Building connections and a practice offline and in-person: old-fashioned or overlooked?
By Whitney Skala
When it comes to business development, the current strategies of websites, search engine optimization, blogging, branding, et al., leave me a little cold.
I understand the purpose of a good website. It’s your digital résumé, albeit longer than two pages. I understand search engine optimization. That’s the tool that helps get your digital résumé seen. I understand blogging. That’s where you validate your résumé. And I understand branding. That’s where you take your résumé and reduce it to a catchphrase and a color or two.
Here are the reasons why those leave me a little cold. Not stone cold. Just a little freezer burn.
First, I worry about the relationship I will have with the folks who are persuaded by my online panache. In my own experience, too many of them adopt an internet persona that I’ll label a “retail mindset.” The potential client’s primary filters become: what are your rates, how much will it cost, would you waive a retainer, are you cheaper than LegalZoom, can I do any of this myself, etc.? I’m a transactional attorney — I handle business and real estate matters. Like all of us, I sell time, but I deliver a relationship. If the client is on a retail wavelength, they will miss most of what I’m providing, and they’ll be more likely to end up with ill-fitting advice or documents. The worst part? I probably enabled this in the first place, by using the medium of the internet for my business development.
My second concern is related to the first. The internet strategy might make me busier — or at least busier than I was — but my retail-minded clients might not come back and if they do, I’ll have to win them all over again.
My third concern is that the kinds of practices being searched by online folks have a limited upside, in many ways. Let’s leave aside for a moment the limited financial upside. What about the limited professional upside? Do companies really find counsel to handle the several-million-dollar sale of their business on the internet? What about the upside of trying to grow your business? Do companies with a large portfolio of legal needs find an attorney on the internet? I suspect the answers are no. So what will you be tempted to do? Adjust your internet strategy to go after the work that is shopped for on the internet. And that work may be less satisfying, and lead you to simply more of the same.
So while you’re doing what you have to do online in this digital age, my suggestion is to also pay attention to these business development concepts:
Do Something, Almost Anything
Potential clients (and the people who know them) are out there, even in your practice’s micro sub-specialty. And to meet them, pry yourself out of your office and pursue almost anything with others: yoga, bike riding, wine tasting, community service, fantasy leagues, whatever. This is where personal relationships are made, and personal relationships are the most powerful basis for client development. And the trick to choosing the activity? My two cents: In the long run, you’ll do better if you do things you sincerely like. Is golf better than baking? Not if you hate golf but love to bake. Your golf friends will see through you and you’ll get nowhere, while your baking friends will embrace you and they just might include the next hot restauranteur. By the way, give yourself permission to spend some money on these pursuits — it’s your marketing budget.
Identify Connectors
Some of your acquaintances are connectors, and can be especially helpful because that one relationship can lead to several clients — that’s fantastic leverage. Who is a connector? Acquaintances may be connectors just by the nature of their personalities: they’re extroverts themselves, and nothing makes them happier than to contribute to the success of others. Other acquaintances are connectors by the nature of their own careers: accountants, for example, may be able to refer their own clients to you. If you’re a litigator, then other litigators who can refer you work will fit the bill. One good relationship with the right connector might exponentially help your practice’s growth.
Cultivate Friendships, and Let the Chips Fall Where They May
If you really care about people, it’s not too hard to stand out in this world. But expressing it takes some time and effort.
If you joined a board to develop business, but don’t bother working on any friendships within that board, then you’d have been better off doing something else. You don’t have to stay afterward to meet up for drinks, or have endless lunches — if that shoe fits, wear it; but if it doesn’t, then cultivate the relationships some other way. Try sending handwritten, personalized notes. Keep track of your contacts as they change jobs and their careers grow, and find a way to congratulate them. Be the attorney they’ve known you for over the years, even if they’re not using you. You’ll eventually come to the fore when they need to use a lawyer or recommend one.
These how-to’s can go on forever. They’re usually just a variation on a few core principles, like, believe in yourself; aim for the practice you want (so that you get there); and, commit to people, and then the clients — life-long clients — will follow.
Whitney Skala is an attorney at law.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2018 issue of San Diego Lawyer.