Pull the cards out and start going through them.  Do you remember who any of these people are?

First, cull through the list of cards and throw out any card of any individual you truly cannot remember.

Then start contacting those who you do remember – send an email, make a coffee date, call to catch up.  Start creating the relationships which will lead to new business.

And make a promise to yourself.  That you are no longer collecting cards just to have a stack of cards sitting on your desk (in your drawer).   When you go to a networking event, bring a pen and just jot down a few things on the back of the card to help you remember your conversation. Put the date and the event and you will never forget about that person again.

But most importantly, do not just stick that card in a drawer on in a pile wrapped with a rubber band on the back corner of your desk.  Find a way to organize them that makes sense to you.  Use 3-ring binders with 8×11” card holders, do it electronically, but make sure that it is a system you are going to use.

Finally, contact the person you met –  ask if you can put that person on your newsletter list, send a referral, invite them to learn more about your practice, find out what they do.

It isn’t a contest to see who collects the most cards – you might as well just wallpaper a closet with them if that‘s the case.

It’s about creating relationships which lead to new business for you both.

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 email box, follow these directions.

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.

In each area of practice there is a list of people who work in the same in industry who do not practice law.  People like accountants, psychologists/therapists, and other vendors who concentrate on the same group of people/businesses you are trying to reach who will not step on your legal toes.

Create your own ad-hoc networking group.  Gather these people together to meet at least once a month, whether in person, via Skype or conference call, and create relationships with them.  Make sure that each person’s business compliments but does not compete with the other.  Each of these people and businesses has the ability to refer more business to you without feeling like they are competing with others who do the same thing that they do for a living.

In addition to referrals, this group can also provide competitive intelligence about the industry you wish to target.

Where do you find this group with which to network?

Search the industry with which you want to work.   Find the publications, magazines, websites that people read to keep up with the industry and see who is writing the articles and advertising in these publications.  Contact them and ask if they would like to be a part of this group to help grow all of your respective businesses.

What’s the worst thing that can happen?  They say “no?”  If this happens, there is more than one person who can take their place.

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.

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.

“Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”  

It is oft repeated; it is said in many ways in every religious belief.  It is taught to us by our parents when we are children even if we are not brought up with a religious background (“Treat others the way you want to be treated”).

Yet, as attorneys, we have a tendency to forget this rule.

This is not because we are bad or immoral people.  The nature of the legal field is adversarial.  It is almost always one party against another.  We are trying to win for our clients. So by hook or by crook, as long as it is ethical, we will treat our opposition the way we need in order to achieve our clients’ goals.

However, for Rainmaking purposes, not following the Golden Rule is going to cost you clients, potential clients and referral sources.    If you come across as aggressive and antagonistic to everyone, you will not win.

Think about how you like to be treated:  with kindness, respect, empathy and value.  Now treat everyone you know and meet like this, regardless of who they are and what they do.  You never know from where your next client or referral will come.

Rainmaking is about creating relationships.  For those who read these Rainmaking Recommendations and the blogs have seen me write, over and over again, “People do business with people they know, like, and trust. “  No one will like or trust someone who always comes across as belligerent, forceful or uncompromising.

Being adversarial in the court room is warranted; being adversarial in life will cost you clients, referral sources and friends.

In March, Lindsay went to the Legal Marketing Association’s annual convention in Grapevine, Tx and blogged about her time there.   In one of her blogs about the General Counsel Panel session which featured  featured Ron K. Barger, the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Archon Group, Jeffrey W. Carr, the Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary for FMC Technologies, and Janet L. Dhillon, the EVP, General Counsel and Secretary for J.C. Penney Company, she listed a series of quotes from the panel which she found most informative and which you can find here.

While she has some amazing quotes which lawyers and law firms would be smart to understand them all, there are just a few from that list that I would like to address for Rainmaking and Marketing purposes:

• “If you send me a brochure, I throw it out. Get rid of them.” – Ron K.Barger

Too many law firms and attorneys spend ridiculous amounts of money on brochures, glossy packages, and “marketing collateral”. While I have been saying for years that most of these documents are filed in the round container under the desk, it is nice to have someone say it out loud.

Too many attorneys mistake “marketing” for rainmaking.  Rainmaking is about creating relationships with people and then having those relationships morph into new business – whether they refer business to you or retain you personally.   As I always say, people do business with people they know like and trust.  A brochure or other marketing collateral doesn’t necessarily convey who you are and what you can do for this potential client.

