JULY LUNCHEON MEETING
this month’s topic is
RAINMAKING
featured speakers
Linda Bowman, Janet Chubb
and Barbara Gruenewald
Tuesday, July 18, 2000, 12 noon
at
{
BRICK’S RESTAURANT
1695 S. Virginia St.
{
Lunch choices are: Turkey Cobb Salad or Maui Chicken
Burger. Cost is $12.00 (includes beverage) Make your reservations today by
calling Randi at Vicky Mendoza’s office, 324-7533. CLE has been applied for.
Come join us for lunch and listen to some of our
successful members share their secrets for rainmaking. Linda Bowman, Janet Chubb and Barbara
Gruenewald will share their secrets of success with us this month. See you at Brick’s!
NNWLA SUSTAINING MEMBERS
JUSTICE DEBORAH A. AGOSTI
TROY ANDERSON
SALLIE ARMSTRONG
CHRISTINE BAILEY
JUSTICE NANCY BECKER
LINDA BOWMAN
SARA BETH BROWN
JANET CHUBB
CAROL A. COOKE
JUDGE VALERIE COOKE
MICHELLE ERLACH
JUDGE BARBARA FINLEY
KENDRA FOLLETT
NANCY MOSS GHUSN
JILL GREINER
DOROTHY NASH HOLMES
JENNY D. HUBACH
NATHALIE HUYNH
LYNNE K. JONES
LINDA LINTON
PAT LUNDVALL
PATRICIA LYNCH
VICTORIA MENDOZA
ANN MORGAN
SHELLY O’NEILL
BRIDGET ROBB PECK
GLORIA PETRONI
MARGO PISCEVICH
DEBRA ROBINSON
BARBARA SALERNO
JUSTICE MIRIAM SHEARING
MYRA SHEEHAN
SHIRLEY SMITH
JUDGE CONNIE STEINHEIMER
JENNIFER STERN
MARGARET TWEDT
SANDRA WILSON
JOAN WRIGHT
NINTH CIRCUIT RECEPTION
You are invited to attend a Ninth Circuit Bench-Bar
meeting in Reno, Nevada, on July 18, 2000, at the United States Courthouse, 400
S. Virginia Street. A three judge panel
of the Ninth Circuit is scheduled to hear three cases beginning at 1:30 p.m. in
Courtroom Five on the eighth floor. The
meeting will take place at the conclusion of oral argument, or approximately
3:30 p.m. The bar is also welcome to
observe oral argument.
The purpose of the program is to provide information
regarding developments in Ninth Circuit rules and procedures, and to give
practitioners an opportunity to express themselves freely regarding questions
or concerns relating to the handling of appeals within the Ninth Circuit. This is one of a series of meetings being
scheduled throughout the Circuit under the auspices of the Court and its
Advisory Committee on Rules of Practice and Internal Operating Procedures (28
U.S.C. §2077 (b)).
Following the bench-bar meeting, a reception hosted by
the State Bar of Nevada First Judicial Bar Association Bruce R. Thompson
Chapter, Inns of Court, the Washoe County Bar Association, the Federal Bar
Association, the Northern Nevada Women Lawyers, and the District of Nevada
Lawyer Representatives to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference will take place
in the Library at the Courthouse.
Please RSVP to West Allen (702) 222-2500.
A STYLISH APPROACH TO
RAINMAKING
Assessing a Client’s
Interpersonal & Legal Needs
by Rachel J. Canter
Is there anything new to say about rainmaking? My training as a psychologist, and data from
psychological studies, say there is.
Many rainmaking seminars and approaches emphasize the acquisition of
basic skills for selling effectively.
These valuable strategies are critical to effective rainmaking, but they
are only part of the picture.
Successful marketing depends on assessing a client’s interpersonal and
legal needs more than it does on selling a service.
In plain English this means understanding not just what
a prospective client needs in terms of legal service, but more important, what
the prospect needs in terms of style and approach. Is the prospect a “just the facts” person who wants information
from you in bullet form (verbally or in writing), the shorter the meeting, the
better. Or is he or she interested in
socializing with you to ensure you are comfortable with each other
socially as a way to evaluate doing
business together?
The style you adopt in your dealings with a prospect -
including the type and amount of information you provide and the type of
relationship you build in order for them to buy - are examples of the variables
that affect the successful outcome of a business development effort. Effective marketing is not just selling
services.
