Strategy is perpetually changing. The plan of attack that leads to success today, may prove a dismal failure tomorrow. Throughout our MarketingMediation.com website and blog, we talk about strategy and tactics. What they mean, why they’re important, why you need to consider them for your practice development. But it’s easier said than done to first develop a strategic plan and then put it into action.

Every year a new crop of fresh mediators is turned out to the field. A once open range of market potential is now crowded with new players bringing new ideas to mediation practice development and a ton of energy to bode. Let’s be honest, our industry is rapidly changing and new faces are showing up at the same industry conferences more frequently. There’s an old quote that says “differentiate or die”…ok that may be a bit on the extreme, when a simple self-evaluation of strategic planning will do. If you need help, contact us. We’ll walk you through the paces and develop a prescription for you to implement. But in the meantime, regardless of your political party, whether you’re red, blue, pink, or green, consider this wonderful and appropriate story about former President Lyndon B. Johnson from Robert Green’s The 33 Strategies of War.
ENDING AS BEGINNING

As a young man, Lyndon B. Johnson had just one dream: to climb the ladder of politics and become president. When Johnson was in his mid-twenties, the goal was starting to seem unreachable. A job as the secretary of a Texas Congressman had allowed him to meet and make an impression on President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had named him the Texas Director of the National Youth Administration a post promising excellent political connections. But Texas voters were extremely loyal, often returning congressman to their seats for decades, or until they died. Johnson urgently wanted a seat in Congress. If he did not get one soon enough, he would be too old to climb the ladder and he burned with ambition.

On February 22, 1937, out of the blue, the chance of a lifetime opened up: the Texas congressman James Buchanan suddenly died. The seat he left empty, that Texas’ Tenth District, was a rare opportunity, and the state’s eligible political heavyweights immediately threw their hat in the ring. The many contenders included Sam Stone, a popular county judge; Shelton Polk, an ambitious young Austin attorney; any C.N. Aver, Buchanan’s former campaign manager, the favorite to win. Avery had the support of Tom Miller, mayor of Austin, the Tenth District’s only large city. With Miller’s backing he could count on almost enough votes to win the election.

Johnson was faced with a terrible predicament. If he entered the race, the odds would be absurdly against him: he was young- only twenty-eight- and in the district he was unknown and poorly connected. A bad loss would damage his reputation and set him far back on the road to his long-term goal. If he chose not to run, on the other hand, he might wait ten years for another chance. With all this in mind, he threw caution to the winds and entered the race.

Johnson’s first step was to call to his side the dozens of young men and women whom he had helped or hired over the years. His campaign strategy was simple: he would separate himself from the other contenders by presenting himself as Roosevelt’s staunchest supporter. A vote for Johnson was a vote for the president, the popular architect of the New Deal. And since Johnson could not compete in Austin, he decided to aim his army of volunteers at the countryside, the sparsely populated Hill County. This was the district’s poorest area, a place where the candidates rarely ventured. Johnson wanted to meet every last farmer and sharecropper, shake every possible hand, win the votes of the people who had never voted before. It was the strategy of a desperate man who recognized that this was hi best and only chance for victory.

One of Johnson’s mist loyal followers was Carroll Keach, who would server as his chauffeur. Together the two men drove every square mile of Hill County, tracing every dirt path and cow trail. Spotting some out-of-the-way farmhouse, Johnson would get out of the car, walk to the door, introduce himself to the startled inhabitants, listen patiently to their problems, then leave with a hearty handshake and a gentle plea for their vote. Convening meetings in dusty towns consisting mainly of a church and a gas station, he would deliver his speech, then mingle with the audience and spend the last few minutes with everyone present. He had an incredible memory for faces and names: if he happened to meet the same person twice, he could recall everything he or she had said the first time around, and often impressed strangers by knowing someone who knew them. He listened intensely and was always careful to leave people with the feeling that they would see him again, and if he won they would finally have someone looking out for their interests in Washing. In bars, grocery stores, and gas stations all through Hill County he would talk with the locals as if he had nothing else to do. On leaving he make sure to buy something- candy, groceries, gasoline- a gesture they appreciated. He had the gift of creating a connection.

As the race ran on, Johnson went days without sleep, his voice turning hoarse, his eyes drooping. As Keach drove the length of the district, he would listen in amazement as the exhausted candidate in the car muttered to himself about the people he had just met, the impression he had made, what he could have done better. Johnson never wanted to seem desperate or patronizing. It was that last handshake and look in the eye that mattered.

