Saw this tip about buying antiques on the Rules of Thumb Blog, and thought it applied even more to potential clients:
Don't buy a piece of antique furniture if you can find three things wrong with it.
So, if you've just finished your first interview with a potential client, and there are three (or more) things about that person or their case that don't seem right, take a pass. You'll be glad you did.
Each week, no matter the condition of the weather, the color of Ethan's mood ring, or the extra hours it will take to meet our deadlines, we call each of our clients. We check in, ask how they're doing, and give them an update on the activities surrounding their project. We call every week throughout the project, and even two to three weeks past the time we've delivered our work—all to make sure the client doesn't have any last-minute needs, or has run into any problems.
That's how we roll. We care like that.
The more you talk over or at anxious people, the more pressure you put on their middle brain and the more they will close their minds to what you are saying.
Also worth remembering when you are confronted with that big guy in the bar who accuses you of cheating at pool.Alternatively, the more you talk to an anxious person -- or even better yet, with them -- the more you alleviate that pressure and the easier it is to access their upper brain and open their minds to you. Here's a critical point, though: the approach you may think you are taking in a conversation with an anxious person may not be the approach the other person perceives.
So when the time comes to take the stage, remember that you didn’t get here alone: go ahead, grab the microphone and acknowledge your team. Do it before a crowd and in e-mail. Say it with bonuses and baked goods -- but be sure to say it. No one likes to be left out. By sharing the credit the right way, you won't diminish your own accomplishments, you'll add to them by building a reputation as the kind of person people want to work for and for your focus on developing others.I really like the idea of keeping a running list of people who've helped you along with a note or two about how they've helped. This is a pretty powerful way to not only remember how you've gotten to where you are, but to also remind you to give help to others who seek it from you. More on this in the next post.
Not sure whom to credit? In their book, Becoming a Resonant Leader, Annie McKee, Richard Boyatzis and Frances Johnston suggest keeping running lists of peers who have helped you along your route to success -- along with notes about what you actually learned from them. Keeping such a list will likely help ensure that you don’t forget them in your acceptance speech.
Here it is: I like to find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems (c) that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly. When I first laid out these principles explicitly, I noticed something striking: this is practically a recipe for generating a contemptuous initial reaction. Though simple solutions are better, they don't seem as impressive as complex ones. Overlooked problems are by definition problems that most people think don't matter. Delivering solutions in an informal way means that instead of judging something by the way it's presented, people have to actually understand it, which is more work. And starting with a crude version 1 means your initial effort is always small and incomplete.Paul suggests that his technique extends beyond startups to any type of creative work, and I'm inclined to agree.
most of us are happy to play follow-my-leader, even if we are trailing after someone who does not know where they are going and taking the most meandering route. Even more striking, even when we are shown a faster route, we prefer to stick with the old one and tell others to take the long road too, a finding that could have lethal implications when it comes to evacuating a building or ship in an emergency.In the study, participants were led from one room to another. When asked to return to the first room, almost all took the familiar path back, even when they were aware of a shorter path:
All but one person took the route they had been led. What we were surprised by was how strong this effect was, even when the alternative route was much shorter .... They preferred the long route even when the experimenter had drawn attention to the alternative route, or when the experimenter took the long route solely to pick up a fallen poster, eliminating the possibility that participants thought the experimenter had a good, but unknown, reason to take the long route. By asking participants to collect the next guinea pig in the experiment, the scientists observed that each person in the chain copied the route of the participant before them: a simple tradition that meant the alternative route was never discovered.Interesting food for thought, don't you think?
Need some inspiration as you build your firm? Check out HiQ, an English auto repair chain. Rethink your model. Put the customer first. I know I'd at least check this place out if there were one in my neighborhood.
Tags: HiQ, Autoblog, Customer, Inspiration
If you aren't sure if one of your clients is an ass****, take this handy-dandy test. Better yet, have your secretary, assistant or associate complete it for each client. Fire those clients that "pass" the test. Sad, but true.
