The Attorney Marketing Center » Goal Setting

A marketing plan for lawyers–part two

David Ward — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:40:41 +0000

In a previous post, we examined the four steps to creating a marketing plan. You learned that a marketing plan should be simple, and that it is an ongoing process, with most of the planning taking place on a monthly and weekly basis.

You also learned the importance of having a long-term vision statement and annual goals.

Before we move on to discuss monthly planning and daily activities, let's delve a little deeper into the goal setting process.

There are six major areas of life–Career/Financial, Physical/Health, Family/Home, Mental/Educational, Spiritual, and Social/Cultural. For most people, happiness comes from having a well-balanced life, with success in all six areas.

This doesn't mean you need to set annual goals in all six ares. Some areas may be going well for you right now, or there may be one or two areas that are more important to you this year. Throughout your life, your priorities will change and so will your goals. So, right now, if you want to focus on just one or two areas of your life, that's fine.

For each area of focus, you should have no more than three annual goals. One is even better.

Sometimes, people confuse “benefits” with “goals”. For example, in the area of Career/Financial, you may have a goal to earn a certain amount of money, another goal to buy a new house, and a third goal to pay off your credit card balances. But the second two are really benefits to be obtained from the first goal, so, in reality, you have just one goal.

Right now, I have just one area of my life I’m focused on and I have one goal in that area. There are many benefits to be derived from achieving that goal and there also many sub-goals I need to hit before I will achieve it. This works for me and you should do what works for you. (You can always change your goals.)

For each annual goal, follow these five steps and you will be well on your way to achieving them:

STEP ONE

Make sure your goal is S.M.A.R.T.–Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Tangible. Write your goal in the present tense, as though already obtained, make it specific, and attach a date. Since we’re focused on marketing, here’s an example of a S.M.A.R.T. financial goal: “I’m excited that I am now earning a net income of $15,000 per month, or more, in my law practice, by or before December 31, 2010.”

STEP TWO

List (a) the benefits to be obtained and (b) the losses to be avoided by achieving this goal. It’s important that you understand the value and importance of your goals and have some emotional investment in them.

Benefits to be achieved

Pride, feeling of accomplishment
Pay off debts
Increase savings, build for the future
Hire another paralegal, gain more free time
Reduce stress

Losses to be avoided

Cancelling next year’s vacation
Moving to a smaller office

STEP THREE

List (a) “Possible obstacles” to obtaining the goal and, for each obstacle, (b) “Possible Solutions”.

One of your obstacles is “you”. No doubt there are things you need to learn, things you need to do more of or get better at, or things you need to stop doing. What are they? What obstacles have prevented you from achieving your goal in the past? And what are some possible solutions? (Your goal is not S.M.A.R.T. unless you list possible solutions because without solutions, you can't move forward.)

Possible obstacles/Solutions [Examples]

Obstacle: Me–my lack of patience. Solutions: Read Dale Carnegie, other books, find a mentor who has overcome that obstacle
Obstacle: Not enough clients. Solutions: Study marketing, set up a blog, join networking group.
Obstacle: Not enough time: Solutions: Find a “time management” system; hire another paralegal.

This will help you identity actions you need to take on the way to achieving your goals and help you identity sub-goals and projects you need to tackle.

STEP FOUR

List specific action steps you need to do to move you forward towards achieving the goal. Schedule target dates for each of these steps and put these dates on your monthly calendar.

These four steps will help ensure that you have meaningful goals, specific action steps and target dates for their achievement.

STEP FIVE

This goal setting process should be reviewed and re-written each month, at your monthly planning session. Ideally, this will take place a day or two before the end of the previous month. "Always plan next month before next month begins."

Each month, as you make progress towards your goals, circumstances will change and your plan will change. As you move forward, you will conduct a weekly review of your monthly plans and make adjustments to your daily activities. We'll talk about that in our next post on this subject.

A marketing plan for lawyers–a lot simpler than you think

David Ward — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:20:08 +0000

Do you have a marketing plan for your law practice? I'll bet you don't. Most attorneys tell me they haven't had the time to write one and they don't know where to begin.

