Independent Thinking: Client Development in Nonfiction - Tell the Story of Your Small Law Firm

I talk to a lot of lawyers, and the one thing I am continuously struck by that holds most lawyers back (including myself for many years) is the idea that we are in a competitive marketplace and there's not enough business to go around.

It's simply not true.

Not only is there enough work to go around, but when you differentiate yourself from the other lawyers in your community and speak directly to your target market of clients, you might even find you have too much work to keep up with!

So where do you start in this process of identifying what's unique about you or your firm?

It requires a dash of insight, a few tablespoons of creativity and getting exceedingly clear and narrowly focused about who you want to focus your practice on serving.

Try to serve everyone and you'll seem just like every lawyer. Narrow down your practice to serving a specific niche of people, even if you serve these people in a wide variety of practice areas, and you'll immediately seem different than the other lawyers in town.

From there, look beneath the surface at WHY you chose this particular niche of people to serve and you'll find the secret to what's unique about you.

• What's your personal connection? (Emphasis here on the word personal because the more you can personalize and humanize yourself to your prospects, you immediately set yourself apart from the typical cold, dry and repellent lawyer.)

• What stories can you share from your own personal life that make you just like your prospects, so they can relate to you and so they get the sense that you really understand them and where they are coming from?

• How do you translate that personal connection and those stories into operational differences in your firm as compared to other lawyers and firms in your practice area?

Once you've translated your personal stories and experience into operational differences, the key is to convey that to your prospects in as many ways as you can.

We recommend you begin with writing your firm story. Your firm story is a 3-5 minute series of vignettes you will use at the beginning of every speaking presentation, when you first meet with clients in your office or by phone, and then you will translate into writing for use on your website and integrate into your standard lawyer bio to make it relevant to your prospects.

When well constructed, your firm story will paint a clear picture to your prospects of exactly what makes you different than other lawyers and law firms in your community and why that difference is important and relevant to them.

To start the process of writing your own firm story, I recommend you begin by crafting the chrysalis of that story, which is your "hook."