Archives for July 2013

Lawyer advertising on Craigslist: Why You Shouldn’t (And How to Do it)

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Most people who look for a lawyer on Craigslist are primarily looking for “cheap prices”. The same is true of most classified advertising sites or publications targeted to the low end of the consumer or small business market. Experience, reputation, “customer service,” and other hallmarks of professionalism are secondary.

Offering “discount prices” is, for most lawyers, ill advised. You’re competing with other lawyers who will undercut you, as well as paralegals, form preparers, and others who troll in the lowest depths of the market.

Unless you wish to position yourself as a “discount lawyer” and offer rock bottom “prices,” stay away from Craigslist and publications like it. Clients who hire the best lawyers and are willing to pay top dollar for those lawyers usually don’t look for them on Craigslist.

There are exceptions. Some people who look on Craigslist do want a good attorney and are willing to pay top dollar. They may go to Craigslist out of habit, because that’s where they go to find other deals. But wanting to save money when buying a used car doesn’t necessarily mean you have the same mindset when hiring an attorney.

But how do you find these people unless you are advertising on Craigslist?

You find them not by advertising your services but by advertising your seminar. Or you book. Or your report.

You sell your book or give it away and build a list of prospects. Yes, most of the people on that list will have a “low price” mentality, but so what? Some won’t. Some will hire you and pay your regular fees.

In addition, some of the people on your list know people who aren’t “low pricers” and will refer them. Others on your list who today demand low prices may tomorrow find their circumstances (and attitude) changed and be willing to pay your “higher” fees. (Probably after they hire one of your low cost competitors and find that they got what they paid for.)

Lawyer advertising on Craigslist is possible. Just don’t advertise your services.

How to market legal services on the Internet. Click here.

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One year ago I. . . and today. . .

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Let’s try a little exercise. I want you to think back to one year ago. Look at your calendar to remind yourself where you were and what you were doing. Sort your notes by date. Read your diary.

What did you do or change one year ago that has positively affected your life today? It doesn’t have to be exactly one year ago. Close enough is close enough.

Write it down.

“One year ago, I. . .” and then describe how your law practice or personal life has improved as a result. Something like this:

One year ago. . .

“. . .I started. . . and today, I. . .”.

“. . .I improved. . . and today, I. . .”.

“. . .I changed. . . and today, I. . .”.

“. . .I updated. . . and today, I. . .”.

“. . .I stopped. . . and today, I . . .”.

You might find it easier to work backwards, that is, to think about something positive in your life right now and see if you can relate it back to something you did last year. For example, if you are seeing an increase in new clients today, you might realize that last year at this time, you began reading my blog or you purchased one of my courses. (Smiley face with big grin goes here.)

Anyway, if you can find something you did last year that has benefited you this year, it should be noted and reflected upon. How did you come to make that change? What precipitated it? What has been the best part? What might you have done differently or better?

Now, think about the future. How can you amplify what you did last year to make it even better this year? What should you continue doing and what should you consider changing? What should you do more of and what might you cut back on?

By now, you have probably figured out that the point of this exercise isn’t really to get you to look back so much as it is to get you to look forward.

What could you do today so that one year from now, you can look back at this date and see how you effected a positive outcome?

Go on, give it some thought and write down your answers. What could you start, improve, change, update, or stop doing today?

Send me an email next year and let me know how it worked out.

The Attorney Marketing Formula includes a simple marketing plan. Check it out here.

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How to “trick” people into staying for your entire presentation

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As a speaker, there’s nothing worse than seeing someone walk out of the room before the end of your presentation. It is distracting. It hurts your ego. And it means there is one less person in the room to buy whatever it is you’re selling.

Not that it’s ever happened to me.

Your presentation might need work. More interesting content. Better stories. A more energetic delivery.

Keep the audience glued to your every word and they’ll stay glued to their seats.

Or, you can trick them into staying in their seats.

Here’s what you do.

At the beginning of the presentation, you or the host tells the audience that you have a gift for them at the end of the presentation. It’s a surprise. It’s something they will want. It’s valuable. “. . so at the end of the presentation, make sure you are in your seats so you can get your free gift.”

You can have fun with it, too. “Confess” that it is a bribe to keep them in their seats because the last time you gave this talk, “we had to lock the doors”. Or whatever.

