Professional Development: The One Thing You Must Do in Your Marketing

If you want your marketing efforts to turn into new business, what one thing must you do? Follow up consistently with those people you want to convert to clients. If you fail to keep in touch with your prospects on a regular basis, your business development efforts will likely fall short of your hoped-for results.

The probability that a single marketing effort ' such as a lunch meeting or a speech ' will result in new business is about 5%. In other words, the likelihood that a single marketing contact will not produce results is about 95%. On average, it takes seven to nine significant contacts before a prospect becomes a client. And it often takes between 18 and 24 months to make those contacts. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.

Yet my experience is that most lawyers give up on their business development efforts long before making those seven contacts. Even relatively successful marketers tend to give up after about three contacts. They think, “If the prospective client hasn't hired me by now, he probably never will.” But the truth is, just when you're ready to throw in the towel pursuing a new client, you're probably about halfway to success. And since most lawyers give up way too soon, making more than three contacts will immediately make you stand out from your competition.

Follow-up Is Not Stalking

When I suggest to clients that they should plan for their marketing outreach to require at least seven contacts, the first question they ask is: “How can I keep contacting someone that often without appearing to be stalking them?”

My answer: You are a stalker only if they're not happy to hear from you. If you are sharing important information, opportunities, or insights, they will likely view you and your contact in a positive light. Think about the last time someone sent you an e-mail about something you were interested in ' whether it was a review of a new book by a favorite author or an update on compliance with new regulatory requirements in your industry. Did you think, “I wish this person would stop sending me stuff like this”? Probably not. You probably were happy to receive it. And that is how your prospects are likely to feel. Assuming, that is, that what you send them is something they consider of interest.

Value Is in the Eye of the Beholder

The tricky part is figuring out what a particular prospect will find of value. What one person finds of interest, another may view as “junk mail.” For example, if a prospective client works for a private equity fund or an energy company, she may be delighted to receive an invitation to a conference on emerging legal issues for private equity investment in the energy industry. On the other hand, send that same invitation to someone who specializes in intellectual property litigation for a media company, and he is likely to immediately hit the delete key. Similarly, an article about the competitive nature of college admissions may intrigue someone who has a son in high school, but not someone who has a daughter in preschool.

So how do you figure out what may be of interest to a particular prospect? Obviously, one way is to make an educated guess. For example, if you met an in-house counsel for a national retailer at a wage and hour class action seminar, she would likely appreciate receiving an article about avoiding wage and hour liability in Texas.

But why guess? In every marketing interaction you have ' at a one-on-one lunch, a bar networking event, or during a break at an industry conference ' make a point of discovering at least one topic that might be of interest to the person you are interacting with. Are they concerned with staying abreast of the law in a certain area? Are they looking for ways for their in-house legal department to satisfy their ethics CLE requirements? Which basketball team do they root for? Are they always on the hunt for the next “hot” restaurant? Once you figure out what interests them, it is easy to find ways to reach out to them on those topics.

There Are Lots of Ways to Follow Up

Traditionally, lawyers have taken prospective clients out to lunch or sent articles or e-alerts as follow-up tactics. There's nothing wrong with those activities; they help keep you on a prospect's radar screen.

But more memorable ways to keep you “top-of-mind” are limited only by your interests and imagination. Consider these ideas as ways to expand how you stay in touch with your prospects:

• Send a holiday card ' but get creative about the holiday. How about a Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, or first day of spring card?
• Mail a handwritten note (very rare these days!) congratulating them on a promotion, an award, or a result in a recent case. Everyone loves to be recognized for good work.
• Congratulate them on their favorite team's victory or commiserate with them about a loss. You can do this in less than a minute via phone, e-mail, or voicemail.
• Offer to introduce them to someone you think they'd like to meet or would profit from meeting. They'll appreciate your efforts to help them.
• Invite them to collaborate with you on a project of mutual interest ' perhaps write an article, volunteer for a charity event, or participate on a committee.
• Encourage them to participate in a charity walk or run and suggest training in tandem. Think of all the time you'll get to spend getting to know each other better.
• Request their feedback on the draft of an article you're writing. People are flattered when they're asked for their opinion.
• Organize a dinner at a conference you regularly attend and invite both prospects and current clients. This creates the opportunity for your clients to do your marketing for you as they extol the work you've done for them.
• Offer to help with an issue they're facing, whether personal or professional. It might be to brainstorm on how to implement a new compliance program, or do an informational interview for their nephew who is considering law school.
• Share resources (for example, invitations to events, podcasts, websites, or blogs). They can relate to personal or professional interests.
• Provide them a checklist to be used in a situation fraught with legal implications. People appreciate anything that allows them to do their jobs more efficiently.
• Invite them to participate in an activity you think they would enjoy ' such as a golf outing, a cooking class, or a museum exhibit.
• Announce where you are speaking. If they can't attend, offer to send them an outline of your presentation and other handouts.
• Invite them to sit at your table at a charity event. Use it as an opportunity for them to meet some of your satisfied clients.
• Encourage them to attend a CLE program your firm is sponsoring. If they attend, send an e-mail after the program asking for feedback about what they found helpful and their ideas for future programs.
• Include them in a social event you are hosting. Sports events are good ideas, but why not get a bit more creative ' a lecture by a prominent public official, a concert (classical or rock), a walking tour, a movie premiere, or a wine tasting.
• Solicit their advice. It can be as simple as a good restaurant in their home city or as complicated as the pros and cons of a college your child is considering.
• Suggest they join you for a meal ' breakfast, coffee, lunch, drinks, dinner, or dessert. Different people are open to dining at different times during the day, depending on their schedules.
• Invite them to join your fantasy football league. It will give you lots of opportunities to stay in touch.
• Showcase your expertise by offering to do an on-site CLE program for their legal department. Not only do you get to demonstrate your knowledge, it is a great way to learn about their concerns.
• Attend a meeting at which they are likely to be present. Make a point of connecting with them when you are there.
• Refer business to them and let them know you did so. Nothing cements a relationship better.

