Cordell Parvin Blog

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers

How to Master Client Development Skills

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Client Development, Client Development Coaching

When I started teaching client development to lawyers in my old law firm, I made an important discovery-one shot client development training programs do not work. Our lawyers listened and were inspired,  but they did not change what they were doing. That is why I started our law firm client development coaching program. This is also the reason your firm should try client development coaching.

Yesterday I read an interesting Inc. Magazine article by Geoffrey James: How to Master any Skill. This article confirms my points on one shot training programs. Quoting best selling author, Greg Wingard, James outlines the six steps to mastering a skill. Three of the steps are “theory” and the other three are “practice.”

The Theory Segment

  • Unawareness: You are unaware that there is a skill to be learned.
  • Awareness: You realize you need to learn that skill.
  • Clarification: You understand what you need to do differently.

The Practice Segment

  • Awkwardness: You attempt the new behavior and find it difficult.
  • Familiarity: The new behavior is easier but still not automatic.
  • Automatic: You no longer think about the behavior but simply do it.

I recently wrote about the importance of starting client development training and coaching with young lawyers in my post; How to Make Client Development Natural for Your Young Lawyers. Here is the important point: You, and other lawyers in your firm, will go through the six stages listed above, whether you and they start learning in the first year or their 20th year practicing law.

Client development coaching is the proven way to get through “The Practice Segment.” Over the last year, I have been giving presentations around the country to show law firms how they can set up their own internal client development coaching program. As you know yesterday we did the presentation as a webinar. Here is the Webinar recording and the handout materials CD Coaching Webinar Feb 2012.

Think about the associates and junior partners in your law firm. What stage are they in moving towards mastering client development and making it automatic? What is your firm doing to help them?

 

Key to Client Development Coaching Success: Let Your Lawyers Focus on Their Strengths

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Career Development, Client Development

As you may know, at noon CST today, I will show law firms why and how to set up their own client development coaching program. There are still just a few telephone lines available, so if you are interested contact jflo@cordellparvin.com this morning.

A few months ago I posted: What Kind of Client Development Efforts Suit You Best? I included links to StrengthsFinder 2.0 and the StrengthsFinder test.

My friend and colleague Cindy Pladziewicz is both a psychologist and a lawyer. If you are a regular reader you know that Cindy introduced me to StrengthsFinder and now she has a StrengthsFinder session with many lawyers I coach. She wrote: Want to develop a great business plan? Play to your strengths. Cindy has done StrengthsFinder coaching for lawyers, professional staff members in law firms and for corporate personnel.

In the Webinar today, Cindy will share with participants how we use StrengthsFinder results to work help give the lawyers I coach their best path for client development.

Kristi Sebalj is a lawyer I coached who also co-authored Rising Star: The Making of a Rainmaker. Kristi found her StrengthsFinder session very helpful, so I asked her to share her experience with you. Here is what Kristi said:

With the results of my test in hand, Cindy took the time to walk me through the implications, positive, negative and otherwise of my 5 strengths.

The “Aha” moments flowed from there. It gave me a better (or perhaps more accurately the first REAL) understanding of who I am, why I think and act the way I do and perhaps most importantly, how I can best take this newfound knowledge about myself and use it to move forward in my career and be happier doing it.

Cindy helped me realize that playing on my strengths is a MUCH more productive exercise than trying to overcome my weaknesses. I left our session feeling inspired and motivated – but more than that – equipped with the tools to make positive change happen for me, my clients and my future.

Do your senior associates and young partners know their strengths?

 

Senior and Experienced Lawyers: Are you blogging and using social media to demonstrate expertise and build relationships?

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Career Development, Client Development

Today is the  50th anniversary of John Glenn’s historic space flight on Friendship 7. (It is also my birthday). This year The Beach Boys are going on their 50th Anniversary Tour. On April 26, they will appear in Grand Prairie, Texas. Having watched their first stage appearance in 20 years at the Grammy Awards, I was picking up “Good Vibrations” until I discovered the price of the tickets. I feel fortunate to have The Beach Boys: Good Timin’ – Live at Knebworth, England 1980 concert video on my computer.

The principles of space flight never changed, but the tools did change. Think about it. Just seven years after John Glenn’s historic flight, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. What a great time to be an American.