The polls were deceptive: the continued to show Johnson behind, but he knew he hand won votes that no poll would register. And in any case he was slowly catching up- by the last week he had crept into third place. Now, suddenly, the other candidate took notice. The election turned nasty: Johnson was attacked for his youth, for his blind support of Roosevelt, anything that could be dug up. Trying to win a few votes in Austin, Johnson came up against the political machine of Mayor Miller, who disliked him and did everything possible to sabotage his campaign. Undeterred, Johnson personally visited the mayor several times in the last week to broker some kind of truce. But Miller saw right through his charm. His personal appeal might have won over the district’s poorest voters, but the other candidates saw a differed side of him: he was ruthless and capable of slinging mud. As he rose in the polls, he made more and more enemies.

On Election Day, Johnson pulled off one of the greatest upsets in American Political history, outdistancing his nearest rival by three thousand votes. Exhausted by the grueling pace that he had set, he was hospitalized, but the day after his victory he was back at work- he had something extremely important to do. From his hospital bed, Johnson dictated letters to his rivals in the race. He congratulated them for running a great campaign; he also described his own victory as a fluke, a vote for Roosevelt more than himself. Learning that Miller was visiting Washington, Johnson telegraphed his connections in the city to chaperone the mayor and treat him like royalty. As soon as Johnson left the hospital, he paid visits to his rivals and acted with almost embarrassing humility. He even befriended Polk’s brother, driving him around town on errands.

A mere eighteen months later, Johnson had to stand for reelection, and these onetime opponents and bitter enemies suddenly turned into the most ferverent Johnson believers, donating money, even campaigning on his behalf. And Mayor Miller, the one man who had hated Johnson the most, now became his strongest supported and remained so for years.
Andrew Golden is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Golden Media, a marketing and consulting firm dedicated to promoting the resolution industry. He speaks internationally on business development and the successful marketing strategies of the conflict resolution industry. More ADR Practice Development articles and information about Golden Media can be found at www.MarketingMediation.com.

By Andrew Golden
www.MarketingMediation.com

How’s this for marketing touches. This past Sunday afternoon while reading my Weekend Edition of the Wall Street Journal I was engrossed in the Weekend Interview with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. In case you don’t know he’s the 22 year-old college student that started the social networking website Facebook three years ago. Today Facebook has reportedly more than 16 Million members and has received buyout offers north of $1Billion USD. But….that’s not what caught my attention.

Just as I was thinking to myself how I’d much I like to read the paper but hate wearing the ink on my hands, I got a FeedBlitz email letting me know that Andy Kessler’s blog  just published the same article I was reading and I could now read it online. Hence no ink and more importantly, two impressions from the same publisher. The Wall Street Journal tagged [touched] me twice, with two different mediums inside of about 5 minutes.

Translation
Marketing is a contact sport and a proactive one at that. The situation I’ve described above is significant because the Wall Street Journal was able to reach me two times through two different mediums; first in print, then online. What are the odds? I’d bet pretty good which is why I am encouraging you to think about the different combinations of touches that you can leverage to reach your prospects and clients for multiple impressions. They don’t have to be the exact same article or advertisement like my WSJ experience, instead see if you can adjust the timing of your marketing and advertising for multiple impressions on the same target. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Into Practice
Here’s my two-step mediation marketing formula:

(Pi) + (Di) x t 

Where
Pi = Print Impressions
Di = Digital Impressions
t = time

Our goal is to combine multiple impressions in different mediums all with the same common denominator of time.

Do you publish a blog? Try combining it with an email of the post via FeedBurner or FeedBlitz you can even increase your online advertising to hit at the same time as your posts.

Do you have print ads in circulation with a local publication? Try combining these with an email campaign or newsletter delivered within the same timeframe as your ad running.

Do you have upcoming speaking events or conferences planned? How about personal invitations to your A-list of clients? Perhaps they could receive a personalized invite in conjunction with reading your latest newsletter or see one of your Google ads?

These combinations can take a lot of different forms as well.

• Branded Coffee Mug + Branded Coaster
• Branded Pen in my hand + Branded Newsletter
• Any of the above + any digital impression

These are just a few ideas off the cuff. The combinations are nearly infinite and I encourage you to brainstorm some ideas on your own. What I am talking about here isn’t new. In fact, far from it. Advertising and Media directors have been tracking multiple impressions for years. They know the probability of sales increases every time they can hit you with multiple impressions for the same product or service in short order.

