Recently I read an article, which poked fun at a Sydney lawyer who claimed that lawyers ‘do not sell’ nor do they ‘market’ but rather the profession attracts its clients on the basis of technical expertise. Reading between the lines it would appear that the word ‘marketing’ and ‘sales’ were both ‘very very’ dirty words in this lawyers vocabulary.
Although I will admit that there are some very successful legal specialists who have never done any marketing of any kind (I met one this morning and he wasn’t prehistoric!!!) in an age of globalization the competition is well and truly heating up and very few will be able to rely on this modus operandi, too far into the future.
Thanks to the wonders of technology ‘our shingle’ no longer hangs above our front door but can be found all over the world wide web. Even the stack of Yellow Pages directories have become a thing of the past. In todays world, if people find themselves in need of a ‘service provider’ people generally turn to their network for their tips on who’s who or they simply ‘Google’. (Think about it…what do you do?)
So to continue the theme from our recent post on Personal Branding, either you build your personal brand and make yourself indispensable to your network (as Seth Godin would say to your ‘tribe’) OR you build your personal brand and make yourself ‘discoverable’ to the power of Google!
Not having a personal brand really isn’t an option…at least for those who want to truly succeed in their chosen field – lawyer or not!
The only way to prove (as opposed to assert) that you are indispensable linchpin – someone worth recruiting, moving to the top of the pile, and hiring - is to show, not tell. Projects are the new résumés.
If your Google search isn’t what you want (need) it to be, then change it.
Seth Godin – Author of Linchipin : Are you indispensable?
Still not sure how it applies to you? Take a few minutes to see what Tom Peters says about ‘Branding You’ on our YouTube Channel and while your there why not check out our other recommended videos all aimed at Talent Development.
Further information + official websites
Marketing Is Us – Recent Blog Post on Linchpins