The Beach Boys also made changes. As reported in Wikipedia:

The primarily Brian-composed Pet Sounds album and “Good Vibrations” single (both released in 1966) featured a complex, intricate and multi-layered sound that was a far cry from the simple surf rock of The Beach Boys’ early years.

I was admitted to practice law in Virginia in 1971. A lot has changed since then. Yet, the principles of client development have not changed. When I first started and still today, client development is about being seen as a”go to” lawyer, meaning building your profile  and about building trust based relationships with clients, potential clients and referral sources. When I do presentations teaching lawyers, I like to use this visual to depict these principles:

As you will see:

  1. You have to be visible, meaning people need to know who you are
  2. You have to be credible, meaning people need to know what you do and that you do it well
  3. That leads to “weak tie” relationships
  4. Those “weak tie” relationships lead to recommendations
  5. Then you have a meeting with the potential client
  6. Your success at that point depends on building trust and rapport with the potential client, who is asking himself: Can I trust this lawyer to handle this matter? and What is it going to be like to work with this lawyer?

While the principles of client development have not changed, the tools have dramatically changed. Among other things, potential clients will review your website bio and “Google” you after receiving a recommendation. They may also “Google” the legal area to see if your name or firm comes up. The internet has also enabled lawyers to become visible and credible to a wider group of “weak tie” relationships.

I was reminded of that recently when I received a very kind LinkedIn recommendation from Holland and Knight partner, David Donoghue. I coached Dave on client development when he was a Jenkens and Gilchrist associate. He is now a partner and prolific blogger with Chicago IP Litigation Blog and Retail Patent Litigation Blog. I was struck by part of what Dave said about me:

Cordell is phenomenal. Cordell has the significant benefit of having built his own practice and he combines that with a genuine love and appreciation for basically everyone he meets. So he quickly develops an interest in everyone he coaches and can offer real insight. (I am thinking Wow that is really nice, but here is what follows.) This alone would be nice, but not all that powerful if he were teaching how to do it the way he did it 40 years ago. Instead, Cordell has adapted to the new realities of legal practice and has phenomenal insights into it.

Dave makes clear that the tools for business development have changed. I find it ironic that junior lawyers know the technology, but do not have the “go to” expertise and relationships and senior lawyers who are “go to” lawyers and have the relationships do not adapt because they fear the technology. Last year I did a cross-country tour for a firm, teaching their experienced lawyers how to blog and use the new social media tools.

If you are an experienced, senior lawyer, what are you doing to adapt to the new realities of client development?

 

I want to help you set up a successful client development coaching program in your firm

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Client Development, Client Development Coaching

Have you thought about setting up a client development coaching program in your firm? Do you have a lawyer who is well respected and would be a good coach? Do you have lawyers anxious to learn how to attract and retain good clients? I think I can help you.

As you likely know, I convinced the leadership of my old firm to allow me set up a client development coaching program. I had previously done client development training in each of our offices and discovered nothing had changed. The lawyers never implemented what I had taught  them. I had also done a presentation at our new shareholder orientation and discovered not one of our new shareholders had prepared a business plan. I saw a great opportunity to increase firm revenue by focusing on helping that group of lawyers.

I began coaching those new shareholders and we set a group goal to double the business origination of the group in two years. After they achieved the goal in one year, I decided I wanted to coach lawyers “full time.” So, on January 1, 2005, I left my successful law practice to coach lawyers. I have coached hundreds of lawyers in the US and Canada since 2005 and I have learned what works and what doesn’t.

I want to share with you and your firm what I have learned from coaching several hundred lawyers in many firms.  On Tuesday, February 21 at noon CST I will do a FREE webinar for the first 25 who sign up. I will include audio from several lawyers who have participated in the coaching. To hear the audio you will need to have the speakers on your computer turned on or a headset. Dr. Cindy Pladziewicz will join me and discuss how we use her StrengthsFinder 2.0 coaching sessions to help the lawyers I coach focus on their client development strengths.

Even if you are unable to participate, I know you will also find this CD Coaching Handout valuable.

With only 25 total telephone lines available, space is limited and several people have already signed up. So, if you are interested, contact jflo@cordellparvin.com this morning,

 

Do You Know Your Personality Type? I Can Show You Why You Should

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Career Development, Client Development

How well do you know yourself? Do you know what motivates you? Do you know your strengths and your weaknesses?

