Home Alone And Your Christmas Plans

With so much going on with friends and family visiting over the next few weekends and with some desperate excitement from my children Megan and Samuel at the weekend, after a nice cold and long walk on Sunday morning we went to choose our Christmas Tree (much earlier than usual). Once it was decorated (dad does all the lights, mum does all the pretty bits, the kids run around and cause chaos) it was time for the annual viewing of the Christmas film Home Alone. If you have not yet seen it, it is a good, easy to watch family festive fun movie. An 8 year old boy (Macaulay Culkin) is left Home Alone in his house in Chigago whilst his parents frantically trying to get back to him from Paris (they realise mid-air that they left him behind).

The 8 year old realises that the policeman who called around before the family left to check that they were taking the necessary precautions to keep their house safe over the festive period was actually a burglar who planned to come back and raid their house. On the night that the burglars are planning to come back to take all of his family possessions he decides that he is going to defend the house against the two hapless robbers (the fake policeman and his friend). What I had not noticed before (we have watched this every year for about three years) is that in preparing for the raid on his house the boy draws out a full battle plan. He has a sketch of each room in the house and has written in each room how he is going to defend it and prevent the robbers from taking their heist. He follows his plan to the letter and of course comes out at the end of it all triumphant (it is an American family movie after all). He successfully defended his family’s home.

My question (and the point of this email for you) is “Do you have a detailed plan for your business?” Do you know how many new client files you need to open every month to produce the desired level of profit costs that you are trying to generate? Do you have a plan or picture of where you want your practice to be in three months, six months, twelve months, two years and five years? I know that planning is crucial to any business, mine included. I have plans for every part of my business. Sometimes they work to the letter of the plan, other times they underperform and on other occasions I out perform the plan. The point is, as I often say, there is no treasure without measure. By having a plan to work towards I can constantly check performance against the plan. I can adapt it, change it, modify it, but because I do have a written plan I do have a real chance of moving towards my desired outcomes; my goals.

Sadly on so many occasions I meet solicitors that do not have any plans for their business. They might have a vague idea of where they would like to be but it is not written down and it is in no way measured against timelines (deadlines). Without a plan and without attaching deadlines I know that it is virtually impossible for anyone to make the giant strides forward in their business. If you do not yet have a written plan with deadlines, take the time over Christmas to chrystalise the plan onto paper to ensure that 2011 will be a great year for your business. I will give you as much help as possible along the way, but unless you write your plans down I know how hard it will be for you to make any real and long term progress.

The Only Way To Find Out When A New Blog Post Has Been Posted Is To Sign Up For Blog Alerts Using The Form Below:

Ready To Take Action And See Results Now?

Please call 0117 290 8555 to arrange a mutually convenient time for a telephone discussion, Email me or complete a Free Online Enquiry. There is no cost or obligation. We will have a chat about where you are and where you would like to be and I will suggest some things you can do to get there quickly.

Law Firm Marketing

Case Study

A straightforward approach with a genuine expertise, providing you with a proven plan of exactly what you need to do to grow your firm.

I first stumbled across Nick when searching on Amazon for help growing a firm in the legal sector.

Straight away I was struck by his no-nonsense approach, so after checking out a preview of his book, I bought it on Kindle and started devouring it straight away.

What was immediately apparent was that Nick really does know what he’s talking about, which was hugely refreshing in an industry with plenty of bluffers and chancers.

I found the fact that Nick has actually been there and done it in the legal world very compelling indeed, and after finishing the book, I knew there was plenty he still had to teach me.

I booked a free call, which contained plenty of value, but what became clear is that if I was really going to get Nick’s personalised help to grow my firm, I needed to do it properly, so after speaking to a couple of Nick’s clients to reassure myself I was making the right decision, I took the plunge, and booked the Steady Stream of New Clients meeting.

And I’m so glad I did.

From the moment my wife Rachael and I arrived, Nick put us at complete ease and we quickly built up a strong rapport, and thanks to the pre-meeting preparation put in by all parties, we were able to wring a huge amount of value out of it, because most of the fact-finding had already been completed before the meeting began.

Consequently, the meeting was chockfull of useful, actionable information, and most importantly, that information was grounded on what actually works in the real world – no theory in sight.

When we left Bristol, we were hugely energised and excited; but more than that, we also had clarity, and three days later, things were even clearer, thanks to the report Nick prepared for us detailing exactly what marketing we needed to be doing AND how to make sure that that marketing was actually implemented.

Having used a consultant in the past, my biggest fear was that there’d be a lot of talking around the issues, and a whole lot more questions than answers, but that simply isn’t how Nick works.

Instead, he calls a spade a spade, and fuses that straightforward approach with a genuine expertise, providing you with a proven plan of exactly what you need to do to grow your firm.

If you’re considering booking one of Nick’s Steady Stream of New Clients meetings, I would say, unhesitatingly, that you need to go for it”

Bill Ward, Ward Trademarks