The probem with free consultations

March 17, 2026 by
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In the past year, my wife and I wanted to do some upgrades to our house and searched for contractors to get estimates. To my surprise, many contractors didn’t offer free estimates. They asked for a fee of $50 or $80 or more to provide an estimate, which they would credit back to us if we decided to hire them. 

On principle, we rejected these contractors and called others who did things the old-fashioned way, coming out to look at the job and giving us an estimate.   

I’m sure the “new age” contractors would say they no longer provide free estimates because of the expense of advertising and hiring salespeople and the like, and that statistically, since most customers who get bids don’t hire them, charging a small fee for an estimate helps defray some of their expenses. 

And weed out people who are “just looking” and not committed to getting the work done. 

A seemingly logical argument. But the reality is that we called (and hired) contractors who advertised free estimates. We didn’t call or hire ones who didn’t.  

I’m sure many customers would say the same thing. 

Now, attorneys. 

Some offer free consultations (and estimates) and some don’t. It depends on their practice area and market. And legal services have different metrics than contractors, so I’m not going to tell you to do one thing or the other. 

but I will tell you to think about it. 

Whatever you’ve always done, you might consider making some changes. After all, success in marketing boils down to having more conversations with more prospective clients and you might want to find ways to do more of that.

A different business model might might give you a competitive advantage. It might bring you more clients, decrease your overhead, and increase your (net) income. 

On the other hand, it might not. 

Attorneys argue that if they provide free consultations, they give prospective clients their legal opinion, and they are entitled to be paid for that. 

That’s true. But you know the answer to that. 

Give prospective clients enough information and advice to help them see that they have a problem and that you have the solution, but not so much information and advice that they don’t need to hire you. 

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Filed Under: Uncategorized

How to increase your legal fees

March 12, 2026 by
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When my accountant completed my tax returns last year, he sent them to me for my signature, along with his bill. Everything looked good, except for one thing. His fee was a lot higher than it was the previous year, and that was higher than the year before that. 

And it was a big increase. Almost shockingly so. 

What did I do? 

I paid it. 

I thought about making a stink, even finding another CPA, or at least telling him I wasn’t happy about the increase and asking him why. But I’ve been with him for decades; he does good work and I trust him and I’m pretty sure he saves me more than his fee. And, let’s face it, inflation has been bi-otch for the last several years. 

So I said nothing. 

But the increase still rattled my bones.

So, if you’re thinking about increasing your fees anytime soon, I have some advice. 

First, don’t agonize about it; do what you have to do. Clients understand that the price of everything goes up and that things tend to cost more this year than last. But don’t just send your clients a higher bill—give them a heads up. 

Tell them in advance that your fees are going up and tell them why.

Mention inflation or other factors. If it’s been a while since the last time you increased your fees, mention that, too. And don’t wait so long next time because the longer you wait, the bigger the increase, and the more shock and awe your clients might feel.

Also, do what you can to take care of your most loyal clients. The ones who have been with you for a long time. Consider delaying the increase for them and tell them that. “As one of our most valued clients, we’re keeping your rate the same for the next 3 months,” for example. 

I would have appreciated getting a note from my accountant along those lines. 

In short, show your clients you don’t take them for granted. Put yourself in their shoes and do what you would like them to do if your roles were reversed.

They might be shocked at the size of your next bill, but if you’ve done things right, they’ll pay it. 

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

What are you working on? 

March 10, 2026 by
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What’s the best way to build a successful law practice? Great minds may differ but I say it is to build stronger relationships with your existing clients and professional contacts. When you do that, 

  • You get more repeat business and referrals
  • You get bigger cases and better clients
  • You get more introductions to key people in your market
  • You get more testimonials and endorsements
  • You get invited to speak at prestigious events and and build your reputation
  • More people share your content, opt-in to your newsletter, and talk about you on social media

Marketing is easier. Growth happens more quickly. You spend less time and money building your practice. 

Building a successful practice is a byproduct of those relationships. 

Building stronger relationships starts with paying attention. Showing your clients and contacts that you’re interested in them and care about them personally, beyond your relationship as attorney and client or fellow professionals. And this is not difficult to do. 

In his newsletter, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, put it this way:

“One easy way to show you care about others is to ask them questions about their life.

What are they excited about? 

What are they working on?

What are they hoping for?

Simply asking the question and listening thoughtfully is an act of generosity. You’re giving them the gift of attention.”

You’re an attorney. Asking questions is your thing. 

