The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
‘I have to stay extremely focused’
Coaching clients in value of marketing. Leader advises law, accountancy firms to boost business.
Robin Hensley is a fulltime coach, although she doesn’t stroll the sidelines.
Hensley, owner and president of Atlantabased Raising the Bar, makes $400 an hour coaching top gun lawyers and accountants from all over the country on how to increase their firms’ revenue and improve their own incomes, too.
In a city like Atlanta, where law firms employ thousands of attorneys, the legal industry is big business. Competition is fierce, which helps provide Hensley’s six-employee firm with clients. Q: How many clients do you have and how much do you charge? A: I see eight folks a day for an hour, one right after the other, and I charge $400 an hour. I see 150 a month. Clients come to me from 22 cities. I coach managing partners, others in leadership roles. Individuals hire me and firms hire me. I also coach solo practitioners who hire me individually. Q: Do you require them to sign a contract with you? A: Yes, all clients sign a contract, which is honestly more about their commitment to themselves to build their business than to pay me. Q: So what do they get, and how do you know what to tell them? A: The people I coach know a lot about law or accounting, but nobody ever taught them about marketing, how to develop business. I give them concrete advice on how to become more than valuable, but essential. I tell them how to build relationships. Q: What specific business challenges do you face? And what specific business challenges do your clients face? A: The challenge I face in my own business is that since I am so busy coaching all day, every day, that I have to stay extremely focused in order to also do my own marketing. Just as I coach my clients to focus on getting in front of their ideal clients, I am always coming up with ways to do the same thing for my business, and there are only so many hours in the day.
Really, the same challenge I just described for my business is what my clients also face on a daily basis. They are extremely busy business people. I coach them on how to be sure they get in the marketing hours needed to
grow their businesses. Q: Specifically, what do you tell managing partners of law firms? A: That they need to know about their clients’ business. Tour their plants, learn their business, visit with them, not be in a rush. And I tell them they want to deal with high asset individuals. Q: Just how big is the business of law in Atlanta and Georgia? A: It’s huge. The State Bar of Georgia says membership is more than 30,000. I added up the top 50 law firms [in metro Atlanta] and they have 1,500 attorneys and 4,000 employees. Atlanta is the hub of the Southeast and a lot of the nation’s biggest law firms have Atlanta offices. But my clients also include key partners in firms in New York. Q: How is the business of law faring these days? A: Things have been better. Many lawyers don’t have jobs at all. Many lawyers aren’t making much because they couldn’t get or hold jobs at the big firms, so they started their own shops. The turnover in the big firms can be substantial. It’s no longer good enough to be a great lawyer. Q: How often do you see your clients? A: They have to agree to face me once a month. I remind them of things. For example, I might say, who is your best client? And they might say, “She loves me.” I say, “Great, so when did you see her last?” Relationships have to be maintained. Lawyers need to know clients well, their passions. I remind them to ask clients what they are reading, to go to the plastic manufacturers meeting, find out what keeps them up at night. That gives me the knowledge to give them advice. Q: Other advice? A: Don’t make cold calls. If you know of a CEO who is speaking at the next meeting of the plastics’ association, the best strat- egy to meet the CEO is to be there.
Doing good work and expecting the phone to ring is the marketing plan of hope. Attending general business meetings for networking purposes is wandering around marketing. Speaking engagements are one-nightstand marketing.
Remember, you can’t build a relationship through email. If you’re wondering why the person you met six months ago has not sent you a referral yet, you’ve got to think, what have you done for them? Referrals are give and take. Q: Any more tips? A: Yes. Have a target list. Remember to research name, company and background for your target list and people you meet. Marketing is about focus, strategy and accountability. Do one thing a day — no matter what — with regard to marketing yourself. Selling is helping people. Q: What is your best tip? A: Sales is all about appropriate follow-up. Q: What advice do you have for young lawyers just starting out or those who just couldn’t fit in at a big firm? A: Young professionals starting out should learn first of all their trade, maintain their law school contacts and study the art of client service. The first five years should concentrate on obtaining the skills to keep a client happy. In addition, keeping up with undergraduate or law school classmates is a key effort, especially when they are scattered across the country. It is an effort that will have lifetime payoff. However, many law school graduates lose those contacts as they focus on the billable hour.
Young professionals should have a plan for contact of folks that are going places. Together, they can advance in their careers. Someday, all will be in key positions as general counsel in companies and at law firms that can receive referrals.