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Gary Mitchell's Biz/Dev Coaching Blog
The Lawyers Weekly: Ontario law society launches Coach and Advisor Network
Gary’s column from The Lawyers Weekly, January 20 2017
Traditionally as part of their day- to-day work, young lawyers turned to more senior members of their firm when they needed answers to thorny legal questions and guidance on building a suc- cessful practice. Times have changed. Today client demands for rapid-fire service, the growth of large national, even multi- national law firms and increasing numbers of people entering the profession have combined to make informal mentoring much more difficult.
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY: Growing your firm presents new challenges
Gary’s column from The Lawyers Weekly, February 5 2016
It’s one thing to go out on your own and create your own solo practice, but it’s another to build a firm. It’s a lot of chicken egg, but I advise my clients to prepare for the fact you will grow.
The first step would be to create a plan that would include target market research, competitive intelligence, talent sourcing and location of office space. Since you will be hiring, is a move necessary?
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY: Standout Service Makes a Firm Stand Out
Gary’s column from The Lawyers Weekly, November 18 2016
Be honest: is your firm doing everything it can to better serve your clients? Are your lawyers taking the time to really get to know and understand the needs of your clients and the big picture view?
Before you go out and spend money on your marketing initiatives, ensure you are helping your lawyers better serve your clients, building valuable business partnerships, and truly understanding the needs and challenges, ensuring better alignment and increased value.
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY: Presentations can set stage to reel in clients
Gary’s column from The Lawyers Weekly, August 12 2016
Giving presentations, workshops and taking part in other speaking opportunities are one of many business building tools you can use to build your practice. They are good for networking by adding people to your contact list, building profile and expertise in your subject area and building profile (name recognition) and relationships in your target audience
So with that in mind, you can set up goals that you are able to measure. How many quality people are you meeting by speaking? How many of those are you able to move from find to build. Then how many of those are you able to get to the discover stage. And finally, how many people are you getting to the stage where you offer your services and they agree to hire you?
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY: Embrace innovation or risk becoming a dinosaur
Gary’s column from The Lawyers Weekly, June 3 2016
Are there too many lawyers? Two recent reports out of Quebec and Ontario would suggest there are. What does this mean for the next generation of lawyers? First off you better get really good at marketing. With all of this competition you need to find ways to set yourself apart. You’d better become entrepreneurial and gain more business skills. Because of the lack of jobs, you might also consider starting your own shop — a growing trend I’ve noticed over the past couple of years.
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY: Build reputation with help of media relations
Gary’s column from The Lawyers Weekly, April 22 2016
If your firm isn’t using media relations as part of your marketing and business development efforts, you are missing the opportunity to help raise your profile quite affordably.
There are two approaches to media: getting published under your own byline and being quoted in an article written by a reporter or freelancer. Some media accept articles written by you. This is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and you have much more control than an article written by a reporter where you are quoted as an expert. Both are effective at raising your profile and I suggest you commit to both.
Calling All Ontario Lawyers-Top up your CPD hours
We know a lot of you have not reached your minimum required CPD requirements and time is running out; so we have designed a couple of programs to help you meet your needs. You can choose from our ‘Grow Your Practice’ program which focuses on Marketing and Business Development to help your attract more clients; and our ‘Leading More Effectively’ program which is designed for practice group leaders and managing partners to help you better lead your teams Learn more here.
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY: It is essential to build relationships on the way up
Gary’s column from The Lawyers Weekly, March 25 2016
When your destination is partnership, there are three key areas to focus on to steer your career toward it. They are: developing your legal skills; building internal relationships, and increasing your own book of business. For this col- umn, I am going to focus on the latter two areas.
The value of the relationships you build internally in your firm cannot be underestimated. Are you leveraging the collective knowledge of the professionals who work at your firm, such as assistants and marketing pros? How about other lawyers, whether they are seniors, juniors or peers?
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY: Your insights have value, so start sharing
[From the October 7th edition of The Lawyers Weekly]
Getting published in trade journal, newspapers or newsletters that target your target audience is one excellent way to raise your profile. But use caution — make sure the publication you are writing for does target the same people that you are; otherwise you are wasting your time.
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY: Networking doesn’t have to be a pain
Gary’s column from The Lawyers Weekly, September 9 2016
After working with lawyers and law clerks for 11 years now, networking has been a common “pain” point. Typically people put way too much pressure on themselves in these situations.
Forget everything you have ever heard or read about net- working before you continue reading this article.
Very few people are born with natural networking abilities, so you are not alone. What’s important is to keep it simple and don’t stress out about it.
