Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog

Tom Bennington, our keynote speaker at the recent workshop "Developing Your Personal Marketing Plan" in Chicago was able to double his revenue in nine months, by finding the time to market.

Tom is a partner at Chuhak & Tecson, a full service law firm in Chicago, and he practices in buying and selling businesses, commercial real estate and business succession planning.

He's and elected member of the DuPage County (Illinois) Board and a slew of organizations like the DuPage Workforce Board, University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service Board, Illinois Prairie Trail Authority, DuPage Community Development Commission, and the DuPage Homeland Security Coordinating Council.

His first years in practice he billed an astounding 2,400 hours per year. How did he find time to market?

First he wrote down 11 marketing activities and wound up concentrating on only six.

Second, he set "give-up" goals, to cut back on time-wasting activities.  He analyzed every organization he was part of to see if (a) it was good for his law firm (b) it was good for his community and (c) it was good for his political career.  He reduced his time on every time-wasting activity.

Third, he filled out internal monthly reports on his marketing activity.  He resented this at first, but finally saw that it helped him sort out what was working and what wasn't.  For example, he dropped $1,000-per-month radio ads that produced no good result.

Fourth, he turned over his calendar over to his assistant.  It was her job to set up multiple meetings back-to-back in the same location, further cutting wasted time.

Fifth, he started thinking about marketing on a daily basis.  It made him want to market his practice more.  He wrote a personal marketing plan composed of activities he enjoyed doing, became comfortable asking for referrals, and asking prospects for their business.

And the number of dollars coming in doubled.