Many lawyers,
law firm marketers, and other highly educated professionals mistakenly assume
that once they graduate from college or law school or earn their CPA, all they
need to do to be successful is to practice. This may be true for the elite in
their field – a very select few. But for the vast majority of lawyers and other
professionals, history demonstrates that college or graduate degrees alone do
not necessarily guarantee success. True success is a lifelong process, and many
subjects and skills not taught in school are required for a person to be truly
successful.
One such critical
skill is the ability to get new clients and/or new work. Without the ability to
secure, develop, maintain, and retain a client relationship, all the
credentials and schooling in the world will still leave a practitioner with little
to work on. Without clients, there are no problems for you to counsel or advise
on, solve, or resolve. So sales, client development, or business development
(whichever phrase you use to define the processes of developing qualified leads
and getting new work in the door) are fundamental and crucial skills and
disciplines for all professionals.
The most effective
and successful professionals – whether they are practicing lawyers, CPAs,
business advisers, sales coaches, consultants, or in-house marketers – have at
least three traits in common:
1. They are personally committed to
self-development and continual learning.
2. They
are self-disciplined and willing to work with others to complement and augment
their own capabilities.
3. They
work to be effective communicators and are willing to address difficulties in
working relationships as they arise.
The bottom
line is that personal attitude, mind-set, capability, and commitment over time are
crucial to attaining any degree of success in business development or any other
field.
So, would you benefit
from a personal business development coach? Ask yourself:
1. Do I already know all there is to know about “sales” and
client development? Too
many professionals assume that selling is nothing but common sense and
instantly think to themselves, “Yes, I think I do know everything I need to
know about developing business – it’s just common sense,” and don’t pursue ongoing
formal training or coaching. However, the fact is that client/business
development is a specialty, both a science and an art, just like the practice
of law or other professions. For example, when the field of life sciences
emerged, were legal experts already in place? Hardly – those lawyers who were interested
specialized in the field, conducted personal study, took continuing legal
education courses on the subject, and gained the experience to become competent
and eventually experts. The same is true for business development, which is a
science that arguably came to the forefront in professional services fields approximately
30 years ago. Consequently, the practice of business development for the
professions has become increasingly sophisticated and complex.
If
you answered no to question #1 and you do think there is more you could learn
to improve your performance in the client/business development area, ask
yourself: “What is it that I don’t know?” Studies have shown that the more
educated people are, the more they THINK they know about any given subject,
when in fact they actually know less than a person of average education. Bottom
line: we don’t know what we don’t know until we know it. In other words,
knowing a lot about a subject and doing it well are two separate issues. If you
accept that there may be things about client/business development that you
don’t know or may want to improve, you have the right attitude to enhance your
performance and results.
2.
What are my NATURAL
abilities/aptitudes, and what areas do I need to work on? The best strategy is to focus on and
maximize your natural gifts while being aware of and making efforts to minimize
those traits that may negatively affect your performance. If you are a natural “people
person,” you are relatively unique, in that people with those skills represent
a fairly small percentage of the general population and an even smaller percentage
of lawyers and other professionals. Most professionals are more naturally
cerebral and consequently need to work on developing their people skills. Even
if you have natural people skills, in this competitive environment, if you do
not know the proposal process (both reactive and proactive) and/or do not close
the sale, all the people skills in the world will not be as effective as they
could be in building your book of business. If you are not sure of your natural
skills and abilities in the client/business development area, a professional,
thorough assessment will help you gain insight.
3. Do I respond well to suggestions/ideas? Or am I already set in my ways or
mentally stuck? The answer to this question is what makes the difference
between someone who will benefit from training and coaching and someone on whom
it will largely be wasted. At most law firms, 5 to 10 percent of partners are highly
resistant to input and suggestions on business development subjects and feel
fully capable themselves without help. In this highly competitive environment,
if you are a partner who is resistant to any assistance in client/business
development AND develops at least $2 million annually in new business, keep
doing what you are doing! Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Often, it
is those lawyers who need to adapt and enhance their skills the most who are
the greatest naysayers or put up the most resistance.
In this world
of consolidating legal and professional services, bringing in business, and
developing and maintaining client relationships are no longer optional for any partner,
any professional striving for partner status, or any law firm marketer/business
developer coaching lawyers to bring in new work.
Register to attend this
webinar - “Best Practices in Sales Coaching for Law Firm Marketers/Business
Developers” being held
Wednesday, August 23, 2017 from 12 noon to 1:15 p.m. Eastern time.
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