Left to our own devices, each of us will revert to our
comfort zone, continuing to rely on whatever business development strategy
suits our own style, but not necessarily those of our prospects. Jack provides a good example. He was a very intellectual, shy guy, a
partner in a mid-size firm who was technically sharp and relied on by other
members of his practice and the whole firm, actually, for answers to tough
legal questions.
Technical expertise was his specialty, business
development was not. The firm
eventually referred him to me when his marketing efforts had not produced the
desired revenues for several successive years.
Jack figured that I could help him find another firm more appreciative
of his diligent efforts to make speeches to trade associations and to write
articles. Instead, we looked first at
how he could be more effective in tailoring his business development efforts to
the needs of prospective clients.
How to do this?
First, look for some clues in the initial contacts with a prospect. The directness of communication and the
relative emphasis on the task or the relationship are two important variables
in style. Is the prospect a person who
prefers phone contacts or e-mail, or is face-to-face communication
preferred? Are conversations confined
to the task at hand or do they include personal information? Does the prospect speak rapidly or look for
quick answers, or speak more slowly and want more time and information to reach
a decision?
Dave was a hard-charging associate from a major law
firm, the kind of go-getter every firm wants.
A smart, can-do kind of guy. But
his style bombed with several likely prospects from an industry in which he had
done a lot of work. Word filtered back
that people were turned off by his abrasiveness and impatience. He pushed for quick decisions, and when he
pushed, prospects pushed back with “no”.
A style that is generally seen as a strength can be a
liability with some prospects. Mary was
a very personable lawyer, highly intelligent, and able to communicate with
those less intelligent without making them feel stupid. She was adept at meeting people and establishing
rapport. Those interpersonal skills,
along with her formidable technical skills, made her a star in her class of
associates at a prominent law firm.
However, she foundered in a number of critical business development
situations. She was so intent on
building rapport that you overlooked the prospects’ needs for information
first, rapport later. Meetings were cut
short, calls were unanswered, promising prospects withered.
Marketing and training is an important foundation for
effective rainmaking. Impressive
academic and employment credentials are another. However, the days of credentials alone ensuring business are long
gone. For most of us, those days never
existed. I have worked with many
lawyers who, despite all these factors going for them, have had trouble
generating business in a booming but competitive marketplace.
How can you compete for business in this market? One simple way to start is with that revered
teacher, Lucy, of I Love Lucy fame.
Remember the famous episode where Lucy mirrors every gesture and
expression of a clown? I can’t recall
what dilemma she was in and why she was pretending to be a mirror image. However, emulating prospects in one way to
learn their style. If someone speaks in bullets, respond in bullets. If they talk about statistics, talk back in
statistics.
Before meeting, you can pick up many cues about style
on the phone and prepare for your meeting appropriately. In a sense, it is an extension of the
important central principle of active listening: listen carefully and
paraphrase what you have heard back to the speaker, checking to confirm that
you have understood them correctly.
This is useful to clarify understanding and to reinforce rapport.
If you want to give your people-reading skills a boost,
there are tools out there and training to help you. One example is the Birkman Method, which is an empirically-based,
specialized tool for attorney business development that enables attorneys to
understand their own style, and the style of prospects, using a simple
four-part grid. This information can help you understand your natural emphasis
on rainmaking. Are you a schmoozer or a
teacher? Are you comfortable with
five-minute overviews or lots of written documentation? You can also learn how to read your client’s
style and adjust your approach accordingly.
As in so many things in life, aside from some sweat
pants and T-shirts, one size rarely fits all.
To make the most of your rainmaking activities, putting time into
tailoring your style and approach to the needs of your prospective clients can
boost your effectiveness.
NNWLA WEBSITE
Check out the NNWLA Website located at www.nnwla.org
for up-to-date news and information NNWLA and links to other exciting websites.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
If you have an announcement for the July NNWLA
Newsletter or future Newsletters, please fax the information to Vicky Mendoza’s
office at 324-7266 or call Randi at 324-7533.
Thank you.
AUGUST WINE TASTING
Our August meeting will be a wine tasting at
Viaggio’s. This will be on August 22nd
at 5:30 p.m. Please plan to bring
another person to introduce to the group.
We will feature three wines: a champagne, chardonnay and merlot. The NNWLA is also planning a great menu
too. The cost is $15 per person. It will be a fun mixer. Put it on your calendar.
PACK PAWS GOLF TOURNAMENT
It’s the return of the Silver
and Blue Classic. Mark your calendars,
practice your putting and get your foursome lined up for
Monday, August 14
For more information call Juli
Kistler at 784-6900 ext. 268
