by Gary Mitchell | Jan 9, 2019 | Building relationships, Business development, On Trac
As I am a business coach, this post is focused on your business relationships. However, you could easily take these tips and apply them to your personal relationships as well.
Before you take the time away from your practice and go to the expense of attending that new conference, look at your contact list. Who should you be investing more time with? Current clients? Past clients? Friends from Law School? Other colleagues and connections?
I’m not saying don’t go to that conference or sponsor that event, or take that add out. But focus on your current relationships before you take on anything new this year. No matter where you are in your career, you have relationships. Sure, if you are relatively junior, you may have less, but you have them.
I see far too often where lawyers want to push the ‘easy button’. They think simply throwing money at their marketing and business development efforts will produce results. It makes them feel good like they are doing ‘something’. News flash-there is no easy way, no easy button-thanks Staples! Building your practice or firm takes time-your time! My suggestion is to focus 80% of all of your business-building efforts this year on strengthening the relationships you already have.
Pick up the phone. Send an email. Go for coffee, lunch, a drink (or juice), lunch or dinner. Take your best client(s) to a special event. Connect, re-connect and keep connecting!
by Gary Mitchell | Mar 15, 2018 | Becoming more strategic, Business development, Growing your firm, Growing your practice, Measuring results
How do you know your marketing efforts are paying off? Do you track your results?
Are you confident you are investing your time and money in the most effective ways to grow your practice or firm? Are you getting the maximum return on your investment of time or money?
Take the uncertainty out of your approach. Take my complimentary marketing audit to help you analyze your efforts. My clients have told me repeatedly how valuable this exercise has been for them to clarify what works and what doesn’t.
Simply contact me directly at gary@ontraccoach.com and I will send you the audit. Fill it out and send it back to me and we can schedule a 30-minute consultation to discuss your answers. This is a crucial 1st step to growing your practice or firm.
#lawyercoach #businesscoach #growyourpractice #getmoreclients #legalmarketing
by Gary Mitchell | Jan 22, 2018 | Building relationships, Building your referral network, Business development, Getting more referrals, Growing your practice, Networking, Raising your profile, Referrals
To kick off 2018 I’ve created a new LinkedIn Group-Professional Services Marketing Group.
The purpose is twofold. 1st, to offer a forum where professional service providers can share insights and knowledge, wins and challenges as they grow their businesses. There is power in collective wisdom.
The 2nd goal of this group is to allow you to network ‘virtually’ with other professionals; build relationships and develop more referrals.
The concept of the ‘Mastermind Group’ comes from author Napoleon Hill, in his book “Think and Grow Rich”, published in the early part of the last century. I’ve always loved the concept and many of my clients have and continue to use this strategy to grow their businesses.
Join here
And then invite your best referral sources and contacts to join. The more members, the more collective wisdom and the potential to build more relationships leading to more referrals, leading to more business.
#businesscoach #mastermindgroup #growyourbusiness
by Gary Mitchell | Aug 21, 2014 | Coaching, Raising your profile, Your career
Situation: A 4th year associate already engaged in business development wants to take it to the next level and begin attracting the ‘bigger fish’. She has the attention of one of the senior named partners and decides to invest in coaching to help her build her practice. I was not surprised to learn that she was going to pay me directly and not ask her firm to cover the investment. She did this for many reasons, not the least of which being that she didn’t want anything hanging over her head. She didn’t want the firm to hold expectations over her. The only person who knew about my work with her was the senior partner that she did work for. And he was very supportive.
Approach: We created a business plan for her practice. We identified key events to attend and network. We identified key contacts to help her build her network of referrals. Her confidence in herself and her ability to attract new clients is increasing. She created her own networking/mastermind group and meets monthly. I helped her build her LinkedIn profile and network.
Results: By taking this initiative and hiring me directly, and gaining business development skills, this makes her more valuable as a Lawyer. Whether she ends up staying where she is or looks to move to another firm, her ability to build her own book of business makes her more valuable and attractive to partnership. She invested in herself, in her career and her success. Based on my experience, she will see that investment pay off in dividends for years to come.
by Gary Mitchell | Jun 25, 2014 | Building your referral network, Business development
Recently I had a senior partner hire me to coach him. When he sent me his profile, I was a little surprised he needed help given his amazing profile. Pages of speaking engagements, tons of published articles, three text books published. So one of the first questions I asked him was “How did your practice come to this?” He told me the not-so-uncommon story of cruising along for years with a very large client that had a lot of ongoing work. So he rested on his laurels. Then one day that client vanished. Even some of his other clients have become smaller with fewer needs for his services. So here he is with one of the most impressive profiles I’ve ever seen for a lawyer in his practice area, and he very few contacts to draw from. This is another reason not to stop building relationships and growing your network of potential leads and referral sources. You never know if it will just vanish one day.
