The things that Rainmakers do differently from other attorneys are very simple (but not necessarily easy):
Rainmakers have a plan:
If you have spent any time following me, you know I am a rabid believer in planning. You wouldn’t take a road trip to a place you have never been without GPS, so why should you try to become a rainmaker without having a written plan showing you which way to go?
Rainmakers can adapt:
Those attorneys who have found a way to adapt to the changing landscape of the world during the pandemic continued to bring in new clients and matters.
Rainmakers know their target market:
I’ve written many times that you cannot be all things to all people. And while there are many ways to define a target market, the point is to find a niche and learn everything you can about that market. And I mean everything, not just the information that will help you with their legal work. I recently sat in on a webinar in which a GC of a major corporation said, and I am paraphrasing here, that if it is between working with an attorney who charges less or working with an attorney who knows everything about my business, I’m choosing the one who knows my business.
Rainmakers are empathetic:
Clients want to work with lawyers who care about them. It’s like the old adage says: “people do business with people they know, like, and trust.” And now, more than ever, during this time in our history, clients need you to care. In Rainmaking Recommendation #205 when the pandemic first began, I explained that you had to stop thinking about clients as B2C or B2B and start treating them as B2Me. I also quoted Bryan Kramer, who coined the term B2Me or H2H (human to human) marketing :
“Businesses do not have emotion. People do. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. People want to feel something. People want to be included. People want to understand.”
And this applies to the owners and GCs of companies as well.
Rainmakers are proactive:
Because Rainmakers have a target market, they know their clients. And rather than waiting for the client to pick up the phone and call them with a matter, they are proactively advising their clients. They are anticipating what the client may need. And it may have nothing to do with an actual legal matter.
Rainmakers are advisors:
There are changes that are coming to the legal industry. For example, Arizona just became the first state to okay nonlawyer ownership of law firms. This will open the door for other advisors, like accounting firms, to hire lawyers that will take away the legal work from law firms. To counter that, you have to become THE trusted advisor to your clients and not just a lawyer doing transactions.
Rainmakers feel the fear and do it anyway:
Rainmakers have fears just like everyone else. They fear rejection, they fear failure, the difference is that they try to move past those fears and do what needs to be done. Then, they realize that there was no need to fear in the first place.
Rainmakers do not make excuses:
I have heard every excuse in the world for why attorneys do not do the activities to become Rainmakers. But Rainmakers do not have excuses. They find a way to do what needs to be done.
There is a famous quote by Jim Rohn, one of the godfathers of professional and personal development:
“Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.”
The same is true of Rainmakers. They do the things that other lawyers don’t or won’t – and while I said at the beginning that Rainmaking is simple, it isn’t easier – so make yourself better.
This article was originally published by Jaimie Field. For more information on the author and to read more content, please visit http://jaimiefield.com/.