Jaimie Field – Enlightened Rainmaking

Monday, February 4^th was my birthday.  I’m not saying this to get more birthday wishes.

In fact, I received:

• 183 wishes on Facebook  – to which I responded individually to each person with a thank you,
• 5 birthday phone calls -  4 of them from my family members,
• 3 physical birthday cards (I remember when I used to get dozens) – one from my parents, one from a company I frequent with a discount to  use, and one from a rainmaking coaching client with whom I work
• And one birthday text.

However, the one that made the most impact was the physical card I received from my client.  Someone who didn’t have to remember my birthday made it a point in her schedule to send me a card which made me smile; just receiving it in the mail made me happy.

It’s not that difficult to make an impact on your clients which can lead to more good will.  Since you don’t  have  to remember their important days, just doing this will make them feel good.  Good will leads to referrals.

And now there are companies out there who will do all of the work for you.  You literally create a calendar of birthdays and anniversaries.  They will give you choices of cards to send, allow you a space to write a personal greeting, and even send an email a few days in advance to remind you when to send out the cards.  Then they send the physical cards out to your list.

Take the time to send a birthday card or an anniversary card.  If you work with corporate clients, find out the month they started their business and send out a card on that anniversary.  You will be surprised at the response you will get both in terms of their gratitude and in terms of referrals.

All information is the copyright of Marketing Field, LLC © 2013

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 have missed any of the previous Rainmaking Recommendations you can find them at www.jaimiefield.com The Enlightened Rainmaker Blog.

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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.

Rainmaking does not have to cost a lot of money.

Many attorneys are spending tens of thousands of dollars  on websites, SEO tactics, listing services which promise 30 clients in 30 days, buying books on Rainmaking that they don’t actually implement (or worse – don’t read), and this is just a short list.   In fact, think about all of the money you spent in 2012 to get new clients.  You need to figure out what is actually worth spending money upon.

However, there are a ton of low cost and no cost Rainmaking Tactics which you can implement in your practice.  But the key is to actually use them – consistently and constantly.  Here are a quick 5:

• Create a monthly newsletter;
• Have a memorable business card;
• Blog;
• Offer to speak at a seminar;
• Use Social Media to meet potential clients;

And finally,

For the price of a cup of coffee, you can meet with a referral source at a diner and connect with them.

Webinars and teleseminars are a great way to increase your knowledge in your chosen practice area, in business development and in areas in which you are interested.  In fact, a number of CLE providers now offer affordable ways to earn your required continuing legal education credits just by watching your computer monitor.

Webinars and teleseminars are also an incredible marketing/rainmaking tool as well.   Webinars allow you to show case your legal knowledge to a whole group of people who may come to hire you in the future.  For example, if you are a Trusts and Estate Attorney you could do a webinar on why one should always have an updated will.  Providing information in this manner, just like article or blog writing is a wonderful way

Just in case you have never actually attended a webinar – they are presentations, lectures, workshops or seminars that are transmitted over the internet.  Now while many webinars now-a-days are live, they can also be prerecorded for transmission later.

You have to understand – I love the convenience of webinars as well.  I can be at my desk and not have to drive to a location to watch a webinar or listen to a teleseminar.  This allows me to take a quick learning break from my work and then get right back when I am done.   For time management purposes, attending a webinar rather than going to a seminar can be a benefit.

I attend my fair share of webinars.  I am constantly trying to upgrade my knowledge on marketing and rainmaking, social media, SEO, the legal industry, and anything that relates to my business and my clients.  This is something that I suggest you consistently and constantly strive to do.

Now comes the rant!

The other day I attended a webinar by an author/business man I appreciate and respect.  As a member of his email list I enjoy getting his tips and information.  I put them into my practice as often as they apply, and have been using them to help grow my business (as I hope you have been doing with Rainmaking Recommendations).

However, when I go to a webinar or attend a teleseminar I do not want to be sold every few words.  This webinar I attended promised 75 minutes of information.  While the author/business did disclose in his invitation (to attend the webinar) that he would be discussing his own program and why attendees should become involved (for a huge licensing fee plus additional monthly fees) at the end of the webinar, I did expect that the majority of material to which I would be listening would be information which I could use and apply to my business – because that’s what I was promised.

