The Parable of the Lawyer Turned Hunter
There's a wonderful interview with Harold Ruvolt of Edwards & Angell on developing a marketing plan, on page 32 of the March/April issue of Law Firm Inc. He cites a telling parable:
"We discussed the parable of a lawyer is who decides that he doesn't want to be a lawyer anymore. Instead, he wants to live out in the country, and he wants to be a hunter.
"So he moves to the country, and after six weeks, he is starving. And his friend comes and says, "What happened?" And he replies, "You know, I just am not succeeding as a hunter."
"And his friend says, "Well, what do you do everyday?"
"And the lawyer turned hunter says, Oh, it's easy. I sit and wait until the animals come find me because I am the greatest hunter in the world."
"And then we took that parable through all of the different aspects of the marketing approaches lawyers make, such as, "I go to the forest with my gun and I just shoot everything that moves."
You know, that's kind of the the way professional marketing is done.
Sometimes the truth hurts, or causes you to starve.
Too many professionals struggle to find that balance between sitting on the porch waiting for the big kill to arrive and running theough the forest shooting at everything that moves.
Unfortunatley, lots of the marketing advice doled out doesn't necessarily help given that personal marketing strategies depend on the individual's career stage, marketing skills and mix of clients.
Great post.
With the right marketing lures, incentives, and promotional messages to the proper target market, the professional with average ability will out-perform the most intellecually proficient professional that doesn't use marketing.