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Respect your power
June 27th, 2008There we sat, within the confines of the Judge’s chambers, the beautiful library with mahogony shelves filled with law books surrounded us — the judge, my adversary, and the judge’s law clerk off to the corner.
We had not been there more than seven minutes when the Judge, presuming to have gleaned enough information about the case to know how to quantify it, declared (although it purported to be a question): Do you want to know what I think this case should settle for?
No response is appropriate other than, “Yes your honor.” At which point the judge threw out a number and provision for the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees. Never mind that the number represented 100% of plaintiff’s loss and more than 33% for attorneys’ fees…
The problem with this declaration was that it became the “gold standard.” Plaintiff’s counsel was going to work his way to the judge’s recommendation and would refuse to negotiate further.
It was an interesting experience to say the least. Confronted with additional information the judge, having used his judicial power, could not “redo” his number — he would have lost his credibility. He chastised the lawyers for bringing the clients back to the inner sanctum and threatened to force a higher power from the company to show up if the company refused to accept his number.
He jumped too soon, blasting to the end game without a proper development of information. Whether it was due to time constraints or whether it was due to a false sense of having summed up the relevant information quickly — doesn’t really matter.
The process failed. The parties resent the tactics and the lawyers do too.
Mediators may not be cloked with judicial power but there are lessons for us here too. I’m not saying that a judicial settlement conference is the same thing as mediation — because as you can see from the process I described here, it’s not (or at least I hope most mediators approach mediation differently!). Judges are accustomed to making binding decisions and “deciding” matters. Mediators are facilitators and, in theory, the parties are in charge of any decisions.
Respect your power as an intermediary. Allow time and space for the exchange of information. Don’t jump to the end game too quickly. Treat the parties and lawyers with respect.
This case could have settled had it been handled differently.
A good rule of thumb from a mediation mentor: First, do no harm.
Never give up!
Kristina
In House Counsel’s Viewpoint
June 16th, 2008As a mediator or conflict resolution specialists who may work with in-house counsel in mediation, it is important to understand what in-house counsel is up against. When you understand the in-house attorney’s problems and situation, you can better serve him or her with your mediation and conflict resolution services.
In this article, Avoid Quick Fixes and Control the True Cost of Litigation, Joseph F. Speelman contends that taking cases to trial will reduce a company’s litigation costs in the long-run:
Pay the company’s attorneys first — not the other side’s. Consider refusing to settle cases in favor of trying them to win. This will initially increase internal costs, essentially sending payments to the company’s own attorneys. But over time it will lower the overall cost of litigation. The company will pay less overall for litigation by litigating more aggressively. It will be paying its own attorneys and not the opposing attorneys.
At times, trying cases may in fact be a smart strategic move for a company. Yet, several factors should be considered:
1) The size of the company. Smaller companies may not be subject to repeat litigation and they may be better of settling than trying the case.
2) The nature of the suit. If the company is a large employer and it is an employment matter, the chances of further suits by other employees is high. If, however, it is a business contract dispute, is there a risk of copy-cat litigation? Is there a risk that others will hear the company settled and also litigate? Maybe not.
3) The merits of the case. If the company’s internal investigation (or outside counsel’s investigation) reveals wrongdoing or potential liability, it may be foolish to try the case. A decision to try cases cannot be made in a vacuum. If the case is a close call that is one thing, but if there is a sympathetic plaintiff with injuries, weigh the options.
4) The Executive Management and Board’s Risk Tolerance. Trying cases is risky business. Mediators are known to sell risk. Yet, anyone who has tried cases knows they win some they should not have and lose those they should have won. Read the headlines of multi-million dollar verdicts and that may be enough risk to persuade management to settle.
The bottom line is that it may be a smart move to try more cases and it may not. Mediators can help in-house counsel analyze their strategic objectives in determining whether or not to mediate or to settle a case once at mediation.
As a marketer of professional services, talk to in-house counsel, find out what problems they face and how you may be of service. The cost of litigation is an expense that unless litigation is an offensive maneuver, typically adds nothing to the company’s bottom line. Mediation at the appropriate time, may be a smart move.
Never give up!
Kristina
Posted in Uncategorized, Marketing Strategies, Practice Building Advice
Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »The blog is back up…
June 9th, 2008I have no idea what happened but we had some technical difficulties and my mmtips blog disappeared. The issues have been resolved (somewhat).
I hope to rejoin the mediation and legal conversation more substantively soon!
