Archives for April 2012

How to get more clients to choose YOU as their attorney

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You have a list of prospects, don’t you? These are people who get your newsletter or ezine, who read your blog, or with whom you otherwise communicate on a regular basis.

Some will hire you. You don’t have to say or do anything special. When they are ready, they will call.

Others will never hire you. No matter what you say or do. It doesn’t matter why they won’t hire you, that’s just the way it is. They can help you in other ways: referrals, traffic to your web site, Likes and follows.

Then there are the “maybes”. They may hire you, they may not. The fence sitters represent the biggest potential for you. What you say and do can influence them to get off the fence.

How do you get more people off the fence and dialing your number?

One way is to make an offer. Something that compels them to act.

One of my subscribers sent me the ezine he sends to his list. In it is an offer he makes to the “new clients” who lurk on his list. His offer: “Mention this newsletter and we will credit one hour of billable time against your first monthly invoice.”

Simple. You have to become a new client to take advantage of the offer. From the attorney’s perspective, it’s certainly worth one hour of credit to get someone to become a first time client.

Is he giving away that one hour credit to people on the list who would hire him anyway? Yes. But it doesn’t matter. It’s small potatoes. He earns much more by getting the fence sitters as new clients.

But let’s be honest, a one hour credit is only mildly enticing to someone who might have to pony up $10,000 or $20,000 to hire you. It’s not going to get someone who isn’t ready to hire an attorney off the fence. What it might do is get someone who is ready to hire an attorney to choose you instead of any other attorney.

You must assume that yours isn’t the only newsletter your prospect reads. If you’re the only one offering a one hour credit to new clients, however, when the fence sitter is ready to hire someone, it could tip the balance in your favor.

For prospects who aren’t ready to hire an attorney, you will have to do more than offer a one hour credit. How do you convince someone who isn’t ready? I’ll cover that tomorrow.

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Seth Godin is a stupidhead

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Okay, not really. He’s actually quite brilliant, as his best-selling books and large blog following attest. And I agree with him most of the time. But about a week ago, he said:

The easiest customers to get are almost never the best ones.

If you’re considering word of mouth, stability and lifetime value, it’s almost always true that the easier it is to get someone’s attention, the less it’s worth.

Let’s think about this, shall we. . .

HARD TO GET CLIENTS

  • Make you sell them on why they need legal services and why they should hire you instead of any other attorney
  • Shop around, interview you, take forever to decide
  • Are skeptical and question everything; trust is paper thin
  • Bargain over fees (and question your bills)

EASY TO GET CLIENTS

  • Are ready to sign up, pay your retainer, and follow your advice

I’ll take the easy clients, thank you.

Easy to get clients usually come through referrals. They trust the party who refers them, who trusts you and can attest to your trustworthiness and value. Easy to get clients might also be frequent readers of your blog or newsletter. They may have heard you speak or met you through networking. They might be friends or followers on social media.

Easy to get clients are easy to get because they know, like, and trust you. When they need (and want) your services, they’re pretty much ready to go.

It’s true that hard to get clients can turn out to be some of your most loyal clients and ardent fans. They have examined you with a fine tooth comb and found you worthy. Having passed inspection, you get their business and their referrals. But this doesn’t necessarily make them better clients or worth more to you than their easy going counterparts.

And then there are those who are neither hard to get nor easy to get. They are the folks who saw your ad or found you through search. They require a bit more effort before they will hire you but that hardly makes them “hard to get” or less valuable as clients.

I think Seth may be referring to those big clients who have lots of firms competing for their business. These clients know they are valuable and take advantage of that. They demand, and get, the lowest fees and the most concessions. They cut into your margins and make you miserable trying to keep them happy.

You can have them. I’ll take the easy clients, thank you.

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An easy way to improve your marketing results

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I’ve got good news and bad news about your marketing. Which would you like first?

The bad news? Okay. Here it is:

Most of what you write in your marketing–articles, letters, blog posts, emails–will never be read by the recipient. Even worse, most of the people who do read it won’t take action. They won’t call you for an appointment, Like your page or forward your email.

Most of the writing you do for marketing purposes is wasted effort.

The good news is that this is easy to change.

You can get more people to read what you write and do what you want by getting better at writing, or, more specifically, copywriting–writing that is designed to get a response.

You can subscribe to blogs that focus on copywriting. Learn a tip every day and start using it. There are many books and courses, too. (In the legal realm, check out my own, Lawyers’ Marketing Toolkit).

You can study good copy. The books and courses will supply you with examples, and point out what makes them good and what needs to be improved. You can also find good copy online and in your mailbox. When you read something that gets you to take action, save it and study it.

You can re-write good copy. Take proven sales copy and re-write, ideally by hand, to get a sense for the rhythm of the words and the “staging” of the information.

