Archives for December 2012

How I made an extra fifty-two cents in 2012

December 31, 2012 by
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Yee-ha!

Amazon just notified me that I earned fifty-two cents when someone purchased something through my affiliate link. Big deal you say? You’re darn right it’s a big deal! Passive income is a very big deal.

I don’t get much from Amazon. That’s okay. I get thousands in passive income every month from other sources. It all averages out to a very sizable “extra” income.

I’m not a big affiliate marketer. You don’t see tons of links to affiliate products in my blog posts or emails. That’s because I’m very picky about what I recommend. It’s usually something I personally use.

All you need are a few high quality products or services (and a good list) and you can earn a decent extra income this way. Even six-figures.

Why am I telling you this? Because as you contemplate your plans and goals for 2013, one of the things you should be thinking about is how you can generate income from sources other than your legal services. You might create your own products. Or offer services outside of your core practice areas. Partner up with someone and offer their products or services. Or start your own business.

The simplest way to get started is to look at the products and services you have used in the past and could recommend to your list. If you think they’re good, why wouldn’t you recommend them to your clients, prospects and professional contacts? Regardless of whether they have an affiliate program or not.

I have an affiliate program for some of my products. I haven’t promoted it because I wanted to add more products first, which I will be doing shortly, but you can sign up now and promote The Attorney Marketing Formula and my Evernote ebook. Here’s the page to get more info on my affiliate program and instructions on how to sign up.

If you like my stuff, I will pay you to recommend it to your attorney friends. Post a link on your blog, mention it in your newsletter, or post a review on one of your linkedin or facebook groups.

Anyway, over the next few days, give some thought as to how you might add additional sources of income in the coming year. I’ll have more ideas to share in future posts.

By the way, The Attorney Marketing Formula comes with a free bonus module, “How to create a marketing plan that really works”. It will help you plan for 2013.

I wish you a very happy, and very prosperous New Year.

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Filed Under: Increase your income Tagged With: , ,

Do you know what your client knows?

December 28, 2012 by
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When I opened my first law office shortly after law school, I volunteered one day a week at a legal clinic. I got some experience dealing with real people and I got a few paying clients.

Most of those clients were family law related. I had filed a few uncontested divorces but knew nothing about the grittier aspects of family law. A friend of mine from law school was also working there and I told him I thought I was in over my head. He told me not to worry, the clients would point me in the right direction.

The clinic’s clients were poor, mostly women, and mostly those who had suffered through bad marriages and abusive husbands. They had first hand knowledge of the concept of “domestic violence”. They knew what it meant to get a restraining order. They knew what they had to prove because they had either gone through the process before or they knew women who had. Sure enough, they pointed me in the right direction. In fact, many of them brought the correct court forms with them.

I learned a lesson that day. I learned to never assume anything about what my client did or did not know. True, most clients don’t know what we lawyers do, but some do.

Today, because of the Internet, many prospective clients know a lot about the law. They read articles and blog posts. They chat with others in forums. They watch or listen to seminars. When you talk to them, it is dangerous to assume that they don’t know anything. But it is equally dangerous to assume that they do.

The best course is to make no assumptions. Ask questions and find out what they know:

  • Do you have any experience with this issue?
  • Have you talked to any other attorneys about this?
  • Is this your first claim?
  • What are you looking to accomplish?

Listen to their answers. Listen to their questions. Also, pay attention to what they don’t say and don’t ask.

Many prospective clients today have incorrect or incomplete information. They think they know the way things are and their expectations are based on what they “know”. This is when you have to be especially careful. You have to help them understand the ways things really are without making them look bad or feel embarrassed.

On the other hand, sometimes clients know things we don’t know. They’ve lived with an issue longer, dug a little deeper, found the loopholes. We must never assume that because we went to law school and they didn’t that we are right and they are wrong. If they can point you in the right direction, let them.

Never make assumptions about what your clients know. Or about what you know.

If you want to earn more in the new year, I can help you. Start here.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Personal development

Do you charge wealthier clients higher fees for the same work?

