The truth is, I’m a BIG fan of Starbucks, so I’m predisposed to love this commercial. But I think there’s a very important message that we at law firms can learn from this ad, and communicate through our own marketing (without even needing a commercial of our own).
Watch the spot, and see if you can guess what I mean:
//www.youtube.com/embed/LZVCLVGymmo?list=UUj4nCgtjKJppK_IZeY8TUJg
As this publishes, I will be on a plane heading for the Windy City: Chicago. As part of my involvement with the Legal Marketing Association, I’m fortunate to be able to meet with some of the leadership of the organization this week for a leadership conference, since I’ll be joining the LMA’s Technology Committee as Co-Chair for 2015!
That got me thinking about professional development this morning – something that’s important for all of us, but something we can easily forget or push to the background in our busy day-to-day lives. I mean, who has time to add one more thing, right?
But it’s essential – U.S. News & World Report offered this great article three years ago, which is still relevant today. They say:
It’s easy to get complacent about professional development when you’re employed. If you already have a job, why should you go above and beyond to improve your skills, especially if it’s not required by your company?
"But making an effort to help yourself grow professionally will help you succeed, both in the short term and in the long term. And if you don’t learn new skills and acquire new knowledge and experience, you’re likely to fall behind your peers, which could be detrimental when you look to change positions."
For our latest installment, we spoke with a general counsel who works closely with outside counsel. We wanted to know,
What is your preference for how a lawyer tries to learn more about you and your business?"
She told us that
In working with outside counsel, I encourage them to learn as much as possible about our business so they have context to give advice. The best lawyers ask thoughtful questions that invite us to give context and details, "Tell me how you would typically . . ."; "how would this scenario arise again, or how has it come up in the past." If the advice we get is not given in context, it will not be very practical."
Continue Reading General Counsel Corner: Getting to Know Your Business
The advice to "think like a client" in order to improve your client service is not a new one – but today, I want to offer you a little bit of a twist on that advice, which will help you to up your game.
The idea of thinking like your client can be a daunting one – while we all endeavor to understand our clients’ challenges, concerns, and pain points no matter what field we’re in, unless we’ve spent time there ourselves, we’re only privy to second-hand knowledge (for the most part).
But whether we’ve been on the client side in our own industries or not, we’ve all been and are clients – as lawyers, you are purchasers of various services, from consultants to building services to office products and more. In our personal lives, we are consumers of goods and services, including everything from groceries and electronics to personal care, travel, and more.
I’ve asked you before to think of yourselves as the client in these cases, and to identify what it is you want from those interactions – things such as understanding of what you’re really asking, common courtesy, on-time delivery, exceeding expectations, etc.
We’ve been full of networking tips here at Zen lately with the ILN’s European Regional Meeting happening last week. It’s only fitting that I sum that up with some post-conference networking suggestions on this week’s Two for Tuesdays!
Tip One: Connect & Share
Any time you leave a conference, whether it’s an ILN conference or not, it’s hard to keep the momentum going as you face a mountain of work and personal responsibilities. It seems to get more and more difficult to step away from the office these days – I know I’m always trying to prepare to leave and spending time catching up when I return, even when I’m checking in and working the entire time I’m away!
But forgetting to do a few simple things after a conference can really take away from all of the headway you’ve made in networking. So add in these few things to your to-do list today (force yourself to do one each day, rather than trying to do them all at once!) and it will make a big difference in your efforts.
Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Post-Conference Networking
It’s Monday, so that means that the 2014 ILN European Regional Meeting is officially in the books. I want to offer a special thanks to our hosts at Okland & Co DA, and especially their managing partner, Tom Carsten Troberg.
As I was flying home yesterday, I had the opportunity to ruminate on the conference, and the takeaways I gained from the various presentations and social functions, and I wanted to share those with you today!
But there’s no substitute for seeing your connections from around the world in person, talking about personal and professional things, laughing together, and experiencing a new city together. Not only do you get to know each other better (and get a richer understanding of the challenges and cultural differences facing your colleagues in other cities), but you leave with a warm feeling that reminds you to think of them first when making referrals or getting ready to pitch a client. So never think that your online or phone efforts will ever compare to time spent in each other’s company.
Shared experiences will always win the day – particularly when those experiences involve Aquavit tastings and a mutual fear of lutefisk.
Continue Reading Takeaways from the 2014 ILN European Regional Meeting
For today’s General Counsel Corner, I had the pleasure of having a phone interview with Clay Matthews, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for NewMarket Corporation. The question I had for Mr. Matthews was:
What is your process for selecting outside counsel?"
His answer was quite interesting, because while some of it was in line with things we’ve heard before, quite a bit of it goes against the grain. He told me:
When you come in-house, you inherit outside counsel from your predecessors. A lot is legacy. In addition to that, most of the time, you’ve already had a private practice career, and have friends from outside firms. You know who the competent ones are, and stow away that information."
Not everyone that you like as a person is a suitable attorney, so it becomes a dance. You learn to deflect those you can’t use."
What criteria is important then? Extreme competence – I need to be comfortable with their legal skills. They don’t need to be someone I could have a beer with. It’s not easy to find someone like that, because those who are really, really good are also really busy. And they don’t do a lot of their own rainmaking."
Continue Reading General Counsel Corner: Selecting Outside Counsel
Our latest installment of Wondering Wednesdays goes through my dos and don’ts for conference networking:
Continue Reading Wondering Wednesdays: Networking Dos and Don’ts
This Two for Tuesdays finds me in Budapest! I am visiting with one of our member firms to meet their partners and have some one-on-one time to discuss the ILN and how they can make the most of their membership.
Lucky for you, I set up my blog posts for this week prior to flying out of town. For today’s Two for Tuesdays, I’m focused on content marketing – we know what it is and why we should be doing it (if you don’t, please see me after class). But what are some ideas for what we can do for content marketing?
Since this month has been focused on the idea of "refreshing" our marketing, today, I’m bringing you two tips for refreshing new ways to do content marketing!
Thanks to Drew Hubbard on iMedia Connection, we have this brilliant list of suggestions to draw from. I’m going to take two of his ideas and look at how we in the legal industry can use them.
It’s September, so you know what that means…it’s prime time to re-ignite your networking efforts! For many ILN members, they’ll have the chance to do that this week, as our European Regional Meeting kicks off in Oslo on Thursday.
While we’ve covered a lot of networking tips in the past, I’m always on the hunt for new ideas and advice to switch things up. I recently came across this post that offers seven tips for networking success, Let’s look at a few of them, and how they apply to lawyers and law firms.
There’s More Than One Way to Skin a Cat
There’s more than one way to skin a cat, as they say, and there’s more than one place to do your networking. As the post suggests:
Attend events at professional organizations that relate to your expertise or industry, but don’t be content with that."