David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

I have the answer to your problem but you can’t have it

June 10, 2020 by David M. Ward

It’s better to have people ask you to send them information than you for you to ask them if they want it.

It’s better because when they ask, they’re raising their hand and telling you they want it and will probably consume it.

It’s also better posture for you. “Be the pursued, not the pursuer.”

So, how do you get people to ask?

My favorite way is to use a “takeaway”. Let them know what you have but don’t offer it to them.

To wit:

YOU: “I just wrote a report that shows how to [solve a painful problem]. Do you know anyone who might like a copy?”

You have something that, ostensibly, a prospective client wants but you’re not sending it to them or offering it to them. If they want it, they have to ask for it.

And they will. “Could I get a copy?”

YOU (Surprised): “Oh, well, sure. . . I can send you a link. What’s your best email address?”

If they don’t ask, they’re either not a prospect or your report title/description needs improvement.

How well does this work? Brilliantly. I’ve used a takeaway successfully more times than I can count.

It’s a beautiful thing hearing the other person (prospect or professional) ask if THEY can have a copy.

Sometimes, they’re not interested but they know someone who might be. That’s fine. They help their friend or client get information that could help them, and they do some “advertising” for you.

Sometimes, they’re not interested and they don’t know anyone.

That’s fine, too.

At least they know what you have and if their situation changes or they run into someone with a problem your report addresses, they know where to turn.

Who do you know that’s ready to take their law practice to the next level?

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Salesmanship

Do you trust me?

June 9, 2020 by David M. Ward

If you’ve been getting my emails for a while, there’s a good chance you trust me, at least enough to open the email and read what I say.

If I recommend a marketing idea, you’re inclined to try it. If I have something for you to buy, you’ll probably take a look. If you know someone who might need what I offer, you’re open to recommending me.

And it works the same way with you and the people on your list.

We write a newsletter, we write a blog, we post on social media, because, among other things, it helps us build trust.

And, as Seth Godin said in Permission Marketing, to be heard, you’ve got to earn trust.

Otherwise, our messages get drowned out by the messages of (so many) others.

When you get referrals, trust is part of the deal. The prospective client trusts you because his friend or advisor trusts you. When you speak at an organization’s event, the audience tends to trust you because you were invited to speak by an organization they trust.

When you advertise, there is no trust. You can point at various trust elements, e.g., your experience, etc., but there’s more doubt than trust. That’s why the rate of response is so low.

When you blog or write a newsletter, you build trust by showing up and delivering value, and by doing it consistently over time.

The nice thing about having a blog (podcast, video channel) is that all of the content you previously created is available for visitors to see. You can build trust faster that way.

We create content to attract prospective clients, and once they visit our blog or sign up for our newsletter, to build trust and encourage them to take the next step.

I have a course that shows you how to do that with email; details here

Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Newsletters Tagged With: content marketing

Our best ideas choose us

June 8, 2020 by David M. Ward

What should you write about on your blog? Which book should you read next? Where should you go on vacation?

The best idea is probably the one you can’t stop thinking about, or the one you keep coming back to.

Our subconscious minds know what we like, what we want, and what would be best for us, and finds ways to tell us what to do.

Our job is to listen.

Most of us write down our ideas. Some of us “think on paper,” writing out the options, describing how we feel, weighing the pros and cons.

I’ve got a long list of ideas for all sorts of things. Maybe you do, too. We check our lists, and choose the next task or project or idea. When we see the right one, we know it, don’t we?

Stephen King doesn’t write down book ideas. He says his best ideas stick with him, sometimes for many years. Writing them down, he says, would dissipate them.

Whether we keep our ideas on paper, in an app, or we let our subconscious mind hold onto them, one thing is certain.

Our best ideas choose us.

More marketing ideas than you can shake a stick at

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: Ideas

A great way to get more clients you’re probably not using

June 5, 2020 by David M. Ward

When you go to your mailbox to get the mail, what do you see?

