Law Firm Incubator Success Blog

Notes from Practice Development Seminar with Adrian Miller

2008-04-23T15:22:00.005-04:00

In light of the current credit crisis and general nervousness about the status of the US economy, many lawyers are concerned about the status of their practice. Of course, there are bankruptcy attorneys and litigators who do well in down markets, but most lawyers I speak with have their eyes fixed on the latest economic indicator reports.

And while corporate or real estate deals may slow, companies may spend less on their IP programs or may hold off on filing that breach of contract claim, a down economy creates a number of business opportunities for entrepreneurial lawyers. For example, down economies create price sensitivity. Some prospective clients who have been loyal to the firms they have been working with may reconsider working with a small firm that has better rates.

It was exactly this type of economy that propelled me into my own law practice six years ago and, like in the last down market, I have recently seen opportunities open up to me that weren’t available a year ago.

Given the status of the economy, I thought this was a great time for LawFirmIncubator to sponsor a practice development seminar with sales expert, Adrian Miller.

It’s no secret that most lawyers obtain the majority of their business referrals from their existing network of contacts. Accordingly, Adrian focused much of her presentation on different ways to keep your name at the top of your new and existing contacts’ minds. According to Miller, “marketing for professionals, especially lawyers, is all about staying on the grid.”

According to Adrian, most professionals (not just lawyers) are guilty of making a new contact, either through a networking event, golf or lunch, and then have no follow up system in place to stay in touch. And while it’s great that you are “out there” having meetings, without a follow up strategy in place, your return on the time, effort and possibly expense you invested in taking that meeting is limited. The people you meet with may not know of (or need themselves) the services you provide at the time that you meet them. You want to make sure that you stay at the top of their mind so when the need arises, you’re the person who wins the referral.

For her own business, Miller says that for her to keep a pipeline of prospective clients large enough to generate the revenues she aspires to achieve, she needs to make a minimum of 50 touches a day, which includes people she meets networking, at speaking events, and communications with clients and prospects.

But according to Adrian, your point of contact should never be a “hey, just touching base” email or call. Miller says that these types of correspondence are self serving, add no value to your clients and you become the annoying guy whose email and calls get ignored. Says Miller, “you win business because you equate to an improvement to a situation the prospective client is dealing with.” “To do this your communications must offer value to your prospect or referral source.”

Adrian had 8 easy tips to stay in front of your prospects with value-add communications:

1. Be a Connector. You can be valuable to your contacts and business prospects by connecting them to people who can help solve their problems or increase their business. These can be introductions between clients, prospects, vendors and referral sources. Adrian suggests making a commitment to connecting five people a day. Miller uses her subway commutation time to make these connections via her PDA. If you are known for making connections that lead to new business or other opportunities, then you can be sure your emails will get opened.

2. Send an Article. A touch point can be as simple as cutting out or photocopying an article that may be of interest to one or more of your contacts. Adrian says she walks around with a stack of her business envelopes and if she’s in a waiting room, she’ll take an article out of a magazine and send it to a client or prospect that’s of interest. My firm frequently sends articles to our clients that we photocopy and send with handwritten notes written on a “Compliments of” card. Pretty consistently, every mailing leads to at least one new project or referral.

3. Send a Link. If you’ve just spoken to a client and found out he or she is going on a vacation to a special destination, or that they have a particular interest, Miller suggests using Google to find an article or something of interest to your contact and sending the link to the article in your follow up message. It’s easy and takes very little time. I just Googled “lawyers marketing” and found this quick read:

The Top 11 Reasons Most Attorneys Don't Do Marketing - http://www.smartmarketingnow.com/articles/top_11_reasons.php.

4. Newsletters. Not much to say here, most everyone knows the drill. The key is to make the commitment to getting the newsletter out consistently, which can be tricky for lawyers who are on deals or trials. Miller suggests hiring a freelance writer to write the copy for your newsletter. You can have a sit-down with a freelance writer, give them five bullet points about an article idea, which they will then turn into a 1,500 word article in less than a week. Do this for three topics once per quarter and you have your newsletter copy for a year. I have lawyer friends who have successfully used Elance (www.elance.com) to find affordable copy writers.

