The E-Myth revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It is a terrific book for lawyers running their own practice. One of the key points of the book deals with the idea that as your business grows, it is essential that you put systems into place. The author sites the example of McDonalds as a finely tuned system. Every McDonalds you go to operates the same way and delivers the same experience. When you go to a McDonalds anywhere in the world, you know what to expect. This allows them to scale and replicate their business successfully. A new McDonalds doesn’t wonder how they should address a drive thru customer, how long to put the fries in for, what comes with a number 2 combo, or how many pickles to put on a hamburger. This has all been decided and is laid out ahead of time. A system has been created, tweaked, and followed for optimum performance.
The need for systems in your firm is critical. While professional legal services always involve aspects of work that are unique in each situation, core systems for the way your firm runs should be put into place. It helps with expectations of your employees as well as delivering a consistent experience for your clients.
Think about it this way. Let’s say you had to open a second location for your firm that someone else was running without you, how many aspects of the day to day operations could you have them replicate because there is already a system in place for it?
How would the phones be answered?
How would the intake interview be handled?
How would appointments be scheduled?
How do you follow up on leads and contacts?
How do you handle employee reviews?
How are bonuses and pay raises structured?
Is this all haphazard, changing from day to day depending on your mood?
Anyone who is a parent will appreciate this. I was awake last night, around 3:30 am, rocking my swaddled, newborn back and forth while “shushing” in his ear. He is about 9 weeks old now, hates sleeping, and needs constant movement to be calmed down. In my sleep deprived state it hit me that starting a law practice, or any new business, has some real similarities with taking care of a newborn.
The truth is that although some of these reasons may sound negative or daunting, I don’t look at them that way. They are simply the realities of the situation. Anything as worthwhile and remarkable as raising a child or owning your own successful law practice is going to have some hurdles to get through….or else everyone would do it.
Here are 4 reasons why starting a law practice is like having a newborn:
1. It is ever-present. It’s not just the long hours. It’s that it never really stops or leaves your consciousness. The thing you don’t realize before you have a little one is that every little thing needs to be thought of and orchestrated before you take action. In order to get a drink of water or run to the restroom, you need to be sure the little guy or gal is secure, sleeping, laying down, out of trouble, whatever. The same goes for your new firm. When you work for a firm that is not your own, where a check is picked up every two weeks regardless of the circumstances, it’s difficult to understand the mindset of running your own practice until you do it. Since you are accountable for every detail, every client, all the marketing, etc. it becomes ever-present. It’s a part of your consciousness and never really leaves.
2. Everything, even the simplest of tasks, need to be learned. It goes without saying that a newborn is pretty helpless on their own. There are basic reflexes and survival instincts in place, like breathing, gripping, and eating. However, they can’t sit-up, they can’t use the bathroom, they can’t get dressed, they can’t feed themselves, the list goes on and on. Without you there to help, frankly they wouldn’t make it. Well, starting a new practice has many similarities. Your ability to practice law is the basic skill set that is in place. It is a pre-requisite, like breathing and eating, for anyone looking to start a law practice. However, all other aspects of running your firm need to be learned and created. Until you create them, the systems and inner workings of your firm don’t exist yet. Even the simplest of tasks, such how your phone is answered, what your logo looks like, etc. need to be put into place. These are things we take for granted when someone else takes care of them.
3. You need to be open to change and thinking on the fly. It’s great to have a plan mapped out ahead of time, but as anyone with a newborn can attest to, you need to be flexible with those plans. At some point you will need to try something new on the fly to get your baby to stop crying. There is no one-size fits all. Whatever works for your kid, go for it. Also, whatever sleep pattern existed last week might be completely new today. You’re dealing with a moving target. Your new practice is similar. The ability to adjust and change is crucial for the well being of the practice. You need to be able to adapt to changing climates, competitors, new ways of marketing, building relationships, etc. The ability to think and change on the fly is a critical skill for the success of a new practice.
4. There is no “manual” or “right way” to achieve success. Many people can weigh in with opinions on how best to handle situations with your child, but no one has the “right” answers for you. It’s up to you how you want to approach the situation and handle it to the best of your ability. It’s great to have a circle of people you trust that can offer advice. It’s even better if they can be a mentor, because they’ve been there before. Your practice holds the same truths. There is nothing better than having a mentor who can give advice and guide you in the right direction. However, your firm is unique to itself. The relationships you build, the marketing you do, the positioning you take, and the quality of service you provide all contribute the fibers of your practice. It’s important to remember that the path you take will be unique to your firm and there is no “right way” to achieve success.
