how to succeed in creating a marketing and client development plan - tips for lawyers. Learn about measurable goals, accountability, and the power of committing to your plan by putting it in writing.

1. Marketing and Client Development
in Three Easy Steps
Posted on 04/25/2016
Have you set goals for your law practice? Do they include any of the following?
 Grow my client base
 Improve existing client relationships
 Transition to another practice area
From a big picture perspective, all three choices are valid. What they lack is a reasonable
chance of success.
You can greatly improve the odds of achieving your goals by taking these three simple steps:
 Create measurable goals
 Write your goals down!
 Be accountable
Create Measurable Goals
If your goals and objectives aren’t measurable, how will you know if you succeeded? It’s easy to
say “I want to grow my client base,” because this statement can mean so many different things:
you want to increase revenues, open more client files, or start taking on clients in a new area of
law. Perhaps keeping your goals fuzzy is a way of feeding a tendency to procrastinate or avoid
identifiable failure ….
If you want to grow your client base, start by articulating what this means to you.
Let’s say your goal this year is to increase new client retention by 10%. Start by assessing your
success in converting clients (new clients interviewed vs. new clients who retain you as their
lawyer). If your conversion rate is less than 75%, it is time for introspection and some
retooling. What issues are you facing?
 Do you need to bolster your confidence? Finding support through peer groups
or counseling may make a big difference.
 Perhaps you need to learn more about a specific area of law so clients are assured of your
knowledge. Contact the Oregon State Bar and Professional Liability Fund. Access OSB
BarBooks, download PLF Forms, attend CLEs, join Bar Sections, and read
pertinent publications.
 Maybe you can benefit from polishing interviewing skills or learning more about client
needs? Find a mentor, reach out to colleagues, search this blog for posts on client
relations and marketing – there are a ton of resources available in this area if you ask. It
may be as simple as observing your mentor or asking her to sit in on your client
interviews (screen for conflicts; get client permission).

2. Identify the challenges – there may be several – then dial down. Create a series of measurable
steps to help you achieve your goal of increasing client retention by 10%. Be concrete and set
time limitations. Here is an example:
Continue developing additional specific, measurable steps you can take to improve client
retention.
Write Your Goals Down!
If you don’t mind a success rate hovering around 43%, then talking or thinking about your
goals is a good way to go. If you prefer to do better than that, write your goals down.
Putting pen to paper (or fingers to a keyboard) is an inescapable part of making your
goals more real, concrete, and achievable. You can improve your chances even more by
keeping your goals visible: a sheet kept on your desk, a series of post-its on a bathroom mirror,
or saving a screen grab to your desktop or mobile device.
The act of writing is, in itself, a process of mental transformation. If you don’t believe me, just
Google “why is writing down goals important?” and scan through the myriad of results. Here is
the best explanation, IMHO. By the way, science backs this up. Writing down your goals and
sharing them with a friend will increase your rate of success from 43% to 62%.
Be Accountable!
Being accountable to others is success on steroids! The Dominican University of California
conducted a study on strategies for achieving goals. By including the additional step of sending
a weekly progress report to a friend, 76% of study participants accomplished their goals, or
were at least half-way there, in a four-week period. Wow!
So if I write a text or email to a friend,
“Hi Sheila, I’m setting goals for my law practice this year. One of my objectives is to read
the OSB Family Law BarBook cover-to-cover by June 1. I need you to hold me
accountable for getting this done. Can I send you weekly progress reports?”
and my friend holds me to my promise of sending weekly progress reports, there is a 76%
likelihood I will follow through? I’m on board! Naturally you can buddy-up on this idea: find a
colleague with whom you can exchange goals and weekly progress reports. You will both
benefit by holding the other accountable.

3. Getting Started
Get underway with the process of goal setting, marketing plans, and business development by
accessing the great resources available on the PLF website. Choose Practice Management, then
Forms. Under “filter by category,” select “Marketing.”
All Rights Reserved – Beverly Michaelis – 2016.