Marketers operate in the realm of innovation. If it’s been done before, they believe, it’s rarely worth doing it the same way again. Most lawyers, by contrast, operate in the realm of precedent. If it hasn’t been done before, it’s risky.
A special challenge arises when the two worlds meet: when avid marketers try to lead naturally cautious lawyers into uneasy innovation territory.
Furthermore, there are additional reasons why lawyers in general are reluctant to innovate. They tend to be impatient, which makes them poor listeners in marketing meetings. They are afraid of failure. They fear being held accountable for poor results
While getting lawyers to innovate is challenging, it’s not impossible. Lawyers are process oriented. Marketers who want to encourage lawyers to innovate can be successful if they recognize this fact and follow a careful step-by-step process. Identify in advance what could hinder you and find out how to fix it.
Furthermore, lawyers enjoy success as much as anyone else. Marketers who want to advance an innovative project must counteract lawyers’ lack of patience, fear of failure, and fear of retaliation with a clear vision of the value of a successful marketing project in promoting lawyer success. or a law firm.
Always ask yourself and your attorneys, is the risk of failure or retaliation so great that it cancels out the many rich benefits of success? If you are truly honest with yourself, you must admit that he rarely does.
Kohn discussed how law firm marketers can identify, develop and implement innovative ideas in a law firm at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association’s monthly educational meeting. The presentation took place on September 11 at Fogo de Chao restaurant in LoDo, Denver.
Kohn has been president of Los Angeles-based Kohn Communications for 27 years. During that time, he has worked with more than 1,000 law firms and has conducted more than 28,000 individual attorney training sessions. He is the co-author of two popular books, most recently Selling in Your Comfort Zone (Safe and Effective Strategies for Developing New Customers).
Process for successful innovation
Kohn’s innovation process consists of nine steps.
Generate an innovative idea. Innovative ideas are all around us. I ask lawyers to actively generate their own ideas, which empowers them to think about innovation. I ask you to look outside the carefully defined world of law into the larger world around you to discover transferable strategies.
I want them to see the world not as a noise, but as a catalyst. What things in your environment stand out from the noise and catch your attention? For example, why do you open one spam email and not another? How can what you see in the rest of the world apply to your practice or law firm?
List the benefits of implementing this idea. Start by listing the personal benefits to you if your idea is successful. Will you make more money? Will it achieve a higher profile within the firm? A clear understanding of these potential benefits makes it much more likely that you will work hard to achieve your innovation. Go on to list the benefits for the law firm. Arm yourself with research to back up your claims.
List the risks of not implementing this idea. Again, start with personal risks and move on to company-wide risks. Are you happy with your career as it is? Does your company have all the work it needs? What is likely to happen if you do nothing? Once again, noun. Do your research. Prepare and rehearse language that clearly expresses the risk of doing nothing.
Prepare your strategy for implementation. The two biggest motivators are security and fear. A ‘safety’ strategy emphasizes the good and protective things that will happen as a result of your innovation. A ‘fear’ strategy emphasizes the bad things that will happen if you don’t innovate.
Any strategy must also include a maintenance component. What has to happen next? Who will be responsible? Always negotiate the next step. Keep the ball in your own court so you can keep things moving.
Why will your strategy be effective? List all the reasons why your strategy will be effective. Anticipate all possible arguments that question these reasons. If you don’t have an answer ready, do some more research. Read, talk to others, surf the Internet. The answers are there. Be prepared to answer any questions with solid facts.
What resources will you need? New ideas require resources, which can include time, money, expertise, and hired equipment. Any of these can stand in the way of acceptance of your planned innovation, unless you have carefully considered them in advance, determined the cost, and determined the reasons why the innovation is worthwhile.
What are the obstacles to implementation? Step away from your innovative idea and examine it as an objective observer. Imagine all the possible objections someone could have. Consider all possible events or trends that could derail your idea. Decide ahead of time exactly how you will counter each of these objections or obstacles.
What is your recommended deadline? Keep in mind an absolute deadline by which your innovation should become a reality. Set the date, and then work backwards to create tentative deadlines. Be rigorous in meeting these deadlines.
Who are your ideal defenders? If your innovation is personal, who in your life needs to be on board for it to be successful? Who can help you achieve your goals? If your innovation is for the law firm, you’ll need powerful internal advocates, both to get your idea accepted and then, once it’s accepted, to get the resources you need. Get your advocates in line before you even propose your idea. Do this in private.
Innovation can be challenging for both individual attorneys and law firms, and the law firm marketing professionals who work with them.
Careful preparation makes all the difference. Following this process to lay the necessary groundwork makes it much more likely that lawyers will overcome their fear of innovation, failure, and retaliation and instead focus on the “success” side of the innovation equation.