LifeHack has a great list of questions has a great list of questions to answer once you get finish a big project that should go on every lawyer's file closing checklist. You have one of those, don't you? Here they are:
I seem to be thinking a bit about client monitoring today. Here's another interesting service called RivalMap, that is "a web-based collaboration software that gives companies a central place to share and address information about competitors and their industr[ies]." Seems like a great place to keep tabs on what your clients (and their competitors) are up to. Check out a review here.
Tags: RivalMap
Here's an interesting (and free) application called Oh, Don't Forget ... that allows you to send a future text message to any phone at at predetermined date and time. Use it to send yourself reminders, or to remind your clients when they are supposed to show up for court, appointments, etc.
Blogged with Flock
If you are hiring (or advising a client who will be), take a look at these 30 Interview Questions You Can't Ask (and the accompanying sneaky legal alternatives you can ask to get the same info).
2. Send Thank You notes. When you receive something from someone else, it’s important to let them know you appreciate the time and effort it took them to think about you, and reward the courtesy with a little token of thanks. A written note is a much nicer compliment than an e-mail, and it doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes to write one and mail it away.This step also does double-duty by making you keep track of people’s contact information so you don’t have to continually ask them for it. We tend, in this electronic age, not to remember street addresses and phone numbers, relying on our mobiles to remember who called and what number to call them back. Keeping an address book may seem old fashioned, but doing so allows you to easily send out baby gifts, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts and any other kind of token of friendship and appreciation that allows us to continue to like each other in a monetary fashion.Leslie even thoughtfully provided a step-by-step method of composing and sending thanks at one of her stomping grounds. Take a trip over to The Morning News and refresh your manners.
I've written a few mini-manifestos for clients and lawyers before and remain quite enamored with the format. Here's one for law students with some random (semi-related) thoughts on law school and the legal profession. Let me know what you think, and feel free to add your own in the comments.
1. Law school is a trade school. The only people who don't believe this to be true are the professors and deans.
2. Want to piss off your professors? Ask them if they've ever run a successful law practice.
3. Being good at writing makes you a good law student. Being good at understanding makes you a good lawyer. Being good at arguing makes you an ass.
4. You can learn more about client service by working at Starbucks for three weeks than you can by going to law school for three years.
5. Law school doesn't teach you to think like a lawyer. Law school teaches you to think like a law professor. Believe me, there's a huge difference.
6. You can get through law school without understanding anything about what it is like to be a lawyer. That is a terrible shame.
7. The people who will help you the most in your legal career are sitting next to you in class. Get to know them outside of law school. They are pretty cool people. They are even cooler when you stop talking about the Rule Against Perpetuities.
8. Your reputation as a lawyer begins now. Don't screw it up (and quit bragging on your MySpace page about how drunk you got last night).
9. Law is a precedent-based profession. It doesn't have to be a precedent-based business. Be prepared to challenge the prevailing business model. Somebody has to.
10. Experienced lawyers work with clients. Young lawyers work with paper. You like working with paper, right?
11. You are about to enter a world where getting your work done in half the time as your peers doesn't get you rewarded. It gets you more work.
12. Except for prosecutors and public defenders, nobody tries cases anymore. Especially not second year associates.
13. You have a choice: You can help people and make a decent living, or you can help corporations and make a killing. Choose wisely.
14. There are plenty of things you don't know, and even more things you'll never know. Get used to it. Use your ignorance to your benefit. The most significant advantage you possess over those who've come before you is that you don't believe what they do.
15. People don't tell lawyer jokes just because they think they are funny. They tell lawyer jokes because they think they are true. Spend your career proving them wrong.
It has been a long while since I've been so WOW'd by a business model as I've been this morning. Simply put, this is the BEST template I've seen for building a home-based practice from, of all people, a physician. Dr. Jay Parkinson, MD is building a web-based medical practice. From his website:
How much for this service? According to the "How it Works" on his site, his fee is "far less than your yearly coffee budget but a little more than your Netflix." His web site also provides "Real Life Examples" that describe, in plain English, how you'd use his service. Oh, and he's blogging, too.
Lawyers, if you are looking for a real dose of inspiration (or a glimpse to the future of mobile practice) you HAVE to check this Parkinson's site and business model. Simply brilliant. Great idea, great web site, amazing copy. If I were still practicing, I'd steal it in a heartbeat. Look at it now.