Instead of 60 minutes of useful information and a subsequent 15 minutes of sales pitch, I received 11 minutes of information (I actually calculated) and 64 minutes of sales pitch.  The problem was that the pitch was interspersed with the helpful information so I stayed on the entire time.

It was 75 minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Unfortunately this is not the first time.  In fact, this seems to happen on webinars and teleseminars more and more.   And I truly abhor it!  This week it was a business building seminar, last week it was a (supposed) advanced Linked In training webinar (in which I learned nothing new).  Granted, both seminars were offered to the public for free.

As an aside to providers of webinars:  I have nothing against people making money.  You are in business to make money, but be forthcoming about the fact that this is truly only a pitch for your program.   You promised information, instead, you provide a tease and THEN say:  “because we only have a short amount of time I can only give you a little information but if you purchase my program (or come to a long weekend at a remote location for an exorbitant fee – not including airfare or hotel), you will learn how to become an expert in (fill in the blank)”.    I appreciate that during a free webinar you are trying to get people to know about your and products/services.  However, in both instances promises were made in the invitations to provide substantial information if I attended the programs that were not met.  Both left me with a terrible taste in my mouth to the point where I have left one of the mailing lists and am contemplating leaving the other.

What I do have an issue with is that the people who are attending your webinars or teleseminars, like attorneys, have very busy schedules.  They are not interested in wasting time on learning about your programs, books, seminars, or products if you promised them helpful information that will help them in their practices.

While I have only provided one webinar for a CLE provider which was totally information based, that webinar has generated interest in the services I provide to attorneys without any overt marketing on my part – and most likely because it wasn’t  just a pitch for my business.  Should I begin to provide webinars specifically for my company – which is on the agenda for 2013, here is my promise to any audience members who attend:  There will be no sales pitch at all.

I believe that an audience member, particularly the attorneys out there, who likes the information you provide and the way your personality comes across on screen or over the telephone will contact you to ask about your services or products.

The day of overt sales pitching should be over!  Nobody wants to be sold anymore.

Attorneys:  If you do attend webinars, please make sure that they are not wasting your time. If at anytime it becomes a sales pitch and sales pitch only, log off!

If you decide to provide webinars, don’t make the mistake of constantly pitching your services.  Those people who are in need of what you do and believe that you are the person who can help them will contact you directly for your help.

Maybe I am wrong?   What do you think?

Have you ever used the excuse:  “I’m too busy.”

Really?

How busy are you?  Have you ever tried to figure out where you are spending your time?

Are you really so busy that you cannot find 15 to 30 minutes in your day to do one activity that could build your book of business?

One of the exercises I ask my Rainmaking clients who claim they are “too busy” to undertake is to spend three days capturing every single moment of their day from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed.   They are to write down every single thing they do and the amount of time it took.  No judgments are made about how they spend the time.

What is an inevitable is the wake-up call to the amount of time that is spent on activities which are truly a waste of time.

Now, I am not saying you cannot take breaks, watch TV or have time for fun, family or friends, going on line, etc.  In fact, I encourage it.  But with 24 hours in a day, you should be able to find 15-30 minutes to do one rainmaking activity that could lead to growing your book of business.

All information is the copyright of Marketing Field, LLC © 2012

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.

Q:  Why do you have to go to bed at night? 

A:  Because the bed won’t come to you!

Okay, I know it’s a really bad kindergarten joke (I hope you are smiling), but the point is that clients won’t always just come to you.  You have to “go” to them.

Where do you find clients?  Are you meeting enough people both on-line and in person?

On-line:

What social networks are you using?  Do your ideal clients use that social network or are you just wasting time posting there?   Many attorneys I know do not know how to use social media for business development and are just posting glorified advertisements about themselves on-line.  Social Media is about being “social”.  Start a conversation, ask a question and answer a question, comment on what other people post.  Start “listening” to what your ideal clients have to say.  You may just find that you have the right answer.