The good news is it's a lot simpler than you think and you can get the most important part done in about an hour.

Most people think a marketing plan is a detailed, step-by-step blueprint for building their business or practice. Yes, plans like this are written every day, but a complex plan is neither necessary nor effective.

You can't accurately predict what will happen six months or a year from now. There are too many variables. Effective marketing plans are written on the battle field, in real time. As circumstances change, the plan changes, and the plan you start with is almost never the plan that you end with.

Don't get me wrong, a well planned life is a successful life, but most of the planning is done on a shorter time line–month to month and week to week. The planning process has the following elements:

Long term vision
Annual goals
Monthly plans (and weekly reviews)
Daily actions

You can do the first two in about an hour.

Start by writing a vision statement for the next five years (or ten). Where do you want to be? What do you want for your practice and personal life?

With respect to your practice, how much do you want to be earning? What do you want to be doing, in terms of practice areas, niche markets, and types of clients? Do you want a big, busy practice or something smaller but equally remunerative (e.g., fewer clients, less overhead)? Do you want partners or do you want to work for a firm? Maybe you'd like to be retired from practicing and doing something else. Or practicing part time so you have more time for travel and for your family or anything else. What do you want?

Think big! Turn on your dream machine and don't limit yourself in any way. In five years, you can accomplish just about anything, so don't hold back. You are the architect of your life, so make it a good one.

Take about thirty to forty-five minutes and start writing. A few paragraphs to one page is all you need. Write in the present tense, as though you are already living your vision. Some people like to describe their birthday, five years in the future: what they are doing that day, who they are with, what they have accomplished, what they are looking forward to.

Remember, there are no restrictions. Short of defying the laws of physics or being completely unrealistic, you can be, do, or have whatever you want. Don't be logical about this. No, "yeah, buts. . .", this is your dream for the future and you should make it as exciting and delicious as you want.

Once you have your vision statement, you know where you want to go. Everything you do hereafter will be designed to move you forward towards that vision.

The next step is annual goals. You can have goals for different aspects of your life–professional, spiritual, physical, and so forth, but within each category, one goal is usually best (and no more than three).

Read your vision statement and choose an annual goal that will move you forward towards that vision in a meaningful way. Write down that goal.

In about an hour, you will accomplished something that perhaps you have never done before. The most important part of any plan is to know the destination, and now you know!

Get out your calendar and find another hour some time before the end of this month. With your vision statement and annual goal(s) in hand, you'll be able to effectively plan next month. I usually do this on a Sunday morning when it's quiet.

I'll talk about the monthly plans and daily actions in another post, but I want to leave you with a key to effective planning. If you do nothing else but embrace this concept, you will be incredibly effective in your growth and levels of achievement. What is the key? It's this: "Always plan tomorrow before tomorrow begins. And always plan next month before next month begins."

How to achieve your New Year's Resolution in 59 Seconds

David Ward — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:33:21 +0000

Are you pursuing your dreams like Paul Potts did?

David Ward — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:08:06 +0000

The principle of accelerating acceleration

David Ward — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:42:59 +0000

In "The Slight Edge," Jeff Olson talks about the power of doing "the little things" over and over again, consistently, over time, until the compounded effect of those small efforts produces dramatic change. Brian Tracy, in "Create Your Own Future: How to Master the 12 Critical Factors of Unlimited Success," calls this same phenomenon, "the principle of accelerating acceleration."

Tracy, who sees the principle as a corollary of "law of attraction, says, [page 48], "Whatever you are moving toward [i.e., a goal] begins moving toward you as well." His characterization of how the principle operates should be given to every attorney who is about to start their own practice:

"When you first set a new, big goal and begin moving toward it, your progress will often be quite slow. You may be frustrated and think of giving up. The bigger your goal, the further away it will seem. You may have to work on it for a long time before you see any progress at all. But this is all part of the process of goal attainment."

"The 20/80 rule helps to explain the principle. . . . For the first 80 percent of the time that you are working toward your goal, you will only cover about 20 percent of the distance. However, if you persist and refuse to give up, you will accomplish the final 80 percent of your goal in the last 20 percent of the time that you spend working on it.

