The Visible Lawyer

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi About the author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Part 1: The theory of visibility Chapter 1: Where do you need to be visible? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Building brand cameos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Building brand cameos into an effective personal visibility plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Choosing the most productive marketing options for you . . . . . . . 11 What do you know now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Chapter 2: How do you achieve a consistency of visibility? . . . . . . . 15 Little and often . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The 'marketing mix' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 How do you turn visibility into interest? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Creating a solid and attractive client value proposition for your firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Creating a personal value proposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 How do you make sure your (firm's or personal) value proposition is in line with what your clients want? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Part 2: Visibility in practice - How do you create visibility? Chapter 3: 'Intelligent marketing' - Practical marketing activities that really do create visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 What is 'intelligent marketing'? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 What is the difference between 'intelligent marketing' and 'tick-box marketing'? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Ten low-cost/high impact business development strategies that really work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 The proven three-step implementation model - Confidence, focus, action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Chapter 4: How to stay visible to what you've already got . . . . . . . 47 Change your mantra from client management to client development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 10 client development strategies that really work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 How to grow your existing client relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Chapter 5: Don't just stay visible to clients, stay visible to referrers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Why referrers are as valuable as clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 How do you build a referrer relationship model that really works? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 How do you convert your relationships into work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Chapter 6: How do you create the visibility that wins new clients? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Make sure your firm is visible to potential new clients . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Get your web presence right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Adopting a sector strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Choosing the right sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 How do you build an effective sector team? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Part 3: Mini-masterclasses Mini-masterclass 1: Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Five things to remember so you establish the right mind-set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Five ways to get the very best return from any networking opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Four ways to plan the conversations you'll have . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Five things to remember once you're in a conversation . . . . . . . . . 103 Ten ways to follow up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Five alternative ways to network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Mini-masterclass 2: Presenting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Five facts that will help you get into the right mind-set to present . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Eight ways to make sure your presentations actually deliver a tangible return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Seven ways to inject more impact into your presentations . . . . 115 Five physical changes you can make to your delivery to immediately improve your presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Two ways to follow up and make sure your presentations turn into instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Ten ways to avoid 'death by PowerPoint' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Eight ways to improve attendance at your firm's seminar programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Mini-masterclass 3: Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Three reasons you must engage in writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Seven potential publishing platforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Three things to remember when you're writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Three ways to conquer writer's block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Mini-masterclass 4: PR - Become an industry expert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 By Sharon Cain, managing director of Quest PR and former BBC and Sky TV journalist Harnessing the tools to become a thought leader acrossPR and social media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Tips on maximising value from the PR tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Harnessing the tools to become a thought leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Achieving the joined-up formula for success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 Mini-masterclass 5: Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Which seven things do you need to research? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 What are the 11 best sources of information? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 What are the four golden rules for any researcher? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 The final word: What gets measured gets done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 How to set objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 Measuring yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Multiple measuring (and motivating) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174