Friday, May 13, 2005
Strategy Means Choosing
There is never enough time to do everything that has to be done at work. Sorting the urgent from the chronic leaves a person either hungry or guilty a half-hour later. One article in a national newspaper suggested that getting organized and throwing things out is the new form of dieting. Drifting and stumbling along in professional practice or even in firm management is more hazardous than ever. Clients are sophisticated and demanding, and competitive forces are unforgiving.
The essence of strategy is making choices about what to do and what not to do. Professional practice, careers and firms must be actively managed. Personal and firm goals should be set and aligned with each other – and the firm comes first. Here are four sets of choices that can help determine your own strategy.
The first sets of choices are those that concern the clients and their legal needs. Three questions need to be answered:
1. With which clients do I want to work?
2. How can I learn a great deal more about these clients and theirchallenges in a very short period of time?
3. What type of legal work and advice are they likely to need?
The second set of choices is about reaching the clients. Some would call this "business development and marketing." Fundamentally, legal services are still a relationship-based business, even for price-sensitive practices like conveyancing and family law.
Individual expertise or the firm’s brand count in getting the first file -- but after that, service and results are all that count, regardless of experience.
4. Can I make and sustain 50 regular contacts every 90 days?
5. Who, in the firm or elsewhere, can I rely on to help do this?
6. How will I manage to speak to five new contacts every week?
7. What is my plan to meet three new or established contacts each week, even when I am busy?
The third set of choices concerns the economics of professional practice. Assuming that 50 hours are available most weeks of the year, then choosing what to spend time on each week (not each month) becomes critical.
The first year of call, the next three as an associate, the first five years of partnership, turning 40, 50 and 55 are all milestones. Each stage requires its game plan.
8. Am I investing five hours a week speaking to clients and prospects not related to a specific matter?
9. Is my effective billing rate where it should be, or am I "dumbing down" and not delegating enough?
10. Are there ways to replace hourly-based work with fixed fee or results-based arrangements?
11. Am I taking four weeks' vacation each year?
The fourth sets of questions are designed to tap creativity and innovation. This is a backdoor to living with change in a rules-based and rights-oriented industry. Clients want solutions at a reasonable cost – whether for an injury, to acquire a competitor, or to solve a labor dispute. Predictability and risk management command a higher price.
12. What specialty can I say that I have?
13. Can it be defined by type or client as well as by type of law?
14. Is it possible to innovate in the solutions I offer, in the way the service is delivered, and even in the pricing for both?
15. Am I spending two hours each week reading non-legal materials about professional services, leadership, management and my clients' sectors?
The essence of strategy is making choices about what to do and what not to do. Professional practice, careers and firms must be actively managed. Personal and firm goals should be set and aligned with each other – and the firm comes first. Here are four sets of choices that can help determine your own strategy.
The first sets of choices are those that concern the clients and their legal needs. Three questions need to be answered:
1. With which clients do I want to work?
2. How can I learn a great deal more about these clients and theirchallenges in a very short period of time?
3. What type of legal work and advice are they likely to need?
The second set of choices is about reaching the clients. Some would call this "business development and marketing." Fundamentally, legal services are still a relationship-based business, even for price-sensitive practices like conveyancing and family law.
Individual expertise or the firm’s brand count in getting the first file -- but after that, service and results are all that count, regardless of experience.
4. Can I make and sustain 50 regular contacts every 90 days?
5. Who, in the firm or elsewhere, can I rely on to help do this?
6. How will I manage to speak to five new contacts every week?
7. What is my plan to meet three new or established contacts each week, even when I am busy?
The third set of choices concerns the economics of professional practice. Assuming that 50 hours are available most weeks of the year, then choosing what to spend time on each week (not each month) becomes critical.
The first year of call, the next three as an associate, the first five years of partnership, turning 40, 50 and 55 are all milestones. Each stage requires its game plan.
8. Am I investing five hours a week speaking to clients and prospects not related to a specific matter?
9. Is my effective billing rate where it should be, or am I "dumbing down" and not delegating enough?
10. Are there ways to replace hourly-based work with fixed fee or results-based arrangements?
11. Am I taking four weeks' vacation each year?
The fourth sets of questions are designed to tap creativity and innovation. This is a backdoor to living with change in a rules-based and rights-oriented industry. Clients want solutions at a reasonable cost – whether for an injury, to acquire a competitor, or to solve a labor dispute. Predictability and risk management command a higher price.
12. What specialty can I say that I have?
13. Can it be defined by type or client as well as by type of law?
14. Is it possible to innovate in the solutions I offer, in the way the service is delivered, and even in the pricing for both?
15. Am I spending two hours each week reading non-legal materials about professional services, leadership, management and my clients' sectors?
