Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices

Peter Darling’s accomplishments entitle him to be heard and considered - whether he is disagreeing or not.  In his June 20 post: Everyone Else Loves This Ad. Why Don't I? Peter logically walks us through his analysis of the Luce Forward ad (below) that I praised in my post: Contemplating advertising? You had better "Nail It"

The one word opinion in my post was “refreshing”.   But I learned a lot from following Peter’s critique of the ad and I think you will too.   I do stand by my one word opinion and my overall high regard for Greenfield/Belser.  Having said that, I think Peter's insights help all who care about law firm advertising to have a better idea how to test ideas against the principles involved.    Check out Peter's commentary. 

Greenfield/Belser nails law firm advertising.

Read Larry Bodine's post to see why he liked it so much: A Law Firm Announcement that Clients Will Actually Read

My Opinion:  Refreshing!

Dear friend, Sue Stapely, FIPR FRSA is thought to be the UK’s only practising solicitor providing comprehensive strategic communications counsel, with unrivaled experience, particularly working in the legal sector.

Read her July 20th article in UK's Law Gazette:

When reputations are on the line

Here's a tiny excerpt:

…we should also worry about the reputations of our firms. One slip, one oversight, one badly handled complaint, one aggrieved staff member can destroy overnight reputations that took decades to establish.

.

So, how many stars does your firm have?

Not sure?

You had better pay a visit to my friend and colleague Robert Millard at The Adventure of Strategy, and in particular, his post:  Banks Use Star Rating to Force Law Firms to Compete

My view:  The future does not care whether you like it or not

Seth Godin's blog post on Receptionists is 100% correct.  When I was a managing partner, my firm required a receptionist for our largest office.  I personally reviewed 215 applications myself and created my "A list", about 42 applicants, whom I invited for interviews late one afternoon.   I asked 6 of my partners to help me and we interviewed 6 applicants each.  Any WOW applicant was interviewed separately by at least two partners.  Were we insane to take so much partner time on this?  You decide.

PUNCHLINE:  For many years thereafter, we had a legendary receptionist whom clients loved on the phone and in person.  I personally received an average of two positive remarks about her every week.   Many of my partners and associates reported similar experiences.  She created the "positive experiences" that Seth blogged about.

I remember a call from New York one day and the lawyer started by saying: "before we get to the business at hand, I just have to tell you...".  I did not have heart to tell him "yeah, I know, you are the 100th person this year to tell me". 

By the way, I told that receptionist about every single positive comment I heard, personally or second hand (and no, that did not lead to extortion - she appreciated the recognition and the credible praise). 

Cynics - who are tempted to guess that she was the winner of a beauty pageant – don't go there –  she got the job as the best applicant and got her praise on merit - her performance was awesome.

Are you incredulous? Do you think I am making this up? Richard Dearden, media manager of Irwin Mitchell (Top 10 UK firm) sent an internal email which included this:

We've trawled the intranet and pulled together our most photogenic people for potential models. We don't have the schedule agreed yet, but if you are around on Tuesday we may call upon you to be involved. If you aren't available or wouldn't like to be involved then that's no problem, however if you are happy to be involved (work commitments permitting), please could you dress nice and smart (as I'm sure you all already do) in case we call upon your services.

Res Ipsa Loquiter!! (For non-lawyers, that means "the thing speaks for itself"

FASTFORWARD: Working internationally and observing cultural differences, I have often commented that US political correctness does not extend to the UK. The same memorandum in an American-based firm would likely be viewed as shocking but not in the UK. It is not for me to judge, but it is fun to observe that, Mr. Friedman, the world is not completely "flat" yet.

See the original post at Roll on Friday

Guy Kawasaki two days in a row? Not my fault - his. Guy was traveling on:

from

to

when he decided to create this email gem called The Effective Emailer. Guy recites a dozen sensible and perhaps essential rules of email etiquette.

I almost called this post: "Don't FUQ with me and I won't FUQ with you" but then I thought it may not be so obvious that this Kawasakism really means "Fabricate Unanswerable Questions". As for the title I chose, when you read #10 in his post you will learn how to avoid "a sure sign of bozosity"!