Via: Zoli's Blog.
I ran across a paper published by my friend Betha L. Whitlow, the director of the Visual Resources Collection at Washington University, titled "The Shock of the New: Using Youth and Inexperience as Tools for Success." In the paper (link to Word document), Betha argues that newcomers to her field of Visual Resources should view their youth and inexperience as distinct advantages to be leveraged, not handicaps to be overcome:
[Because] there are still many people at your institution who are unable to let go of the previous culture, thus limiting their ability to move forward and offer your institution a new and highly productive perspective ... [i]t is my belief that by the very nature of being a [young] Visual Resources professional, you are uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of changes in the culture of your institution. With just a little bit of a brave and diplomatic push forward, [you] can embody the new role of the resource provider, promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning, be the model of the flexible professional, and tread the fine line between providing access to solid yet technologically innovative resources.
Young professionals, take this advice to heart. There are plenty of things you don't know, and even more things you'll never know. Get used to it. Use your ignorance to your benefit. The most significant advantage you possess over those who've come before you is that you don't believe what they do. Because you've never "always done it that way," you're free to do it differently. Question the business model. Deliver products (yes, products) and services your elders would never consider. Embrace technology. Innovate. Revel in your inexperience. You have but one opportunity to start from scratch. Don't waste it.
Paul Graham has another great essay. This one's on Stuff -- and more particularly, how to acquire less of it. Here's my favorite quote:
Another way to resist acquiring stuff is to think of the overall cost of owning it. The purchase price is just the beginning. You're going to have to think about that thing for years—perhaps for the rest of your life. Every thing you own takes energy away from you. Some give more than they take. Those are the only things worth having.
I can't think of a better thought to have before taking that next client. When you take a client -- especially that client that your gut tells you not to take -- think about the overall cost of having that client. Don't focus just on the money you'll make from them, but how you'll feel while working for them. Will their file keep you up at night? Will you dread their call? Will you be able to give them your best work? Search for clients whose personality matches yours and whose work challenges you to do your best. They are the only clients worth having.
I love it!Craig gives an example where he preached on the church's vision trying to get everybody on board. If people weren't on board with the vision, he asked them to find another church. He even offered brochures from 10 other churches he knew and recommended. It was a serious challenge and 500 people ended up leaving. Most people would freak out at that thought. Not Craig:
The next week, we had about 500 new seats for people who could get excited about the vision. Within a short period of time, God filled those seats with passionate people. Many of those who left our church found great, biblical churches where they could worship and use their gifts.Everybody won!
That's why I sometimes say, "You can grow your church by asking people to leave."
Craig focuses on making leaving a church a graceful option and a positive thing and not the bitter experience it often is.
Several years ago, I told my secretary she could fire one client, no questions asked. After she picked herself off the floor, she chose a client that surprised me. Turns out that this client, while perfectly cordial to me, was consistently rude to her on the phone and made inappropriate comments to her when he came into the office. I sent the client a nice letter telling him I would be unable to represent him any longer, and my secretary told me it was one of the best presents she had ever gotten.
The moral to this story is that there are clients who, if they treat your staff badly, don't deserve your hard work. Every day you work for them sends a message that you value their business more than the happiness of your staff. The trouble is that you probably don't even know who these clients are. So ask your assistant, and go ahead and give yourself a little bonus and fire your least-liked client too.
Of course, flowers are also nice.
Write down your concerns and worries in a journal.Promise the clients a weekly phone call to go over their journaled "worries" and see how many of those "emergency" issues have already resolved themselves before the call.
Reserve a time for your worries and concerns at daytime. So you should try to develop a routine and reserved time for all the concerns and problems of the day. By writing your worries you will identify your common negative thoughts and worries. It will be much easier to find solutions when you’ll know the exact content and meaning of your worries.
Take your time for these worries but not in the evening. The best time might be late afternoon. Sit down with a journal and write down your concerns of the day. This will take at least 30 to 60 minutes. Force yourself to think about all the worries and problems of the past and coming day.
If you have to interview a grieving family after a death, a good question to ask is: "Did he have a good sense of humor?"
