To build your practice faster create a “Focus 30 List”

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Most attorneys know a lot of people. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people–clients, former clients, attorneys, referral sources, prospects, friends and family, business contacts, community leaders. Your contact list is your most valuable marketing asset.

People who have inquired about your services are more likely to hire you than people who don’t know your name. People who have hired you before are likely to hire you again. People who have referred clients in the past are likely to refer in the future. The best way to grow any law practice is to stay in touch with the people who know, like, and trust you. Nurture this list and the people on it and your practice will grow.

But you can’t possibly give everyone on your list the same amount of attention. There simply isn’t time. And some people are more valuable to you than others. Your best client is obviously in a different category than someone who has never hired you. Someone who refers you two or three clients every month deserves more attention than someone who sent you one client last year.

You need a “Focus 30” list– a list of your 30 most valuable contacts.

These are your best clients and referral sources, your most promising prospects, the most influential and helpful professionals you know. Put their names on a list and carry it with you. Post it next to your computer. Keep it in front of you everywhere you go.

Why 30? Because experts tell us that’s about the maximum anyone can effectively work with at any one time. Whereas you will write and occasionally call the people on your master list, the people on your Focus 30 list get your personal time. You will talk to them every week, maybe even every day. You will meet with them every month. You give them your time and energy because they are the 30 most important people in your professional life.

Build or strengthen your relationship with your Focus 30. Call them, just to see how they’re doing. Send them business. Get to know their families, their employees, and their best contacts. Dedicate 80% of your time to your Focus 30 list, 20% to everyone else.

Your list will change over time. You will add people as they play a more prominent role in your life and remove those who drift away. Someone you thought deserved to be on the list will disappoint you. Someone who isn’t even on your radar today will emerge as a valuable ally tomorrow.

Your list may start out with only five or ten people. No hurry. Start with them.

When you get to thirty, you’ll need to pare some names to make room for others. Continually upgrade your list so that you focus on the best. And when you have 30 of the best, upgrade your list to the “best of the best”.

Eventually, you will have 30 people who send you so much business you won’t be able to handle it all.

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“I’m a doctor, Jim, not a salesman!”

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I'm a doctor, Jim, not a salesman!Let’s be honest, most attorneys don’t like marketing. Or so they say.

“I didn’t go to law school to be a salesman,” they’ll say, or, “I’m good at what I do, I shouldn’t have to promote myself.”

I understand how they feel.

And to some extent, their “good work” will serve as a magnet for referrals or repeat business. But to categorically dismiss marketing of any kind is foolhardy.

Advertising isn’t so bad, is it? Even Abe Lincoln advertised:

Do you have a web site? Guess what? You’re advertising. Same goes for a directory listing.

Do you ever answer the question, “What do you do for a living?” Well, whatever you say in response is selling.

In fact, every letter we send, every conversation we have, every article, blog post, or speech, is an opportunity not just to deliver words and ideas but to sell the reader or listener on us and our ability to deliver benefits.

When a client signs your retainer and gives you a check, a sale has taken place.

The sales aspects of our communications are more subtle than an informercial pitch, but it’s sales, nevertheless.

And I’m not even going to mention that negotiating, demand letters, motions, and closing arguments are sales of the highest order.

Lawyers sell. (But that doesn’t make us sales people.)

Lawyers “do” marketing. Marketing is defined as everything we do to get and keep clients.

Sales, marketing, public relations, publicity. . . what’s the difference?

I’ve found no better explanation than this one:

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying, “Circus is coming to Fairgrounds Sunday,” that’s Advertising.

If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk him through town, that’s a Promotion.

If the elephant walks through the Mayor’s flower bed, that’s Publicity.

If you can get the Mayor to laugh about it, that’s Public Relations.

If the town’s citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.

– M Booth & Associates

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The Attorney Marketing Center: Technolawyer’s “SmallLaw Pick of the Week”

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Each week, the editorial staff of SmallLaw, Technolawyer’s email newsletter, sifts through hundreds of articles on the legal Web. From these articles, they select one as their Pick of the Week.

I’m proud to report that my post on “What to give new clients when they sign up,” was chosen Pick of the Week in the September 20, 2011 issue of SmallLaw.

Neil Squillante, publisher of SmallLaw, had this to say about the significance of the award:

Many awards given out these days are meaningless because marketing can play a role in determining who wins. By contrast, those who win our SmallLaw Pick of the Week don’t even know they’re in the running, and could not influence us even they did. It’s a pure editorial award. We think this process makes it meaningful and a true honor.

I am indeed honored to be chosen and proud to share this news with my readers.

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Create a (free) social media web page about you with about.me

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A social media hub page is a virtual business card: a single web page with a brief bio (or link thereto) and links to your websites, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts. This allows you to provide a single link in your email signature, your (paper) business card, in an article byline, and anywhere else your name appears in print or online. A single link is clean and professional looking, one reason why virtual business cards are becoming more popular.

