Prospecting for Clients

When it comes to marketing and business development, plan to lose. HUH, you may say.

Stay with me.

Hope to win, but don’t assume that you will get the next engagement – either from an existing client or from a prospect. With the competitive nature of our industry (yes, law services is an industry, despite

I’m not. However, I realize that many lawyers are uncomfortable – actually many people are – asking for referrals.

It gets worse when one suggests that lawyers should ask for testimonials. Both are important for business development however. It’s instant credibility. If a client or former client or even just a contact suggests that someone

Oh my goodness!  How unfortunate.

You obviously must not be a very good lawyer.  Or just maybe you were smart enough to fend off the snake-oil-directory salesperson.  Sure, some unsophisticated clients may be impressed with your being in the “Best”, “Top”, “Prominent”, “Super”, etc. lawyer directory.  Most clients, particularly corporate clients, don’t care, period.  They

I’ve always loved the expression KISS because it is just that simple and telling at the same time. In reviewing  the book this week on marketing meditations by Larry Smith and Richard Levick I often quote, I ran across one that I posted about 3 years ago this month.  It reminded me of how “keeping

There was a time, in the early days of legal marketing (mid-80’s) that hiring PR firms was what BigLaw management thought solved this “marketing thing.”

At that time law firm’s PR efforts were NOT very successful. Reason: Whether they were just bashful or afraid of repercussions from the state bar, some lawyers wouldn’t even cooperate