Subscibe
RSS Feed
- Subscribe with Feedburner
 |
|
||||
|
|
|||||
Experts Win Business
February 13th, 2009I do employment law and mediation and this week I went to a training on California wage and hour laws.
The instructor was a well-known employment lawyer who has been in the field for around 30 years and provides training on various employment law topics for lawyers and HR professionals. He also has written publications (which he periodically updates) on almost 20 different employment law topics!
He is prolific and hands down considered one of the leading experts in wage and hour and employment law in California.
At lunch I sat next to a woman who had been a client of his for years. As we discussed his expertise, I was reminded of a simple yet compelling truth: experts win business.
As much as things change, some things stay the same. Those who speak and write in a niche area are considered the “experts” and the experts are the ones who clients want to hire. In addition, clients want to work with those they know, like, and trust. Assuming these elements are in place, the expert will win business over the dabbler.
Indeed, I have worked at the same law firm as this particular expert and heard him describe a conversation he may have with a prospective client at a pitch for business:
Business developer: I see you have my book on employment law on your shelf.
Prospective client: Yes.
Business developer: Who would you rather hire, the student or the teacher?
Now, I am not certain how much truth there is to this “war story” or whether you would feel comfortable with this approach. Yet, the principle behind it is sound: experts win business.
What is your niche and what area of expertise can you develop?
Begin writing and speaking in your niche. Find some angle that is unique or where there is a pressing need.
Maybe right now you are working on developing expertise in real estate foreclosure mediations? Study, read, learn and then turn your knowledge into articles and speeches that you can share. Take substantive knowledge and add your conflict resolution specialty to the area and see what you can come up with.
While some say no substantive expertise is necessary to mediate, I disagree — particularly when it comes to marketing your service. Most clients want to hire someone who has substantive knowledge and expertise in the field. Of course, you can apply your mediation and conflict resolution skills to a broad range of disputes.
Yet, can you imagine, for example, mediating a divorce case without understanding certain basics principles from your jurisdiction’s rules on property division, child custody and the like? Of course, the parties can choose not to follow a likely legal outcome — but the legal landscape is often one option parties consider when crafting a resolution.
I took the reminder to heart!
How about you?
Never Give UP!
Kristina
Posted in Keys to Technical Mastery, Marketing Strategies, Practice Building Advice
Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »Quality and Quantity
February 6th, 2009In the Mediation Mastery Model ™ I created for the success system, there are four quadrants. One very important quadrant is Technical Mastery. Technical Mastery relates to your skill, experience, and abilities as a mediator. It is important to work continuously on improving your skills and to have a philosophy of continuous learning and improvement. This mindset and approach is one defining characteristic that separates the top of the field from the rest.
I am reading a book by Gary Keller, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, because an attorney real estate broker I know gave it to me. I was intrigued by an excerpt Keller included about quality and quantity:
David Bayles and Ted Orland in their enlightening book, Art and Fear, tell the story of the ceramics teacher who divided his class into two groups. One would be graded solely on the quality of their work and the other would be graded solely on the quantity of their work. He was very straightforward about his grading criteria. The group graded on quality would produce one pot, which needed to be perfect to get an A. The quantity group would have all their pots weighed. If they produced less, their grades would suffer. The results were quite revealing. The quality group spent much of their time planning the perfect pot, but when it came time to create it, they either made mistakes or their skills were too underdeveloped to fulfill their visions. On the other hand, the quantity group churned out pot after pot and, in the process, learned from their mistakes and perfected more advanced techniques. If you haven’t guessed the group that focused on quantity not only generated a greater quantity of work but also work of a superior quality.
Amazing!