I’ve experimented with different options. Recently, I set up an account with about.me. My page was easy to set up and customize. I uploaded a background image (me, looking fierce) but did not include a bio. Instead, I listed my professional roles as attorney, writer, and entrepreneur.

If you click on the doo-hickey at the top of the page, it will take you to a random assortment of other about.me pages, many of which are quite creative. Great for ideas.

About.me is integrated with Klout, a new social media “rating” service that tells you how influential you are in the online world. It also tells you who you influence and who influences you. I’m not sure how useful this is but it’s interesting to watch my klout index increase.

I also set up an account with flavors.me, which allowed me to create an almost identical page. They have a paid version ($20/yr.) with added customization features. Attorney Dan Gold set up a page on flavors.me and took advantage of those upgraded features.

About.me is free; I couldn’t find a paid version. I’d like to see more options for configuring pages, like the paid version of Flavors.me seems to provide, but all in all, this is a great way to quickly set up a virtual business card. Give it (or flavors.me) a try. Send me a link to your page and I’ll feature it in a future blog post.

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Are you ignoring prospects who don’t have a computer or smart phone?

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There are billions of people in the world who aren’t able to read this.

No, not attorneys, although I’m sure there are still a few who haven’t evolved into the 21st century. But they aren’t my target market.

Would I like to communicate with them? Sure. But I’m willing to lose, say, the 5% who aren’t connected, in favor of the economics of reaching the 95% who are.

How about you? Is your target market connected? Do you know how many are not?

If a significant percentage of your target market isn’t online and you do most of your marketing online, you obviously need other ways to communicate.

But what if the bulk of your target market is online? Can you safely ignore the few who aren’t?

If you’re just looking at the numbers, sure. But there are some situations where it makes sense to have other options.

Take business cards, for example. There is a trend today towards the digital business card whereby you collect the other person’s information digitally in your smart phone, via a a “bump” or other method, and they collect yours as well. You don’t need to carry paper business cards, all you need is your phone.

There’s nothing wrong with a digital card, of course; it does save the effort of manually transferring information from paper to your electronic database and it’s kind of cool. But what about the prospect who doesn’t have a smart phone or the right app to collect your information? If all you have is a digital card, you may have squandered an opportunity to make a potentially lucrative new connection.

Whether or not you’ve gone digital, you still need to carry (paper) business cards. And, if you do carry paper cards, you shouldn’t assume the people you give them to can read your QR code. Have your practice areas and other information printed on the card as well.

I love technology and use it extensively; you may, too. But we shouldn’t assume that everyone knows what we know. I’m not saying you have to translate all your marketing documents to print or do a print newsletter in addition to your ezine, unless most of your target market is offline. But with something as inexpensive and effective as a business card, there’s no excuse for not having them.

High tech marketing may be the future but low tech will always work–and you never have to worry about a dead battery.

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What I learned in the fourth grade about marketing legal services

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After my post, “What to say when someone asks, ‘What do you do?”‘ I read an interesting take on the issue at The Non Billable Hour. In, “The Haiku of What You do,” Matt Homann suggests crafting your answer using Haiku.

As you might recall from fourth grade English, a Haiku is a three line poem consisting of 17 words (or syllables), five on the first line, seven on the second line, and five on the third. Homann suggests structuring your response as follows:

  • Who do I help? (Answer in Five Words)
  • What do I do for them? (Answer in Seven Words)
  • Why do they need me? (Answer in Five Words)

The minimalist nature of Haiku lends itself well to an elevator speech. It forces you to get to the essence of what you do and for whom you do it.

Holmann offers this example for a personal injury attorney:

I help injured accident victims

understand their rights and recover medical expenses

from people who are responsible.

Here’s what I came up with for what I do:

I show attorneys how to

get more clients and increase their income

accomplishing more and working less.

Give it a try and see what you come up with. Post your results in the comments.

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What to say when someone asks, “What do you do?”

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The next time someone asks you what you do what will you say?

“I’m a lawyer”?

That doesn’t say very much, does it? It’s a good way to clear the room, however.

“I’m a PI lawyer”?

I used to say that but too many people wondered if I was a lawyer or a private investigator.

“I’m a personal injury lawyer”?

Getting better, but many people still don’t know what that means or how you can help them.

If you’ve ever found yourself searching for the right way to answer this question, help is on the way. All you need to do is follow these three steps:

  1. “You know how. . .?” Orient the listener to the problems you solve.
  2. “I help. . .”. Tell them what you do.
  3. “I’m a. . .”. State your practice area.

Examples:

  • Estate planning: “You know how people want to protect their kids and their spouse in case something happens to them? Well, I take care of everything for them so they never have to worry about that again. I’m an estate planning lawyer.”
  • Personal injury: “You know how people get injured in a car accident or on someone else’s property and want to collect money from the other party or their insurance? I make sure they get their bills paid and don’t get taken advantage of so they can get well and get back to work. I’m a personal injury lawyer.”
  • Small business lawyer: “You know how business owners need to protect their businesses and make better decisions? I help them do that with advice and legal documents. I’m a business lawyer.”
  • Family law: “You know how when people get divorced they want to protect their kids and get a fair property settlement? I take care of that for them so they get what they deserve and can sleep better at night. I’m a family law attorney.”

