David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

The number one marketing skill for attorneys

December 8, 2020 by David M. Ward

What do you suppose is the most valuable skill for marketing and building a law practice?

If you said, “salesmanship,” you are right.

Learning how to sell your services makes you better at prospecting and lead generation, qualifying prospective clients, presenting, handling objections, and closing.

When you know how to sell, you get more clients and better clients, with less cost and less effort.

Learning how to sell also makes you more effective in the courtroom and the boardroom. You’ll win more cases and close more deals.

Sales skills also help you to write more effective articles and blog posts, driving more traffic to your web pages and sales pages. You’ll get more people contacting you to ask questions or make an appointment.

More people will trust you and want to work with you. More people will want to tell others about you.

When someone questions your capabilities or balks at your fees, you’ll know what to say and do to make them happy and ready to proceed.

When a client has a complaint or questions your judgment, you’ll know how to show them that they are in good hands.

When you speak or network or do an interview, you’ll be more confident, more persuasive, and more attractive to prospects and fellow professionals.

Sales is the uber-skill every attorney needs to learn. So, why do so few attorneys learn it?

Probably because they’re afraid they’ll appear too aggressive, manipulative or hungry for business. They think they’ll come off as less professional or less successful.

“I didn’t go to law school to be a sales person,” they often tell me. But learning how to sell doesn’t make you a sales person. It makes you better at your job.

When I began practicing, I found it difficult to bring in clients and I struggled to pay my bills. Everything changed when I studied marketing and sales and starting using what I had learned.

I encourage you to do the same.

How to use email to sell more of your services

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Salesmanship

What about next year?

December 7, 2020 by David M. Ward

Quite a year wasn’t it? As you think about next year and beyond, what will you change?

Virtual meetings are here to stay and no doubt you’ve adapted. But what else will you do?

Take some time this month to explore your options.

Think about the long term. Where do you want your practice to be next year at this time? How about 5 years down the road? You may not know, yet, but ask the questions and let your subconscious mind start working on the answers.

Also ask yourself what you can do in the short term. What can you start working on or investigating right now?

What you can do to adapt your services and/or the ways you deliver them to the changing needs of your clients and target market? What can you do to accommodate people working from home, for example? How could you stand out by tailoring your marketing to first responders or health care workers?

What can you do to attract different types of clients or get a foothold in different niche markets? What business owners or professionals could you introduce yourself to? What new content could you create to attract a new crop of prospective clients?

Explore new marketing methods, or go back to ones you abandoned. If you don’t have a newsletter, start one. If you use email, look into postal mail. If you don’t advertise or do social media, find out what it would take to start.

Take a few hours to explore the future. Read, listen, think, and write down your ideas and questions.

You don’t have to make radical changes but by considering all of your options and asking lots of questions, you may find ways to nuance what you currently do and open doors to new opportunities for growth.

Which is something you should do every year.

Have you read The Attorney Marketing Formula?

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

What ancient Egyptian sounded like and how we know

December 4, 2020 by David M. Ward

Last night I watched a video with the above title. I don’t have a particular interest in the subject; the title caught my eye and made me curious.

Like you would be if you were about to witness the opening of a pyramid for the first time.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you anything about the subject because it was late and I fell asleep a few minutes after the video began. I woke up and trundled off to bed, but not before recording the title on my phone.

I did this because I collect good titles and headlines. You should, too.

They provide a template of sorts that we can use to write headlines and titles for our blog posts, articles, emails, and books.

Headlines that make people curious to read more.

If you’re a PI lawyer, for example, the title of this video might prompt you to write a blog post with the title, “How much is my case worth and how do you know?”

That’s something clients and prospects frequently ask, isn’t it?

Hopefully, people won’t fall asleep once they start reading your post, or turn the page because you failed to deliver on the promise of your title.

In other words, don’t write clickbait-y titles. That’s a surefire way to alienate people.

So, while you obviously can’t tell anyone what their case is worth in advance, make sure you provide enough information in your post so the reader feels like you didn’t lie to them.

