Category Archives: marketing
June 21, 2011 Lawyer Personality and Profits Part 2
Part 1 of this series on Lawyer Personality and Profits gave an overview of the results from the various psychological studies that have been conducted on law firm lawyers and how they compare to the general population. In Part 2 we will consider what aspects of the classic lawyer personality correlate to successful rainmaker traits.
Sales professionals (according to Caliper) possess high self-esteem, are impatient, assertive, creative, effective risk takers, and sociable. Here are the Caliper definitions for these select traits:
1. Resilience is the characteristic of healthy self-esteem that allows someone to bounce back after a setback or rejection. Since lawyers often hear “no” and rarely “yes” in the client acquisition process a strong self-concept is essential to success.
2. Urgency is the characteristic to push to get things done now rather than later. This is essential in the selling process because time kills deals. The longer a process is the more likely a new variable will emerge causing the business to flow in a different direction.
3. Ego Drive/Persuasion is the characteristic to always need to win others over to our way of seeing things. It speaks to an inner competitiveness to persuade and influence. Like Alec Baldwin’s character in Glenngarry Glen Ross, the ego driven person is practicing his ABCs: Always Be Closing! A true ego drive personality enjoys playing the devil’s advocate, as it is more important to win the argument than to advance a particular point of view.
4. Assertiveness speaks to the ability to express an unpopular point of view in a strong and confident way. Salespersons are often told in a direct and confrontational way that their goods and services are unneeded. Sales pros have the ability to maintain composure and not wilt under pressure. They possess the inner strength to make their case, and never to acquiesce to the temptation to agree to the prospect’s point of view. Oftentimes it is the person with the stronger frame of reference that will ultimately decide who wins the business or not.
5. Risk Taking is the attribute of knowing how to take well-calculated risks, where the upside is good and the downside is minimal, or at least where the odds are good. This attribute also speaks to one’s ability to try new approaches and discard old ones that have faded in effectiveness. Early adaptors, or those who are willing to try new technologies and methods, are an example of those who have a healthy risk taking profile.
6. Sociability is the preference to enjoy making new friends, and spending time with others on a one-on-one basis. Since rainmaking is about relationships sociability is a very helpful attribute.
7. Abstract Reasoning/Creativity is the ability to form theories about the nature of things, and is required to provide thought-based solutions to complex problems. Since selling is about finding innovative solutions to complex problems, those who demonstrate a high level of abstract reasoning will be more inclined to win the business. Creativity speaks to those areas outside of Abstract Reasoning such as the ability to take a fresh perspective on a sticky problem, develop new ideas, and use other capabilities such as intuition in finding new solutions.
8. Skepticism is a surprising quality top sales producers possess insofar as they are suspicious and do not easily trust. This keeps the rainmaker engaged throughout the entire sales process, and alert to any dangers that may emerge. Suspicious of the motives of others; a healthy dose of skepticism goes hand in hand with good judgment.
9. Empathy is the ability to predict the reaction of another person’s emotional response to a situation without necessarily agreeing with their point of view. Highly empathic persons are able to gauge the other person and tailor their approach consistent with the client’s preferences.
Lawyers typically posses the following traits consistent with top producing salespersons: Urgency, Persuasion, Abstract Reasoning/Creativity, and Skepticism. In some cases lawyers are also Resilient, Assertive, and Empathetic. Natural rainmakers will possess these characteristics in the right proportions. What is not clearly understood in law firms (but is a well know fact in professional sales circles) is that certain persons, who have not been blessed with the perfect combination of traits, are nonetheless successful when they cultivate their strengths and ameliorate their weaknesses.
Since humans are humans, and not bred like Golden Retrievers, they rarely have every single characteristic in the right proportion. But if they have one or two dominant rainmaker traits, and find a way to compensate in areas where they are less gifted, a formula can be developed for success in the client acquisition process. If a rainmaker wannabe were strongly Urgent and Persuasive and was careful to proceed cautiously with the feelings of others, combined with good sales metrics –this could be a winning combination for success in rainmaking. There are many possible successful combinations because selling is a human activity, and therefore many possibilities exist for success. The real issue is whether we are willing take on our weaknesses, and install a consistent discipline to keep them in check.
