ClientFocus-About ClientFocus

Do You Know the Answers to These Important Questions?

from Focus on Rainmaking by Sara Holtz

During a recent conversation with a client, she expressed frustration that no one at her firm seemed to know anything about a recent excellent result she'd produced for one of the firm's major clients.

She was rightfully concerned that she was unlikely to be fairly compensated for her results and that she was not likely to be viewed as the "go to" person the next time a similar matter arose for other clients.

Simply stated, she didn't have enough visibility within her own firm.

In the same week, another client shared a story about an e-mail she had received from one of her partners in another office. He was looking for a referral to a lawyer who did a very specific type of hospitality-related real estate deal. When she replied that she did that kind of work and had been doing it for many years, her partner was still hesitant to see her as the appropriate referral.

What these clients have in common is that they do not have the reputations within their own firms that they deserve.

While it may seem that your partners "should" know what you do and what you have accomplished, the reality is that it is all too common that they don't. Most people are so busy thinking about their own reputations that they don't have much time to think about yours.

The solution: embark on an internal PR campaign.

Start your internal PR campaign by:

Getting clear on your objectives.
Why do you want increased visibility? To make sure you get paid what you are worth? To be included in the next pitch? To have matters referred to you? Because you deserve it?

Creating a clear message.
What do you want to be known for? Being the "go to" person for a certain type of litigation? Expertise in a certain industry? Creative solutions for difficult regulatory problems?

Focusing on a specific audience.
Who will you target with your message? The partners in your practice group? The partners in the corporate group? The management committee? The compensation committee?

Once you've answered these questions, summarize your strategy into one sentence. For example: "I want to educate the partners in the IP group about my recent success in negotiating a complicated biotech lease so that they will refer their biotech clients with real estate needs."

The challenge, of course, is to raise your profile without, as one client put it, "feeling sleazy."

Here are some tactics to consider:

Identify a few people who are your targets and cultivate a relationship with them. You might invite them to lunch, or chat in the halls. Take the opportunity to educate them about your practice, your successes, the type of matters you would like to handle in the future, and why you are a safe choice for a referral.
Share your learnings from a recent success. Send out an e-mail alerting your partners to circumstances that may raise issues for their clients. Suggest how the risk can be managed. Tie your advice to your recent experience (read: success).
Offer to speak at other practice groups' meetings. Make sure the presentation focuses on issues that are useful to them (that is, they can pass it along to their clients and look good). Give them a checklist they can easily forward to their clients under their name.
If you firm has a structure for publicizing successes (through an in-house newsletter, your practice group or the marketing department), take advantage of it.
Offer to present at all-firm or all-practice group events. Again, remember: make it relevant to the participants.

Build the reputation you deserve among your partners by having an internal visibility-building strategy and implementing it.