December 27, 2012 by
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According to the Wall Street Journal, the Staples website quotes different prices for the same merchandise based on where the user is located when he visits the site. Staples said this is based on how close the visitor’s location is to a competitor’s store and various costs of doing business, but it appears to also be based on the customer’s ability to pay.

In New York, for example, certain products are priced higher in the boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. By contrast, the same items sell in Brooklyn and Queens at a discount. These price differences come despite no more than 20 miles separating any two locations.

In other words, a Manhattan resident would save money on an item simply by driving to Queens and making the purchase there either online or through a mobile device.”

Apparently, this is not an uncommon practice among retailers.

It’s not illegal but is it “fair”? More importantly, is it smart business?

I think it is smart, and also fair. The retailer is entitled to charge whatever the market will bear. It’s called “free enterprise”. Where it gets dicey, however, is when customers learn about these practices and object to them. A retailer may win the pricing battle but lose the loyalty war.

Of course a savvy customer who knows about this practice might play the pricing game, logging onto web sites from different locations, to see which one gives him the lowest price.

Anyway, I got to thinking about this in terms of legal services. Is it smart business for a lawyer to charge different fees to different clients based on their ability to pay? From a business standpoint, I say why not?

If your clients don’t know (and there are no legal or ethical restrictions on doing so), why shouldn’t a lawyer be able to charge what the market will bear? Some attorneys routinely do precisely that. They size up a new client by their clothing or car or occupation and quote a fee commensurate with what they think that client can afford.

I can’t recall ever charging a client a higher fee because I thought he could afford it, but in looking back, had I thought about it, I probably would have. I sometimes charged clients lower fees, either because I wanted to help them out or because they were steady clients and I wanted to reward them for their allegiance. If there’s nothing wrong with this, there should be nothing wrong with charging some clients higher fees. Of course, by definition, charging some clients less means some clients are being charged more.

What do you think? Is there anything wrong with charging some clients more than others? Have you ever done it? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Getting ready for the new year? The Attorney Marketing Formula will show you what to do to make it a great year.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Fees and Billing, Law office management Tagged With: , ,

If J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice

December 21, 2012 by
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Billionaire J. Paul Getty, once described as the richest man in the world, wrote a book describing how he made his money. In “How to Be Rich,” he offered three keys to wealth:

  1. Be in business for yourself
  2. Have products in demand
  3. Multiply your efforts through other people

If you are self-employed or work for a firm that compensates you for helping the firm grow, you are “in business for yourself”. If you offer services your clients want and are willing to pay for, you have “products in demand.” And if you have employees, you are “multiplying your efforts through other people”.

But if J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice, he might point out that while you are doing the right things, you might not be doing them enough.

If you are doing any work in your practice that could be delegated to someone else, you’re losing money. You should do “only the work that only you can do” and delegate everything else, he would tell you. “I’d rather have one percent of the efforts of 100 people than 100 percent of my own efforts,” he said.

Once he had you leveraging the efforts of the people who work for you, I think Getty would turn his attention to the efforts of people who don’t work for you: your clients and professional contacts. They may not be getting a pay check from you but every one of them can help your practice grow.

The quickest path to “multiplying your efforts through other people” is to get more clients to send referrals.

Getty made most of his money in oil and understood the power of leverage. The more wells he drilled, the wealthier he got. Your clients are like oil wells. The more of them who refer, the wealthier you will become.

But Getty didn’t stop there. When he found a well that produced oil, he had his engineers look for ways to increase the yield from that well. He didn’t settle for a well that produced 100 barrels a day when that same well might product 200 barrels a day.

Your clients work the same way. If a client is sending you one referral a month, you should look for ways to get that client to send you two referrals a month.

If J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice, he would tell you there’s oil in your client and contact list and while you will hit many dry wells, if you drill enough, you will also hit some gushers.

