It was a hot summer in the Midwest, and with the heat hopefully came some time at the pool, a much-deserved family vacation or a couple of Friday afternoons playing hooky. Or, maybe you were in the camp that took advantage of others’ absences from the office to tackle an item or two on your to-do list that was ignored for the first half of the year while you put out more urgent fires.
Either way, the summer days are fading fast, and with the approach of fall, I can feel the pace and energy of firms beginning to quicken. The fall brings seminars to host, articles to publish, RFPs to respond to and press releases to issue. With that frenzy of activity can come all kinds of requests that set off the “this is going to be a complete waste of time and resources” alarm. Sometimes this takes the form of responding to a complicated and cumbersome RFP for a prospect that is completely unqualified. Sometimes it takes the form of a request to participate in an expensive advertorial, the readership of which is completely unknown or unproven.
It’s the stuff that makes talented marketing and business development professionals crazy, and not just because it is a waste of our and our team’s time. It’s also because we know it’s a waste of the firm’s time and resources and those of the attorneys making the requests. We want better opportunities for them. We want them to be better than that. And they can be, if we help them.
Here’s where we have a critical choice to make. Too often, it’s easy to fall into the trap of succumbing to these requests, because showing attorneys that there is a better way seems impossible. Certainly, there are times when politics may make that true. More often than not, however, I find that attorneys are willing to consider alternatives when we put ourselves in their shoes and try to understand where they’re coming from and what they’re aiming to accomplish.
It’s the difference between “Yes, and” and “No, but.” It’s the difference between playing the game where everyone loses (because we marketers waste our time on low-impact projects and our attorneys don’t achieve the results they hoped for) and playing the game where everyone wins (because our knowledge and experience are put to good use and our attorneys and firms truly move the needle on their marketing and business development goals).
This fall, I encourage you to redefine the game and make it one that everyone can win. Instead of begrudgingly accepting your attorneys’ misguided requests, ask them what they’re trying to achieve first. When they point to greater visibility for their practice or new relationships with prospective clients, tell them YES, you want those things, too, and that there’s a better way to get them. Then, with all the brilliance and expertise you bring to the profession, show them the light. They hired you because of the value and potential you could bring to the firm, so show them they made the right choice. When in doubt, pick up the phone, call one of your LMA Midwest pals and ask them for the words of encouragement we all need sometimes.