And so is listening.

I suggest you also take notes. When someone tells you what they’re working on, shares a problem or desire, put that information in a file and the next time you speak with them or write to them, ask for an update about what they told you. 

Building relationships can take time and effort but it’s easy to get started. Just ask questions and pay attention. 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing

You talk too much

March 5, 2026 by
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If you’re not getting enough leads or inquiries from prospective clients about your services, if you’re not booking enough appointments for consultations, there might be a very simple reason. It might be because you’ve already told them everything (they think) they need to know. 

Information is good. Educational marketing is highly recommended. But if you put too much information in your marketing materials and answer too many questions before a prospective client speaks to you, you might be shooting yourself in the foot.

In marketing, your job isn’t to tell people everything. It’s telling them enough to get their attention and prompt them to want to know more. You do that not by giving them more information but by withholding it.

Each question you answer in your article or email or ad risks making prospective clients less likely to contact you. 

And that might be why you’re not getting all the leads you want. 

But this doesn’t mean doing what a lot of attorneys do, giving no information. You can’t expect client inquiries if your marketing materials provide little more than a list of practice areas or services. 

You need to strike a balance. 

Give enough information—about the law, about what you do and how you help your clients—to intrigue prospective clients and motivate them to contact you about their specific situation. 

Don’t tell them everything in advance. But don’t tell them nothing.

Make them curious enough to visit your website, download your report, sign up for your seminar or newsletter, or make an appointment. 

Make them curious enough to take the next step. 

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Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Copywriting, Marketing legal services

When a prospective client isn’t ready to sign up. . .

March 3, 2026 by
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You’re speaking to a prospective client about their case or matter, but they’re not ready to hire you. They tell you they need to think about it. Or say something else that means they’re not ready to say “yes”. 

In effect, it’s a “no”. 

What should you do? 

Many lawyers will correctly say that “no” means “not now”. The client may not be ready to sign up today, because they don’t have the money or don’t want to spend it, their pain or problem isn’t bad enough yet, they have people in their ear telling them they don’t need a lawyer and/or urging them to get more information or competitive quotes, and the list goes on. 

But that’s today, and tomorrow it could be a different answer. Assume that “no” means “not now” and let them go, those lawyers will tell you. If, and when they decide they need you, they’ll let you know. 

That’s the nature of business. You win some, you lose some, and some are delayed by rain. 

Letting them go is your first option. Is it your best choice? 

Other lawyers (and advisors) will tell you that “no” means they need more information or more convincing. You didn’t tell them enough or make things plain enough or urgent enough, and your job, as a professional persuader is to persuade. So get to it. 

Tell them more about the law, the risks of not taking action or waiting too long, why you are the best lawyer for what they need, and everything else you want them to know, so they can make the “right” decision. 

After all, if it’s in their best interests to hire you, you owe them a duty to pull out all the stops and get them to see the light (and other metaphors you could mix). 

So, don’t give up that easily. If you told them once, tell them again. More information, more examples, more stories about clients who made the wrong decision, or the right one. Maybe talk to the person who referred them, or a mutual business contact, and see if they can help. 

Many attorneys agree with this and will at least try to get the client to reconsider. And the client often does. They decided to hire the attorney, wrote a check, and all was right with the world.

So, those are your first two options. Let them go or do more convincing. But there’s a third option, and it’s the one I recommend. 

Your third option is to do for them what you would want them to do if your roles were reversed. If you were the prospective client and not ready to sign up, what would you want the attorney to say or do? 

Here’s what I would want:

I’d want the attorney to tell me they understand I’m not ready and won’t push me, thank me for speaking to them, and ask me what I want them to do. 

Do I want them to send me more information? Follow-up with me next week or next month? Validate my parking ticket?

I’d want the attorney to make sure I knew my options and let me tell them what I want to do.

That’s what you would want, isn’t it? That’s what your (prospective) clients want, too. 

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Filed Under: Client relations, Closing the sale

You’re not just paid for your legal services

February 26, 2026 by
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Clients hire attorneys to solve legal problems and deliver desired outcomes. They want our advice and our work product. They pay for our services and the results we get for them.

But that’s not all we’re paid for. 

We’re also paid for the experience we give our clients and, in great measure, that experience is just as important and valuable as the legal work we do and the outcomes we deliver.

It’s true. Airy-fairy as it may sound, clients value how we make them feel when we do what we do. 

Your mom might have told you, it’s the little things that make the difference. 

