It\u2019s Not About Money, It\u2019s About Control<\/h2>\n
In my experience, the factor that leads to discontent for most lawyers is the lack of control they perceive they have over their circumstances. The demands of the job are overwhelming. Clients expect 24\/7 responsiveness. Lawyers who don\u2019t have their own books of business are at the beck and call of colleagues who do. An unwelcome phone call from an adversary on a Friday afternoon can turn one\u2019s weekend upside down.<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 crisis has, for many lawyers, exacerbated feelings of loss of control. Their routines have been upended and, for the first time in a long time, lack of job security has become a real, industrywide concern.<\/p>\n
In short, most lawyers lack autonomy over their time and circumstances, and research shows that \u201cautonomy\u201d \u2014 defined as \u201cthe feeling that your life and its activities and habits are self-chosen and self-endorsed\u201d \u2014 is the No. 1 predictor of\u00a0job satisfaction<\/a>.<\/p>\n More important for our purposes is that autonomy also brings lawyers the most well-being. That\u2019s a key finding of a study, \u201cWhat Makes Lawyers Happy? A Data-Driven Prescription to Redefine Professional Success,\u201d<\/a> conducted by Florida State University College of Law professor Lawrence Krieger and University of Missouri at Columbia psychology professor Kennon Sheldon.\u00a0The study found that while factors typically associated with success, such as money and status, \u201cshowed nil to small associations with lawyer well-being,\u201d autonomy is integral to career satisfaction.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say that having clients is easy. When you own the client relationship, you own the ultimate responsibility to produce great work and provide great client service. When something goes wrong, you own the responsibility to fix it.<\/p>\n But in a choice between having or not having a book of business, having clients gives you far more options. Lawyers who desire more autonomy will likely never get it if they\u2019re dependent on others for billable hours. Without clients, a lawyer\u2019s time and compensation rely on (and are subject to the whims of) colleagues with books of business. With clients, a lawyer will make more money, have more options, and be in a position to exercise more control \u2014 in other words, have more autonomy.<\/p>\n So why do some lawyers succeed at building practices while others struggle? Here are five common business development mistakes that lawyers make, and what to do instead.<\/p>\n Positioning relates to how you describe your service offering to the marketplace. The purpose of defining your positioning is to differentiate yourself from the competition. The more narrowly you position yourself, the fewer alternatives there will be to the expertise you offer.<\/p>\n Too many lawyers position themselves broadly, suggesting that they can solve problems across many different domains for many different types of clients.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n They\u2019re under the mistaken belief that the more options they provide, the more opportunities will come their way. However, the exact opposite is true. Clients want to hire the expert, and it\u2019s not credible (or ethical<\/a>) for a lawyer to suggest expertise in a wide variety of practice areas and across numerous industries.<\/p>\n You develop expertise through repeated observation and problem-solving for the same types of clients. From a surgeon who does 10 hip replacement surgeries every week, to a lawyer who deals only in UCC disputes for automotive suppliers, high rates and high-stakes work go to the professional who specializes \u2014 and makes his or her specialization clear through market positioning.<\/p>\n Most lawyers set annual business development goals, often relating to the amount of revenue they want to generate in a given year. Far fewer take the critical next step of reducing their goal to an actionable plan. Every ambitious goal is really a series of smaller ones.<\/p>\n If you want to accomplish something significant, you must think big and then act small.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n For example, if you want to have a more robust referral network by the end of the year, you must determine the steps that must be taken \u2014 every month, every week, every day \u2014 required to build one. If you want to publish more thought leadership content, you must plan an editorial calendar for the year that will allow you to create effective content. Most lawyers want the same things \u2014 more clients, more revenue, more autonomy \u2014 but those who achieve their goals create systems that allow them to make consistent progress. (Related: \u201cThree Steps to Increasing Your Productivity.\u201d)<\/a><\/p>\n Think of each goal as a series of dominoes. Each domino represents an action you must take in furtherance of your goal. You must methodically and systematically line up and then knock down each domino over the course of the year.<\/p>\n As best-selling author James Clear wrote in \u201cAtomic Habits,\u201d \u201cYou do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.