In Person:

Are you wasting time going to networking events that just don’t have the people you want to work with attending them?  Stop going to those events and find one where your ideal clients congregate.

Worse than that – are you not even attending events where you can meet potential clients?

Start “going” where your clients are – like the bed – it’s not going to come to 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.

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Henry Ford (1863-1947), American founder of the Ford Motor Company

The above quote is in response to a question I received from a new client who has been practicing law for more than 15 years who, in our first coaching session, asked:  “Why am I not getting new clients?”

Do something every day for rainmaking success

When I asked what they were doing to get new clients, to paraphrase, they basically said, “not much”.

Well, if you are not doing anything to get new clients how are you going to get new clients?

Rainmaking is simple, but it is not easy.

It will require that you actually DO something to meet new people, create relationships with those people, convert them into paying clients, provide excellent service to them, continue to work with them on other matters by cross marketing to them and then obtaining referrals from them.

Do one small thing every day that:

• will put you in front of a new prospective client;
• will solidify a relationship with a person you know;
• will provide the best client experience for a current client;
• will make it easy for a client to refer you to someone else who could use your services.

Proactivity is the key to Rainmaking success.

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 them delivered directly to your inbox then follow the instructions 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.

Recently, on many of the social networks which I frequent, I have noticed attorneys asking questions about practice areas in which they obviously do not practice.  Usually this is from a solo practitioner or small firm attorney.  The post inevitably starts with: “I have potential clients who needs . . .” and continues to ask for information that would be basic knowledge for someone who practices in that area on a regular basis.

Stop!

If you regularly practice in Intellectual Property Law you should not be working on a Matrimonial Case!  If you are a Trusts and Estate Attorney you should not be handling a Personal Injury Matter.

What has happened since the recession began is that many attorneys are fearful that if they let that one particular potential client walk out the door, they will not get more clients.  Let me assure you, that this will not happen.

In fact, referring cases in practice areas that you do not have a good grasp on is the best business decision you can make:

• When you confine your practice to areas in which you have real knowledge and interest, you can become known as an expert in your field.   Clients will hear of you, and begin to come to you with matters you can truly handle.

• When you refer a client in a practice area in which you have no earthly business practicing to an attorney who does, the attorney to whom you referred will try to find a way to refer you business.  If they don’t send you business than refer cases to other attorneys in that arena.

• When you refer a client to another attorney who can assist them  better than you, the client will come to see you as an advisor.  This is the position you would like to be in as when you are seen as an advisor, clients will refer you to their friends, family and others.

• You risk ethical complaints.   When you practice in an area you do not normally represent, you risk not knowing the answers or even ways to find those answers. ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.1 discusses Competence:  “A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation”.  This usually leads to you not returning phone calls because you are afraid you are going to be wrong.  ABA Model Rules Rule 1.4 talks about keeping clients informed during their matters.

• You risk losing clients.  Three things you need to know about clients:

1. They are not stupid.  Potential clients will search for you on the internet and discover the areas which you say you practice.  Even if it is not at first, they will find someone who can do the job better and faster (which also means cheaper).
2. They are spending lots of money with attorneys and want to know that the attorney they are working with is the best for their matters.
3. They will talk to others.  If you botch a case in an area in which you have no business practicing, or if clients feel like they are not being represented well, they tell others.   Negative word of mouth travels a lot faster than positive.

Stop practicing law in practice areas in which you have no business practicing (wow, that’s a lot of using the word “practice”).  When you concentrate on a area or niche, you have the ability to become known as an expert in that field.  This will lead to more clients and client matters as people who need your particular brand of proficiency will come calling.

Look on the corner of your desk or open that top drawer – is there a stack of business cards you’ve collected during networking events?

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.

What type of law do you practice?  What industry do you target?  

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.

Lindsay Griffiths is a friend of mine.   She is also the Director of Global Relationship Management for the International Lawyers Network (ILN), a consortium of independent law firms across the world.

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.