LawVision INSIGHTS Blog

Coach Lawyers to Develop Business by Using Their Strengths

By LawVision on May 3, 2013

A recent post by my colleague Bruce Alltop addressed the ability of introverts to develop business. The following are a few charts based on research from our Lawyer Behavior Profile that support Bruce’s conclusions.

We tallied results from hundreds of lawyers who participated in the Lawyer Behavior Profile assessment tool and compared them with sales executives who participated in a companion tool based on the same underlying research and question patterns. The results didn’t surprise us. Lawyers are less entrepreneurial, more passive, more introverted, less aggressive and more compulsive than sales professionals.

As Bruce said, being more of an introvert (or having any of the characteristics common to the lawyer personality) doesn’t preclude you from business development success and may be an additional factor of success. Consider the chart below comparing misconceptions about introverts to advantages we’ve found in our coaching of hundreds (maybe thousands) of them.

For example, classic introverts may not have as many contacts as their more outgoing counterparts but the contacts they have are typically deep, strong and loyal relationships. A first glance at an introverted lawyers list of contacts often induces a knee-jerk reaction from a concerned marketing director to help the lawyer build more contacts. I often hear directives like, “get Mary out in front of more people – get her involved in the community.” While it’s never bad to get your lawyers more in touch with other professionals, doing so without acknowledging the depth and power of current relationships may cause you to miss some gold.

Coach your lawyers by acknowledging their unique personalities as strengths. They will respond to your efforts more positively and ultimately be more successful.

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Craig Brown has worked with managing partners, attorneys, CEOs, and executives, as a coach, consultant and business executive for over 20 years. He is a Principal in Business Development Practice at LawVision where his consulting and training practice focuses on helping law firms rethink how to build clientele by reconnecting people to their core strengths.

He can be reached at cbrown@lawvisiongroup.com