What Is Your Favorite Concert And What Does It Have To Do With Client Development

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers What is your favorite concert and what does it have to do with client development? Recently  I ate dinner with a group of Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore lawyers in Roanoke, Virginia. During dinner we talked about music, and one of the lawyers asked for each of us to identify our favorite concert and why it was our favorite. A few of the lawyers were University of Virginia grads. Each of them said their favorite concert was The Dave Matthews Band. When they described why, each talked about Dave Matthews and his band spending time in Charlottesville and they felt like they knew the band members. Here are  posters from Charlottesville.   When it was my turn, I had to give it some thought. Finally, I described a Dolly Parton concert Nancy and I saw in the small auditorium at the Roanoke Civic Center.  The concert was around 1977. When I was asked why it was my favorite, I told the group that it had less to do with the music and more to do with Dolly Parton taking time after singing to sit at the front of the stage and talk to those of us who hung around after her singing ended.  To this day, I can’t picture in my mind Dolly singing any specific song that night, but I can easily picture her sitting on the end of the stage and engaging the audience afterward. Here is a clip of Dolly Parton from 1974 singing one of my favorite songs. http://youtu.be/gS-F4rfU4ns I am sure by now you know how thinking about your favorite concert can help you with client development. There are at least two lessons from our discussion of favorite concerts. First, client development is about building a relationship with your clients, over and above doing great work. Second, your clients will always remember when you did something extra and unexpected, no matter how small the gesture. What is your most favorite concert? What made it most memorable?   I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.