When I first started coaching lawyers, my professional colleagues said, “You’re going to do what with whom?” When you consider my target audience, you, lawyers, and your common personality traits and practice challenges, you are one tough audience and I thank you for being that way. I’ve always loved a challenge.You have forced me to become a better coach.
What follows are not criticisms, merely observations which I am sure most of you will agree with. For the most part lawyers hate the idea of sales. Some of you even resent the fact that in today’s legal market you have to sell and market yourself and your services. Many of you are introverted and hate networking. You are perfectionists which often prevents you from trying anything new for fear of failing. Being highly risk-averse adds to that fear. You procrastinate to a fault. You are highly intellectual and often over-think things. And to top that all off, it’s in your nature to be highly skeptical.
And then there are the challenges you face in your practice. You are under incredible pressure to produce, living your life and career in 6 minute increments. If it’s not the billable hour, then it’s your workload, and the constant struggle to find time for business development. Wow you are certainly one tough audience, wouldn’t you agree?
To effectively deal with these challenges, I’ve created a methodology for business development specifically for lawyers. It’s called TST™, Targeted, Strategic and Tactical. You must produce the best results in the least amount of time possible. The good news is that because you are so smart, you learn quickly. My next post will start to go into detail about how you can become more targeted in your approach.
