Nor is this article an attempt to analyze training methodology. This article focuses on important content of law firm marketing training that has proven highly successful among law firms in three continents. Marketing training can help a firm and its management that is concerned about replacing one or more rainmakers, is interested in upgrading the quality of its client roster, is intent on increasing partner distribution, wants to attract more clients, or assist an under performing partner with his/her client generation.

The concept of being trained to market legal services may create a degree of apprehension among lawyers because some may think it is an attempt to develop them into professional sales people. This, of course, is false. The importance of marketing training is to make selling superfluous.

        To effectively train lawyers to market their skills or to market firm capabilities requires an understanding of lawyer personalities and motivations. Because testing has proven that approximately 85% of all lawyers are identified as analysers or controllers, lawyers will find marketing theory and information exchange mentally stimulating. Effective marketing training needs to include the development of skill sets that will assist lawyers to follow-through with defined marketing activities.

        An issue of importance to effective marketing training is the capacity of firm management and its training resources to neutralize certain lawyer attitudinal impediments, including the following:

        Effective training of lawyers requires an understanding of their communications styles and their motivations. Having tested more than 3,000 layers in six countries in a derivative of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, it is no surprise than approximately 85% of all law firm lawyers fall into the lower half of the testing quadrant. This means they are either controllers and/or analyzers. Law firm lawyers are bright; they control their matters, and thorough analysis is required in the practice of law. Planning and analysis appeal to the intellect of firm lawyers. Taking necessary CRM is not appealing to all partners.

 • Marketing training is viewed as unnecessary because firm revenue is increasing annually and partner distributions are competitive with comparable law firms;

• Lawyers are busy with existing client work;

• Marketing training is an interruption to the lawyers need to bill hours

       Assuming firm management and its training resources effectively neutralize these impediments, lawyer marketing training must meet certain criteria. The firm must decide who should receive the training. Should the training be limited to partners?; partners plus associates on partnership track?; lawyers third year and more senior?; or all firm lawyers? A reasonable objective for a small firm might be to train all partners and senior level associates. For larger law firms, a reasonable objective might be to encourage all partners to participant in the training, knowing that you will not get 100% of the partnership to do so. The department or practice group with a leader who actively embraces marketing training is more likely to follow through with action steps required to generate new business and to show a tangible return on the money invested in lawyer marketing training.

       Law firms that have generated the greatest return on their time and money in training lawyers to market have been firms that have identified and focused training and support resources on a critical mass of partners and associates who have an interest in marketing and who are committed to following through. Various testing tools are available to identify lawyers who meet these criteria.

       After the firm decides who should receive training, the firm chairman or executive committee or other respected partner with firm management responsibilities should communicate why the training is being offered, its value to the individual lawyer, and its importance to the future of the firm. Without the visible support of the firm's leadership, lawyer marketing training will be haphazard at best.

Training Associates and Junior Lawyers

For a variety of reasons that support the best teaching/learning concepts, training programs should be offered to two different lawyer groups: one for associates and one for partners. Objectives of the associate training program include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provide an understanding that there is a process to implement to build a successful law practice. Associate marketing training must prepare lawyers to generate, at the appropriate time, new business from existing clients and from qualified prospects through face-to-face meetings.

• Understand the value of advocates and how to develop them. An advocate is a client or non-client contact who has very favorable experience with these three elements: (1) the lawyer's technical legal skills; (2) the added value the lawyer brings to the client relationship; and (3) the lawyer's capability to provide the client with quality business advice when it is needed. The advocate goes out of his or her way to assist the lawyer in the generation of client business by responding favorably when the lawyer seeks introductions to key personnel unknown by the lawyer. Young lawyers should keep this quote in mind: “Show me your friends and I will show you your future life. Show me your network and I will show you your future career”.

• Acquire knowledge of effective client relations as a way of reinforcing client –counsel relationships. Associates learn that through ongoing communications with the client they are demonstrating both concern and attention to the client's matter.

• Educate associates about the capabilities of their specific practice area and,
depending upon the size of the firm, the capabilities of the firm;

• Acquire an understanding of these fundamental marketing activities to build the lawyer's profile in the marketplace:

1. Create a personal mailing roster consisting of client contacts, university, law school, church, legal, professional, and related organizations with whom to maintain contact. Clients and prospects should be sent industry information the lawyer believes of value to the client/prospect's business.
   
2. Writing articles for periodicals within industries the lawyer wants to serve. When an article is published a reprint mailing campaign should be conducted using the lawyers mailing list. In addition, the article can be placed on the firm's website.
   
