Last week on the radio program we had Executive Business Coach Dr. Gary McLeod on with myself and Steve Rose. See http://www.fortunemgmt.com/dr_gary_mcleod/
Dr. McLeod is a former Reno dentist who has moved into the business coaching field. More importantly, he is my business coach. Dr. Mcleod discussed the development of the professional services industry, including law, dentistry, medicine, optometry, etc. The upshot of the segment was that in the new economy professionals now need to apply principals of any other retail business. Many professionals might not want to hear this, but according to Dr. McLeod it is the new reality.
I then touched on some of the things that Dr. McLeod has taught me. These include the importance of being immediately available and responsive to clients and potential clients especially when the client is “in pain”. In law we don’t deal with physical pain as in Dr. McLeod does in dentistry, but the psychological pain the legal system sometimes creates can be way more distressing than any toothache. I’ll be the first to admit that we don’t always accomplish this, but I can assure you that we are striving to make this a reality. I don’t think most lawyers strive for this. If you are a client or potential client in pain (and describe this to my staff) and you call our office, my staff is instructed to attempt to squeeze you in to our busy calendar.
