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 You want and need to be contacted by potential clients and referral sources. Don’t make the walk to your door a difficult one. For reasons I have never understood, many lawyers neglect to do four simple things to help business get to them.
If you are neglecting any of the following, change your ways. Here are four tools I regularly see overlooked.
1. Have a web site. Even solo practioners need web presence. Although it is best to have an attractive and descriptive site, even basic information is better than being absent from the world’s most consulted business resource. Sites can be created inexpensively, and even a bare-bones site will describe what you do, what you have done and give your contact information. If you have people willing to recommend you on your site or have written work to which you can link, even better.
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 At the end of the year rainmakers plan for the next year. These plans include where to go, who to call, with whom to dine, which events to attend, which rooms to work, and perhaps even which clients to try to drop. A top goal of any rainmaker’s year-end list is maintaining and obtaining business.
Lawyers who are not rainmakers by nature — in other words, most lawyers — can find themselves intimidated by the very goals that energize natural rainmakers. I have seen outstanding working lawyers get flustered at the very thought of scheduling time for business development. Fear of failure abounds, even in early stage business planning, such as making a list or a schedule. I bear good news: although you may choose to battle your fears later, you need not conquer such fears before ramping up your business. Overly specific rainmaking goals may lead to unnecessary discouragement. A deliberate and focused attitude is all that is needed to set a tone for success.
With thanks to Peter Bregman (http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2012/12/consider-not-setting-goals-in.html), I suggest an approach that develops a focused vision and sidelines goals. Continue reading →
 You’ve taken a potential client to lunch or made a pitch at the client’s office. What happens now? Is there anything to do but wait?
When the ball is in a client’s court, there are only a few choices about what to do while waiting. One legitimate choice is, of course, to simply wait – as patiently as possible.
A crucial thing to remember when considering whether to do anything at all is to choose what you do in a fully conscious manner. Inexperienced or fearful rainmakers have a tendency to do what makes them feel calmer. However, it is only by coincidence that an action that will calm your nerves will also encourage the client to respond to your business pitch in the way you desire. Seeking your own comfort is never good motivation for forcing a client response. If you want the client’s business, it is the client you need to make comfortable. Continue reading →
 With the 2012 Presidential election only recently in our rear-view mirror, a number of lawyers have asked me if I could help them cast a wide net for new clients. They want to pursue clients like national politicians pursue votes – by selling to different constituencies simultaneously. I can’t do that, nor do I believe that is an effective way for most lawyers to get clients.
There are marketing techniques with which lawyers can announce (and, as a consequence, sometimes sell) their skills on a wholesale basis. However, the most successful business pitches lawyers make are conducted on a one-to-one basis, or at least in person.
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This work first appeared in the November 8, 2012 edition of “The Careerist”.
 In my 30 years of working with lawyers, I’ve found that they often have misconceptions about business development. Rainmakers are not necessarily savvy or brave. Nor are they wiser than their fellow lawyers. Many successful rainmakers are careful, precise, and even quiet. One need not be gregarious to build or increase a book of business.
No particular personality is required for rainmaking, but lawyers should first make sure that they are going into it with the right attitude. So before you begin, check that you are not falling into these seven attitude traps:
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