3. Active participation in one or more professional organizations or societies in which the lawyer preferably has an emotional commitment. An emotional commitment normally stimulates active participation rather than being a passive member.
   
4. Speaking before audiences within industries in which the lawyer wants to build his/her practice. Third party seminar providers offer opportunities for senior level associates to be seen and heard by industry specific audiences.
   
5. Learn the client's business. While buyers of legal services want to personally meet with the partner responsible for the work, increasingly, clients want to know who the lawyers are who will be working on the matter. As associates mature in their practice, they should seek from their client partner opportunities for personal contact with clients to gain an understanding of the client's business and to demonstrate that the client's interests are the number one concern of the lawyer.

Training Senior Associates and Partners

Recognizing that generating new business from existing clients and from qualified prospects is a contact activity requiring face-to-face meetings, marketing training needs to prepare partners to conduct meaningful client legal needs interviews. Marketing training that focuses on the following skill sets will succeed in preparing partners to generate new business.

• Valid Business Reason

Applying the valid business reason concept eliminates one of the greatest barriers lawyers have in meeting face-to-face with clients and with prospects. A valid business reason answers the client question: “Why should I spend time with you? When lawyers can answer this question, the vale between the client and the prospect, who are the keepers of new business opportunities, is eliminated.

Realizing that partners are expected to understand the client/prospect's business requires the accumulation of information, including the client/prospect's: (a) Mission - what are they trying to accomplish in their business within the next 12 months?; (b) Organization Chart - who gives out the legal work outside of the partners practice specialty?; how high within the organization are our contacts and what does the partner need to do to expand those relationships? Having advocates in place answers these questions; (c) Criteria that clients/prospects use to retain legal counsel; (d) Status of the client's relationship with other law firms; (e) Legal needs. Depending on the relationship the partner has with the prospect/client, the partner may seek knowledge of the client's budget for legal services and the legal spend for the previous 12 months.

• Preparation

Preparing for client/prospect meetings includes researching the client, the client industry, and client needs for legal services. Preparation includes setting specific objectives for the meeting and identifying questions to ask the client. The partner needs to know the next step he/she will take at the end of the meeting. There should always be a defined next step during every client/prospect meeting.

• Client Meeting

With valid business reason established, clients are receptive to face-to-face meetings with legal counsel. By meeting face-to-face, the partner is demonstrating interest in the client while increasing his knowledge of the client's business.
The lawyer is not at this meeting to sell anything. He is there to bring value to the relationship by communicating an understanding of issues relevant to the client business interests.

Use the following questions during face-to-face meetings with clients/prospects to obtain needed information: (a) “Is there anything new since last we communicated that you believe I should know about your department/organization?”; (b) “What issues are currently affecting your (specific segment) of your industry?”; (c) “How do these issues affect your company/department?”; and (d) “What do you believe is the most pressing issue facing your company/division?”

• Unmatched Value

Unmatched value is value as perceived by the client or prospect that competing law firms cannot or choose not to offer. Unmatched value is that unique asset within a law firm or a practice group or even an individual lawyer that separates one from the competition. Partners who identify and communicate these unique assets win new business. Examples of unmatched value of clients of mine include: Only law firm in a specific market with a knowledge partner; Sophisticated use of technology (all litigation partners use notebook computers to access knowledge database thereby saving clients time and money); Fixed fee arrangement with national representation (law firm services all litigation needs of major client on a fixed fee basis); Fastest growing law firm in major European city; Largest Employment Law practice in specific country.

• Proposal

Partners must seek opportunities to increase the number of capabilities presentations to existing clients and to qualified prospects. Presentations can be formal with multi-media support or informal, no more than an organized discussion over coffee. As the partner increases his/her knowledge of the client and exchanges information with lawyers serving the client, opportunities to make presentations increase.

• Decision/Feedback

Partners learn valuable information from prospects who become clients and from prospects who select other lawyers to do their work. Knowing the criteria clients used to retain or not to retain the law firm is a responsibility of the partner seeking the new work.

Law firms that include the above content in their marketing training curriculum will find themselves generating substantial new business. After all, isn't that what marketing is all about?

Byron G. Sabol is CEO of Sabol International, inc., an international business development, strategic marketing, and mergers and acquisitions consultancy. Byron has personally trained more than 4,000 lawyers in three continents with marketing skills. He can be reached at Byron@byronsabol.com, by telephone in the USA at +(407) 909-1572 , or at www.Byronsabol.com