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The 7 things I wish I had known when I became a Partner at Pinsents

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It may be an inevitable condition of life that it takes so long to learn so little. When I was catapulted from senior litigator at a major City firm to partnership with Pinsents in 1994, building a practice would have been easier if I had known:-

1. That all high performers receive coaching, not because they are poor performers, but to become the best, because they are restless to improve
2. That selling was an art, needing tuition, then constant practice – just like the piano, learning a language
   
3. That there were people outside the law who had the skills and experience to give me a head start – that sales skills were not something that would just happen by magic
   
4. The elements of Key Account Management – that the intensity of approach needed to achieve success was the same as the most complex areas of litigation
   
5. What was really needed to win a pitch – what was going on in the mind of the buyer
   
6. That networking was much more than being affable with as many people as possible
   
7. That I would differentiate myself from most other lawyers by actually doing it - putting sales and other learned skills into practice

Patrick Raggett
Patrick@penningtonhennessy.com