Archives for August 2013

People are stupid

August 30, 2013 by
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It is said that one should never underestimate the intelligence of our fellow man.

That’s a load of crap. People are stupid.

They can’t think. The can’t write. They don’t understand.

Their vocabulary consists of twelve words, none more than two syllables. They have the attention span of a goldfish.

Dumb. Thick as a brick. Stoo-pid.

If you don’t believe me, go read the comments on just about any Youtube video.

See? People are stupid.

At least that’s what you should assume when you write or speak.

Never assume people will understand what you are saying. Spell it out. Say it so they can’t possibly misunderstand.

Use plain words. Short sentences. Word pictures.

Short lists. Simple examples. Precise instructions.

This actually takes some work on your part. It’s not easy to write simply and plainly and not sound like you are talking down to people. It’s much easier to write like a lawyer, but I urge you not to, even if you’re writing for lawyers.

Write and speak to communicate, not to impress. Don’t make people work any harder than necessary to understand your message.

Keep things simple so everyone can understand. Stupid people will thank you. Smart people won’t mind.

If you want a (simple) marketing plan that really works, get this.

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Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Public Speaking, Writing

The need to read (books)

August 29, 2013 by
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If you are a book lover like I am, you know there’s never enough time to read everything. In, “How to read a lot of books,” college student and fellow book lover Dan Shipper shares how he read lots of books.

First, he keeps track of everything he wants to read in Evernote. He always has his list with him so he can pick up books on his “want” list any time he’s in a book store. Of course I keep lists in Evernote, too, but I buy mostly ebooks, now.

Next, he prioritizes his master list (using Trello) so he knows what to read next. I’m more of a shoot from the hip kinda guy, so unless I’m working on a project that calls for me to read a certain book, I just pick something I feel drawn to and read that. If I did prioritize my list, however, I would use Evernote tags instead of another application.

As for actually reading the books, Shipper follows this rule: “I never read more than one book at a time, and I always finish every book I start.” Here, I disagree.

I often read several books “simultaneously”. No, not literally. I start one book, then switch to another before finishing the first. I may go back to the first or go on to another. Why? I like the variety, I guess. When I get tired of hearing one author’s voice, I like to tune into someone else’s.

As for finishing every book, I must ask why? There are a lot of bad books out there. Why continue reading something that’s boring or that doesn’t deliver on it’s promise? Why punish yourself? So you can say you finished what you started? So you can tell yourself you gave the author a fair shot?

Besides, the 80/20 rules tells us that 80% of a book’s value is contained in 20% of the pages. If you can deduce that value by skimming or by skipping chapters, why wouldn’t you do that?

I guess it depends on why you are reading. I read to gain information, mostly. (I don’t read much fiction these days.) When I can get most of the information I need or want without finishing the book, I do.

Not finishing books is one of my top productivity strategies.

Finally, Shipper says he takes notes as he reads and records the page numbers, so he can refer back to those notes in the future. I do that, too. On Kindle, you can highlight passages and add notes and the system will keep track of those highlights and notes, along with the page numbers. (I haven’t figured out how to export them, though. I’d like to save them in Evernote.)

So, that’s what I do to read (or skim) lots of books. What do you do?

Glad I’m done with this post. I’ve got five books I’m planning to start.

If you use Evernote, get my Evernote for Lawyers ebook. If you don’t use Evernote, helloooooo!

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Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

Overcoming the money objection

August 28, 2013 by
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You’re sitting with a new client. At least you think he’s a new client because he needs your help and wants to hire you. But when it comes to the subject of fees, he balks. Too often, he walks.

Overcoming the money objection in it’s various forms–I can’t afford it, I don’t have it, it costs too much, other lawyers will do it for less–is critical. The best way to handle this objection, or any objection, is to eliminate it before it comes up. Here are four ways to do that:

1. PRACTICE AREA AND TARGET MARKET

If you handle contingency fee cases, the money objection usually doesn’t come up. Lawyers who do work for big business and government usually don’t have clients who can’t pay their fees. Targeting well to do consumers for your services will also eliminate or severely curtail the no money objection.