FASTFORWARD: Our Edge International project for a non-email protocol to dramatically reduce emaill within organizations continues. I think we're ahead of the curve (few people know they want this or care) which is exactly where we want to be. In the meantime, email behaviors neeed all the help they can get and I thing Guy Kawasaki's contribution is the best I've seen recently. Stay tuned.

Guy Kawasaki is quite extraordinary (click on his photo to see for yourself)... "evangelist, entrepreneur, investment banker, and venture capitalist" kind of sums it up but not quite.

In his post today, he discusses The Art of Schmoozing... his list is not only consistent with some of the best academic work I have seen on the subject but he describes his steps in such a compelling way, for example, his third step is:

Ask good questions, then shut up. The mark of a good conversationalist is not that you can talk a lot. The mark is that you can get others to talk a lot. Thus, good schmoozers are good listeners, not good talkers. Ask softball questions like, “What do you do?” “Where are you from?” “What brings you to this event?” Then listen. Ironically, you'll be remembered as an interesting person.

PUNCHLINE: Whether you are a Managing Partner or a CMO, share Guy Kawasaki's 9 step list with your law firm. You may have to translate it a bit (removing words that twist the stomach of most lawyers - like "tradeshows" - gosh, what would a lawyer do at a trade show, or MySpace - heaven forbid.) However the wisdom in this list is far too valuable to overlook.

Is Diversity on your management agenda? Has it ever been?

This is a serious wake up call to every single member of your law firm's management team.

Diversity is not some do-good-philanthropic-topic for a tea party of the rich and bored. Diversity is serious business: serious to business; serious for business… not to mention that it is the right thing to do.

In her Law.com article today, Wal-Mart Demands Diversity in Law Firms, Meredith Hobbs explores the demands that General Counsel in major corporations are placing at the doorstep of law firms.

The General Counsel referenced in the article are in the following companies:

Wal-Mart
Visa International
Del Monte
Pitney Bowes
Cox Communications

The article goes on to say:

So far, close to 100 general counsel have signed on, including those from some of the nation's biggest companies.

If you think you can get by this issue with tokenism, you need to understand what is being demanded of you. For example, the article includes these quotes:

The nation's biggest retailer wants to see diversity at the top.

The goal… is to "increase the number of women and minorities directly responsible for [our] relationship at our law firms."

"We are terminating a firm right now strictly because of their inability to grasp our diversity expectations,"

In her Separate but Equal article in Marketing the Law Firm, a Law Jounal Newsletters publication, Elizabeth Anne 'Betiayn' Tursi offers this advice:

The idea that law firm leaders need not be at the helm of these initiatives can only mean that it will be doomed to fail. The chair or managing partner of a firm must be a proponent of the causes and must be involved in every aspect of promoting the initiatives. In the case of creating this particular blueprint, management serves as the "project leader" or lead architect. Leadership can set the tone for the institution of these initiatives and is in the enviable position of selecting others in the firm who can also promote and develop the actual initiatives. And yes, there should be a chair for each initiative — diversity, pro bono, recruiting and marketing — who meet once a month, with the directors of these initiatives to ensure that they are working together to develop the blueprint, and also to make certain that these individuals are in a positions that enable them to have a voice in implementing the programs to achieve the intended result.

Notes:

1) The title of this blog is based upon this quote from the Law.com article:

It is no longer enough, the general counsel at the symposium said, to raise the numbers of women and minority lawyers in a firm's lower ranks if its upper echelons remain an exclusive club for white men.

2) Photo Caption (Thank you Purdue)
A Purdue sociology professor explores racial and ethnic relations in his book "Diversity and Unity." Martin Patchen says inequalities among ethnic groups often lead to prejudice, segregation and discrimination. (Purdue News Service photo illustration by Vince Walter)
Color photo, electronic transmission, and Web and ftp download available. Photo ID: Patchen.diversity
Download Photo Here

365 Marketing Meditations (Daily Lessons For Marketing & Communications Professionals) by Richard S. Levick and Larry Smith (Authors)

Richard Levick and Larry Smith of Levick Strategic Communications have done something quite brilliant here -- although who would expect less from either of them.

The concept of the book is simple yet ingenious - a marketing meditation for every day of the year.