Download The Attorney Marketing Formula to learn more ways to multiply your efforts and your income

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: ,

Marketing legal services at the XMAS dinner table

December 20, 2012 by
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Ah, Christmas dinner with the family. A time to celebrate the holidays and enjoy a good meal. You’ll find out who got engaged, who got divorced, who had a baby, and who has passed. You’ll eat way too much and fall asleep on the sofa. You’ll laugh at your brother’s ridiculous sweater, and pretend to laugh at your Uncle’s bad jokes.

You’ll wait for just the right moment and then, you’ll hand out your business cards. “In case you run into someone who needs a lawyer,” you’ll say.

Clever, huh? Leverage the family dinner to get some new clients. Hey, why not–it’s family. You can ask the family to pass out your cards, right?

No. They already hate you because you make so much money and think you’re so smart. Okay, maybe they don’t hate you, but you still shouldn’t pass out cards. Not because it’s “bad form” at the Christmas dinner but because it’s “bad marketing”. It’s not going to get you any business.

Your family already knows what you do. They have your phone number. If they run into someone who might need you, they’ll tell them. Besides, they still have the cards you gave them last Christmas.

So what’s better? What should you do at the family dinner?

Nothing. Relax. Enjoy the evening. Have fun.

Your best marketing tool isn’t your card, it’s you. The fun, likable, overeating, asleep on the sofa you.

Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and plan your after-holiday marketing

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Filed Under: Business cards, Marketing legal services, Networking Tagged With:

Christmas cards are for wimps

December 19, 2012 by
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When was the last time you wrote your clients?

No, I don’t mean sending a Christmas card, the same one you send to all your clients. I mean a real letter. With real words, not a holiday sentiment written by someone else.

A letter from you (not your firm), not to promote anything, or remind them to update their Will or do their fourth quarter Minutes. Just to say hello. Or to send them an article you thought they might like.

I know, you’ll get back to me on that.

Not long ago, this might have been a big project. Expensive, too. You don’t have that excuse today. Email makes it simple, and virtually free.

If you don’t have an email list for your clients, you need to. Make this your numero uno marketing project. At the top of your list. With a gold star and three exclamation points!!!

Because if you don’t, you won’t write your clients, at least not as often as you should. And if you do, you will have a mechanism for “fundamentally transforming” your practice. English translation: make a boat load of money.

An email list, and regular contact with it, to your clients, prospects, and professional contacts, is critical today. You want repeat business? Stay in touch with your list. You want referrals? Stay in touch with your list. You want traffic to your web site? Stay in touch with your list. All you need is a few minutes to write something and then click a button to send.

That’s the easy part. The hard part? Wanting to do it. See, I know you want the business. What I don’t know is if you believe me when I tell you that this is one of the best ways to get it.

If you’re afraid they don’t want to hear from you, you’ve got to get over that. Send them something interesting, valuable, or inspiring, and they will be glad you wrote and look forward to your next message. Stay in touch with them and when they need your services or know someone who does, they won’t go to a search engine to find a lawyer, they’ll go to their email inbox and find your number.

Lawyers are complicated. Marketing is simple.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Email, List building, Marketing legal services Tagged With:

Do you have long term goals? That’s your problem

December 18, 2012 by
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A wealthy business friend of mine does a lot of speaking to other business owners. They come seeking to learn how they can reach the levels of success he has attained. On the subject of marketing, he usually asks the audience, “How many of you have long term goals?” Hands are proudly raised. “That’s your problem. You’re thinking about long term when you should be thinking about today.”

He tells them the only thing that matters is how many times your company’s story is told today. How many people hear about what you have to offer. What can you do today, right now, this afternoon, to get your story told?

Of course tomorrow you’ll do the same thing. That’s how a big business is built–one day at a time.

My friend will acknowledge the need for planning beyond “today” but he says too many people spend all their time planning and not enough time doing. “You don’t have to read your car’s manual to know how to make it go,” he says.

My friend says success is about mastering the fundamentals. He coaches junior football and says, “We teach those kids how to pass, punt, block, and tackle. You get good at those four skills. That’s how you win games.”

Building a successful business or law practice works the same way. You learn the fundamentals and practice them. You get good at a few things.

