Jaimie Field – Enlightened Rainmaking

This article, which originally appeared in the New Jersey Law Journal December 3, 2009, has been reproduced here. Although almost a year old, the article still resonates today.

The recession that began in 2008 caused mass devastation in the legal field.  We watched the annihilation of venerable law firms, like Heller Ehrman, Thelen Reid and Wolf Block.  Other law firms decimated their staffs by laying off thousands of attorneys, paralegals and support staff.    Small, Mid-size, Large – no law firm was immune to the financial issues and cutbacks that this recession caused.   We learned that the profession of law, which was once thought to be recession proof, is not immune to a downturn in the economy.

However, the attorneys who were able to bounce back immediately, or to whom the recession has had little effect are . . . The Rainmakers.

So what can YOU do to become a Rainmaker?

Believe it or not, becoming a Rainmaker is simple; there are only two steps to becoming an effective Rainmaker.  First, rainmaking is a function of relationship building; second, rainmaking is a function of great follow up.

Rainmaking can be taught; it is a matter of knowing the various business development tactics that exist, for example, networking events, online strategies, seminars and referrals.  Rainmakers understand how to use these tactics to promote themselves, their practice and their firm and develop relationships.  (The tactics are beyond the scope of this article, however, each is a method used to create relationships.)  Every attorney, regardless of personality can become a Rainmaker in his/her own right.

Thereafter, follow up is crucial.  The type and amount of follow up will determine whether prospective clients will actually work with you.  In fact, this also applies to current clients as well.  The main reason that clients state they leave their attorneys is because of a lack of response by their attorneys.

To be an effective Rainmaker, it is strongly suggested that you have a formal, written and personal Rainmaking plan consisting of the goals you want to achieve, the clients you wish to target and the strategies you are going to execute to do this.

While the steps in Rainmaking are simple, the process is not easy.  It takes a commitment on your part to bring clients into your practice on a regular basis and to keep them.  Solo practitioners who do not market their services consistently will find that they will be struggling for clients.  Mid-size and Large Law firm attorneys who don’t create books of business will find themselves as the people who grind out the work for those who do bring in new business.  This is not a position one should desire.  You limit the amount of control you have in your law firm:  control over the direction your individual career takes, or even control over the fact that you have a job (as we have seen in the recent past).

You can have the most brilliant rainmaking business development plan, designed and written for you by the greatest law firm marketing genius, but if you do not take the action necessary to implement the plan it is a worthless document.

How do you spell Rainmaker?   A . . . C . . . T . . . I . . . O . . . N!

A  = AM:  Wake up earlier. Waking up a half an hour earlier adds three and half hours per week which can be used for rainmaking.  Imagine an extra 182 hours per year to connect with former, current and prospective clients by writing a blog, submitting an article, follow-up calls, or attending one more networking event.

C  =  Cut Out Time Wasting: Determine how much time do you waste during the day?  If you are like most people, you are wasting time in a myriad of ways like reading (or deleting) emails you don’t need, chit-chatting ineffectively, and procrastinating on the one thing you could be doing to bring in more clients, or even doing more work for the current clients you have.   Then, learn to delegate, delete or downsize the task.

T = To-Do Lists: Write it down and prioritize:  Yes, a To-Do list.  Include everything!  If you don’t write it down, things fall through the cracks and the time it takes to fix the mistakes takes away from Rainmaking activities. Prioritize which activities are going to be the most helpful to you.  Cross out the tasks you have accomplished.  There is a sense of satisfaction from putting an X next to that item or running a line through it (even electronically).  Further, you have the opportunity to see how much you have accomplished.

I = Integrate your entire life: A true Rainmaker makes rain all of the time, even when they are doing things you wouldn’t consider to be “business development” activities.  For example, does your Dentist know what you do for a living?  He/She could be referring clients to you if they did.

O = Organize your plan: Take 15 minutes on Sunday Evening to plan your week.  Start by writing in all of the appointments you have.  Then plan the rest of your days in blocks of time.  For example: block out time to run errands,  to exercise, to have fun with family and friends, a chunk of time to perform one rainmaking activity per day, a chunk of time to work.  Realize that you don’t have to schedule yourself minute by minute as this will cause more stress if you exceed the time you thought it would take.  By planning in chunks, you can respond to “emergencies” which arise and you can fill in the activities in the blocks with what’s on your to-do list. But treat each “chunk” of time as a true appointment.  One that you cannot break.  If you have scheduled an hour to write a blog post as your Rainmaking Activity for that day and you finish in half that time then perform another task (following up with a prospective client, for example) or take a quick break.