5. Take Them to Lunch. Don’t just plan a lunch with one person, schedule a lunch for two or three people (plus you) who have synergies. Same concept as being a connector, except you are sharing a meal together. Miller sets her lunches up a few weeks in advance, and if you’re lucky enough to be invited, you don’t miss it. This is something the busy lawyer can have their assistant do for them. All they need to do is provide the assistant with names, and she can schedule dates at few weeks in advance. A good timesaving tip is to have a steady venue picked out in advance in different strategic locales.

6. Invite Them to an Event. Like the lunches, invite two or three people who will have synergies. Miller suggests that this is a good opportunity to be creative and connect with your clients on a personal level. Adrian is a member of MoMA and gets invites to exhibit openings. She regularly invites her clients and referrers. Recently, one of my clients invited me and a colleague to go to the pre-opening event at the New York International Car Show. It was an awesome experience we are still talking about. Also, Miller suggests not being afraid to take your prospects and clients to places where your competition is. According to Miller, your clients will meet your competition anyway; many clients will actually be impressed that you’re not afraid of your competition.

7. Get Digital. Yes, websites are important and unless you’ve been practicing from a cave, you know this. But web marketing has gone to a new level, and Miller suggests building your online profile through professional social networking sites like Linked-In or Corporate Facebook. I know many professionals (other than lawyers) who are using these sites to effectively find staff, investors and clients. Why not lawyers too? I like to use Linked-In as a follow up to networking meetings. I have two timed messages that go out to new contacts after I meet with them; one is an invitation to join my Linked-In network.

8. Keep Clients Happy. Miller suggests that your clients are your biggest (and least expensive) sales force and, in fact, promoted her elder law attorney and IP attorney at our seminar without us even realizing it. Do whatever you can to keep your clients in your fan club.

Adrian fielded a few questions from the audience as well, and she gave us her opinions on:

Blogs: She likes them. It’s free, easy to post to and raises your online presence in the search engines.

Newspapar ads. Cold on them. Ads have zero shelf life according to Miller, and are expensive. Unless you’ve got the budget for “image advertising” (think Tiffany’s ad on page two of the Times every day), or a direct response call to action like a free report, it’s not the best use of a lawyer’s marketing budget.

Radio Ads. She’s lukewarm. Radio requires consistency and frequency. Plus you need to have a system in place to qualify inquiries. Miller suggests carefully tracking results and return-on-investment.

Speaking of tracking results, that was one of the common themes (metrics) in Adrian’s presentation, in addition to consistency and accountability.

Consistency. According to Miller, marketing is not an event (a workshop, a one time article, a networking lunch), but a consistent effort that’s part of a program or system that needs to be part of each workday. As a practicing lawyer, I know how tricky it can be to commit to marketing programs over the long haul. Miller suggests scheduling an appointment with yourself, and sticking to it like it’s an appointment with a client. In his book, “Ultimate Sales Machine”, Chet Holmes gives a straightforward approach to time management. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in marketing. I carry it around with me everywhere.

Metrics. In terms of metrics, any marketing or sales professional will tell you that only what you measure will improve. Without tracking every last detail of your marketing efforts, you have no idea what’s producing a return on your investment in time. This doesn’t have to be super technical, a simple excel spreadsheet will work. I’ve loaded to our website a PDF of the report we use to track the results of our newsletters each month. See www.FurnariLevine.com/metrics.pdf.

Accountability. Finally, if you are a one man army or “the boss”, accountability is critical. For most lawyers, marketing and practice development are necessary evils. It’s something that requires lawyers to get out of their comfort zone, and they’ll find any excuse to avoid doing it. If you don’t have someone at your firm to keep you accountable to the marketing program you develop, hire a coach or a consultant to hold your feet to the fire. More than any other service she provides, I believe Adrian’s clients get the most out of the accountability she provides for them.

