Alt Legal Connect Session Summary: Bootstrapping Your Practice
Alt Legal Team | October 29, 2020
Thank you to Rosey Gamarra for participating as a Law Student Reporter at Alt Legal Connect! Rosey is a 3L at Trinity Law School. Law Student Reporters had the opportunity to attend Alt Legal Connect in exchange for contributing to the social media presence of the conference. Reporters assisted by preparing blog posts and live-posting about sessions and in turn were permitted to attend all Connect sessions including valuable networking and social events to make meaningful connections with trademark professionals.
On Tuesday, October 27, Brandon Leavitt, Managing Partner at Leavitt Eldredge Law Firm, delivered the session, “Bootstrapping Your Practice.” During the session, Brandon shared his framework for building, growing, adapting, and optimizing a trademark practice efficiently and cost-effectively.
Brandon provided attendees with invaluable information about how to bootstrap your practice. The success of “bootstrapping,” as Brandon defined it, is packaging your specialized skills with your generalized skills. Thinking outside the box and cross-selling your expertise skills and products to existing clients is the key to multiplying your practice. Brandon recognized that a busy schedule may cause you to lose new business, so he provided tricks and tips on how to maximize on your existing clients by adding value to their overall business with your expertise. Brandon explained the difference of finding value and creating value for your clients with both your specialized and generalized skills. By utilizing these creative strategic skills, Brandon explained that he was able to multiply the success of his firm’s practice. Shifting the focus towards responding to what the client needs and educating them of the potential of their business by walking them through another legal product is the value lawyers add to the client’s business.
Moreover, Brandon pressed on the importance of cross-selling Intellectual property products to existing clients. One way of maximizing cross-selling is by packaging products and asking key questions such as:
-How would your client like to distinguish themselves from their competitors?
-Has your client considered tax and liability implications?
-Does your client have a design patent? Or a utility patent?
-Do your client have a trade secret? How can we trademark that?
Finally, Brandon recognized that time is a primary resource, but often we don’t have the time to recruit new business. He acknowledged that time is a terrible source for growth. Thus, Brandon emphasized the importance of cross-selling to existing clients. Existing clients already trust you. Moreover, your firm understands their background. The goal is for you to become well-versed in all apsects of business and become their one-stop-shop for all intellectual property needs, instead of having them go elsewhere.
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Resources Mentioned:
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Check out the Clio Legal Trends report here: https://www.clio.com/resources/legal-trends/2020-report/read-online/