My lawyer is a poophead

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Ah, the joy of getting a bad review. And by joy, I mean blood-boiling anger and massive regret that you ever met, let alone helped that ingrate of a client.

You worked your assimus maximus off for them and they tell the world you’re mean or incompetent or didn’t deliver what you promised.

Hold my beer. 

A negative review isn’t always the kiss of death, but it’s clearly not good for business.

Do you ignore it? Post an apology? Call the client and try to make amends?

Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do. Your only hope is that the one stinker gets buried on the page by a legion of positive reviews. (So make sure you encourage your happy clients to post a review).

But often, there is something you can do about a bad review and it pays to consider your options.

How to Effectively Address Client Reviews offers advice on handling critical reviews, and what to do with good ones.

My advice? Whatever you do, cool your jets before you write or say anything. And that beer you asked someone to hold for you? Drink it after you respond, not before.

For lawyers: The Quantum Leap Marketing System

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4 ways to produce more content in less time

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Content marketing is a simple concept. You write or record something that educates your target market about legal problems and solutions and thus show them what you do and how you can help them. This brings you more traffic, more subscribers, more followers, more new clients, repeat clients, and referrals.

You can use articles, blog posts, newsletters, podcasts, video channels, social media, and other means to disseminate your content. 

Sounds good, right, but producing a steady stream of content for a blog or newsletter or podcast, takes time, and you don’t have that time.  

Never fear, here are 4 ways to get the job done more quickly.

1) Don’t write, re-write

Re-write your old posts and articles with fresh examples and stories, updates to the law, or different ways of saying what you said before. 

You can also “slice and dice”. Cut up old posts and combine them into new ones. 

No doubt have lots of material on your hard drive that can be re-written, updated, or re-purposed. Or, if it’s been awhile since you published something, publish it again. 

You can also re-write someone else’s content. Use their idea and basic structure but your words, examples and stories. 

2) Don’t write one article, write ten

Instead of writing one blog post on a topic, write 3. Or ten.

Take a subject you know well, or research for an hour or two, and write a month’s worth of articles on different aspects of that subject. 

It’s called “bundling” or “batching” and it’s a great way to produce a lot of content. 

If you handle personal injury, for example, you could write about tort law, the claims process, how cases are evaluated, medical treatment, liens, first party insurance, negotiation, and a lot more. And that doesn’t include litigation. 

3) Write less

Instead of writing lengthy newsletters, like I see many attorneys do, cut them up into shorter articles, one subject per post. People don’t have time to read 3000 words. Help them (and yourself) by delivering 300. 

4) Write faster

You can write content more quickly by outlining it first and then dictating it. Pretend you’re teaching a class or doing a presentation on the subject–talk, record, transcribe, edit, done.

Something else:

The more you write, the quicker you get at writing. Write often and you’ll soon crank out a lot more content in a lot less time. 

I’ve used all of these tactics and they work. They’ve helped me produce millions of words, which have brought me millions of dollars.

Now it’s your turn.

How to write more content for your blog

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3 things that make habits sticky

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Writing my blog post/newsletter is a well-established habit for me. I’ve been doing it for years and never have to remind myself, it’s just something I sit down and do.

It’s a sticky habit.

I have another habit that was sticky but has come unstuck.

For a long time, I took a walk 6 days per week. Then I missed several days and had trouble getting back to it.

I’m back to doing a short walk a few days per week, but I want to work my way back to my regular schedule.

James Clear, author of the best-selling Atomic Habits, tells us there are three things that help habits stick:

1) Repetition. Habits form based on frequency, not time.

2) Stable context. If the context is always changing, so is the behavior. You need a reliable environment.

3) Positive emotions. If it feels good, you’ll want to repeat it.

My thoughts:

1) Repetition

I started writing my blog/newsletter once a week. I increased this to thrice weekly, and for several years now, I write a post every weekday.

Repetition clearly made a difference.

What really got this habit to stick, however, was announcing my schedule to the world.

The world held me accountable.

Even today, when I might feel like taking the day off from writing, knowing there are people waiting to hear from me keeps me on schedule.

2) Stable context

The main issue with my walks is the weather. When it’s cold, it’s harder to get out the door, especially in the morning.

My context isn’t stable.

The solution might be as simple as getting warmer clothes, sweatpants and sweatshirt, instead of the shorts and t-shirts I usually wear.

3) Positive emotions

I enjoy writing my newsletter. I also enjoy the results it brings me.

I enjoy my walks. I get exercise, time to think and time to dictate notes.

So, how about you? Are your (positive) habits sticky? If not, now you know what to do.

Ready to up your marketing game? Here’s how

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Just the facts, ma’am

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In the pantheon of bad marketing advice, is the notion that telling prospective clients about your experience and your services is enough to persuade people to choose you.

Because it’s not.