N = Now, Take ACTION! : Once you have a schedule, keep it!   If you find yourself procrastinating for any reason, break the major task into its attendant pieces and perform one of the bite size pieces. There is an old adage:  How do you eat an Elephant?  One bite at a time.   When you do this, you find that the task get’s accomplished much faster than you realized.

Rainmaking is about creating relationships, which requires ACTION, and following up, which further necessitates ACTION.

How do you spell Rainmaker?  A . . . C . . . T . . . I . . . O . . . N.

It’s simple but certainly not easy.

Did you know you can schedule an in-house, customized Rainmaking 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.

Whether it is by email or snail mail, whether it is an RFP, a thank you note, or a note to say hello, too many “I”, “Me” and “My Firm” statements in your correspondence will turn the reader off.

It’s not about YOU or your firm.  It’s about what you and your firm can do for the person who is reading the correspondence.

The solution:  after you write the document (whatever it may be) go back and change all of the “I” statements and “Me” Statements into “You”, “We” or “Us” statements.

When you focus on your reader, they will focus on what you have to say.

What do you think?   Please comment below.

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.

Make a list of ALL of your clients, both current and former.

Which one of these people have not heard from you in a month?  In a year?  In more than a year?

You are missing valuable new business sources if you have ever lost touch with a person you have met in the past, even if you have only lost touch for short periods of time.

There is an old adage – “Out of sight, out of mind.”

These are people who can refer business to you or provide new matters to you or your firm.

Make a list of these people and start getting back in contact with them regularly.

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.   Sign up to have these delivered right to your in-box.

What’s do you do for fun?  What’s your favorite hobby?  Did you know that every hobby, activity, passion that you have can be turned into a Rainmaking opportunity?

Join a group that caters to that hobby.  One of the best places to find a group in a nearby location which caters to what you like to do is Meetup.com.   These are called “Affinity Groups” and you can find a group of like minded people for even the most obscure of pastimes.  If your passion is knitting, there’s a group for that.  If your passion is restaurants, there are groups for that.  If your passion is growing vegetables or raising chickens, there are groups for that.

Remember, anytime you have the opportunity to meet another person, you have the ability to turn that person into a referral source or prospective client.

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 Rainmaking Recommendations sent directly to your email please sign up here.

Who is your ideal client?  Do you already work with him or her?

Whether you do or don’t, you can create clone after clone of your ideal client (barring conflicts of interest) by taking the following actions:

1)      Write down exactly what your ideal client looks like.  Be specific.

2)      Research where these clients hang out.  Join the associations they join, be where they are as often as possible.  This can include social networks online.

3)      Communicate with them.  Most people will tell you everything you want to know about them or their business if you ask them about it.  People love to talk about themselves, their business, how they got started.

4)      Talk to your current “ideal client” and find out who they know who are like them.  Ask them to introduce you to these new people and provide the new group with information in the form of email correspondence, blog posts, and articles written.

The more often you perform these action items the more chances you will have to meet those who meet your criteria for the “ideal client”.

As always, you must be proactive.  Just waiting for the phone to ring is not going to bring you the clients you want or need.

Please use the comment section below to tell us what your ideal client looks like.

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.

I would like to apologize to my readers

First:   I had fully intended to blog more often and let you get to know me not only as a Rainmaking Trainer and Coach but as a person. As a promise to myself and to you, I will begin doing just that starting with this post.

Second:    The title of this blog is “The Enlightened Rainmaker. I had stated in the first post that in order to become the best rainmaker, to have true success and happiness, you need to have goals in all areas of your life to create balance:

• Physical & Health,

• Career & Financial,

• Home & Family,

• Social & Cultural,

• Spiritual & Intellectual

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to tell you that my life has been tremendously unbalanced.

For the past six months, since the start of 2010, I have been concentrating solely on the Career and Financial aspects of my life to the abandonment of almost everything else. What is it that they always say? “All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy”. Well, life hasn’t been dull but it hasn’t been yielding the results in areas of my life that should also be important.

For this particular blog, let’s chat about the Physical and Health area.

A few years ago I gained a lot of weight for me. Last year, I lost half of those excess pounds. While I have been able to keep that weight off, I have not been proactive about taking off the other half off. I have not worked out and I have not been eating healthfully. While far from being fat, I do not feel good about the way I look or feel.

How’s your Weight effecting your

Rainmaking?

Why is this part of this blog?

It’s here for a number of reasons:

• Rainmakers need to have the right image – let’s face it, as a society we are judged on our looks when we first meet others. It is important to look and dress your best at all times (dressing for success will be the subject of a future blog).

