Observed

Ancient cultures were obsessed with tracking and measuring time long before Simon Vouet's 1627 "Time Vanquished by Love, Hope & Beauty." But in the business world, to manage something, you have to measure it.

Phyllis Korkki, who reports on workplace issues for The New York Times, recently tag-teamed with Robert Pozen to challenge the notion that putting in more hours is a sign of productivity and value.

Pozen, a former attorney who’s a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a lecturer at Harvard Business School, is the author of Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours (HarperCollins).

Among other benefits, Korkki offers that regular breaks not only reduce stress but also amp up creativity.  In a second, related Times article, Pozen echoes what law firms have been hearing with increased frequency and sincerity from clients for at least a decade:  Measure results, not hours.

He says there are three things most of us could do to significantly boost our efficiency: Run better meetings, read smarter and let go of our Inner Perfectionists as writers.

This last point reminded me of what my friend Mike O’Horo calls DemandTrigger — the business need that helps drive a sale.  In my case, I might write for a living, but what I sell (i.e., my Demand Trigger) is time management.

As in, let me get that off your to-do list.

Because chances are good that every busy, high-earning lawyer or other executive has some writing chore on their desk that they keep putting off.  It’s simply competing with too many other priorities for which the Cost of Doing Nothing (thanks again, Mike) is less than finishing or editing that article-practice group description-proposal or whatever.

But, hey, who’s counting?

Despite what some attorneys may believe, it helps to have something personal in your Web bio. You don’t have to tell your life story, but give your visitor a taste of what you’re like as a person—particularly if you hang-glide, cure tropical diseases or do anything else that demonstrates a passion for something other than the law.

Prospects, clients and referral sources come to lawyers’ Web sites for three principal reasons.  They’re looking for solutions to their problems and assurance that someone will make their lives easier.  They’re are also thinking about whether or not they might actually like working with you.

Personalization of attorney bios is a great way to set the lawyer apart and establish a personal connection right off the bat with a client.  Surveys of business people – lawyers and non-lawyers alike – confirm that given the choice (and evidence that points them in the right direction), they’ll pick someone they might possibly like over someone else.

How personal is too personal?  According to the folks at Great Jakes, while it’s important to let the reader know that they’re dealing with a real person, some lawyers make the mistake of downplaying their legal expertise or even skipping it all together. The strongest bios are the ones that use a personal tone without dumbing anything down.

Want to know how to make your law firm Web content sing? Then take a half hour and listen to Lisa DiMonte and Doug Stern share some simple do's and don'ts that will do just that!

I spoke with Lisa DiMonte this week about how to write outstanding content for law firm Web sites.  She’s the free-range genius behind MyLegal.com.

Anyway, here’s a link to the 27-minute podcast Lisa produced as a result of our conversation.  For starters, she and I talked about the importance of being relevant to your typical visitor’s reasons for coming to your site in the first place.

We also covered several style-related topics that will make sites more engaging, readable and memorable.  For example.

FWIW, the interview will be syndicated internationally on BlogTalkRadio.

Enjoy!

I’ll be the main event Sept. 14, 2011, on a blogtalkradio program, Website Content for Law Firms.  The show is a production of MyLegal.com and Lisa DiMonte (who calls herself MyLegal’s Legal Vendor Aggregator).

Here’s a peek at some of what Lisa and I will be covering:

1. Law firms have always known that their sites were there to provide a sense of assurance to others.  The question has been, What’s the best way to do this?
2. People come to law firm Web sites for three reasons when they’re looking to hire or recommend a lawyer.  What do you think these are?
3. It’s essential to incorporate client-facing summaries of representative matters into bios, practice group descriptions and industry descriptions.  What’s the best way to do this?
4. I like to use the first person voice occasionally.  It not only adds a little more variety, but it also lets the reader know that they’re dealing with a real person.  Yes?

There’s more where these came from.  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, let me know what you think, OK?

Here’s a clear, practical, before-and-after tip that addresses a common content issue on a lot of law firm Web sites. It offers a way to present lists of representative engagements without sounding self-centered and monotonous.

There’s a companion post.

The more abstract the concept, the more we seem to crave the tangible.  So, serpents, forbidden fruit and other such symbols help us wrap our brains around the notions of sin, obedience to the divine and the like.

This applies to a lot of business writing.  Especially the kind I often do, the kind dealing with intangibles such as quality, client satisfaction, professionalism, and trust. (more…)