The Best “Salesman” in Your Law Firm Intuitively has a Process How do you replicate it to multiply your results? Do you have a client engagement process, or does it flow however the meeting transpires? You might be excellent at engaging a client, but are your law partners and associates as successful? Is there a script your […]
Estate Planning Attorneys Commonly Give Away Value for Free And expect to get paid handsomely for what clients don’t value! I once had a client worth $30 million wave his hand at my $15,000 engagement agreement for the first stage of investigating and illustrating which advanced planning strategies might be appropriate for him, proclaiming, “those strategies are all boilerplate anyway! My CPA told […]
Your Biggest Obstacle to Progress is You But do you realize the two distinct categories of challenges you face? I related the time in an earlier email when I almost quit the practice of law, and how my mentor enlightened me as to my main problem – my own mindset! I’ve now coached estate planning attorneys […]
What is it that They Value?
Several years ago I almost quit the practice of law. I was earning what I then considered great money, but I also worked 65+ hour weeks. My wife and three young daughters often got a grumpy husband/father when he came home from work.
Sometimes I missed soccer games and dance recitals.
On the advice of a colleague, I joined a coaching program. It wasn’t just for attorneys – as I wanted a broader view than that.
At my first meeting, introducing me to the group, the coach asked me, “Craig, what brings you here?”
“If my clients would only leave me alone,” I complained, “I’d be able to get the drafts of their documents done. I work late into the night, yet they’re never satisfied.”
Coach nodded his head, and then asked a probing question. “Why do you spend so much of your time on the commodity of your practice? ”
I was shocked. “The commodity?” I asked. “You mean the documents?”
Why Being a Control Freak Damages Your Practice Many successful attorneys in general, including estate planning attorneys, are control freaks. That’s what led to our success. Initially, perhaps, controlling everything was a necessity. I thought I couldn’t afford to hire attorneys and more staff, so I had to do it all myself. I believed that […]
What’s Wrong with an Estate Planning Firm Being Transactional? Are you like me, and marvel at all the elements that must come together to produce a great Broadway musical like Hamilton? A script must be written, music scored, choreography staged, sets designed, lighting directed, actors hired, media promoted – the list is endless to attract […]
Why Did You Undercharge that Client? I ask my estate planning attorney colleagues a simple question that resonates – “Why did you undercharge that client?” I’ve done it before. I knew the time, effort, and expertise that an engagement entails, yet I quoted a fixed fee below the true value of the work. When I […]
Employing Millennials – Leadership & Time Despite raising three daughters – two of whom are Millennials and one a Gen Z, I remain perplexed about how to lead team members from these age groups in my law firm. Much has been written about Millennial attitudes and expectations, but in my experience, people are still individuals, […]
Transformations & Liminal Space European anthropologists Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) and Victor Turner (1920-1983) studied rites of passage – the transition from one life phase to another. Those you are familiar with include commencements, Bar Mitzvahs, graduations, and weddings. Estate planners can benefit from van Gennep and Turner’s work, as we often interact with individuals […]
Transformations & Liminal Space European anthropologists Arnold van Gennep (1873-1957) and Victor Turner (1920-1983) studied rites of passage – the transition from one life phase to another. Those you are familiar with include commencements, Bar Mitzvahs, graduations, and weddings. Estate planners can benefit from van Gennep and Turner’s work, as we often interact with individuals […]
