Productivity for Attorneys - How to Conduct Productive Business Development During the Holiday Season

Productive Business Development During the Holiday Season for Attorneys

It seems during the crazy holiday time many organisations, clients, associations, companies and social clubs have a networking event for you to attend. How can you possibly do it all? Well… you can’t. To ensure your business development and networking is proactive, productive and profitable this holiday season you can apply these productivity tips for the holiday season.

Choose your activity – you will receive many offers to attend functions, choose wisely. Determine what time of day is best for you to attend. Do you prefer breakfast events, luncheons or after work activities. Assess when the function is being held and if it is the best use of your time. Ask yourself, ‘why am I attending this event’? If you are attending to ‘be seen’ that might be important for growing your practice or are you attending from a sense of obligation? That is OK too, but be very clear on your personal agenda and why you are attending the event. If you just want to have a great time that is OK too!

Don’t accept every invitation – just like you need to choose which functions to attend, you also need to decline many invitations. You simply can’t attend every activity at this time of year and still run your practice and meet your business goals and billable hours. Respond quickly to invitations, send a ‘thank you email’ to the organiser and decline some invitations.

Take a raincheck – one of the most polite ways to decline an invitation to any event is to ask the person “may I take a rain check”. This simple question lets the person know you appreciate their invitation but you are unable to attend at this time.

Meet a friend – many people want to catch up with you during the holiday season, ask them to join you at a networking function, this way you can enjoy their company, meet new connections and make the most of the this busy time of year.

Send a ‘Happy Holiday’ follow up card instead of a thank you card – you have heard me say before I think it is important to re-connect with people after each business development event by sending a thank you card or a ‘nice to meet you’ card. At this time of year replace this with a ‘happy holiday’ card and include your business card for their records.

Shop the display tables – if you are fortunate enough to attend functions that include trade displays, use the time wisely to also purchase holiday gifts. This will save you time battling the store lines with other holiday shoppers while supporting other businesses.

Book follow up time – when you book a networking function into your schedule, make another appointment with yourself the day after the event for 1 hour of follow up activity. Use this time to write your ‘happy holiday’ cards, send company information that was requested from you or make follow up phone calls. This will help you be more productive and know all those new connections you made and the new business cards you collected, won’t sit on your desk for the coming weeks or maybe months! Remember this one-hour of time (although not billable) can translate into new business for the coming year.

Arrive early, stay late – to maximise your time at functions you decide to attend, arrive early to meet the committee, speakers and hosts. Stay late to make new connections with people you have just met.

Don’t book multiple functions in one day – don’t make the mistake of rushing from one networking event to the next. Be fully present while you are at an event and enjoy the conversations and the connections you make. Many people try to fit in multiple events this time of year and don’t do justice to any of them. Choose wisely.

Book 1 hour to review your involvement in business development activities and networks – it is easy to join multiple networks but not be involved in any of them. Take one hour to assess every network you belong to, determine which networks you want to remain involved in for next year and decide which networks have not been valuable for you this past year. By conducting this activity before the end of the year, you can start 2007 afresh. This will help you make quick decisions about which invitations to accept and decline. Use these questions to help you:
What can I contribute to this network?
What is the investment I need to make?
What is the R.O.N?

Pro-Networkingä R.O.N is a way of calculating ‘Return on Networking’ – I use this proprietary formula to determine if the network is worth my time, attention, energy and money.

Set up your appointments for 2007 – now is a great time to schedule your January through March appointments, don’t overlook this time for planning your next year. Conduct reviews with clients; meet prospective clients and book time with your associates to help them set their goals for 2007.


Neen is an International Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and networking performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate educator, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more and subscribe to Neen’s free monthly ezine at http://neenjames.com

Productivity for Attorneys - Being Productive During Summer: How to Continually Grow Your Business

Being Productive During Summer: How to Continually Grow Your Business

Why is it that when summer arrives business slows down, networks stop meeting, work attendance decreases, business development activities grind to a halt – and yet we still have budgets, goals and targets to achieve? How do you handle the ‘unproductive’ attitude that summer brings? How can you juggle vacation schedules? Historically, summer may have been a time for you to take it easy, do the minimum amount of activity while you focus on what you will achieve when fall comes around…not this year. Decide to make this your most productive summer ever, here are some strategies that will help you do that and continually grow your firm's business all year round.

Take advantage of the weather. Use the longer hours of daylight savings to conduct meetings later in the day, take advantage of warmer conditions and meet people at outdoor venues and cafes, meet clients for lunch where you will enjoy lighter food and warm sunshine.

