Have you ever in your legal business asked yourself why clients are not decisive from the start about what they want to do? Or why they do not provide you with the full and complete background story of their case, and then you end up blind-sighted? Or why they do not understand that the circumstances of their case evolve and there is no fixed solution from the beginning of their case up till the very end? Or why they agree on a strategy and fee with you, and then they change their mind? Or why they have the tendency to negotiate your fee? Or why they call you after business hours, even though you clarified that with them at least a couple of times? The list could go on… I am sure there are many versions of these complaints… 😊

During the personal growth workshops that I led for attorneys and in our one-on-one coaching sessions, we often looked at the relationship with the client, as an essential part of the performance of our legal business. Client relationship management is everything. It is a complex thing, and for now, I would like to refer to one particular aspect i.e. attracting the “right” legal business clients.

By “right” I do not mean that there is something wrong with the clients you already have. In fact, what I am pointing towards is that, if your complaints sound very similar to the above list, then you might want to stop and consider that it is not that they are not the right clients, but rather, that they’re probably not the “right” clients for you!

Now that gives you some power, to get off whatever you are on with your clients, clean up any mess, or unclear situations, and start taking some responsibility around who your clients are, whom you have taken on in your law firm, your portfolio. If you are a legal business owner or planning to become one, then you want to have a look at this now! Because who your clients are, speaks volumes of who you are as a lawyer!

Look, I spent the first ten years of my career thinking that if I work hard, do my part inside out, and do great work with everything I do, my clients are going to appreciate me. The result was lots of work for me, I kept myself and my colleagues to a very high standard, never satisfied with the accuracy of the legal drafting, the time put in, there was always more planning and organizing, more task management required, more checks. I would double-check my team’s work. Hell, even proofread their work! I ended up tired, stressed, overwhelmed, and stuck. No matter how much I try and work to make my work impeccable, in the end, the client is not going to appreciate it. They would change their mind, drop a project, after having worked for months on it, or after me and my team had spent a considerable amount of time to make it to a tight deadline. Which, in the end, was never going to happen. And so on… I felt stuck.

But I did not know any better, I was playing a small game. The game called “I win, if I do as the client wants, if I do it “right”.

So, I am challenging you to take a moment today and write down on a blank piece of paper who are your current clients? Who entered your portfolio in the past twelve months? Who got referred to you, by whom and why? Are they clients you couldn’t say “No” to because they’re a relative, or a friend, or some favour call? Or are they clients who have stuck with you for the longest period of time, people with a huge commitment in life, who always deliver on their side of the deal, who cherish and respect your private time, who are proud to be represented by you?

And, you know, you might not like it in the beginning, and it might be that you get a little confronted 😊 by this. By the fact that your current clients are the result of your action, or shall I say IN-action?! But at the end of the day, you and I know, that we are the only ones responsible for how our legal practice looks today. We created it!

And that is why I created the IO Masterminds platform. At IO Masterminds we Empower and Support Lawyers to Promote Themselves, Start or Grow Their Legal Business through Digital Legal Marketing. So that you can go from where you are today in your business, in your relationship with your clients, to where you want to be, Attracting More of the Clients You Want, Realizing an Abundance of Clients and Projects that are True to Who You are as a Lawyer, What You Stand For, and ultimately Be Successful in Your Legal Business.

I am curious about what you wrote down on that blank paper and what you discovered taking on my challenge. If you care to share, let’s get in touch! Also, if you want to know more about the IO Masterminds platform and what is possible for you and your legal business through Digital Legal Marketing, also get in touch! 😊