Sales is a "numbers game," and in a weak economy, your entire firm should be involved in rainmaking. Sometimes that is easier said than done....
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Rainmakers, Mistmakers & Wet Blankets
by Terry Graham, M.A.
In a booming economy, talented rainmakers bring in legal matters that are often handled by "Worker Bee" attorneys. Bee-Team players may have significant client contact, but the rainmaker owns the client and is typically paid accordingly.
This mutually beneficial rainmaker/worker relationship changes radically in a weak economy as clients seek faster, cheaper solutions to their legal needs. In a reasonable effort to protect their income, rainmakers delegate less work. Idle workers respond by competing internally for fewer billable hours, a time-wasting exercise in futility that fosters a divisive versus cooperative workplace.
Inter-firm food-chains also dry up when times are tight. Smaller firms -- including solos -- who once relied upon matters referred to them by larger firms must hit the streets in search of new clients. At the same time, the smaller practice with a client whose legal needs may occasionally exceed their capabilities is far less likely to refer that client to a larger, hungry firm on the prowl for more work.
An "eat-what-you-kill", survival-of-the-fittest culture begins to emerge in large and small law firms. But a better option is to expand your sales force by transforming worker bees into rainmakers.
Creating a firm environment in which all attorneys (and, ideally, administrative staff) are encouraged, expected and trained to participate in the firm's marketing activities will shake up a firm, but so will layoffs, portable practice split offs and bankruptcy filings.
You've heard that "sales is a numbers game." That means that to increase sales, you must increase the number of attorneys strategically, actively and consistently engaged in selling your firm's services to an increasing number of good prospects and referral sources.
The bottom line is: there is no billable hour without a paying client!
Still, some firms foolishly fail to adapt to today's tougher marketplace. Partners and associates alike may set up major obstacles to hinder those attorneys who wisely opt to hone and apply their rainmaking skills. If you recognize yourself (or your firm) in any of the following scenarios, raise the red flags. It's time for a change.
MANAGEMENT AMBIVALENCE
The surest way to keep junior partners and associates from rainmaking is for top management (usually including high performance rainmakers) to discourage them actively, passive/aggressively, or through ambivalence expressed in recruiting strategies, empty promises of marketing training and support, or failure to acknowledge and reward those who make sincere, targeted efforts to generate new business.
A rainmaking superstar may view aspiring mistmakers as personal and professional threats to be met with disdain or outright attack. Tactics can include arguing against establishing and funding a firmwide marketing infrastructure (e.g., training, support, rewards, etc.), criticizing and/or undermining a colleague's legitimate marketing activities and early results, or even derailing his/her career path.
Equally problematic are senior and junior attorneys whose practices have relied upon a rainmaker for their workload and who fear they will fail at marketing. I have seen these individuals band together, rallying around "their" rainmaker to block junior partner and associate participation in business development. In the short term, this myopic, ultimately self-destructive behavior not only serves to secure their favored status in the rainmaker's eyes, it also protects these wet blankets from unflattering comparisons and job insecurity likely to arise if their colleagues land new clients. Of course, this behavior sets the stage for long-term financial difficulties.
ASSOCIATE AMBIVALENCE
A firm's ambivalence toward associate marketing is first communicated during the recruiting and interviewing process. Ambitious attorneys tell me they select firms that demonstrate a clear commitment to helping them develop rainmaking skills. A firm who fails to do so may lose out on talented lawyers with rainmaking skills while attracting associates seeking shelter in the worker beehive.
Even when a firm pays lip service to associate rainmaking responsibilities, if management's commitment is incomplete, goals are ambiguous, training is unavailable, and rewards (e.g., recognition, accelerated equity partner tracks, financial compensation and other "perks") for participating in nonbillable, focused marketing activities are spotty or nonexistent, associates will sense ambivalence and react accordingly. Often, wet blanket associates who correctly gauge a firm's lack of commitment to their participation in marketing join forces to undermine the efforts of rainmaking associates who could make them look bad.
Another self-fulfilling complaint I often hear from associates regarding their rainmaking is that "no CEO is going to hire a 27-year-old attorney." This statement demonstrates confusion on what marketing is: all activities leading to the sale. Associates need to establish short- and long-term goals, often with guidance that incorporates their personality style into an individualized marketing plan. Most associates can readily perform basic marketing activities that are an inefficient use of partner time, for example, serving as a "scout" in a lower priority professional/trade organization to identify business opportunities that otherwise would be missed. A more seasoned member of the firm can be brought in to "close the sale". Handling less critical marketing activities permits associates to test and refine business development skills at a comfortable pace, while furthering the firm's goal of reaching out to targeted markets. Though contacts made by associates in their mistmaking days may not be decision makers, they are often in a position to influence superiors. And as associates mature professionally, so do these contacts. It may take a few years, but when it finally rains, it pours.
ONE DEGREE OF SEPARATION
When I was marketing director at a mid-size firm, I made a point of meeting regularly with associates. During my first meeting with a new associate, I asked him to identify the types of clients that were attractive to him. After some prodding about his pre-J.D. work experience, he noted his interest in manufacturing, casually mentioning that his father owned a local manufacturing business. You can bet he led the firm's efforts to sign up his dad as a new client. He became a rainmaker within weeks of being hired.
A partner in another firm was complaining about his failure to land a company he had been pursuing for many months. An associate overheard the conversation and volunteered that his sister was married to the company's president! How many hours of nonbillable rainmaking could have been avoided through a personal introduction to this prospect made by his brother-in-law?
The truth is, everyone in your firm has at least a few friends and family members who are good prospects and referral sources for your practice. Sometimes it just takes a bit of prodding employees to identify them, and help make the connection.
Whatever your firm's situation, the benefits of including more attorneys in your marketing efforts are great, and often immediate. The essential steps are to (1) secure management commitment; (2) create a firm infrastructure and culture that supports your commitment; (3) provide adequate training and support as each attorney develops and implements personal marketing plans; and (4) carry through at all levels, with checkpoints to make sure the marketing program is working well.
STILL NOT CONVINCED?
If you are still not convinced that more attorneys should be brought into your firm's rainmaking circle, consider this: A number of my new clients are attorneys who -- having determined their firms are losing ground in the market -- have retained me to assist them in their rainmaking efforts with the ultimate goal of attracting an offer from a firm that supports and rewards rainmaking. Some intend to join with other rainmakers to start their own law firms, meaning more competition for you! I can assure you that these go-getters are not the attorneys your firm can afford to lose.
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Terry Graham, M.A., is a legal marketing and public relations consultant based in Marin County, California. She can be reached at 415/686-8442 or tg@terry-graham.com. Check out her website at www.terry-graham.com
© 2010 Terry Graham. This article may be copied and distributed as is with no changes, and with proper attribution to the author, including copyright and contact information.
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