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EVENTS
Portland City Club
Friday Forums
Friday, July 10
11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Bruce Goldberg, director, Department of Human Services
Friday, July 17
11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Trade, Transportation & Manufacturing: The State of Portland's Ports
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Oregon Women Lawyers
Queen's Bench
Tuesday, August 11,
11:45 am to 1:00 pm
Rock Bottom Restaurant, 206 SW Morrison St., Portland
Queen's Bench welcomes executive coach Jo Smith who will speak about using emotional intelligence in leadership positions.
Lunch is $14 at the door, cash or check only. No reservations required. For more information contact Kristin Sterling.
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Association
for Corporate Growth
11th Annual Golf Tournament
August
12th, 2009
Raffle
to Support U of O, OSU and PSU Business Students
Sign
up now
503.768.4299
More Info Here
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Book of the Month
High Trust Selling by Todd Duncan is recommended by bestselling business authors John C. Maxwell and Ken Blanchard. This book provides valuable sales instructions founded on building relationships of trust. I recommend you read the entire book, cover to cover, but you can flip it open to any page and find words of wisdom about such topics as the relationship between loyalty and follow up, the importance of valuing your client's or prospect's time, managing your body language, uncovering needs and knowing what to say next. This book will make an excellent addition to your sales and marketing library.
Look for my comments next month about Relationships are Everything, the much-anticipated new book from Mark Maraia, author of one of my all-time favorite professional services marketing books, Rainmaking Made Simple.
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Strategic Partnerships
Build Your Referral Network for Profit and Pleasure
We all know "word-of-mouth" is a highly effective way to acquire new clients. It's your favorite way to get new clients, right? The phone rings or the email chimes and, "Presto!" You have a new client! If you're doing quality work and taking excellent care of your clients, these unsolicited clients arrive with increasing frequency through your career. But, you don't have to wait and wonder who will call. You can speed the process, target the clients and work you want and increase your satisfaction by building strategic partnerships.
How can you develop these partnerships and build your referral network?
Start with your mindset. Do you want referrals? Hint: Unless you're about to retire from a solo practice, yes, you do. Even if you have plenty of work and clients ("Congratulations!"), acquiring more referrals will give you the enviable opportunity to delegate work to colleagues or to cherry pick your favorite clients and refer others. Are you afraid of asking for referrals? Why? If you're good at what you do, asking for referrals will give people the opportunity to 1) help you, 2) help the people they recommend you to and 3) help themselves by being a valued resource to their contacts.
Select your partners. Loyal clients should be your first source of referrals. They're in the best position to knowledgeably and persuasively recommend you and your work. Who has referred clients to you in the past? (If you don't know, take the time now to find out.) Who is likely to know others who need your services? They might be bankers, CPA's, architects, lawyers or other professionals whose clients might need your expertise. Who can you help with referrals? Your potential referral recipients are also potential strategic partners. Consider expanding your network to include professionals in other cities, regions or countries who might need your local expertise. Finally, who do you like and respect? Like attracts like, so people you like and respect will probably know and refer similar people.
Know what you want. You'll significantly improve the quantity and quality of your referrals if you know what you want before you ask. Can you describe your ideal client? Is it a business or an individual? What kind of a business is it, how large is it and where is it located? Whether a business or an individual, what kind of a problem is your ideal client facing? How will your strategic partner recognize the need for your services, e.g. what kinds of comments or complaints will he or she hear? Do you have a target list of businesses you'd like to work with and people you'd like to meet? Write a description of your ideal client and make a list now of businesses you'd like to work with and people you'd like to meet.
Identify how and who you can help. You've probably heard the adage, "To have a friend, you must first be a friend." Successful partnerships thrive on mutual benefits. Spend some time thinking about how you can help others, whether they're colleagues in your firm or contacts in your community. What do you think your contacts want or need? Who can you connect? Can you partner on projects to make yourselves more valuable together than either of you would be alone? Be prepared with some initial ideas and your genuine desire to help. Then when you talk with potential partners, you'll gather new information that will spawn new ideas.
