Trying to stand out in a crowd, or at least vying to get your client’s attention? Here are some stats about the activities in your client’s daily life against which you compete:
The typical corporate counsel:
-
- Talks to 26 different partners a month — almost one a day.
- Sees only 4 of these partner calls adding new value — the rest are functional; exchanging information which may be in the critical path but does not change the process.
- Works with between 9 and 35 law firms — all these law firms vying for attention or needing care and feeding in some way.
- Receives 140 email alerts a week — as one top legal decision maker put it “They look interesting, but I don’t read them. I read whatever (relationship partner at a key law firm) sends me.”
- Manages 10 to 12 potential acquisitions — there are always deals in the works. Some are more active than others but most need attention. Clients will ultimately close 4.
- Has over 300 substantive matters in litigation. Many are on hold or about to get more active — and more than half of clients are looking to settle before things really ramp up.
- Submits the first draft of their legal budget for 2022 in June or July of this year (2021). Your clients are assessing where and how much money they will spend on legal affairs.
They are busy. And here is how you can use this to your advantage — immediately:
-
- Clients appreciate help with planning their budgets — especially in litigation and labor & employment. And they are preparing these budgets right now.
- Send your top clients only the portion of the client alert impacting them. Leave out the intro and graphics: just include the facts and insights — short and sweet.
- Add some little nugget of value to every phone call. Say something about what you are seeing about vaccine policy, settlement trends, large and small transaction trends, and a piece of news about a competitor. These little nuggets add amazing value and make your calls interesting.
- Ask about where they are in the M&A process — even if they are not your deals. Being in the conversation can make you part of the next deal.
- Share successful settlement strategies and how your clients are dealing with litigation matters from a volume standpoint.
Every client-facing attorney can help lighten the clients’ load. And helping with one task adds enough value to make you stand out. Use the move to the next normal to your current advantage. Pick one action, pick one client, and make a big difference.
Good luck.
MBR
The Mad Clientist