Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal editor, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, marketing consultant, legal consultant, business development

In this newly-updated video, you'll discover the three sources of new business for lawyers, which must be based on face-to-face meetings. You can't build a relationship by email.

The best thing about selling legal services is it's not selling, and there's no downside. This is because the proper approach is to conduct an interview and ask a lot of questions. Whatever you do, don't make any cold calls -- you'll hate making them and the person getting your call hates it.

It's important in business development by doing what you're comfortable with -- whether it's meeting people one-on-one or giving speeches, which is the best way for a lawyer to establish credibility.

The LMA national confererence is coming up on March 10-12 in Denver.  However, some marketers are having trouble getting approval to go because of the poor economy and cost-cutting at their firms.

It's not cheap.  Registration for a regular member is $995, and non-members pay $1445.  Rooms at the Hyatt Regency are going for $209 to $249.  This makes law firm CFOs choke, because they understand nothing about law firm marketing.

To the rescue, the LMA has created "A Customizable Letter To Your Manager" that marketers can customize and use in support of their attendance. See page 8 of the document at  http://bit.ly/7zeuWJ  Here's an excerpt:

I appreciate that my attendance will represent a considerable investment in terms of time and money so you’ll also find a breakdown of expected costs and my plan for keeping the expense to an absolute minimum. You’ll also read my plan for providing you and the team with a full post-conference report to ensure we get maximum value from the investment.

The LMA Annual Conference is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for the entire legal marketing community to learn from the leading practitioners in the sector. The event is in its 24th year and regularly attracts more than 1,000 attendees from firms just like ours.

 

This year’s event is especially important because in such changing economic times, we need to learn how to best respond.

This is persuasive stuff!  If you get to go, I hope to see you there. I already got the OK from my boss, my wife/CFO who guards the family grocery money.  But then, she used to me a marketing director herself, so it was an easy pitch.

From the LawMarketing Portal:

Rainmaker Marketing -- 52 Rules of Engagement to Attract and Retain Customers for Life by Phil Fragasso is a must-read for professional service marketers, rainmakers and rainmaker wannabes -- according to book reviewer Cecelia Alerts.

By organizing his points into 52 Rules of Engagement (ROE), Fragasso provides a road map of principles for becoming a better rainmaker.  Alers recommends that you read this book from front to back and then keep it for reference.  Each month, you should take the book from your reference shelf, close your eyes and open it to a random page.  Try incorporating whichever ROE you land on into your professional journey.  If you do this, you will become a better service provider as well as better rainmaker. 

Big picture invisible dot connectors

The author reminds us what many before him have said:  Today’s clients are looking for more than technical expertise.  They are looking for collaborators.  The best rainmakers, Fragasso says, focus on proving how valuable they are instead of how smart.  On the other hand, the author talks about the important role knowledge plays in keeping your business from becoming a commodity.  Whether it is through technical expertise or strategic knowledge, the author believes that rainmakers are “big picture invisible dot connectors.” The ability to find and connect invisible dots is a truly unique ability.  However, unlike the author, Alers is not sure learning how to connect invisible dots can be learned.  She believes some traits of rainmaking are either inherent or learned so early in life that they appear to be inherent.  Being driven is one example.  By the time you are in your 20s, you are either driven to success or not.  If you are, you will make good use of this book.  If you are not, you will wonder with detached emotion why some of your colleagues and friends stress so much.   

Throughout the book, the author talks about the important role of passion in rainmaking.  He tells us passionate enthusiasm is the most engaging and persuasive force to making rain.  Choosing a career that you believe contributes to “the greater good” moves you from a worker to an evangelist.  When you are evangelical about your work, making money becomes the byproduct of your core mission.  The author tells us to learn to describe what we do in simple, heartfelt terms. 

He offers this description of what attorneys do as an example.  “I protect clients from the enemies they don’t even see.”  "I love that!" Alers writes.

For the rest of the review by Cecelia Alers, visit Marketing for Rainmakers at http://www.lawmarketing.com/pages/articles.asp?Action=Article&ArticleCategoryID=58&ArticleID=866

WEBINAR PRESENTED BY: Apollo Business Development 
SPEAKER: Kevin M. LaCroix, Esq. 
DATE: March 12, 2009; 1PM - 2:15 PM Eastern
LOCATION: on the web, on your computer
CONTACT: Laura Kresich, Program Director; (Tel) (773) 966-9273 or  www.PBDI.org
Save $50 by registering on or before February 27, 2009.  

The subprime loan crisis created a giant wave of commercial litigation that will surpass the number of cases that grew out of the Savings and Loan crisis of the 1980s. Since we last presented this program in September 2008, the economy has worsened significantly, creating multiple new opportunities for legal work.

Lawyers who want a large and profitable caseload of litigation that will last for years will get smart about credit crisis litigation now. This webinar is designed to do exactly that: identify the causes of action, the plaintiffs and the defendants -- and show you the business development techniques to amass clients in this historic surge of litigation.

Lawyer Kevin M. LaCroix has been lecturing and writing a blog about credit crisis litigation since it began. Mr. LaCroix has been involved in directors’ and officers’ liability insurance issues for over 25 years. He began his career as a coverage attorney and partner at the Washington, D.C law firm of Ross, Dixon and Bell.

"I’ve gotten a lot of calls, especially in the last six weeks from lawyers who are not active in the sector and want to become active, but they don’t know how to get into it – how to get up to speed and how to attract clients, what areas to focus on," LaCroix says. "There’s more litigation and it’s evolved."

Save $50 by registering on or before February 27, 2009.
Contact Laura Kresich: (773) 966-9273

or email Lkresich@LawMarketing.com
Registration fee: $300
Sign up online at http://www.pbdi.org/pages/cceventform.asp?EventID=216 

For general information, please visit www.PBDI.org 

News Alert: the ABA has launched an online social networking site – Legally Minded – at LegallyMinded.com

Benefits include:

• It offers ways for lawyers to generate referrals by making connections online.
• One twist is that it has a “people map” that displays other members who have similar interests, or are looking for what a lawyer has to offer.
• It’s free.
• No ABA membership required. It’s public.
• You can view most of the site without having to register.
• There’s less “noise” than you’ll find on LinkedIn and Facebook.

It’s a “public beta” site, so the ABA is aware it’s not perfect. Full details are now available on the LawMarketing Portal at http://www.lawmarketing.com/pages/articles.asp?Action=Article&ArticleCategoryID=7&ArticleID=831