In addition, if you handle legal work where clients must have an attorney or face dire consequences, rather than discretionary legal work, clients who might otherwise be limited in their ability to pay will often find a way to get the money. Someone who is in jail, being sued, or facing foreclosure, for example, has different motivation than someone who needs to update their will.

2. INFORMATION

The second way to deal with the money objection is to provide ample information to prospective clients before they call for an appointment. This means posting information on your website that explains fees, costs, retainers, and payment options. It means mailing or emailing prospective clients this kind of information (“a pre-appointment information package”) prior to the actual appointment.

You don’t necessarily quote fees in advance but you do provide a general idea of what the client can expect if they hire you. Give them a range of fees so they know it might be as much as $10,000 and they don’t come in expecting to pay $1,000. Show them different packages of services you have available, so they can see that while they might not be able to afford package A, they can probably handle package B. Explain the payment options that are available to them, so they can see that they don’t have to have all of the money up front.

This is also how you deal with the issue of other attorneys with lower fees. This is where you build the value of what you offer and make the case for why clients should choose you. This is where you explain how some attorneys don’t tell the whole story regarding fees and costs, until someone is sitting in their office. This is where you show prospective clients the wisdom of hiring someone with your experience and how, in the long run, it will probably save them money.

3. ON THE PHONE

When a prospective client calls for an appointment, or calls to ask questions, make sure they understand how much they will be expected to pay (or the minimum) if they decide to hire you.

Some will tell you it’s better to get them into the office first, that once they have taken the time to meet with you and become impressed with you, they will be more likely to find a way to hire you and less likely to go shopping for a less expensive alternative. That may be literally true, but if they don’t have the money they don’t have the money and you and the client are both better off dealing with this reality before spending any more time.

There are exceptions, but a policy of giving prospective clients a general idea of how much will be expected of them if they hire you, in advance of the actual appointment, and confirming that they can handle that amount, will go a long way towards overcoming the money objection once they are sitting in front of you.

4. IN YOUR PRESENTATION

The fourth way to deal with the money objection is to anticipate the objection and dispose of it in your presentation, before the client can raise it.

For example, explain how some clients sometimes tell you the fee is on the high side. Then tell them that once the client sees everything they get, they realize that in the end, they are actually saving money.

Bring up the subject of other attorneys who charge less than you do. Then explain why it makes sense to choose you instead.

Explain what it might cost the client if he chooses to delay. A client who might otherwise want to wait will now know why he should not.

Whatever objections you have heard in the past, deal with them before the client raises them.

Some clients will slip through the cracks. You will still occasionally hear the money objection. But by taking the above steps to deal with the objection in advance, you should find this to be the exception, not the rule.

Do you discuss fees on your website? If you want to know what to say, get this.

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Communication, Fees and Billing, Handling objections, Online Marketing, Salesmanship Tagged With: , , ,

The truth about duplicate content in blog posts and newsletter articles

August 27, 2013 by
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I used to worry about duplicate content in my posts. I didn’t want to repeat myself. I thought people would notice. “Wassup, you wrote about that six months ago. Out of ideas already? Wimp!”

Now I know that most people don’t notice and don’t care.

But even if they do notice, it doesn’t matter. What I write today will be different because I’m a different person today. I have different experiences to draw on. I’ll use different words and different examples.

You’re different, too. You’re not the same person you were six months ago. Your experiences give you a different context within which to receive my words. You will notice things you missed before. Ideas that weren’t important to you before will take on new significance.

My audience is different, too. Every day, new subscribers join my list and read my posts for the first time.

And good ideas bear repeating. I never stop reminding you to stay in touch with your clients. Even though you know you should do this, I’ll bet hearing it again helps.

So don’t worry about writing things you wrote before. It’s probably a good thing because you’re writing about something important.

No, Google won’t penalize you for duplicate content. Google’s Matt Cutts says, “I wouldn’t stress about this unless the content that you have duplicated is spammy or keyword stuffing.”

