“What holds lawyers back from creating plans for themselves or their own practices?”
Often it’s the fear of not getting it right, or not knowing the steps that are involved. Most of the lawyers I know are perfectionists, but sometimes they don’t know where to start. Other times, they just don’t want to fail. I get it.
Some mysteries we need to wait to unravel, but others we can solve ourselves.
To have a go-to-market strategy and business plan, several things need to be in place. Here are clues to some of the most commonly missed elements.
Very clear objectives.
Are you trying to grow your practice or maintain what you have in place? If you are trying to grow, how will you do that? First focus on existing clients (always the best idea), but if so, which ones and for what? Ask yourself, how you can provide them with even better service, or develop new ways to help them. The next steps may be to garner new clients within a growth industry, geography or other sector of the business world.
Determining what you want to achieve is essential to create the proper roadmap.
Buy-in from the partners who the plan touches.
We’ve all heard about the importance of giving people the background and “the why.” Participative management in these types of plans is essential.
Use your planning process to garner input and insights into what the practice’s lawyers want to see in the plan, or use an outside resource/consultant to interview the partners and help you customize the right plan.
Ensure your marketing leadership is involved from the onset.
CMO, CBDO, Chief Marketing Director, Practice Strategist… whatever title they may have, your business development and strategy professionals within the firm should be involved from the start. They are entrenched in the day-to-day marketing of the firm, and they’ll have a good handle on the marketplace. They’ll know what strategy and tactics have worked for others in the past and should also have cutting edge ideas. What better source to tap into and locate new opportunities?
Have real deadlines and know who you will hold responsible.
Knowing what needs to be done and doing it are two different things. Set priorities and agree on timelines and goals for execution. Next, agree upon clear-cut articulated tactics to ensure who will accomplish which ones.
Put it in an accessible plan.
Create plans to use as a roadmap and update them as you go along in the rest of the year. Practice plans should not sit on a shelf or file cabinet gathering dust.
I love talking about the planning process for individuals, practices, and firms. You can find a strategic planning success checklist on my website for additional ideas.