And, when a clickbait-y title gets your attention and makes you curious, add it to your collection. It may prompt you to write a headline that promises something you can actually deliver.

How to write headlines and titles that get more referrals

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Writing

Your services, your firm, or you?

December 3, 2020 by David M. Ward

When you are marketing in the “cold market”–to people who don’t know you–should you market a specific legal service, your capabilities and practice areas, or yourself?

The answer is, you should market what clients want to buy.

When a prospective client has a legal problem or objective, they want (to buy) a solution to that problem or a way to achieve that objective. That’s what you should lead with and feature in your marketing.

Once you have their attention, tell them about your services, experience and capabilities, because these are the resources you use to solve their problem or deliver their objective.

But lead with benefits.

Show them you can solve, prevent, or minimize their problem. Show them they can have the “better future” they desire.

Start with why. Only then should you talk about how.

When you market to your warm market–people who already know you, clients and former clients and business contacts–things are a bit different.

You already have their attention and permission to stay in touch with them. Continue to remind them about the benefits and solutions you offer, different use cases and examples, success stories and testimonials, because they might need your help again or know someone they can refer; and also also tell them about your other services and solutions.

As you continue to stay in touch with clients and prospects and build or strengthen your relationship with them, tell them a bit less about your services and a bit more about you.

Start here: The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Is your email inbox other people’s to-do list?

December 2, 2020 by David M. Ward

Many people use their email as a task list. Email comes in, they do what is requested or needed, and issue a reply. If the “ask” requires a simple reply, they do it, using the so-called “2-minute rule” (anything that can be done in 2 minutes or less should be done immediately).

But what if the email is informational and doesn’t need a reply? What do they do with the information so they can find it when they need it?

Where do they record what was requested or done? Where do they keep notes about the case or a list of what to do next? And what do they do with email that can’t be handled with a quick reply?

Clearly, email is not a good task manager or a good place to store notes. Use apps that are designed for those purposes.

Keeping a to-do list and notes separate from your email (and postal mail) allows you to record a transactional time-line you can review, along with your thoughts and ideas and a list of what to do next.

Keeping those functions separate also provides you with a buffer of time to consider the request or information, and your response or next action.

Keeping to-dos separate from email helps you to be proactive instead of reactive. You decide what’s best and most important to you at any given time and do that, not necessarily what was asked of you in the morning mail.

Check out my ebook: Evernote for Lawyers

Filed Under: Email, Productivity

Put this in your “new client” kit

November 30, 2020 by David M. Ward

You sign up a new client and mail them a welcome letter, a supply of your business cards and brochures, and information you want them to know about their case, your firm, and about other matters you handle.

You should also enclose information about referrals: a description of your ideal client, what the client should tell people about you, and how to go about making the referral.

You want to make it as easy as possible for the client to refer others to you, and suggest that this is something clients customarily do.

To make referrals more likely, add an additional document to your new client kit: a sample email the clients can copy and paste and send to people they know.

The email should explain who you are, what you do, and how you can help the recipient with specific legal issues.

It should spell out your address, phone, email, social channels, a link to the contact form on your website and a link to a page where the prospective client can learn more about you and how you can help them.

It should also provide space for the referring client to say something about how they met you, why they hired you, and why they recommend you.

The email should come with “instructions”–who to send it to (your ideal client) and when to send it (when their friend or contact says or does something that suggests they might need your help).

Thank the new client for telling people about you and remind them that their friends will appreciate them for making it easier to get legal help when they need it.

For more ways to get more referrals, get my Maximum Referrals course.

Filed Under: Referrals

Thank you (and a challenge)

November 25, 2020 by David M. Ward

Thank you for being a loyal reader of my blog and newsletter and for everything else you do.

Thank for your comments and questions. They help make me better at what I do.

Thank you for your reviews and testimonials. They show other lawyers that “this stuff really works” and encourage them to take a chance on me.

