(ALMOST) INVISIBLE MARKETING III.

This third in a series of Invisible Marketing tactics presents two approaches which are not quite “invisible” but are often overlooked by attorneys. The first is:

DURING SPEECHES, HAVE OTHER FIRM MEMBERS IN THE AUDIENCE WORKING THE CROWD. Make sure you introduce your colleagues from the podium and indicate that they and you are available to answer questions, send featured articles, discuss opportunities, etc. You are there to do more than “educate”, you are also there to “generate.”

One of the most frequent mistakes so often observable at dinners, receptions, etc. is that instead of mingling, attorneys from the same firm congregate together.

AT PARTIES, DINNERS, HOSTED EVENTS - DO NOT TALK TO YOUR OWN FIRM’S ATTORNEYS.
Recently, I attended a law firm hosted/sponsored workshop at which over 125 clients and potential clients had breakfast and then listened to a 1 hour CLE presentation. Of the 10 firm attorneys present, 9 sat at the same table. By adding their non-billable hours, advertising, promotion, powerpoints, handouts, facility and food cost, etc. $12,500.00 was thrown out the window.

Once we reviewed this waste, a new approach has been implemented. Each attorney is now assigned 2 non-clients to meet and greet. Each attorney is assigned to a table. And each attorney is introduced from the podium by their speaker/colleague. And of course, if a client is present, invite them to sit with you. They could become your marketing supporter in talking with non-clients seated at your table.

INVISIBLE MARKETING is a concept requiring a sharp eye and ear. It is a component of “permission marketing” where a client or prospect provides you with an offer to market to them! When conducting workshops with our law firm clients, we will spend at least 1/2 hour tuning in to invisible marketing.

For example, we all know that great work and referrals are the 2 best sources of future business development. But complaints, yes complaints, are another great source of business by building a strong relationship. If a client calls and complains that something is not going well with a current engagement, they want to keep working with you. So fix it, fix it fast, and remind them periodically that you fixed it fast by ending a periodic conversation with “just want to make sure we are meeting all of our targets,etc.”

Another invisible marketing tactic is to ask clients why they switched to your firm. At the right time in an engagement, you might learn what they are happy with, and what problems the previous firm had. You can build on the success and avoid the problems.

Next time we’ll address two more invisible marketing tactics:

* “What’s new?”
* What do clients really want?”

This is the final chapter on law firm mergers and the importance of early involvement by marketing leadership. What can you do to maximize the “rollout” which begins in earnest after the “launch” is over? It needs to identify what the marketplace really wants, and it delivers it.

The launch is a press release. The rollout is the real meat and potatoes of merger marketing. It requires an in-depth knowledge of your own resources in terms of people and expertise. Those resources can be tough enough to identify at your own firm.

In a merger, it requires an assiduous cataloging of what the two firms bring to the table. It should confirm the wisdom of the merger.

A vital component to business generation and business development is to create an effective follow up plan. Good follow up enables your firm to fully capitalize on the opportunities that develop relationships already available to you via bar association and trade events, meetings and seminars.

Remember, good follow up starts even before you make physical contact with your target.

Preparation: The Huddle

• Organize the follow up before the event, ascertaining who your firm’s primary targets are.
• Preview handout materials and anticipate who might be attending.
• Match the right attorney with the right potential client based on practice area and expertise.

Then, Don’t Drop the Ball:

• With every personal connection you have made at the event, organize a follow up system to maximize the good will you have cultivated. Forget email in this situation. Instead, stay at the top of their minds with a personal, hand-written note sent no later than three days after the meeting.
• Conduct a post-event review of attendees, their titles, industries and buying power. Then create a checklist on how to effectively follow up on each viable lead.

Here are the type of questions to ask a client or client prospect which not only demonstrate your skill and understanding of their business, but draw out answers that will help you sell.

* Does in-house counsel have an organized, functioning early case assessment system?
* Are their business and operational units covered in this system?
* How is enterprise risk management and intellectual property protection handled?
* Are they prepared for the arduous demands of e-discovery?
* Do they need outside counsel to assist in litigation public relations or crisis management?
* Can you offer training programs in professional development for the legal department?
* Does your firm provide a shared technology system so you and clients can communicate
directly and easily?
* How will they expect you to “communicate” with them?
* How much of what you communicate with them needs to be formatted so it can be
forwarded to the CEO and Board of Directors?
* What is the best format to use and how often should they be sent?

