek as a greeting even in a business setting.

Please do not be offended or judge if someone doesn’t offer their hand for you to shake. There may be a reason. Just know that if they do, a lot of things could be said without saying a word.

Do you want to set yourself apart from every other attorney out there?  Never underestimate the power of the handwritten note.

In an age when most communication is taking place electronically – texts, emails, social media, Skype,  phones – rarely do we receive a good old-fashioned handwritten note saying “Thanks for taking the time to meet with me,”  “It was nice to meet you,” “Thank you for the referral” or even “I appreciate your business.”

Think about how nice it is when you open your mail and you see your name and address handwritten on a card size envelope.   It is usually the first thing you’ll open because it is so rare to receive that in the mail nowadays.

Now imagine that you have made someone else feel this way.

A handwritten note says that you took the time out of your busy schedule to stop and care.  How far do you think this will go to engender good feelings in your client’s or prospect’s mind?

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month.  They are bite size tips that, when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you would like to have these tips sent directly to your in box, please sign up here.

Did you know you can schedule an in-house, customized Rainmaking training workshop for your law firm? begin telephone or Skype individual rainmaking training from wherever you are in the world with Jaimie? Call or email for more information.

When we are trying to woo potential new clients, we have a tendency to promise them the world.

In New Jersey, The Rules of Professional Conduct 7.1(a)(1) it is unethical for attorneys to promise a certain outcome of a case (I cannot imagine that it is allowed in any state).

While you may not be making a promise about how the specific case will go, are you making promises about how you are going to interact with your clients?

Are you promising that they are your number one priority?   That you will respond to every contact and call?  That you will keep them informed throughout the time they are working with your firm?

“Client Service” is not just a term to put on your website as a mission statement which you don’t live up to – “Our Clients are our number one priority” or “We care about our clients.”  Client Service is a living and breathing edict.

Keeping your promises will help you to keep your clients.

At Marketing Field, LLC  - “Our promise is that every correspondence is returned within 24 hours during the business week (and usually a lot sooner)”.  We don’t strive to keep this promise, we just do it!

Rainmaking Recommendations are sent the first and third Wednesdays of the month.  They are bite size tips that, when implemented will cause you to make rain. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq. If you would like to have these tips sent directly to your in box, please sign up here.

Did you know you can schedule an in-house, customized Rainmaking training workshop for your law firm? begin telephone or Skype individual rainmaking training from wherever you are in the world with Jaimie? Call or email for more information.