Putting it All Together
This isn’t rocket science. It’s simple math. What we’re talking about here is called ‘Mindshare’ and our clients know we’ve been saying it for years. At some point, your prospects are going to need the type of mediation services you provide. Your task in marketing your mediation practice is to increase your mindshare by encouraging them to keep you and your firm in the front of their brain so that when the time DOES come and they realize they need a mediator, they think of you first; thus increasing the probability that you’re going to be the one receiving the first phone call, not your competition.

Summary:
The next time you’re planning a campaign or new round of marketing and advertising, try and think of your touches as being three-dimensional. One print, one digital and both combined with time. The next time you plan out your marketing plans for promoting your mediation practice, see if you can systematically schedule and combine multiple touches at different times for multiple impressions. If you’re having trouble thinking through your plan, create a matrix of different marketing touches and set dates for distribution. This is a good place to get the ball rolling and I think once you’re able to map things out, it will be natural for you to start thinking of marketing your mediation practice in two steps.
About the Author:

Andrew Golden is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Golden Media, a marketing and consulting firm dedicated to promoting the resolution industry.  He speaks internationally on business development and the successful marketing strategies of the conflict resolution industry. More ADR Practice Development articles and information about Golden Media can be found at www.MarketingMediation.com.

Natalie J. Armstrong,
www.MarketingMediation.com

PRICING AND POSITIONING –
This week’s story of a service provider who found more success than he could imagine simply by repositioning himself. A family friend here in Los Angeles has been a structural engineer for more than 30 years. He worked and struggled in this very competitive industry to build himself a small but profitable firm.

He had several assistants and draftsmen. And in this modern era of computer aided engineering he has remained true to his art and provides his clients detailed, delicate, hand-rendered specifications. Although his skills and talents are vast and great, he was loath to charge more than his competitors for fear of losing the business he had so carefully cultivated.

One night at a dinner party he was lamenting that although his firm had grown, his personal profit had remained nearly the same and in fact he was spending even more time away from his family since he not only had more jobs but also many more staff to manage. He was considering closing his firm and taking an early retirement. Well my father (from whom I have learned most of my communication and marketing skills) made a simple suggestion that moved this hard-working man and his practice into the top 1% of his field.

His suggestion was this. Let go of your draftsmen and assistants.

My father advised, “Next time a potential client calls your office let them know that your calendar is booked, you have more work than you can handle, but that for a “rush fee” you might be able to consider their project”. Now since our friend would be letting go his staff, the statement wasn’t a falsehood.

He next suggested that the price for a set of drawings should be raised raised to level of the top 10% of fee schedules in our area. His reasoning = people expect to get what they pay for. If you charge a minimum fee folks assume they will get a minimum service (i.e. if you charge a competitive fee they assume they will get a competitive service, etc.)

Our friend more than doubled his prices, let go his staff and high overhead. He asked his wife to help him in his newly obtained two-room office. She was instructed to let potential clients know that we was already over-booked, but as a personal favor to them, she would ask her husband to consider their project (at a much greater fee of course).

She is an artist in her own right when it comes to creating a sense of urgency and demand for her husband’s drawings.

Within the first year of their transition our friends had made more money than in the past decade’s history of their now defunct firm. They were finally able to travel internationally and visit their children and grandchildren at their leisure. They have moved our of their tract home in the suburbs and built their dream home in one of the worlds most expensive neighborhoods.

They work less and earn more. They charge more and play more.

Our friend and his wife have created a thriving practice simply by establishing the perception that he was the best and most sought after. If you want the best structural engineer in the area (and trust me, in LA you do) then you pay the price and wait on line.

He truly IS one of the very best and his fees now reflect his skills.

From a marketing standpoint, it’s all about perception. The perception of the general public is that they will get what they pay for.

Natalie J. Armstrong is the Founder and Managing Director of Golden Media, a marketing and consulting firm dedicated to promoting the resolution industry. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Marketing Your ADR Practice and speaks internationally on business development and the successful marketing strategies of the conflict resolution industry. More ADR Practice Development articles and information about Ms. Armstrong and Golden Media can be found at www.MarketingMediation.com.

By Natalie J. Armstrong,
www.MarketingMediation.com

Finding a Niche 
Mediators and arbitrators, when determining the goals and aspirations of their practices, need to consider whether or not their practice will be one of a specialized or generalized nature. The arguments go both ways (and usually loudly).

Many practitioners (as well and advocates and their clients) are under the opinion that anyone with court approved training in the processes of ADR can hear any kind of case under the sun. Most of these folks reason that if a practitioner fully understands the processes of ADR, the content of the hearing is moot. That their communication skills will allow them to lead the parties to a settlement or that their common sense or their understanding of the law will allow them to rule appropriately.