Little things like showing clients how hard you work to help them and how you give them hope.

A lot of it is in the tone of your voice, the look in your eyes, and the urgency with which you do what you do. The little things really aren’t little at all.

The way you respect them by seeing them at the time scheduled for their appointment (and apologizing if you were even a few minutes late); the way you refuse to look at your phone during your time with them, or the extra time you spend with them (off the clock) when they have more questions or are worried and need you to hold their hand.

And more.

The things you say or do that have nothing to do with your services, like sharing an idea you have that could help their business or telling them about your health challenge to encourage them about theirs. 

Little things, like introducing them to people who can hire them, telling them about a support group you heard about that might have some answers they need or want. 

It all counts. More than we might realize.

When you show clients you care about them as human beings more than you care about their business, you make them feel good about choosing you as their lawyer and good about themselves for overcoming their doubts and fears and taking a chance on you.  

How you make clients feel doesn’t replace the work you do and the results you deliver, but it’s close. 

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations

Why some lawyers get big and some don’t

February 24, 2026 by
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My wife and I were talking about a lawyer we knew many years ago when he was new and full of piss and vinegar, and I had been practicing for only a few years. We lost touch with him, but recently heard he had been gravely ill for several years.

He recovered and built a very successful practice with dozens of employees and the wherewithal to purchase his own office building in a swanky part of town. 

From death’s door to massive success. How did he make it big when so many lawyers don’t?

I don’t know. But I can guess. 

Two things, actually. 

First, he was clearly a fighter. Building a successful practice was nothing compared to beating the Grim Reaper. 

But that’s more “why” than “how”. What did he actually do to build his practice? 

Maybe he made a few powerful connections. Ran a series of ads that took off. Or stumbled into that one big case that brought him lots of attention. 

Maybe. But my guess is it was none of those things. My guess is he became successful doing things any lawyer can do. He just did them consistently, something many lawyers don’t. 

He didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. He didn’t change his tactics or chase after new markets every few years. He didn’t change what he did or who he was. He stuck with the basics but did them over and over again, making small improvements and otherwise sticking to his knitting.

Over time, his efforts compounded and his fortunes grew.

That’s all it takes to keep clients happy, generate positive word of mouth, and bring in a steady stream of repeat business and referrals. 

You show up and do the work and your clients and referral sources fall in love with you. 

No shortcuts. No hacks. No surprises.

Just the basics. 

That’s all any lawyer needs to make it big. With or without surviving a terminal illness. 

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Filed Under: success

The pros and cons of changing practice areas

February 19, 2026 by
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I know a lawyer who, after decades of building a successful practice, started a new (for him) practice area. I don’t know if he wants to replace his current practice area with the new one or he plans to continue doing both, but as someone who has contemplated this question more than once over the years, I know it’s not an easy decision and here are some of my thoughts.

First, the pros: 

  • A new practice gives you the opportunity to bring on new clients and/or cases you might otherwise have never have attracted, and additional revenue you might never have realized
  • A new/secondary practice area gives you the opportunity to cross-sell your new services to your existing and former clients
  • You have something new to offer to prospective clients who can’t or won’t hire you for your primary services 
  • You might bundle one service with another service and increase your average “sale’
  • In certain markets and for certain clients, offering new, additional services might make you the better choice of lawyer or firm for them
  • You might be able to stop doing, or do less of, something you don’t enjoy, aren’t especially good at, or that’s too competitive. Do less litigation (or eliminate it), for example, and replace it with something less stressful, time-consuming, or expensive.
  • A new practice area might be “fun”; you get to meet new people, use new marketing strategies, speak or write about different topics

All of which means a new practice area might allow you to increase your income, reduce your expenses, and get more satisfaction in your practice. 

But then, there are the cons: 

  • The learning curve; remember what it was like starting your practice? You will have to do a lot of that all over again. Plus, continuing education, certification, risk management, ethical considerations, and other things you have to think about
  • You need new marketing materials, websites, strategies, testimonials, and new referral sources
  • You might need to find a new target market; you might lose referrals from lawyers who now see you now as direct competition 
  • You’re the new kid on the block; why should anyone choose you instead of a more established firm?
  • You might have to use marketing strategies you don’t want to use, e.g., advertising, social media, public speaking, internet marketing, blogging, writing 
  • Your new practice area might be saturated, dying, being crippled by ai, or more difficult than you anticipated. You might have to hire and supervise new staff, rent a bigger office, or otherwise increase your overhead 
  • It could create confusion in your market. They knew you as doing X, now you do Y? 
  • You need a lot of time to learn everything and do everything, new on top of everything you already do  

Bottom line, adding a new practice area might be perfect for you, bringing you additional income and professional satisfaction. Or, it might be a colossal mistake. 

