BByy DDaannaa EE.. SSuulllliivvaannace it. Most lawyers would rather belawyering than marketing their opera-tions, but market they must. Or go

hungry they might.After all, as in any

business, growing asuccessful law practicemeans bringing in newclients.

But unlike manyother businesses, mostlawyers are noviceswhen it comes to mar-keting. Some just don’twant to do it. Others

want to, but think they don’t have time.Others need their hand held.

So lawyers increasingly are turning tocoaches to help show them how to do it andhow to make the time, and — here’s wherethe term “coaching” comes in — how tomake sure they stick to the game plan.

“You get so hung up on work, you forgetabout your business,” said Jerold E.Rothkoff, an elder-law practitioner inCherry Hill.

The trend clearly is taking hold aslawyers — from solos to partners in largefirms — are turning to coaches to get themover the marketing hump.

Rothkoff said until he hired a coach, hispursuit of a marketing plan was “haphazard.”

The result after 21⁄2 years of coaching:He tripled his gross.

And he had to hire more staff to handlethe workload, but that was part of the plan— even with the added overhead tripling.It’s still not bad for a solo.

Clearly there are other lawyers travelingthe same route with a variety of coaches.

Talk to those lawyers and they generallyregret not having done it sooner.

The coach Rothkoff hired is PhyllisSisenwine who, he said, kept him focusedon his goals — for marketing and timemanagement issues — and guided himthrough weekly and even daily steps.

Sisenwine encouraged him to do somemarketing every day. Although “encour-age” might be too tame a word.

As Rothkoff put it, from time to time itwas more like “a kick in the ass.”

Although they only met a couple timesduring the entire process, they insteadtalked on the phone or e-mailed three orfour times a month.

Joseph L. Basralian said he and his col-leagues at Winne Banta HetheringtonBasralian & Kahn in Hackensack get a sim-ilar kick when they need it from ChristineS. Filip.

New York-based Filip is the firm’s mar-keting representative, but her role includescoaching groups and two dozen individualsthrough networking, cross-selling “andother things lawyers are loath to do,”Basralian said.

“They do love their work and that’sabout it,” was how he described thepredicament lawyers find themselves inwhen they have to get off the dime and dosome marketing.

Recently, he said, Filip coached the part-ners in networking with boutique law firms,so Winne Banta can assist clients lookingfor other services.

Does the coaching work? Basralian saidFilip has been working for Winne Bantaeight years and in a business climate whereeveryone’s expendable, her longevityspeaks for itself.

KKnnooww tthhyy ppaarrttnneerrThere’s one fundamental problem with

the notion of cross-selling, which involvesmembers of a firm referring clients to otherspecialists there: They might not know eachother well enough.

Another opportunity for a coach.Epstein Becker & Green in Newark was

building a national litigation department andfelt the need to start right in its own office “tomake sure we were cross-selling each other’sservices,” said partner Herve Gouraige.

Enter Karen Kaplowitz, who, Gouraigesaid, met with the concerned partners indi-vidually to assess their group together tomake sure they took every opportunity to getto know each other and each other’s clients.

“The message is you can’t take lawyersin your own firm for granted,” Kaplowitzsaid.

DDiiffffeerreenntt bbaacckkggrroouunnddssBusiness coaches tend to come from dif-

ferent backgrounds, and some lawyers’coaches have law backgrounds and somedon’t.

Langhorne-based Sisenwine was in salesmore than 20 years before she began spe-cializing as a consultant to lawyers eightyears ago.

Kaplowitz was a trial lawyer in a LosAngeles law firm for 25 years before mov-ing east and setting up shop in Princeton as

a consultant and coach.Filip went to law

school and tried lawyer-ing for a while, butdecided it wasn’t forher. So for 18 yearsshe’s been coaching andmarketing from her office in New York.

MMaakkiinngg tthhee ttiimmeeCoaches emphasize building skills

through creating and practicing new habits.Unlike motivational speakers or seminar

leaders, coaches stick with their client untilthey’ve reached a goal.

Filip, for example, said a lawyer’s typi-cal public relations goal could be giving aspeech, publishing an article or organizinga conference.

The coach then works with the lawyer toestablish a series of weekly — sometimesdaily — steps to take. She and the clientconsult two or three times a month for threeto six months to monitor the progress andmake adjustments.

“By the end of our time together, they’veactually performed the skill,” she said.

Both consultants and their clients agreethere are two general problems to overcomewhen adding marketing to a lawyer’s dailygrind: time and inclination.

“A lot of lawyers are just superb at mar-keting,” Kaplowitz said. The rest, though,tend to live with the myth that they’re onthe other side of some divide, not cut outfor that kind of endeavor.

But like any skill, marketing can belearned, she said. And lawyers generallyhave a head start on many other professionsbecause they have the verbal skills andalready know many people.

“They don’t do marketing because theyjust don’t know how,” she added.

When it comes to finding the time, mar-keting coaches turn into time managementcoaches, trying to get lawyers to work moreefficiently by organizing, delegating and —of all things — taking some time off nowand then.

Sisenwine said there’s something notquite right about high-priced lawyers paw-ing through clutter on their desks or doingwork their support staff should be doing.

“You want to be doing your geniuswork,” Sisenwine said.

Comments about this story may be sent todana.sullivan@njlnews.com

Heed the coaches ‘Market you must’

FPPhhyylllliiss SSiisseennwwiinnee

JJeerroolldd RRootthhkkooffff