Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog

Posted at 8:59 PM on January 20, 2006 by Larry Bodine

Personality: Why 25% of Lawyers Can't Sell

Larryrichard135Only 20% of lawyers are natural born marketers, according to Dr. Larry Richard, a Director of Hildebrandt International, in Somerset, N.J. He found that an additional 55% of lawyers can learn to be rainmakers.  "They will makre efforts to do marketing; so your goal should be to reduce their discomforts," he said.  The remaining 25% are hopeless at marketing and should be ignored.  "The trick is to figure out who they are and not to waste time on them," he said.

"Personality is a key factor in business development," Richard emphasized. Lawyers are very different from general population in 6 of 18 traits - and no other profession has more than 2 deviations.  For example, 2/3 of lawyers are introverts, but in contrast, � of the general population in the U.S. are extroverts.  In analyzing lawyer personalities, Richard employs the Caliper Profile, which has been used for more than 40 years to measure personality traits. 

Further, lawyers differ dramatically from marketers.  Lawyers are analytical, detached, introverted and reflective. Marketers, in contrast, are creative, enthusiastic, extroverted and interactive.  "The good news for marketing is that lawyers are a quick study--you don't have to do a lot to teach them," he said at the Marketing Partner Forum in Florida.

The six traits that distinguish lawyers are...

For the rest of the story, visit The LawMarketing Portal.

Trackbacks (14) Links to blogs that reference this article Trackback URL
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What About Clients? - January 21, 2006 3:16 AM
Larry Bodine has an extensive and interesting post which points out that only about 1 out of 5 lawyers have the innate ability to market and sell. The conclusion is based on testing the lawyer population versus everyone else ("normal"...
What About Clients? - January 21, 2006 3:17 AM
Larry Bodine has an extensive and interesting post which points out that only about 1 out of 5 lawyers have the innate ability to market and sell. The conclusion is based on testing the lawyer population versus everyone else ("normal"...
Legal Sanity - January 26, 2006 3:59 PM
Here�s the next installment in my series of roundups on rainmaking for lawyers: Larry Bodine continues the nature v. nurture networking debate with a post and related Law Marketing Portal article about lawyers as natural-born marketers. Bodine cites a ...
What About Clients? - January 27, 2006 1:02 AM
First, I noticed this blurb in the WSJ Blog about Bill Clinton's possible return to the profession. I like Bill Clinton. Face it--even a lot of Republicans "like" Bill Clinton. The guy's smart, charming and connects with people. Second, earlier...
What About Clients? - January 27, 2006 1:06 AM
First, I noticed this blurb in the WSJ Blog about Bill Clinton's possible return to the profession. I like Bill Clinton. Face it--even a lot of Republicans "like" Bill Clinton. The guy's smart, charming and connects with people. Second, earlier...
What About Clients? - January 27, 2006 1:10 AM
First, I noticed this blurb in the WSJ Blog about Bill Clinton's possible return to the profession. I like Bill Clinton. Face it--even a lot of Republicans "like" Bill Clinton. The guy's smart, charming and connects with people. Second, earlier...
What About Clients? - January 27, 2006 3:04 PM
First, I noticed this blurb in Peter Lattman's new Wall Street Journal Law Blog about Bill Clinton's possible return to the profession. I like Bill Clinton. Face it--even a lot of Republicans like Bill Clinton. The guy's smart, knowledgable, charming...
What About Clients? - January 30, 2006 1:02 AM
Ellen Freedman at Law Practice Management has a thoughtful and fairly extensive post about whether marketing can be taught to lawyers, including the vast majority who may not be naturals. Her answer is clearly "yes"--and her post follows up a...
What About Clients? - January 30, 2006 1:07 AM
Ellen Freedman at Law Practice Management has a thoughtful and fairly extensive post about whether marketing can be taught to lawyers, including the vast majority who may not be naturals. Her answer is clearly "yes"--and her post follows recent comment...
What About Clients? - January 30, 2006 1:18 AM
Still no word from natural-born marketer WJC. So we wait--anxiously, but with high hopes. But Ellen Freedman at Law Practice Management has a thoughtful and fairly extensive post about whether marketing can be taught to lawyers, including the vast majo...
What About Clients? - January 30, 2006 1:23 AM
Still no word from natural-born marketer WJC. We wait anxiously--but with high hopes. Who knows? But Ellen Freedman at Law Practice Management has a thoughtful and fairly extensive post about whether marketing can be taught to lawyers, including the va...
What About Clients? - January 30, 2006 9:10 AM
Ellen Freedman at Law Practice Management has a thoughtful and fairly extensive post about whether marketing can be taught to lawyers, including the vast majority who may not be naturals. Her answer is clearly "yes". Her post follows recent commentary,...
What About Clients? - January 30, 2006 6:36 PM
Ellen Freedman at Law Practice Management has a thoughtful and fairly extensive post about whether marketing can be taught to lawyers, including the vast majority who may not be naturals. Her answer is clearly "yes". Her post follows recent commentary,...
idealawg - January 15, 2007 5:01 PM
Last week Robin Rolfe Resources issued a press release entitled Studies Show Lawyers Really Do Have Unique Personalities. According to Professor Martin Seligman, Fox Professor of Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of the school of...
Comments (3) Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end
John Feeney - January 23, 2006 6:00 PM

Refreshing insight. Just alittle confused why the article finishes with what marketers have too do. Attorneys need to step-up and make some changes. Vendor relations are often severed because of this lack of understanding. Granted approaching firms with different approach say, making it their idea, can produce. However, my business services other markets that frankly don't put us through half the non-sense. Companies using marketing successfully are proactive, if the source is not, what result can be delivered. Attorneys moan they hate Salespeople, yet they cry for more clients. Make-up your mind....

M Hedayat - January 25, 2006 5:53 PM

Really John:

I'm not one to defend us lawyers but, in case you're interested, it's not that lawyers can't "make up their mind" about salespeople. On the contrary, I'm POSITIVE that I dislike them. Know why? They LIE. That is, they say things that aren't true to get my business and then disappear when I need to follow up. By contrast, I am there for my Clients at all times -- at the beginning, middle, and end of the representation. Does THAT clarify the difference between a lawyer who sells and a salesman that lies?

M. Hedayat

Niche Marketing Guy - December 18, 2006 7:51 PM

I find this post very interesting form the point of view that as a marketer, I work with software developers.

They too are blessed with multiple talents, but are in many cases hopeless at marketing themselves (at least in my niche anyway).

I've found I learn more about myself when working with such clients, than I actually teach them about marketing.

Stewart Alexander

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