The holidays are the perfect moment to spend time on strategic planning for the year ahead. Regardless of what your goals are – to make partner, start your own firm, or get involved in the community – a roadmap will help you get to where you want to go. Create a business development plan and make it your new year’s resolution to implement it in 2019. Here’s how to do it.
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- Create a written plan.Writing down your goals makes you accountable to them and more likely to achieve them. Also, you get the satisfaction of crossing your action items off your list as you complete them. Need a marketing plan template? Send us a note, and we’ll send you ours!
- Be flexible. It’s a written plan, but it’s not carved in stone. Think of your plan as a living, breathing document, and correct course as you go. You are also a work in progress, so it makes sense that your plan should evolve as you do.
- Take the first step. “I don’t know what my long-term goals are.” No problem. An evergreen action item that can be part of any good plan is as simple as getting involved. Join an industry or practice group within your firm, the board of a community organization, or a section of your local bar organization. Making incremental steps will put you on a path to figuring out your bigger picture.
- Be SMART with your goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound. Choose things that interest you, and that match your personality. If you hate presenting, better to find something that achieves the same purpose, but works for you (unless your goal is to get outside your comfort zone). Similarly, don’t overcommit. Three goals maximum, and three action items for each goal.
- Work with marketing professionals. If your firm has a marketing team, take advantage of this valuable resource. If not, consider working with an outside marketing company. Legal marketers are full of ideas and can assist with your business development planning. They can act as accountability partners to help make sure you are on track to meet your objectives.
- Create a written plan.Writing down your goals makes you accountable to them and more likely to achieve them. Also, you get the satisfaction of crossing your action items off your list as you complete them. Need a marketing plan template? Send us a note, and we’ll send you ours!
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Once your plan is drafted, carve out regular time to work on implementing it – regardless of how busy you get with client work. You’ll soon find that business development becomes a habit, and part of your practice. That’s when you’ll know your new year’s resolution was a success. Wishing you a wildly successful 2019.