If you’re considering doing this, test the idea first, in a different market, with a separate website and marketing strategies, and by speaking privately with a few existing clients to see if they would hire you. 

Until you know that this is something you could be successful doing and worth the effort, don’t do anything radical or announce anything across the board to your clients and contacts. When you’re ready to do it, however, announce it to everyone.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, success

Stop writing articles and blog posts 

February 17, 2026 by
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You know that articles and blog posts and other forms of content can attract prospective clients and repeat clients, and you know how to write them. But, unless I miss my guess, you don’t write them as often as you should. 

Because they take a lot of time. Planning, research, writing, editing, posting, reading and responding to comments—it’s a lot of work and you’re busy guy or gal.

So, don’t write them. Write an email instead. 

Emails are easy to write and don’t take a lot of time. And because it’s “just” an email, you don’t feel the pressure to write something worthy of publication, so you don’t resist writing it. 

Write an email to your prospect or client, or professional contact and tell them something you think they need to or want to know. Share a thought, ask a question, tell them something you recently learned or did or thought, and thought might interest them. 

So much easier than writing an article, isn’t it? No pressure. It’s just an email. A couple of hundred words and you can write it and get it out the door in ten or 15 minutes. 

Which is why you’ll do it. 

And guess what? The best part is that a short, informal email like this is often more effective than longer, formal articles and other content. 

Because your reader doesn’t have to set aside time to read them or take notes, so they read them more often They open their email, skim your article, think about you in a positive light, and go on with their day. 

What’s quick and easy for you to write is quick and easy for them to read. And they do.

Content marketing isn’t just about being a lawyer and showing how much you know. or do It’s at least as much about connecting with people and letting them know you’re still around and thinking about them. 

Yeah, staying in touch. 

If you want, you can convert your emails into longer content. I’ve published several volumes of books based on my blog posts and emails, and you can, too. 

Start with a daily or weekly, or even a monthly email to stay in touch with the people in your professional life. 

In fact, I challenge you to do that right now. Grab an idea, write a few paragraphs, and send it to someone. 

No planning or research, simple prose, edit spelling and punctuation, copy, paste and send. 

You can still publish blog posts and articles or other content. But if you resist doing that, don’t write them, write an email instead. 

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Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Content creation, Relationship marketing, Writing

How to plan your day in 5 Minutes or less

February 12, 2026 by
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Every morning, I spend a few minutes planning my day. It only takes 5 minutes because I (usually) do just three things: 

  1. I check my calendar to see if I have upcoming appointments for the day or the week. Is there anything I need to prepare? Is there anyone I need to notify? Is there anything I need to reschedule?
  2. I check my messages. Do I have any emails that require action? If it’s a one or two word reply, I usually do that on the spot. If something requires more thought or research, I forward those to my task app. The same goes for phone messages. Anything that isn’t actionable I delete, forward to a “read later” app, or leave it in my inbox and look at it on the weekend when I do my weekly planning and have more time.   
  3. I check my tasks. What have I planned to do today? Too much? Too little? Just right? Anything I need to adjust?

And I have my plan for the day.

If I feel like it, I often also do a quick tidy up, meaning emptying inboxes, filing notes in the appropriate project or folder. 

Anyway, that’s how I start my day. t’s only a few minutes, and I consider it time well spent.

It’s only a few minutes because:

  1. I choose the tasks and projects I plan to work on that day the night before. It’s the last thing I do before calling it a night, and allows me to relax and enjoy the evening.
  2. I do a weekly reset (plan, review) each weekend. 
  3. My calendar and task management apps are always with me and available in case something comes up or I run out of time, or I’m tired and need to change something. 

So, how about you? Do you make a daily plan? What do you include? How long does it take? 

Do you do it every day or just when you think of it?

I do it daily because it helps me start the day with clarity and focus. It’s worth it to me. But frankly, if it took more than a few minutes, I’m not sure I would do it consistently. 

I know that because of my many off-and-on-again efforts to do weekly planning. 

When a weekly review took 90 minutes, or even 30 minutes, I often found myself avoiding it. It wasn’t worth it.

Now? My weekly planning is just 15 minutes. For reasons I’ll talk about in another post. 

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Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity
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