“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
At the end of each quarter, you should consider these five observations to ensure your next and successive quarters succeed in building your business and professional platform.
- Did I meet the goals I set for myself in my business plan? Chances are, for many of you, your answer is “no” because you don’t have a written business plan. Most lawyers eschew the idea of written business plans, but that’s not intelligent thinking. We all should have one and refer to it frequently throughout the year.
- If your answer to question 1 is “no” because you don’t have a written business plan, then you need to ask yourself why and start writing it NOW (and yes, those CAPS mean that I’m yelling at you). There is still time. Start simple and be realistic, but be smart and write it down. While you might be one of the lucky few who succeed without one, nearly everyone would do better with a written plan.
- If your answer to question 1 is “yes,” congratulations! You’re off to a great start. Now review any goals you missed. Why did you miss them? Can you move the missed goals into the next quarter with a new strategy to accomplish them? Look at your following quarter goals, and ask yourself what tactics you’ll use to achieve them. What meetings do you need to schedule? Who in the firm can you ask for help? Goals are great, but they’ll remain unfulfilled unless you adopt tactics to achieve them.
- Have you used all the tools available to help you build your business? Have you added more clients and business contacts to your mailing lists for blogs and bulletins? Have you written any blogs? Do you have profiles of your key clients?
- How do you tell clients what your firm can do for them? If the only things a client gets from you are invoices, then you’re making a terrible mistake and losing a great opportunity to put those invoices in perspective. Do you think the General Counsel of your client knows what everyone at your firm is doing on his or her company’s behalf? They generally don’t, particularly when dealing with larger clients. Figure out how to keep the client informed without being too intrusive. Tactics might include a quarterly lunch, an email reviewing the past quarter, or a simple handwritten thank-you note. And consider providing an annual report. I did this for my key clients. They were extremely well-received and they distinguished my firm from others.
You’ll succeed if you put these suggestions into practice with a written plan, pay attention, and adopt tactics.