Not much, right?

We get and pay most of our bills online and use email to correspond. If your mailbox is like mine, you get a few pieces of advertising and not much else.

You know what that means? Opportunity.

You can use direct mail to sell your services, invite prospective clients to your seminar or virtual event, or drive traffic to your website.

Because “nobody” is mailing any more, a letter or postcard from you will really stand out. Which means you should see a better response than you might have seen in days gone by.

You can acquire (rent) lists from a list broker and mail to “residents,” “homeowners,” “seniors,” “small business owners,” or to any of hundreds of thousands of segments of society.

A list broker will help you choose the best lists for your offer, and hook you up with services that can take care of everything else (copy, printing, mailing, etc.)

Decide what to offer: a service, information (for lead generation), an event, etc. Then, contact your Bar Association to find out if there any advertising rules you have to follow.

If you’re not allowed to advertise your legal services, advertise your book (report, seminar, etc.) and let your book sell your services.

Start with a small test mailing. Mail postcards to homeowners or businesses within a few miles from your office, for example. If you get a decent response, you can mail more.

Another option is to take out display ads (online or off) and mail letters to people who respond. That’s what I did when I began selling my first marketing course.

As someone probably once said, “Fill up people’s mailboxes and they’ll fill up your bank account”.

How to build an email list that does most of your marketing for you

Filed Under: Advertising, Email Tagged With: direct mail

Time boxing big projects

June 4, 2020 by David M. Ward

Time boxing means scheduling time on your calendar for working on specific tasks. Some people plan their entire day in 15-minute increments. They know what they’re supposed to do, and when, and by sticking to their schedule, they get a lot done.

Other people, including yours truly, schedule 30 minutes to an hour, or a couple of hours each day, dedicated to certain activities: email, seeing clients, writing, catching up on reading, and so on.

Either way, scheduling your workday in blocks of time allows you to get your important work done, and avoid wasting time doing things that may be urgent but aren’t necessarily important.

Time boxing works because “constraints” force you to focus. When you know you only have 30 minutes for email, you don’t spend two hours.

The Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of focused work, 5-minute break) is based on this concept.

You can also use time boxing for big projects.

If you’re working on a new presentation, for example, you might schedule one hour a day to work on it until it’s done. If your experience is anything like mine, however, you often find that what you thought would take days or weeks is somehow taking months.

This morning, I heard about another way to use time boxing for big projects. In addition to scheduling the days and hours you will work on the project, decide how many days or weeks you’ll work on it.

In other words, set up a time block of (say) 90 days to write the book, finish the presentation, or achieve the goal.

This forces you to focus on getting the project done, making it more likely that you’ll finish it sometime before the end of next millennium.

I wish I’d thought of that before I started my current work in progress.

The Easy Way to Write a Book

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: time blocking

How to write faster blog posts, emails, and articles

June 3, 2020 by David M. Ward

What if writing was as easy (and quick) as opening a template and filling in the blanks?

You’ll still need to edit and polish but you might be able to turn out articles in minutes instead of hours.

Templates make a first draft easier because you know “what goes where”. You’ll know, for example, that after two paragraphs that introduce the subject, you need 3 points or examples, but not 5. You’ll know how many bullet points to include and where to put them. And you can insert a pre-written call to action to close.

Using templates to map out the bones of your writing will allow you to write faster and better because they let you focus on the message, not the structure.

Where do you get these templates? By reverse-engineering existing articles and posts.

When you read an article you like, save it, study it, and figure out why it works. Make notes of the elements:

How many words?
How many paragraphs?
How many headings and sub-heads?
How many bullet points?
What’s the lead or hook?
Why should the reader care (benefits)?
What proof is offered?
What examples or stories?
What’s the call to action?

Create a simple template that incorporates these elements. You can use it for first drafts or to improve a sloppy first draft.

You should also do this with your own writing. Add additional notes to explain why you said what you said, other options you considered, and feedback you got from your readers.