For example, one sticking point for many lawyers is a low score on the Sociability scale, or the desire for interpersonal contact with a wide variety of persons including strangers. Since this trait is highly correlated with success in rainmaking it is incumbent on the lawyer if he or she is determined for rainmaking success, to address this issue. Here is my One Minute Solution for Sociability success:
1. No negative self talk such as “I don’t like meeting strangers” or “I hate small talk” or “I’m no good in social situations” if you say such negative things about yourself you are guaranteed of self-fulfilled prophecy. Start speaking and thinking about yourself in a more positive way. “I am really improving my social skills, and networking is starting to be a lot more fun for me.”
2. Track your numbers such as number of business cards collected, new contacts on LinkedIn, number of strangers with whom you initiated any sort of conversation, etc. Selling is essentially a math game like baseball so you need to have adequate numbers to have any chance of success. Natural rainmakers are constantly making conversation with others and if you imitate this behavior you will get good results.
3. Improve your social skills by paying attention to the reactions of others. Watch their faces and overall body language and look for good reactions. Stop doing the things that piss people off, and do the things that make them feel good about themselves. Read books on this subject. Get a wingman with superb social skills to help coach you.
Let’s keep in mind that few successful rainmakers possess the perfect combination of personality traits necessary for big success in client development. In my experience many successful rainmakers have two or three of the important traits, and possess the determination to succeed. These studied, dogged pluggers are often able to outperform the naturally gifted who lack a consistent work ethic. Keep in mind Aesop’s fable, The Tortoise and the Hare.
Tags: Calper Personality Profile, Hildebrandt, Hogan Assessment Project, lawyer psychological profile, Martin Seligman, networking, personality profiles, rainmaker
April 22, 2011 Lawyer Personality and Profits
A recent study conducted by the Hogan Assessment Project on Lawyer Personality, and published by Hildebrandt scientifically confirms what we already knew about the classic lawyer personality. Based on a sample of 1800 big firm lawyers tested, it found that lawyers compared to other business personalities tend to be more cautious, skeptical, reserved, academic, task focused, and prestige oriented. It also found that lawyers test as average with respect to the need for power and control, interpersonal interaction, and structured problem solving. The study additionally found that lawyers have a below average appetite for tradition, personal recognition (with certain notable exceptions), and commercial self-interest.
These findings confirm other studies such as the University of Pennsylvania’s Dr. Martin Seligman who found the quality of pessimism is highly correlated with both successful attorneys and law students with high GPAs. The Calper Personality Profile, in use for 40 years with over 1 million business professionals tested, finds that lawyers test as highly intelligent, skeptical, autonomous, and impatient. The Calper results also confirm that this group tests low for resilience (ability to recover from setbacks), and sociability (need for human interaction).
While these qualities are excellent for things like providing adult supervision to real estate developers and commodity traders, they work against the lawyer with respect to building a unique clientele. I strongly believe that there is far more to the story than simple genetics. With determination, dedication, and discipline we can achieve things that are not obvious to our personality profile. Our mind working in concert with our will can overcome our natural tendencies enough to allow success in proportion to our effort.
Here is the prescription to establish the correct psychological framework that will allow the sales avoidant personality to function on a professional basis:
Step one is to gain an accurate view of oneself. Establishing a proper baseline understanding of our personality profile is essential if we are to know what will need correcting. If necessary we might even wish to sit for one of these profiling exams to help us gain this insight.
Step two is to bracket the anti-sales tendencies we have identified that are holding us back in this important aspect of our careers. While these tendencies perhaps have made us excellent in our work in deals or litigation, they are working against us in pursuit of our proper commercial interests.
Step three is to establish some challenging but achievable metrics that we hit without fail on a daily basis. Having written goals that we refer to on a regular basis can help to keep us on track. The other important factor is making sure the activities we are engaged in are effective. Each discrete activity completed forges a link in the chain of events leading to the collection of a bill for services rendered.
Here is a list of attitudes to watch out for:
• Do I dislike salespersons, and their interruptions? Do I treat them rudely? If so this may be an attitude worthy of reform because harboring such feelings may undermine my own ability to see marketing activities as legitimate and self-respecting.
• Do I have a LinkedIn account with at least 100 contacts? Do I have a Facebook page? Is Twitter for twits? If I am adverse to social media it may stem from an irrationally cautious nature. Resistance to social media can put me at a serious disadvantage when it comes to helping me sell professional services. Going against the instincts that are undermining our rainmaking success is required to turn our career around. Force yourself to do it, smile and enjoy, and I promise you that the sky will not fall down.
• Is small talk with strangers a problem? Am I resistant to breaking the ice when opportunities present themselves at any time? Retraining myself to be more gregarious while standing in line at the opera, or at a cocktail during a professional conference can yield big dividends.