As I think back over my experiences in the legal field, I see how the principle applies. At the first firm I worked at out of law school we spent over a month working on a brief. Five people and many drafts later we finally filed the brief. If I go back and read this brief — it is not a work of art. It was good, it was effective — it wasn’t perfect, nor was it “great.” By way of contrast I think about people at smaller firms working on smaller matters who were churning out briefs. Feedback is built into the system. A good adversary will attack weak arguments and judges rule on the merits. I can guarantee you that those who hone the skill of legal writing have drafted many briefs. These advocates have received a lot of feedback from superiors, adversaries, clients, and judges. The same is true for attorneys who work for the government and are in trial or court all the time. These attorneys will have superior examination and courtroom skills than those who rarely get the opportunity to examine witnesses or argue in court.
Likewise in the mediation field, mediators who spend time mediating in the court system (for low wages) often will have a huge advantage over those mediators with less experience.
It is important to spend time in the mediator’s chair. Yes, in the real world when the stakes are high you can ruin your reputation if you are not prepared or skilled. There are, however, opportunities to hone your craft. They may not be glamorous or fun, but think of it as your internship. You are paying your dues to become great.
Often, the requirements for entry into the field of mediation are too low. Your training and education are largely up to you. Take your training and development seriously. Seek out mentors and opportunities to get experience even if you work for low wages or for free. Yes, I believe mediators should be well compensated and that we provide a valuable service. But when doctors are residents and interns they are not paid well. We have to pay our dues.
How can you increase the quantity of your mediations so that you improve your quality?
Set a goal to increase the quantity of mediations you do by 10% and incrementally add opportunities. Find a more experienced mediator in your community who will let you shadow them. This is another way to improve your skill.
Never give up!
Be the best you can be.
Kristina
p.s. I’ve updated the mediation marketing secrets page and now offer a 100% digital version of the success system interviews with expert mediators: , check it out.
Posted in Keys to Inner Mastery, Keys to Technical Mastery, Coaching Corner
Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »
Time to update your bio…
December 31st, 2008As 2008 comes to a close… it is the perfect time to update your bio.
When people are thinking of choosing a mediator, your website and/or CV will be circulated for review.
What better way to make a great impression than to demonstrate all of the interesting types of cases you’ve worked on over your career.
The more case studies and examples of cases you’ve worked on, the better. People want to hire someone who has experience with his or her type of case.
And if you have a particular area of interest or experience, the more examples you give, the more likely you may wind up in the list of search engine results.
Be specific and provide a few case studies.
E.g. “Ms. Haymes recently mediated a sexual harassment employment dispute (and list other types of disputes). Read about some of her employment mediation case studies here: (and then you would link to a short case study about the dispute, the mediation, and any resolution).”
Of course, you have to protect the confidentiality of all parties and the mediation. So you note that you have changed names and use generic names and change some of the identifying characteristics.
Highlight your experience and update your bio periodically.
The New Year is a perfect time to do that.
Happy New Year!
Kristina
p.s. I’m looking forward to a fabulous one day getaway to the mountain ranch spa.
Holiday Giving
December 19th, 2008It’s that time of year again…
I was reminded last night as I attended a holiday function hosted by a couple of vendors… They had a really nice spread of food and drinks and I put their cards in my pocket.
And then I thought to myself, if I find myself in need of their services, I certainly would consider them first.
Why?
The law of reciprocity.When we give, others may feel the need to reciprocate.
Not that this should be your motive in giving.
The holidays provide a wonderful opportunity to continue to make connections and build relationships with people that you want to work with and potential referral sources.
Tis the season.
NEVER GIVE UP!
It’s Been a Long Time… a really long time
December 11th, 2008I don’t think I can jump back into the blogging world after an almost six-month hiatus without some sort of an explanation. After all, in the blogging world, if you miss a day or a week, you are really behind. Six months, well, you might as well have… died!
Anyway, here’s the short of it… at the end of July we moved across country and after 14 years of not living here… we came home to beautiful San Diego, California.
And yes, it is GOOD to be home!
Then, at the end of August I started a new job working as a lawyer. It seemed like the most practical thing to do since we would be starting all over again in California - a long way from New Jersey.
Anyway, I recently received an e-mail from a lawyer/mediator colleague that had purchased the Mediation Business & Marketing Success System and had been one of the early participants in our practice building action groups… and he had been inspired and influenced in a positive way by the work I had put together.
