Business Development

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If you’ve been following along here at Zen for any length of time (or even just the last few weeks), then you’ll know that I love September and the promise of a fresh start that it brings (also because the fall is my favorite season).

A LOT of us have been feeling bogged down lately – by the pandemic, endless Zoom calls, heat and humidity, worldwide unrest, the list goes on. There is a lot that we CAN’T control. But there are some things we can control – for one, our attitudes and our ability to reach out and help someone else.
Continue Reading Fresh New Ideas for September That We Love (And You Will Too!)

In just over a week, it will be September 1st. As I mentioned last week, I like to think of September as a brand new start, much like the school year used to be. It’s a chance to begin again and look at your goals and plans with a fresh set of eyes.

While business development is an ongoing effort and doesn’t wrap up simply because the calendar year comes to a close, I’ve found that when I have ongoing projects, giving myself firm deadlines to complete them motivates me far more than having some abstract end date.
Continue Reading 4 Weeks to Plan Your 4th Quarter Business Development Victory

There’s no quick fix for relationship development. But there ARE some quick things you can do today to advance either the first step in your relationship with someone or the next step. When you think of networking and relationship building as a series of smaller actions that you can take to help weave the fabric of stronger relationships, it stops feeling so overwhelming and starts feeling like something you can build into your everyday schedule. So whether you’ve got five minutes or an hour, you can strengthen your network today:
Continue Reading 5 Quick Tips to Build Better Business Relationships

One of my favorite running jokes is “How do you know someone has run a marathon?”

“Don’t worry, they’ll tell you!”

And, we will.

But truthfully, if you’re a runner, you already know this – running has so many parallels to other areas of your life. I won’t get into them all here, lest I lose you, dear reader. Just trust me. And training and running for a marathon will teach you things about yourself that are irreplaceable. I’m embarking on my second training cycle at the moment and feeling every emotion imaginable. Fear, excitement, exhaustion (is exhaustion an emotion? I suspect all of us can identify with it after being in a pandemic), the list goes on.
Continue Reading Three Ways Marathon Running Can Prepare You for Business Development

This afternoon, I had a lovely chat with my friend, Brian Gorman, who is part of a mastermind group that I’ve been working with this year. Here’s what Brian, who is also a coach, says on his website about change, which is something I think we can agree we’ve all had more than enough of in the past year.
Continue Reading Lawyers: Two Networking Questions You May Be Missing

It’s true – running an organization that is built on in-person personal relationships has it’s challenges. But what doesn’t have its challenges in 2020, right?

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about how lawyers and law firms can leverage their referral networks to achieve more value, whether these networks are formal or informal (I happen to run a formal one). There’s no reason that this has to stop because in-person events have been put on pause; in fact, many of our members have said they’ve never felt their membership has been more valuable than it has been this year. In part, that’s due to the historical relationships that they’ve built over many years. But we’re welcoming new firms too. And it’s possible to forge new relationships and create new business – it simply takes a little creativity.
Continue Reading Leveraging Your Referral Network for More Value…During a Pandemic

Last week, we talked about content as a means for building relationships, while some of our more traditional methods for relationship-building are on hold. “But HOW do I do that?” you may ask?

Lawyers and law firms often think of content marketing as a solo activity. While you may have a strategy that is firm or practice-wide, in general, you’re thinking of the producers of the content for that strategy as individuals.
Continue Reading Two Ways to Use Your Content to Build Relationships

Our second quarter of the year begins tomorrow, and for many of us, we’re facing a new normal that didn’t seem possible three months ago. One of my lawyers emailed me last night and said “what a year this past week has been.” I don’t think truer words have ever been spoken.

Lawyers are all in different places at the moment – some firms are exceptionally busy, but may have clients who aren’t able to pay them at the moment. Others are making the difficult decision to lay off staff or cut salaries. Some are shuffling resources to accommodate the influx of questions to practice areas like employment and insolvency and bankruptcy. Everyone is unsure what the future brings.
Continue Reading Business Development in 2020? Let’s Take a Breath.

As travel restrictions increase, and law firms begin to close their offices and reduce their client meetings, it’s time to get creative about the ways in which we keep in touch. “Collaboration” sounds like the sort of thing that requires you to be in the same room to achieve, but in fact, you can use content collaboration as a way to build relationships with clients, potential clients, and others all while remaining in your office (home or otherwise).

I recently read a great piece on 9 Free Tools to Co-Create Content, which not only included some great resources, but also some excellent inspiration for ways we can be better content collaborators in pursuit of building better relationships.
Continue Reading Lawyers: Don’t Let Coronavirus Stop You from Collaborating – Here’s How

We may have had a mild winter (most of us) so far, but let’s be honest, 2020 has been a bit of a slog so far, am I right?

I haven’t talked to anyone who isn’t feeling like we don’t already need a do-over for this year. So much for a fresh decade! (Yes, I know, technically, the new decade starts in 2021, so we’ll revisit this again next year).

But there’s no time like the present to feel like we’re starting over. Who’s to say that today ISN’T the day we start again?

How can we do that? By creating some “WOW” in our relationship development, using these two tips.
Continue Reading Two Steps to Create the WOW Factor in Your Relationships