This will almost always shake the family out of their grief, making it easier for them to talk to you, and bring up an anecdote that really shows the character of the dead person.
Gorb allows, even insists on, anonymous comments and ratings about an individual. Like someone? Hate them? Tell Gorb all about it, using their handy Ajax slider to rate them from 1 - 10 in their professional and personal lives, and leave written comments as well.According to Gorb:
The professional marketplace in general is inefficient when it comes to distributing information about a person's reputation. Many of us often make daily decisions based on relatively few inputs, some which are poorly validated. When these decisions begin to form the basis for our perceptions about others that we don't know, it should be no surprise that there's a hit-and-miss nature to this "off-line" system!What do you think? Would you or your firm tell your clients about The Gorb and ask them for an anonymous review of your services? Why or why not? What are you afraid of?On the other hand, many of us also use people that we know very well as references to gather information and make decisions about others. The GORB aims to leverge reliable professional references and personal opinions to provide a balanced and widely adopted "online" rating system, that allows us to gauge the reputations of one another.
A month ago, I got a surprising email from a woman named Lena West.I challenge you to buy your best, non-local client lunch this week. Let me know how it goes.
Lena lives in New York, which explains why I was so surprised.
See, she invited me to have lunch with her.
A VIRTUAL lunch.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Well, I buy you lunch from your favorite delivery place. Then we eat while chatting on the phone for an hour.”
Hmm. Cool idea.
So, last week we did it.
And our Virtual Lunch rocked.
Lena and I had an enlightening, energizing conversation for over an hour! We talked about websites we loved, books we read, places we traveled, you name it. Other than the obvious physical limitations, it was really no different than having lunch in person.
The collaborative environment at Honda is a byproduct of the company’s emphasis on the Japanese concept of the three actuals—go to the actual place, work with the actual people or part and understand the actual situation. Although it might seem unnecessary or impractical, adherence to the concept helped facilitate the efficient design of the ’98 Accord. When the designers weren’t sure whether a part they were designing could actually be welded, for example, they’d drive over to the manufacturing plant to ask a welder directly . A visit to the site about a specific problem not only prevents engineers from becoming detached from the actual process, it often yields insight into a completely unrelated and unforeseen issue, says Shriver.I'd highly recommend implementing the same concept when working with clients: go to their actual place, work with the actual people, and understand the actual situation.
Though price still matters in the developing world, the pastor suggested, relationships matter more:"Pretend this is a garment", Sayo said, picking up one of those blue airplane pillows. "Let's say you see it for sale in a public market in my country, and you are interested in buying it. What is your first question to the seller?"
"What does it cost?" I said.
"Yes", he answered. "You would ask that. Let's say he says, 'Fifty dollars'. What happens next?"
"If I want the garment, I bargain with him until we reach an agreeable price."
"Good. Now let's say you know something about textiles. And the two of you get into a long conversation where both of you learn much from each other. You learn about the origin of the garment, the yarn used, the dyes, the name of the artist, and so on. He learns about how fabric is made in your country, how distribution works, and so on. In the course of this you get to know each other. What happens to the price?"
"Maybe I want to pay him more and he wants to charge me less".
"Yes. And why is that?"
"I'm not sure."
"You now have a relationship".
It's a higher context with a higher set of values, many of which are trivialized or made invisible when viewed through the prism of price. Relationship is not reducible to price, even though it may influence price. Families and friends don't put prices on their relationships. (At least not consciously, and only at the risk of cheapening or losing a relationship.) Love, the most giving force in any relationship, is not about exchanging. It is not fungible. You don't expect a payback or a rate of return on the love you give your child, your wife or husband, your friends.
When we launched retail, I got this group together, people from a variety of walks of life,” says Johnson. “As an icebreaker, we said, ‘Tell us about the best service experience you’ve ever had.’” Of the 18 people, 16 said it was in a hotel. This was unexpected. But of course: The concierge desk at a hotel isn’t selling anything; it’s there to help. “We said, ‘Well, how do we create a store that has the friendliness of a Four Seasons Hotel?’” The answer: “Let’s put a bar in our stores. But instead of dispensing alcohol, we dispense advice.”...”See that? Look at their eyes. They’re learning. There’s an intense moment – like when you see a kid in school going ‘Aha!’There are two things about this quote that really hit home:
First, how many law firms ask the same question the Apple store designers did (Tell us about the best service experience you've ever had?), and actually modeled their firm on that best-in-breed service experience?
