Grow Your Law Practice
Legal marketing is a challenge for most solo attorneys and small law firms. We'd all like to be rainmakers, but most attorneys aren't marketers by nature and don't know where to start. Jaimie B. Field, Esq., founder of Marketing Field, LLC, a marketing and business development firm devoted solely to law firm growth and Rainmaker training/coaching, shares her A.C.T.I.O.N. plan for lawyers.
Believe it or not, becoming a Rainmaker is simple; there are only two steps to becoming an effective Rainmaker. First, rainmaking is a function of relationship building; second, rainmaking is a function of great follow up. While simple, it’s not easy. So to become a rainmaker you must take A.C.T.I.O.N.
A = AM: Wake up earlier. Waking up a half an hour earlier adds three and half hours per week which can be used for rainmaking. Imagine an extra 182 hours per year to connect with former, current and prospective clients by writing a blog, submitting an article, follow-up calls, or attending one more networking event.
C = Cut Out Time Wasting: Determine how much time do you waste during the day? If you are like most people, you are wasting time in a myriad of ways, procrastinating on the one thing you could be doing to bring in more clients, or even doing more work for the current clients you have. Then, learn to delegate, delete or downsize the task.
T = To-Do Lists: Write it down and prioritize: Yes, a To-Do list. Include everything! If you don’t write it down, things fall through the cracks and the time it takes to fix the mistakes takes away from Rainmaking activities. Prioritize which activities are going to be the most helpful to you. Cross out the tasks you have accomplished. There is a sense of satisfaction from putting an X next to that item or running a line through it (even electronically). Further, you have the opportunity to see how much you have accomplished.
I = Integrate your entire life: A true Rainmaker makes rain all of the time, even when they are doing things you wouldn’t consider to be “business development” activities. For example, does your Dentist know what you do for a living? He/She could be referring clients to you if they did.
O = Organize your plan: Take 15 minutes on Sunday Evening to plan your week. Start by writing in all of the appointments you have. Then plan the rest of your days in blocks of time. For example: block out time to run errands, to exercise, to have fun with family and friends, a chunk of time to perform one rainmaking activity per day, a chunk of time to work. By planning in chunks, you can respond to “emergencies” which arise and you can fill in the activities in the blocks with what’s on your to-do list. But treat each “chunk” of time as a true appointment; one that you cannot break. If you have scheduled an hour to write a blog post as your Rainmaking Activity for that day and you finish in half that time then perform another task (following up with a prospective client, for example) or take a quick break.
N = Now, Take ACTION! : Once you have a schedule, keep it! If you find yourself procrastinating for any reason, break the major task into its attendant pieces and perform one of the bite size pieces. There is an old adage: How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time. When you do this, you find that the task get’s accomplished much faster than you realized.
Rainmaking is about creating relationships, which requires ACTION, and following up, which further necessitates ACTION.