How Attorneys Can Enhance the Role of Their Staff in External Marketing

TRAINING PROGRAMS

Training for business development involves workshops, seminars, and courses aimed at sharpening client/service skills. It involves programs for attorneys, professional staff, and support employees. In larger firms, training can be provided using in-house resources. Examples are:

 

• Communication from successful rainmakers to other partners who have the personal interest and style necessary for rainmaking. Information shared is specific techniques that the rainmaker has found to work within the firm's client groups and geographical market.
• An in-house marketing coordinator meeting with attorneys to report on a marketing analysis of new files. Important in this kind of meeting is information on type of work, type of client, and reasons each new file was opened (sometimes analysis of why a file was opened reveals a successful marketing process!).
• The office manager meeting with secretaries and receptionists to review office procedures, standard correspondence formatting, computer technologies, and so on.

Far more common for attorneys is the hiring of outside consultants for in-house training or sending attorneys, staff and others to outside seminars. Consultants can be found to instruct in every topic from sales management to desktop publishing. Outside courses are taught through educational institutions, law-related organizations that offer CLEs, and private companies whose sole purpose is personnel training and development.

TRAINING PROGRAM GUIDELINES

Because training for client service and marketing involves attorney and staff time as well as out-of-pocket costs, there can be considerable expense involved. Therefore, training is legitimately an element in the marketing budget. Its cost should be realized and addressed.

Marketing training and improvement of client/service skills should be part of the job for every attorney, staff, and other firm employee. Over the course of a year, the degree of training and involvement will vary greatly among individuals, depending on their seniority, interests, and job responsibilities. Persons with jobs of marketing or administration may spend 15 percent of their time either attending or giving marketing-oriented training sessions. Clerical staff may spend less than 5 percent. Some partners may spend none.

By identifying training in the marketing budget, employees realize its importance to the firm. Some employees will eagerly seek out training opportunities, while others will not. Attorneys need to respond to both situations.

For employees who seek out classes, their enthusiasm needs to be encouraged but addressed by limiting the time and out-of-pocket commitment that the firm can make to the individual. Some firms have allocated a fixed out-of-pocket amount to the employee for training, depending on the individual and position. Additional training is at the employee's expense. For instance, a clerical employee may be allocated $300 per year for training in computers, office procedures, time management, and so on or whatever he or she wishes to study.

For the reticent types who do not show their own initiative for outside training, the firm should tell the employee that, during the next 12 months, the firm wants the employee to attend at least one one-day training session on a topic of the employee's choosing that, in the opinion of the employee, would be helpful to his or her job. Attorneys are frequently and pleasantly surprised to see what the employees come up with!

EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE

Training can take place during the individual's personal time, so there is no "loss-of-revenue" cost to the attorney or firm. This applies particularly to administrative and clerical employees who enroll in educational programs through local community colleges or universities and obtain credit for their study. Courses taken are usually technical in nature, such as computer lessons or bookkeeping, although they can be oriented toward advanced degrees. Generally, this kind of training by employees should be encouraged. One method to do this is through educational assistance programs (EAPs), programs where the employer pays the employee for costs related to their study, typically around 80 percent (although they can range from 20 percent to 100 percent). They are common in corporations and can work well within law firms, no matter how small. EAPs specify what type of course work is eligible for reimbursement and the rate at which costs will be paid.

Effective EAPs stipulate that the coursework must be related to the employee's current job responsibilities. Attorneys usually stipulate in the EAP a reimbursement rate to the employee. This usually depends on several factors, such as total costs, grade received, and value to the firm. For instance, one law firm has an EAP that says employees taking an approved college-level course will be reimbursed at 50 percent of the employee's cost of both books and tuition if they receive a "C" in the course, 75 percent if they receive a "B," and 100 percent if they receive an "A."

From graduate programs in economics to half-day sessions on good telephone techniques, training is important to the ultimate success of individuals and firms. Because marketing for the client-focused attorney is not "selling" but rather "service," training to improve employee job and service skills plays a critical role in attorney success.