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.) 097599851X.01-A2ISU8XZKKL7FR._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg 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: images.jpg Addendum – further to posted comments, contact Larry Smith directly to order the book.

“The City”, of course, is none other than New York City. How did Latham & Watkins catapult itself in 20 years from occupying one floor in the Lipstick Building to becoming “the building’s biggest tenant, sprawling over 16 floors and more than 300,000 square feet” lispticklobby.jpg “This year the firm’s New York office became its largest, with around 270 lawyers, who serve a client list that reads like a Wall Street directory. In some areas Latham now competes head-on with the vaunted New York firms.” lipstick-v1.jpg These quotes come from Andrew Longstreth’s very interesting American Lawyer June 1st Article entitled: Princes of the City Andrew quotes Latham’s New York partner William Voge:

“Our view 20 years ago was that if we wanted to succeed in New York, we [had to] play on the same playing field as Cravath, Davis Polk, S&C, Skadden, Simpson Thacher,” recalls Voge. “That we had to be sharing in their market share and not on the next level down-that was unequivocal.”

I highly recommend the article for a good overview of what it takes to make it (or maybe not make it) in The Big Apple. Photographs in this post are courtesy of Galinsky

Brian Faloney is a very special man and marketing genius. He is responsible for his accounting firm’s advertising program designed to:

position [Atlanta accounting firm, Habif, Arogeti & Wynne] as a good local alternative to the national accounting firms

Brian Falony pix and quote.jpg Brian is a NASA fanatic – he knows all the missions to date, inside and out, and he can probably tell you more about future ones than NASA itself. Perhaps that is why he is so imaginative. He had the courage to involve clients:

“I wanted to change the theme of our ads from talking about what we did to letting our clients tell the story of what it was like to work with us,” explained Brian Falony, Director of Marketing at [Habif, Arogeti & Wynne]. “I presented the concept to the partners and they liked it. We then identified clients who would be well-known in the community and solicited their participation.”

You can read the full article about Brian Faloney at PM Forum’s professional Marketing USA magazine article. logo_haw.gif FAST FORWARD: I can not think of a law firm that would not benefit from Brian’s formula and Brian is the kind or personally generous individual and lover of marketing to spend a few minutes with you and walk you through the process. PUNCHLINE: As the sign in my doctor’s office reads: “Well Done is far more important than Well Said”. And that’s why this post congratulates Brian with a “Well Done!” Can you get past the debates in your firm to achieve action like Brian did? Disclaimer: Obey the advertising rules applicable to your jurisdiction. BONUS: Inspired by Brian’s interest in NASA, here’s an animation of the impact planned for July 4th between Deep Impact and comet Tempel 1 – AWESOME!!

Patrick’s Blog: “In Search of Perfect Client Service – Why Lawyers Seem To Stumble” (see link in my Blogroll) includes a list of Lawyer’s Must Reads that I think makes great sense:

American Lawyer

Corporate Legal Times

Law Firm, Inc.

Law Practice Management

Small Firm Business

If anyone has any additions, please let Patrick (and me) know.

The management team of what is now Bevan Brittan had a busy year to say the least. A year ago the firm was still part of South West heavyweight Bevan Ashford, at least in name. In fact, the demerged firm – Ashfords being the other half – had been operating with separate profit centres for some years. Nonetheless the demerger required careful planning, a major rebrand and a programme of external communications to clients, all within a tight timetable. The executive board, led by chief executive Stuart Whitfield, managed the demerger while also converting the new partnership to an LLP, all the while continuing business as usual for the clients.

For you North American readers, Bevan Brittan is a UK firm where managing partners are commonly referred to as Chief Executives (as is the case in Australia and a few other Commonwealth jurisdictions).

CONGRATULATIONS Stuart and all the solicitors and staff of Bevan Brittan for the awesome accomplishments that caused you to be “shortlisted” for the Management Team of the Year Award, sponsored by The Lawyer.

Bevan Brittan is in good company; also shortlisted are:

Clyde & Co

Cobbetts

Linklaters

Nabarro Nathanson

Simmons & Simmons

I wish Stuart and his team all the best in the final rounds.

Congratulations to Atchley, Russell, Waldrop and Hlavinka LLP; Mercy, Carter and Tidwell LLP; Nix, Patterson and Roach; Patton, Roberts, McWilliams and Capshaw LLP; Patton, Tidwell and Schroeder LLP; and Young, Pickett and Lee who dug into their own pockets to fund an application that may see the Texarkana Homeless Coalition get as much as $300,000.

