Amid the Noise and Haste

Twitter Takes a Step Toward Commercial Accounts

Businesses have been using Twitter successfully for awhile now (see Dell article from the NY Times).  Now Twitter is one step closer to a business model for making money off of this.  NY Times just published "Twitter Takes a Step Toward Commercial Accounts" where Anamitra Banerji, manager of commercial products at Twitter discusses their progress:

Twitter 101 is the first step toward doing that. “If you intrinsically see some value in Twitter, you will want to pay more to get more,” he added.

Twitter unveiled Twitter 101, a series of Web pages and a downloadable slide show that explain what Twitter is and how businesses can use it, along with case studies of a few companies that use Twitter.

It remains to be seen how long it will take for twitter to launch a paid model, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.  If their services provided added value for businesses it just might work.

Graduation Day from Pace University...it finally happened!

I haven't posted in a long, long time.  For the past 23 months, my time has been filled with papers and projects and teams and conference calls.  But it paid of nicely.  I just graduated with my MBA from Pace University's Executive MBA program. 

I can't say enough about how much I got from the program.  It taught me about cohorts, team work, myself, and of course business principles and practices which were immediately practical and useable.

Cycle 9 starts Aug. 16th, and they are always looking for more good applicants. By the way, Module 8 has a record-breaking 28 enrollees. Now's the time to get an MBA! To find out more about Pace's eMBA program, visit www.pace.edu/emba or contact Jim Parker, Director - Executive MBA Program and Adj. Assoc. Prof. of Marketing for the Lubin School of Business, directly at (212) 618-6653 or jparker@pace.edu.

Team Building

When it comes to companies with many different deparments the unfortunate downside is silos.  Each department can become so focused on their own tasks at hand that the other departments become secondary in priority.  There are two key things I have seen when this happens:

1. Departments are made up of people (the people part usually gets lost); and
2. Departments need to work together as a team to keep the machine running

The Reforming Project Management Blog had a great list of questions to ask when dealing with "Team Communication and Health."  Asking these questions can help identify gaps in communication that can then be addressed with team building exercises, lessons in communication and development.

• To what extent is the team positive?
• To what extent is honesty and trust evident?
• To what extent is the team learning and improving?
• Is morale improving, steady or declining?
• To what extent are team members being open and honest with each other?
• Are there barriers between trades and professions and if so How high are the silo walls?
• How long or short are tempers?
• To what extent are team members collaborating?

LSSO launches RainDrops

Hot off the presses from LSSO:

New Year, New Things . . . from LSSO! Now there's another way to see what's hot, find out what thought leaders are thinking and get in on the action. LSSO's blog, "RainDrops", launches today!

You can read and comment on postings from the LSSO team and guest bloggers. We can't claim that we'll always be serious, but we can promise to be blogging about sales and service issues that effect you each and everyday! Please visit http://lssoraindrops.blogspot.com and let us know what you think. If you are interested in blogging with LSSO, please contact us at amy@legalsales.org.

Best of luck with this new project!

Product Review - The LegalBizDev Success Kit™

I was recently asked by Jim Hassett to review his new product The LegalBizDev Success Kit™, "an audio course and set of reference tools that will help lawyers win new business more quickly by applying best practices from other law firms and other professions." 

I have known Jim for a few years now after having met at an LSSO RainDance conference. I've seen him speak for the LMA, and have read his book "Legal Business Development, a Step by Step Guide" (which is also included in the Success Kit). I couldn't say no...so below is the review I sent him.  You can read more about the Success Kit here.

Out of the box impression:

Right away it appears to be a well thought out tool kit. The inclusion of the desk reference and quick start guide is a great way to keep this in front of attorneys, and the note pads with the repeated line “What should I do to increase new business?” is a constant reminder to keep on top of things. 

The addition of the audio CD is another great tool. Since attorneys are always busy and on the go, the ability to upload this information to their iPod and listen at the gym, on their way to work, on a plane, etc. is very smart and makes learning and remembering all the more accessible.

Separate Components:

 The Quick Start Sheet

 Simple and effective. Clear directions and a good tool to have for reference to specific topics and sections of both the Desk Reference and CD.

Desk Reference

 This is an amazing tool. It is practical, usable, and the tips, guides and suggestions are completely doable. The well thought out sections and references, as well as the tools, actions items, and slide make this something that any lawyer at any stage in their career can use.

 Basic Principles and Best Practices CDs

 Providing both visual and audio CDs is plain smart; yet another way to learn from the Success Kit. The ability to break the learning into shorter segments, again, makes this more valuable and usable for attorneys.

 The Whole Package:

The Success Kit really is the whole package. I keep repeating the works simple, effective, usable, smart because that is exactly what it is. Jim Hassett has put together tools and tips which any lawyer at any stage of their career can easily take and apply to their business development efforts; and they are easy enough to integrate into the daily work schedule of even the busiest attorney.

Am Law 200 Firms are Becoming Social

By way of Doug Cornelius of KM Space and Kevin O'Keefe over at LexBlog, I found out that 8 of the top 10 Am Law 200 law firms, those with the highest gross revenue, have social networks on Facebook.  That's pretty big news.   Law firms have traditionally been slower to adopt less traditional means of marketing and business development.  But as Kevin points out, "Lawyers, amongst others, should focus on how examples of new media can
help instead of disregarding them because others use them in an
unprofessional or non business-related way."

