The idea of collaboration has been around forever. This of course means that the idea of collaboration is included in all varieties of sales pitches including document sharing, social intranets and knowledge bases, and even conferencing solutions. In professional services, they know our primary asset is the combined experience and knowledge that we can offer as a firm – it is why we have firms and not just individuals practicing. The pitch is that collaboration will make you more efficient, which will make clients and staff happier and in turn help generate revenue.

And they are right. The more efficient . . . [more]

I feel that now is the time to bring an important issue to your attention but, since it’s coming to the end of summer, I’m going to keep this short. How much did your law firm spend on its last firm retreat? What was your return on the investment? Did you expect there to be a return or did you even view the money spent as an investment?

The average 50 lawyer firm can spend anywhere from $50,000-$100,000 on a retreat, depending on location and activities. So once every year or two that’s the retreat budget for a weekend away. . . . [more]

I spend a lot of time in law firm offices. Besides having one of the best collections of law firm mugs in Canada, I also have an extensive set of first impressions. There are the firms that clutter up their coat closets with stuff they don’t want visitors to see—which the visitors see when they hang up their coats, of course. There are the firms that have lots of firm literature displayed in their reception area—but it’s printed on everyday printer paper and it’s curling over, making it look both old and invisible. There are the firms with expensive art . . . [more]

Whether you are drafting a message to your boss, a client or prospect there are a number of key elements you should consider in order to get your point across and ensure that the recipient will understand what it is you are trying to convey. Obviously, depending on the message, the amount of time needed to develop will vary, however, the basics will stay the same.

For this post let’s stick with broader messages, where you need to convey an idea. To start with, you need to understand that messages are not necessarily “facts” no matter how they are presented. . . . [more]

Your online presence plays a more prominent role than ever in your marketing, your brand, your reputation. That presence is defined in part by the “look and feel” of your various online outposts (including your website, social media accounts, and blog) but also by what you write in those places. The pretty veneer is mostly the domain of outside experts (graphic designers, photographers, web developers), but the writing – well, that’s largely on you.

Earlier this year I was asked by a Canadian legal stakeholder organization to present a customized seminar series for their staff on “writing for the web”. . . . [more]

“Know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away.”
(Lyrics by Kenny Rogers)

We are not all meant to work together. There, I’ve said it. Some of us just work more productively together than others. Anyone in the professional services field for any reasonable length of time, can attest to a client relationship that just didn’t work. There are a myriad of reasons: You were on a different wave length, didn’t communicate well, didn’t understand each other, couldn’t work efficiently, or had different expectations of each of other … and so on.

There comes a time – at least . . . [more]

Some of you may have seen the Canadian Legal Digital Survey report (or the infographic that gives you the highlights) that was released by my firm, fSquared Marketing, last week. If so, you may have realized that something was missing. But before I get into that, for those of you unfamiliar with the report, here’s some background.

In recent years, we’ve seen various reports and analyses that seek to understand the needs of in-house counsel. However, the majority of these surveys are initiated by, and focused on, the US market. This implies, perhaps incorrectly, that Canadians both find and consume . . . [more]

Our firm recently held its Annual General Meeting during which five of our senior partners were asked to share information about their careers and what has aided in their success. We are likely not alone when I say these meetings can be dry, very dry. The group of them asked for my assistance as they were unsure how to make the presentation entertaining.

We had 45 minutes to present 10 tips that made these five people successful. If you do that math really quickly, each person was only given a few minutes to get their point across – and being . . . [more]

Nobody likes conversations with clients who are complaining about the size of their bills. If you respond with something like “I think you’ll find that our fees are commensurate with other firms of our size and experience”, you’re missing an opportunity.

Ideally, clients should not be surprised by the amounts of their bills; if you’ve communicated with them throughout the matter, they should already know what to expect. But what they’re really asking is “What do I get for all this money?” That’s when you need to have the Value Talk.

To a client starting up a business, the value . . . [more]

Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time with clients helping them with Succession Planning. To put it bluntly, it appears that succession planning is an “issue” for the industry. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone since the youngest of the Baby Boomers will be passing the age of 50 in 2015 (and the oldest will turn 69). The pressures of succession planning can be felt on the shoulders of law firm senior management and they are trying to find solutions – fast.

But are they looking for solutions in all the rights places? I’ve been included in . . . [more]

I worked with a client the other day to figure out what strategy she should put into place to maximize the 60 business cards she picked up during a 2-day conference that was truly filled with people who are her target market. First and foremost it’s about building relationships, so where do we begin?

The first “touch” needs to be a very personal email, referring to the interaction at the conference. This presented a problem for my client since she couldn’t remember something specific about each of the 60 individuals she met. It’s not unusual… 60 people are too many . . . [more]

As a small business owner, I seek out and use tools to help with efficiencies – one of which is an online invoicing system, FreshBooks. I’m nothing more than a happy customer with a story to tell about how they engaged with and dazzled me.

Like many lawyers, billing is my least favourite activity. After much belly-aching, whining and sniveling with a colleague, I was referred to an online invoicing system that made this dreaded time-consuming task a little easier, and I’m now well underway.

On one particular recent evening, I settled in to start billing. All my billable time . . . [more]