Having coached over 1800 lawyers in the United States and Canada, I have a pretty good idea why coaching works and how to make it work most effectively.

Over the years I coached lawyers who have since become top rainmakers in their firms. I coached lawyers who have since become top leaders in their firms. If I coached lawyers in your firm, you may be one of those lawyers or you may have been part of a coaching group that included one of those lawyers.

Why does client development coaching work?

Let me begin with the prerequisite that must be in place for client development coaching to be successful.

To make coaching successful the lawyers who will be in your program have to want to become more successful at attracting, retaining and expanding relationships with clients and they must be willing to be held accountable.

So, if your firm has selected the lawyers who are both ambitious and open to coaching, why will coaching work?

  1. I believe because it starts with your lawyers owning it. Your lawyers do not want to be told what to do. They want to feel in control. In coaching your lawyers will get out of it what they choose to put into it. They get to choose.
  2. Client development coaching works because your lawyers will be able to figure out which client development efforts will achieve the greatest return on their investment of time.
  3. Client development coaching works because it is focused on your lawyers achieving their goals and because it provides both assistance and accountability. I strongly believe a group of 6 to 18 lawyers should be in your coaching program. There should be a group component to the coaching, including a group financial goal, and individual coaching. No one in the group wants to let the group down. They feel they are a firm within your firm.

Just curious, is your firm developing the next generation of rainmakers?