One of the things that my clients have to working is learning to say “no” and to really focus on what will bring them the best return on investment for their time and dollars, both of which are extremely limited for most professionals. C.J. Hayden has just published an excellent article on this topic that I highly recommend. You can find it at http://www.getclientsnow.com/just-say-no.htm.
Archive for the ‘business development’ Category
Just Say “No”
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010Beyond The Basics: Relationship Building Skills – BBCC Professional Edge Unplugged April 7, 2010 Highlights
Thursday, April 29th, 2010Lori Williams and I co-presented “Beyond The Basics: Relationship Building Skills” at the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Professional Edge Unplugged on April 7, 2010 to a full room. The discussion was exciting and it was wonderful to see how many potential business collaborators were sitting in the room and realized it as we progressed through the program. We covered branding, referral partners and strategic alliances. I will be presenting some of the relevant concepts in future blogs. The Greek Isles Coney Island was a great location and the Chamber did a phenomenal job of promoting the event. Lori and I were thrilled to be able to provide value to chamber members and help them develop and grow. Many of the members made connections that will be very valuable in their future business that day.
Barbi Krass of Colorworks Studio, one of the attendees, had this to say about the presentation:
” Lori, Elisabeth,
I thoroughly enjoyed your workshop this morning. The presentation was very helpful in sorting out bottom lines for us all and the information was delivered in a way we could certainly relate to. “
Elisabeth Garbeil and Lori Williams, Co-presentors at BBCC Professional Edge Unplugged, April 7, 2010
“Effective Strategies to Improve Your Law Firm’s Bottom Line” Seminar a Success
Thursday, February 4th, 2010I emcee’d the “Effective Strategies to Improve Your Law Firm’s Bottom Line” seminar at Automation Alley on January 28, 2010. The seminar was a resounding success, with great attendance, great speakers and a good location.
Although the seminar focused on attorneys, most of the content could just as easily apply to CPA’s, financial advisors, coaches and consultants. I highly recommend checking out the individual speakers and presentations. I’ve included links below for your convenience.
Speakers and EmCee for "Effective Strategies to Improve Your Firm's Bottom Line" Seminar
The speakers were (from left to right) David Benjamin, Lori Williams, Jason Ryan and Timothy Flynn.
Lori Williams, of Your Legal Resource, spoke on creating effective referral partners and strategic partners for your practice. Jason Ryan, of Vision Fuel Media, spoke on how to improve your firm’s website so that it gets you more business. David Benjamin spoke on how to use social media. You will find his presentation about 2/3 of the way down the page on his website, entitled “My presentation at Automation Alley: 5 Social Media Tools your Law Firm Can’t Ignore.“ Timothy Flynn, of Clarkson Legal, presented a lawyer’s perspective on electronic marketing and social media for the law firm. You can find these presentations on Ustream as well.
Check it out. It’s worth the time.
Easy One Page Business Plan
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010Here’s a quick and easy one page business plan format that you can use to set or update your company direction, focus and goals for 2010. This is a great plan for small companies who don’t typically have time or money to do detailed planning. It also works well for individual career planning.
Mission:
What is your purpose? Why are you in business? Why do you do what you do? 2 – 3 Sentences
Vision:
How does your purpose translate into concrete terms? Paint a picture. 2 – 3 Sentences.
Objectives:
What by when? What do you need to do this year to move your vision forward?
Strategies:
What overall approaches will you take to reach your objectives this year?
Plans:
The actual steps that you will take to reach your objectives. Note that these may often be project that require plans in and of themselves.
Go ahead, schedule an hour and see what you come up with. Keep refining your business plan until it meets your needs. Then prepare to update it quarterly. Business plans are useless unless they are looked at and measured.
Post what you come up with, and see what others have done. If you get stuck, call me. I am offering a free coaching session to everyone for January.
Next week we’ll talk about how to measure performance against your plans.