Plan For The Clients You Want
I have mentioned before (here and here) on the fact that too many lawyers do not like the work they do and the clients they do the work for. Not to beat the proverbial dead horse, lawyers and firms need to get serious about marketing the work they prefer doing for the clients they would like to represent.
Ed Poll at LawBiz Blog suggests developing client profiles of those ideal clients and then undertake marketing toward those prospective clients. I really like his idea, because of course, it is the first step in identifying your target market. He suggests a series of questions one could ask to help identify one's ideal client base. Take a look and see if they can help you with your marketing planning.
Tom,
Great post.
In so many professioanl service firms, clients are retained, or obtained, simply to pay the bills. I'm not suggesting that's a bad idea, but often the work these clients need is not what the practitioner wants to do.
I think an annual (at least) process of pruning clients is a good practice to ensure that your work remains meaningful for the practitioner and profitable for the business.
It's tough to dump clients, but often it leads to a better client mix, happier practitioners, and a more profitable business.
