A Quick Guide To Rainmaking
You’ve taken all the classes, criminal law, constitutional law, contract law and property law, walked the stage with honors, interned, clerked, passed the bar and got the new brief case. The condo, boat and Porsche haven’t appeared yet, but soon. That shingle looks great and your business cards are on the way.
What’s missing? CLIENTS!! How do you get clients? Aren’t they lined up waiting for your wisdom and sympathy (with their checkbook open)? Don’t they KNOW who you are? No, frankly they don’t. For all the great education you have received, they probably didn’t teach you the BUSINESS of practicing law. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. This isn’t even an industry specific obstacle. Take the medical field for instance, doctors are notoriously absent of business skills and have to learn quickly, often the hard way.
Not every law student or graduate has a position lined up immediately after graduation or will stay with that position for a great length of time. Many new grads are planning on or are left with no alternative but going into solo or small group practice. In any event, large group, small group or solo, client development is crucial.
So, how do you become a rainmaker? Oh, wait a minute, you’re only a 1L or 2L?? It’s all you can do to keep up with your classes let alone plan for the day after you graduate? Great! You can benefit more by having more time to consider your options, plan accordingly and take proactive steps. Ready to graduate or have the degree and the job fell through with the cutbacks? Downsized before you even started? Read on.
Rainmaking is an ongoing process. Please understand this. All business is basically relationship driven. You need to utilize the relationships you already have and drive the relationships you want to develop for your success. Try to select your internships and clerking jobs to correlate with your area of interest instead of just something to generate a paycheck or fulfill a requirement. Your time is precious and you need to have a forward focus on all your activities.
First and foremost - figure out your niche.
You must clearly determine your target practice market. What kind of law do you want to practice and where. Don’t look at the type of law before you determine who you are. Look inside yourself and identify your strongest abilities and inclinations. Are you a jock type? How about sports law? A geek or nerd type, try intellectual property. Business or medicine your forte…look that way. You get the picture. Don’t try to force yourself into a mold because it seems to be a big moneymaker or it’s expected that you follow a certain path. If you don’t practice your passion, it is almost impossible to have the life balance, satisfaction and success you desire.
What type of clients do you want to handle?
Identify what pulls you to a type of client. Do you feel strongly about being an ombudsman or defender of families (typically women and children) or equality in divorce proceedings? Family law sounds right for you. Want to defend the “little guy” against big business or defend big business against the “frivolous” lawsuits of John Q. Public. Love the land…real estate law, public domain. Perry Mason in the courtroom defending the accused? Whatever the client, identify the issues they might have and if you want to handle them. What type of client DO you want? What type of client do you NOT want to represent? What kind of referrals could they bring? The more you can define these items, the closer to success you will be.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking you will or must do it all and take every bit of business that comes your way in order to get started. Pick out one or two areas you wish to target. They should have commonalities to enhance each area rather than compete for your time and direction. Concentrate your focus on these areas rather than trying to do it all then figure out what seems to work the most for you. You’ve heard the adage – Jack of all trades, Master of none?
It is never too early (or late) to start your investigations. Learn all you can. This will help develop the road map you will be following.
What resources can you bring from the “outside”?
What is your extended background? Who do you know? What relationships are already established? Can you tap into resources from family and friends for referrals or a direction to proceed? Do they fit into your niche or are you “nicheing” to fit them?
Ok, now you have your direction in line, so where are the clients? As we said before, business is relationships. How do you develop relationships and get your name (brand) out there?
A big mistake many attorneys make is to focus on making every contact a client. This becomes a frantic and frenetic lifestyle. And some attorneys are not “sales” oriented. They don’t have the extroverted personality type that makes it easier to maintain a “sell” attitude. What you want to do is focus on relationship building in areas or peripheral areas that generate referrals.
It used to be that attorneys (and other professionals, doctors, CPAs, etc) had to be very circumspect in their advertising: no blatant ads, television advertising, or billboards; business cards and stationary were done in Copperplate font, black on a nice white linen and yellow pages ads were at most a bold one line entry versus standard type. While there are still ethical limits that attorneys must follow, it is still possible to create your brand and stand out to potential clients.
Today the sky is the limit and we have the internet. Creating a professional webpage is essential to exposing your brand and announcing your presence to the world. Depending on your focus it may be a fluid, informative, interactive site or a basic large ad type that remains fairly static but gets your message across. Make it easy for someone to find you. Check out the Martindale-Hubbell® Lawyer Web Site for quick and easy ways to create a professional website in minutes. Also, consider bartering some services with a computer wiz for your website design.
Now you have the basis to getting your name out there. What can you do to develop new relationships and get your brand out there?
Hopefully you will have had the foresight to have developed some contacts and networks in law school. Not just friends but prospective business contacts that can further your agenda. Network with other attorneys and refer clients to them for issues you don’t want to handle. They return the favor.
Another easy, inexpensive and surprisingly effective way of getting your name out there is by using Google Adwords (or similar service). By choosing specific keywords to identify your specific area(s) of practice and by limiting the advertising area geographically, you can reach thousands of potential clients without really trying.
Ever heard of the elevator speech?
Develop your own 15-30 second synopsis of what you do. Imagine you are asked what you do as you are taking a short ride in an elevator. The obvious answer is NOT “I am an attorney.”
The answer to the question is (fill in the blanks): “I solve this problem_____ for these client types_____ by providing this solution or service____.”) Refine and practice this until it becomes second nature to you.
This can even be done with your clerking or internship position or your charitable Board of Directors position or your volunteer position. Everyone needs a problem solver at sometime in their lives!
Make your face public.
Utilize casual and formal networking. Don’t limit your scope to just legal networks. Get to the Chamber meetings, city council meetings, community and/or charity organizations. Join the board of directors of a charitable organization (along with other community and business leaders!). These can be huge because you will be developing RELATIONSHIPS rather than fishing for clients. You will establish yourself as a person of character, the person with the answers, the solution to a problem. Strike up conversations everywhere you can by asking open-ended questions. Word of mouth advertising is the best way to build a business.
Does your area of expertise lend itself to free seminars to educate and inform the public regarding issues such as wills, trusts, senior issues, children’s issues, tax, business or real estate, patents etc.?
Sponsor a sports team. Attend a game once in awhile.
Make trade show or niche show appearances either as a vendor or speaker.
Utilize community business expo events. Champion a local cause.
The Press
There are a lot of ways to get reasonable or even free press. Most communities have a new business section to their local newspapers or business journals. Send a press release, article or editorial. Use the web for press releases and articles. Try to attend meetings within your scope and be sure to have a question for the speaker for the question and answer period. Identify yourself and ask the question. Often this will result in your name spreading like a virus through the internet.
Follow-Up
Tremendously important, and hopefully a trait you have developed by now, is follow-up and follow-through. Not acknowledging someone for the time and trouble they have extended on your behalf is rude and suicidal. Dropping the ball negates your efforts and can permanently damage your hard earned reputation
Delegating
Another often-overlooked aspect to rainmaking is delegating. Ask yourself if the task you are facing can be delegated to someone else to free your time for more cost effective, revenue producing activities (i.e., relationship building). For more information on this topic, refer to our whitepapers on delegating.
Obviously, this article doesn’t cover every detail you need to be a successful rainmaker but we hope that it stirs your mind and sets you on the road to developing a cohesive, proactive plan to professional success in a trying market. Get your name out there, build relationships and ask for referrals.
Tags: attorneys, law students, lawyers, legal resources, legal services
