I’m a big fan of The BTI Consulting Group and their The Mad Clientist blog. Recently, they had a post that discussed turning first year associates into bionic associates; and accordingly make them more productive. They lost me on this one, because the thrust of their message was to teach these associates essential skills
business development
Tips A-to-Z to Increase Client Service
By Tom Kane on
Posted in Client Communications, Marketing Tips
Recently, I mentioned the latest book by The BTI Consulting Group entitled The Mad Clientist’s ABCs of Client Service in a post about how it is okay to be “inactive” on summer vacation. After taking a look at BTI’s blog post about the book and the other letters of the alphabet (with their pithy suggestions…
Cross-Selling: A Goal, but Very Difficult
By Tom Kane on
Posted in Marketing Team, Marketing Tips
Why is it difficult? First, because many corporate clients do not want to put all their eggs on one basket. For political, financial and/or relationship reasons they want to spread the work around. Sure, a number of major corporations are reducing the number of outside law firms. Often doing so to better manage administrative headaches.…
People Skills are as Important as Legal Skills
By Tom Kane on
Put another way, how a lawyer services his/her client can be the most important factor in terms of ongoing client relationships. Most clients place a very high value on quality legal services. I am not referring here to the outcome of a legal matter, although that certainly is important. But considering how many talented lawyers…
Do Your Clients Refer You/Your Firm To Others? Most Don’t
By Tom Kane on
According to a survey by The BTI Consulting Group, only 40.1% of clients “recommend their primary law firm to a peer.” As bad as that statistic is, the good news is that it is better by almost 7% over the previous year, and better slightly than five years ago. According to the survey it…
Ten Commandments of Client Service – Part II
By Tom Kane on
Posted in Client Communications, Marketing Tips
As mentioned last time, one in-house counsel on the InHouseBlog posted his ten commandments applicable to outside firms when providing legal services to his company. And I suggested that his rules could come just as well from individual clients or entities without an attorney on staff. In the interest of brevity, I only covered five…
Ten Commandments of Client Service – Part I
By Tom Kane on
Posted in Client Communications, Marketing Tips
Not every client is a company or entity that has in-house counsel. Smaller companies often do not have a lawyer on staff. So, when I visited InHouseBlog and read a post about one in-house counsel’s “Ten Commandments“, I thought that those directives could be applicable to all clients, including individuals.
Here are the first…
Meet and Greet Tips
By Tom Kane on
Posted in Marketing Tips, Prospecting for Clients
Networking is no less dreaded by many lawyers than it has always been. But, it doesn’t have to be. Hopefully, a few of my 40-plus posts on this blog about networking over the past 11 years will be useful. A few of which I have highlighted below. They may prove of interest to those who…
Is the Lack of Cross-Selling Your Fault?
By Tom Kane on
Posted in Marketing Tips
Are you to blame for the failure of your partners to cross-sell you to their client contacts? Not necessarily, but you could be part of the problem. Clients select lawyers they know, like and trust. Referral sources, including your partners, send you clients for the same reason. Since they know, like and trust you, they…
The Sky is Falling … NO, Really it is!
By Tom Kane on
I’m no Chicken Little, but I do have a sinking feeling about our profession. In my more than four decades as a lawyer, I have seen huge changes, not the least of which include:
- Too many lawyers, too few jobs relatively speaking
- accountants practicing tax law;
- financial advisors drafting estate plans, wills and trusts;
…