Recent research from BTI Consulting suggests that in house counsel are contacted by law firm partners only 26 times per month. That’s less than once a day. They hear more from car warranty companies than they hear from you.
More importantly, only four of those calls are viewed as having provided value. This gets tricky because, like beauty, value is stuck squarely in the eye of the beholder. But the message is clear. You need to reach out more and offer better value when you do.
A program being run in a 200-lawyer east coast law firm offers a practical fix to this age-old problem. Called the Outreach Challenge, it challenges partners to organize and prioritize their contacts, make regular and then meet in small groups to discuss what they learn and the opportunities they find.
The benefits are firm changing. Lawyers build regular, and more productive, outreach habits - a critical component for organic law firm growth. And the group meetings encourage collaboration (and accountability) among the hand-picked mix of practices in the group, not to mention a much better understanding of each partner’s practice.
The program is now available as either an internally-run program (complete with workbooks and a facilitator’s guide) or can include professional one-to-one coaching and group facilitation. Either way, the research shows clearly that your clients, prospects and referral sources need more love from you.