To learn more about how Adrian can help get your marketing program on the right track, visit her website at: http://www.adrianmiller.com/.

ABA Article: No Associates - Just Consultants

2008-03-14T14:56:00.002-04:00

I saw this article in the ABA Journal about a Canadian Law firm that has no associates, just consultants who come and go as they please, and work on whatever projects they choose.

The article is a reminder for me about the difficulties of growing a small law practice, specifically the high cost of labor tends to keep small firms small.

If the economic model of your practice is like mine, where you trade time for money (as opposed to some litigators who can take cases on contingency and may have an opportunity to snag an award where their fee is greater than the time and cash investment they put into the case) the only way to grow to make a meaningful income is to leverage someone else's labor.

Just about everywhere, but especially in New York City, the cost for quality talent is very high--and can sometimes represent more than what some solo lawyers make themselves in a year.

In trying to manage the growth of my own practice, I have used "consultant-lawyers" to varying degrees of success, but I've found there are complications with that model that make it faulty (aside from any potential ethical or insurance issues).

Often, consultants are not vested in a client's matter, they are just a hired gun, and sometimes don't give the client the value-added personal service that is a relationship building opportunity.

At least in my practice, the work isn't commoditized, that is, lots of small, impersonal tasks to complete where quality client contact is unnecessary to get the work done. All of my work involves close personal interaction with clients. Perhaps this is just a reflection of my particular pracitce (corporate--representing entrepreneurs and high growth businesses), or my personal style, but I'm reluctant to rely exclusively on this model--they might was well us a legal form service like LegalZoom.

Part of the idea behind LawFirmIncubator is not just to share referrals, but also to create opportunities for lawyers here to share staff. For example, I may not be able to afford a mid-level corporate associate on my own, but me and another lawyer may be able to. My job as a manager of the project is to match those two needs and create opportunities for our lawyers to build a platform to grow from.

Lawyers Aren't Entrepreneurs: NY Times

2008-01-08T17:46:00.000-05:00

I don't know if you had a chance to read the article "The Falling-Down Professions" in the Times on Sunday. For the most part, it was your standard I'm-a-miserable-big-firm-lawyer piece and how the legal and medical professions have lost some prestige in recent years, which doesn't affect my day-to-day life much.

What I found horribly disturbing was the premise that entrepreneurialism and autonomy can't be found in the practice of law or medicine, which I find patently untrue and a total misrepresentation of our profession.

My reaction to the article was angry enough to write a letter to Alex Williams, the journalist who wrote the article. I also copied the editor and plan to circulate it among my other journalist contacts and lawyer friends.

If you are a lawyer or doctor, please write a comment to this post describing how you are entrepreneurial and autonomous. I started the first comment to provide an example. If enough of us respond, I'll make sure the Times and Mr. Williams gets notified.

January 8, 2008

Via Federal Express

Alex Williams
The New York Times Company
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018

Re: Response to “The Falling Down Professions”

Dear Mr. Williams:

I am writing in response to your article "The Falling Down Professions" published in the New York Times on Sunday, January 6, 2008, in particular, the comment that, to some lawyers, "the daily trudge serves as a constant reminder that the entrepreneur's autonomy simply can't be found in law or medicine."

I'd like to offer you an opportunity to explore a world of some of the most entrepreneurial, autonomous and competent business people I know, who also happen to be practicing lawyers.

I am a practicing corporate attorney who represents the kinds of entrepreneurs you mention in the article. I am also a former associate from a "big" New York firm, that merged into a "big" national firm, that merged into a "big" multi-national firm (I started my practice at the time of the first merger).

I am also an entrepreneur and run a business called Law Firm Incubator that provides office space and support for solo and small firm lawyers who, like me, believe it is possible to be entrepreneurial, and be autonomous, and make good money, and have quality of life, and do all this while practicing law.