On May 19, 1984, Michael Larson, an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Lebanon, Ohio, won $104,950 in cash, a sailboat, and two all-expense-paid vacation trips from two appearances on the CBS television game show “Press Your Luck.” At the time, $40,000 was considered to be a huge winning. Larson’s winnings set a record for the largest prize money award on any game show.
CBS initially refused to pay Larson his winnings, suspecting he had cheated. However, although Larson had won under unusual circumstances, he had not cheated. Instead, he had memorized the show’s computerized game board sequences, allowing him to continuously keep selecting winning board squares. He became the game’s biggest winner in less than an hour. CBS eventually conceded that Larson had done nothing illegal. He had simply outsmarted the game.
Since Larson was out of work, he watched Press Your Luck religiously. Over the course of 6 weeks, Larson recognized there was a pattern to the light sequences that either resulted in prizes and money or a whammy….which caused you to lose everything. He video taped the shows and eventually memorized the pattern. He flew out to LA and made it on the show as a contestant. After 40 spins and over $100,000 later, Larson stopped playing. His win streak had to be broadcast over 2 episodes it went on for so long.
CBS later revised the light sequences and put a cap on the winnings of $75,000 so that no one else could duplicate Larson’s “success”.
So what does this have to do with marketing law firms?
Larson had two things in place in order to pull off the feat he did.
1. He had a plan in place ahead of time
2. He had a system for working that plan
Sound familiar? All the other contestants on the show walked in haphazardly hitting their “stop buttons” when they felt they might land on the “Big Bucks” square. They had no plan ahead of time and they had no system for landing on the correct square. The result was that some got lucky and most lost everything. You can’t afford to just get lucky when it comes to marketing a law firm.
Take the time to get a marketing plan in place. How do you want to position your practice against your competitors? What demographic do you want to appeal to? How long are you going to run your campaign for? How much do you want to invest (time and money)?
Additionally, think about the systems in place at your firm now. How do you handle incoming leads? How are you measuring and analyzing the results of your marketing? Is someone responsible for maintaining marketing activities such as blogging, social media, etc? If your marketing is wildly successful, have you accounted for an influx of leads?
The Rainmaker Blog recently had an interesting post taking law schools to task. The post focused on the lack of training and preparation law schools currently provide young associates with regards to building and running a successful law practice.
Being a great lawyer and running a great law practice are two distinct and important skills. Just because an individual is a great lawyer, does not mean they will be a great business person.
I believe one of the most important skills to learn is the art of the sale. Sometimes sales has a bad stigma attached with it and as a result, lawyers never like to think of themselves as salesmen. But the truth is that all of us are in sales. We are always selling something be it an idea, a product, a service, ourselves, etc. Just like anything else, sales is a skill that needs to be nurtured, worked on, and practiced in order to improve. If you ignore the art of selling, you do so at your own peril. Your practice won’t last long if you can’t bring new clients in the door.
Here are 5 things lawyers need to know about sales:
1. Order Taking Is Not Selling – It is every lawyer’s dream that a steady flow of potential clients walks into their practice, credit card or checkbook in hand, asking when the lawyer can start working on their case. I have bad news, this isn’t going to happen. Sure you will get an occasional referral that is ready to go right away, but the reality is that people are in all different stages of the “buying cycle”. Some are currently comparing different lawyers they want to hire, some are looking for answers to their legal questions, some have legal concerns and don’t know what they should do. You need to be ready to convince them, if appropriate of course, why retaining your services will be the best option and provide the optimum outcome to their situation.
2. Be A Good Listener – Many people think that being skilled with selling involves having a silver tongue. The truth is that the best sales people are the best listeners. Understanding peoples concerns, fears, issues, and needs goes hand in hand with providing the best service and solutions. Ask questions and really listen to what the answers are. The client will tell you what they are looking for out of the attorney they want to hire. Do your best to explain how you are going to help solve their problems.
3. What’s In It For Them – How many of you have been on a date where all night you listened to the other person talk about themselves. I’ll bet it didn’t leave a great impression. Same goes for potential clients. They want to know what’s in it for them. They don’t really care about you or your practice. They only want to know how you will help resolve their issue. Take the time to think about how you are presenting your firm. Are you a solver of the client’s problems or do you talk about all of your accomplishments and how great you are at your job?
4. Relationship Building – Sales is about relationship building…and not just relationships with the clients. The best lawyers establish relationships and networks so that they have a steady stream of referrals and other people working for them in essence. The key thing to remember is that this doesn’t just happen on it’s own. It takes a lot of work, time, and a conscious effort to network. I’ve written before about becoming a thought leader and establishing a niche practice. The best sales people are the ones that understand networking.
