In my last article, we discussed a few key take-aways from my interview with Mitch Roth, Managing Partner of the Chicago based law firm Much Shelist.  One of his main points was the importance of developing your network early in your career. Another was being a great lawyer first. In addition to both being terrific points to follow, there was one other suggestion that Mitch made that I wanted to elaborate on further. Having a solid written marketing plan can mean the difference between success and failure in building a sustainable book of business. This is critical action item for attorneys interested in building a book of business, but who are unsure of how to get started or pointed in the right direction. His suggestion is to develop a written plan that outlines a specific course of action to make business development less intimidating.  

In addition to agreeing with Mr. Roth, I thought it would be appropriate to take his idea to the next level and break down how a plan can be written to help any attorney obtain the desired results.

My first recommendation is to determine your main objective.  This objective should be written as though you are certain it will happen. For example, “I will hit $500,000 in originations by November 2016.” By writing your objective in a positive way, it will reinforce your belief in obtaining the goal on a conscious and subconscious level. Writing your objective should be easy, especially if you know your numbers from the past few years. Be aggressive, but realistic.

Next, develop a series of three to five strategies that will help you accomplish that objective. Think for a moment about what you’ve done in the past that has brought you the most business with the least amount of effort. That might include introductions from satisfied clients or speaking at a conference where people clamored over you at the end of your speech. A good analogy for this is to think about an apple tree loaded with fruit. This tree represents the marketplace that you are in today. Wouldn’t it make sense to try and grab the lowest hanging fruit, versus laboring with a ladder to pick apples near the top? Certainly we would all agree that low hanging fruit is always sweeter. An example of a written strategy would be, “I will leverage existing clients to obtain high level quality introductions.” Or “I will attend focused networking events to meet new potential clients and strategic partners.” Keep your list of strategies short (two to four) so you don’t spread yourself too thin.

Finally, create a list of five to seven tactics for each written strategy to ensure your strategies are properly executed.  As you might guess, execution of these tactics is the hardest part of developing more business. What you should be shooting for here is to lay out the details that will help you accomplish your strategies. Some guidelines for writing tactics may include:

• There should be five to seven tactics for each strategy.

• Each tactic should have three to five bullet points of detail around that tactic.

• If the strategy represents the title of a story, then tactics would be the content of the story. Therefore, you should write them with a beginning, middle and an end. Think of this as the plan, execution and follow through.

• Each tactic should answer at least two of the following questions: “Who, What, When, Where, Why or How.” The more detail you include, the more impactful these tactics will be for you.

By detailing the actionable tactics, there should be a clear understanding of your chances of achieving your strategies, which then leads to obtaining your main objective. In order to help you better see how this plays out, here is a sample strategy with two corresponding tactics and the actionable details surrounding the tactics:

Strategy: To leverage my existing database to obtain introductions.

Tactic 1: I will print out my outlook contacts and rate them A, B or C based on the following parameters:

• I will time block 90 minutes to complete this task.

• “A” defined as best relationship and best opportunity.

• “B” defined as best relationship and good opportunity or best opportunity and good relationship.

• “C” defined as good relationship and good opportunity (or not sure).

• I will break them down into two lists. One is an existing and past client list and the other list contains potential referral partners.

• I will have this completed by Dec 30, 2015.

Tactic 2: I will develop a script to help me when calling my contacts to ensure success.

• The script for my “A’s” goes like this, “Hey ____, love to grab a coffee with you in the next few weeks.  Listen, ______, one of the things I was hoping we could talk about when we get together is looking at some contacts we might be able to make for one another. Is that something you’d be open to discussing when we get together?”

• Prepare an agenda for these meetings to review prior to meeting.

• This script will be created and ready to go by Dec 30, 2015

This example illustrates a few important points. First, the tactics define the “who, what and when” the task is going to be completed. The “when” is important because it sets a deadline to complete each tactic, which is a key component of getting things accomplished.  Second, these tactics are the beginning of the story and help to set up the execution of the plan. Getting lists together and formulating scripts is crucial to success in effective appointment setting.

Once you have a plan laid out and completed, you will feel confident that you will achieve the goals that were set.

Follow the plan and make the appropriate adjustments along the way. If something isn’t working the way it’s written, then change it.  Keep the plan in front of you and look at it daily. Check off or highlight things that you’ve accomplished to see your progress.

Whether you use a GPS to find your destination or use a recipe to make a great meal, having a plan is always better than simply “winging it.” As Mitch explained in his interview, most attorneys don’t have success as business developers because of a failure to effectively plan. In my experience working with hundreds of lawyers over the past 12 years, he couldn’t be more on target. In developing the book of business that you’re looking for, a failure to plan is a plan to fail.

Be sure to check in again soon for my next installment of Rainmaker 101 for more tips from top business developers I’ve interviewed.