In the article you mention the allure of the big reward for cashing out of the latest, greatest website. In 2007, I represented several companies who claimed they could build a social networking website that serviced college kids much better than Facebook. Before the end of the year, the management of all but one of these companies quit and got regular, unglamorous, normal-waged jobs.

Meanwhile, of all the entrepreneurial lawyers I know who started practices recently, none are out of business. The vast majority of these attorneys have thriving practices and wouldn't change anything about their chosen profession. Here are just a few of my friends:

There's Todd Duffy who is a former Greenberg Traurig associate who now runs his own boutique bankruptcy practice and gets home to see his young daughter every night before she goes to bed.

There's Paul Wilson, a former Fried Frank Lawyer who runs his own M&A practice and still makes time to sail in the regattas held every Tuesday evening in New York Harbor.

There's Yetta Kurland, one the most dynamic litigators I know with one of the biggest LGBT practices in New York, who sponsors political fundraisers and runs a successful language school, HelloWorld, in her spare time.

There's Nance Schick, an employee benefits defense lawyer who works from her home because it wastes time and money for a self-described “road warrior” to have an office. She also owns a company that makes stylish clothing and holds Day of Beauty events for people with physical limitations.

There's my law partner, Gregory Levine, who works from his home in Jackson, New Jersey most days so he can make breakfast for his three children and see them on and off the school bus. In addition to being a practicing corporate lawyer, he runs a broker dealer compliance consulting company that employs seven people and represents 60+ broker dealers.

There's my mentor and first employer, Gregory Sichenzia, who, with his small 30 lawyer firm that he founded with two friends in 1998, does more PIPE securities transactions per year than any other law firm in the country and who, in my opinion likely makes more money than most of the bankers that you mention in your article.

And then there’s the 11 lawyers who maintain offices in my Law Firm Incubator suite who love what they do, and wouldn't change a thing.

This list only scratches the surface of the amazing entrepreneurial attorneys I know, but I think you get the point.

I’m not sure whether the legal profession has any more or less prestige than it did in previous years, nor do I find this analysis relevant to my day-to-day life. For me, and I believe for most of the lawyers I mention above, prestige is not the reason we became a lawyers in the first place.

If your primary motivation for getting into a profession--whether it be law, medicine, Web, banking or consulting-- is prestige rather than doing what you are passionate about in life, no matter what the working conditions, eventually you are going to be unhappy with your choice.

What’s disconcerting about your article is that my profession has been portrayed as one where there’s no room for autonomy, entrepreneurialism or the possibility to achieve meaningful financial rewards for taking risks. That’s just not true.

For those lawyers grinding through the "daily trudge," instead of ordering luxury goods from NeimanMarcus.com on their lunch hour, if they still think they have a glimmer of passion about the law, I encourage them to visit www.RainmakerIncubator.com, a website I created to rescue these poor souls and introduce them into my world.

Sincerely,

/s/

Stephen T. Furnari

2008-01-06T18:10:00.000-05:00

Estimated Referrals this Week: $30,000
Estimated Total Referrals Since October 1: $198,950

Happy New Year!

At the beginning of each year, you can't help but look back at what you accomplished the previous year. What went right and what went wrong.

For me, at least professionally, it was a big transitional year in terms of getting my law practice and Law Firm Incubator project ready for the future. I spent a lot of time working "on the business" as opposed to "in the business" as Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth series so eloquently puts it.

I added staff, implemented systems, and began to make the right moves to grow the firm and the company to new heights in 2008. It's what I will be working on with the Incubator clients this year as well as they grow their practices.

I truly believe that 2008 is going to be an amazing, break-through year for me and my firm--and it certainly started out the right way with a referral to a landlord-tenant dispute (Est. $5k+ in potential fees), and a referral to a friend of Law Firm Incubator to be underwriter's counsel in a muni-bond offering (Est. $25k+ in potential fees).

I hope your year is looking as promising as everyone's here.

We're a Powerful Resource Too!