Review your business plan. Make a two-hour appointment with yourself to review all the actions in your business plan – including your cash flows and billable hours targets – and spend time determining what you need to achieve your goals for this financial year. Your business plan should not be hiding in your bottom draw or collecting dust on a shelf, it is a living document that can be reviewed regularly – make summer your time to determine your next steps.

Revisit your marketing plan. What plan you ask? If you don’t have one, now is the time to sit and write one. If you need help there is an abundance of talented consultants who can assist you build a customised business development & marketing plan for your business. If you already have one, review your progress, determine what actions need to be taken and schedule time during the summer to complete those tasks.

Conduct a six-month business review. Spend two hours reviewing your business achievements for the past six months. Ask yourself these 11 questions:
1. How would I rate the past six months’ firm's performance (1-10 with 10 being the highest)?
2. Did I achieve my financial goals each month?
3. If not, why not?
4. If not, what do I need to do differently in the next six months to meet my annual budget or plan?
5. If I did meet these targets (congratulations to you), were they big enough?
6. Have I conducted reviews with my team? If not, why not? And when?
7. If so, have I rewarded my team adequately?
8. Do I need to invest more in my team or personal development?
9. Is my marketing plan on track? If not, why not?
10. If not, what activities do I need to conduct to implement more marketing strategies?
11. Have I done sufficient practice development / networking to grow the firm or my connections? If not, why not?

When you have completed these questions, create a series of tasks, actions or projects to implement some of your strategies to help you really achieve all your targets for the next six months.

Invest in your personal development. Have you been meaning to read the latest business book? Is there a summit you could attend? Is there an online program you have wanted to complete? Is there a web seminar that you’ve wanted to register for? This is a great time of year to invest in yourself, refresh your memory and learn a new skill. Summer is conducive to learning.

Conduct a summer clean. Just like a spring clean, but during the summer months. Your summer clean could include:
v Clearing, deleting or filing those read emails in your inbox.
v Unsubscribing from all those newsletters that you don’t read.
v Allocating one hour to get your paper filing up to date (if you have more than one hour’s worth, do one hour per week until it is all complete).
v Throwing out unwanted, unread journals that you have been ‘meaning’ to read, but haven’t and won’t.
v Reviewing your ‘tasks’ on your to-do list or in your Outlook file and removing those tasks that simply won’t be completed.
v Spending 15 minutes cleaning the top of your desk, removing unnecessary stationery, putting away files, cleaning the dust off your family photo, throwing away empty water bottles and wiping down your computer keyboard and screen. A clean and clear desk will help you be more productive any time of year!
v Entering details into your contact management system of the business card pile that is gathering dust on your desk.

Hold a team development activity. If you manage a team of people, allocate some time to meet for lunch at an outdoor café; take three hours and visit the local zoo as a team (work out which animal best represents each member of your team...only joking!); meet early for a game of golf or tennis before work; bring food to share for lunch and conduct a meeting in your local park. Spend time listening to your team, their challenges and achievements. Plan your next six months and how you will achieve the targets for the whole team. Use the warmer weather to conduct outdoor versions of activities you normally conduct indoors.

Conduct focus groups. Invite a select number of key clients to your office and ask them about your business, their expectations and experiences, and how you can better serve them. Collate the results and seek your team’s input on how to action them.

Create a list of new business development targets. Once you have made your list, sort it into three groups: ‘spheres of influence’, those that are able to make decisions about your products or services; ‘centres of influence’, those that are already your advocates; and ‘strategic alliances’, those that you can refer business to and that can also refer business to you. Once you have your list completed, book appointments with these people to include lunch, breakfast or even a ‘tele-coffee’. Create a plan within your schedule to contact them regularly. Contact could include a phone call, email, sending them an interesting article you’ve found, inviting them to a networking event with you, sending a parcel of products or a face-to-face meeting.

Book a ‘tele-coffee’ with your clients. What is a ‘tele-coffee’? It is where you both make a coffee and meet by teleconference. It is a more productive way of meeting (and avoids time wasted in travel).

Visit a new networking group. Many networking groups don’t meet during the summer, but those who are serious about building their businesses are still networking and still making valuable connections. Find out which groups are meeting and plan to attend at least two new groups this summer. This is the perfect time to develop new relationships and valuable connections.

To continually grow your firm you do need to be mindful of the seasons but don’t slow down in summer – get more productive. Use this time to get a head start on all those fall meetings you can conduct when people return from vacation, ensure plans are in place to achieve your annual results, tidy your work environment so you are not distracted by clutter, and experiment with new products, focus groups and new networking opportunities. Embrace the warmer weather for outdoor meetings and events and enjoy all that summer brings for your business growth.