Now, the gift can be anything. A copy of your book, a CD with several reports or checklists or forms, a DVD with a video of another presentation. Something your audience will like and appreciate. Something that will make them glad they stayed in their seats to get. And something you probably want them to have anyway because it validates you and the services you offer.

Years ago, I was in a business where I did a lot of presentations to the public who were invited off of newspaper ads. At the beginning of the presentation, we told them we had a surprise for them at the end of the presentation, it was really cool, and they should stay in their seats.

They stayed in their seats.

When the presentation ended, we revealed the surprise. We said that before they came into the room, we had randomly taped lottery tickets to the bottom of ten chairs and they should look under their chair to see if they had one. This was shortly after the lottery had been legalized in California and getting a ticket was new and exciting.

For ten bucks, we made sure we had a full house from start to finish. Of course my presentation was brilliant and they would have stayed anyway, but hey, a little insurance never hurts.

People love gifts and they love surprises. If you want them to stay seated (or stay on your webinar or teleconference) until the end of your presentation, promise them a gift at the end. Or, you could just tell better jokes.

Marketing is simple. Lawyers are complicated. If you want to make the phone ring, here’s help.

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3 ways to turn boring legal topics into interesting articles and posts

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If you write a newsletter or blog (and if you don’t, make sure you see me after class), you may struggle with finding interesting topics to write about. The law can be incredibly dry and arcane. Why would clients and prospective clients ever want to read about boring legal topics?

It’s a fair question. After all, if people don’t read your articles, they won’t act on them and, well, what’s the point?

Here are three ways to turn boring legal topics into something people want to read:

1. Write something else.

You don’t always have to write about legal issues and, frankly, you shouldn’t. In my posts, I often write about topics that aren’t overtly about marketing legal services. I’ll write about my wife’s dealings with various vendors, our cat, or anything else that catches my attention. It makes things interesting and provides a never-ending source of topics.

I do tie things together with some reference to marketing legal services, however, because that’s what you pay me for.

You can either start with a legal issue and look for something in your everyday life or outside interests to illustrate or contrast that issue. Or, you can do the opposite, that is, write about your dry cleaner, a movie, or something in the news, and relate it to a legal issue. Or neither. You don’t always have to write about the law.

2. Write about people.

Talk about your clients or other lawyers or judges. Talk about people in the news or in history. Tell stories about how people and the law intersect, how their lives were affected, or will be.

People are always more interesting than a code section or appellate decision. Stories are interesting because they have conflict in them and people want to know “what happened?”

Write about people. Tell their stories. Put most of the “legal stuff” in another article and link to it for those who want to know.

3. Write it anyway.

Boring legal topics are not boring to someone who is facing those issues. Write for those people.

When someone goes to a search engine, they are seeking information about their problem or objective. They want to read about the law, procedure, options, and risks. They want the details, even if most of your other readers (currently) do not.

Write for the person who wants to know.

Your other readers may skip over those articles, waiting for your next post about your cat’s antics or your crazy next door neighbor. They’ll stick around while you help someone with a pressing legal issue. They probably won’t read your posts that are pure legal content, but they’ll be glad to know that if and when they need that kind of information, they know where to find it.

Now, if you can just figure out a way to write a legal analysis post and illustrate it with a story about your cat using your Twitter account to send naked selfies to your neighbor’s puppy. . .

For hundreds of ideas for articles and posts, see Make the Phone Ring.

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Email marketing for lawyers

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I talked to a lawyer yesterday who told me looks forward to reading my emails every day. I hear that a lot.

There’s a lesson in this.

When you deliver value–information, ideas, stories, tips–you can email your list often. Even daily.

Your readers will look forward to getting your emails and they will read them.

The ones who don’t, the ones who either don’t read your email or unsubscribe from you list, would probably never hire you anyway and you can safely let them go.

The ones who like your emails:

  • Know you. They know your name and what you do.
  • Like you. They like hearing your “voice” and reading your advice and stories.
  • Trust you. They see that you are consistent, dependable. They see that you are continually solving legal problems for other clients and believe you could do the same for them.

So. . .