You don’t have to know everything about marketing or bookkeeping. You don’t need to have the latest technology. And you don’t have to read the manual.

Unless, of course, it’s mine.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, success

Do your clients know your dirty little secrets?

December 17, 2012 by
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Do your clients know the real you? Probably not. They might get nervous if they heard what you think about certain things or they knew what you do when you’re not at work. They might think less of your abilities as an attorney if they knew how much you don’t know. They might not hire you again if they knew how lucky you were the last time you represented them.

We all put on our best faces for our clients, our colleagues, and our neighbors. Everything is great. It couldn’t be better. Yeah, we’re really busy.

We never let them see us sweat.

Kurt Cobain said, “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.” Does this mean we should all be brutally honest about who we really are? No. Of course not. We’re professionals, not rock stars, and we’d never get away with it.

But then maybe Cobain didn’t get away with it either. If the point of being “who you are” is that you’ll be happier if you do, then clearly, Cobain didn’t get away with it. If he had been happy, he wouldn’t have checked out so early.

So keep up the facade. Don’t post that photo on Facebook (you know the one I mean) and don’t tell people what you really think about them, even when they ask.

We do a lot of pretending as lawyers. It’s part of the job. Our clients want to hire a successful lawyer, not someone who is struggling to figure things out. We must project confidence even if we don’t have a clue about what to do next.

But maybe it would be okay to let people see you cry once in awhile. Or to share your love for show tunes or The Three Stooges. Maybe what you think is embarrassing or inconsistent with the “stone cold” image of an attorney is just the thing that people will love most about you.

And if not, that’s okay. You can be massively successful even when a lot of people don’t like who you really are. Maybe because of it.

If someone thinks I’m a dork because I like The Three Stooges, I don’t let it bother me. I just poke them in the eye.

Are you embarrassed about your marketing? Don’t be. Get help here.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Image, Personal development Tagged With: ,

Build the law practice you would want to represent you

December 14, 2012 by
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If your law practice would fit in a box and I could buy it at a store, what would I see when I opened that box? Would I see something so beautiful it would make me smile? Would I admire the clock-like precision and attention to detail? Would I be so enamored by what I saw I would tell everyone I knew to go buy one?

Or would I see flaws? Things that don’t work right? Missing parts?

Most law practices aren’t broken, but neither are they great. They’re good enough and for most clients, good enough is good enough. But is it good enough for you? How would you feel if you were the client of your firm, knowing what you know about what goes on behind the scenes?

In an interview, Steve Jobs offered an excellent description of the standard befitting a great company, or a great law practice:

We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” [Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

For Steve, good enough was never good enough.

If you want to build a great law practice, you need great clients. Learn how to get them here.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Law office management Tagged With: ,

How to piss off your clients

December 13, 2012 by
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We had a repairman to the house to fix our dryer. It’s a family owned company and we’ve used them before.

The repairman diagnosed the problem and said he had to order some parts. It would be a couple of days. No problem.

Then, out of the blue he asked my wife what kind of car she drives. Weird question. She told him. He asked her where she gets it washed. Weirder, right?

It turns out his kid’s school was holding a car wash as a fund raiser. He asked my wife if she would help out and buy a ticket. It’s only ten dollars. And then he stood there waiting for her to answer.

Awkward.

My wife said she felt like she was being pressured and she didn’t like it. She got the feeling that if she didn’t buy a ticket, the guy would mess up the repair or find something else that was wrong so he could jack up the price.

Why on earth would you do this to a client? Make someone uncomfortable like that. Feel guilty if they said no. It might be okay to hand out a flier, but to stand there staring at a client, waiting for them to buy is really bad form.

I don’t know how many tickets he sold that day but it wasn’t worth it. People are funny when it comes to money. I’m sure his employer got more than a few complaints.

When your kid’s school is having a fund raiser (bake sale, magazine sale, girl scout cookies, etc.), don’t strong arm your clients. Most people won’t complain. They just won’t return.

Need help with your marketing? Here you go.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations Tagged With:
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