When you write as much as I do, you’re bound to re-visit old ideas. You can create new content by updating or expanding old posts, but if you wind up writing the same thing you wrote before, it’s okay. Somebody needs to hear it, or hear it again.

Need help with creating content for your blog or newsletter? Click here. 

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Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Attention lawyers who hate practicing law

August 26, 2013 by
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If you hate practicing law I have a question for you: If you were earning five times the income, would you hate it any less?

If the answer is yes, you’re lucky. All you need to do is increase your income. Keep reading. I’ve got something that can help.

If the answer is no, then you might need to get a new career. Before you decide to jump ship, however, let’s see if there’s anything we can do about the things you don’t like (and that includes “not enough income”).

I’m going to give you a simple exercise to do. I’ve done this exercise before and I can tell you that it really does help.

Grab a legal pad and write at the top of the page: “What I don’t like about practicing law” or “. . .about my practice”. Draw a line down the middle of the page.

On the left side of the page, write down everything that you don’t like about your practice. Write fast. Don’t worry about repeating yourself. Take as much time as you want and get it all out.

Done? Good. How did that feel? When I’ve done this before I’ve had mixed feelings. It feels good to give voice to my frustrations. Cathartic. Therapy on paper. But I also feel angry that I have allowed things I don’t like to continue for so long.

The point of this isn’t to make you feel bad or to dwell on the things you don’t want, however. It is to find solutions. So, on the right side of the page, next to each item that you don’t like, write down what you can do about it.

You don’t like the stress of litigation? What can you do about that? Don’t think too much, just write whatever comes to mind. If you can’t think of anything, perhaps you can ask someone who might know or you can do some research. Write that down. Or, just skip it and keep writing.

What can you do about your high overhead, inconsistent income, or ungrateful and overly demanding clients? Write down what you can do even if it’s radical, strange, or not something you want to do. If it’s something you CAN do, write it down.

There will be things on your list that you can’t do anything about it. You can’t change people, for example, only yourself. Don’t worry about what you can’t do or can’t change.

Write down as many “can do’s” as possible. When you’re done, go through the list again and see if there’s anything you can add.

You don’t have to tolerate things you don’t like. You can fix them, delegate them, or get rid of them. You can find ways to make things better.

A “can do” list is very empowering. It gives you a list of tasks and projects you can begin to work on. It gives you a checklist of ways to make your practice better, more profitable, more fulfilling. Even if you choose not to do some of the things on your can do list, you’ll feel better knowing that you have that power.

Look at your list of can do’s. Before you had problems and frustrations. Now, you have a list of things you can do. Imagine how good you’ll feel getting those things done!

What’s next? Transfer your list of “can do’s” to your task management system and hide your original list. No sense looking at what makes you frustrated (the left side of the list). It’s time to focus on taking action to eliminate problems and improve results.

A few months from now, when things are better, take a peek at your original list to see how far you’ve come. Smile. Then, start another list.

Need more income? Want to know what you “can do”? Study this and this.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Increase your income, Inspiration, Personal development, Productivity Tagged With:

The art of the handshake: how not to be creepy

August 23, 2013 by
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“The probing handshake is where the other person probes you with their index finger pressed against the inside of your wrist.” Sounds creepy and, according to this article on “The Art of the Handshake,” it’s not something you ever want to do (or have done to you).

We’ve all been the victim of bad handshakes. My favorite is when the other person doesn’t look you in eye. Ladies, I’m sure you know what I mean.

I wrote before about Bill Clinton’s hand shake. I said, “He doesn’t just clasp your right hand in his, he also touches your arm with his left hand. During the conversation, as he makes a point, he might reach out again to touch your arm or put his hand on your shoulder.” This is the right way to do it, according to the author, who says we should never use the more familiar, “Politician’s Handshake”:

“That is where you use two hands to cover or cup the other person’s hands. No one likes it, it is too personal, and you have to earn the right to do it. Politicians do it thinking you will like them more – you won’t. If you feel you need to touch more, shake the hand normally and with the other touch the forearm.”