Now Just Do It

Obviously, recognizing the importance of follow-up is crucial; but to actually produce results, you have to do it. Many a well-intentioned marketing initiative has failed to result in new business because the planned-for follow-up didn't happen. Client demands took precedence; time slipped away; good intentions were forgotten.

To ensure that your follow-up takes place in a timely, consistent manner, you need to have a system that reminds you of: 1) who you are following up with; 2) what you plan to do as follow-up; and 3) when you plan to do it.

Some people do this by scheduling reminders on their Outlook calendar; others by putting notations on their old-fashioned paper calendar. But regardless of the system you use, you should treat these scheduled activities with the same type of commitment as you treat a court appearance or a conference call. Because they are just as important!

Make staying in touch with your prospects the one thing you always do, and watch your marketing effectiveness soar.

Sara Holtz is the founder and CEO of ClientFocus, a business development coaching and training company that works exclusively with lawyers to help them become rainmakers. Ms. Holz is the author of “Bringin' in the Rain: A Woman Lawyer's Guide to Business Development.” She can be reached at [email protected].

If you want your marketing efforts to turn into new business, what one thing must you do? Follow up consistently with those people you want to convert to clients. If you fail to keep in touch with your prospects on a regular basis, your business development efforts will likely fall short of your hoped-for results.

The probability that a single marketing effort ' such as a lunch meeting or a speech ' will result in new business is about 5%. In other words, the likelihood that a single marketing contact will not produce results is about 95%. On average, it takes seven to nine significant contacts before a prospect becomes a client. And it often takes between 18 and 24 months to make those contacts. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.

Yet my experience is that most lawyers give up on their business development efforts long before making those seven contacts. Even relatively successful marketers tend to give up after about three contacts. They think, “If the prospective client hasn't hired me by now, he probably never will.” But the truth is, just when you're ready to throw in the towel pursuing a new client, you're probably about halfway to success. And since most lawyers give up way too soon, making more than three contacts will immediately make you stand out from your competition.

Follow-up Is Not Stalking

When I suggest to clients that they should plan for their marketing outreach to require at least seven contacts, the first question they ask is: “How can I keep contacting someone that often without appearing to be stalking them?”

My answer: You are a stalker only if they're not happy to hear from you. If you are sharing important information, opportunities, or insights, they will likely view you and your contact in a positive light. Think about the last time someone sent you an e-mail about something you were interested in ' whether it was a review of a new book by a favorite author or an update on compliance with new regulatory requirements in your industry. Did you think, “I wish this person would stop sending me stuff like this”? Probably not. You probably were happy to receive it. And that is how your prospects are likely to feel. Assuming, that is, that what you send them is something they consider of interest.

Value Is in the Eye of the Beholder

The tricky part is figuring out what a particular prospect will find of value. What one person finds of interest, another may view as “junk mail.” For example, if a prospective client works for a private equity fund or an energy company, she may be delighted to receive an invitation to a conference on emerging legal issues for private equity investment in the energy industry. On the other hand, send that same invitation to someone who specializes in intellectual property litigation for a media company, and he is likely to immediately hit the delete key. Similarly, an article about the competitive nature of college admissions may intrigue someone who has a son in high school, but not someone who has a daughter in preschool.

So how do you figure out what may be of interest to a particular prospect? Obviously, one way is to make an educated guess. For example, if you met an in-house counsel for a national retailer at a wage and hour class action seminar, she would likely appreciate receiving an article about avoiding wage and hour liability in Texas.