Second, how could a "genius bar" be implemented at your firm? Could you open that "bar" at your firm for walk-in clients? What if they paid an AppleCare-like fee to avail themselves of that service?
Identify all of your stakeholders … the people who are affected by your work, immediately and at a distance. Your monthly report may only go to 3-4 people but the information in it may get passed along or acted upon by dozens of others. Start to invite your stakeholders to lunch one or two at a time and just get to know them.This is great advice, and equally applicable to the stakeholders in your clients' organizations. Just make sure they know you are not billing them for the lunch!
Though the article pokes a bit of fun at the husband/wife dynamic, this kind of behavior has very serious implications for advice-giving professionals and our clients. I'd encourage you to read the entire study (cost: $30.00).In the first experiment, participants were asked to name a significant person in their lives whom they perceived to be controlling and who wanted them to work hard, and another significant and controlling person who wanted them to have fun. Participants then performed a computer-based activity during which the name of one or the other of these people was repeatedly, but subliminally, flashed on the screen. The name appeared too quickly for the participants to consciously realize they had seen it, but just long enough for the significant other to be activated in their nonconscious minds. The participants were then given a series of anagrams to solve, creating words from jumbled letters.
People who were exposed to the name of a person who wanted them to work hard performed significantly worse on the anagram task than did participants who were exposed to the name of a person who wanted them to have fun.
"Our participants were not even aware that they had been exposed to someone else's name, yet that nonconscious exposure was enough to cause them to act in defiance of what their significant other would want them to do," Fitzsimons said.
A second experiment used a similar approach and added an assessment of each participant's level of reactance. People who were more reactant responded more strongly to the subliminal cues and showed greater variation in their performance than people who were less reactant.
"The main finding of this research is that people with a tendency toward reactance may nonconsciously and quite unintentionally act in a counterproductive manner simply because they are trying to resist someone else's encroachment on their freedom," Chartrand said.
One group was asked for two ways to improve the course; the other was asked for ten ways to improve the course. The group that was asked to list ten ways showed a higher level of satisfaction with the course.So, when will you start asking all of your clients for ten ways to improve your service?
Memorize Awkward Phrases.It’s easy to get caught up in the emotional heat of the moment when someone is complaining.
The solution is to memorize some key phrases, and practice saying them, so that when you need to say them, you can forget your testosterone and make a customer happy.
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t accept your money. The meal’s on me.”
“That’s terrible, please tell me what happened so I can make sure it never happens again.”
It’s completely natural to have trouble saying “It’s my fault.” That’s human. But those three words are going to make your angry customers much happier. So you’re going to have to say them. And you’re going to have to sound like you mean it.
So start practicing.
Say “It’s my fault” a hundred times one morning in the shower, until it starts to sound like syllabic nonsense. Then you’ll be able to say it on demand.
One more point. You may think that admitting fault is a strict no-no that can get you sued. This is nonsense. The way to avoid getting sued is not to have people who are mad at you. The best way to do this is to admit fault and fix the damn problem.
Rules of Engagement
I agree to live these values. If my colleagues fail to live up to any of these rules, I will speak up and will help them correct; in turn, I will be open to constructive criticism from my colleagues should I fail to live by these values. I understand that my performance will be judged in part by how well I demonstrate these values in my daily work.
I will be passionate—about SuccessFactors’ mission, about my work. I will love what we do for companies and employees everywhere.
I will demonstrate respect for the individual; I will be nice and listen to others, and respect myself. I will act with integrity and professionalism.
I will do what it takes to get the job done, no matter what it takes, but within legal and ethical boundaries.
I know that this is a company, not a charity. I will not waste money—I will question every cost.
I will present an exhaustive list of solutions to problems—and suggest actionable recommendations.
I will help my colleagues and recognize the team when we win. I will never leave them behind when we lose.
I will constantly improve Kaizen! I will approach every day as an opportunity to do a better job, admitting to and learning from my mistakes.