And I didn’t realize it at the time, or even last week when I received the e-mail, but I’m realizing it right now… that in my renewed search to have meaning and purpose in my life, I had, at least in a very small way, made a positive contribution to at least one person. And that, in ways large and small, is what I want my life to be about.
So, thank you.
I’m going to jump back into the world of blogging because it is something that brings me pleasure. And I am silencing the cynical voices and the critical voices.I was struck by this explanation of idealism and realism by Tal Ben-Shahar in his book, Happier: Learn the Secrets of Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment
“[W]hen we set realism and idealism in opposition to one another — when we live as though having ideals and dreams were unrealistic and detached — we are allowing a false dichotomy to hold us back. Being an idealist isbeing a realist in the deepest sense — it is being true to our real nature. We are so constituted that we actually need our lives to have meaning. Without a higher purpose, a calling, an ideal, we cannot attain our full potential for happiness. While I am not advocating dreaming over doing (both are important), there is a significant truth that many realists — rat racers mostly — ignore: to be idealistic is to be realistic.
Never Give Up on your hopes and dreams!
KristinaPosted in Keys to Inner Mastery, The Inner Game of Success, Coaching Corner
Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »
On Success…Failure and FEAR
December 11th, 2008*I wrote this post in July and for some reason I never posted it*
Susan Cartier Liebel of Build a Solo Practice, has an excellent July 4th post on “I’m Not Going to Risk Failure on the Possible Chance of Success.”
You will want to read the comments and the responses because the comments and responses are interesting.
Too often, people “settle” for less than because of fear of failure.
Yes, our culture and as humans we celebrate success (as we should) and we glorify those who are successful (success is often measured by outward manifestation: money, power, and prestige).
Yet, by only highlighting success a distorted image is created. Failure is part of life. It is inevitable on so many levels. We are fallible humans and despite our best efforts and intentions things will not always work out as we planned or have hoped.
As mediators, we have an opportunity to view moral, relationship, communication, and performance failures on a regular basis.
Of course, no one really wants to fail. As painful as failure is, I submit that the alternative — of not trying — for fear of failure is even more tragic.
Respect your power
June 27th, 2008There we sat, within the confines of the Judge’s chambers, the beautiful library with mahogony shelves filled with law books surrounded us — the judge, my adversary, and the judge’s law clerk off to the corner.
We had not been there more than seven minutes when the Judge, presuming to have gleaned enough information about the case to know how to quantify it, declared (although it purported to be a question): Do you want to know what I think this case should settle for?
No response is appropriate other than, “Yes your honor.” At which point the judge threw out a number and provision for the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees. Never mind that the number represented 100% of plaintiff’s loss and more than 33% for attorneys’ fees…
The problem with this declaration was that it became the “gold standard.” Plaintiff’s counsel was going to work his way to the judge’s recommendation and would refuse to negotiate further.
It was an interesting experience to say the least. Confronted with additional information the judge, having used his judicial power, could not “redo” his number — he would have lost his credibility. He chastised the lawyers for bringing the clients back to the inner sanctum and threatened to force a higher power from the company to show up if the company refused to accept his number.
He jumped too soon, blasting to the end game without a proper development of information. Whether it was due to time constraints or whether it was due to a false sense of having summed up the relevant information quickly — doesn’t really matter.
The process failed. The parties resent the tactics and the lawyers do too.
Mediators may not be cloked with judicial power but there are lessons for us here too. I’m not saying that a judicial settlement conference is the same thing as mediation — because as you can see from the process I described here, it’s not (or at least I hope most mediators approach mediation differently!). Judges are accustomed to making binding decisions and “deciding” matters. Mediators are facilitators and, in theory, the parties are in charge of any decisions.
Respect your power as an intermediary. Allow time and space for the exchange of information. Don’t jump to the end game too quickly. Treat the parties and lawyers with respect.
This case could have settled had it been handled differently.
