Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices

Imagine that you were working with the law firm of a very prominent blogger on Saturday (In Search of Perfect Client Service)... and that expectations of you were high - imagine that blogger is Patrick Lamb with a highly respected voice that reaches the most influential ears associated with the management and marketing of our profession.

That, my friends, is motivation - however Saturday goes, you can bet it will see me expending my very best efforts. Wish me well.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, have a look at Patrick Lamb's blog post regarding my upcoming visit.

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.

Patrick McEvoy's has another 90 Minute TeleSeminar scheduled for February 2nd and tomorrow is the deadline for a reduced registration cost. The full name of the seminar is:

How To Create a Precision Niche Marketing Campaign That Will Start Bringing Results in 21 Days or Less"

His headings look pretty cool:

The "Gigantic 4 Part Obstacle" you face in your niche marketing efforts that will NEVER go away.

The ten biggest mistakes ALL law firms make in their niche marketing efforts.

The difference between "tactical" and "strategic" marketing and why it's killing your niche market development plans.

Just how much a new niche client is really worth to you--and the answer will surprise you.

Seven things you MUST do in your niche marketing and sales efforts to get results quickly.

The real problem with law firm niche marketing that no one wants to talk about and--how you can solve the problem simply and mathematically.

How to use "Relevancy Based Marketing" in your niche.

The five step formula for getting niche prospects to call you.

Follow up tools that massively increase niche penetration rates.

How to attain your 2006 marketing goals with absolute assurance using the "Execution Imperative."

For more information about Patrick McEvoy and his TeleSeminar, click here.

Private posting for registrants at Marketing Partners' Forum - you may now download my presentation. Conference organizers will be contacting you with password. (If you have not received password by the time you see thi sposting, kindly email me and I will remit it to you promptly.)

Many thanks for attending the session.

This is a private posting for those who were in attendance and requested a copy of my materials.

The materials will be posted over the weekend. If you are an RSS subscriber to this blog, you will be alerted automatically. If not, you may wish to email subscribe at the right hand side of this page, see:

"Subscribe for Alerts by email"

(You can unsubcribe at any time by sending me an email with "unsubscribe blog" in the subject line.)

Thank you so much for attending my session.

See you there!

Managing Partners of firms of over 100 lawyers who are interested in our Boot Camp in San Antonio on January 20 and 21 (enrollment limited to 15 Managing Partners) please let me know - the camp will soon be fully subscribed.

David Maister

Patrick McEvoy

Patrick McEvoy interviewed David Maister for 30 minutes on his new article "Do You Really Want Relationships" which I posted about in "Do you want romance or a one night stand?"

If you would care to hear it, you will be asked for your name and email address and then sent directly to the audio (no registration required).

Here are the materials from my morning and afternoon sessions at Friday's World Masters of Law Office Management in Sydney (August 26th)

Click here for AM PowerPoint

Click here for PM Powerpoint

The documents are password protected - please contact me if you need a reminder.

Thank you for attending.

A quick notes to friends in Australia and New Zealand that I look forward to seeing you on Friday at The World Masters of Law Firm Management in Sydney at the Four Seasons Hotel. Thank you to the Law Council of Australia for inviting me back to this extraordinary event.

Please link to my original post regarding the Microsoft Live Meeting of David Maister - if you are involved in the senior management of your firm, you should use the link at that post for a complimentary registration.

Canadians: Mark your Calendars now and plan to attend this exciting inaugural Canadian Bar Association (CBA) event from September 15-17, 2005 in Halifax.

Intense competition, rapid technological change, demanding expectations of clients and changing attitudes of lawyers and staff are realities in the operation of today’s law firms. As a leader, your priority is to ensure the stability and growth of your firm.

Join industry experts, managing partners and in-house counsel for an in-depth analysis of the latest challenges and techniques to address issues such as marketing, leadership, compensation and recruitment. As well, hear about strategies, approaches and war stories, and network with colleagues in fabulous Halifax, famous for its legendary East Coast hospitality and entertainment.

For more information, please contact:
Chantal Lafrenière, CLE Coordinator
Telephone: (613) 237-2925 or 1-800-267-8860 Ext: 188
Fax: (613) 237-0185
E-mail: chantall@cba.org

David Maister is presenting a webinar at 12:00 Noon, Eastern Time, on Wednesday, May 18, 2005, called 'Management Missing in Action'.

Seminar Overview:

Professional firms all have the same goals and strategies: go after the (obvious) key clients in (obvious) key market sectors and stress (or claim) obvious things: excellence, teamwork, client service and so on. If everyone knows what to do, then what is competition in professional firms all about? The answer is the ability to generate, among the service providers of the firm, excitement, enthusiasm, passion, drive, commitment and ambition. And that’s the job of managers.

About David Maister:

David Maister is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on the management of professional service firms. For two decades he has acted as a (solo) consultant to prominent professional firms, around the world, on a wide variety of strategic and managerial issues. The professions with which he has worked most include accounting, consulting, law and marketing services, but he also has experience with investment banks, money management firms, engineers, executive search firms and numerous other professions.

In 2002, he was named as one of the top 40 business thinkers in the world (Business Minds, by Tom Brown, PrenticeHall/Financial Times.)

He is the author of the bestselling books Managing the Professional Service Firm (1993), True Professionalism (1997), The Trusted Advisor (2000), Practice What You Preach (2001) and First Among Equals (2002.) These books have been translated into in Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish and Turkish.

He spends about 40 percent of his time working in North America, 35 percent in Europe and 25 percent in the rest of the world.

A native of Great Britain, David holds a Bachelor's degree in mathematics, economics and statistics from the University of Birmingham (1968), a Master's degree in operations research from the London School of Economics (1971) and obtained his doctorate in business from the Harvard Business School (1976).

For seven years, he served as a professor on the faculty of the Harvard Business School (1979-85), prior to launching his consulting practice. He also taught at the University of British Columbia, Canada (1976-78) and the Unversity of the South Bank, England (1969-72). He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

If you want to experience the "excitement, enthusiasm, passion, drive, commitment and ambition" of David Maister, I strongly recommend this webinar (especially for those involved in the senior management of their law firms). For complimentary registration, click logo: