Eat Your Spinach

More on Marketing 101 for lawyers: 

Do you know how to work a room?  Are you comfortable delivering an elevator pitch about what you do for your clients?  Both these articles cover the basics in reassuring, albeit non-negotiable, terms.  For starters, they recognize that when a lawyer dons a marketing hat, that puts them "out of their comfort zone," and in what I would add is a bit of perverse and dysfunctional psychology, being uncomfortable gives one permission to perform poorly—after all, one's expectations for oneself are already quite low.

As Cher famously put it, "Snap out of it!"  Or, as the chairman of Mintz-Levin puts it, for lawyers who are unwilling to accept that thinking like a businessperson now comes with the territory, "we think there are some terrific academic institutions for them."

Understand that courting clients and winning new business is not a process dependent upon pixie dust for success:  It's dependent on our old standby, preparation.  That means, for example, if your firm is hosting a reception for clients and prospects:

• learn as much as you can beforehand about the people you plan to talk to, and their companies and industries;
• have objectives in mind for each person, even if it's as simple as inviting them to coffee or lunch after the event;
• learn not to talk excessively about yourself so you can spend this valuable time listening to their worries and concerns; good networkers ask lots of questions;
• after the event is over, follow up, then follow up some more.

If you take away only one thing from these pieces, I recommend:  First, listen!  Everyone is flattered to be the center of attention, so make your prospect so.  Not only does this take the pressure off you to be scintillating, but you might actually learn what challenges you could help them confront.  And when you can propose a scratch at the moment they have an itch, 90% of your marketing job is done.