A good rule of thumb from a mediation mentor: First, do no harm.
Never give up!
Kristina
In House Counsel’s Viewpoint
June 16th, 2008As a mediator or conflict resolution specialists who may work with in-house counsel in mediation, it is important to understand what in-house counsel is up against. When you understand the in-house attorney’s problems and situation, you can better serve him or her with your mediation and conflict resolution services.
In this article, Avoid Quick Fixes and Control the True Cost of Litigation, Joseph F. Speelman contends that taking cases to trial will reduce a company’s litigation costs in the long-run:
Pay the company’s attorneys first — not the other side’s. Consider refusing to settle cases in favor of trying them to win. This will initially increase internal costs, essentially sending payments to the company’s own attorneys. But over time it will lower the overall cost of litigation. The company will pay less overall for litigation by litigating more aggressively. It will be paying its own attorneys and not the opposing attorneys.
At times, trying cases may in fact be a smart strategic move for a company. Yet, several factors should be considered:
1) The size of the company. Smaller companies may not be subject to repeat litigation and they may be better off settling rather than trying the case.
2) The nature of the suit. If the company is a large employer and it is an employment matter, the chances of further suits by other employees is high. If, however, it is a business contract dispute, is there a risk of copy-cat litigation? Is there a risk that others will hear the company settled and also litigate? Maybe not.
3) The merits of the case. If the company’s internal investigation (or outside counsel’s investigation) reveals wrongdoing or potential liability, it may be foolish to try the case. A decision to try cases cannot be made in a vacuum. If the case is a close call that is one thing, but if there is a sympathetic plaintiff with injuries, weigh the options and potential exposure carefully.
4) The Executive Management and Board’s Risk Tolerance. Trying cases is risky business. Mediators are known to sell risk. Yet, anyone who has tried cases knows they win some they should not have and lose those they should have won. Read the headlines of multi-million dollar verdicts and that may be enough risk to persuade management to settle.
The bottom line is that it may be a smart move to try more cases and it may not. Mediators can help in-house counsel analyze their strategic objectives in determining whether or not to mediate or to settle a case once at mediation.
As a marketer of professional services, talk to in-house counsel, find out what problems they face and how you may be of service. The cost of litigation is an expense that unless litigation is an offensive maneuver, typically adds nothing to the company’s bottom line. Mediation at the appropriate time, may be a smart move.
Never give up!
Kristina
Posted in Uncategorized, Marketing Strategies, Practice Building Advice
Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »
The blog is back up…
June 9th, 2008I have no idea what happened but we had some technical difficulties and my mmtips blog disappeared. The issues have been resolved (somewhat).
I hope to rejoin the mediation and legal conversation more substantively soon!
Cheers,
Kristina
New Book on RainMaking, Author Interview
March 14th, 2008Those of you who joined me last October for our teleseminar with Ford Harding on So You Want to be a Rainmaker? know that Ford is a veteran rainmaking consultant and his firm has studied hundreds of highly successful rainmakers over many years. And you will also know that Ford provides excellent, well-researched content and provides you with the tools that you need to succeed in any professional service business.
So, with that introduction, I am pleased to announce that Ford Harding has updated his book on Rainmaking. It is hot off the presses.
I have started reading it and I can say that it is a gem. Particularly for those of us in the legal profession, there are solid business building tactics that you can use to develop a comprehensive rainmaking strategy.
Enjoy an interview with Ford Harding about his new book.
Rain Making-2nd Edition-Attract New Clients Whatever Your Field
By Ford Harding (Adams Media, 2008)Q: What is a rainmaker?
A: It’s a lawyer, management consultant, engineer or other professional who brings so much new business into his firm that it awes his colleagues. So, if a typical partner in a firm brings in $1,000,000 in new business, the one who brings in $3 or $4,000,000 is a rainmaker. If a typical partner brings in $5,000,000, the one who brings in $12 or $13,000,000 is a rainmaker.
Q: This is a “how-to” book. How do you know that the things you write about will work?
