The economy has thinned business all around. Often, the first reaction is to go into the marketplace full speed ahead, beef up the firm’s legal sales team and claw for new business. But while you’re expanding you business development activities, be sure never to neglect what opportunities lay right at your feet–existing clients. Survey after attorney marketing survey reveals that most business comes from existing sources, and recommendations from those sources. It’s like the old song says about new friends and old friends. The same goes for taking on new clients and retaining those already existing: one is silver and the other is gold.
 
In the pursuit of more business development, neglecting to give stellar service to long-standing clients (and constantly reminding said client of such attention) is to your peril. Never take for granted the reliable client who remains steady, but may not necessarily be an immediate source for additional revenue generation. Remember the power of a good recommendation! Lead generating opportunities may arise from the client’s other colleagues and non-competitive associations to be on the receiving end of some old fashioned, grass roots word-of-mouth endorsements, which is always good for you and your firm. But neglect the client, and that opportunity might just pass you by.

Good business development consultants provide a wide range of tactical options for their clients to select from. The following are added to those contained in the previous 3 blog columns. Use what works for you. Try a new one to add to the options you bring to the lawyer marketing table.
 
ENRICH YOUR RESUME It may be hard to land a speaking engagement early on, but there’s a big demand for articles. Most publications are open to senior associates, not just partners. Once the article is published, merchandise it in a somewhat different form to another outlet. Post it with your bio on the firm’s website. In other words, leverage it to the hilt.
 
EXPAND YOUR CONTACT LIST Reconnect with colleagues from law school or earlier. Some of them may be working in-house. Others may own businesses. Ask for their input on substantive professional issues. Provide a contact list to your marketing department.
 
More next time. Enjoy the Labor Day weekend.

In this column we’ll begin exploring tactics which must be practiced and repeated. A good marketer selects those that work best for him/her, and “work” them. These may seem basic to some readers; but they do work.
 
Attending CLE and BAR Events: Get to know lawyers from other firms and jurisdictions; they can be great referral sources. If in-house attorneys are on a panel, ask a question or offer a comment. Introduce yourself when the event is over and request a business card. You’ve already distinguished yourself by showing interest in what they worked hard to present. No doubt they’re grateful for that interest and will respond accordingly.
 
Don’t Just Attend Events: Get involved with the sponsoring committee. Since organizations want and need volunteers, the relationship is mutually helpful.
 
Memorize An Elevator Message: What you do, why your work is valuable, and why people hire you. Learn to deliver the speech conversationally. Just because it’s memorized doesn’t mean it has to sound memorized.
 
Lots more tactics to follow in future blogs. If you have one or two that work for you, send them on and we’ll highlight them.

Novices tend to panic. They don’t know where to begin. They see themselves as failing if initial efforts don’t immediately pay off. They need to understand that marketing is a methodical art; that it happens on a step-by-patient-step basis. They need to understand each separate step as part of a larger programmatic initiative.
 
As such, the first important training goal is to help them develop a comfort level with the jprocess as a whole. And, the way to do that is by enumerating individual tasks that are singularly manageable and often enjoyable. Among them:

* Attend Cle and bar events.
* Get involved with sponsoring committees.
* Memorize an elevator speech.
* Enrich your resume.
* Expand your contact list.
* Job performance.
* Help colleagues.
* Write lists and set deadlines.
 
Next column, we’ll discuss details of these tactics. The impact of such curricula is to demystify marketing for associates. It’s a practical agenda with specific steps any committed professional can take - simple enough steps, perhaps, to deprive lawyers of excuses for inaction.

Competition is fierce in today’s marketplace, especially if your firm is in a competitive niche. I’ve been preaching for a long time about how new business can often come from existing clients. So I often challenge my clients by asking them, “Can you build a broader marketplace by offering something more?” Sometimes I receive a resounding affirmative followed by a laundry list of services; but, more often than not, I hear silence followed by the distant sound of crickets chirping.
 
You may think you are doing a stellar job servicing your client already, and you probably are. But remember, the competition will always offer something more, and so should you. Rainmaking need not start outside. It begins under your own roof.
 
An example of “something more” could mean providing your clients with information about new legislation that can impact their business, or hosting once-a-year training sessions to your client’s employees, and the list goes on.
 
Remember, even if you think you’re giving your best, there’s always more.

Not a full post here, but we wanted to let you know about a few legal marketing articles that we’ve recently added to the site. Moving forward, we’ll make a note once a month or so on this blog to bring in links to a few non-blog-type articles that we’ve added to our site.
 
A few such articles posted in recent weeks include:
Territorialism: Whose Client Is It, Anyway
Pumping Up Legal PR