Law firms need rainmakers – the lawyers who play a lead role in bringing business into the firm. Rainmaking is hard work, and many lawyers feel that either they can’t do it, or that they need only work on the business that rainmakers provide. For example, in a recent case involving a firm subsequently merged into Thelen Reid, the law firm argued that the lawyer breached his employment agreement by failing to produce sufficient billable hours. The lawyer argued that he merely had to be available to do work, that he did not have rainmaking responsibilities. The issues revolved around interpreting an employment contract, and the arbitrator found that the lawyer did seek billable work and was available. The contract did not otherwise require that he reach the firm’s billables benchmark.

Now, Don’t Be Defensive . . .

While lawyers may believe they are not marketing oriented or skilled, everyone has the capability to “make rain” in some fashion – that is, to do the marketing and business development necessary to identify new clients and generate new business. There is no one personality type necessary for being a rainmaker; but some personality characteristics can enhance a rainmaker’s skills if they are recognized and nurtured.

For example, Larry Richard, a Ph.D. psychologist, J.D. and consultant, has written an article that suggests lawyers who have trouble marketing have little or no " resiliency." Dr. Richard reached his conclusion by giving the Caliper Profile, a widely used personality test, to a large cross-section of lawyers and comparing the results to those of the general population. He defines resiliency as “the ability to bounce back from criticism or rejection,” and says of lawyers:

In the hundreds of cases we’ve gathered, nearly all of the lawyers we’ve profiled (90% of them) score in the lower half of this trait [resiliency], with the average being 30%. The range is quite wide, with quite a number of lawyers scoring in the bottom tenth percentile. What does this tell us? Despite the outward confidence and even boldness that characterizes most lawyers, we may be a bit more sensitive under the surface. These lower scores may explain why so many partners’ meetings get sidetracked into defensive exchanges and why a simple request to turn in timesheets is often met with a defensive tirade.

 Even successful sales people will frequently meet criticism and rejection, but their focus is consistently on achieving the next “yes” rather than dwelling on the last “no.” They view “no” as one more step on the journey to “yes.”

Communication Banishes Fear

For every lawyer, business development is ultimately a process of communication: identifying the people most likely to hire you for the work you want to do, communicating with them to let them know who you are, and then developing close relationships with these people to get hired and maintain the relationship. Effective communication can banish the fear of criticism. Effective lawyers find out not only what clients or potential clients need, but also what they want. That requires communication with clients at their level of understanding, finding out how they best receive information and then providing it to them in a way they find useful. The obligation to promote quality communication between attorney and client and to assure that the client has a good   understanding of what to expect lies squarely with the attorney as part of his or her professional responsibility. Successful rainmakers communicate in a way the builds loyalty and collaboration over time by putting the emphasis on the client and not on the lawyer.

Clients do not need to be convinced of a lawyer’s expertise – otherwise they would not have remained clients. What they want is to feel comfortable with their lawyer. Knowing more about what a client needs is what marketing is all about. Knowing what to ask and how to ask it is an art not a science. The goal is to look for potential business that you or the firm do not now have. Asking clients about themselves will uncover more opportunities for service. Those opportunities emerge when clients see the lawyer as a trusted business advisor and confidant, not just a service provider who bills by the hour.

The Customer Service Approach

Rainmakers take a customer-service approach to dealing with clients, just like a successful shop or restaurant (businesses ultimately not much different from law firms) takes with its customers. They make clients feel like part of the team, seek out their opinions, ask them what they want to accomplish. Soliciting client feedback doesn’t require an elaborate questionnaire; simply meet them over coffee and ask, “How am I doing? Should I be doing something differently? Is there an issue that concerns you? Does my staff treat you courteously?” Given this opportunity clients will provide you with honest answers that are not negative or accusatory.

Rainmakers never put clients or prospective clients on the defensive. They follow a win-win communications strategy that does not use the same style of questioning required when taking a deposition or structuring a contract. The better clients feel when talking to a lawyer, the more positive they are and the more they will seek out the lawyer’s services. The rainmaker’s key attributes are empathy and rapport, expressed by using a lawyer’s skill to ask a hypothetical business client questions like:

• What’s the biggest project you have going on now?
• What kind of a year has it been so far?
• Are you concerned about recent product liability litigation trends?
• What do you think would give you the most help in dealing with employees or customers?
• What do you want your organization to look like in one year, two years or five years?
• Will you be offering new products or services in the next year?

Empathy in Action

How you present yourself in terms of showing attention to and empathy with the client can be crucial to the information you elicit, the impression you leave – and the business you generate.

Equally important to rainmaking is the follow-up to client communication. In fact, if you get significant new insight into the client reflecting the information that they provided and do not use it to strengthen your client relationship, it can be a source of problems rather than of new business because the client feels as though he or she was not taken seriously. An excellent example of the type of follow-up rainmakers do is attending a tradeshow.

A good rainmaker knows there is no better way to establish effective marketing relationships with prospective clients than by establishing a presence at industry tradeshows and association meetings. By properly researching and targeting attendance, a lawyer can meet more prospects in one day than might otherwise be possible in months. And by physically being present at these meetings of potential clients demonstrates knowledge of their business, understanding of their concerns, and seriousness about offering solutions. At a tradeshow the rainmaker’s emphasis is on meeting others. That’s where the importance lies – not in a flashy booth, giveaway contests, glossy brochures and all the rest. If a prospect wants to use your services, it will be because of the attitude and interest you convey rather than what catchy gadgets you give away.

Rainmakers use this kind of contact to begin an ongoing process of contact with clients or prospects to develop and expand a working relationship outside of the lawyer’s own services. Involving other attorneys in the firm to address new issues uncovered as the result of a tradeshow visit should happen as an ongoing part of relationship building. The goal is not a series of “sales calls” on the client, but the development of a broader relationship in which as much of the firm’s resources as possible are brought to bear on the client’s needs.

Building a Team – and New Rainmakers

Firms that service major clients with teams (not just a single rainmaker) can identify and provide needed practice specialties that reflect a full range of client concerns. A billing attorney coordinates the service provision according to a strategic plan, and can give clients a complete and virtually seamless service package. The client receives “one-stop shopping” from a group of lawyers who are chosen to address specific needs, both in terms of practice specialties as well as billing rates. And because the team is the portal through which the firm’s counsel is provided, clients are spared the worry that their lawyer might leave or otherwise be unavailable.

Most importantly, the team concept is one of the best mechanisms by which more lawyers can become rainmakers. As rainmakers age they slow down. The next generation of partners has been accustomed to inheriting business and often has no marketing skills. Teams proactively encourage succession of clients from rainmakers to younger lawyers and institutionalize the process of business development by facilitating cross-selling under the rainmaker/billing partner’s direction. Ultimately, clients belong to the firm and not to the rainmaker – and making more lawyers rainmakers is in the best interests of clients and firm alike.