You can also add a few words about “what else” you do: “I’m a business lawyer. . . I also help business owners collect money that’s owed to them and defend them when anyone sues or tries to make a claim against their company.”

You get the idea.

Answering this way gives the listener a context so they can better understand what you do and how you can help them, or someone they know. It may still clear the room, however.

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“What can I do in the next two minutes to grow my law practice?”

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I know, you’re busy. I also know you have lots of ideas for getting more clients and increasing your income that you aren’t doing. You’re so busy with work, there’s no time for anything else. But actually, there is.

It’s called, ‘marketing in the moment”.

It doesn’t require you to set aside a half day, a weekend, or even an hour to work on marketing projects. Marketing in the moment means taking advantage of the little snippets of time we all have throughout the day to do the “little things” that, in the aggregate, help your practice grow.

The idea is simple (as all great ideas are). Throughout the day, as often as you can, ask yourself, “What can I do in the next two minutes to grow my practice?”

There are lots of things you can do in two minutes. You can

  • Call a client to ask if he knows about your new Facebook fan page
  • Send an email to a prospective referral source
  • Review your notes for your upcoming speech
  • Jot down some thoughts for an article
  • Brainstorm ideas for a new report or seminar
  • Write a list of new key words for your web site
  • Check in with someone who’s working on a project for you
  • Check out a competitors web site
  • Read the comments on a book you’ve been thinking about ordering
  • Read another article on this blog

Periodically throughout your day, between phone calls, while you’re driving, while you’re eating lunch, or whenever you think about it, pause and ask yourself, “What can I do in the next two minutes to grow my practice?” (You may want to write the question on a sticky note or index card and put it where you can see it.)

You’re asking your subconscious mind, of course, and it won’t disappoint you. While you’ve been working and sleeping and doing all the things you do, your subconscious mind has been working on your ideas and coming up with new ones, and, because you asked, it will deliver those ideas to you in bite-sized, two minute chunks.

You’ll remember people you may not have thought about and you’ll call them or email them. You’ll open your bookmarks and see a web site you’ve been meaning to look at. You’ll jot down ideas for your newsletter or blog. You’ll do a lot of things you may never have done had you not asked that question.

Try it. Ask yourself that question right now. Then go do it.

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A simple marketing plan for attorneys

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Yesterday, I said there are two mistakes lawyers make in marketing their services: not having a plan and not executing that plan. Today, I want to help you create a simple marketing plan for your law practice.

Why simple? Because if it’s not simple, you won’t do it.

Forget complicated. Forget long term. A simple plan has a few steps and a short time frame–this month, this week, today. You can create this plan in a few minutes; you can execute the plan a few minutes a day. Short, sweet, do-able. Baby steps, followed by more baby steps.

Most plans are overwhelming. Pages of tasks and sub-tasks, market research, resources, footnotes. A simple plan fits on a sticky note.

So let’s get to it. Let’s create a simple plan and let’s use a magic number: three. Three things. Not seven or seventeen, just three. Why three? Because you can remember three things. You won’t even need a sticky note.

We’ll start with some objectives:

  • Three new clients a month
  • Three prospects a week
  • Three actions a day

Your goal is three new clients a month. (Feel free to adjust these numbers for your practice.) In order to get them, you’re going to get three prospects each week. In order to do that, you’re going to perform three marketing-related activities each day.

So far so good. Easy peezy.

Now, let’s brainstorm some ideas. Write down your ideas–this is not your plan, it is thinking on paper which will help you create your plan.

NEW CLIENTS

There are different kinds of “new clients”:

  • Never hired you before
  • Former clients who hire you again
  • Existing clients with new engagements

Choose one. Let’s say, “never hired you before.”

PROSPECTS

Let’s define a prospect as someone who looks at some information: a brochure, a web page, an ad, a recorded seminar–something that lets them see what you can do for them. Let’s say you’ve written a report on a subject of interest to your target market. Your objective for the week is to get your report into the hands of three people who have never hired you.

Again, simple, and do-able.

ACTIONS

There are many ways to get information into the hands of a prospect. You can do that via

  • Phone
  • Email
  • Social media
  • Advertising
  • Snail mail
  • In person
  • Articles
  • Speaking
  • Etc.

Let’s use your existing network of clients and professional contacts as the conduit for distributing your report and phone and email to do that. So, here are your action steps, in preparation for executing your plan:

  1. Write a report.
  2. Make a list of clients, former clients, and professionals you can contact.
  3. Calendar 15 minutes a day for calls.

Now, here’s your plan:

  1. Monday through Friday, between 3pm and 3:15pm, I will call three people on my list.
  2. I will tell them about my report, confirm their email, and tell them I’m sending the report to them.
  3. I will ask them to forward the report to people they know who might be interested in reading it.

A simple plan. One you can do. One you will do. And one that will work.

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