Jaimie Field – Enlightened Rainmaking

As attorneys, the most potent Rainmaking tactic is Word-of-Mouth marketing.  This is when clients tell others about the work you do and referrals are a result.  However, word-of- mouth marketing is also one of the ways that we lose clients as well.

The problem is that in most legal cases, at least in the clients’ mind, there will always be a winner and a loser.  While we would like to believe that we will always win our cases, someone will walk away with the judgment or the money; someone else will have to pay in one way or another.  Not only does this create negative feelings on the part of the “losing” party, but also negative word-of-mouth towards the attorney who was only doing their best to assist their client(s).

This is why you need to create realistic client expectations from the outset of your relationship.  This includes:

• How, how often, and when you will communicate with them;
• What you are realistically going to do for your client while handling their case;
• And, the various outcomes of a given matter – both good and bad.

If you create realistic expectations (and then attempt to exceed them) clients will be satisfied and be more likely to refer others to you.

What do you do to create realistic expectations for your clients?  Leave your comment below for other attorneys.

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 sign up to receive them in your in box visit Marketing Field.com for instructions. To learn more about Rainmaking, Goal Setting and Achieving the Life you want as an Attorney please contact Jaimie B. Field, Esq.

Rainmaking Recommendation #20:  On My Mind

One of the challenges that attorneys face is our clients or prospects don’t always have a constant need for our services.  However, these people will often run into others that they can refer.   Since we are all busy people, they refer the person they have on their mind at that time.

“Top of Mind” is a marketing term used to describe the fact that you are the first person people recall when they experience a need for your services (whether for themselves or as a referral).

To keep you and your firm on their minds consistent contact is imperative.  Whether through

• phone calls,
• emails,
• blog posts,
• press releases,
• white pages,
• newsletters,
• networking,

each time you put your name in front of a prospect/client you create an awareness of you do; this makes it easier for them to either use your services when they have a need or refer you when they come across someone else who might.

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 these delivered directly to your in-box please sign up by following the directions here.

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.

As the summer comes to a close and vacations come to an end, more and more networking events are scheduled during the fall.

Get out of your office and begin networking.  This is one of the best rainmaking activities in which you can take part.

Remember to bring your business cards!  But more importantly, remember to ask for other’s cards.

• While at a networking event, carry your business cards in your left jacket pocket.  Please take them out of the fancy business card holders to make it easier to access.
• Put the cards of the people you meet in your right hand pocket.  This makes it easier at the end of the event for you to keep them from getting jumbled with yours.
• Also, carry a pen so that you can jot down some pertinent information on the back of their card so that you can remember something special about the person you have just met.

Within 48 hours of meeting someone with whom you would like to do business (or may be able to refer you business) take a few minutes to dash off a note/email about how wonderful it was to meet them and make mention of that special fact you jotted down on the back of their card.

Following up with a person you met at a networking event is the only way to continue to build a relationship which will eventually lead to business.

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 wish these to come directly to your in-box sign up here.

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.

Listening is one of the most important skills you can master if you want to be a great Rainmaker.

Most people use their ears to hear.   Hearing is a bio-mechanical attribute that most people with two ears can do.  However, usually, when the other person is speaking, we are often just waiting for our chance to respond – whether it is to prove what we know or just to hear ourselves talk.

Listening is an actual skill which can be learned and when used effectively creates a relationship with the speaker that can morph into business.  When you really listen to others, giving them your full awareness, not allowing for any distractions to divert your attention (whether in person or on the phone) and truly understand what they are saying, they naturally will like you and trust that you can help them with their problems.

Then and only then can you respond to what they are saying.

Remember:  people do business with those they like and trust.

What to keep your clients happy?  Respond.

One of the main reasons why clients state that they leave their current attorney’s can be classified as “attorney indifference”.   Attorneys do not respond to emails, voicemails, or requests for information.

More often than not, it is because the attorney does not have any current news about a case.  Ergo, most attorneys decide that because of this, a client’s contact does not warrant a response.

This does not excuse you from responding.

It takes less than 60 seconds to hit the reply button and respond to an email with “Thank you for contacting me.  So far there is nothing to tell you, but as soon as something comes up, I will get in contact.”

It takes less than 2 minutes to call up and say:  “I cannot really chat right now, but I just wanted to let you know that I got your call and so far nothing new is happening, but feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. “

Attorneys need to remember that most clients are not used to being in legal disputes of any kind.  This is scary to a client and they just want to be reassured that their attorney is still working on their behalf.

Recently I wrote a sarcastic and smarmy blog post:  A Thank you to all of the Unethical Attorneys Out There .   The point of the blog post was, in terms of Rainmaking, you cannot create relationships built on lies and unethical behavior.

While there were a number of attorneys who were able to read my sarcasm, there were a number of wonderful, ethical attorneys who thought I was out to smear the legal industry.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

What I did learn was an incredibly valuable lesson which I already knew but had forgotten.   Sarcasm is easily misconstrued on the internet.

As someone who teaches Attorneys how to get more clients, I also teach that sarcasm is not always appreciated and that you have to know your audience.

It is something that I should have remembered when writing the post.

To the two attorneys who reminded me of that – Thank you.