I will selflessly pursue customer success.
I will support the culture of meritocracy and pay for performance.
I will focus on results and winning—scoring points, not just gaining yardage.
I will be transparent. I will communicate clearly and be brutally honest, even when it’s difficult, because I trust my colleagues.
I will always be in sales and drive customer satisfaction.
I will have fun at work and approach my work with enthusiasm.
I will be a good person to work with—I will not be an asshole.
Resolve to become aware of news affecting your cients before they do.*
1. Using Google Blog Search or Google Alerts set up several searches for each of your clients. Use their names, industry, competitors’ names, products, etc.
2. Subscribe to the RSS feed for each search.
3. Notify your clients whenever you see something relevant to them or their industry.
Extra Credit:
4. If you use Google Reader as your RSS Aggregator, create a “tag” for each of your clients.
5. For each tag, Google Reader allows you to create a unique URL for that tag that you can share with your clients.
6. Give each of your clients their tag’s unique URL and everytime they open it in their browser, they’ll see everything you’ve “marked” for them to read.
* This post will be expanded into a longer how-to in January.
After writing 15 Client Tips: A Mini Manifesto, I figured that turnabout is fair play. Here are 17 for Lawyers:
1. Whenever your clients don’t understand what you are doing for them, they think about what you are doing to them.
2. Many of your clients remain your clients because it is a pain in the ass to find another laywer – not because they love you.
3. Every time your clients get your bill, they think about how beautiful your office is and about the nice car you drive. And they wonder if you are worth it.
4. If your office is a dump and you drive a wreck, they wonder about that too.
5. If your client doesn’t pay you, fire them. Don’t ignore them.
6. At least once a year, tell a client, “It’s on the house.”
7. Taking a client to play golf doesn’t show how good a lawyer you are. It shows how good a golfer you are.
8. Quit being a pompous, demanding jerk around the office. If you can’t keep good staff, you don’t deserve good clients.
9. Your clients will always know their business better than you do. They may even know the law better than you. Make sure to seek their advice before giving yours.
10. A lawyer charging extra for stamps and copies is like a car wash charging extra for water. Stop it now.
11. Your clients have wants. Your clients have needs. They often don’t know the difference.
12. Whenever you interrupt a client meeting to take an “important” call, your client thinks about hiring another lawyer.
13. Imagine a world where your clients knew each month how much their bill from you will be so they could plan for it. They do.
14. If you hate being a lawyer, be something else. You are smart. You’ll figure it out.
15. A bill is not communication. At least not the good kind.
16. When is the last time you called a client just to thank them for being your client? That’s what I thought.
17. People don’t tell lawyer jokes just because they are funny. They tell lawyer jokes because they think they are true. Spend your career proving them wrong.
UPDATE: Welcome Gapingvoid Readers. If you liked this, check out my 15 Tips for Lawyers, another mini-manifesto.
You are a client. You need a lawyer. Here are 15 rules (guidelines, actually) that may help you find and understand your lawyer:
1. You have wants. You have needs. Focus on the needs first. Wants are bonus.
2. If you are seeing a lawyer because your dispute is “not about the money, but about the principle of the thing” don’t be surprised if your lawyer runs away. You can never be satisfied. Also, it’s really about the money.
3. Your case/matter is the most important thing happening to you right now. It is not the most important thing happening to your lawyer right now. It may not even be in his top ten.
4. If you think your lawyer is trying to kill your deal, remember this: though there may only be a “one percent” chance your deal will go bad, your lawyer sees that “one percent” over and over again. She’s looking out for you. She cares about you and your business. She also doesn’t want her malpractice premiums to go up.
5. You want to buy results, not time. Most lawyers sell time, not results. Make sure you both understand the difference before your first bill arrives. You will certainly understand the difference after.
6. If you want to find a lawyer who sells results, look hard. There are a few of them out there. They are the ones who can still smile because they get to see their children before 9:00 at night.
7. Big firm lawyers are not more efficient. Or smarter. Or cheaper. They are certainly not cheaper.
8. Make sure your lawyer understands your business. If your lawyer doesn’t understand your business, find out if he’s going to learn about it on his time, or yours.
