I have a friend who says (and I’m sure he stole it from someone), “If you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will get you there.”

My corollary to that one is (and I’m quoting myself, which makes me feel shockingly important), “If you don’t know who you are, it’s hard to become who you want to be.”

Are Your Feet on the Ground?

Growing your practice requires a reality-based assessment of where you stand in your market. You need to know what the market thinks of your business.

I know a criminal lawyer who operates under the delusion that he’s one of the preeminent lawyers in his state. In his mind, he handles major cases and deals with significant clients.

In reality, he handles small-time criminal and traffic matters. He does a great job. Once in a while, he handles a felony. He’s a very good lawyer. He just doesn’t fully understand how he fits into the criminal law universe.

Who cares? Why not just let him live his happy little delusional life where he imagines he’s the master of the criminal law universe? Why am I such a killjoy?

Here’s why:

He asks me for help with marketing his business. He wants me to figure out how to generate more clients for his practice. He wants to grow. He’d like to work with me to come up with a plan.

We sit down to talk about it and, within minutes, we’re inside his delusion. I ask him a question to get him started—“What do others think about you and your practice?”—and off he goes. It’s like I’m sitting with Bernie Madoff’s lawyer.

The guy is clueless about what others think. I can explain how wrong he is, but it’ll only lead to him hating me. I already have enough people who hate me. I’ll save that conversation for one of my paying clients.

It’s going to be hard to figure out a plan for a guy who is so disconnected from reality. He needs to know where he is to figure out what to do to get where he’d like to go.

Or Is Your Head Stuck in the Clouds?

Here’s another example. I’m working with a family law practice with a bunch of lawyers. It’s a high-volume practice handling relatively small matters. Sure, it has a few big cases, but its bread and butter is smallish matters. The firm averages about $6,500 per file. This is not the big leagues.

The leader of this firm thinks she’s playing in the majors. She bases her marketing decisions on her beliefs. Right now, she’s spending money sponsoring the ballet. It’s not working. She thinks the market believes one thing about her firm when the truth is very different. We spend considerable time with me arguing for reality while she argues for delusion.

Our typical conversation involves me showing her the numbers based on most of her clients, while she pushes back with examples from the exceptions. If her firm handles 100 cases for middle-income clients, she wants to focus on the one client with a very large marital estate. She believes what she believes.

Of course, my numbers-based approach to reality isn’t the complete story. Sometimes the reputation of the firm is different from what’s actually happening in the practice. People might think one thing about the work the firm is doing while the firm is, in fact, doing something very different.

That’s why, for this particular firm, we commissioned a small survey. We had a research firm do some telephone surveys to get a sense of where the firm stands in the community. The data was consistent with the financially based reality. The survey was an exercise worth doing because it helped get us all on the same page.

Test: Have You Lost Touch With Reality?

To move forward, you’ve got to know (1) who you are, (2) what you want to be, and (3) how to get there. It all falls apart if you don’t know the reality of who you are right now.

How can you find out whether who you think you are is consistent with what others think?

1. Start with the numbers. Figure out what you can from the data in your client files. What’s the average income of your clients? How many cases is each of your lawyers handling? What is your average fee? How many calls do you get each month? How many new clients retain your firm? Figure out what you can about the market you’re serving based on the data you already have.
2. Ask others what they hear about you. Ask your friends and colleagues what others are saying. Ask them what the scuttlebutt is about your practice. Don’t ask them what they think directly. Let them pass along the thoughts of anonymous others. That’s how you’ll get closer to the truth (no one wants to hurt your feelings). Ask them what your practice is known for (if it’s known at all). Ask them what they hear that’s good and what’s bad. Ask them what kinds of people are talking about you.
3. Read your online reviews. Of course, online review sites attract complainers. They’re filled with negativity, but they also speak some truth. They certainly have a powerful impact on readers. Use the reviews as a data point for determining where you stand.
4. Involve your team. Make a list of interview questions and ask your staff to ask their friends. The less connected the respondents are to you, the more likely the answers will be honest.
5. Commission a survey. Professionals are experienced in assessing your position in the market. Use a research firm to gather and organize the data for you. They can dip into a broad or narrow pool to determine your reputation in the pertinent community. A variety of approaches is available and useful.

Every good plan for growing a law firm starts with knowledge of your present position in the market.

You need to know what people think if you’re going to grow your practice. You’ll want to take advantage of your strengths and manage your weaknesses. The starting point is always information. You can’t operate in a vacuum.

Recognizing who you are is key to coming up with a plan and getting headed in the right direction. Delusions might make us happier, but they rarely make us more successful. Knowledge is power, and self-knowledge may be even more powerful.

Start with a complete understanding of who you are. Then you’ll be able to head toward who you want to be. Reality is a good thing.

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