Do not spend your money on printed materials.  It is unnecessary.  We now live in a world where anything anyone needs to find out about you is located online. However, this brings me to quote number two for this discussion.

• “I pay zero attention to your website, unless there’s a tool I can use.” – Jeffrey W. Carr

Just having a website is about as effective as having a brochure.  If the information doesn’t change, if there is no useful information on it, then it is relatively worthless other than as a place to find your name and contact information.

Blog!  Show the world what you know and let them see your personality.  However, if you decide to blog, you must be committed to updating the blog on a regular basis.  In a landmark study of in-house counsel conducted by Green Target, they say that “76% of respondents say they attribute some level of importance to a lawyer’s blog when deciding which firms to retain.”

• “Be pleasant with all my staff. Don’t save your best behavior for me.” — Janet Dhillon

Just because there is aVIP you want to impress, do not think for one second that treating his/her staff poorly will reflect well on you.  First, the VIP will find out how you treated his/her assistants and staff.  And second, there is no one who is “below” you.  That assistant may one day run a multimillion dollar company – think rags to riches stories and you will understand.   Since you never know who may refer or become your next best client, it behooves you to treat everyone you meet with the utmost respect and create relationships with everyone.

Lindsay includes some wonderful posts on her time at the LMA conference.  Please go over to her blog at Zen and the Art of Legal Networking to read them.

You didn’t write a “Nice to Meet You Note”

You didn’t send an email.   

You didn’t call to make a coffee date.

You didn’t connect with them on social media sites.

You didn’t let them know you were interested in getting to know more about them or their business.

You’ve broken the chain.

Think of Rainmaking as a “Relationship Chain” – a chain of links which ends in business.  Sometimes these chains are short just a few links long and you get business almost instantaneously.  But sometimes these chains stretch for long lengths.

Just because you have met someone, or connected with them on a social media site (Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest) doesn’t mean you have a relationship chain.  Chains are built one link at a time and you need to continually build this chain until it is strong enough to create a relationship which results in business.

If at any point you break this chain, you break the ability to further this relationship and it is relationships which bring in new clients and referrals.

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.

“Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” – Dale Carnegie

Rarely do people spell my name correctly.  Even more aggravating to me is that I am constantly getting correspondence addressed to Mr. Jamie Field (note incorrect gender AND incorrect spelling).

While I no longer get bothered by either of these issues, if you are trying to sell me something, I am less likely to be interested in what it is since you have not taken the time to address me properly.

However, I will say that I am always pleasantly surprised when I receive an email or letter from someone who has spelled my name correctly.  The fact is that I have many friends who, for decades, who still don’t spell my name right.

As the Dale Carnegie quote above states, a “person’s name is the sweetest and most important sound (and I will add sight) in any language”.  Not only are there a lot of unusual names out there, including hard-to pronounce surnames from various countries, but there are variations on spellings for many typical names (like mine).

Learn people’s names, spell them correctly, say them correctly – even if you have to ask, them how to pronounce it the first time.  You will find that people whose names are often butchered will be extremely grateful that you took the time to learn this.

P.S:  In the spirit of full disclosure, I sometimes also make mistakes but always try to correct it immediately.

P.P.S.:  By the way the correct spelling of my name is J A I M I E

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

After perusing the store, I found what I was looking for and walked up to the counter to pay. There was a line – albeit a short line.  While waiting for my turn to pay, the entire day just seemed to overtake me and I just felt how tired I was; so I expelled a huge, involuntary, exhausted sigh.

The woman in front of me paying and the cashier both looked at me a bit crossly – I realized that that particular sigh may have come across not as an exhausted sound, but an impatient one.  When I walked up to the cashier I apologized and explained that it wasn’t about impatience but how tired I was.

The cashier was appreciative of my apology and totally understood.

The point of this is that what you don’t say can speak just as loud as what you do when people look through the lenses of their own experiences.  This cashier was used to people being impatient; particularly when there was a line of people waiting.

What are you saying to a client when you answer the phone with a curt or impatient attitude? Put yourself in their shoes.  While you may have just had a bad conversation with another client, the current client you are speaking with may think you are angry or annoyed with them.   Rolling your eyes, sighs, snorts, all of this can be as misconstrued as actual language.

Non-verbal communication can scream just as loud as a voice – and even more so when the interpretation is supplied by the person in front of you.

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.