Offer, propose, refer, ask. Don't wait any longer. Now is always the perfect time to get out of your comfort zone and build your referral network. Start small. Offer to make introductions for your colleagues. Propose joint presentations or co-sponsorships with select colleagues. Call people of interest and tell them you'd like to get better acquainted over lunch. Direct the conversation to their needs and ideal clients. If you like them and have the opportunity to help them, offer. Don't promise anything you can't deliver and always follow up on any promise you make. Be prepared to tell them about your ideal client if they ask. Nurture your relationships with periodic communications. Make introductions and referrals when you can and always notify people when you make referrals. Meet with your clients and ask them about your service and their satisfaction. If they're 100% satisfied, ask them for referrals, "You're a great client and I'd like more clients just like you. Do you know someone like yourself who needs my services?"
Appreciate. Express and accept appreciation graciously. When you're able to help others, accept their thanks with a simple, "You're welcome." Always express your own appreciation for an introduction or a referral, regardless of whether the referral actually becomes a client, with a note, a lunch or a small gift and if confidentiality allows, let your source know how the engagement progresses. Reciprocate with introductions and referrals when you can.
Nurture and appreciate your strategic partnerships to grow your business and increase your pleasure. |
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Delegation: A skill you didn't learn in graduate school
As your career grows, there comes a time when you must acquire more work than you can complete by yourself. Yet effective delegation requires time and skill. Do you know how to delegate? Effectively?
There are at least two major considerations when deciding when to delegate. First, in the interest of your firm and your client you must decide who can do the work effectively. Second, ask yourself if this is an appropriate opportunity to provide a junior colleague with a learning experience.
Who can do the work effectively? Presumably you can or you would refer the work to a colleague, rather than keep it yourself or delegate it. Is there someone who can do it equally well - or well enough to meet the needs of the client - at a lower cost to the client, leaving you available to do more profitable work or work that others can't? If so, the work is suitable for delegation with any necessary oversight.
Does this work provide an appropriate teaching opportunity? Would you and your firm benefit from having another person learn the skills this project requires? Would a colleague, presumably a junior colleague, benefit from learning how to do the work this project entails? If so, this project is suitable for delegation with appropriate supervision.
When you've concluded that a project is suitable for delegation, these steps will help you delegate well:
- Understand that delegating to a new associate or an associate you haven't worked with before will likely require more time than doing the work yourself. Recognize that you're making an investment in the future - yours, your associate's and your firm's.
- Match the work to the appropriate associate based on skills, interests and stage of development, rather than handing it off to the first associate who rounds the corner. (You wouldn't do that, would you?). Take the time to know the associates you work with - or plan to work with - so you can assign work that enhances their career growth while meeting the needs of your clients and your firm.
- Provide an overview of the project and how the associate's work fits into the larger picture of your matter. This will help your associate meet the needs of the immediate project and learn how to take responsibility for larger portions of future matters.
- When first working with an associate, provide him or her with suggestions or an outline about how to get started. As your associate becomes more experienced, give fewer initial suggestions, instead asking him or her to offer ideas and outline a plan to proceed. If you foresee a problem, rather than immediately point it out, ask "what if" questions that will help your associate recognize the potential problem.
- Agree on a communications plan and timetable. Tell your associate when and how you want an update, first draft and/or finished project. Advise your associate to come to you at any time with questions or problems. Be very clear about your expectations and build in time for re-work.
- Review the work with the associate. Provide feedback and instruct your associate to make necessary corrections or improvements. If you must make corrections yourself, review and explain your corrections. DO NOT make changes without explaining them to your associate. The experience will be disheartening and you will miss a significant opportunity to help your associate gain knowledge and confidence.
- Provide final feedback, including both positive and constructive, about your associate's performance as well as product. Did your associate provide timely communications? Did he or she ask intelligent questions, make well-reasoned decisions? Was your associate responsive to suggestions or corrections? DO NOT overlook substantive performance or product problems. DO begin and end your feedback with positive comments and, where possible, outweigh critical feedback with positive feedback by a ratio of four or five to one.
- Inform your associate about the outcome of the matter and his or her role in the outcome.
Effective delegation will serve you, your associates, your firm and your clients. |
Coaching for Success
Are you considering coaching for yourself or others in your firm? Do you want new and better clients? Would you or others benefit from better business development, communications, practice management skills?
Please visit our website at www.josmithassociates.com to learn more about the coaching and its benefits, or call me directly. | |
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