Neen is an International Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice (Aussie accent), sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Subscribe to Neen’s free monthly ezine at http://neenjames.com

Productivity for Attorneys - How Attorneys Can be More Productive and Increase Billable Hours

How Attorneys Can be More Productive and Increase Billable Hours
By Neen James – www.neenjames.com

A constant question in the mind of many attorneys is ‘how can I increase my billable hours while completing all these other tasks on my ‘to do’ list?’ – this is not a simple question to answer but there are a number of solutions that can be implemented into every practice to ensure more billable hours and more staff satisfaction at every level of the practice.

Delegate – to some this is a hard concept to grasp but when attorneys embrace the concept of delegation everyone benefits. Many staff want more responsibility and variety in their daily work tasks. By delegating different projects and tasks, support staff enjoy an increase their interest in their roles and feel more satisfied. Delegation of regular occurring tasks, scheduling, administration, follow up and routine activities frees up time for attorneys allowing more billable hours. Delegation is a learned skill; it does not come easily to most and must be handled in a way that both parties trust the process and each other. When delegation is practiced within a law firm it ensures career paths are created and skill sets are increased, this is beneficial for any growing firm. For more tips on delegation go to: http://www.neenjames.com/tips29.html

Review – implementing monthly and annual reviews with all members of the law firm will allow every partner to keep a firm grasp on performance and activity of every staff member including paralegals, secretaries, technology support, communications and marketing staff. A monthly review may include a 30-minute meeting with each direct report to check performance against targets, outstanding issues, and project updates and staff morale. By checking in on a regular basis both partners and employees can recognise future opporunities and identify potential issues. An investment in annual reviews with each employee will also create career progression opportunities, identify training needs and help support staff feel more valued in their role. It is recognized that recognized and valued employees are more productive employees.

Happy Hour – conducing a regular ‘happy hour’ with your team members weekly or monthly will allow both parties to review tasks, projects and identify potential productivity challenges. For more tips on Happy Hours go to: http://www.neenjames.com/tips42.html







Measure – productivity can be measured by every practice through increased billable hours, increased client satisfaction ratings, increase in new cases and a feeling of more ‘control’ for partners. Support staff will measure their own productivity a number of ways. Firstly by their feeling of ‘completeness’ of all activities and tasks in their everyday ‘to do’ list. Secondly by the feedback from their superiors, feedback is an essential element to boost productivity in all staff members. Thirdly through their own job satisfaction. When a support staff member enjoys their work and environment they will be more productive.

Use Downtime – unfortunately we can’t eliminate downtime but we can be productive in times where things are not in our control. Being prepared for downtime will allow you to make the most of every opportunity. This simply means to be prepared. When you are waiting in offices, waiting for decisions to be made, waiting for communications, this can be frustrating. Eliminate the downtime and the frustration by regularly having a file of ‘down time to dos” – this file might include articles or journals you have been wanting to read, completing non-urgent paperwork, reviewing or editing documentation and replying to correspondence. Always carry a file in your briefcase that is filled with non-urgent tasks so you can make the most of these times. Get into the habit of taking this file with you when you leave your office, travel on public transport, attend meetings, arrive at appointments – keep it with you.

Systemize – many activities in each practice can be documented and systemized. This initial investment of time and resources to achieve this may seem difficult, but the long-term rewards far outweigh the initial costs. If your team doesn’t have this skill set internally, consider outsourcing this to a Productivity or Organization Expert. These people can quickly identify tasks and activities that can be systemized; they can document the processes and train the staff on how to implement them.

Be flexible – implement a company policy that rewards not only good performance but productivity as well. Identify within each role in your practice where people can be productive, this will be different for each role and each team member. Some people are more effective working early mornings and others late at night. Investigate if some of your team members can have flexibility in their work environment to really maximize their performance. Identify if there may be opportunities for them to be measured on their outcomes rather than the time they sit at their desk or cubicle. Flexibility is great recognition for high performers: it rewards productivity and outcomes rather than office hour attendance.








Reward – consider implementing a reward system for high profile or long-term cases. Within each practice there are opportunities to share the rewards. Many support staff will increase their productivity when recognized for their efforts. These rewards do not always need to be monetary (although that is always appreciated…) but can include gift cards, time off, gifts and praise. Take time to recognize your support teams.

Educate – one of the most effective uses of your resources is to invest in productivity training or workshops for your support staff (and partners). Many experts can give practical solutions and tips in short workshops that are designed to maximise the skills and efforts of each of your team.

Apply any or all of these tips today and you will definitely notice an increase in the support staff productivity, billable hours and increased client satisfaction.

Neen is a Productivity Expert: by looking at how attorneys spend their time and energy – and where they focus their attention – Neen helps you develop productive business development strategies and increase performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you bill more hours. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. www.neenjames.com