  • When they need your services, they’ll almost always call you instead of any other lawyer
  • When they know someone who needs your services, they’ll refer them to you instead of any other lawyer
  • When you ask them to “Like” your page, share your article, or invite their friends and contacts to register for your seminar, there’s a good chance they will

Compare this to lawyers who don’t have a list. They have no way to stay in touch with prospective clients so none of the above can occur.

And compare this to lawyers who do have a list but either don’t send value or don’t email often enough:

  • When they do email, it goes into spam or is not recognized, so it is not opened and read
  • Or, it’s been so long since they have heard from the lawyer, they don’t really know, like, and trust him, and thus, won’t hire him (or refer)
  • Or, the email is opened and read but it’s been so long since they heard from the lawyer, they’ve already hired someone

You don’t have to mail every day. Once a week is fine. But do mail often and do deliver value.

Your emails can be short and sweet. A tip, a quick story, a reminder. If you write an article or blog post, send that. If you find an interesting article or video on someone else’s site, send them a link. If you have an interesting case or client, tell them about it.

Email marketing for lawyers is simple. Build a list and build a relationship with the people on that list.

You know you’re doing it right when your subscribers tell you they look forward to getting your emails.

Want to know how to build a list and what to send them? This shows you what to do.

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IMPORTANT: If you use gmail (and if you don’t, your clients DO)

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Gmail is rolling out a new feature that may make it less likely that you will see my emails. If you have an email list for your clients and prospects, they will be less likely to see YOUR emails.

The new feature categorizes incoming emails into “Primary,” “Social,” or “Promotions” tabs. Because I use a commercial autoresponder to deliver my emails, they will automatically be categorized as “Promotions” and lumped together with other “commercial” emails, including advertising.

You know, the stuff you don’t read.

That means my emails won’t go into your inbox and you may never see them. Your clients won’t be see YOUR emails.

This can be avoided by adjusting your settings, once the new feature is active.

Simply find one of my emails in “Promotions” and drag it into “Primary”.

A pop-up will appear and ask you if you want to do this for all future messages. Click “Yes”.

That’s it. Now, my emails will appear in your inbox.

If you want to completely remove these new tabs, go to the Settings box in the upper right hand corner of your inbox and select “Settings.” Click on the “Inbox” tab and unselect all categories but “Primary” (remember to save your changes).

That’s what I’ve done for my account. Don’t like all those tabs crowding my space. Seems like more work for me, not less.

Anyway, once you’ve done this, make sure you notify your lists to do the same. Many people use Gmail. As much as 50% of your list, by some estimates. If they don’t make this change, they won’t see your emails, and that’s not good for them or you.

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How to stop procrastinating

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I wonder how many people each day search on the term, “how to stop procrastinating”.

Eh, I’ll look it up later.

If you’re like me, and most of humanity, you have experienced and perhaps struggled with procrastination. You know there are things you need to do but you don’t want to do them. (If you wanted to do them, you would do them.)

You are feeling resistance because the task is too big, too unpleasant, or too difficult. You may not know what to do or where to begin. The task may be too risky and you are afraid of making a mistake.

So, you tell yourself you don’t really need to do it now, it can wait. Or you elevate the importance or urgency of other tasks and do them instead.

You may have become very clever at finding excuses for not doing the things you need to do. And you may feel guilty about that and look for ways to overcome your affliction.

But you shouldn’t. Your subconscious mind has created this resistance and you shouldn’t fight it, you should give in to it.

Your subconscious self wants you to be safe and happy so it makes you feel negative emotions when you think about tasks you don’t want to do.

Don’t ignore those feelings. Don’t try to overcome them. Let them stop you.

I’m not saying you can shirk your responsibilities. You can’t simply blow off anything you don’t want to do. What I am saying is that instead of bulldozing through the wall of resistance in front of you, find a way around it.

One way to do that is the “salami technique”. Take a big project and cut it into thin, manageable slices.

If you are procrastinating about starting or revising your website, for example, find some aspect of that project where there is little or no resistance. Something small and easy.

You might bookmark some sites you like, or collect articles to read later. You might open a new file and make a few notes or a list of questions.

Easy to do. And if you do any of them, you will have begun the project. Now, look for something else that’s easy to do and do that.

Yes, there are times when you have to suck it up and do things you simply don’t want to do. You have to “feel the fear and do it anyway.” But if you continually break things down into smaller and easier tasks, you can almost always find a way to get started, and that is always better than doing nothing.