The other side of the argument goes something like this. In a world where every aspect of our lives is evolving toward a specialist’s society, ranging from physicians to real estate, and from construction to psychotherapy, our ADR practitioners should follow suit. That a case based in a subject of complexity will require a provider with a background that allows them to understand the details presented to them. That, in effect, they should speak the language of the parties as well as have a deep understanding of the ADR process.

Both have valid points. Both are usually adamant about their opinion. And both can become successful in the field of Alternative (or Appropriate) Dispute Resolution.

However, from a practice development point of view, I can tell you that it much easier to promote a specialty practice and here’s why.

If you’ve had a long or distinguished career that has earned you the respect of your peers, you’re a much easier “sell” to your target market than to a target market who knows nothing of you or your background.

You therefore garner more respect with little regard to the attorney vs. non-attorney status.

• You can easily identify your target market.
• You can more easily identify your target market’s needs and concerns, as well as being more intoned to various underlying issues.
• You probably already belong to the right associations and organizations or have served them in some capacity which will allow you a faster rate of acceptance within your target market.
• All in all as a marketing representative of ADR providers around the globe I recommend staying within your field of expertise.

For those providers who’s background does not provide them a singular and powerful presence in within their target market choose a niche within the ADR industry that is related to some specific portion of your resume and establish yourself as the premier provider for that selected target market.
Natalie J. Armstrong is the Founder and Managing Director of Golden Media, a marketing and consulting firm dedicated to promoting the resolution industry. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Marketing Your ADR Practice and speaks internationally on business development and the successful marketing strategies of the conflict resolution industry. More ADR Practice Development articles and information about Ms. Armstrong and Golden Media can be found at www.MarketingMediation.com.

By Natalie J. Armstrong,
www.MarketingMediation.com

Strategic planning has been the subject of universal acclaim but has been comparatively unsuccessful for neutrals. The reason lies in 10 certain truths about neutral practice strategic planning.

It is difficult to find a mediation or arbitration practice that has not made some attempt at strategic planning. Indeed, most practices have devoted hours and dollars for consultants in strategic planning efforts. Yet, when viewed in the cold light of actual achievements, it seems that few practices would rate the strategic planning process as truly successful in achieving the practice’s objectives.

Why has the process of strategic planning, which has been the subject of such universal acclaim been so comparatively unsuccessful in many practices? I believe there are ten inescapable truths about practices’ approach to strategic planning that make the process harder and less rewarding than it should be.

1. Practices often have trouble identifying their core business objectives. It sounds silly to say a neutral doesn’t know why he/she is in business, yet many resolutionists struggle with this core issue. In any business the primary objective is to make money. But when mediators come to work, a whole new set of cultural values come into play which may or may not be compatible with profit objectives.

If a practice’s culture espouses the willingness to do anything, including the subservience of all family and personal interests in the ruthless pursuit of profit, strategic planning is easy. It is equally easy if a neutral places volunteerism as its foremost objective, and profit, if any, is viewed as a pleasant by-product. Few, if any practices are so polarized in their perspective. Instead, the objective of most practices is an acceptable mix of profit and culture. For some practices this may not even be an issue. But for most practices, without coming to grips with this mix, it is virtually impossible to do any form of effective strategic planning.

2. Strategic planning is all about defining a vision and creating a road map to realize that vision. Vision and, therefore, strategic planning is by its nature personally driven process. Neutrals, after seeking reasonable counsel and input from as many sources as possible, make critical decisions about what they want to do and the basic strategies necessary to accomplish those objectives. Then the resolutionist either has to pursue those objectives alone, or turns to his or her consultants or management team and says okay, how we are going to accomplish our plan’s goals.

3. Mission statements are a waste of energy and enthusiasm. Without question mission statements have a value in strategic planning to the extent that they clarify the practices objectives and values. But too many practices spend too many hours trying to draft the definitive mission statement and, when finished, publish the statement and think they have accomplished something. In most cases, what they have accomplished is to sap the energy and enthusiasm out of the process with what turns into a meaningless exercise. It would be far better to spend half an hour picking five or six statements that represent the practice’s core values and vision, especially as they deal with the issues of culture and those things they are not willing to sacrifice to achieve increased profits.

4. Strategies and tactics are confused. It is both the beauty and the curse of the neutral mind that it constantly wants to identify the next action step. For this reason neutrals usually want to skip discussion of strategies and move immediately to tactics.

