TRP 341: Expanding Trust in Your Niche with Scott Love

[00:00:10] You're listening to The Rainmaking Podcast, hosted by legal dealmaker, author, and professional speaker, Scott Love. You're listening to The Rainmaking Podcast, and my name is Scott Love. Thanks for joining me on the show. Today, our topic title is Expanding Trust in Your Niche, and our guest is myself. This is what I call a solo cast from time to time.

[00:00:37] When I come across ideas, I think will help people that listen to the show. I want to share those directly with you. Before I get started, remember that this podcast is sponsored by SurePoint Legal Insights, formerly known as Leopard Solutions, turning legal intelligence into opportunity. The show is also sponsored by The Rainmaking Magazine. And by the way, if you haven't at least checked it out, you're missing something. This is a free publication where many of our contributors to the show offer us their printed work, absolutely free for you to look at.

[00:01:06] We have over 40 contributing writers for our publication. It's absolutely free. We also have a feature where if you don't want to read it, you can press the play button and it will read it for you. And this publication is for the intellectually driven, meaning you want to know, you want to learn more. And results focus professional that wants to be the number one professional services provider in your niche. Start your free subscription today. Visit therainmakingmagazine.com. Let's get into our topic for today.

[00:01:41] I know, like, and trust. But is that true? And what does that mean? And should we develop a rainmaking playbook around it without feeling manipulative? And if so, how? I want to break it down and create an action plan for you and also talk about the idea of scaling trust. One thing I'll tell you, I've been recruiting since 1995. I've been in legal since 2009. I recruit corporate and finance partners. We place people from other groups that we get referred to and also law firm mergers.

[00:02:08] So I'm in this space and I know what it takes to earn trust from those that are naturally risk averse, but have also been trained to be guarded against new ideas and getting them comfortable with making a change. So I went through a situation this year in my company of recruiting and placement. And I wouldn't call it an existential crisis, but things happened that really led me to ask the questions that I've mentioned on the show before. What business are you in and what problems do you solve?

[00:02:37] And when I asked myself that question, the business I'm in, I'm in the trust earning business. That is my business. And when I thought of it that way, I started looking for opportunities to do just that. The problems I solve, I help partners, groups, and even law firms reach their goals and fulfill strategic objectives. By creating effective placements and combinations. That's the problem that I solve. So I recommend you do the same thing. Ask yourself, what business are you in?

[00:03:04] Even though you're a partner in a thousand attorney firm, you have your own business. What business are you in? And secondly, what problems do you solve? And start from there. And then you can also build a business plan around that. And by the way, if you want to learn about writing a business plan, I have an article that I'm going to put in the show notes. If you go to partnersonthemove.com, there's a link there about writing a business plan. I'll put that here. If that's something you haven't done before, I'd recommend writing it and then revise that every quarter

[00:03:33] and review are you on track with your business plan. So let me get back to trust. Let me get back to the concept of know, like, and trust. Know, like, and trust. Have you ever done business with someone that you didn't know that well? Well, yes, you have. Sometimes a connection starts with a referral. You knew of them for 15 minutes. And because someone that means a lot to you, maybe it was your wealth manager, they referred you to someone. Here's a mortgage agent I want you to talk with. You were open kimono from the very beginning. That was just a referral.

[00:04:02] You didn't know them. But the trust was there. The trust, that's the key attribute that makes it work for you. And in fact, I think you can look at trust as an asset. But that referral helped that asset get borrowed from the referring party with immediate trust. So do you have to do business with those people that you don't know? No, not necessarily. But you have to have trust. That's one example of how trust is borrowed. And think of trust as an asset.

[00:04:31] So you talked to that person. It was a logical argument that they gave you. You listened with an open mind. And you advanced to the next step beyond real curiosity and advanced to the decision stage. So you can do business with people that you do not know. Knowing them is not an absolute to winning business. The other attribute that's remaining non-negotiable is trust. And the other one that we talked about, know, like, and trust. Do you need to do business with those people that you like? Well, I'm in the legal recruiting business.

[00:05:01] I talk to anywhere from 500 to 1,000 new partners every year. And not all of them are likable. But they've all built thriving practices. So you don't have to like someone. They got a problem. You've got a problem. They can solve it. Okay, I'll work with you. Liking absolutely helps, of course. But the only non-negotiable is trust. That must exist in a professional services provider for him or her to be deemed trustworthy, at least from the prospective client's perspective.

[00:05:29] So there's different attributes of trust that we can drill down on that I'm going to talk about. Can you scale trust? Think of trust, number one, is skill and competence. You're deemed trustworthy when there is not any doubt about you being able to do the job. You are a skilled and competent professional services provider. How is this proven? Well, with thought leadership, professional involvement, and even testimonials.

[00:05:55] People see that you spoke at the IP, International Intellectual Property Law Association. You're on a panel there, so you're obviously good at IP law. Or, well, she was quoted in construction news about pending litigation shows she's been deemed as an expert in her field. Otherwise, they would not have quoted her. You can't shout to people, I'm good, trust me, but you can let others do that for you by putting yourself in a visible area within your niched field and showcasing your talent

[00:06:24] through professional involvement, speaking and panel opportunities, and getting quotes and mentions in your industry media. You are building trust in the area of skill and competence by doing this. You are building authority as an expert, which means that you obviously show skill and competence to others. So you're perceived to possess that. Number two, the area of intention. Your intention to serve other people.

[00:06:53] You must possess and display a clear intention to serve the client and only do what is in the client's best interests. That is the only thing that counts. How can this be measured? And how does prospective client assess this? Well, they look at the amount of repeat work that is earned by a professional services provider. Again, testimonials, thought leadership serve as a signal to those looking to buy services. And, of course, referrals like we mentioned.

