Law Consulting Blog : Cordell Parvin's Law Consulting Blog : Coach & Consultant For Lawyers & Law Firms : Business Development, Career Planning

A few weeks ago I had a 7:00 AM dental appointment with Matt, my favorite dentist. Matt is a meticulous dentist and he also is a great guy. But, does anyone get up in the morning and say: "Oh boy I get to see my dentist today?"

During the night before the appointment I had a dream that was so vivid it was frightening. In my dream when I arrived at Matt's office, I learned he and his brother had sold their dental practice to a large national dental firm. I quickly discovered I would not actually be seen by Matt, but instead I would be seen by a dentist appointed to my case that day. I also would not be seen by Julie, the dental hygienist who cleans my teeth. The new dental firm had a more efficient way to clean teeth. I would be changing chairs to see cleaning specialists who had assigned tasks to do. During my dream appointment, the new dental firm decided to teach their new dentists about grinding down teeth before putting crowns on them. So, a large group gathered while the assigned dentist removed several of my crowns to show off Matt's dental work. 

When I woke up in a cold sweat, I sat in bed thinking about the nightmares clients must have. I bet clients do not wake up and say: "Oh boy I get to see my favorite lawyer today."  What is the lesson from my nightmare? Substitute lawyer and law firm for dentist and dental firm and read the paragraph above again. Can you see how your clients may have a nightmare the night before coming to see your firm?

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I recently reviewed several law firm Web sites for their sections on client service. Almost without exception, law firms claimed to provide value to their clients, understand their clients’ needs, and deliver high-quality, cost-effective, and responsive services. If firms are actually following through with the commitments they make on their Web sites, clients should be very loyal. Evidence suggests that many firms are not putting their online words into offline action.

Every BTI Consulting Group study of corporate counsel at Fortune 1000 companies  shows that clients are largely dissatisfied with their outside law firms. Of the corporate counsel included in the study, 75.3 percent did not recommend their primary law firms to other companies. While they wouldn’t say their law firms are bad, they just don’t believe they’re very good. As one corporate
counsel put it, “They (the primary law firms) do just enough to enable us to barely tolerate the service levels.”

Can you imagine the opportunities that would come your way if you provided your clients service that was better than barely tolerated. When was the last time you got a group together in your firm to brainstorm ways to provide better service? More on client service in my next post.
 

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Years ago when I was responsible for attorney development in my firm, I gave a business development presentation to a group of brand new partners at their orientation. As I surveyed the crowd, I realized that not one of the new partners had given any thought to business development. Not one had a prepared a business plan with written goals.

Instead, each of the new partners was only concerned with pleasing the senior partner who had lobbied to get them promoted. That strategy might have worked when the economy was so good that even the worst law firms were doing well. It certainly no longer works. If over the years those income partner did not develop clients of their own, they likely were let go. Even the partner with all the business who lobbied to get them promoted could no longer protect them.

I thought of the old school thinking as I was reading Seth Godin's book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? on my Kindle . Early in the book Seth describes the old American Dream and the New American Dream. His list of each seems very close to the old dream for young lawyers and the new dream for young lawyers. 

Here is my take on old and new dreams:

Old dream for young lawyers:

• Get your hours
• Do your assignments
• Put in face time at the office
• Keep the lawyer feeding you business happy
• Suck it up

Lawyers in the old dream never needed to worry about client development. Instead they needed to worry about keeping the senior lawyer for whom they worked happy and hope he never got hit by a bus when he crossed the street. The old dream worked because work was plentiful, seniors lawyers did not want younger lawyers they developed to have clients on their own and leave the nest. Young lawyers were told: "You don't need to worry about client development. We have all the work for you that you will ever need."

New dream for young lawyers:

• Develop a unique skill that will be needed for many years
• Become a people person and build relationships
• Get to know your clients' businesses and industries
• Create remarkable articles, blog posts, podcasts and webinars your clients will value
• Be generous with your non-billable time
• Become involved in your community/bar
• Stay in contact with people you know both in person and using social media

It takes way more than getting your hours, working hard and sucking it up to achieve what is needed in the new economy. What are you doing to create and accomplish your New American Dream?

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Many of you have friends working for companies that already have a lawyer You want to know how to get those potential clients to switch to your firm. Like many things, it is easier to tell you how NOT to do it than to tell you how to do it.

Once again you can learn how not to do it from politics Here is a case in point. How many of you think you will convince a client to hire you by mocking or putting down the law firm that is currently representing the client? I bet none of you think that would be a successful strategy. But, every single week political figures do just that. Here are two recent examples of what I consider to be very poor persuasion. 

During the recent CPAC meeting in Washington, almost every speaker mocked President Obama, rather than just criticizing President Obama's policies. The New York Times reported CPAC Speakers Mock Obama’s Teleprompter.

Dick Armey said: "You're intellectually shallow. You're a romantic. You're self-indulgent. You have no ability," Armey said, calling Obama "the most incompetent president perhaps in our lifetime." While the far right might have cheered, most people in the United States who watched likely cringed. I believe most independent voters, especially those who voted for him believe President Obama is a smart guy and not the most incompetent president in our lifetime. Most people who watched or heard this personal attack on the news likely thought less of Dick Armey.

 Just to show mocking goes both ways, Robert Gibbs somehow believed he could make points with independent voters by mocking Sarah Palin. Here is a video of his recent attempt. Listen as the reporters gasp at his lame attempt at humor.

Do you think his attempt at humor actually helped the President? I don't. If anything, it elevated Sarah Palin in the eyes of independent voters and made them think less of Robert Gibbs. 

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Experts claim "going negative" in elections works. But, I don't believe it works when the candidate going negative comes across in a way that the majority of people cringe while watching.

Going negative never works in law practice. I have been a partner in a large (600+) law firm. I have been a partner in a small firm and I have started my own firm. I have never tried to persuade clients to hire me by mocking or personally criticizing another lawyer. I have seen other lawyers try it and every time I witnessed it, the potential clients cringed while listening and never once hired the lawyer. I believe they thought less of the lawyer who had criticized or mocked their company's current lawyer.

In a future post I will share with you three ideas to get the opportunity to do work for your friend's company

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Just today, I read an interesting Copyblogger  blog post: The Critical Mistake that Keeps Bloggers Broke. I could have easily written it for lawyers. I would have titled it: "The Critical Mistake that Keeps Blogging/Tweeting Lawyers from Connecting with Clients."

I know many law firms that have blogging lawyers. I know many lawyers who are tweeting. Several of those firms and lawyers make one big mistake. Their blogs/tweets are focused on what the lawyer bloggers/tweeters do rather than what their clients do. In that way the blogs and tweets are more about the lawyer than about the client.

The dirty secret is your clients and potential clients do not care about what you do. They only care about how you can help them solve their problems and achieve their business goals.

I recently wrote about this in the context of websites. Your Firm Website: Is It for You or Your Clients? Are your firm’s blog posts for you or your clients? If I was the partner in charge of marketing in my old law firm and could choose the firm’s blogs they would be:

• Financial Services Law Blog
• Construction Law Blog
• Real Estate Development Law Blog
• Healthcare Law Blog
• Hospitality Law Blog
• Energy Law Blog
• Manufacturer’s law blog
• Franchise Law Blog
• Information Technology Law Blog

Those were the main industries for our clients. I would want our litigators, corporate lawyers, environmental lawyers, IP lawyers, and labor and employment law lawyers to stay on top of what was happening in their legal field that was impacting any of our clients’ industries.

What are your clients’ industries? Are your blogs and tweets about what you do or about what your clients do?

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