"Some years ago, Larry Myers gave up his law practice and turned his attention to other pursuits. He started a company that provided consulting services to business. He advised both new and existing businesses on operations, structure, sales training and other areas that could help them succeed. Recently, though, he had a new approach to his own business.
Why not combine his knowledge of the challenges facing small businesses with his knowledge of how small law firms operate? We don't normally think of law firms from the business perspective, but they face all of the same issues that every business owner faces - operating efficiently, client service, personnel and human resources and compensation and payroll issues.
Myers' first step was to check into the Small Firm Practice Section. This is an arm of the Bar Association whose role is to help small firms practice law better. This section's mission is to provide seminars and training for attorneys that can count towards their Continuing Legal Education (CLE). Myers found that the Section was inactive and wasn't offering seminars. Most of us might have thought that this was a dead end. If they weren't offering seminars, then that direction wouldn't work.
Instead, Myers saw an opportunity instead of a barrier. He requested and was appointed as head of the Small Firm Practice Section. That allowed him to begin to revive the seminar efforts and to tailor them to both his skills and the needs of small law firms. The focus of this section is to help small firms in business and personal aspects, not the professional training aspect. For example, seminars will focus on issues such as stress and work/life balance, diversity issues, disaster planning for business, and client relationships and communication. Not only will these seminars allow attorneys to learn and also meet their CLE requirements, but Myers can use his knowledge to teach many seminars as well and generate income.
While the efforts are just now getting off the ground, there appears to be a significant opportunity for success and growth. The seminars, which can range from two to six hours, will be offered at meeting rooms in hotels throughout the state, so there are numerous opportunities to reach people. Additionally, though, this isn't necessarily limited just to Kentucky. Myers and the section can offer these seminars in neighboring states as well, but with the approval of the appropriate bar association.
Because of the distinctiveness of the target market, the marketing effort for the seminars is tightly focused. They can be marketed through the bar association's Web site and member section. Also, the program can be directed specifically to attorneys through e-mail.
But the marketing tactics themselves aren't really what's important here. What is important is that Myers found a way to market his skills not as an individual or outside company, but through an already existing channel, albeit one that wasn't being used. Now, most of us don't have an equivalent to the bar association in our industries, but there are other ways to work from the inside out. If you're a member of your industry's trade association, do they have national or regional meetings and do they offer training or informational seminars? If you have a skill or knowledge set that would help others, offer to develop a seminar or program that could be offered at the meeting itself or at another time or place.
You might ask how helping your competitors would help you. Most small businesses operate within a limited geographic area, so a residential contractor in Lexington, for example, wouldn't normally compete with one from Bowling Green. Also, by generating awareness of you and your company within your own industry, you can significantly increase the level of business referrals from those within your industry. Referrals are a significant part of the new business effort in many industries, particularly professional services.
If you can't do this through your own association, there are other avenues to explore as well. For example, you might offer to hold seminars in your field of expertise through the Small Business Development Center, or through any number of business-oriented groups and associations. In this case, you would be making direct contact with potential customers and also developing a greater potential for referrals.
We tend to think of marketing as us communicating our services or products directly to the prospect. But here the opportunity is to be able to change that and market from the inside out. Find how you can market from the inside and see positive results.
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