A: Several ways. We’ve interviewed over 300 rainmakers and people who have observed them in action about what they do. Second, we’ve worked with hundreds of professionals at large and small firms, helping them learn how to get business, and we’ve seen what works. Also, my colleagues and I at Harding & Company—there are four of us—have a combined experience of over 100 years at selling professional services. So, most of us are old and have seen a lot.
Q: How does this book differ from the first edition?A: The first edition was published fourteen years ago. A lot has changed in the world. The first edition doesn’t even mention the internet. An acceptable omission in those days, it’s a gaping hole today. Everyone is touched by the web now. Email is all pervasive and you don’t use it the same way you do old-fashioned mail. A webinar differs from a seminar in many ways; in its geographic reach, in its cost structure and in the way the speaker must handle her audience. Of course none of this was addressed in the old book.
I have changed a lot over the past fourteen years, too. There is a saying among architects that the design of a building is done when the project manager rips the drawings from under the designer’s pen. Books are like that, too. I sent the manuscript for the first edition off to the publisher while I was just beginning a whole new phase of learning about rainmaking. I had just started my firm. Prior to that, most of my experience had been with two firms, one a management consulting firm and the other an architectural firm. Over the past fifteen years I have had a wonderful opportunity to work with engineers, actuaries, accountants, publicists, turn around managers, lawyers, product designers, recruiters, construction managers, management consultants, architects and many specialists within these professions. I’ve had the opportunity to interview many more rainmakers. And as a result of all of this, my thoughts on how to make rain have developed.Q: Why does this book have so much more on networking than the first?
A: Because I have learned how much more important networks are than I had realized. The people we coached and trained wanted to know much more about networking than the first edition covered, such as how to network with senior executives, and why some people get so much more out of their networks than others do, and how to create a formal networking group. My colleagues and I have tried to answer these questions.
Q: Many professionals who have to learn to sell are already working many hours of overtime. How can they take on the additional work required to bring in business?
A: There is no easy answer to that one. They need to chip away at it by doing several things. Many find that by organizing themselves for the effort, they can make better use of the scarce time they have available for business development. Something as simple as getting a complete listing of your contacts in one database makes it easier to take advantage of brief breaks during the day, because you can look at your list, pick out a contact and call her. Without the list, people tend to fritter away those short breaks before they figure out who to call.
Many professionals have to delegate some of the things that take up their time, in order to make more time for business development. This can require aspiring rainmakers to renegotiate their role with partners who are used freeing up time for business development by delegating to them. That can be a delicate process. Some can change the way they work to get business development benefits from things they need to do for other reasons. For example, a recruiter can make sourcing calls to a higher level of people than she has in the past and so develop relationships with people who can authorize a search.
Making time for business development requires making many changes like these.
Q: A lot of professionals are introverted. Though they have deep knowledge of their area of expertise, they find selling distasteful. Can they ever become rainmakers?A: If the really want to, sure. I have seen many people who others thought would never make it become really good at bringing in business. Once introverts realize that it is far more important to keep the client talking than to talk, themselves, they become much more comfortable with the process.
Many have a mistaken belief the selling requires pushing your message at someone who doesn’t want to hear it. Realizing that selling most often means seeking out people who have a real need for their services, people who are looking for help, often turns negative perceptions of selling to positive. We call it the Oh-I-can-do-that! Realization.Q: Why do so many professionals find it hard to learn to sell?
A: One major cause is insufficient experience to interpret the many small incidents that occur daily when you are actively trying to get new business. An old contact doesn’t return a couple of calls, and many professionals assume he doesn’t want to talk to them. They get stood up for a meeting and they take it personally. They get discouraged and give up. If you go out into the market place and meet the right people, stay in front of them by being helpful and remind them of what you do from time to time, the probability of getting hired is high. Rain Making shows how to do that.
Q: So, becoming a rainmaker requires understanding and persistence. Anything else?
A: Grit.
Don’t Give Up!
Added to my BOOK CLUB list.
Kristina