It's all up to you...

As an attorney, you must see yourself as an entrepreneur. It doesn’t matter if you work for a large firm – or if you have your own practice. YOU are responsible for building your own business.

But, we find:

1. Many attorneys do not have a plan and blueprint of the actions they need to take to dramatically grow their business
2. Most do not carefully evaluate what methods are working for them and where the results are lacking
3. Most fail to market themselves systematically
4. Most fail to take advantage of an integrated and complementary set of both tried and true methods – or the start of the art marketing enabled by the web.
5. Many attorneys waste time by pursuing marketing that doesn’t work, such as networking with total strangers who are unable to help secure their ideal clients
6. Lawyers often fail to plan and take sufficient marketing actions on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
   

Work smarter in 2007...
and achieve breakthroughs in building your business.

Use a personal marketing system and action planning methods that will deliver the results that you desire: a steady stream of “pre-sold” leads, high quality business, abundant word of mouth advertising, allies who act as your sales force and vital, enduring client relationships.

Invest In the System the Best Use...

The SAGE Personal Marketing Plan Tool-Kit
Only $ 34.95 (PDF format) — 60 plus pages

[Click the button to pay by Credit Card or thru PayPal
with our agent Intertexts Multimedia, Inc.]

We will send you by email the electronic booklet with the Toolkit (PDF format).

This kit offers you a practical and proven step-by-step approach to effectively marketing yourself — and gives you a set of guidelines, action planning tools and self assessments to drive your personal marketing plan for 2007.

What You Get:

In the tool-kit, you receive:

Finally, develop Your Personal Marketing Plan for the New Year with the confidence that you're following advice from the best in the business.

The SAGE Personal Marketing Plan Tool-Kit
Only $ 34.95 (PDF format) — 60 plus pages

[Click the button to pay by Credit Card or thru PayPal
with our agent Intertexts Multimedia, Inc.]

We will send you by email the electronic booklet with the Toolkit (PDF format).

Avoiding a Bad Start to 2007 in Your Business Development

Excerpt from our best-selling book, Best Practices In Building Your Personal Network - For Professionals.

It is natural at this time of year to set goals for the upcoming year. So, what kind of results do you want to create for your personal practice this year? Do have revenue or chargeability or client goals? Do you have a set of ideal clients that you want to cultivate? Is there a new or key type of service you want to sell and deliver?

In our consulting and training work, we’ve had the good fortune to work with some of the top business producers in the professions over the past twenty years. The purpose of this article is to coach you towards building your personal success strategy and action plan – by "modeling" or emulating the behavior of the best business generators. Here are some 2007 Year Resolutions to help you be more like the top producers in the upcoming year:

• Look back: The best way to see what you need to do in 2007 is to see what you needed to improve over 2006. These are the kinds of questions the top rainmakers pose:

  - Building Fee and Client Base: Did you meet or exceed your goals for revenue and chargeability? Why or why not? What % of this work did you proactively create through your personal marketing program? How many new clients were 'ideal' for you?

  - Vitality Of Relationships: How many clients hired you for additional work? How many referrals did you get from clients? How many referrals did you get from your colleagues, other professionals?

  - Building Your Reputation: How much exposure did you have to your ideal prospective clients through speeches, seminars or articles? How often and how well did you showcase your capabilities to ideal prospects?

  - Creating Leads and Converting Business: How many highly desirable leads did you generate this year? What percent of these leads did you close and win as clients?

  - Consistent Marketing Action: How many hours per week (on average) did you spend on marketing? How many weeks did you do little or no marketing?

• Have a plan: How well you did and what you might have done last year lead to the most important way to get a good start on 2007. Take a few hours and develop your personal marketing plan. Define your goals in terms of revenue, hours billed, number of cases, revenue by client and type of work. Keep these goals in a prominent place and measure your progress against them each week. Determine the best ways to remedy/upgrade areas of dissatisfaction from last year.

• Ensure you do some business development every day: The best business generators make sure they set a minimum daily requirement for business development. Start the year right by doing the same. Each week, write down at least 10 marketing actions that you will take to achieve your goals. Prioritize these in order of importance and value; work from the inside out, starting with client relationships. Each day put 2-3 business development steps on your to-do list — no matter how busy you are. They don't have to be major. Clip an article and send it to a client. Have lunch with a referral source or client. Thank a client for their business. But...make business development a daily habit.

• Prepare to market to your clients each month: Your first priority in business development is to market to your clients — both current and past clients (don't lose touch!). Create a database of the individuals you have worked with over the past year or two. Rank order them in terms of future revenue potential in terms of high, low and none. For the 'highs,' figure out a way to connect with them on a monthly or quarterly basis. Then follow your plan. Meet them for lunch or breakfast. Consider sending a newsletter or article to the 'lows.'

• Create your 30 Second Commercial: How do you introduce yourself? Instead of saying that you are an attorney, describe how you help to solve your client's "pain." Here's a good example: "I'm Jill Swill and I'm a partner with the law firm of Joe Blow and Associates. I'm in the business of helping senior executives to organize their estates and achieve a secure retirement."

• Start asking your best clients for introductions: Your clients should be your best source of referrals. Include in your first actions some steps to make this happen. Let some key clients know that you expect and appreciate referrals. Tell them the type of person that you would like them to introduce you to. Ask for their help in making introductions for you, especially after a successful engagement.

• Get a marketing mentor: Think of somebody that you know, like and respect — and who is good at business development. It can be an attorney at your firm, another firm — or even somebody in a related field. Now, think about how YOU can help them. Then, take them out to lunch and ask if they would be willing to "coach" you on building your business. Agree to meet on a monthly or quarterly basis.

• Create a mastermind group: Find 2-3 people in related fields that you have a good working relationship with. Make sure they are targeting the same type of clients as you are. And make sure that they are good at business development. Ask them if they’d ! be willing to co-market with you. Commit to monthly meetings. Create action plans and make mutual commitments to follow through.

• Learn how to build networks: Take a course/study up in how to network and then develop a specific network building plan for the year. Who are your target clients? Where do they congregate? Who knows a lot of them? How can they help you to make contact?

• Become a celebrity in your niche: Commit to writing 3 articles and making at least 3 speeches at gathering, but only those with clients and referral sources in attendance.

• Build skills : Business development is a skill not solely a natural talent. It should be part of your CLE plan. Read business development books, listen to tapes or CD’s and take seminars. Given the vital importance of business development in all the professions today, it is worth the investment.

Make 2007 a record breaking year
for your business!