5. Develop Sales Systems and Measure Results – This might be the most important element with regards to success in sales. You need to develop systems to handle incoming contacts, follow ups, intake interviews, and measuring of results. There is a terrific book call The E-Myth Revisited that addresses implementing systems into a business. Much of being successful with sales is being organized, persistent, and having good follow through. In today’s hyper-competitive legal world, you can’t afford to haphazardly handle your stream of potential contacts and clients. Doing work ahead of time to develop the experience a potential client has from the moment they contact your firm to the resolution of their issue will pay huge dividends for your practice.
What do The Beatles and your lawyer marketing have in common? The answer is longevity….if you embrace change and re-invention like The Beatles did.
One aspect of what made the Beatles so great for such a long period of time was their ability to re-invent themselves. Since the beginning, they created timeless music. However, throughout the evolution of their careers, they had the ability to change the type of music they created so as to reflect the changing times. The psychedelic Sgt. Pepper’s is a far cry from Please Please Me. The talent, creativity, and unique touch always existed but their ability to try different sounds and venture into new areas gave them staying power and kept them relevant for decades. Had they stuck with the exact same sound as when they appeared on Ed Sullivan, there is a good chance they wouldn’t have maintained the same level of popularity they still enjoy to this day.
Lawyer Marketing Works The Same Way
Times change, your firm changes, and your marketing needs to adapt to this. I think the writing is on the wall that phone books and newspapers aren’t going to be able to sustain the bulk of your marketing in the coming years. Lawyer marketing efforts need to be re-invented to remain relevant. Those firms that understand this will adapt and experience longevity. The rest will be one-hit wonders.
Make sure you are open to change, new ideas, and alternative methods for marketing your firm. Simply “sticking with what has always worked” will eventually be outdated. The legal field is too competitive now and that isn’t going to get better anytime soon.
There is a terrific urban legend about the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes. In 1519, Cortes landed on the shores of the Yucatan looking to conquer the Aztecs and seize their riches.
As the legend goes, Cortes convinced 500 men and 11 ships to join him on his conquest. Cortes knew that he had some distinct disadvantages. He was far outnumbered and in a foreign land, “home court” for his enemy. The Aztecs had survived and flourished for nearly six centuries before his arrival. This was a monumental task for Cortes and his men.
As his soldiers rested, preparing for battle the next day, Cortes sent a few men to burn all 11 ships they had traveled in. When the men awoke with their ships on fire, Cortes explained to his men “If we are going home, we are going home in their ships.”
With their backs against the wall, no means of escape, and no fall back position, Cortes and his men conquered the Aztecs. The choices were simple, succeed or die.
The idea of “burning the ships” applies to many aspects of running a firm or business. It’s easy to keep a safety valve instead of taking the risk to push through.
That’s not to say that it isn’t important to have a plan and a vision. However, often what winds up happening is that we refuse to take much of a risk. We stick with what we know and what is comfortable. If we know that our ships are still out there waiting for us, when things get tough we instinctively head for them so we can escape. It’s just human nature.
I speak with lawyers every day that want to find new ways of marketing and advertising their firm, but without the risk or commitment. Like any other aspect of running a law firm, we must take smart chances, try things out, and give them the focus, attention, and motivation they need to succeed. Only then can we judge the merits of the directions we choose.
In the above video, one of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell, speaks about the evolution of spaghetti sauce. He tells the story of how one man named Howard Maskowitz reinvented the spaghetti sauce industry.
Up until the mid 1980’s there were only a couple of varieties of spaghetti sauce on the market. Prego was losing out to Ragu and came to Howard asking to help revitalize the brand. His solution was that there is no perfect spaghetti sauce, only perfect spaghetti sauces. Howard’s genuis was that he realized the need not for the one perfect spaghetti sauce that everyone would universally enjoy, but rather a variety of sauces that appeal to different people. In other words, some of us prefer chunky, some of us like smooth. I like mushrooms, you want garlic. The point is that “the perfect” sauce isn’t the same for each one us. There is no one size fits all.
How does this fit into the legal world?
The way business is conducted and the workforce in general is experiencing a shift. The internet has changed many things. It has afforded the ability to connect and communicate from virtually anywhere. It has also allowed for people with very specific specializations, niches, interests, and problems to be found and to find others that can fill these needs. Free-lancers and niche specialists are thriving like never before.
The end result is the need to be remarkable at specific area of law, not just okay in several areas. In other words, lawyers need to find out how to become one of the “perfect sauces” rather than fighting with everyone to become the “perfect sauce.”
Questions to think about: What is your legal niche?
What legal field do others recognize you as an authority on? Do you blog to boost your reputation within your legal niche? Are you the first name that another lawyer would think of when they need to refer a very specific type of case out? Do you position yourself as an expert and a thought leader for your niche or do you just “fight harder than anyone else”?
