Our project of a shutdown diary has started with big goals. It's the same as always with the diary writing. As usual, you start with a lot of verve. On the third day, the prospect of writing something is already less exhilarating. You also have to admit certain things: The rest of the story in a diary that is not quite so regular.
%2520(1)%2520(1).jpeg)
The HeadStarterz are pleased that the shutdown measures will be gradually reduced again starting next week. A haircut will do us good. And there is also great anticipation of a little more freedom. It is amazing how time has flown. If I had been told six months ago that I would have to give up all social activities with more than 5 people for several weeks, I would have been convinced that it would be extremely boring. Fortunately, it was not like that. Nevertheless, somehow a lot of exciting and new things happened. This third article of the Shutdown-Diary is about the learnings of the Shutdown.
What did you learn during the shutdown? Share it with us: either on LinkedIn as a comment to the post or by email to: tobias@headstarterz.com! We will summarize the most important learnings in a guide.
We have already mentioned it in our shutdown diary: Of course we had to re-sort ourselves in mid-March. Especially the closed schools caused a lot of confusion in our daily work and the office hours of some team members. Fortunately we are flexible. Remote working was already normal for us before. We were therefore able to implement the necessary adjustments well.
At HeadStarterz we foster a culture that is strongly based on collaboration. In our team we bring together people with different, individual skills. Together, we create a unique offering for the legal industry. Those who work with HeadStarterz benefit from this comprehensive expertise. An important part of our internal collaboration is therefore the personal exchange at the same table. In recent weeks, we too have discovered that digital communication tools make quite a lot possible. More than we ourselves believed. In the long term, however, we also need personal interaction (face-time).
You can read here why zoom meetings cannot completely replace personal communication: BBC article
Business development from the home office works essentially exactly the same as before the shutdown.
Selling is done by those who offer useful services to their target groups. What is effectively useful for the client must always be reassessed. This has always been the case. The current situation has certainly led to a loss of relevance of existing needs. This has a knock-on effect on the turnover of the services that have been established in this respect. But above all, such a shutdown is a great opportunity because it generates a lot of new needs. The following questions should all be considered:
It is not surprising that in Switzerland, the large law firms in particular formed a corona task force relatively quickly and published their first content on the digital channels. Most companies have noticed that there are questions everywhere that actually affect all areas of law. Labour law, bankruptcy law, contract law, financing, tax law and social security etc. There is a need for advice (and soon probably a need for litigation).
Of course the physical distance to the target groups makes communication in business development more complicated. Especially if you have been used to making acquisitions through lunches and aperitifs for years. In the legal sector, older colleagues in particular like to point out that the relationship with the client is based on personal contact. Allegedly this is the only way to be successful in acquisition. Digital marketing tools sometimes have a difficult time in this respect.
Now these instruments suddenly become important. They create visibility. And: they put the content in the centre. Digital marketing is based on the "content is king" principle. Law firms have content that they can use effectively for this purpose. For us, digital marketing was definitely worth its weight in gold at that time.
Producing the right content, placing it in a meaningful way and making it permanently accessible. This is what digital marketing is all about. Content that used to be given as a lecture or disappeared in a printed magazine can now be used sustainably. You can continue to make long-term acquisitions for the authors virtually without additional effort.
The hectic pace of everyday life at work is often frittered away. The shutdown has shown us that we need to focus. Which projects and offers are really important? What are we burning for? Where do we want to invest to make HeadStarterz an even stronger partner for the marketing of legal products and content?
Distance and calm before the storm of everyday life allow a clear view. Space is created for ideas and new perspectives on existing problems. Clarity has an activating effect and releases energy. This energy is far more valuable than working time "lost" through such pauses in thought. We see this as a sensible investment.
To achieve this clarity, we will continue to establish pauses for reflection. At least one day a month each of us should switch off and get space to think. This is part of working time and not a task for the end of the day or the weekend.
Although we have been working more in the past five weeks than before, we have taken this room. We had many ideas and some offers for new projects. It would have been easy to say "yes" to everything. The decision where we wanted to invest and develop was important. We are now taking the next steps in a focused manner, with deep conviction and full of energy.
For the moment we can only say this much: HeadStarterz will continue to offer exciting legal marketing opportunities!
It's actually a good sign that we didn't have that much time for publishing in our shutdown diary. But we would have liked to have had a more detailed exchange with you about the experiences in the home office.
What did you learn in that shutdown? Share it with us: either on LinkedIn as a comment to the post of this article or by email to: tobias@headstarterz.com! We summarize the most important learnings in a guide.
I'm curious to see how we'll look back on this shutdown in 6, 12, and 24 months. And what is left of all the learnings from this time. Maybe there will be an update on the Shutdown Diary again.
HeadStarterz - We are at home in Basel and look forward to your visit in our well located office directly at the Rhine in the heart of the city in the tri-state area!