Cheers,
Kristina
New Book on RainMaking, Author Interview
March 14th, 2008Those of you who joined me last October for our teleseminar with Ford Harding on So You Want to be a Rainmaker? know that Ford is a veteran rainmaking consultant and his firm has studied hundreds of highly successful rainmakers over many years. And you will also know that Ford provides excellent, well-researched content and provides you with the tools that you need to succeed in any professional service business.
So, with that introduction, I am pleased to announce that Ford Harding has updated his book on Rainmaking. It is hot off the presses.
I have started reading it and I can say that it is a gem. Particularly for those of us in the legal profession, there are solid business building tactics that you can use to develop a comprehensive rainmaking strategy.
Enjoy an interview with Ford Harding about his new book.
Rain Making-2nd Edition-Attract New Clients Whatever Your Field
By Ford Harding (Adams Media, 2008)
Q: What is a rainmaker?
A: It’s a lawyer, management consultant, engineer or other professional who brings so much new business into his firm that it awes his colleagues. So, if a typical partner in a firm brings in $1,000,000 in new business, the one who brings in $3 or $4,000,000 is a rainmaker. If a typical partner brings in $5,000,000, the one who brings in $12 or $13,000,000 is a rainmaker.
Q: This is a “how-to” book. How do you know that the things you write about will work?
A: Several ways. We’ve interviewed over 300 rainmakers and people who have observed them in action about what they do. Second, we’ve worked with hundreds of professionals at large and small firms, helping them learn how to get business, and we’ve seen what works. Also, my colleagues and I at Harding & Company—there are four of us—have a combined experience of over 100 years at selling professional services. So, most of us are old and have seen a lot.
Q: How does this book differ from the first edition?
A: The first edition was published fourteen years ago. A lot has changed in the world. The first edition doesn’t even mention the internet. An acceptable omission in those days, it’s a gaping hole today. Everyone is touched by the web now. Email is all pervasive and you don’t use it the same way you do old-fashioned mail. A webinar differs from a seminar in many ways; in its geographic reach, in its cost structure and in the way the speaker must handle her audience. Of course none of this was addressed in the old book.
I have changed a lot over the past fourteen years, too. There is a saying among architects that the design of a building is done when the project manager rips the drawings from under the designer’s pen. Books are like that, too. I sent the manuscript for the first edition off to the publisher while I was just beginning a whole new phase of learning about rainmaking. I had just started my firm. Prior to that, most of my experience had been with two firms, one a management consulting firm and the other an architectural firm. Over the past fifteen years I have had a wonderful opportunity to work with engineers, actuaries, accountants, publicists, turn around managers, lawyers, product designers, recruiters, construction managers, management consultants, architects and many specialists within these professions. I’ve had the opportunity to interview many more rainmakers. And as a result of all of this, my thoughts on how to make rain have developed.
Q: Why does this book have so much more on networking than the first?
A: Because I have learned how much more important networks are than I had realized. The people we coached and trained wanted to know much more about networking than the first edition covered, such as how to network with senior executives, and why some people get so much more out of their networks than others do, and how to create a formal networking group. My colleagues and I have tried to answer these questions.
Q: Many professionals who have to learn to sell are already working many hours of overtime. How can they take on the additional work required to bring in business?
A: There is no easy answer to that one. They need to chip away at it by doing several things. Many find that by organizing themselves for the effort, they can make better use of the scarce time they have available for business development. Something as simple as getting a complete listing of your contacts in one database makes it easier to take advantage of brief breaks during the day, because you can look at your list, pick out a contact and call her. Without the list, people tend to fritter away those short breaks before they figure out who to call.
Many professionals have to delegate some of the things that take up their time, in order to make more time for business development. This can require aspiring rainmakers to renegotiate their role with partners who are used freeing up time for business development by delegating to them. That can be a delicate process. Some can change the way they work to get business development benefits from things they need to do for other reasons. For example, a recruiter can make sourcing calls to a higher level of people than she has in the past and so develop relationships with people who can authorize a search.
Making time for business development requires making many changes like these.
Q: A lot of professionals are introverted. Though they have deep knowledge of their area of expertise, they find selling distasteful. Can they ever become rainmakers?
A: If the really want to, sure. I have seen many people who others thought would never make it become really good at bringing in business. Once introverts realize that it is far more important to keep the client talking than to talk, themselves, they become much more comfortable with the process.
Many have a mistaken belief the selling requires pushing your message at someone who doesn’t want to hear it. Realizing that selling most often means seeking out people who have a real need for their services, people who are looking for help, often turns negative perceptions of selling to positive. We call it the Oh-I-can-do-that! Realization.
Q: Why do so many professionals find it hard to learn to sell?