Apparently, Hillary doesn’t have Bill’s touch. The author quotes an executive who said, “I shook hands with Hilary Clinton: two-handed and clammy.”

I used to have an office administrator who had an incredibly limp handshake. I couldn’t stand it. It was like shaking hands with a corpse. Actually, no. A corpse would be stiff. Of course being the he-man that I am, I had to squeeze his hand to show him how it should be done. Apparently, I was an ignorant and ill-mannered boob:

“If you are meeting with a person who gives a very weak handshake, perhaps that is their custom. Don’t grimace and don’t make a face, match their handshake with equal pressure and give thanks you have an opportunity to demonstrate that you have social intelligence and good manners.”

It could have been worse. When Bill Gates was introduced to the president of South Korea on a recent trip, he kept his left hand in his pocket. That’s rude in any country, but especially so in South Korea. But hey, at least he didn’t stare at her chest.

Need a marketing plan? Get this.

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Filed Under: Communication, Image, Networking, Personal development Tagged With: , ,

Random acts of marketing legal services

August 22, 2013 by
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A new study suggests that investing at random is as effective as hiring expensive financial advice. As reported in Wired, a physicist and an economist in Italy seem to have proven that throwing darts at stock listings can actually bring decent returns.

What if marketing legal services works the same way?

What if instead of hiring expensive consultants to manage their marketing, lawyers simply chose marketing related activities at random. Instead of trying to figure out the perfect strategy, they just kept busy?

I like this idea. You don’t need to hire experts and gurus or go to expensive seminars. You can ignore the “method of the week”. Just do something, every day, to reach out to people you know and people you want to know.

Call or write to someone. It doesn’t matter who. They don’t have to be your best client. It doesn’t matter if they can’t send you a lot of referrals. What happens next doesn’t really matter because over time, everything will average out and you will at least get average results from your efforts, if the analogy is true.

But hold on. Since most attorneys do no marketing, or do marketing very badly, your random acts of daily marketing should bring you results that are much better than average.

So, here’s what you do. Get out your calendar and schedule 15 minutes every day for marketing. Mark this time on your calendar as an appointment with yourself. If someone wants to see you at that time, you must tell them you have an appointment and you’ll have to see them a little later.

Now, keep that appointment. Every day, do something marketing related. It doesn’t matter what it is, just do something.

Scroll through your contact database and pick someone at random. Call or email them and say hello. If it’s a client, say thanks for being a good client. If it’s someone you met at a networking function three years ago and haven’t spoken to since, tell them you just found their name and wanted to see how they are doing.

It doesn’t matter who you contact or what you say. These are random acts of marketing, remember? Just keep busy and do something every day. If you get stuck, go find a chimpanzee and when he points at something, do that.

Marketing is simple. Lawyers are complicated. Stop thinking so much and do something.

Marketing is simple with this and this.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Bullet Journal: A paper based system for recording and managing tasks

August 21, 2013 by
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I was browsing the “What’s Popular” category on Youtube and saw a video about Bullet Journal, an analog journaling and note taking system. Basically, it’s a way to use pen and paper (or a Moleskine notebook) to record and manage your tasks, notes, and events.

What I like:

  • Pen and paper and Moleskine notebooks
  • The idea of having everything with me in one book
  • Writing on paper makes you think about what you’re writing
  • Low cost, always on, no batteries needed
  • The website. Great way to show you what it is and how it works
  • The title: Bullet Journal

What I don’t like:

  • Too much writing
  • Too much re-writing
  • Not good for projects (without a lot of re-writing)
  • Not good for recurring tasks (without a lot of re-writing)
  • You can’t move anything (without re-writing)
  • Writing on paper makes you think about what you’re writing (and maybe I just want to get it out of my head and not think about it)
  • I’ve already got a calendar

You probably know that I use Evernote to record my notes, tasks and projects. One place for everything and everything with me everywhere. If I wanted to go analog, however, the concepts behind Bullet Journal are appealing. But watching the video of what it takes to write and re-write tasks makes me glad I don’t use a paper-based system.

How about you? Do you use a paper based system? What do you think of Bullet Journal?