"Many people work for weeks, months, and even years toward a big goal and see little progress. They often lose heart and give up. But what they didn't realize is that they had laid all of the groundwork necessary and were almost at the take-off point. They were just about to start accelerating toward their goal, and their goal was about to start moving at a great speed toward them.

"This principle of accelerating acceleration seems to apply to almost every big goal that you set for yourself. You must therefore decide in advance that you will never give up."

So, as you contemplate how you might create your own future in the new year, start with your long-term, visionary goals. Decide now that they are worth the effort you are about to make. Get used to the idea that you probably won't see most of the results you seek for a long time. And then, and only then, when you tell yourself (and anyone else who will listen) that you won't give up until you get what you want, you might actually believe it.

What could you do if you didn't know any better?

David Ward — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:02:53 +0000

This clip, from the movie, "Facing The Giants," is a poignant reminder that we can do more than we think we can. It also shows you why you should never give up.

If you need a bit of inspiration, or a kick in the seat, watch this clip and ask yourself, "What could I do if I didn't know I couldn't?"

And go for it.

How to achieve any goal you set–guaranteed

David Ward — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:32:49 +0000

I just finished reading, "Double Your Income Doing What You Love," by Raymond Aaron, which describes a unique method of setting and achieving goals. One of the perennial issues in goal setting is whether we should set big goals, which inspire us to reach high but usually leave us disappointed, or small goals, which we almost always achieve, but don't take us very far. Aaron presents a system that provides the perfect answer, one I have never seen before.

"Instead of recording a goal, you subdivide your goal into three levels of achievement," he says. The first level is what we are almost certain to do, not based on our hopes but on our actual track record. "It is not much more than a to-do item," he says. But just because you are almost certain to do it doesn't mean you will and so it is still a goal. This first level can be called the "minimum."

The next level is your "target". This is a stretch beyond what you are confident you can do.

The highest level he calls "outrageous" and it is the most challenging of the three, practically impossible to achieve.

By setting three levels of the same goal, you will always achieve that goal. You are guaranteed to succeed at some level, and thus your self-esteem is enhanced (the rationale behind setting easy goals) while you are simultaneously inspired by your bigger target and outrageous goals. You'll hit your target goals often enough, and sometimes hit (or make significant progress towards) your outrageous goals. The bottom line of this system is that you hit more goals more often.

Aaron also suggests using monthly goals as your primary time line, long enough to accomplish something meaningful but short enough to be held accountable. Monthly goals are tactical, the mechanics of reaching our long term (annual) strategic goals.

He also tells us that while we are responsible for our lives and, therefore, the accomplishment of our goals, this doesn't mean we are the ones who have to do everything (or anything) towards their achievement. Aaron is a proponent of delegation, urging us to do only what we love. "When you set a goal, you likely wonder when you are ever going to find time to complete it. When I set a goal, I wonder who is going to do it. If it's not one of my special talents, I delegate it so that it gets done."

Over the last twenty-four years, Aaron has mentored thousands to success with his goal setting methods, and, not surprisingly, suggests everyone will benefit from "a mentored life." "You do what makes sense to you. Therefore, on your own, you keep doing the same thing all the time, because it makes sense to you. To have a giant leap forward in your life, you need to do what does not make sense to you. Only a very wise mentor can alert you to such new and strange actions you could take to make a huge change in your life."

I recommend Aaron's book. In fact, I guarantee you'll get something out of it.

A short course in attorney marketing (or, how to get back on track when you have lost your way)

David Ward — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:30:20 +0000

I got an email from an attorney who has lost his way.

"I'm 47 and have been an attorney for 20 years, the last 15 as a solo
practitioner. I bought your referral magic program in 1997 or 1998, and
started using some of its ideas. I've made good money over the years, but I
strayed from utilizing your system consistently. Over the last two years, my
client base has dwindled and I do not attract new clients on a consistent
basis. I've been stressed about this and to me, the future looks bleak
unless I change the way I've been doing things. I want to refocus and grow
my client base and my practice, so that I can count on it for the next 20
years, as I raise my family ( 3 kids ages 13-11-7 ) and plan for retirement.
Can/will you help me get back on track?"