They’re important. A client wants to know what you offer and what you can do for them, and you need to tell them, but if that’s all you tell them, if you give them just the facts, you’re not giving them enough to make a buying decision, that is, to hire you.

Because people “buy” for emotional reasons and then justify their “purchase” with the facts.

Your job is to trigger an emotional response to your words, to make them feel something that compels them to act.

The simplest and most effective way to do that is by telling stories.

Stories are the juice of marketing. They lubricate your message, give it context, and show the need for and benefits of what you offer. Stories convey importance and urgency and persuade people to act.

Seth Godin said, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.”

Stories are especially important when you sell something abstract like legal services.

Stories work because they’re about people. Prospects pay attention to your stories to find out what happened to them.

Oh boy, look at that. Here I am trying to convince you to use stories in your marketing and I haven’t used any. I made an important point, but that point would be more effective and memorable had I told you about these two lawyers in the same market who offer the same services, but who use a slightly different marketing strategy.

Lawyer Moe’s marketing primarily consists of brochures, and a website filled with facts. He describes his practice areas, his experience, and his services, and it’s impressive.

Lawyer Larry also tells the facts, but includes stories from his practice to illustrate what he does for his clients. His stories are usually no more than a few paragraphs, but like any story, they have a beginning (a problem), a middle (complications), and a resolution (problem solved by Larry, our hero).

Moe has more experience than Larry, but Larry earns three times what Moe earns, primarily because his stories “show” instead of “tell”.

Facts tell, but stories sell. Use stories in your marketing.

Put stories in your newsletter

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How much time do you spend on marketing?

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I’m talking about time you designate exclusively for marketing and nothing else.

The time you spend calling or emailing former clients, to say hello or share information you think might interest them.

The time you spend reading about marketing, sales, advertising, psychology, or personal development.

The time you spend connecting with professional contacts, to discuss helping each other with referrals, list building, or to share ideas.

The time you spend writing articles, blog posts, or presentations, or creating videos, or reviewing content created for you by others.

The time you spend reading other lawyer’s blogs or newsletters, to find ideas you can use in yours.

The time you spend researching your niche market and the centers of influence in it.

That kind of time.

Look at your calendar for the last 30 days. How much time did you schedule to do things like these?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

I know, “busy” is your middle name, but you don’t need a lot of time for marketing. Consistency is key.

Start by scheduling 15 minutes on your calendar each weekday, exclusively for marketing. If that seems difficult, start with ten minutes. Or 5.\

When that time arrives, do something, anything, that could be considered marketing, even if it’s scribbling down ideas or questions, reading a few pages in a book, outlining a new blog post, or re-organizing your notes.

If you’re stumped, sit quietly for ten or 15 minutes and do nothing. Eventually, you’ll get bored and do something.

And from there, great firms have been built.

Start today to build yours.

This will help

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Do your clients have kids?

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Many attorneys are transactional. They get a case or client, do the work, get paid, and wait for the next case or client to show up.

They wait for their clients and prospects to contact them if they have another matter, a question, or know someone who might need help.

These attorneys know they do good work and expect that this is enough to get repeat business and referrals.

Often it is. But not often enough.

Lawyers who aren’t protectively building a relationship with their clients are missing the boat.

You need to get to know your clients as individuals, not just an entry on a ledger. Find out what they do when they’re not being a client. Find out where they went to school. Find out about their work and their personal life.

Get to know them and the people they know. You might find you have some mutual contacts, or get yourself introduced to some new ones.

Find out the names of their kids so you can ask about them by name.

Have you ever had a client leave, and you didn’t know why? Or find out a client had a referral but didn’t tell you? Or a client had a possible case but didn’t contact you because “they didn’t want to bother you”?

That happens when you don’t know your clients and they don’t know you.

When you know your clients and they know you, they’ll tell you when they have a new legal issue, a question, or a referral. They’ll tell you when you’re doing things right, so you can do more of that. They’ll tell you when they’re unhappy about something you said or did, so you can fix it.

Your clients are your partners in the future of your practice. Take care of them and they’ll take care of you.

How to use a newsletter to stay in touch with your clients

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The attorney marketing triad

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There are lots of ways to build a law practice, but if I had to name just three, here’s what I’d choose:

(1) A content-rich website that attracts traffic and persuades visitors to contact me to make an appointment or ask questions and subscribe to my list so I can stay in touch with them.

That website would educate prospective clients about legal problems and solutions, tell them what I do and how I can help them, and prove to them I can deliver what they need and want.

The website would be a digital hub for my practice and my primary presence on the Internet. It would attract prospective clients via search and referral, and it would do most of the “convincing” for me.

(2) Build a list and stay in touch. Most people don’t hire an attorney the first time they visit their website or otherwise encounter them. It may be weeks or months or years before they’re ready to take the next step.