This is another example of a few lawyers just quietly getting on with social responsibility adding to the esteem in which our profession is held. They deserve thanks from every lawyer for contrasting the usual negative lawyer stories.

Here’a a quote from the Texarcana Gazette Article:

The Coalition received some invaluable help from local lawyers. The reason the law firms came together to support the Homeless Coalition is simple.

“We felt like it was a very worthwhile cause,” said local attorney Kelly Tidwell. “It’s a great plan and it’s worth trying to have this grant put together.”

PUNCHLINE: I just love catching lawyers doing the right thing.

DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR INNOVACTION AWARD ENTRIES TO JULY 13 (so I take the liberty of posting on these awards again). At Edge International, we are very proud of our Innovaction Awards that we produce in concert with The College of Law Practice Management. Picture 2.png Awards (by firm size) will be presented in four categories: Client Service Virtuosos Sponsored by ABA Law Practice Management Section Those evidencing the best innovation in client service or delivery. Market Disruptors Sponsored by Greenfield/Belser Ltd. Those who have displayed the best innovation in the creation of an entirely new revenue stream or market development. Knowledge Stars Sponsored by Baker Robbins & Company Those who have made the most innovative advances in skill-building or knowledge-sharing initiatives. Leader Ships Sponsored by Astin Tarlton Those who have taken the most innovative action toward improving their internal management or firm efficiency. If you have any questions about the awards, kindly contact my Edge International colleague, Patrick McKenna, by email or phone him at 780.428.1052. If you are curious, you can read about last year’s winners here.

Commitment does not require the absence of doubt; often commitment means acting despite your doubt.

From Larry Anderson’s One Sentence Journal June 17 entry.

FAST FORWARD: I believe this insight can be extremely powerful in managing law firms, or any professional service firms for that matter. Bright people are constantly analyzing because that is what they do to perform their work. As a result, they always see “the other side”. No firm initiative can be free from second guessing. Therefore when we ask for a commitment, we either get a feint-hearted one or some level of resistance (from individuals who believe the initiative is flawed.)

I believe Larry’s sentence is the mantra for amazing firms…because there, the troops understand that leadership requires their commitment notwithstanding doubt. For many firms this is a shift in mindset from , “I’ll do it only if I personally have a profound belief in the initiative,” to “I will trust my leaders enough to follow through on committments even if they might be flawed.

PUNCHLINE: This doesn’t mean that we can’t strenuously argue with leaders as plans are formulated — it means, once the decision is made by a properly constituted leadership team, we will follow through notwithstanding our doubt.

See the Links heading at Larry Anderson’s One Sentence Journal site for his new RSS feeds.

With nearly four million air miles in the last 10 years, I often joke that I “live in the sky”. The impact of allowing cell phone usage during flights is significant to me. This could either be an opportunity or a disaster. I think it is an opportunity for all of us and we can have our cake and eat it too. I found readily available technology to accommodate both interests: those who want to make calls, and those who do not want to be forced to listen to them. For peace and quiet: env_qc2_m.jpg Slip on a pair of QuietComfortｮ 2 headphones – you will neutralize not only the talking around you but the ambient airplane motor noise. You can also plug them in to the aircraft’s system (domestically and internationally with adaptors provided) and hear the plane’s entertainment system or your iPodｮ, or leave them unplugged, and hear pretty-well nothing — at least nothing very loud — almost silence. For a quiet distraction-free conversation: boomquiet_jn4.jpg Not only does this Boom Quietｮ have incredibly effective noise-canceling earphones, but the microphone is awesome – you can whisper no matter how loud the noise around you is and you will be heard, clearly. This is very important because you can speak quietly enough to be discrete and still be heard. You can visit their web site and hear a demonstration of these being used on a Blackhawk helicopter (click the sound icon near the center of the page–under the lady with the coffee). For people like me – owners of talkative birds: P1212785.jpg I have both headsets and love them. I never travel without my Boseｮ earphones and Quiet Boomｮ headset is a life saver when our two cockatoos are noisy during a client call. (They roam freely outside our house in Anguilla) Food for Thought: While others whine about in-flight cell phone use, let’s exploit the opportunity for competitive advantage by being more responsive to our clients. And if we want the solitude, maybe a chance to catch up on reading… or just watch the in-flight movie, there is a solution for that too. I just wish the Quiet Boomｮ had an adaptor so we could use the device for both purposes (and we wouldn’t have two things to carry). Note #1: I have no relationship with either company and would not accept any consideration from either (not that they are likely to offer any), and Note #2: Thank you to Tom Peters who brought this subject to mind in his TP Wire Service reference to the subject today.