9. You are your lawyer’s boss. You are not her only boss. She has hundreds of other bosses too. Each one of them thinks their matter is more important than yours.
10. How messy is your lawyer’s desk? When they bill you for thirty minutes of “file review,” how much of that time was spent looking for your file?
11. When you call a lawyer for the first time, how long does it take for him to return your calls? After you hire that lawyer, expect it to take at least three times as long. Same goes for e-mails.
12. Does your lawyer have reputation for being a “bulldog?” That probably means they are an asshole. To everyone.
13. Look for a lawyer with a technology IQ no more than fifty points less than yours. If you live in e-mail and your lawyer doesn’t, learn to like your mail carrier.
14. If you hate your lawyer, fire him. He probably deserves it, and you aren’t getting his best work anyway.
15. You wouldn’t automatically marry the first person you date, so don’t automatically hire the first lawyer you see. A great lawyer-client relationship can last a lifetime. Your lawyer can be your advisor, counselor, confidant, and friend. Most lawyers are good people genuinely interested in their clients’ best interests. Find one you like, stick with him or her, and spread the word. Oh, and stop telling lawyer jokes. They aren’t really that funny. ;-)
At last week’s Idea Market, one of the questions I asked the attendees was: “A Perfect Law Firm Would …” Here are the responses:
Mary Schmidt compiles a terriffic list of reasons why vendors didn’t get her business. Just a few:
1. You returned my call in which I asked for a price quote…a week later.
4. Your web site looks abandoned. (Copyright 2004? Are you even still in business?)6. You never, ever answer your phone. It always go to voice mail.
7. You did more talking than I did in our first meeting.
9. You talk about “solutions” but never tell me how you’re going to solve my problem.13. You treat your employees badly.
16. Your “free education seminar” was nothing more than a sales pitch.
Cathy Sierra has another great post on motivating web visitors, that applies broadly to anyone selling anything. Cathy discusses the two levels of motivation: “motivation to interact and motivation to do something as a result of that interaction.” Think of your marketing as the first kind of motivation and your in-person client meeting as the second.
Just how do you motivate your prospects to hire you? Cathy first tells us how not to motivate them:
Trying to motivate someone to action by telling them it's good for them doesn't... actually... work … because it doesn't invoke the right feelings.
In other words, don’t suggest your clients hire you because of what will happen if they don’t. Instead, as Cathy suggests, citing a great Fast Company article , emphasize the positive things that will come out of your lawyer/client relationship. Can’t think of any? Try this exercise:
Ask your clients to visualize a “best case scenario” conclusion to their matter . Then ask them what personal or business benefits they’ll reap and how they expect to “feel” if the matter concludes in that positive way. Keep track of their responses (maybe even suggesting they write them down). After doing this for ten or twenty clients, you’ll start to see themes emerge. These are the themes you should focus on when you are trying to motivate your clients to hire you.
A few weeks ago, I posted about 10 things lawyers should be monitoring for their clients. Now, I’ve come across a new service called Competitious that seems to help you do just that. Check it out.
Kevin Kelly passes on this tip to identify when someone is having a stroke:
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. But doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
1. Ask the individual to SMILE.
2. Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
3. Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently, ie: It is sunny out today)If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
This is a pretty good list, and is certainly something I didn’t know. Anyone who deals with older folks (estate planning lawyers?) should have this list handy for them and their staff.
Saw this on Lifehacker: What happens to your email when you die? Suggests (linking to a CNET article) attorneys press clients to include password data in estate planning documents so heirs can get to your email, photo sharing, music, and other online accounts when you die.
Is anyone doing this?
Here’s a fascinating article from iMedia Connection on what motivates men and women to purchase things. The whole thing’s worth a read, but what jumped out to me were these paragraphs that discuss how others’ purchasing decisions impact men and women differently:
Men are willing to make a purchase once it has been demonstrated that someone else was successful with the same purchase; kind of a, "that worked for Joe, so it'll probably work for me" mentality.
Women posit things differently. It's good to know if something worked for Sally; it's better to know what Sally's motivations were for her purchase. Success in itself isn't meaningful unless the conditions leading