• How much time do I actually spend on marketing activities? Do I make it a priority? Is it something I am willing to get out of bed early for? If I really want to have a $2 million book of business it may pay to arrive to the office a couple of hours earlier than normal. With so much riding on this career wise isn’t it worth it?
In summary once we identify our relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of selling the next step is to develop and implement a plan of action of high value activities. When we engage in these activities repeatedly in an organized fashion, with some heart, good results will follow.
Tags: Calper Personality Profile, Hildebrandt, Hogan Assessment Project, lawyer psychological profile, Martin Seligman, networking, personality profiles, rainmaker
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January 6, 2011 Goals Are Great, Metrics Are Money
As a legal recruiter I always ask law firm attorneys to tell me about their sales and marketing activities. I consistently hear from those without business that they have no written plan in place, and they fit marketing activities in where they can. Like anything worthwhile that we have accomplished in life it takes time, effort, intelligence, planning, priority, and a heartfelt commitment to be successful.
Last week we discussed the importance of written goals, and how their influence in our lives can be significant if we refer to them on a regular basis. The limitation of having a goal such as “collect $2million in 2011” is that it is nothing but a high bar. Some may find this motivating, others de-motivating. This is where metrics come in. Metrics measure the activity levels at key points of the rainmaking process and establish benchmarks required to meet our revenue goals.
Do your public speaking engagements produce inquiries for your legal services?
What percentage of your inquiries do you close for pitches?
What percent of pitches become retainers?
There are two aspects to each parameter in the rainmaking chain of events. Quantitative: are we doing enough to make it mathematically possible to achieve our goal? and Qualitative: are we doing well enough with the opportunities before us? In other words, we track numbers and percentages of each key parameter in the chain between inquiry and the collection of legal fees. Once we know our percentages at each critical juncture of the chain, it becomes a cinch to calculate or reverse engineer what sort of numbers we will need to attain in order to hit our revenue target.
Your firm is undoubtedly already tracking some of these activities such as dollars billed, dollars collected, realization rate, duration of outstanding bills, hours billed to clients, dollars originated, and the like. Where law firms tend not to track data is on the front end of the rainmaking process. It is up to us to do this if we want to achieve a higher level of success.
Professional sport provides a compelling example of the importance of metrics. In the NFL for example they track such metrics as average yards per carry, average yards per passing play, turnovers, sacks, third down efficiency, time of possession, etc. Ira Miller wrote on NFL.com that his survey of 10 coaches looked at these following statistics:
Yards per pass attempt Pro football is a passing game, no question, and the proposition is that if you win the passing game, you win the game
Field position after kickoffs Not the yardage on the returns, but the actual starting position of each drive. Call this “hidden yardage”
Red zone scoring efficiency We all know what that means — completing a drive by scoring, preferably a touchdown. Not just scoring in the red zone, but how many points
Big plays Not all coaches define them the same, but in general, it’s a run of at least 12 yards and a pass play of at least 20. The bigger the chunks of yardage a team can gain, the fewer chances there are to mess up on a long drive
Metrics are measurements of activities that lead to goals. If we want to achieve a goal of increasing collections by 20% implied in these goals are a series of underlying activities that we will need to accomplish. What’s more there is a chain of events that needs to occur in order to finally close that retainer check. It probably goes something like this in your practice:
• Speaking Engagements: With qualified professional audience
• Magazine/Blog articles published
• Business cards collected: from qualified consumer of legal services such as President, CEO, General Counsel, or a person who has made a referral to you; This parameter shows your effectiveness in meeting the right people at professional conferences
• LinkedIn contacts: Like business cards collected only count the qualified additions toward this metric
• Touch calls: to clients, referral sources, and prospects; track this parameter because you need to stay in touch at a regular weekly, monthly, quarterly intervals
• Inquiries (when a potential client asks you any sort of legal question, or asks about retaining your services) We produce inquiries from various sources that may include referrals, Internet, networking, speaking engagements, advertising, telephone touch calls, and the like. It is important to track the origin of every new inquiry and refer to this particularly when a new matter is opened, billed, and collected. What is our percentage of converting an inquiry into the next step in the rainmaking process?
• Hours billed to marketing: since we are used to billing our time, we should track our hours too
• Deal/Case Size: by monitoring the size of the cases or deals this metric will also keep us attentive to keeping our goals in view
• Time to close: tracks the time required from inquiry to receipt of first retainer check.