But why guess? In every marketing interaction you have ' at a one-on-one lunch, a bar networking event, or during a break at an industry conference ' make a point of discovering at least one topic that might be of interest to the person you are interacting with. Are they concerned with staying abreast of the law in a certain area? Are they looking for ways for their in-house legal department to satisfy their ethics CLE requirements? Which basketball team do they root for? Are they always on the hunt for the next “hot” restaurant? Once you figure out what interests them, it is easy to find ways to reach out to them on those topics.

There Are Lots of Ways to Follow Up

Traditionally, lawyers have taken prospective clients out to lunch or sent articles or e-alerts as follow-up tactics. There's nothing wrong with those activities; they help keep you on a prospect's radar screen.

But more memorable ways to keep you “top-of-mind” are limited only by your interests and imagination. Consider these ideas as ways to expand how you stay in touch with your prospects:

• Send a holiday card ' but get creative about the holiday. How about a Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day, or first day of spring card?
• Mail a handwritten note (very rare these days!) congratulating them on a promotion, an award, or a result in a recent case. Everyone loves to be recognized for good work.
• Congratulate them on their favorite team's victory or commiserate with them about a loss. You can do this in less than a minute via phone, e-mail, or voicemail.
• Offer to introduce them to someone you think they'd like to meet or would profit from meeting. They'll appreciate your efforts to help them.
• Invite them to collaborate with you on a project of mutual interest ' perhaps write an article, volunteer for a charity event, or participate on a committee.
• Encourage them to participate in a charity walk or run and suggest training in tandem. Think of all the time you'll get to spend getting to know each other better.
• Request their feedback on the draft of an article you're writing. People are flattered when they're asked for their opinion.
• Organize a dinner at a conference you regularly attend and invite both prospects and current clients. This creates the opportunity for your clients to do your marketing for you as they extol the work you've done for them.
• Offer to help with an issue they're facing, whether personal or professional. It might be to brainstorm on how to implement a new compliance program, or do an informational interview for their nephew who is considering law school.
• Share resources (for example, invitations to events, podcasts, websites, or blogs). They can relate to personal or professional interests.
• Provide them a checklist to be used in a situation fraught with legal implications. People appreciate anything that allows them to do their jobs more efficiently.
• Invite them to participate in an activity you think they would enjoy ' such as a golf outing, a cooking class, or a museum exhibit.
• Announce where you are speaking. If they can't attend, offer to send them an outline of your presentation and other handouts.
• Invite them to sit at your table at a charity event. Use it as an opportunity for them to meet some of your satisfied clients.
• Encourage them to attend a CLE program your firm is sponsoring. If they attend, send an e-mail after the program asking for feedback about what they found helpful and their ideas for future programs.
• Include them in a social event you are hosting. Sports events are good ideas, but why not get a bit more creative ' a lecture by a prominent public official, a concert (classical or rock), a walking tour, a movie premiere, or a wine tasting.
• Solicit their advice. It can be as simple as a good restaurant in their home city or as complicated as the pros and cons of a college your child is considering.
• Suggest they join you for a meal ' breakfast, coffee, lunch, drinks, dinner, or dessert. Different people are open to dining at different times during the day, depending on their schedules.
• Invite them to join your fantasy football league. It will give you lots of opportunities to stay in touch.
• Showcase your expertise by offering to do an on-site CLE program for their legal department. Not only do you get to demonstrate your knowledge, it is a great way to learn about their concerns.
• Attend a meeting at which they are likely to be present. Make a point of connecting with them when you are there.
• Refer business to them and let them know you did so. Nothing cements a relationship better.

Now Just Do It

Obviously, recognizing the importance of follow-up is crucial; but to actually produce results, you have to do it. Many a well-intentioned marketing initiative has failed to result in new business because the planned-for follow-up didn't happen. Client demands took precedence; time slipped away; good intentions were forgotten.

To ensure that your follow-up takes place in a timely, consistent manner, you need to have a system that reminds you of: 1) who you are following up with; 2) what you plan to do as follow-up; and 3) when you plan to do it.

Some people do this by scheduling reminders on their Outlook calendar; others by putting notations on their old-fashioned paper calendar. But regardless of the system you use, you should treat these scheduled activities with the same type of commitment as you treat a court appearance or a conference call. Because they are just as important!

Make staying in touch with your prospects the one thing you always do, and watch your marketing effectiveness soar.

Sara Holtz is the founder and CEO of ClientFocus, a business development coaching and training company that works exclusively with lawyers to help them become rainmakers. Ms. Holz is the author of “Bringin' in the Rain: A Woman Lawyer's Guide to Business Development.” She can be reached at [email protected].