[PBDI] Professional Business Development Institute, law firm marketing, business development, Web site, sales, practice development, rainmaker - What Others Are Saying About <em>ORIGINATE!<em>

Know any lawyers? Tell ‘em about this

After a couple year hiatus from writing in the legal marketing field, I’m back contributing to a publication I feel really good about. It’s called “Originate!,” and the editors have already snagged some of the best legal marketing writers in the biz. Yes, yes. And me. Daryl Cross, Mark Beese and Adam Stock join Larry Bodine, Barry Schneider and me for monthly advice, tips, tools and deep wisdom about how to generate business for sole practitioners and small firms. This is not puff stuff. This is all highly usable, measurable, practical information from folks who have been in legal marketing for years, and who have helped firms generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in new revenue. My first set of articles (I’m on my fourth month at this point) focuses on setting up a specific, reliable sales pipeline. The idea being that you don’t get people to go from never having heard of you to being a dedicated client in one step. Same as you don’t go from “stranger” to “spouse” without some various activities in-between. I outline a reasonable sales pipeline in 12 steps. Yeah, I know. Sounds like a recovery program. Well… It is! It’s a way to recover from relying on luck and your golf game to get new business. Lawyers become addicted to *doing* the work, and forget to take the time necessary to *get* new work. This pipeline plan makes it easy to define a number of specific, discreet steps that will move potential clients ever closer to being die-hard customers and fans. So, if you know any attorneys who want to start working on their rainmaking game...send ‘em over here.

Sent by Mary Ann Hisel, Attorney, Hisel Law PLLC, San Antonio, Texas - April 7th, 2008

I recently left [a large firm] to start my own firm, Hisel Law PLLC, here in San Antonio, Texas. Your newsletter (Originate) and listserv were a great catalyst (thank you!).

Whether you're a senior partner in the NYC branch of a 3000+ lawyer firm, or a 27-year-old associate in a 10 lawyer shop in Moline, it's a new world out there. If you want to be a player, not to mention the proud owner of a little job security, you need good clients--which are hard to get and keep. Four months ago, and along with some like-minded friends, Larry Bodine, the highly respected lawyer-consultant, and a pioneer of blogs, started up Originate! - The Attorney Business Development Advisor. The February 2008 issue has loads of great materials and guest articles by some of the leading thinkers on client development out there--and it's practical stuff you can use. See, e.g., Larry's piece "Memo to Senior Partners: Motivate Younger Lawyers for Your Business's Sake" and Amy Spach's article re: an ACC initiative: "They Say They Want a Revolution: Reconnecting Legal Costs to Value Delivered". But you must subscribe, my friends--$35 this month is price of admission. That's a Deal. Thirty-five bucks to turn the key on maybe tens or hundreds of thousands or more in business? Are you nuts? Take it. (WAC? is a subscriber.) And do it before Larry and Co. raise their prices--because they can. If you don't believe us, see the September 2007 Issue--the first one--in its entirety.