You may practice in a number of fields – bankruptcy, divorce, real estate, and the like – but have you ever thought about what message that gives to your prospects?
Before we begin, let me be clear that I’m talking to YOU, not your firm. If your firm does a whole bunch of stuff that’s one thing. If you personally put yourself out to the market as being a jack-of-all-trades (or, as we say in the industry, a “full service law firm”) then you should read this.
The whole goal of picking one field of practice allows you to position your firm more strongly, make a statement and follow through on your promise. You become a specialist even if you can’t come right out and say so.
In the alternative, being involved in a hodge-podge of practice areas makes you look like the business pictured above (a real business in Red Hook, Brooklyn) – a place that claims a specialty and then throws the kitchen sink at you in the hopes of getting someone … anyone … in the doors. Interesting how the gates are rolled down in the middle of the day, but I have no idea as to whether that’s a permanent condition or not. Wouldn’t surprise me if it were, indeed, permanent.
Over at Conversation Agent, a recent post titled, Don’t Try to Be All Things to All Customers, caught my eye. In the post, the author talks about Citigroup in the context of branching out too far:
What happened at Citigroup? Same old story. It started with Citibank, its consumer banking operation. Then it bought Travelers (insurance), Smith Barney (stock brokerage) and Salomon Brothers (investment banking.) In other words, Citigroup started as a bank in competition with the other major banks in America and then tried to fight on four fronts: banking, insurance, stock brokerage and investment banking. Not a good strategy.
They may seem like adjacent businesses to you, but to a customer, they spell very different support and service needs. Imagine your day job suddenly becoming so big that you cannot do it all. You’re stretched in so many directions that you’re at the point of losing track of what you’re doing.
As the post goes on to note, “More focused means that you have one conversation going and many possibilities within it for your customers – and employees – to become evangelists on behalf of your brand.”
Taking this back a step to the world of the lawyer, when you practice in a single field you get the chance to tell a single story. You get the chance to focus your efforts on a single type of problem, and offer a solution uniquely tailored to that problem.
When I talk about a single field I’m not recommending a single section of the Code. Rather, I’m talking about a single type of problem. For example, I practice bankruptcy law. But I also defend credit card lawsuits, prosecute actions under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act, and litigate against bill collectors and creditors in bankruptcy court.
Am I trying to be all things to all people? Not at all. I focus on consumer with bill problems, and I offer solutions to those consumers. It’s a single story, a single type of client, and a single problem being addressed. By providing alternate solutions I can better serve clients, but make no mistake about it – it’s a single client.
When someone meets you and asks what kind of work you do, it’s simpler to make a single defining statement – “I help people end their bill problems” – than to make a more general one – “I do divorce, bankruptcy, DWI and personal injury work.” The simpler sentence shows your focus, conveys your message, and enables you to connect more readily with people. It’s easier for that person to ask you a question, perhaps become a client (or refer one), and to understand your particular expertise.
What is your expertise? How do you convey it? How focused and sharp is your message?
Are you getting through?
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