The children’s magazine, Highlights, has a cartoon feature, Goofus and Gallant, which teaches kids the right and wrong ways to handle different social situations. Goofus is irresponsible and selfish; Gallant does the right thing. At a cross-walk, for example, Goofus ignores the elderly person while Gallant offers to help her cross the street.
If Goofus or Gallant were managing your law firm, they might illustrate the right and wrong ways to behave with Do’s and Don’ts like the following:
- DON’T do something just because there’s money in it; you can make money at a lot of things
- DO what you’re good at; if you aren’t good at it, you won’t be successful
- DON’T do what everyone else does; be different–it will be easier to stand out
- DO what you enjoy; chances are it’s something you’re good at
- DON’T offer what people don’t need; if people don’t need what you do, what you do is a hobby
- DO offer what people want; people buy what they want, not what they need
- DON’T compete on price; there will always be someone who charges less
- DO provide more value than anyone else; that’s what people pay for
- DON’T use marketing tactics you don’t like; you’ll only do them poorly
- DO give new marketing tactics some time; you might find you like them after all
- DON’T try to eliminate risk; without risk there is no reward
- DO follow the advice of successful people who have what you want
- DON’T assume that hard work is the recipe for success; it’s just one of the ingredients
- DO use the 80/20 principle to get a bigger return on what you do
Is Goofus managing your practice or is Gallant? Are you doing the Do’s or the Don’ts?
If things aren’t going well for you, there’s another Highlight’s feature you might want to know about. On the back cover is something called “What’s Wrong?” It is a picture of a normal scene but with several out-of-place or incorrect objects. The reader is instructed to find “what’s wrong with this picture?”
Sometimes, you might want to look at your practice and ask yourself that question.
If you want to learn essential marketing Do’s and Don’ts, you need The Attorney Marketing Formula.