Thank you for sharing my content with colleagues. It helps me build my list and my business.

Thank you for buying my books and courses and hiring me to coach or consult you. Your support helps me continue to do what I do.

So, thank you. I appreciate you and want you to know that.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, I’m sure you’re telling your clients and others that you appreciate them. Most people don’t say thank you, and when you do, don’t for a minute think it goes unnoticed.

Which leads to my challenge:

Send a “thank you” email to someone every day.

Send a thank you to a new client. You probably already did that; do it again.

Send a thank you to a fellow professional for sending you an article or for sharing your article with their clients.

Send a thank you to a prospective client for considering you as their attorney.

Send a thank you to someone who referred someone to you, even if they didn’t hire you.

Send an email to opposing counsel, thanking them for making your job a little less miserable.

Send a thank you to a personal friend, for being your friend.

Put “thank you” on your daily calendar, to remind yourself to thank someone for something. Train yourself to look for reasons to tell someone you appreciate them.

What will happen when you do?

You’ll make someone feel good about what they’ve done, and about themselves, making it more likely they’ll do it again.

You’ll feel good about yourself for remembering to shine a light on someone’s good deed or ongoing support.

You’ll stand out in a world where most people don’t say thank you, or don’t say it enough.

Imagine waking up, opening your email and waiting inside was a message from someone telling you how much they appreciate you. Imagine what you’ll think about that person.

Make a daily “thank you” email your new habit. You may be surprised by how much it improves your career and your relationships.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Marketing legal services

When you don’t feel up to it, don’t do it

November 24, 2020 by David M. Ward

Finally, a bit of common sense about planning our day.

In the article, “11 Time Management Myths That Are Hurting Your Productivity,” Gabriella Goddard with Brainsparker Leadership Academy, offered this advice:

“When you just focus on managing time, you don’t take into account your natural bio-rhythms and energy levels. Trying to take on a tough task when your energy is at rock bottom is a recipe for procrastination. So, if your energy is high in the morning, then focus on the more difficult projects or actions. If, by Friday, you tend to feel flat, then schedule less important meetings and administration.”

Don’t be rigid about your schedule. Listen to what your body and brain tell you. And don’t follow a productivity author’s advice if it isn’t right for you.

If you’re not a morning person, for example, don’t Eat That Frog first. Don’t tackle your most difficult or important tasks first.

Wake up first.

Start your work day with administrative or other less demanding tasks. Do your most important or most difficult tasks later.

It’s good to get your most important work done as early as possible in the day. Just don’t try it before your third cup of coffee.

Filed Under: Productivity

Client relations starts before the client hires you

November 23, 2020 by David M. Ward

Everyone touts the importance of excellent client relations, aka “customer service”. And rightly so.Â

Making our clients feel appreciated, minding our manners, giving clients more value than they expect, being fair and honest in our fees and billing, keeping clients informed–this is how we build trust, get good reviews, and generate repeat business and referrals.Â

We build our reputation and a loyal client following by the way we treat our clients, at least as much as by the outcomes we deliver.Â And we generally do a good job of it.

But we can do better.Â

Because it’s not just how you treat a client after they come to see you, it’s the entirety of the client experience, which begins before you ever speak with them.Â

When someone refers a prospective client to you, what do they tell them about you?Â

When a prospective client watches your video, reads your article or blog post, or hears you speak, what does your content and delivery tell them about your abilities and experience?

When they visit your website, what do they learn about your services, your experience, and what it will be like to have you as their attorney?

When someone subscribes to your list, what do you send them, tell them, and offer them, and what does that say to them about you?

And when someone contacts you, to ask a question or schedule an appointment, what are they asked, what are they told, and how do you make them feel?

Because your success depends on how you make people feel–about their case or issue and about you.

A successful legal career isn’t a series of transactions so much as a journey, and how many people you can bring with you.Â

And that journey begins well before the client’s first appointment, and continues long after their last one.

The Quantum Leap Marketing System for Lawyers

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Law office management