Want to know how to stop procrastinating? Stop trying to stop. When you come up to a wall, turn left or turn right and keep walking.

If you need to start or revise your website, this is all you need.

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Hold the pickles, your clients want to have it their way

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McDonalds shares fell today as their latest financial report disappointed investors. One reason for their lackluster sales is that their new healthier menu items aren’t catching on with customers.

Customers may need healthier food but if they don’t want it, they won’t buy it. (Someone please remind Mayor Bloomberg).

Are you giving your clients what they want or insisting they buy what they need? Yes, you owe them a duty to present and recommend what they need, but you’ll have a much easier time (and earn more) offering them services they want.

But I don’t want to dive into that topic right now. Instead, I want to remind you that you also prefer to buy what you want, not necessarily what you need. But are you?

I’m talking about your law practice and career. Are you doing what you want or have you bought into doing what you need?

Many lawyers go to law school for the wrong reasons. Did you?

Maybe you really wanted to do something else but convinced yourself that a legal career was a better choice.

You may have chosen your practice area for similar reasons. It was what you knew or what seemed like the most lucrative field. It’s what you thought you needed to do, not what you really wanted to do.

How about the way(s) you market your practice. Are you doing things you really don’t enjoy but feel you need to do?

Stop for a minute and think about your practice or career. Are you doing what you need to do or what you want to do? More importantly, are you happy?

You may successful. Don’t let that cloud your thinking. You can be successful and unhappy. You may have been even more successful doing something else that made you happy.

You still can. You have a choice. You can change what you’re doing. You can do what you want and you can find a way to make it deliver what you need.

Burger King, one of McDonald’s biggest competitors, used to advertise that “you can have it your way”. I still recall the jingle: “Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us, have it your way, at Burger King.”

I hope McDonalds (and you) are listening.

Do you want to Make the Phone Ring? Here’s how I do it.

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Do you have complaining clients? That’s good!

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The other night my wife and I went to a well-known Mexican restaurant. We ordered the fajitas “combo” which was billed as having chicken, steak, jumbo shrimp, and scallops.

Yummy.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t yummy, it was just okay.

I could accept that. What I couldn’t accept is that there were only two pieces of steak, two pieces of chicken, two (small) shrimp, and no scallops. None.

I told the waiter I was not happy and he went to summon the manager. He came back and said the manager couldn’t come over, he was busy talking to some customers.

I’m a customer! An unhappy one! He should be talking to me!

The waiter said he’d had other complaints about the size of the portions and offered me a free dessert. I declined and asked for the check. I told him I wouldn’t be back and I would tell everyone I knew not to come.

And I will.

Because I can.

What kind of manager won’t come to talk to a customer with a complaint? An idiot, that’s what kind.

When a customer (client) has a complaint, you must talk to him, validate him, and offer to fix the problem. You do not want a customer going away angry, ready to tell dozens of other customers about his bad experience.

You must do this, because it’s the right thing to do.

You must do this because it can stop a dissatisfied customer from spreading negative messages to other prospective customers, which will lose business and generate ill will.

You must do this because when you turn complaining clients into satisfied clients (through validation, apologizing, and various make-goods), that client often turns into one of your biggest advocates, spreading the word about how you took care of him properly when something wasn’t right.

Customers (clients) don’t expect perfection. They expect to be treated right. When there’s a problem, they don’t want it to be ignored.

And so if you own a restaurant (law firm), you definitely want to know when a customer has a problem because it is an opportunity for you. You should welcome complaints, and embrace clients who have them. They are doing you a favor by telling you how to improve.

Unfortunately most clients who are unhappy don’t complain. They just stop calling. You don’t want that to happen. You want to know if they are unhappy with your services, your staff, or you. You want to know so you can make things right for them and so you can fix the problem that is probably causing other clients to be unhappy.

At the very least, give your clients an “exit survey,” asking them to rate and review your performance. Ask them what you did well and what you could improve.

In addition, put a form on your website with language that encourages visitors to share feedback anonymously.

And, if you forget the scallops, make sure you don’t ignore the client. There are too many other lawyers who offer a good fajitas combo.

Marketing is everything you do to get and keep good clients. Here’s The Formula.

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