A: One major cause is insufficient experience to interpret the many small incidents that occur daily when you are actively trying to get new business. An old contact doesn’t return a couple of calls, and many professionals assume he doesn’t want to talk to them. They get stood up for a meeting and they take it personally. They get discouraged and give up. If you go out into the market place and meet the right people, stay in front of them by being helpful and remind them of what you do from time to time, the probability of getting hired is high. Rain Making shows how to do that.
Q: So, becoming a rainmaker requires understanding and persistence. Anything else?
A: Grit.
Don’t Give Up!
Added to my BOOK CLUB list.
Kristina
Making Mediation Your Day Job — Virtual Book Tour
February 23rd, 2008For those of you who haven’t already heard, Dr. Tammy Lenski, of the MediatorTech blog is launching her new book. I have not yet read it, but you can get a free chapter on her site and I’ve seen some of the content as she blogged sections of the book as she wrote it (a brilliant strategy). Once I’ve had a chance to read the book, I’ll provide more.
For now, take a look and see for yourself:
Making Mediation Your Day Job: How to Market Your ADR Business Using Mediation Principles You Already Know has just been released and is currently available for purchase at all major online book outlets, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Described as the “definitive marketing guide for any mediator operating or even considering a private practice,” the book shares Lenski’s time-tested principles for creating a mediation practice with minimum stress and maximum success.
“The book tour of today is very different than the book tour of yester-year,” says Lenski. “Today’s book tours tap the power of the Internet and telephone technologies to spread the word and engage readers.” Lenski’s book tour includes complimentary teleconference seminars with ADR associations and groups, blog and Podcast interviews with fellow ADR professionals, and an online prize drawing for mediation marketing services and products relevant to mediators who want to jump-start their practices.
Cheers,
Kristina
Posted in Uncategorized, Mediation Biz & Marketing Success System, Marketing Strategies, Mediation News
Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »ACR Call for Proposals 2008 Annual Conference
February 12th, 2008Mediators and Conflict Managers:
Now’s your chance to share your knowledge, research, and experiences with your peers.
The Association of Conflict Resolution has announced the call for proposals for its 2008 Annual Conference in Austin, Texas.
Researching and putting together a compelling presentation will help position you as an expert in your field.
The leaders in a field are the ones who get paid the most, hired the most and get sought out for more opportunities. I just listened last night to a presentation by a company that gathers experts on various topics. You want to know how they find the experts? They search periodicals, major newspapers and journals to see who has written about a topic, who is quoted by the media and who presents at conferences.
What are you waiting for?
Here’s the link: http://acrnet.org/conferences/ac08/index.htm
The deadline is March 10th.
Happy Marketing!
Don’t Give UP!
Kristina
You are your brand
February 5th, 2008In marketing a professional service, remember you are your brand.
Interviews done by Jeff Kichaven and the research done by the MATA folks, reveal some of the qualities people look for in a mediator. I have posted about them before:
Integrity — if you say that you will keep something in confidence, do not breach the trust placed in you.
Optimism — mediators become valuable when the parties are at an impasse, if they could work out a solution on their own, they would not need you. Be that candle in the darkness that a resolution is possible.
Humor — the ability to add some levity to a tense situation and put people at ease is helpful.
There is another quality that I have discovered is important — the ability to confront. This one is difficult. A good source of learning on this are the two Crucial Conversations books.
If you can use questions so that you can guide people to their own conclusions, they are less likely to resist confronting what needs to be confronted.
I am also reminded of one of the insights that John Sands (one of the mediators I had interviewed for the Mediation Business & Marketing Success System) had: he said that he realized that he could not seek to be loved as a mediator or to try to get everyone to like him. A mediator’s job is to be omni-partial to everyone; yet, as a facilitator people are not going to love you — they may even intensely dislike you. That has to be ok with you.
The more comfortable I become in being assertive and confronting difficult behavior — the less I care whether people like me. In rejecting a reality they may reject the facilitator.
Mediators are leaders — you lead people to confront difficult issues, to take responsibility and perhaps to grow and resolve a difficult situation.
I am reminded of one of John Maxwell’s sayings: People do not care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
The above strategies and skills must be tempered with caring. If you genuinely care for others and seek to be gentle and compassionate with people — yet, tough on the problems, you will be pursuing the important calling of this work.
As we fail and learn from our experiences — we grow.
For a really excellent video on creating your personal brand, check out Dr. Lois P. Frankel’s web site and video. She is talking to women but the concepts apply equally to men. The video excerpt relates to “Women Expand Your Wallet.” She uses WALLET as an acronym and discusses how developing your personal brand is key to success.