Today's is (June 21):

Get as many benefits from a single event as you can. A seminar is an opportunity to meet and impress clients. It's also a wonderful chance to publish its content in articles, invite clients, meet reporters, and leverage your online capabilities.

If the insights are simple and straight forward, is it necessary to buy it? YES!!! Because this is going to keep the subject in front of you every day.

There is room on each page for your own thoughts and ideas.

I recommend this for Marketing Partners, Chief Marketing Officers, Managing Partners, Chief Operating Officers and anyone else in a firm who thinks marketing is a state of mind.

Click on the book cover if you want to see it at Amazon. (Further to comments, see addendum below.)

STATEMENT OF DISCLOSURE: Larry and Richard are dear close friends of myself and my wife, Bethany, and generously acknowledged in their book that they came to our island (Anguilla) to write this work and that we had a ball. Imagine us all at Uncle Ernie's Beach Bar with a computer plugged in behind the ice cream cooler soaking up the ambience of Shoal Bay, according to the Travel Channel recently, the nicest beach in the world.

My wife, Bethany, adds: "While most books take pages to develop a message, in this book each page is a message".

Shoal Bay:

Addendum - further to posted comments, contact Larry Smith directly to order the book.

OK, so there weren't any 17th century Managing Partners - nevertheless, two stories appeared today - yes, that's the magic - SAME DAY!

Story #1 BBC:

Rumsfeld points to image problem (see full BBC story)

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has told the BBC his country needs to do a "better job" at communicating its policies to the rest of the world.

Story #2 REUTERS:

Rumsfeld defends Guantanamo, cites money invested (see full Reuters story)

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday defended the Guantanamo prison against critics who want it closed by saying U.S. taxpayers have a big financial stake in it and no other facility could replace it.

So, let's think about this... image problem... it's too expensive to dismantle a torture chamber... yes, I see the P.R. problem now. It’s all about cost... (PROTECT ME!!)

DISCLAIMER: I am a Canadian citizen living in a British Crown Colony (Anguilla, B.W.I.) - US politics are none of my business, really, except as they might affect the world, in general... but I see a lesson for law firm managing partners here.

Food For Thought: Rumsfeld is so detached from the public relations consequences of what escapes his pursed lips because he believes that the substance of his beliefs and efforts simply deserve to be appreciated. He's like the doctor who is rude to her patients and just cannot understand why people go to lesser practitioners. The lesson here is an analogy to justice itself - it must not only be done... it must be seen to be done... I am addressing this to Managing Partners who should be constantly vigilent about the consequences of communications to the firms various audiences.

(Don, if you are listening, you might want to reflect on this for a moment before George W. figures out that history may like him a tad better if he were to boot your rear end out of Washington. (Woops... I must write 100 times - "I am a Canadian... this is none of my business, sort of... I am a Canadian... this is none of my business, sort of... I am a Canadian... this is none of my business, sort of...")

By the way, do you think General Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agrees with me, based on this photo (also in today's Reuters story)?

10 Commandments for The Era of Participatory Public Relations

So, please tell me a law firm that these do not apply to (these are the handy work of Steve Rubel (Micro Persuasion) noticed referenced today on Tom Peter's Newswire:

1) Thou shall listen – Utilize every avenue available to you to listen actively to what your publics have to say and feed it back to the right parties.

2) Remember that all creatures great and small are holy – It doesn't matter if it's the New York Times calling on you or an individual blogger, both have power. Take them all seriously.

3) Honor thy customer – Create programs that celebrate customers and they will celebrate you.

4) Thou shall not be fake – Keep it real; don't hide behind characters and phony IDs.

5) Covet thy customers – Don’t sue your fans. You will alienate them.

6) Thou shall be open and engaging – Involve your customers in the PR process. Invite them to help you develop winning ideas and become your spokespeople.

7) Thou shall embrace blogging – It’s not a fad, it’s here to stay. Be part of it.

8) Thou shall banish corporate speak – People want to here from you in a human voice. Don’t hind behind corporate speak. It will soon sound like ye olde English.

9) Thou shall tell the truth – If you don’t tell the truth, it will come out anyway.

10) Thou shall thinketh in 360 degrees – Ask not what you can do for your customer, but also what your customer can do for you.