Model behavior: identifying your business generators and building teams to support them.

• Author: Sherman, Matthew G.

Most of us are familiar with the traditional "finder/minder/grinder" model attributed to professional services firms. The "finder" goes out and gets new clients; the "minder" gives them great service and builds the relationship once the client is in the door; the "grinder" works hard putting out a quality work product. Trouble is, it's next to impossible to be effective in all three roles. Certain personality types tend to enjoy the challenge of the hunt, while others prefer the comfort of the office with as little client interaction as possible.

Unfortunately, most law firms trot out (and lionize) only the "finder" model (i.e., the rainmaker) to illustrate what every attorney can become--if they could run faster, if they could leap tall buildings in a single bound and if they were more powerful than a locomotive. It's just not so. Rainmakers are a rare breed and, while every firm needs a few, in my experience, they don't do well serving as the day-to-day manager of a client relationship. Shackled by everyday tasks, rainmakers grow bored, client work suffers and what could have been a promising relationship fizzles as the rainmaker moves on to his or her next "target."

Moreover, too many law firms spend too much time and too much money with business-development consultants trying to convert their minders and grinders into rainmakers. This approach just doesn't work. In fact, there are attorneys that you don't want to put in front of clients or potential clients--ever.

Still, all firms need each type of attorney to make the organization function and to make client teams work. To better understand and articulate the client-development process to law firm management, over the past several years I have developed a slightly different take on the traditional finder/minder/grinder model. I have identified four different roles that lawyers might play in the firm. These aren't scientifically developed--just based on personal experience. If you can use these models to identify which role your top business generators play, then you can build a team around them to further enhance client relationships. The four models include:

[1] The Rainmaker

The person who truly can work a room and always seems to come out with work or at least three or four key contacts that will lead to work. They typically aren't great at sweating the details of a contract or a matter, but definitely see the "big picture." Rainmakers often benefit from a strong number-two who will...