I’ve been checking out her books on women’s leadership.
Don’t Give UP! Keep on keeping on, the world needs you.
Kristina
Posted in Mediation Biz & Marketing Success System, Keys to Inner Mastery, Marketing Strategies, Successful Mediators Showcased, Coaching Corner
Top Of Page | Leave a Comment »Some Inspiration for you peacemakers
January 29th, 2008I was really struck by these lyrics from a Natalie Grant song, I Will Be
Here’s the chorus:
I will be a candle in the darkness
I will be the hand of heaven above (heaven above)
I will be a mirror that reflects Your endless love (endless love)
I will be the hope among the hopeless,
Where there is conflict, I will be peace (I will be peace)
only by the power of Your spirit living in me
I will be….yeah
I will be
A pretty heady calling to be peace…
NEVER GIVE UP!
even when you’re conflict instead of peace…
Kristina
p.s. I just saw Diane Levin’s post about mediator playlist after I posted this. I am going to put this Natalie Grant song on my playlist.
Now it’s official: Mediation is a 2008 Best Career
January 22nd, 2008U.S. News and World Report listed the top 31 “best careers” in December 2007 and “mediator” made the list.
The “Mediator Executive Summary” lists what many of you know to be true:
The problem is that there are more mediators than mediation jobs. In part, this is because the barriers to entry are so low—most mediators are required only to complete a 30-to-40-hour training course.
The oversupply means that most mediators do not earn a middle-class income for one to five years. And even to do that, a mediator must embrace marketing by establishing a niche—disputes among postal workers, people of different races, parents and teens, or even participants in the online world Second Life. Until mediators develop a reputation, they must schmooze with potential referral sources, write articles or give talks on mediation, and find well-connected champions willing to recommend them.
Nevertheless, if you have the gift of establishing trust, generating creative solutions, calming angry disputants, staying calm amid ambiguity and dissembling, and are willing and able to market yourself, mediation can be a win-win career for both you and your clients.
The median income was listed at $66,800 and mediate.com was mentioned and Jim Melamed was quoted extensively for the article.
Mediators start your marketing engines…
and
NEVER GIVE UP!
Kristina
p.s. if anyone has ventured into mediating disputes on-line in Second Life, I’d like to hear about it. Free publicity here.
Market Research — where’s the pain?
January 22nd, 2008Market Research is your friend.
It may take time to begin gathering it, but everytime you see some, gather it, e.g. I linked to the research cited by the Boston Law Collaborative last week, here.
Create a “market research” swipe file, print it out and begin collecting your nuggets.
Why?
Inertia.
As a marketer of your professional service not only do you want to create great education based content, you want to persuade your potential clients to take action, e.g. hire a mediator to resolve their conflict.
I heard some statistics that it takes the average couple 7 years to enter marital therapy. Maybe on some level they began having problems, but it takes seven years for the problems to percolate to the level one or both individuals are willing to do something about it.
We need to help people feel the “pain” associated with unresolved conflict.
Whether it’s statistics comparing the cost of litigation (where 97% of cases get settled anyway after hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees); or, whether it’s the cost of organizational conflict for consultants and mediators that work with organizations, use market research to create motivation to act.
Dan Dana, mediation pioneer of the top search-engine-ranked www.mediationworks.com, has been doing this for quite some time. He even created a tool that helps organizations measure the cost of conflict. See, here.
Dan understands that in order to motivate people to do something about their conflict problems, they need to feel the pain.
They need “proof” that the unresolved conflict is costing them not only in terms of legal fees but also in terms of productivity, efficiency, growth, lost profits and organizational costs.
For those of you who mediate litigated cases, the client is often in-house legal counsel. And as John Wallbillich (aka, the Wired GC) notes, “Litigation is revealed as a failure, not a strategy.” He states that most in-house counsel associate litigation with root canals. He further proclaims, “Enlightened lawyers on the inside will increasingly explore ways to avoid litigation and resolve it quickly.” To get a free copy of his report, “The Wired GC Legal Top Ten for 2008″ from which these quotes are pulled, go here.
Back in 2006 I had cited to an ABA article that quoted a couple of GCs saying something similar. They noted that they opt for mediation often.
Begin gathering market research about cost savings and productivity gains wherever you can. Use this information in your education based marketing to help your market feel the pain of unresolved conflict.
People will act when they see the cost of inaction.
Overcome inertia today!
NEVER GIVE UP!
Kristina
Posted in Marketing Strategies, Practice Building Advice, Internet Marketing
Top Of Page | 1 Comment »