And you can practice. Write and re-write your letters and articles, constantly seeking to improve them. Over time, you will get better.

Pay particular attention to your headline, opening, offer, and call to action.

The headline (email subject, report title, etc.) is critical. It must capture the attention of the reader and make them curious to read more. If you don’t accomplish this, it won’t matter how effective the rest of your message might be, or how enticing your offer is–nobody will see it.

The title of this post is a good example. It promises a benefit I believe you want: an easy way to improve the results of your marketing. It made you curious to read the post or the email, as you are doing that right now.

Once you get the reader’s attention with your headline, your opening must continue the job. I did that by promising you “good news and bad news”. This is one of many effective openings.

I spoke with an attorney this morning about a sales letter he is preparing to send to his estate planning clients. He wants to get them to come in for a review. I suggested a “bad news/good news” opening and that’s what he’s going with. It works.

I also suggested the following formula for the body of his letter:

  1. Problem (The bad news–what could be wrong with their estate plan or the execution thereof).
  2. Agitate (What could happen as a result. Tell stories about clients who thought everything was okay but found out otherwise. What happened to them? What did it cost?)
  3. Solution (The good news–it’s not difficult or expensive to fix the most common problems you see. An amendment or two, an extra step, a few instructions to carry out.)
  4. Benefits (What they get or avoid as a result of this solution. Peace of mind, security, savings, etc.)
  5. Call to action (Tell them what to do get the solution and benefits. Call for an appointment, send in a form, go to a web page.)

Copywriting can be learned and it’s well worth the effort. Not only can it improve your marketing results, it can help you become a better lawyer. Copywriting is “salesmanship,” something you can use anywhere else you need to persuade people to act.

I used to “write like a lawyer” and taught myself how to write to sell. It is a skill that has earned me a fortune.

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How to get new referral sources over the phone

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I talked to an attorney the other day about a class action he was thinking of filing on behalf of himself and similarly aggrieved attorneys. (I’m not at liberty to disclose the subject matter.) He wanted to know the best way to find other attorneys who might want to join him.

We talked about ads in his bar journal and on Facebook or other PPC. And then I suggested my favorite marketing method: picking up the phone and calling.

It should be easy to get other attorneys on the phone to see if they have had the same experience he’s had. He could find potential class members and also get feedback on his case. If an attorney wasn’t interested in joining, perhaps they could refer him to someone else.

But there’s another benefit to cold calling attorneys: making new networking contacts.

“So tell me about your practice. . .” is guaranteed to get attorneys talking. Naturally, they will also ask you to tell them about yours. Just like that, you have a new contact. You have opened the door to follow-up conversations that might lead to referrals, intorductions, or information.

It’s all good.

Calling about a potential class action on behalf of attorneys will certainly arouse curiosity and get other attorneys to take your call. But there are other ways to get attorneys to take your call. You can conduct a “sixty second survey” for an article you’re writing, offer them a free copy of your new report, or invite them to join your new LinkedIn group. Or, you can simply call to introduce yourself and offer to buy them a cup of coffee.

Like most forms of marketing, you can make a lot of progress by doing a little bit every day. If networking with other attorneys works for your practice, call three attorneys every day and see what happens. In a month, you will have reached out to sixty new contacts. If just one sees you as worthy of referrals, at the end of the year you’ll have 12 new referral sources.

And yes, you can do the same thing with other professionals, executives, and business owners.

Marketing is simple. Call someone and see for yourself.

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Success in legal marketing is yours for the asking

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Marketing your services is so much easier when other people help you. And help you they will. All you have to do is ask.

So ask.

Ask for referrals. Ask for introductions. Ask for advice from other attorneys. Ask your clients for information about your target market. Ask people to Like your Facebook page. Ask people to forward your newsletters and recommend your seminars. Ask clients what you can do to better to serve them and ask prospects how you can win their business.

Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find.

Often, attorneys have trouble asking for help for themselves. They have no problem asking a judge or jury for relief for their client but when it comes to asking people to help them, they get uncomfortable. Their ego gets in the way. They think it makes them look weak. But the opposite is true. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of confidence and strength.

And people want to help you. It makes them feel good to do it. It makes them feel appreciated and important. You flatter them when you ask.

Don’t you feel good doing favors for others? You know you do. You like being asked and you like being able to help. It feels good when someone says, “thank you”. So look at asking for help as an opportunity to make others feel good.

Now, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to ask someone for help today and let me know what happens. It will make me feel good to know that my advice worked for you. So will you do me that favor? Thank you, I appreciate your help.

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Marketing legal services like Starbucks or Amazon

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Whether expressly forbidden by ethical rules or just inappropriate for a professional practice, attorneys can’t do many of the things a retailer can do to bring in business.