When you have a list, you can stay in touch with prospective clients, remind them of the solutions and benefits you offer, provide additional proof and encouragement, and be in their minds and mailboxes when they’re ready to take the next step.

Your list can also stimulate them to provide referrals (actual clients, traffic to your site, followers on social), and provide reviews and testimonials.

Your list will also generate more repeat business and referrals.

(3) Build relationships. I’d serve my clients’ legal needs and help them with other aspects of their business or personal life. I’d also do that with professional contacts and other centers of influence in my niche or local market.

I’d provide information, introductions, and referrals. I’d promote their business, practice or cause. I’d get to know them on a personal level and help them get to know me.

Because we’re in the people business and the quality of our relationships is a major factor in our success.

If you get these three things right, you may not have to do anything else.

How to build a website that makes your phone ring

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How did you react to finding out you passed the bar exam?

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I was willing to wait for the results to come in the mail but my father (attorney) wanted to know if his son had passed and didn’t want to wait.

He drove downtown, to the Daily Journal newspaper office, where the results were posted in a street-level window.

I remember getting his call, telling me the good news. I think he was more excited than I was.

Actually, I felt relief more than excitement. Relieved that all my hard work had paid off, relieved that I didn’t have to study for it again or take it again. Relieved that I could move on to the next phase in my career.

With such a low pass rate in California, it was a big deal and I’ll never forget how it felt.

The other day, I saw a video of a young man in front of his laptop, logging in to get his results. His mother stood behind him, hands on his shoulders, looking at the screen, waiting for the results to be displayed.

As you can see, mother and son have different reactions to the news.

We all handle important news differently. How did you react when you got your results?

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“The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous”

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Marketing legal services is often defined as “everything you do to get and keep good clients”.

That covers a lot of ground.

Everything from lead generation to getting prospects to sign up to getting repeat business and referrals, and a lot more.

It includes prospecting, qualifying, presenting, overcoming objections, and closing. Yes, pure salesmanship, for many attorneys, the bugaboo of legal marketing.

But selling your services doesn’t mean becoming a salesperson. You don’t have to use unseemly tactics to get people to do things they don’t want to do.

If your marketing is effective, you don’t have to do much selling at all.

Peter Drucker said, “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.”

When you do a good job of marketing your services, clients sell themselves.

Prospective clients learn what you do and how you can help them, and see proof of what you’ve done for others. They learn about your experience and abilities and get a sense of what would be like to work with you. And then, on their own, they decide whether to take the next step.

They make an appointment or contact you to ask questions or request more information. Eventually, they either sign up or they don’t.

Without you having to sell them.

Don’t misunderstand, it’s useful to know what to say when a prospective client hesitates. Knowing how to overcome objections and close can help them decide to hire you and thus get the benefits they want or need.

But it is your marketing that does the heavy lifting.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

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When is this thing really due?

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Are your calendar and task manager filled with due dates and deadlines you regularly fail to meet? I’m not talking about statutory or contractual deadlines; I’m sure you have these under control.

Because you have to.

Bad things happen when you miss “hard” deadlines.

I’m talking about “soft” deadlines, dates you assign to your tasks and projects that you would like to meet but often don’t.

There are ways to turn a soft deadline into a hard one, making it much more likely that you’ll meet it. Tell a client when you’ll have something ready for them, for example, and they (and your fear of losing the client) will usually hold you accountable to getting it done as promised.

But there’s something else you can do to prevent yourself from missing soft deadlines.

Stop setting them.

Many “experts” advise scheduling due dates for everything. The problem is, most people aren’t very good at estimating how long things will take, or what they will be working on weeks or months in advance, and wind up missing many of their due dates.

When you routinely miss soft deadlines without penalty, your brain learns that it is okay to miss due dates, and eventually ignores them.

It’s dispiriting to continually move tasks from one (missed) due date to another. It makes you feel like your tasks are in charge of you instead of the other way around.

A better system is to reserve “due” dates for hard dates only (meetings, filing deadlines, appointments, and things you’ve promised to get done). For everything else, use a “do” date or “start” date.

“Do” dates and “start” dates are aspirational. You plan to do something or start something on a certain date, but there are no negative consequences if you don’t. They’re not deadlines, they’re reminders.

For long-term projects, or projects you’re not sure you’re ready to start, you can also schedule periodic reminders or “review” dates.

Or you can do what I do.

I only record hard deadlines.

Everything else I need to do, or want to do, I keep on lists, and schedule hard deadlines to review those lists.

Once I week, I go through my lists and decide what I want (or need) to work on that week (or soon). I move these to another list.

I go through that list every day (or the night before) and decide what to work on that day.

I may not know what I’ll be working on next week or next month, but I get things done and never worry about missing a deadline.

If you use Evernote for your lists, check out my Evernote for Lawyers ebook

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