2007-12-17T21:26:00.001-05:00

Before starting my own practice, I worked for a big New York law firm. One of the things I liked best about working there was the ability to find just about any resource by sending an email to the other lawyers in the firm.

One of my friends once needed a referral to a family lawyer in Lincoln, Nebraska, and someone in the firm had a good referral source. Another time, I was in the position to refer a co-worker to a friend who was a lawyer in New Hampshire.

When I started my own practice, I lost that benefit that I had come to rely on. Sometimes, I would expend a little social capital and ask my friends who were still with firms to send requests to their lists. It wasn't quite the same, however.

Today, my securities lawyer friend, Matt, send a request for a referral to an attorney in Atlantic City who specialized in Gambling Laws, specifically minors violating the Gambling Laws.

I sent a message to the Law Firm Incubator members. Within a couple of hours, I had a quality referral from Elke Hofmann, one of the Law Firm Incubator lawyers, and a specialist in liquor laws, and representing bars, restaurants and liquor stores.

These kinds of referrals may not immediately put cash into Matt's or Elke's pocket, but they have created good will that they can both bank on coming back to them in the near future.

More than just a place to get new business, Law Firm Incubator is a place where you can find resources that add value to your practice.

Holiday Season Begins

2007-11-30T17:18:00.000-05:00

Estimated Referrals this Week: $30,750
Estimated Total Referrals Since October 1: $168,950

Our friends Avi Azoulay and Jeff Crowther from Hudson Valley Bank, the best bankers in New York for lawyers, kicked off the holiday season this week with an amazing party at the Union League Club. It was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. Deals will be made, and referrals exchanged for sure. I have already scheduled four meaningful follow-up appointments with potential referral sources.

We are very thankful that a steady stream of referrals keep coming our way. This week one of our new members referred a trademark search and review (Est. $750+ in potential fees), and one of our friends referred a breach of employment contract case with over $400k in damages that seems promising. (Est. $30k+ in potential fees).

Applications for offices keep pouring in, and it's looking like the suite should be full before the end of the year. We have a few spaces left, and if the last quarter of 2007 is any indication, 2008 is looking to be an amazing year. If you want to become a part of this group of incredible lawyers, don't hesitate. Send in an application and set up an appointment for a tour.

Our Newly Updated Website Provides More Info

2007-11-17T21:02:00.000-05:00

We've updated our www.LawFirmIncubator.com website today. The new site will has more pictures and information about the amenities in Law Firm Incubator, and also features our special package for start-up solo practices.

We've also added some history about the building where we are located. One interesting fact: when it was built in 1898, the building was the tallest building in the world, and the first to feature steam powered elevators (which have since been updated).

The Law Firm Incubator is newly constructed, but we preserved the 15' ceilings and the original crown molding, giving the office a very airy feel.

I should note, if you are in the market for a website, you must talk to Angela Nielson of One Lily Design. She's been great with the design and revisions of our site, and I highly recommend her, particularly since she has a very specialized niche in dealing with attorneys' websites.

Two New Lawyers Join LFIS/Another Two Significant Referrals

2007-11-16T17:46:00.000-05:00

Estimated Referrals this Week: $40,000
Estimated Total Referrals: $138,200

We're very excited to have two new lawyers join the Law Firm Incubator this week. One lawyer has been practicing for a number of years, is a CPA/JD/MBA, ran a computer networking business and is now breaking out into his own practice. He plans to do small business law, including collections work and small commercial litigation.

The second lawyer has represents restaurant, bar and nightclub owners, with a particular specialty in helping these clients acquire liquor licenses.

Finally, Law Firm Incubator lawyers referred out two significant projects this week. Coincidentally, both were partnership disputes that are heading to litigation--something I spend a lot of time in my practice helping entrepreneurs to avoid. One matter is getting taken on a contingency, the other hourly. (Est. $40k+ in potential fees)

Turn Your Office into a Client and Revenue Generating Machine

2007-11-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

One of the things we are doing at Law Firm Incubator is partnering with the leading experts in law firm marketing to help educate our members and friends about the latest techniques and best practices.

