The Legal Marketing Association – Bay Area Chapter, at its January educational program, saw some “Big Ideas Brought to Life.” In a “TED-format” of four 15–20 minute presentations, speakers explored motivating reluctant lawyers, leveraging client feedback for competitive intelligence, content marketing and coaching lawyers to sales success. Check out these highlights from the sessions.

“How to Motivate Reluctant Lawyers”

presented by David Ackert, The Ackert Advisory

Drawing on various studies of business development behaviors, Ackert notes that attorneys can intellectually justify their resistance to change. In breaking through this, one must understand the emotional roots of the resistance – typically one of only four different emotions – and reason through them. Marketers were encouraged to help their lawyers think past the worst possible outcomes, acknowledge the validity of certain concerns and respectfully persist in change-oriented efforts.

“Client Feedback as Competitive Intelligence”

presented by Jill Weber, Chief Business Development Officer, Stinson Leonard Street

Inspired by the words of a Disney executive who suggested that “your brand lives in the stories your customers tell others,” Weber and her team developed a customized program for capturing client feedback and maximizing use of the data. Drawing on resources like: www.clientfeedbacktool.com and the work of Fred Reichheld around “net promoters,” the firm’s program realized a solid 48 percent response rate.

“Chief Content Conductor: The New Roles for Marketers”

presented by Adam Stock, Chief Marketing and Client Services Officer, Allen Matkins

Stock suggests that content marketing and social media are the best things that ever happened to legal marketing! He supports this by noting that firm customers are online; personal and firm brands are “right sized” on the web; reputations and niches can be expanded; and the entire law firm organization is geared toward writing and creating content. The orchestration of content, its format and its dissemination through various channels was discussed.

“Stop Being a Sherpa and Start Being a Guide: Coaching Lawyers to Overcome their Fears and Sell”

presented by Craig Brown, LawVision

With great humor and insight into human psychology, Brown discussed the various fears that tend to get in the way of attorneys’ sales efforts. With colorful examples of the way fear manifests itself in professionals, Brown detailed the four primary fears – the fear of rejection, failure, interaction and success – and provided numerous strategies for pushing through these impediments to achieve greater business development success.

A video feed of the program is available at www.legalmarketing.org/bayarea.