48: Develop Honest Relationships with Chris Groll, Partner, Holland & Hart

Be Interested in the Person Not Just Their Business

Chris Groll Bio

Today’s guest is Chris Groll, a Partner and the chair of the Mergers and Acquisitions Sub-group within Holland & Hart’s Corporate Practice Group. Chris assists both buyers and sellers through M&A transactions and is the outside general counsel for several privately held companies across a variety of industries.

If you’re not an extrovert you’ll need to find ways of communicating with others that are comfortable.

As an introvert, large networking functions and working a room can zap your energy.

Chris gains energy through direct in-person relationships. She gets to know her clients, and the people they introduce her to. She gets to know them personally.

Develop honest relationships, not those developed specifically for business development.   Be truly interested in the person.

The stickiness of clients comes from relationships. Good work is necessary but not sufficient

Chris sends client bills personally seeing the bill as an important way to connect with clients. Bills are part of the relationship and can reinforce messaging in a positive way.

Clients are looking for certainty, the ability to budget their use of outside counsel. Chris’s team tracks their work by task allowing them to come up with estimates rapidly and accurately.

By more accurately estimating work the clients have a comfort level around budgeting. It’s especially effective when you meet the estimates.

Chris participated in the Women in Law Hackathon at Stanford Law School. The event originated from and organized by the good work being done by the Diversity Lab. 54 law firms supported, 7 teams who worked for 6 months to come up with innovative ways to expand diversity, equality, and equity for women in law firms; and culminated in a Shark Tank-style event.

Get outside your comfort zone, try new things, and don’t continue to do anything you hate, ‘more than once’.

This episode is sponsored by:

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