• Retention Rate: tracks the percentage of clients who rehire us for subsequent cases or deals
• Pipeline: number and size of deals that our clients have on the horizon that we have been promised or for which we will have the opportunity to compete; Carefully watch the ratios such as a large percentage of our prospective deals coming from too few clients
• Relationship Deeping activities: To build or maintain your relationship with a client a certain amount of social activities such as meals, sporting events, golf, ski, and so on
Metrics build off one another because they measure points that happen in a chain of events. It may start with a cold approach at a conference where you made a good impression and walked away with a business card of a general counsel. The next day he accepted your LinkedIn invitation. You met him for a lunch, and persuaded him to let you address the legal department and some key executives on new developments in the law in your area of specialization. Later you took your prospect to a baseball game, and for a round of golf. The GC then gave you a small matter as a test. You were subsequently invited in for a beauty contest for a major piece of business. Metrics track and measure your success in jumping through an increasingly higher set of hoops. The process may be abbreviated or elongated but some version of it will be part of vetting process.
Because this process tends to work in a linier fashion it lends itself to tracking these parameters on a spreadsheet. Start with the basic parameters on the left and move right with each key successive point in the development of the client relationship, ending with Amount Billed and Amount Collected. You will begin to notice that there is a strong mathematical relationship between the various parameters you track. You can increase your practice by closing more deals, increasing the size of the deals, or picking the low hanging fruit from existing clients. By tracking the history of each deal you will begin to notice similarities in the histories where your legal fees were paid. It’s like Fantasy Baseball, only a lot more profitable.
Tags: Goals, Metrics, Rainmaking Pipeline, Sales Statistics
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- Posted under Chief Marketing Officer, CMO, law, law firm, marketing, networking, portable business, rainmaker, rainmaking
December 29, 2010 Setting Goals for Rainmaking Success
With the New Year approaching I am thinking a great deal about what resolutions and goals I plan to accomplish in 2011. A higher income, a better bench press, an inch off my waist, spend a week walking El Camino de Santiago, and work once a month at a soup kitchen might be the sort of things I consider as my goals.
Use 2011 to try and see if a set of written goals is the thing that gets you to make meaningful improvement in your life and career. Written goals that we refer to on a frequent basis will keep at the front of our mind the changes we have always longed to make. They will cause us to align hundreds of little decisions in the course of a week with our objectives, which will propel us toward the result we have committed ourselves to achieve.
Let’s differentiate between resolutions and goals as follows: resolutions are those qualities we wish to embody such as being more cheerful, but are impossible to measure. Goals on the other hand are those specific accomplishments that can be measured and assigned a deadline. An example of a goal is to lose one inch off my waistline by July 1, 2011. On July 1 I will get out my tape measure and see if I can check this one off the list.
Traditionally I break my goals into the following categories: Business, Family, Health, Spiritual, and Charitable. Our concern here will be limited to business goals. Business goals have two subcategories: Results and Skill Acquisition.
Results goals are based on a concerted effort of many little activities instituted to achieve a larger result. If I endeavor to increase my annual production by $1million in 2011 it will be the result of a programmatic change I make in my overall marketing effort. This might include a business plan, and sales metrics I track on a weekly basis.
Skill acquisition goals, on the other hand, are those goals that focus on the acquisition of some sort of a complementary business skill. To read one rainmaking book each month in 2011 is a concrete way of upgrading one’s sales skills. To take a weekend workshop on negotiation techniques is another such example. Signing up for a CLE course on Technology Licensing Agreements is still another way to acquire an expertise that would allow one to expand one’s legal offerings. Skill acquisition goals are the best way to keep us up to date, and fill in where we need help. This idea is inspired by the Abraham Lincoln quote: “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”
Here are some suggestions to keep in mind when developing your goals:
1. Keep your goals a secret from everyone but your most trusted advisers; remember that sometimes even certain family members or friends will become fearful and discouraging of our efforts for improvement. Studies have shown that if we tell very many others about our goals we are far less likely to follow through.
2. Work and rework your goals until you have them down to their essential, high priority terms; don’t have too many goals, just several important ones.
3. Reread your goals at least once a week; this reminder will help you stick to them, and they will change a hundred little decisions you make during the week that will keep you on course; not to do so means you will not follow through
4. Balance is important in achieving more in life. Setting goals for our health, family life, spiritual, professional, as well as commercial initiatives in essential.
