Marketing Minutes

Marketing Many lawyers and expert professionals juggling lots of competing tasks struggle to allocate significant chunks of time to business development as often as they'd like.

But all of us - no matter how busy - can take "marketing minutes" just about every day.

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

One marketing minute

• drop a brief note to a client thanking them for their support

• add that contact you made yesterday to your industry contacts list

• send a survey at the end of a matter to check client satisfaction

• put that potentially valuable new contact into your calendar for follow-up in a few weeks time.

Five marketing minutes

• call and thank a referral source

• call a client you've not worked with for a while to see how business is going

• copy that article you read this morning for a client or contact who'll be interested, attach a hand-written note, and send it off

• email a referral source about a seminar you're about to attend and invite them to accompany you.

Ten marketing minutes

• congratulate a client or contact on a success you noticed - their new deal, appointment, new staff member, or victory

• update your marketing database with personnel movements you picked up from the business journal you read last night

• call a key referral source to share an important development or insight of interest to them

• think about a project or case you've just finished, jot down some key learning and "lessons for next time", and email them selectively to your client and their other advisors.

Marketing minutes - a couple here, a few more there - can make a difference to your business development success (and enjoyment of professional practice) especially when you get into the positive habit of "marketing minutes".

Linda Julian is acknowledged as a leading authority on strategic practice development and how to win business for law firms.

Since 1979, she has consulted with lawyers and other professionals throughout Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific, and Asia on a wide range of business acquisition, client retention, and strategic management issues.

Her book The Passionate Professional: creating value, success, and prosperity has sold in 13 countries and has received wide acclaim. Linda lectures in strategic management and marketing professional services at post-graduate level. She leads the small and highly specialised Julian Midwinter & Associates consulting practice.< Marketing .>

By Linda M Julian