I want to invite you to a teleseminar called "Generating Referrals From Attorneys and Creating Strategic Relationships" that will take place Thursday, November 8, 2007, at 5PM EST.

We are co-hosting the program with Stephen Fairley of the Rainmaker Institute. Stephen is one of the leading experts on small law firm marketing. Perhaps you've seen one of his recent seminars at a New York State Bar Association annual meeting or one of his other programs.

In this teleseminar, you will learn:

* How to generate referrals within your office suite
* 3 specific steps attorneys can take to turn their office overhead into new clients.
* How to implement a client referral program in your practice
* Simple steps you can take to develop strategic relationships with other attorneys
* How to create a cross referral environment that generates $50,000 to $100,000 in cross referrals

…and much more.

Regular price for this Teleseminar is $49, but we've arranged a for a $10 discount for for friends of Law Firm Incubator.

You can learn more at: http://www.rainmakerretreat.com/furnari/

I hope you can make it!

Second Week Finishes on a High Note

2007-10-19T16:40:00.000-04:00

Estimated Referrals this Week: $33,200
Estimated Total Referrals: $98,200

Another office rented this week, and we are more than half full.

By the end of the week, Incubator lawyers made four (4) more referrals:

--a residential real estate purchase (Est. $1,200 in potential fees);
--litigation by a mid-sized business against an insurance broker (Est. $12k+ in potential fees);
--a small commercial litigation involving the theft of trade secrets(Est. $5k+ in potential fees);
--an employment matter was referred to one of our UK colleagues (we expect the favor to be returned, so I view this one like money in the bank) (Est. $5k+ in potential fees).

Unfortunately, we don't have a Real Estate person at LawFirmIncubator yet, or a commercial litigator who deals with small business, so two of the referrals that could have been sent to Incubator lawyers went to other colleagues of ours.

Also, the consulting gig I referred on Monday to one of our lawyers is a go! It should be a $1,000 month assignment for answering questions over the phone. (Est. $10k+ in total potential fees)

Second Week Starts Out Right

2007-10-15T19:28:00.000-04:00

I was just referred a Hedge Fund start-up today (not from a lawyer in LawFirmIncubator), but I was in a position to send another referral today. One of my clients, a foreign company, is looking for a business adviser (didn't have to be a lawyer, but it was preferred) to help coach him on US business practices. I'm going to introduce him to one of the commercial lawyers in the suite, hopefully they will be able to secure a deal together. It could be a nice little income stream for the person who gets this business.

...and it's only Monday.

Time slots to view the office are filling up for this week, but we have a few appointments left. Submit an application to schedule a tour.

1st Week: 3 Major Referrals

2007-10-14T18:09:00.001-04:00

Estimated Referrals this Week: $65,000
Estimated Total Referrals: $65,000

Lawyers started moving into the LawFirmIncubator suite on Tuesday, including my firm and two additional attorneys. More are moving in next week.

The number one goal of this project is to get each attorney's office to pay for itself two-fold, rather than just being one of their most costly expenses. Well it seems the laws of attraction were busy at work this week, and the Universe has rewarded us with 3 MAJOR referrals:

1. A construction accident wrongful death litigation (defense), PLUS, a claim against the insurance carrier for refusal to cover the claim. (Est. $25k+ in potential fees)

2. An administrative hearing at the SEC (defense), alleging $30mil+ in damages. (Conservative Est. $35k+ in potential fees)

3. An estate planning matter for high net worth investment banker. (Est. $5k+ in potential fees)

The first referral alone should cover the recipient's rent for the year! I am astonished by the success of this project already.

There are still a limited number of offices remaining. Only one Large Courtyard View Office remains available ($1,897), three Very Large Water View offices are available ($2,000 - $2,497) and two workstations ($897 - $997).

Once these fill, we will keep a waiting list on a first-come-first served basis. Make sure you apply now.