Watch future issues of InsideTrack for Michael Moore’s series offering career and practice management advice in today’s economy. If you’d like Michael to address a particular issue, please contact him at mmoore@moores-law.com.
Oct. 7, 2009 – When I was a teenager, I made money selling holiday cards door to door. In those days, you got a catalog of cards and order forms from a card company then went around the neighborhood and among your extended family taking orders. Once the cards arrived, you delivered them, collected the money, and paid the bill from the card company. The left over cash was yours to keep. Holiday cards are a very non-threatening item to sell so you could always get people to look. But if you wanted to make a sale, you had to ask them for the order. Getting people to fill out that order form was my first exposure to the Narrow Focused Request.
What is the Narrow Focused Request?
“Ask, and ye shall receive” is a biblical principal that best illustrates the concept. Client development is the process of finding a match between lawyer, matter, and client. To be successful, a lawyer needs to take the next natural step in the progression of matching their skills with the needs of the potential client. This is certainly not about arm twisting or hard ball coercion. The lawyer’s purpose is simply to help the client get what they need or want. It is a win-win scenario for both. The logical conclusion of any client focused presentation has to be, “Ask for the business, or the answer will always be no.”
How do other lawyers get their clients?
When asked this question directly, many lawyers offer a variety of answers, including marketing, networking, public service, and referrals. Legal marketing includes all these methods to build personal brand awareness. As Eric Hoffer observed, “At the core of true talent is the confidence that by persistence and patience something worthwhile will be realized.” However, effective lawyers know success is not an accident. Success is a choice. Successful lawyers make the choice to position themselves with potential clients and make the Narrow Focused Request. They get their business.
I didn’t go to law school to be a salesperson
When I was in law school, no one discussed how the lawyers who sued the Long Island Railroad on behalf of Mrs. Palsgraf actually got her as a client. We were trained to be legal professionals, not sales professionals. My first job at a small firm quickly illustrated the reality that there is little benefit to legal marketing without a sale. All the networking in the world is worth nothing if no clients come through the doors. Selling legal services is especially challenging. Broad approaches like seminars or publications usually must lead to individualized face-to-face dialogue to produce results. Marketing legal services is about attracting potential clients who want to take the next step with you personally. A lawyer must make a potential client feel comfortable in exposing their problems to the lawyer. Then the lawyer can narrowly identify how their knowledge would benefit the potential client.
Is it unethical to “ask for the business”?
In Wisconsin, as in most states, the Rules of Professional Conduct require that the lawyer should not solicit “professional employment from a prospective client when a significant motive for the lawyer’s doing so is the lawyer’s pecuniary gain.” The rules do contain the friend, relative, prior professional relationship and lawyer exceptions. However, there is not a “sophisticated person” exception, as some commentators have inferred, nor do the rules only apply in hospital emergency rooms. Many times simply listening to the potential client’s concerns and giving feedback naturally leads to a request for future help. You can suggest potential avenues or approaches for consideration, and if the potential client would like to explore them, offer to be of service.
The way you ask is just as important as asking
Once you have direct contact with a potential client, empathy is the key. Listen to what is being said. What is the potential client’s problem? How might you help? As a legal recruiter, my initial meeting with a potential candidate is always a listening session about their current situation. Engaging in a discussion designed to reveal a potential client’s needs and to determine whether you or your firm might be a good match for those needs is not selling to the client. It is a conversation, a mutual exploration, an offer to guide that client through a specific legal situation. Helping the potential client define their most critical issue greatly increases your likelihood of success. People resist what others try to make them do, not what they themselves choose to do. Help the potential client choose to solve their problem by hiring you.
Overcome your fear
A common fear shared by all of us is having to ask for the business, even if we know we can meet a prospective client's need. Often, it's just a simple matter of the appropriate wording. Be courageous, confident, and bold with potential clients. Don't be arrogant, but don't be afraid of being rejected or failing. Be proactive because clients prefer lawyers with initiative. Why would they hire a lawyer or law firm not direct enough to adequately protect their interests? Do your best and then let go of the outcome. Trust the process. You'll either get the client’s work or you won't.
Life is full of risk and uncertainty. Successful lawyers don't let fear of failure stop them. It is human to have fear; just don't let it keep you out of the game. To paraphrase the heart of Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam: “Tis better to have (asked) and lost, than never to have (asked) at all.”
Michael Moore, Lewis and Clark 1983, is a professional coach for lawyers and the founder of Moore’s Law, Milwaukee. He specializes in marketing, client development, and leadership coaching for attorneys at all levels of experience. Moore also advises law firms on strategic planning and resource optimization. He has more than 25 years’ experience in private practice, as a general counsel, in law firm management, and in legal recruiting. For more information, visit www.moores-law.com.
• Related: Lawyer resources in a down economy (WisBar.org)
• Previous articles: In transition? Don’t let it bring you down; Effective networking and the lesson of the pot belly stove; and Social networking means 33 million for lunch; The elevator speech: Who are you and why should I care?