\u201d<\/p>\n Most lawyers favor a sporadic approach to business development, revving up when times are slow or when evaluation time is near, and letting it slide during the busy season. As I\u2019ve said before in this column, the problem is lawyers often overreact and overcorrect when times get too<\/em> slow. They engage in a bluster of business development activity that brings in work \u2014 often more work than they can handle from clients who are a poor fit. Then they stop all business development activities to focus on the work they have. Then the cycle repeats.<\/p>\n Lawyers who ride this up-and-down cycle typically lack an understanding of the sustained level of business development activity that is required to keep them, and, ideally, others in the firm, busy on a consistent basis.<\/p>\n The key to business development success is to do the right thing, the right way, at the right time by forming a business development habit and investing in yourself every day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n By forming a business development habit, you ward off procrastination that tends to creep in when client work gets busy. You\u2019ll avoid the temptation to put off business development until it becomes imperative when things slow down.<\/p>\n Prioritize the time necessary to make consistent progress. Don\u2019t spend all your time trying to bill hours. Sell yourself<\/a> an hour of your time every day to build a practice. It\u2019s the best investment you can make.<\/p>\n New business opportunities are unpredictable. It\u2019s hard to know when a client will need a lawyer for litigation or to assist with a transaction. Moreover, research<\/a> shows that buyers of sophisticated services, such as legal services, get more than halfway through a buying decision before inviting a service provider into the conversation. As a result, lawyers are often unaware they are under consideration because more of the vetting of their services is happening online.<\/p>\n Lawyers miss out on business development opportunities because they don\u2019t remain visible enough to those they hope to serve.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t expect that someone you met at a conference six months ago will think of you for a referral opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n To remain visible, you must continually engage in activities, such as thought leadership marketing<\/a> and LinkedIn-relationship building<\/a>, to remain top-of-mind. Having strong and memorable positioning also helps. By increasing your visibility, clients will be more likely to think of you when critical moments requiring the assistance of legal counsel arise.<\/p>\n As you begin the transformation from a lawyer who wants<\/em> to develop business to one who actually does<\/em>, it\u2019s critical that you begin to see yourself as the type of lawyer who is capable of building a practice. Your actions will then follow your beliefs. Every time you take action in accordance with your beliefs, you embody the identity you seek. Even if you\u2019re just getting started, you must act \u201cas if\u201d you are what you want to become.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t have clients of your own \u2014 but want to build a practice \u2014 you need to act as if you do.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That doesn\u2019t mean you should mislead anyone about your past experience. It means that you must project confidence and engender trust that you\u2019re the right expert for the job when you have opportunities to interact with prospective clients. If you approach such conversations from a defensive posture, a prospect will sense your unease and be repelled by it. Your measured confidence will have the opposite effect. You must be willing to say no to poor-fit clients, to stand your ground, to discuss fees upfront, and not make unwise or unmerited concessions.<\/p>\n When you believe in yourself, you create the conditions for others to believe in you, too.<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n Illustration \u00a9iStockPhoto.com<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n You\u2019ll find multiple articles on issues related to the pandemic on Attorney at Work\u2019s COVID-19 page,<\/a> including Jay Harrington\u2019s \u201c<\/a>30-Day Business Development Plan for Lawyers During the COVID-19 Crisis,<\/a>\u201d as well as:<\/p>\n The post 5 Business Development Mistakes Lawyers Make (and What to Do Instead)<\/a> appeared first on Attorney at Work<\/a>.<\/p>\n Stuff we read this week that we think is worth sharing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[187],"yoast_head":"\nThe Key to a More Autonomous Future? Your Own Book of Business<\/h2>\n
Getting Business Development Right<\/h2>\n
Mistake No. 1: Lack of Positioning<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Mistake No. 2: <\/strong>Lack of Planning<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Mistake No. 3: <\/strong>Lack of Consistency<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Mistake No. 4: <\/strong>Lack of Visibility<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Mistake No. 5: <\/strong>Lack of Confidence<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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More on Attorney at Work<\/h2>\n
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