This month's questions:<p>What do you do when, despite having a good relationship with a client, you struggle to reach agreement on such things as rate increases, staffing, etc. <p>In the interest of cross-selling, I often have a colleague or two accompany me on initial sales calls. How do you manage or choreograph interaction among three to four people? <p>At some point in any sale, buyers usually request references. What's the best way to handle this?

Ask business managers and in-house corporate lawyers the thing that drives them crazy about lawyers, and one of the most common responses is the time they spend waiting for a call back.

The thing about going out and getting new business," said a partner in a large New York-based firm, "is that when you bring it in, it's one of the greatest feelings you can have!" If everyone was so motivated, if every lawyer or professional felt that way, there would be no lacking for business and a smile on the face of every firm marketing manager. Strangely enough, if such a utopia existed, there would still be potential for some sticky problems -- the solutions for which require savvy marketing management and fostering of a teamwork culture.

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Q: What is the difference between a COO and a CMO? <p>A: One saves money and the other spends money.<p>One of the key factors to a successful run as a law firm marketing exec is to whom that individual reports. If the answer is Chief Operating Officer (COO) or Executive Director (ED), I become the great skeptic as to whether or not any marketing program can achieve success. However, I do believe that both can coexist and help the firm's marketing efforts move forward.

Lawyers are in the business of providing information to their clients. The issue, which perplexes most lawyers, is how to effectively and efficiently convey the right information to the right people at the right time so that they will hire the firm to answer their questions and solve their problems.

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For a busy corporate law department, any matter management system that helps to monitor various activities and streamline the management of legal affairs is a valuable tool indeed. But what happens if you have to start from scratch in the deployment of that system? What if you have to leave the familiarity of your existing management system and convert to an entirely new platform?

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Information technology security is a critical issue for all law firms. Yet, security initiatives are often dismissed as high cost/low return and put on the back burner. This low priority status persists despite the significant operational and financial impact a security breach would have on a firm. It is only when a major event such as the recent confluence of the Northeast blackout and the Blaster and SoBig worm attacks, or the nefarious actions of a disgruntled employee hit the public consciousness that attention rapidly re-focuses on security matters.

I can see it now: U.S. airlines continue to struggle because some of their most frequent fliers - attorneys - are turning in their wings. No longer do we need to fly nearly as often to client meetings or to interview key witnesses on our most pressing cases. Why? We now have e-meetings, specifically e-meetings from Tempe, AZ-based VIACK Corporation. Sad for the airlines; good for us!