Even as we continue to emerge, slowly, from the worldwide economic crisis, times remain difficult and uncertain for law firms of all sizes. Profits in many areas are down and layoffs of staff, associates, and in rare cases even partners, continue. Some firms are still panicking and ready to give up hope. But this article is not about doom and gloom. This article is about having the marketplace refer to your firm as one of the few that flourished while others suffered. This article is about driving significant revenue increases for your firm, despite these uncertain times.
The few, the proud, the rainmakers
Every single person in your firm is important to its success, provided that each one understands his or her role and performs accordingly. But for present purposes, your quest for revenue will require special efforts from only a small portion of your firm. You need to get peak performance from your rainmakers - both those who are recognized and established, and those who are up-and-coming. Your job is to do everything possible to maximize the effectiveness of these lawyers - by constructing a special program to do just that.
However, this program is not going to be open to every one of your rainmakers, only a few. How will those few be selected? They need to apply.
You heard me: nobody gets into the special program without applying to the most senior leaders in the firm. The application must spell out why the applicant believes she or he is an excellent investment worthy of admittance to the program. This will exclude the worst egotists and disruptive forces, the ones who can't bear to acknowledge that they could improve, and the ones who would participate against their will. You will end up with only the most dedicated people, willing to improve, perform, and prove that the firm invested well.
Training rainmakers in excellence
There is a time and a place for basic client relations skills training for your rank-and-file lawyers. Ideally, this should be conducted regularly and effectively. But when the building is on fire, you stop dusting the stairwells and grab a hose. Your rainmakers, both established and emerging, must hone their advanced skills in order to protect the firm's crown-jewel clients and attract the very best prospective clients. They also need ongoing mentoring and support.
This training and support is critical. Your recognized rainmakers have acquired respect through a history of achievement, but it does not necessarily follow that they are performing at their peak. The good news is that the best always want to get better, provided you protect their self-esteem in the process; if you can enhance their performance without embarrassment, they will respond. As for your up-and-comers, they will drool at the prospect of getting meaningful rainmaking assistance.
Lists and their obstacles
Once you have selected those few lawyers who will drive your firm's increased revenue, they need to begin with a single task: making lists. They are to draw up four lists: 1) their clients; 2) their referral sources; 3) the prospective clients they ought to be targeting; and 4) significant members of their network who do not fall into the other three categories.
Be warned, however: in my experience, fewer than 5% of lawyers can show you any kind of list at all, and most of those are just collections of names. It is the rare rainmaker, usually a top performer, who can pull up a file and show you complete client data sets.
You need to encourage them to make partial lists, on the understanding that perfection is not necessary here. What is important is starting the process that will form the foundation for ongoing focused efforts.
Prioritizing: identify the essentials
Most people believe that prioritizing a list means segmenting it into "most important," "less important" and "not important at all" - oftentimes, the "A," "B" and "C" groups. I suggest that rainmakers instead ask themselves this question: "Is this a person who, if I allowed the relationship to languish without contact for a lengthy period, the result would be potential harm to the future of my practice?" Or, more colloquially, "Who would I be an absolute idiot to lose contact with?"Â These people are your A's, and they matter. Once the lists are created and related to action plans, the number of A's inform us as to the frequency of contact and perhaps the best means of contact.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are the people and tasks that belong on your rainmakers' "stop doing" list. Rainmakers must look at their activities with a global perspective and then decide on an ongoing basis what no longer deserves to be on the list. Stopping the less important activities makes time for the more important ones that can really pay off.
Get those rainmakers out there!
All lawyers with rainmaking capabilities know they ought to be out and about with clients and prospective clients. They ought to be meeting with potential referral sources as often as possible, increasing their "share-of-wallet" from existing clients, and target-marketing their most important prospective clients. Even the best rainmakers, when reminded, will agree without hesitation that they spend too much time at their desks and too little time in these endeavours. They rationalize their rainmaking inactivity by emphasizing the excellent service they provide to their existing clients.
The secret here is to build systems that create opportunities in which those rainmakers feel comfortable involving themselves. Some firms, for instance, hire staff specifically to assist rainmakers in scheduling their meetings with those most important clients. Facilitating the process for the rainmakers keeps them moving in the right direction.
It's all about action
How is it possible to move from theory to accomplishment? The secret to success lies not in the strategy itself, or even in the ideas expressed in this article. The key lies in the degree to which individuals take action. It's your responsibility to guarantee that result, by creating a process that keeps shining the light squarely upon your rainmakers and measuring their actions.
The key to getting your people to accept this scrutiny is to assure them that, on those occasions when there is little or no progress, they will not be punished, but rather assisted. Competing obligations will be examined to see where they can be reduced. Parts of the rainmaking effort might be delegated in whole or in part, or even changed altogether into more productive tasks that require less time.
The payoffs
The obvious prize for this effort is substantially greater revenue for your law firm. The less obvious prizes include building your rainmakers' confidence and infusing them with winners' attitudes that will become contagious throughout the firm.
While your competitors are still holding meetings about why the world is delivering such hardship to the industry, I suggest you get busy and start generating some serious revenue. The key is to convert something that is uncomfortable for most lawyers into something very comfortable - turn a liability into a strength. Identify your champions and help them win. The rewards, even in a difficult economy, could be stunning. Some people respond to crises with paralysis. I suggest you respond with action.
Gerry Riskin, B. Com, LL.B., is a former managing partner, a founder of Edge International, and an internationally recognized lawyer, author and management consultant. Contact Gerry at riskin@edge-international.com, or 202-957-6717. This article is an abbreviated version of the full article at http://www.edge.ai/Edge-International-1547583.html.