The very fact that you are already concerned about these essential day-to-day considerations sends a very positive message about you at all stages of the selling process.

When the New York Giants won the Super Bowl, no one on the other side could argue that they should have won because they gave a really good effort. Because in the end, it’s all about who wins. Despite all the planning, huddling, offensive and defensive tactics you implement, you only win when you close in the Red Zone and start the engagement. However, all the little steps and big ones you’ve made along the way are what I call ‘invisible successes.’ Each victory leads you up the rung and into The Red Zone. Invisible successes, no matter how small, are not to be dismissed. They encourage. They build morale. They motivate. They galvanize.

After your law firm has developed tactics to generate new business and is driving ahead for what is to come, don’t drop the ball. Your business development strategy cannot exist in a vacuum. It must frequently be measured, massaged, managed and modified to remain effective.

Change starts from within. Use your entire organization as a barometer to measure new business generation initiatives.

Staff
Use your staff and your attorneys to gauge their perception of internal and external progress in business development, newly introduced sales and closing techniques, client outreach and the overall marketing campaign.

The Marketing Department
Keep the channel of communication flowing between attorneys and the marketing department. They cannot produce optimal results beached on an island on the opposite end of the building. Expect them to follow up on every significant outreach effort and provide you with frequent updates.

The Organization
Moving aside all bravado, how does your firm measure up against competitors? Bring out the yardstick and start measuring.

Incentives
Rewards for developing new business should be concrete and measurable. By adding up the rewards, you measure progress.

Continuing with our series on really getting to know your clients and your prospects, and assuming you do want to discover what makes them and their companies work, what’s next? You and your marketing support team must make time to organize, pursue and hopefully close opportunities if you do find out. Lawyers are excellent at talking, good at asking questions and only so-so at listening. Yet it is the latter two skill sets that are the ultimate determinants of ongoing success.

According to KLS/Gates “top of Mind” survey of senior in-house counsel, conducted in the summer of 2005, “communicating effectively” and “enjoyable attorneys” are two of the top three attributes for outside counsel selection.

For any lawyer who wants to “communicate effectively and enjoyably” the 60/40 rule that served IBM so splendidly for decades still applies. Client talks 60% of the time, you talk 40%. Demonstrate the knowledge you have obtained by asking strategic questions and getting them to discuss operational and management challenges.

Outside counsel can use the knowledge of how corporate law departments are beginning to produce as an opportunity to coach and guide inside counsel into opportunities to pursue similar tactics. This is a powerful yet subtle form of law firm marketing that makes your firm invaluable, cost-effective, and even lucrative. By making yourself increasingly valuable, you do the same for your client.

In order to achieve this status, you must do your research. Understand your role and that of inside counsel. Observe the dynamics of the industry. Be the eyes and ears of the department and a sounding board in which to weigh the pros and cons of litigation pursuit.

This is also a business development technique and business generation opportunity in the making. Your reputation as a must-have resource and ally, champion and revenue generator could work quite effectively in the long run.

Don’t neglect to mention this unusual deliverable technique as an example to other potential clients on your business development wish list.

Law firm business development training needs to teach who are the real people behind the title of inside counsel or executive. Do you know the decision-makers’ own strengths and weaknesses?

Are they worried about losing their jobs or are they deeply entrenched? Maybe they’re even being considered as CEO? In fact, back up a step: do you know who they are in the first place? Beyond that, build a matrix of everything else you need to know.

There is a marketing axiom that often appears in legal journals, marketing seminars for partners, sales training programs, etc., that says, “Get to know where they go, who they know, and what they read.

More next time on DO YOU KNOW?.

PROBLEM: Our practice group has no business development budget.

RESPONSE: Of course it does. You’re already spending money on business development at one or more ends of the spectrum. You simply need to collect the data and find out what you’re already spending. That’s your budget.

RESULT: Getting a hold on your current actual spending will allow you to focus resources where they will clearly do the most good.