Talk of The LexBlog Network : Robin Hensley of Raising the Bar Blog

Words of wisdom for the confident newcomers of corporate America: no matter how much you think you know, the most important thing to know is that you have a lot to learn.

Having learned this truth early in her career as a Certified Public Accountant, Robin Hensley teaches workplace humility as the president of her business development company, Raising the Bar. She started Raising the Bar Blog to aid her effort in helping determined lawyers and CPAs reach their potential in career and client development.

"Most lawyers feel they get a very nice degree and know their stuff and start with the big firm and everything is supposed to happen magically," said Hensley.

Many lawyers get a false sense of entitlement after finishing law school and naively overlook the power of setting goals and building relationships as excellent ways to get ahead in the corporate world. In her latest eBook, ‘Raising the Bar in Your Law Practice: Ten Ways to Change Your Results Now,’ Hensley and attorney Lance LoRusso discuss ways for lawyers to take their practice to new heights while maintaining ethical integrity.

"It’s about finding out what makes you different from other lawyers that do what you do," said Hensley. "It’s about making it very personal and very direct in order to pitch the business to potential clients."

As a young CPA at Ernst & Young, a firm recently ranked first overall on BusinessWeek’s "Best Places to Launch a Career" list, her mentor told her that she had potential be a "Rainmaker." Taking that to heart, Hensley transformed herself into a leader who inspires and challenges clients to be rainmakers in their own practice.

"Rainmaking is bringing in the business," said Hensley. "It’s bringing in the new clients into the law firm and keeping the current clients happy."

Successful marketing is a tool Hensley believes is powerful, but often overlooked by many business professionals.

”Marketing is really a lifetime effort for a lawyer or CPA," said Hensley. "It’s something that you can never spend too much time on and you have to keep it going."

Hensley teaches clients how to market themselves with business-driving strategies, one of the most effective methods being social media.

"I’m always trying to keep up with new things," said Hensley. "I saw the other experts writing and I told myself that blogging is going to be the next thing I need to learn."

Raising the Bar Blog is a marketplace of information and news pertaining to the many important elements of successful business development, including service pricing and staying competitive in an expanding market.

"(I want) to make it a forum where attorneys (have) the courage to go public and to ask the same questions they would ask me in a closed door (kind) of matter ," said Hensley.

A worthwhile business ally, Hensley has gained a regular following on her blog, which has directly translated to a substantially increased volume of subscribers on her LinkedIn profile.

Hensley hopes to also inspire clients to use social media as a means of business development. As a blogger who posts material multiple times monthly, she advises regular writing and a mindset that nothing is too obscure for comment.

"Writing is something that is a real skill and to get the topic going on a regular basis is a big commitment," said Hensley. "Lawyers always want everything to be perfect. If (they) can just jump in and ask the questions that are on their minds without qualifying (them) so much, just knowing that probably a million other lawyers may have that same question, just throw it out there."