Have you ever taken the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator personality inventory?  If you haven’t, I urge you to take it. Understanding my personality type was one of the most important things I ever did. I understood my strengths and weaknesses as a lawyer and knew the kind of lawyer I needed on my team, especially when a big trial was coming up.

There are 16 personality types. If you click on the Meyers-Briggs above you will see the 16 types. You are either extroverted (E) or introverted (I). You are either sensing(S) or intuitive(N). You are either thinking (T) or feeling (F). Finally, you are either judging (J) or perceiving(P).

As expressed in The Unique Psychological World of  Lawyers, the profile of  lawyers is strikingly different than the general population. More lawyers are introverted and significantly more lawyers than the general population are thinkers.

I am an ENFP and in each of the four categories I am not even close to the other trait. I have read in a Purdue University report. MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR: GENERAL PROFILE -ENFP that only 5% of the general population share my personality type. I remember reading that only 3% of lawyers are ENFP’s.  I look back now and believe being an ENFP helped me with my client development efforts. You can read about my personality type on the Meyers-Briggs webpage, in the Purdue report and in Portrait of an ENFP.

If you read these discussions you will find that the label given to ENFP’s is “Inspirer.” That might explain why I am passionate about coaching, mentoring and working with young lawyers. You can read more details. I like to describe myself this way:

  • I am always excited at the beginning of a project and then I get bored
  • I am a big picture thinker (hating details)
  • I love helping people (which has led to being taken advantage of)
  • I am the extreme eternal optimist (it never occurred to me that I might fail)
  • I am long on ideas and short on follow through (that is why I must have a plan and a way to hold myself accountable)
  • I struggle to make a final decision on anything

Why was learning my personality type so important? I learned that having someone else like me on my litigation trial team would be an incredible disaster.

I teamed with Larry Caudle, who is now with Kraftson Caudle on my last several cases. We were a great team. I  am not sure what Larry’s personality type is, but I am positive he is not an ENFP. I was the big picture guy. Larry was outstanding at the details of our cases. I saw the glass overflowing because it was so full. Larry saw it as close to empty, meaning he saw the challenges we would face.

I hope my example gives you a powerful reason to discover your own personality type.

One Tip to Get More Potential Clients to Read Your Blog

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Blogging, Client Development

Are your potential clients reading your blog?  If not, the reason may have something to do with how you are writing it.

It is almost funny. When I read blog posts by lawyers, I frequently think it would have been a great post if the last paragraph had been written as the first paragraph. As you will see below, when I looked at some of my writing from years ago, I was also guilty of violating this tip.

 

I thought of this problem recently when I read: 26 Tips for Writing Great Blog Posts. Look at #10: Journalistic Approach and the inverted pyramid. Among the many good suggestions, was:

The inverted pyramid works (basic overview in first paragraph and then delve into more details in subsequent paragraphs)

I plead guilty to doing the very thing I strongly urge bloggers not to do-bury the lead. If you want to see what I mean, read my Roads and Bridges column titled: Owner: “Keep Me Updated”.

As you will see I began the column talking about a Federal Highway Administration Report on analyzing time and schedule performance on highway construction projects involving contract claims. If I had used the inverted pyramid method described above, I would have opened the column with this paragraph:

Do you regularly update your schedule during construction? I know several contractors who find this burdensome. The failure to update the schedule may defeat a contractor’s otherwise valid claim for additional time and compensation, because courts routinely discount the evidentiary value of the as-built schedule created at the end of the project. The Federal Highway Administration recently issued a report detailing the importance of updating the schedule during construction.

I don’t think you need to be a construction lawyer to see that providing the overview in the first paragraph would have engaged my readers more effectively.

I would be interested in hearing from you on which of the other tips on the list lawyers blogging should follow. If you get a chance offer your comments and suggestions.

 

Help Make Client Development Natural for Your Young Lawyers

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Client Development, Client Development Coaching

When I was growing up I played baseball just about every day in the summer. I remember going with the neighborhood guys to the local park with my glove, bat, ball and lunch. We played ball each day until dinner.

I continued playing baseball in high school and through my sophomore year in college. I haven’t swung a baseball bat in probably 30 years or more. Yet, if I went to a batting cage today, I could swing without giving any thought to technique. I probably would find hitting the ball challenging, but I would swing naturally.

