by Robert N. Kohn and Lawrence M. Kohn

Selling is always important, in good times and in bad. However, selling is particularly important during a recession because there's more competition pursuing less business: Clients are more cost conscious. They may be looking for lower-price firms. They may be sending out less work to their existing law firms. And to make matters more difficult, many lawyers who previously hadn't done as much marketing are now trying to do it more. So in order to compete, to get what work is out there, selling becomes more important.

One of the lessons learned from this recession, or any recession, is that selling always has to be a part of your practice. You should always be thinking about who your best contacts are and whom you should be communicating with so that when the recession comes to an end, you're going to be in a better position to take advantage of the recovery.

Think about the relationships you have today and the people you know right now. People often know more people than they're aware of. Now, if you've only been practicing law for a short time, maybe you don't know many people, but if you've been practicing law for several years, you've probably come into contact with many more people than you're even aware of. Go through your Rolodex and mailing list and start compiling a list of names of everybody you know who's in a position to help you because they either know somebody or they have needs themselves.

We're not suggesting that you would necessarily call everybody or reach out to everybody, but it's important to know who these people are. It takes a long time to build relationships with strangers, but with the people you've already met, the relationship process is further along. They're more likely to trust you; they're more likely to accept your call. So the very first step when you get started in marketing is to go after what we like to call "low-hanging fruit" -- the people who are most likely to help you today because they know you and because you feel comfortable reaching out to them.

So for a short-term, immediate benefit in tough economic times, look at whom you know and recapture the people you've allowed to slip away. And for the long haul, once you meet people, never let that happen again. Put those names into your database and stay in touch with people for the rest of your career.

For more tips, check out our ABA Publishing Presents podcast "Business Development in Tough Economic Times."

Labels: marketing, rainmaking