I’ve struggled with this question for years. I’ve recently adopted a new plan. In fact, my new plan is one of my two primary objectives for this year.

Before I explain the new plan, let me just say this: attorneys can, pretty much, all become effective marketers. They just need the right motivation. How do I know? Because I’ve seen, over and over, non-marketers become marketers the minute they open their own offices. They can’t/won’t take a referral source to lunch—excuse after excuse. Then they sign a lease, put up a shingle, and are instantly “Ms. Go Out to Lunch.” It’s not lack of skill; it’s lack of motivation.

Here’s what I’ve been doing for years. My old system, if you want to call it a system, has been to identify the associates interested in marketing and then support the heck out of them. Mostly, I sit around and think critical thoughts about the majority of associates who won’t engage in any marketing behaviors at all. They drive me nuts.

We have a bunch of free seminars in the markets we serve. Our lawyers teach one of them each month. Mostly, they go through the motions: they show up, deliver the lecture, and come home. They rarely get a consultation from the seminars. It’s pretty much a waste of time for them to go.

Some of our lawyers, however, go teach the same seminars and come back with a couple of initial consults every time. Why? It’s not entirely clear to me, but these folks are good at marketing on every front. They’re the same people who take referral sources to lunch, get called by the media, etc. They’re natural marketers.

My system, for more than 20 years, has been to identify these natural marketers and do everything I can for them. I teach them everything I know, get them invited to speak everywhere I can, push the media to them, introduce them around, etc.

How’s that working for me? It’s great, but it’s only helpful to a very limited number of our attorneys since most folks fall into the other camp. Most of our people aren’t natural marketers, and they get neglected by me.

That was a mistake. That’s what I’m working on this year.

I was talking to Rich Harris, a preeminent Denver family law attorney,  and he explained what he’s doing with associates in his firm. I’ve decided to adopt the Rich Harris plan.

Rich meets regularly with all of his associates. He helps them develop an annual marketing plan with modest goals. He teaches them how to follow the plan, and he tracks their progress in regular meetings. He prides himself on their success, and he is an enthusiastic teacher. He even makes an outside marketing consultant available to the associates when they need feedback from someone outside of the firm. Rich reports great success with his plan—even from associates who aren’t natural marketers.

I’m in the process of arranging the meetings and getting the plans drafted now. We’re going to make progress this year. It won’t be huge, but it’s a big shift for me, and it’s going to generate business from some unexpected places. I’m looking forward to ending my critical, negative approach and doing something positive. I’ll let you know whether the Rich Harris plan works as well for me as it has for Rich.

On top of the plan I’m borrowing from Rich, we also employ financial incentives for marketing. Our system involves compensating our attorneys for their marketing results. The more clients they generate, the more they can earn. We pay a percentage of all revenues originated. I’m not going to go deep into that system today. My experience is that these systems are difficult to administer because it’s very difficult to determine the source of most clients. It’s important to employ a financial incentive, but it won’t, on its own, motivate attorneys to market. The training piece is essential.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how to keep these folks once we’ve turned them into effective marketers. Clearly, there’s little point in growing their skill set if you’re only going to create a new competitor and gain nothing in the process. Same time, same place, see you tomorrow.