When asked, almost every lawyer I have coached wishes he or she had started learning and practicing client development earlier in his or her career. Lawyers who start learning and practicing client development activities early in their career make client development a habit and part of what they do each and every day. They don’t think about technique.

This is one of the many reasons your firm should begin client development training for your young lawyers early in their careers. The earlier they start and the more opportunities they have to practice what they are learning, the more likely it will become natural to them.

I plan to do a Webinar on client development for senior associates on March 1, at Noon CST. If you, or your firm is interested in participating, contact jflo@cordellparvin.com to learn more and sign up.

Client Development Strategy: The Importance of Being the Dominant Player

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Client Development

Nancy and I recently traveled with three other couples. Each night at dinner, the four couples divided the bill evenly and put our credit cards on the table. In some restaurants they added the tip to the bill. In other restaurants, we asked each other how much to tip.

Having experienced the how much to tip question, I had to grin when I read Seth Godin’s blog post: “How much are you going to tip?”  You have to read it to see how Seth ties it to attracting clients. In essence, he points out clients want to make the most popular and safe choice because by doing so they are blameless.

I hear that all the time from lawyers I coach. They tell me it is challenging to break through to the large business clients because the in-house lawyers are making the safe choice.

As Seth Godin suggests, the key to success is to become, or at least appear to be, the dominant player in your field. I was able to do that in my narrow niche of transportation construction law. It took time, but I was able to do it by writing a monthly column in the most read trade publication and speaking at national construction industry association meetings. I think I was really lucky to be in the right place at the right time.

In the blog, Seth also gives suggestions that apply to young lawyers. He suggests:

And the best plan for the insurgent brand? To find a smaller tribe, become the presumed winner there, and scale it up across tribes.

Looking back now, I can see that I started with smaller contractors and scaled it up to some of the largest contractors in the country. At the same time, as you will learn in a future post, my client development efforts were always aimed at ultimately attracting those larger contractors. So I think there are two questions you want to ponder:

  1. What is the right place at the right time for client development in 2012?
  2. What is the target market smaller tribe that you can win and fit your firm’s client requirements and then scale it up?

Help Potential Clients Find You and Hire You

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Client Development

For the next few Fridays, or until I run out, I want to respond to questions I receive from lawyers. Recently I was asked:

Did you ever ask potential clients for business?

I spent my entire career without asking for business. Clients do not like to be sold and they do not want to hire a lawyer who appears to be “needy or greedy.”  They hate needing to hire a lawyer. But, when they have to hire a lawyer, they want to initiate the hiring process.

Clients have access to many, many lawyers and receive more information from lawyers than they want or need. So, to be considered you must become visible and credible, not only to the potential clients, but also to referral sources who will recommend you. You have to be able to accomplish this through all the noise that is in the marketplace.

I did it by writing in construction industry publications and speaking at construction industry meetings. In essence, the construction industry publications and associations “vouched” for me so my writing and speaking got through the noise.

Who can “vouch” for you?

What question do you have for me? Send your question to jflo@cordellparvin.com

 

I love coaching lawyers who feel like beginners

By Cordell Parvin on Posted in Career Development, Client Development

I am in Phoenix this week and at noon today I will be doing a presentation at the Phoenix/Mesa law firm Gibson Ferrin, PLC. To show you the power of Twitter, I met Scott Gibson on Twitter and today will be the first time we have ever met in person.

I will be blessed to have Phoenix lawyer, Lizzette Zubey, join me. I asked Lizzette to participate because she is a lawyer who put the most into our coaching program and got the most out of it. If you have a few minutes listen to my podcast interview with Lizzette to get the idea.

I thought of Lizzette, and many other lawyers who got the most of coaching, when I read How to Keep the Beginner’s Mind written by  Anthony Iannarino. He describes attending the National Speaker’s Association conference in Dallas and finding some very well known speakers sitting, like beginners, in workshops to learn even more. He says:

The masters never rest on their laurels. They know that as things change, there are new ideas and new discoveries. There are new methods for producing results, and there are new tools and technologies.

I find many lawyers get to the point where they feel there is nothing more to learn. That includes they have stopped learning about client development and do not use the new client development tools.

The lawyers I coach who get the most out of coaching don’t do that. I never did that. In my plan each year, I included specific things I wanted to learn to:

  1. Become a better lawyer
  2. Understand my clients’ businesses and industry
  3. Become better at client development
What have you decided you want to learn this year?