Here are the firms with the current number of network members from each firm from Kevin's post:

1. Skadden, Arps 379 Members
2. Baker & McKenzie 728 Members
3. Jones Day 286 Members
4. Latham & Watkins 291 Members
5. Sidely Austin 199 Members
6. Mayer Browne No Network
7. White & Case 370 Members
8. Weil, Gotschal No Network
9. Shearman & Sterling 225 members
10. Kirkland & Ellis 192 Members

Scott Glavin from Enterprise 2.0 wrote about this, tipping off Doug Cornelius, and pointed out a few business uses of using a social networking site such as Facebook:

• exploring who else in your organization has the same interests and connecting.  Professional networking, but via the net.
• sharing media and updates with colleagues such as photo’s and business travel plans
• general exploration of how web2.0 can be supplemental to company goals

I think one of the biggest hurdles of adopting this new technology is eduction.  Scott's points are a fantastic entry point for why networking within a firm or company has benefits.  Internal communication is key to helping grow a business and social  networking enables this communication.  I encourage other firms and companies to adopt social networking as well. 

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Customer Service: A Continuous Cycle

I like to post about customer service because I think it is encompassed in every aspect of a business, from marketing to sales to IT.  Customer service is internal and external.  If your customer service isn't up to par well then your business suffers.

But customer service I think is cyclical pattern.  Coming in is customer feedback, good and bad.  Going out is not just the services provided but the partnership that is formed when customers and business work together to develop the best possible products and services that not only serve the customers but make the business better.

Jim Hasset speaks to this on his blog post, "How to turn customers into partners."  One of the points made here is that this cycle must be continuous because businesses are going global and changing constantly.  I hand the mic to Jim:

Clients must grow into partners. Partners expect solutions, trust and value-added service – exactly what David Maister described in his classic book, The Trusted Advisor. Wilson warns that any relationship – whether a marriage, a friendship, or a business partnership – is dynamic and always changing. You’d better plan to keep working at it, so that the change is in the positive direction.

What changes is your business making?  How are you working with your clients to turn them into partners?  A few key questions Jim Hassett provides come from Larry Wilson’s book Stop Selling, Start Partnering:  The New Thinking About Finding and Keeping Customers (p.96):

“What are your [client’s] goals?
How do they make money?
What can you do to help them expand their business?
Who are your [client’s] customers?
How can you help add value to your [client’s] customer?”

Notice most of the questions are about your clients, not about your business.  But asking questions like these help you to look internally to help develop solutions which will help grow your business.  The cycle continues.

ALM sold to Incisive Media

The company I work for, ALM Media was sold, as announced last week. Our new parent company will be London-based Incisive Media, a rapidly growing international business-to-business publisher with a firm focus on the financial and capital markets, good reporting, and research and information.

News reports have picked up in the last few days (see sampling below), but amid the noise and haste, the opportunity to expand internationally and on the Internet is a great deal for both sides. Incisive Media has operations in London, New York, and Hong Kong while ALM has publications in DC, Miami, NY, San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia, Fulton County, GA and more. In the deal, Incisive was represented by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and ALM by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

News reports:
The American Lawyer
WSJ Law Blog
Shore Communications

NY Times

PaidContent.org
Crain's NY

Reuters

Folio

Press Releases

ALM Media: http://www.alm.com/pressRelease.asp?record=285
Incisive Media: http://www.incisivemedia.com/public/showPage.html?page=456433

What Makes You So Different?

So you offer the same products/services as your competitor(s).  What makes you so different?  It could be price.  But wouldn't you spend just a little more for better service?  I would.  And I think that's what makes people more "brand loyal."

On Forrester's Marketing Blog Peter Kim talks about the keynote session Bruce Temkin gave at Forrester's Finance Forum.  The reference here is to banking, but I think this theme crosses all business boundaries.  The example given is this:

Successful firms practice "experienced-based differentiation" based on three key areas.

1. Obsess about customer needs, not product features.
2. Reinforce brands with every interaction, not just communications.  I.e. make promises and keep promises.
3. Treat customer experience as a competence, not a function.

Take a look at Peter Kim's post for example of each of these areas and also for the experience-based differentiation self-test (note: content is not free).

More on Listening, helpful list of Questions to ask Clients

Jim Hassett from the Legal Business Development Blog provides a great list of suggested questions to help you get the ball rolling with your clients.  Not in the legal realm?  These questions are easily adapted to your industry...remember, it's about the clients.

Here is a sample:

Eleven business questions for clients and prospects
1. What are the biggest challenges that you face?
2. What business problems keep you up at night?
3. Where do you see your industry going in the next few years?
4. How do you keep track of developments in your industry?  What do you read?  What organizations do you belong to?
5. What does your ideal customer look like?
6. What works best in finding new customers?
7. Who are your biggest customers?
8. What is it like to work for your company?
9. For your job, who are the key people in your company?
10. Do you often socialize with people you meet through business?  What do you like to do?
11. What else should I ask about?

Once you have asked the questions...sit back and listen.  Let the client, or prospective client open up and talk.  As Jim mentions, "experts say that when you are developing new business, you should listen at least 50% of the time."