5. Pay special attention to the things we least like to do because it can be a lack of activity in these areas that is holding us back in our careers. Likewise, think hard about the things in your character that are holding you back, and focus on improving these areas. This is the best way to see dramatic improvement in your results. I have heard it said that the major difference between winners and losers is that winners have mastered their ability to do the things the like least.
Written goals that we refer to on a regular basis is the best way to make improvements in our habits. Let’s make 2011 the year that we prove this to be true in our lives. Next week we will take a look at how metrics are the secret behind achieving large “results goals” like growing our practices.
I wish you a prosperous 2011!
Tags: achieving goals, Goals, Metrics, New Year's Resolutions, Resolutions, setting goals
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December 2, 2010 Act As If Alpha
Presidents Bush and Obama couldn’t have more different politics, but they share an important characteristic: they are both alpha males. They believe in themselves even when others have lost faith. While surrounded by detractors on every side, both possess the internal fortitude to proceed down a very lonely road toward the truth of their cause. This ability to face one’s fears, and to be brave and hopeful despite the difficulties encountered is the key to enter the domain of the alpha personality.
In the Harvard Business Review (May 2004) Drs. Kate Ludeman and Eddie Erlandson stated that 70% of all top managers in public companies are classic alpha personalities. This type of personality is known for being confident, successful, intelligent, persistent, risk takers, self loving, compelling, winners, energetic, productive, competitive, leaders, charming, extroverted, courageous, high status, assertive, charismatic, rational, direct, and comfortable in their skin. It is these alpha personalities who organize human institutions into their own images.
If you look at the law firm partners with significant business, you will find that the number of alphas is at least as high. Does this mean that if we find ourselves as a beta personality that all hope is lost with respect to winning business? I would suggest that many non-alphas have been very successful in selling at a high level in other industries, and I personally know some non-alpha law firm partners who have large books of business. If we breakdown what the alpha rainmakers do, and engage in these behaviors repeatedly we will enjoy similar success.
Alfred Adler, along with Freud and Jung, was a giant of modern psychology. He developed a concept to “act as if”, where if one wished to adopt a certain human quality, one should “act as if” they possess that quality. Let’s say one suffered from a morose personality, but wished to be cheerful. If one would make a point of smiling and mustering a warm and friendly hello to everyone encountered throughout the day, a new habit and state of mind would begin to take root. Adopting positive attributes like cheerfulness will also have other benefits such as an improved reaction from others who formally fled the glum person, and thus further reinforcing the new positive behavior.
A habit is something we do regularly and automatically, without much planning or thought. Psychologists have found through scientific studies that new habits can be formed in 18 to 254 days depending on the individual and the complexity of the new habit. It is important to practice the new habit on a daily basis, and to be careful not to miss days. Cultivate the most alpha dimensions of your personality, and use this as a base to improve the other areas where we are beta or even gamma.
Here is a list of some key alpha qualities to be cultivated that will help us as rainmakers:
• Body Language: the alpha personalities exudes confidence from their pores; they lean back in chairs, speak in a strong slow voice; have open body language and rarely cross their arms or legs defensively; they smile; have strong eye contact; they pay attention to their image; they stay calm when others threaten; they are unfailingly powerful
• Confidence: Alphas are confident. Dr. Paul Dobransky, a Chicago-based psychiatrist, has a theory that when we face our fears and do something outside our comfort zone we show bravery. The application of bravery, and what we learn from the experience, gives us in equal measure confidence in return. He uses the example in the film, Saving Private Ryan where the boys on the troop transports were speeding toward a beach defended by enemy machine guns. The soldiers were all justifiably fearful, but they faced their fears showing bravery and despite the extreme danger stormed the beach. Dobransky concludes that the exercise of bravery in turn gave the soldiers the confidence to be heroic in future battles. The same is true for us the next time we are at a conference. We can show bravery by approaching larger groups of high-status attendees more often. Not only will we make valuable contacts, but feel great about the great reception we receive and give us the confidence to do this as a second nature.
• Energy: Alphas are high-energy personalities and many are fond of things like marathons and triathlons. We can raise our energy levels by adding more exercise in our daily routines. Start out at a reasonable level and increase the activities over time. This can even be combined with networking activities like golf, sailing, and bicycling or running clubs. Competitive sport can also help nurture our mojo and increase our drive to be a winner.
• Charm: Start with the persons we encounter in our life, and practice giving them “good emotion”. Complement, flirt, joke with in a kind way, pay some extra attention to our spouse, children, secretary, car park, waiter, and colleagues and subordinates. If we push ourselves in social situations to make witty conversation, pass out complements, and stick to light topics; we might find unexpected positive reinforcement in the better reaction we receive from others, and a new behavior is learned. By putting forth this extra effort with those we regularly encounter, we will give gain the confidence to easily strike up a conversation with that fellow in the first class lounge at the airport.
