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 those who say NO, it’s a PROFESSION – Yeah right), things are changing rapidly. Clients are dissatisfied, angry with the cost of legal services and the value of those services. So, just because your client appears to be happy with your firm today, doesn’t mean they will be satisfied tomorrow.

Today’s meditation from 365 Marketing Meditations: Daily Lessons for Marketing & Communications Professionals by Larry Smith and Richard Levick points out the dangers of not anticipating the possibility of change:

“The captain of the Titanic had such a great safety record that when the great ship struck an iceberg, precious hours were lost because the possibility of sinking was so far beyond his experience. Yesterday’s success is always a trap when conditions change. And they always change.”

Don’t let precious time pass before you and your firm wake up to today’s realities. Awake every day with the thought of making your clients’ experience even better. It is not a foregone conclusion you will succeed, but you sure as heck better give it your all. Because things change and clients are becoming more demanding. Overconfidence and the lack of client-centric thinking could eventually sink your firm.