The Fs I’m talking about here are three pillars for growing an exceptional practice: fame, friendships and follow up. In this article, we’ll highlight each and provide approaches for excelling in each area.
Sir Richard Branson said: “No matter how great your product or service is, no one will hear about it if you don’t attract attention. It’s that simple.”
What this means for lawyers is they must get known by people who possess the power to give or refer work to them. They must carve out niches and get on rooftops to let their world know about them and their practices so they can be viewed as a preeminent authority. Now, we know many lawyers who feel uncomfortable with self-promotion, so it must be done in ways that can work for them.
How can you help get them there? Perhaps an estate planning lawyer is looking to grow their practice. This lawyer can find trade groups of referral sources and begin writing and speaking as frequently as possible and take leadership positions to become better known by the members of those groups. They can post on LinkedIn and comment on what other people write. They can offer articles to local publications geared to higher income readers. Perhaps they can create short video tips and put them on YouTube. Or perhaps they can partner with other complementary service providers and offer webinars. Whatever the approach, the key is to make some noise to attract the attention of those they want as clients or referral sources.
People like working with those they know, like and trust — which means your lawyers must invest the time to build one-on-one relationships with high-value people. The process here is to identify people who can have an impact on your lawyers’ careers, and methodically develop approaches where connections are built.
Let’s take a corporate lawyer who is building an emerging company practice. She can offer to conduct office hours at local business incubators, where she will meet founders. Additionally, she can interview venture capitalists for articles and conduct training programs for their portfolio companies. She can meet with accountants and offer training sessions for their clients or conduct webinars with the accountants at local trade groups. All the while, she can give referrals to people in her network — which often triggers reciprocity.
“It’s not the job of people to remember your lawyers; it’s your lawyers’ job to become unforgettable.”
As described in the fame section above, she can take a leadership position in a group filled with potential client or referral sources, and then use that position to connect with important individuals to discuss topics related to the group. Also, she can invest in some social time. For example, I recall hearing about a lawyer who had nine meals a week with high-value people in his network! While that is a bit extreme, the lesson is people always eat, and that time can be used to develop and deepen relationships.
It’s not the job of people to remember your lawyers; it’s your lawyers’ job to become unforgettable. That means they must actively stay in the minds of high-value people. Time and again, I’ve seen lawyers get work that otherwise might have gone to other lawyers based on their relentless — but welcomed — follow up.
How to do it in a way that feels elegant and valued is the secret sauce here. Based on the situation, there are different approaches that can be used. For most contacts, they could be included in ongoing communications of newsletters, alerts or tips. Your lawyers can reach out to former clients to simply check on how they’re doing. Perhaps a certain type of potential client is a good candidate for being a co-presenter on a panel discussion. Perhaps another would welcome the offer of training for their leadership team. Another might like to join a group, while others might welcome introductions to people who could be of value to them.
The most important thing is your lawyers should never let anyone of value slip through the cracks. Have them create spreadsheets, track when they make connections and watch for gaps of time so no relationships go stale. There are millions of dollars of work that go to other firms that could come to your lawyers if they had solid follow-up systems keeping them top-of-mind.
In all, growing a great book of business is much more than being a technically good lawyer.
It's about strategically building fame, fostering the right friendships and following up relentlessly. By making your lawyers proud to earn the three “Fs,” it will result in one more F — financial results!