If you use Evernote, get my Evernote for Lawyers ebook.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Technology, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

It’s Better to Be Different than It Is to Be Better

August 20, 2013 by
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In marketing, we often hear that we need to be better than our competition and if we can’t be better, be different. One expert says being different is actually better than being better.

Tsufit (that’s her full name) was an attorney who started a second career as an entertainer. Today, she helps professionals develop their personal brand. She says, “It’s better to be different than it is to be better. If you focus on creating differences and distinctions between you and everyone else, you don’t have to focus on boasting or showing that you’re better.”

Tsufit says that in building your brand, you don’t want to come across as too perfect. “Drop the excessive professionalism and simply be yourself,” she says. Showing your vulnerabilities makes you more credible, she says.

Tsufit also says that the biggest mistake in personal branding is “not standing for anything, not having a slice of the market that is yours and yours alone.” “If you say you’re for anybody, you’re really for nobody because there’s no way to find you among the sea of other people who do what you do.”

Wise words from someone who has obviously followed her own advice. You can read more about her in this profile.

If you want to know how to be different, get The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: Image, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , ,

Selling legal services doesn’t make you a sales person

August 19, 2013 by
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I was at a seminar on Saturday and one of the speakers briefly outlined a six-step process for selling anything. Of course that includes selling legal services.

The process is the same whether you’re sitting down with a client and selling him on giving you a check, networking with corporate bigwigs and selling them on discussing their legal needs, and everything in between. To some extent, the process is the same when you are selling legal services from the stage or in print.

Here are the six steps with my comments in parentheses:

STEP ONE: COMMIT

  • Make a personal commitment to the process. (If you look down on selling as beneath you, if you dismiss it and say, “that’s not why I went to law school,” you’re missing the point. Lawyers sell legal services. That doesn’t mean we are sales people.)
  • Set S.M.A.R.T. goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time oriented. (What do you want to accomplish? When? How will you know if you did or did not achieve your goal?)
  • Define “why”: what’s the big picture for you that makes the effort worthwhile. (When you’re not getting the results you want, you need to remember why you opened your own office.)

STEP TWO: PREPARE

  • Adjust your attitude. (Selling is helping people get what they want by removing obstacles. Be proud of what you’re doing.)
  • Work on your skills. (Read, practice, learn from your mistakes.)
  • Add to your knowledge. (Learn about sales, human psychology, and your client’s industry or interests.)

STEP THREE: CONNECT

  • Appearance. (Make sure everything you do is done professionally.)
  • Approach. (Don’t always leave it up to them. When appropriate, take the initiate. Make the call.)
  • Rapport. (Build trust before you show them what you can do.)

STEP FOUR: INVESTIGATE

  • Observe. (What are their problems? What do they want to achieve?)
  • Ask. (Learn more by asking open ended questions. Find out what they want, what they have tried before, what you need to say or do to persuade them that you are the best choice.)
  • Listen. (20% asking, 80% listening.)

STEP FIVE: PRESENT

  • Timing. (Not too soon, not too late. Look for signs they are ready. If you’re not sure, ask for permission.)
  • Solutions. (We get paid to solve problems and achieve results. Show them what’s possible. Tell them how you have helped others in similar situations.)
  • Use their language. (Mirror their style, pace, and lexicon. Refer to your notes and reflect back to them what they told you they wanted and needed.)

STEP SIX: CLOSE

  • Ask for the sale. (Tell them what to do to get the benefits they want.)
  • Overcome objections. (“I need to think about it” is never the real objection. Find out the real reason(s) and show them why the benefits you deliver trump those reasons.)
  • Support. (If they sign up, plug them into your support system so they feel easy about what will happen and what to do if they have questions. If they don’t sign up, plug them into your follow-up system.)
  • Referrals. (Always ask for referrals, even if they’re not ready to get started.)

Selling legal services is a skill and it can be learned. The better you get, the more people you can help. Last I heard, that’s at least one of the reasons’ you went to law school.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep clients. Start here.

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Handling objections, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship Tagged With: ,
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