If At First You Don’t Succeed

I have a dog.

My dog is a hungry fellow and is always looking for food. He sees or smells food on counters and tables and tries (sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully) to grab the food. When he does reach, say, a nice French roll, he grabs it quickly and takes it to his little corner to enjoy.

When he gets caught or just can’t reach, he circles around and maybe a little later comes back, looking for something new, or seeing if the food item is still around.

Again, you may be asking….who cares?

HP answers after the jump

Well, it is an analogy to looking for business, networking, and not giving up.

Ask anyone with clients, people who have developed business, and they will usually tell you that they got client X after courting them for some time.

There’s a few super duper lucky people who get clients handed to them when, for instance, a senior partner retires.

But that’s never been me, and it probably won’t be you.

And we dislike those people (just kidding…a little).

Most of us have to work for new clients or new matters from existing clients. Usually, this takes time, effort, and (like my hungry dog), persistence. Sometimes, you try and nothing happens. In most instances, this doesn’t mean you give up, unless it is clear you would never be hired. Try again, maybe a little later (like Rover).

I worked with a guy (Denny) once who had a friend from law school who worked in house. Over a course of several (at least 4) years, we would send the friend all sorts of “free” information — client alerts, notes on recent developments, etc.

Eventually, friend became GC of a pretty good sized company. Friend hired Denny and our firm to handle MUCHO work. In fact, that pretty good sized company started to acquire a ton of assets. More work. Denny went on to have several tremendous years at firm. Now, eventually Denny’s friend left and the company transitioned legal work (so that goes into the “don’t put all your eggs in one basket – a topic for another post). But, it was a great run, shows that business development really takes time, and that friends do like to go to their friends.

You might say, “I’m so busy, how would I find the time?” Or, “I am so junior this doesn’t apply to me.”

My response: there is time.

You can always find 10 minutes to give a law school friend a call or shoot an email. And, though you are junior, you know people. Even if those people aren’t in a position to hire you or your firm now, they may very well be, down the line. You need to cultivate your friends and contacts just like you would your garden or, yes, your puppy.

This means, take a little time — let’s say 3pm each day, you will take 15 minutes to reach out to someone by phone, email, whatever, to check in, send something interesting, etc. This keeps you on the radar.

Don’t feel like you have time to wine and dine?

Maybe your “target” doesn’t either. But, maybe you could grab a 2pm coffee? A half an hour coffee meeting is worth the investment.

Remember though, like my dog, you can’t just sniff around the table, and give up. You need to come back, keep in touch, try again.

My friend Laura handled one matter for a client that was referred to her by someone at her old firm. The client seemed happy enough, but no additional work followed. The client seemed to be watching expenses as a newly formed organization and trying not to spend too much on outside legal fees.

But Laura figured there’s still an opportunity. So, she invited the principal of the company to be a guest at an event. He came, they socialized, and he met other colleagues. Laura sent the principal some client advisories that she thought might be of interest. Laura even reached out and told principal she was going to be in his area for another meeting and would he have time for lunch (in fact, she wasn’t going to be in his area; this was an excuse to get over there). Now, she’s got a meeting set up. No further work has flowed, but Laura sees it as an investment and is cultivating the client.

So remember, business development takes time.

It takes perseverance and patience.

If you are junior, you’ve got plenty of time.

Start planting the seeds. Take some time every day, or at least every other day, to reach out to someone.

If your firm hosts events and you can invite contacts/friends, do it. Friends frequently move up in their organizations or in other situations. Friends hire friends. Ok, so maybe you don’t want to see your friend as a French roll like my dog wants, and that’s ok, but think of Rover in his persistence. He’s not successful every time, but every now and then, does get that plump roll, and even once in a while, a good piece of meat.

Happy cultivating!

Related posts:

1. HP: Making Friends with the New Guy or Gal
2. HP: Responsiveness – Plain & Simple
3. HP: The Send Off
4. Stepping up to the Plate
5. Falling Forward