I believe to stay ahead today, especially with the amount of new lawyers entering the market each year, it will be imperative to carve out your niche. Once you become the go-to guy, it will be much harder to displace you.
In the above video, Matthew Childs runs through the 9 lessons he learned over 35 years of rock climbing. What is so great about the 9 lessons is how applicable they are to life in general. I wanted to address these lessons and use them as a metaphor for running your law firm (or any business for that matter).
1. Don’t Let Go - Often your mind is telling you to let go of the rock way before your body does. By hanging in there, you will find that creative, alternative solutions to problems will present themselves. The mental hurdle is the toughest to get through. Yes, the long hours and busy work we put into our practice can be grueling, but truly the mental aspect is the toughest, and most important, to break through. Good book on this topic, The Dip by Seth Godin.
2. Hesitation is Bad – Matthew talks about gaining momentum when climbing, by not hesitating too much. This is true with our business or practice as well. I’m not suggesting we make blind decisions without thinking things through. What I am suggesting is that we not be afraid to take a chance, pick a direction, and follow our vision. Gaining that momentum makes a huge difference in overcoming the smaller, unavoidable mistakes that will be made along the way.
3. Have a Plan – While we hear this often, and know sub-conciously we need to do it, it’s easy to get caught up in the day to day tasks rather than zooming out and looking at the bigger picture. What direction do you want to take your practice in? Are you being reactive to external conditions or proactive in what you want to accomplish? A plan needs to be flexible and adapt to the conditions and changes that we can not see now. But to not have a plan in the first place will certainly make things difficult.
4. The Move is the End - When rock climbing, you need to have a plan to get to the top of the climb, but in order to get there you need to be able to complete each individual move. This requires focus on the details and execution of your plan. While the lesson above requires zooming out and having a master plan, this lesson deals with the execution of your steps to achieve that plan. Think through how effecient your systems are, do they allow you and your firm to execute the steps necessary so that you are reaching closer towards your vision of where you want the firm to be.
5. Know How to Rest – Do I really need to say much more about this? It goes without saying that lawyers work long, stressful, hours. Owning your own firm or practice certainly doesn’t decrease the amount of work you do. Often I think people fall into a trap of holding up the amount of hours they work as almost a badge of honor. The truth is, we need balance in our lives. Although this may shift and change over time, we need to make sure we rest ourselves mentally and physically. There is a diminishing return on the quality of our work when we are not getting the rest we need. Sometimes it’s better to shut it down and start fresh again the next day.
6. Fear Sucks - Matthew says that fear sucks because what it means is that you are not focusing on what you are doing, but rather your fear of the consequences of failing at what you are doing. I found this to be especially poignant because while fear can motivate us, if it consumes us it will effect our decisions and drive our focus to be pessimistic. While I believe that cynicism is an important attribute for business and law, pessimism is simply a bad attitude. Fearing failure will paralyze you and stands in the way of achieving the vision you have for your practice.
7. Opposites Are Good - Often we try to follow the most obvious solution to each problem. My take on this is to make sure you surround yourself with people that approach things differently than you do. This fresh or unique perspective will allow for more creative problem solving and a unique way of addressing the issue.
8. Strength Does Not Equal Success – In terms of rock climbing, often times men have a harder time than women because a man tries to pull himself up the rock with his upper body. This isn’t sustainable for any length of time (most of us can’t do 100 pull ups in a row). However, women approach the problem differently and seem to naturally be inclined to use their legs as well (which happens to be the correct way). I think that addressing each problem with brute force isn’t always the right fit. Although this is appropriate in some instances, others require more finesse. Learn what the circumstances call for and adapt accordingly.
9. Learn How to Let Go – I think this is tough for anyone running their own firm or business. This is your baby. You put so much time, effort, and thought into everything that goes on. It’s important to understand when something isn’t working and when to change course. We don’t want to give up prematurely, but at the same time we shouldn’t beat our heads against a wall when it isn’t working out. Understanding when to let go is crucial.
The E-Myth revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It is a terrific book for lawyers running their own practice. One of the key points of the book deals with the idea that as your business grows, it is essential that you put systems into place. The author sites the example of McDonalds as a finely tuned system. Every McDonalds you go to operates the same way and delivers the same experience. When you go to a McDonalds anywhere in the world, you know what to expect. This allows them to scale and replicate their business successfully. A new McDonalds doesn’t wonder how they should address a drive thru customer, how long to put the fries in for, what comes with a number 2 combo, or how many pickles to put on a hamburger. This has all been decided and is laid out ahead of time. A system has been created, tweaked, and followed for optimum performance.
What do The Beatles and your 
