Imagine hosting a cocktail party for potential clients and hearing everyone describe your law firm inconsistently.

Want to watch this tip instead?

Without a clear, consistent message, you put a lot at risk.

• Your team isn’t aligned around a central mission
• They don’t know where they’re headed and lack motivation
• They can't succinctly explain who you serve, how, and why that matters
• They confuse their audience and you lose out

Welcome to Gimbal’s Tip of the Week, where you get practical, actionable advice you can use right away to start building a more productive and profitable legal practice.

Most law firm mission statements are uninspiring and interchangeable. They often read something like:

We are committed to providing our clients with the best and most efficient legal services possible. 

We do this by actively listening to our clients and understanding their needs, their business, and their industry.

We provide relevant legal services expertly, promptly, and in a cost-effective manner to assist clients in achieving their business objectives.

If your mission statement sounds anything like this one, then I’ve proven my point. Each sentence comes word-for-word from the mission statement of a different law firm, but you can’t tell. What’s worse is that the stuff they mention is really just table stakes. It's the minimum a client expects from you.

This week’s tip is that you should toss your existing mission statement and replace it with a set of guiding principles that will inspire your team, engage your clients, and make you much more competitive.

Here are the 6 things you need to include in your guiding principles:

1. A Mission: Create interest and inspire people with a Mission Statement that defines your story.
2. Key Characteristics: Determine the characteristics everyone on your team should have to bring your mission to life.
3. Critical Actions: Establish the critical actions your team needs to take every week to make meaningful progress towards your goals.
4. A Story Pitch: Everyone wants to play an important role in a meaningful story. Tell your story in a way that piques curiosity and invites engagement because people want to know more.
5. A Theme: Define the WHY of your firm or practice group in one short, high-impact statement.

You can then tie everything together into a clear, memorable one-liner so clients quickly understand how your products and services solve their problems.

As Donald Miller says, firms “with clearly defined guiding principles have more than just words. They have direction.”

So trade your boring mission statement for a strong set of guiding principles. You’ll: 

• Unify your team
• Improve their focus
• Create a solid foundation for your all of your marketin

If you want help creating your guiding principles, join me starting on Monday, September 13 for a small-group coaching program. I will save you hours of frustration and equip you to create a compelling set of guiding principles, so you can increase your productivity & profitability.

There are only 10 spaces available so register today at: leanlegal.academy/mission.

And that’s it for now.

We’ve got a great slate of tips coming your way this fall, and some brand-new programming. If you’re not already on our mailing list, sign up below so you don’t miss a thing.

See you next week.