31 May This One Strategy Grew His Practice by 200% 👏
A few years back I worked with a partner at an AmLaw 100 firm who was in practice for about 18 years. He focused primarily on healthcare issues and wanted to work with me to kick start his business development. Fortunately for me he’s an open-minded type and was willing to try a new strategy or two.
While he steadily grew his business over the years, he had experienced a slight downturn over the preceding 18 months or so, due mostly to the fact that he’d been over capacity (a pretty good problem to have sometimes, right?).
After our initial intake meeting I pulled some information from our systems (I was in-house at the time) and found a long history of former clients and closed matters. Some of those relationships lasted several months…and some went on for a year or more.
I made a spreadsheet of the information I found and sent it to him in advance of our next call. But I wasn’t expecting him to review it in advance…he worked 14-hour days.
As we began our call I asked him to open the sheet and verified that the report seemed accurate to him. I then asked him one question.
“When’s the last time you’ve spoken with any of these people?”
I was completely nonjudgmental in asking, and he knew it. And I really wanted to know, because his answer would inform our next moves.
His response?
“Been years. As I’m looking at this list I am reminded of all of the great relationships I’ve had over the years. I need to call some of these people!”
Wow. It was like handing him a map to his own treasure chest.
Relationships were rekindled. Referrals flowed. New matters came in. The new revenue drastically outperformed his relative effort.
He recently told me this one strategy helped him to grow his practice by 200% over a 3-year period. No, it didn’t happen overnight. Together we created a thoughtful approach and prioritized his outreach.
He followed through and did his best to be consistent. It paid off – big time.
Now, let’s talk about you. How can you apply this strategy to your own practice? What treasure is waiting for you within your own network? Be open to exploring!
