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Sales and Service Strategies

By Jim Cranston
January 31, 2007

I coach high school football. On any given Friday night in the fall, I find myself screaming from the sidelines, 'Have a plan! Know your move before the play begins!' Why? Players with a plan are twice as likely to succeed. The inside swim move, the bull rush, the rip and the spin are all legitimate plans for a defensive end to pursue the quarterback. Once the plan's in place, you simply execute it. When the goal is to sack the quarterback, 'Bull rush the left tackle' is precise and achievable. 'Wait and see what happens' is vague and likely doomed to fail.

Random Acts

So it goes with lawyers and building a successful practice. Lawyers know that business development is a must. Too many of them, however, approach it as random acts of golf and lunch. There's nothing wrong with that in theory. Clients purchase legal services from people they like, and golf and lunch are fine marketing activities, very conducive to relationship building. The problem, though, is with the word 'random.' The top rainmakers do nothing randomly. They have identified those persons they want to know better and, from there, they develop a systematic plan to go about building and enhancing relationships with them. As I emphasize to my clients, the key word is plan.

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