The strategic planning process is a disciplined way of thinking about planning which forces the planners to consider the optional means of achieving an objective. For example, early on in a strategic process it would not be unusual for a mediator to suggest that a good profitability strategy would be to open an office instead of working from home. If a practice’s strategy is to increase revenues from existing clients who have interests in coming into a professional office, then a tactic might be to open an office. But to immediately jump to opening an office without going through the process of clarifying the strategy often leads practices down dangerous and expensive paths.

5. Planning involves precluding options. Neutrals, especially business neutrals, are in the business of maintaining options for their clients and they bring that mindset to the strategic planning process. But often the truest measure of the success of a plan’s implementation is not what the neutral does, but what he or she decides not to do.

The simple logic is that any business has a finite amount of resources to bring to bear on their plan. Resources involve not only money but include time available and sometimes even such abstract issues as the amount of change that a neutral can tolerate and the amount of political capital the resolutionist has available to implement initiatives. To use those resources to take advantage of unforeseen opportunities means that, by definition, fewer resources are available to implement the plan.

Does that mean that the plan can never be changed to take advantage of opportunities? Of course not. But, neutrals must recognize that diversions from the plan sap resources and, therefore, the benefit of the diversion must be weighed against the risk of not fully implementing the plan.

6. Not enough planning effort is spent studying compensation and the distribution of that compensation. Neutrals don’t spend enough time thinking about how much money they need to make. Compensation requirements should be broken down into three components. A neutral can’t just take into account what they need to support themselves. Too many practices short-change themselves by accounting for their tax obligations and short-term / long-term savings.

7. The obvious is often overlooked. Strategic plans often get so involved in sexy issues of new offices and exotic practice areas that they overlook obvious problems. The basic blocking and tackling of practice profitability improvement is serving clients with good work, working hard, charging appropriate fees, watching costs, maintaining necessary leverage and all the other issues covered in Practice Management 101. The first step in any strategic planning process should be a self appraisal of how a practice is doing on the basics.

8. Neutrals are not only accountable for implementing the plan, but providing the services which make the plan necessary to begin with. It can be an overwhelming endeavor to mediate all day, and then manage and market a practice at night.  Determine which tasks can be outsourced and then find competent consultants to take on those tasks.

9. Plans are too aggressive. Once bitten by the strategic planning bug, some practices attempt to implement so many diverse strategies that if a neutral devoted their full time efforts to implementation for five years, the objectives could not be achieved. Aiming high is one thing, but a resolution practice only has so many resources.

10. Objectives are not measurable. The test of a strategic plan’s objectives is whether a neutral can look at the plan a year or two later and determine whether they have accomplished anything. Unfortunately objectives such as improve the quality of our client base are meaningless if the mediator or arbitrator doesn’t define what represents a quality client and create a metric to measure comparative quality over time.

Having said all this, practices are unique entities in which a corporate style of management, much less strategic planning may not be realistic. Practices must operate in the environment of what is culturally and politically possible. But, to the extent that a resolutionist can avoid even a few of these terrible truths, the likelihood of producing a plan that can be implemented will be tremendously enhanced.

Natalie J. Armstrong is the Founder and Managing Director of Golden Media, a marketing and consulting firm dedicated to promoting the resolution industry. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Marketing Your ADR Practice and speaks internationally on business development and the successful marketing strategies of the conflict resolution industry. More ADR Practice Development articles and information about Ms. Armstrong and Golden Media can be found at www.MarketingMediation.com.

By Natalie J. Armstrong,
www.MarketingMediation.com

Tis the season to remember your clients, prospective clients, and sources of referral with a holiday card. If you haven’t sent yours yet it’s not too late.

This simple, personal contact is just what the marketer ordered. By sending your clients a holiday greeting you remind them of your service (an imperative to effective marketing) and that you appreciate their business enough to take the time and make the effort to send a personalized note of well wishes.

When you choose your cards be careful to choose a layout and verbiage that won’t offend your clients. Even if you feel as though you know a client well enough to send them a humorous or religious card it’s always better form to send a slightly more conservative card than to risk insult.

On this note, don’t include any “hard sell” information like brochures, flyers, or articles (that goes for business cards too) that may make the reader feel as though your card has insincere in intent.

Also, spend the extra effort to sign each card, hand address each envelope, and affix an appropriate stamp. This extra touch will reinforce to the recipient just how much their business means to you as well as the level of service they can anticipate receiving in the future.
Natalie J. Armstrong is the Founder and Managing Director of Golden Media, a marketing and consulting firm dedicated to promoting the resolution industry. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Marketing Your ADR Practice and speaks internationally on business development and the successful marketing strategies of the conflict resolution industry. More ADR Practice Development articles and information about Ms. Armstrong and Golden Media can be found at www.MarketingMediation.com.