[00:07:21] So collect stories from satisfied clients that have continued to give you business. And that in itself is a thin slice in your intention to serve interests. And finally, three, trust the execution and follow through. When you say you're going to send a document by 5 p.m., then you do it. And if you can't do it, you send them a note. I need to adjust my expectations. Something came up. I'll get it to you at a different time and be clear about that. These little commitments carry big weight in earning trust from clients.

[00:07:47] If you set expectations or make commitments that are missed or fall short, then people notice and they remember things. Anytime I've done work with a client where it's clear my stated expectation is not going to be met, I communicate the delay and keep the communication crystal clear just to let them know the status. And that's what I recommend for you also. Those little things do add up. And that's what people look at when they determine who is trustworthy. Now, let me ask you this. Is it possible to expand trust and, my goodness, even scale trust?

[00:08:16] Well, we look at how is trust earned on a one-to-one basis, things we talked about through observation, consistency of action, honoring agreements and commitments, and always remembering and knowing that you are being observed and that you're getting a client. And just like my favorite line in the Mad Men series by Don Draper is that the day that you sign a client is the day you start to lose them. Why is that? Because you have dozens of people chasing that client just after you sign them.

[00:08:46] So you're always being observed. The competition is right behind you. But I also think trust is earned through thoughtfulness and generosity. So that's how trust is earned. How is it received? We mentioned this through referrals. How can trust be scaled? One to many. I think if you look at revising your business plan and you get clear on how can I earn trust from prospective clients, who are my referring partners?

[00:09:14] I'd be willing to bet that if you looked at all those people that referred business to you over the last five to 10 years, there's a good chance they might refer more business people to you, more opportunities to you as well. But have you kept in touch with them? Have you made it a priority? In fact, I'd recommend that if you look at all those people that ever referred business to you, just look at the data. And who are people in your network that you know that are just like them? And come up with a specific plan to connect with them. Hey, let's catch up.

[00:09:43] Not saying I want to earn business from you. I have some ideas that might be good for us to talk about. And then ask them, what can I do for you? What are opportunities that I can share with you? I think even joining a networking group that's appropriate within your niche, that's helpful or something to at least test. But that is how you can scale your trust. If you have strategic referring partners that can refer business to you over and over, you

[00:10:08] need to keep top of mind with them the same way you would with a prospective client. Send them an article that's interesting and relevant to what they do for them. Something that shows that you are a thoughtful person. It's not all about you. Be generous. If there are people that you know in your network that you think could help them, even if it's not a prospective client, maybe there's a referral partner you know that can really help people in a different area. Put them together. Something I try to do anytime I reach out to anybody that's been part of my strategic

[00:10:38] alliance network, I try to pair them with other people I think are going to help them. Here's somebody you should get to know. Send them a note. I thought it might be helpful for the two of you to get to know each other. Put the LinkedIn bio or their firm bio in there. With the brief blurb about the relationship you have to each one of them. And then I hope this is a meaningful connection for both of you. And you let them get to know each other. And maybe something good comes out of that. And if it does, guess what? They have kept you as someone that they want to help out. You can scale trust that way.

[00:11:07] So three action steps I'm going to give you, my friend. Number one, go through the data. Who are those people that have referred business to you? And number two, who are those people similar to them that could refer business to you and come up with a specific campaign? You can call it your strategic referral partner campaign. Get a Word document, objective to become top of mind for referring opportunities for people that know people that I want to get to know and go to work. So that's your first step. And then your second step. And then your third step is this.

[00:11:35] Look at sitting on panels, speaking at conferences, and writing white papers, not as a marketing effort, but as a trust effort. Earlier this year, like I said, when I went through that situation and I came to the core focus and realization that the purpose of my business is to earn trust from people. I changed my perspective instead of doing a certain percentage of my time in marketing. I'm doing a certain percentage of my time in my trust funnel.

[00:12:02] And my team and I came up with a specific trust funnel that we're working with in our business. And by the way, if you're a corporate or finance partner, every month now as part of our trust funnel, we're doing a series of events just for transactional partners where I'm interviewing a business development coach for lawyers. And the topic is called maximizing deal flow. That's what we're talking about every month. Usually the third week of the month around a lunchtime, we'll record it. All the information will be there. I'm in the process of putting this together on a website. Check back next week.

[00:12:32] Go to rainmakingseminars.com. And if you're a corporate or finance or real estate partner in the transactional space and you want to learn in a live session with the business development coach for half hour on what's different about you and how can you use your transactional area as an advantage to maximize deal flow, sign up for that. We don't send you emails. It's not spammy. I try to be very mindful and thoughtful of your time and the trust I've earned from you. But if you're interested, by all means, you could also send me a note and you don't

[00:13:01] need to write down anything. Just go to the show notes where you hear this and you'll find all that information there. I hope this gave you some great ideas. Thanks so much for listening to the show. I really appreciate your help in making this show a top 2% global podcast. To other resources, check out the Rainmaking Magazine, like I mentioned. Also, if you like watching videos, go to YouTube. We have a YouTube channel. It's easy to find. The Rainmaking Podcast. Go to YouTube and you'll be able to find that quite easily. I hope this helps you. Have a great day and I hope you get some great ideas for my conversation with you today.

[00:13:32] Thank you for listening to the Rainmaking Podcast. For more information about our recruiting services for international law firms, visit our website at attorneysearchgroup.com. To inquire about having Scott speak at your next convention, conference, sales meeting, or executive retreat, visit therainmakingpodcast.com.