I replied and asked for some additional information. His practice is PI, criminal defense, and divorce. He's not doing any marketing now, and does not maintain a list of any kind, but he does get referrals from clients, friends, and professionals. He hasn't thought about goals. He likes being his own boss but admits that if he could make the same money doing something else, he probably would.

He is at a turning point. He needs to get back on track in marketing his practice. That's actually the easy part. He just needs to be reminded about what he already knows. First, he needs to reflect on where he wants to go with his practice and his life. If the passion is gone, he needs to find it again or admit it's gone and consider some changes.

Here is the advice I gave him:

–
BUILDING YOUR PRACTICE

1. Pick one practice area. What do you do best, love the most, have the most success with? As a general practitioner, you're trying to be everything to everybody. Instead, focus. Specialize. Be the very best at one thing, not okay at several. First thing that will happen is you will now be in a position to get referrals from attorneys who are now your competitors.

2. Target niche markets. You didn't talk about who you represent and I suppose that's because the answer is "anybody". A better answer is to target a very specific class of individuals. Be a big fish in a small pond. For example, if you chose PI and your target market was Honduran immigrants, you would eventually seek to become the lawyer most Honduran immigrants think of when they are injured. You would have fewer places to network, advertise, etc., and thus, with less effort and dollars, you could dominate that market. You would be using a rifle instead of a shotgun.

3. You need a list and you need it now. Start building it, adding to it, building a relationship with the people on it. Nurture them, communicate with them, stay in touch with them, educate them, and when they need your services (or know someone who does), you will be the one they will call. You can do this online and offline and I would suggest you do both.

4. If you're not on the Internet, you need to be. Start a web site (or better, a blog) and start harvesting free (and paid) search traffic. You can "ramp up" your practice very quickly this way.

BEYOND MARKETING

1. You need to know where you want to go. Write out what you want your life to look like five years from today. What are you doing (or not), with whom, where, how. What is a typical day? And no limitations. It can be whatever you want it to be. Want to be retired and traveling? You can do that. Working from home? Investing? Teaching? Or, running a huge practice? In five years (or less) you can accomplish anything. I know. I did it, first with my marketing business and then with another business that now provides me with a six-figure passive, residual income, which means I will never have to work again unless I want to. It took me a few years to do this, working part time. (I'm working with other lawyers who are doing it, too, so if you're interested, let me know and I'll get you some information.) Once you know where you want to go, you can set some interim goals to help you get there, but start with the end in mind.

2. It's supposed to be fun. If you are not enjoying what you are doing, you're doing it wrong (or you're doing the wrong thing). You can have it all. Really. Life is not meant to be a struggle, and if you are unmotivated and unhappy, listen to your emotions, they are telling you that you are not going in the right direction, you need to change.

3. I'm going to guess that your kids are your motivation. You want to provide for them, be with them, and make them proud of you. Never forget this. Once you know what direction you want to go, whenever you find yourself not doing what you need to do, remember your kids.

I hope this helps. Please keep in touch.

Unhappy in your law career? Sue your law school!

David Ward — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:33:47 +0000

Management consultant Peter Drucker once said, "Any time I have seen someone accomplishing something magnificent, they have been a monomaniac with a mission. A single-minded individual with a passion." Former advertising executive Donnie Deutsch has a program on cable called, "The Big Idea". Each week, Deutsch interviews entrepreneurs and business legends about their secrets to success. Without prompting, nearly every one names passion as the key to their success. I quoted a study about ten days ago that all but proves this.

And so as we embark on a new year, my question to you is, "Are you building your career around your passion?"

I'm guessing the answer is no.

I don't know you, it's just that statistically speaking, most people follow a career path based on something other than the call of their hearts. I've got to believe the numbers are even higher for lawyers.

I heard about an article today in the Wall Street Journal citing a growing number of attorneys who are disillusioned with the practice of law. That's not news, really, but I was told the article also noted a number of new lawyers who are suing their law schools for misrepresentation about their prospects in the legal job market. Isn't that special?

