Last month, I addressed why and how to consciously develop increased self-leadership in this unique period of collective uncertainty.
This month, I encourage you to explore the question “How can I help my clients navigate the continuing uncertainty they’re facing?” Whether your practice is booming or hurting as a result of the pandemic’s impact on your client base, this question reflects the savvy lawyer’s mindset of “doing well by doing good.”
Because whether your target clients are individuals with personal needs or large entities with complex business needs, these uncharted waters afford you the opportunity to demonstrate to them important attributes they’ll appreciate and remember post-Covid-19.
I’m talking about taking the time to express genuine curiosity about, and concern for, them, their families, their colleagues, their employees, and their customers.
About whom have you had the passing thought in the last few months: I wonder how they’re doing, how they’re responding to the personal or business disruption they’re facing. I wonder what their thinking is regarding how long this is going to go on, or about how well they’re planning for different financial/budgeting scenarios. What are they worrying about? What questions might they be wrestling with that they may not be proactively asking me? What resources or insights could I offer them?
Notice that these inquiries apply to both B2C (business-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-business) realms; that is, to both individuals contemplating divorce or updating of their estate plans (for example), as well as to business owners and general counsel facing issues arising from downsizing, or contract breaches, or the myriad of other livelihood-changing challenges and opportunities.
So what names came to mind? Write down three of them. Seriously. Write them down. Doesn’t matter if they’re current clients, prospective clients with whom you’ve been in dialog (or with whom you were in dialog before the pandemic), or past clients.
Now ask yourself: how can I get myself in the right mindset to engage them? How would I best prep if I had a crystal ball and knew they were going to reach out to me to discuss the uncertainty they’re facing?
Longtime readers of my SuccessTips already know that one of my top bizdev resource recommendations is the book The Trusted Advisor by Charles Green, David Maister, and Robert Galford. Green has continued (and expanded) their core work on what they coined “the trust equation” and how it operates between lawyers and their clients/prospects. Green has a series of very brief but effective videos on the equation which I commend to you—especially if you’re inclined to take a risk and contact those names you came up with but feel uncertainty about how to do it or what to say or where it might go.
Remember, trust is a precious and relatively rare quality in human affairs. It’s especially complicated in the realm of legal services. And now it’s exponentially trickier for all of us in the swirl of this Great Uncertainty. So if you can demonstrate trustworthy care for your clients while helping them gain an extra measure of clarity or confidence in their personal or business life (or both), you’ll be doing well for them AND you.
