Philosophy of law firm marketing.

One of the most common excuses I hear from attorneys about why they don’t do more to market their services is that they think it’s somehow “unprofessional”.  I’m so tired of hearing that weak & worn-out excuse.  And it’s just that, an excuse!  The fact of the matter is that when done right, Rainmaking is the highest example of professionalism, and meets or even exceeds all Bar Rules I know of or could even imagine (even in New York!). 

The philosophy of marketing a law firm that the most successful Rainmakers have, and that you can have too, is that selling legal services is really nothing more than identifying people’s problems and helping them to find solutions.  The very best Rainmakers don’t even miss a beat when the problem they’ve helped a prospective client to identify happens to not involve the services of their own law firm.  After all, it never hurts to cultivate a Referral Source by including their services in your solution for a problem. 

Be A Problem Solver
One of the best Rainmakers I know, a man who has sold literally hundreds of millions of dollars worth of legal services in his career calls this philosophy for selling legal services “Problem Solving Selling”.  He even carries around a baseball glove to remind himself that “. . . when I’m sitting with a prospective client, my job is to focus on what they are saying so that I can catch the problems that person is struggling with, and help them find relief.”  What could possibly be more professional and ethical than helping people with important problems, to find solutions to those problems?

Advertising, networking events, authoring articles, and conducting seminars are all tools that have a time & place.  And when used the right way, these tools can be used to get you the chance to be in front of a prospective client.  But you can only Make It Rain when you connect with a person who has a problem, and demonstrate how you can help them to make it better.