In the past, I have talked to many lawyers who were inquiring about my marketing program who I talked out of purchasing because I could hear in their voices their lack of enthusiam for their career. I told them I could help them bring in clients but given their state of mind, the clients wouldn't stay.

Some people truly love practicing law. God bless you if that's you. But I think many lawyers have convinced themselves that they love practicing when in reality, they would rather be doing something else. The worst place to be, however, is knowing you hate what you do but not seeing a way out.

There is always a way out. It might be painful–economically and emotionally–but the pain will pass. Five years from now at the outset, you could be happily engulfed in a new career, a new life. The sooner you take steps towards changing, the sooner your new life will appear.

I didn't know where I was headed when I began this post, and I certainly don't want to start the year with a downer. But I know this is a time when goals are set, resoulutions are resolved, and it's not long before we are all caught up in the day to day of our careers, and before you know it, another year has come and gone. So I wanted to mention it once more and now I'm done with this topic (for now), so let's get back to the business of bringing in clients and increasing incomes. After all, it's better to be miserable with money than miserable and broke.

Happy New Year?

Please don't wait twenty years like I did

David Ward — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:38:20 +0000

A friend of mine says, "When you love what you do and you do what you love, you'll never work another day in your life." We've heard it so many times, it must be true: The key to success and happiness in your working life is to find something you are passionate about.

A study of 1,500 people over twenty years shows how passion makes a significant difference in a person's career:

At the outset of the study, the group was divided into Group A, 83 percent of the sample, who were embarking on a career for the prospects of making money now in order to do what they wanted later, and Group B, the other 17 percent of the sample, who had chosen their career path for the reverse reason, they were going to pursure what they wanted to do now and worry about the money later.

The data showed some startling revelations:

At the end of 20 years, 101 of the 1,500 had become millionaries.

Of the millionaires, all but one–100 our of 101–were from Group B, the group that had chosen to pursue what they loved! [Kriegel and Patler, If It Ain't Broke. . .Break It!, p. 259, cited in Talent is Never Enough, p. 35, by John C. Maxwell]

But what if you're not pasionate about your career? What then? It seems to me you have three choices.

Change careers
Change roles
Live with it.

The third choice, living with it, should be unacceptable, but this is the choice I believe most people make. It is a recipe for unhappiness and illness and an unfulfilled life, and it is also the most difficult way to prosper (according to the above noted study), but it is certainly understandable. Lawyers have so much invested in their careers–time, money, energy and ego–it is difficult to contemplate significant change. "What would (fill in the blank) think?" "I don't know how" and "I don't have time" are common reactions.

Changing careers is becoming more common. I read recently that the attrition rate for new attorneys is at astronomically high levels. I changed careers (more than once) and I'm glad I did and very happy where I am now. I truly am passionate about what I do! But while changing careers may be the ultimate answer for an individual, it shouldn't be the first choice.

Changing roles is the "best first option".

You can change roles by changing jobs. If you don't like the people you work with, look for another environment. It might be that simple. If litigation isn't where you want to be, perhaps you can draft documents. And so on.

You can also change roles by finding some aspect of what you do that you are indeed passionate about. It might be only a small part of what you do, but if you focus on it, it might be enough to make up for everything else you have to do.

I know an estate planner who was an excellent draftsman but was all thumbs when it came to finding clients. He partnered with a rainmaker who did not possess the technical skills (or patience) of my friend, and now, the two are happy and making more money than each of them ever made on their own.

We've all known people who say they are "burned out". In reality, they probably weren't on fire in the first place. I realized this was true for me very early in my law career, but it took me a very long time to give myself permission to change, and two decades before I allowed myself to make it permanent.

The purpose of life is joy, and if you are not passionate about what you do for a living, you are shortchanging yourself. As you comtemplate your career and goals for next year and beyond, my Christmas wish for you is that you will be honest with yourself about where you are and where you would like to be.

You can be happy and fulfilled and successful. You can have it all. The first step is slowing down long enough to think about this, and then accepting it. Only then can you begin the process of working towards it.