• Rainmakers need to have energy – there is enough medical and anecdotal information which shows that eating healthfully – fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats, fiber rich products – and exercising consistently will boost our energy levels. We all know how sluggish and cruddy we feel after we eat a meal of fried, fattening, sugar laden foods. Rainmakers need to have the energy necessary to not only get through a full day of work and commit to Rainmaking activities on their schedules, but also to be successful in all of the other areas of their lives.

• Rainmakers need to have a positive self image – Having high self –esteem is one of the biggest predictors of Rainmaking and business success.

However, the number one reason why we are having this discussion is, as was stated above, having balance in all areas of life is a measure of true success.

As part of my coaching services to my clients, after helping them to determine their individual goals for every area of their lives, I then hold them accountable for achieving these goals. I am giving my readers permission to hold me accountable for losing weight, getting back into shape, feeling healthy and energized by the end of this year.  I will keep you updated as well.

How are you feeling physically? Are you going to make any changes? Do you want the readers and me to hold you accountable? Write down your goals below and let’s get it going!

Not to frighten you, but this year is officially half over.  What have you done to advance your Rainmaking skills?

Do you have a written Rainmaking plan?  If not, why not?

Do you set schedule time, every day, to do at least one Rainmaking Activity?

As a Rainmaking coach and a trainer, I cannot force you to do what you need to do.  I can only motivate and educate you.   You need to find the motivation to do the tasks necessary to advance your practice.

Motivation comes from having goals.  These goals must be worthwhile to you.   Whether your goals are to make partner, earn more money, make enough to go on more vacations, create a life that you are looking to create, or whatever reasons you may have, they have to have meaning to you.  

Just use the oft-quoted acronym:  SMARTY when determining your goals:

S = Specific:  Be very specific about the goals you want to achieve

M=Measurable:  Can you put a number or some other measurement to this goal?

A= Actionable:  Is this something that you can take action on?

R = Realistic:  Will you be able to achieve this goal?  If a goal is not realistic you will have a tendency to beat yourself up if you don’t achieve it.

T = Time Bound:  Your goals must have a deadline.  If they don’t then it becomes only a dream.

And

Y = You:  Is it YOUR goal or is it a goal you think you should be accomplishing because someone else thinks you should.  This is a surefire way to have a goal languishing because you will NEVER have the motivation to accomplish it.

It’s not too late this year to start.  Start by writing down your goals and then motivate yourself to accomplish them.

What’s your motivation?  Use the comment section to tell others how you motivate yourself to achieve your goals.

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 want them sent directly to your inbox sign up at Marketing Field.com

One of the worst phrases an attorney can hear from one of their friends, family, clients or prospective clients is:  “I didn’t know you (your firm) did that!”

Usually this means that they went somewhere else for a matter they would have been more than happy to give to you – had they known your firm could handle the matter.

Let them know.

Make sure all of the people you know or meet know what you and your firm can do. This way they can either use your firm or refer new legal matters to you.

How do you let them know? Simple. Tell them, and tell them often. Not only can this be done verbally, but with newsletters, the backs of business cards, sending them articles by other members of the firm, and by introducing them to other attorneys who may not be in your practice area.

Most of all this can be accomplished by listening. If you know your clients, really know everything about them and their business,  you will also be aware of what else they may need. Then you can offer your firm’s assistance with other matters that may occur in their lives and businesses.

What ways can you think of to tell your clients and contacts all of the areas in which your firm practices? Please comment below.

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.

What’s the one “more” thing you can do TODAY to continue to become a Rainmaker?

What’s the one phone call can you make to a current or prospective client?  What’s the one more article you can read to learn more about the area in which you practice?  What’s the one more email you can send to create a closer relationship with your clients?

What’s the one more thing you can do which may have a profound effect on your career?

Now that you have that in mind – to quote the Nike ads – “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.

Rainmaking Recommendation #4  – Your Goal is Success

“The ability to set goals and to make plans for their accomplishment is the master skill of success.  Developing this skill will do more to ensure your success than anything else you could ever do.”  Brian Tracy, Maximum Achievement.

Take the time necessary to write down your goals.

Start with three:  What are the three most important things you want to accomplish this year.   Make sure these goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and have a deadline.  Always write your goals in the present tense as if you already achieved it. For example:  I am growing my law practice by 15% by becoming the advisor to 3 new corporations/clients within the next 10 months.

This is a specific goal, it’s measurable, it’s realistic and it has a deadline.

What are your goals?  For your practice? For your life?  Please feel free to comment below or send an email directly to info@marketingfield.com

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. at Marketing Field, LLC