He got pulled over for swerving from lane to lane.

The officer asked, “How much have you had to drink?”

He replied, “Two beers.”

It’s always “two beers,” isn’t it? That’s what they all say, regardless of whether it was two or ten.

Shockingly, his blood alcohol level was 0.16 (twice the legal limit in his state).

How can he possibly have so much alcohol in his system when he had so little to drink? And what, if anything, does this have to do with growing your practice?

Excuses, Excuses

I had lunch with a family law attorney the other day. After she complained about her lack of business, I asked her how much networking she has been doing.

Specifically, I asked, “How many lunches and coffees are you doing each week?”

“Two or three,” she told me.

Amazingly, that’s the same answer I get nearly every time I ask that question. “Two or three,” they say. I bet they’ve also had “two beers.” Catch my drift?

Were You Lying Then, Or Are You Lying Now?

At first, back when I was young, naive, and stupid, I bought it. I believed the “two or three” response.

Now, I ask a follow-up question. I ask them to pull out their calendar. Some pull out a little book, and others pull out their iPhones. We go through page by page and count the meetings.

“Well, I haven’t had a chance to schedule anything this week,” she explains. “Last week was weird because I had a trial that went on for three days,” she continues. “The week before?” I ask.

“I had a sick kid that week so I wasn’t able to do it, but I had a lunch scheduled that I canceled.”

I keep cross-examining, and the witnesses start to squirm. I’m not sure this is the best approach for helping people build a practice, but I’ve pretty much perfected my cross-examination technique, so I hate not to use it.

Let’s Cut to the Chase

• If you’re doing a handful of coffees or lunches each week, then your practice is growing, and we’re not having this conversation.
• If you’re doing “two or three,” then you might as well go home and have “two beers.”

It’s one thing if you’re telling me this story to get off the hook. It’s another thing if you’re telling the story to yourself and believing it.