by Gary Mitchell | Apr 18, 2018 | Becoming more strategic, Business plan, Growing your firm, Growing your practice
Are you making rain, in this the rainiest month of the year (for most)?
Do you need a new or revised strategy for the rest of 2018 and into 2019? It’s never to early to plan and 2019 will be here before you know it.
Are you achieving your plans for growth through talent acquisition? How? Where? When? How do you effectively on-board new talent helping them with their transition to your firm and ensuring a higher likelihood of success and retention? Not to mention getting the maximum ROI!
Are your leaders performing? Could they use a little ‘back-to-school’?
Are your clients truly happy? How do you know?
Just some things to think about as we are a little half way through the ‘rainy’ month of the year. The summer break is not that far away and then before you know it, it’s 2019 already. As they say April showers bring May flowers. So what are you doing to ensure the rest of the year is full of RAIN?
by Gary Mitchell | Feb 6, 2014 | Adding more value, Client feedback, Client management, Communication
The easiest way to get more referrals is from your clients. The fastest way to do this is to ensure they are completely happy with your service. In my opinion, that starts with effective communication. One of the top complaints lawyers get from clients is that they don’t communicate often enough and make assumptions. Communication is at the heart of your service to your clients. So get agreement from the very beginning on how often and by which method your clients would like you to communicate with them. And also explain, the more that communication is required, this will add to the cost of your services.
The next thing I recommend, is to give your clients permission to give you feedback throughout your dealings with them. Your clients might be intimidated by you and not want to point something out when it’s relatively small. And you want to know if something isn’t quite to their liking so you can fix it in that moment before it grows and festers to the point where they don’t want to pay their bill. Often when mistakes are made, it’s not the mistake that people remember. it’s how quickly and effectively the mistake is corrected or reversed.
by Gary Mitchell | Feb 4, 2014 | Coaching results, On Trac
One of my clients, a law clerk from Toronto just reported her ROI. She brought in 3x in revenue compared to the investment her Managing Partner made in working with me. That’s 300% ROI in just the first year. Now that she is fully engaged in business development, imagine how that will grow over the coming years? Is coaching to help your lawyers and law clerks bring in more business a good investment? This is more proof the answer to that question is YES!
Just do the math. If you are running a small firm or solo practice and have associates and clerks working with you, doesn’t it just make sense to get your entire team engaged in business development? Again, do the math. One rainmaker (You), or 2, or 3 or more rainmakers. You couldn’t take a better path or make a better investment in growing your firm.
by Gary Mitchell | Feb 16, 2012 | Business development, Coaching session notes
Working with a client today he told me this week he has been on fire. For the past couple of months on almost every call, I kept saying, “keeping doing what you are doing, it’s only a matter of time now.” Well for this client, that time has come. He has opened tons of new files this week and even had to turn a couple of them away. Now his challenge will be to keep the momentum going forward now that he is busy with client work. That is for another post.
More advice
by Gary Mitchell | Jan 9, 2012 | Adding more value, Building relationships, Business development, Client feedback, Client management, Referrals
Would you like to increase your referrals? Would you like to have raving fans for clients? One of the ways you can do this is by making sure you know your clients are happy with your work.
Even if they smile when you have your final meeting. Even if they don’t dispute your final bill. Can you be certain they were happy with your work? Can you count on them to provide you with referrals? Are you willing to take that chance? I have worked with many clients who have realized they don’t know for absolute certainty their clients are happy.
The easiest way to ensure they are? Give them permission in your initial meeting to give you feedback. Ask them to let you know if something is not exactly the way they want it. If they are unsure about something, make it easy for them to ask you. Believe it or not, a lot of clients are intimidated by their lawyers. They won’t feel comfortable bringing something up unless you make it perfectly clear that’s how you like to work.
By doing this, you are then in a position to correct any small issue in the moment, as it happens. This prevents small issues from festering and growing into large ones. By the time they become large issues, it’s almost always too late to effectively correct the situation. This approach also strengthens your relationships with you clients.
So the next time you open a file, a new client, or long-standing one, try this approach. Watch for the subtle reaction on their face.