• Self-loving: Start by ditching any negative self talk such as “I’m no good at talking to strangers” or “I am not a salesman”. I can promise that if we continue to repeat negative things about ourselves we most certainly will never rise above our current situation. Many of the negative beliefs we may have about ourselves are rooted in our insecurities, crap mean spirited persons sold us about ourselves in the past, or a distorted sense of reality. Alphas don’t do negative self-talk and this may be why they accomplish so much in life. Let’s turn off the tape deck of negative self-talk playing in our heads. Consider the words we say carefully always scanning them for negative or limiting descriptions of ourselves. Replace this with a kinder and gentler, more hopeful way of speaking and thinking about ourselves.
Adopting more and more alpha characteristics will go a long way in helping us achieve the success we have craved for so long. We are the masters of our own destiny.
Tags: act as if, Alfred Adler, alpha female, alpha male, forming habits
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- Posted under approach anxiety, associate, attorney, bravery, breaking the ice, client, Closer, closing, cold approach, cold calling, conference, confidence, Dr. Paul Dobransky, eat-what-you-kill, general counsel, in house counsel, law, law firm, law school, legal, marketing, networking, partner, personal fortitude, portable business, rainmaker, rainmaking, tapes, Working the Room
November 23, 2010 A Sale Is Made on Every Marketing Approach (Ben Affleck)
Tags: Ben Affleck, Boiler Room, Closing
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- Posted under Closer, closing, cold calling, eat-what-you-kill, law, law firm, legal, marketing, personal fortitude, portable business, rainmaker, rainmaking
November 4, 2010 Some Things to Consider – Working the Room Part 6
Names
• Remember peoples names: you will find it easier to remember names particularly the first name if you use it a few times upon the introduction, it also helps to say the name a few times under your breath; if you are given a business card study the name for a few seconds
• Use the other person’s name when speaking, it shows you have good manners
Speak in a Positive Way
• Always say things in a positive way, especially when speaking about yourself, your firm, your colleagues, and your practice; when we speak about anything negative or unpleasant it’s as if we are filling the space with a bad odor and it is the speaker of unpleasant words who is fouling his own image
• Show appreciation for other’s good qualities and accomplishments
• Give others happy emotions
Body Language
• Smile with your eyes as well as your mouth; remind yourself of someone or something that brings a smile to your entire face; it sends a message to every one that I am happy and open to meeting you
• Show your confidence in subtle ways: calm gesticulations, strong eye contact, speak loudly enough, erect posture
• During the sessions you can warm up fellow attendees and speakers by making eye contact and smiling, making a quick and positive aside to the attendees in your vicinity
• Talk to the highest caliber persons in the room
• Asking a question at a session is a great way to raise your profile at a conference; make sure your questions is, well, a question and not a speech; show your intelligence by asking a concise, insightful question; no one wants to hear your opinion and expressing one in the Q&A lowers your value; double bonus points if you can make the audience laugh in a kind way
Listening
• Genuinely care about other people their problems and concerns
• If you want to be considered interesting, be interested in what others have to say; encourage others to speak about their interests
• Make sure you are listening more than you speak
• If you operate from a position of generosity others will perceive you better and be more likely to help you in return
• Listen in a sympathetic way
• Ask good questions, make sure you have the story straight
Be Unique Never Generic
• Originality trumps generic every time this includes clothing, ideas, topics of conversation, how you sell your practice, you name it
• Try wearing something that will give others an easy way to comment on it and open a conversation it could be a pin, a tie, jewelry, something that invites comment
• Be entertaining, witty, funny when you speak, tell stories, make others laugh, this goes far beyond a sales pitch, or logical conversation
• Show a little vulnerability; it makes you seem more real to the other person
A Few Tips
• Openers need not be too logical, it works great if what you first say is witty, a touch enigmatic, humorous
• Never show desperation, or that your career depends on getting the business
• At a conference you have several windows of opportunity: before the conference starts, between the sessions, at the breaks, lunch, and the cocktail party; standing in line is a great time to open the persons in your vicinity, these opportunities include, the line for registration, the line for lunch, the line at the bar, or filing into a room
Tags: breaking the ice, cold approach, cold calling, Ice Breaker, networking, Working the Room
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A Closer's Coffee 