In a continuation of the series on “Why Client’s don’t come back”, this Rainmaking Recommendation will address the number one reason why clients’ don’t come back – because you don’t respond to them.

In this day and age of immediate communication – Wi-Fi, 24 hour internet access, smartphones, emails, and social media – clients almost demand that you respond on instantaneous basis.  It used to be that 24 hours was an acceptable amount of time to get back.  Now, people want a response yesterday.

As attorneys, we have some clients who, let’s admit it, are a bit of a pain in the . . . They call constantly, they email incessantly, they seem to contact you every hour on the hour.

Further, the pace in which cases sometimes move is snail-like.  You may not have anything to report to them at that time.  This is when clients get most antsy.   They haven’t heard from you.

Finally, when clients are afforded a return contact (call or email), it comes from an associate or assistant.

When a client comes to you, it is usually for a specific reason.  They hired you to help them with a problem or situation that is causing them pain.  It’s up to you to help alleviate that pain in any way you can.  This includes reassuring them even when there is nothing to report.

Clients just want to be recognized as important, because in their minds they are your only client; and they want to be recognized immediately.  You need to do this!

I know, you’re busy  – you have many clients, briefs to write, cases to try, etc.  However, it only takes a few moments to write a return email or make a quick call just to let your client know that you have heard them.

You’d be surprised at how much clients will appreciate these small gestures.

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.

“

Recently, I received an email from a litigation attorney from Connecticut who asked the question above and about following up with clients following the conclusion of representation.   It seems that some clients of the firm who seemed happy with the work the attorneys were doing were going elsewhere for subsequent representation.

So I dedicate this and the next few Rainmaking Recommendations to this attorney with thanks.

Over the next few emails we will cover  the reasons why clients don’t come back and how to make sure they do:

Rainmaking Recommendation # 51:  “I didn’t know you did that”

Reason #1 Client’s don’t Come Back:  “I didn’t know you did that”

One of the most frequently heard reason that clients don’t come back is that they don’t know all of your (and your firms) legal capabilities.  If you have ever heard a client subsequently say:  “I didn’t know your firm did that,” you have experienced this problem.

One of the things I hear is that the attorney told them in the initial consultation that they (or their firm) could represent the client in many different matters.

You need to understand, when a client comes in to your office, they are usually focused on one issue; the one problem they are currently experiencing.   This causes them to truly not hear anything else but what applies to this situation.  I mean literally.   The only thing they want to hear is how you can help them with this problem; what is going to stop their pain.  Anything else you tell them will go in one ear and out the other.

Then, you the attorney become “tunnel-visioned” – busy schedules, other matters and clients, court, briefs, yada yada yada –  cause you to neglect to remind them of all of your other abilities.

This is why you need to consistently and constantly tell them over the course of the representation all of your (and your firm’s) capabilities.  After you have met them, during the course of your representation, and following the conclusion of your matter, you need to keep reminding them how you can assist them with the other matters that may come up in their lives in the future.

Use newsletters, connect with them on Social Media sites, send personal messages, ask for feedback.   Each time you contact a current client using Rainmaking and Marketing tactics to tell them all that you can help them with in their lives, you ensure that if something comes up with which you can assist, they will remember to contact you.

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.

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.

Great!

If you haven’t gotten on board yet with Social Media sites, understand this – Social media is not a fad.  It is not going away.  It continues to evolve as a method of meeting new people whom you may have never gotten a chance to meet any other way.  I have personally become friendly with people from all over the world because of social media.  I have also gotten new clients because of this medium.

Like any other Rainmaking Tactic, Social Media is only useful when you learn these two rules:

1. People do business with people they know like and trust:  This means that you must be authentic and real even when you are behind a computer screen.
2. You must learn to interact with people while on Social Media:  it’s not about just pushing your agenda and information out for the masses.   That is called advertising.   Use social media to engage with the people whom you follow/friend/”link-in”.  You have the opportunity to get advice, information and leads from people who may know more than you.  Additionally, you have the chance to show what you know.

Finally, getting “social on social media” also means taking it offline.  Believe it or not, a lot of people pretend to be something they are not online (please read that last line with heavy sarcasm).  Once you think you have a connection with someone online ask them to meet for a cup of coffee (if they are local) or call them on the phone to hear their voice.   Only then will you have the opportunity to turn these people into prospects, referral sources or clients because only then you will have the opportunity to find out if they really are who they say they are.