If you are ready to get your feet wet at legal marketing, but are still a little uncomfortable with the concept, maybe it is time that you found a mentor to help you along. Presumably, the person you select (and who is willing to serve in such a capacity) knows SOMETHING about lawyer marketing – preferably is a rainmaker, or at least a mistmaker and not a wet blanket when it comes to the subject. (I may have stolen those terms from Jay Foonberg but I’m a little foggy on that.)

Thanks to friend Michelle Golden at Golden Practices for the post on finding or being a mentor which leads us to some great guidance by Pamela Slim on her Escape from Cubicle Nation blog on how to identify the “characteristics of a great mentoring relationship.”

They include:

• Encouragement (not only with valuable advice, but to relieve fear and stress when it comes to marketing),
• Reciprocity (it’s a two way street, so both will bring something to the relationship, if only a meaningful friendship on your part),
• Chemistry (it goes without saying that unless you and the mentor enjoy each other’s company, the relationship hasn’t got a chance),
• Gratitude (showing appreciation for the mentor’s contribution to your business development skills is also important, but most likely will come naturally and sincerely if the chemistry and reciprocity are present. A simple thank you and a handwritten note occasionally will do the trick), and
• Mutual respect (groveling and firmly attaching one’s lips to a certain part of another’s anatomy should not be involved, nor will it be appreciated by serious mentors).

Pamela also gives good advice on where to find great mentors, which in the interest of brevity, I discuss in my next post. If you can’t wait, you can read her entire post now.