Like have a sale or special promotion. Or an army of affiliates.

But don’t you sometimes wish you could?

Actually, there is a way. All you need to do is create a product you can sell to the people in your target market.

A book or audio course. A set of forms or checklists. A do-it-yourself kit.

Take your expertise and turn it into a product. Not only can it bring you more clients, it can become an additional source of income.

You have a body of knowledge that people are willing to pay for, don’t you? Your expertise is valuable. Take a portion of that knowledge and “product-ize” it.

It could be a $5 ebook or a $5,000 8-week seminar. It doesn’t matter. Anything you can offer to the market place will do. Promote that, not your services, and watch your traffic and leads grow.

Now before you say, “it won’t work for my practice,” (you were going to say that, weren’t you?) go to your closet, get out your thinking cap, and put it on your head.

What’s that? You don’t have a thinking cap? No problem. I can get you one wholesale. Just need to find my affiliate link. . .

If you have trouble creating something your prospective clients would buy, find something that’s already available and sell that. Someone else’s book perhaps (e.g., an expert in a related field, a consumer advocate), or even a product.

You could even sell t-shirts if you wanted to. The trick is to tie it to a cause. Find something you’re passionate about (literacy, rain forests, cure for cancer) and donate the proceeds to an appropriate charity. They get the money, you get the customer list.

Anyway, don’t be so quick to dismiss the idea. If you can make it work, it would open up all kinds of marketing possibilities.

Yes, check with your bar association to make sure. We know how fussy they can be. They may claim that because the purpose of selling your book or widget is to bring in clients, the same ethical restrictions apply. Argue it, if you can. Find a way around it.

And stay tuned. Next week, I’m having a sale on thinking caps. You’ll want to stock up.

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My political views finally revealed (not)

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When I first got stated on Facebook, one of my “friends” posted an incendiary political comment on my wall. In response, friends with opposing viewpoints took him on. Back and forth they went, telling each other in heated tones who was right. Others joined in. Soon, a full blown flame war was taking place.

It was great theater.

I let the two sides go at each other for while and I stayed out of it. No way was I going to get involved in that mess.

And then it really got ugly.

The original poster starting insulting people. Despite repeated requests by the majority to curtail the invective and stick to the issues, he continued his name calling. The more he was asked to tone things down, the worse he got. I had no choice but to remove him as a friend.

Even though this was an extreme situation, it reinforced the notion that discussing politics in public is not a good idea. Unless you are certain that everyone in “the room” is of a like mind, you’re just asking for trouble.

If you’re a professional or in business, your political views should not be posted on social media. Why risk alienating half of your friends and followers? Even when the discourse is civil, political postings provide an insight into your thoughts that can drive a wedge between people who might otherwise get along just fine.

I have political views. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel like posting my opinion about one thing or another, or re-posting what someone else has said.

I’d be nuts to do it.

So I bite my tongue. And save it for a private conversation.

It’s called being in business.

I have many friends on the other side of political aisle. We like each other. We do business together. We can talk about almost anything.  But not politics. We don’t go there.

In business, you can’t go there.

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LinkedIn: The number one social media platform for attorneys

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I’ve said before that if you’re new to social media you should start with Twitter. Reason: you only need to fill out one paragraph of information to set up your account. Your profile on LinkedIn, by contrast, requires more effort.

LinkedIn is important for attorneys because it serves as a sort of online CV. In fact, many professionals link to their LinkedIn profile precisely for that purpose. Your profile helps prospects and other professionals quickly assess what you have done for others and thereby see what you can do for them.

As LinkedIn develops, it is also becoming a platform for meeting and engaging others. Their forums are a great way to find and connect with other lawyers, as well as prospective clients and referral sources (or employers).

And LinkedIn is all about business. Unlike Facebook, you won’t have to wade through photos of your friend’s kids or cats, or listen to updates about their most recent meals. In fact, one writer is predicting that LinkedIn will survive Facebook precisely because it is dull and business-like.

But while LinkedIn may be considered dull, your profile need not be. You aren’t limited to posting only the facts about where you have been and what you have done. You can add personality to your profile, and well you should.

As much as your capabilities, people want to know about you, the person. Give them a sense of what it would be like speaking with you and working with you:

What motivates you to do what you do? What kind of movie or book character do you identify with? What is your mission?

If you don’t yet have a LinkedIn profile, don’t let the volume of information requested, or its importance, stop you from getting started. Fill in the basics today. You can add more tomorrow. You can use this brief tutorial on optimizing your LinkedIn profile as a starting point.

A lawyer’s bio is the most important part of his or her social media profile and web site. Use it to tell people your story, not just the facts. Facts tell but stories sell.

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