Start with one template. Use it, refine it, and use it again. You may find that one template is all you need to write most of your posts but you can always add more.

The Easy Way to Write a Book

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Writing

Always finish what you start?

June 2, 2020 by David M. Ward

Our teachers and parents told us to finish what we started. They said we would never realize our full potential if we leave things undone, or we were making things harder on ourselves because we’ll have to finish it later.

Do it now and get it over with, they said. Touch things once. Leaving things undone is stressful and distracting.

Yes, but what if we don’t want to finish?

You don’t have to finish reading a book you’re not enjoying. You can abandon projects that aren’t going anywhere. You can end relationships that don’t serve you.

In fact, I think our default setting should be to NOT finish what we start.

Make the project or person prove themselves to us.

If that book doesn’t grab you after one or two chapters, off with it’s head. If you have a friend who is always negative, maybe it’s time to end the relationship.

Not finishing things gives you more time to do other things.

So, let go of that hobby you no longer enjoy. You’ll have time to find a new one. Let go of the client who makes your life difficult. You’ll make room for others.

But here’s the thing.

When you let go, you really have to let go.

Burn your ships. Destroy your notes. Tell yourself you’re truly done and you’re not going back.

Because if you don’t, your subconscious mind will nag you and remind you that you have unfinished business. It’s called the Zeigarnik effect.

And yes, that voice in your head will probably sound like your mom telling you to finish your veggies.

How to get referrals from other lawyers

Filed Under: Productivity

Ready to reinvent yourself?

June 1, 2020 by David M. Ward

According to a 2013 Harvard study, 80% of businesses are using a business model that is at least partially obsolete. They continue to use it because that’s what they’re used to.

How about you?

Have you followed the same methods and models for building and running your practice since day one? More importantly, will you continue to do so as we come out of our caves and get back to a regular schedule?

Will it be business as usual or will you make any changes?

To some extent, change is inevitable. We live in a different world today than we did a few months ago. Clients have different expectations and priorities. We have to at least be willing to meet them halfway.

But this is more than putting hand sanitizer in your waiting room. Maybe a lot more.

It might be about letting go of some practice areas, or taking on new ones. You might target new markets, change how you go about marketing, or dramatically reduce your overhead.

You might create strategic alliances with other lawyers or firms, take on new partners, or split up and going your own way.

And you might change your fee structure and billing practices.

That doesn’t mean “going small” necessarily. It might mean “going big”. You might raise your fees and let go of small cases and low-end clients.

I don’t know what’s right for you and your practice. I just know you have to consider all of your options.

And be prepared to get out of your comfort zone.

On the other hand, you may decide not to make any significant changes. You may reinvent yourself into the same person you always were.

Which is okay, too.

Just remember that while you may look the same and offer the same services from the same office, in some respects you will be a different person.

As will we all.

Whatever you do, take your clients and their referrals with you

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Law office management, success

How to get people to remember you

May 29, 2020 by David M. Ward

You have an impressive background. You’re proud of what you’ve accomplished and when you meet people, you want them to hear all about it.

You want them to know about your practice areas. You want them to know about your big-name clients and major verdicts. You want them to hear about the benefits you offer and the reasons they should hire you or refer to you.

The problem is, they don’t care about you and if you give them a laundry list of your bona fides, they’ll remember none of them.

A better strategy is to choose one thing you want people to know and remember.

Just one.

Lead with that and leave them with that. Because it doesn’t matter what you tell people, what matters is what they remember.

Take some time to think about the one thing you want people to remember. One practice area or one story that illustrates what you do or one interesting or humorous nugget of information about yourself.

When you meet someone new, tell them the one thing you want them to remember. If they want to know more, they’ll ask.

Of course, you should do most of the asking. Find out what they do, what they need or want, how you can help them or the people they know.

Give them your card, so they can visit your website if they want to know more. Which they may do if they remember you.

In case they don’t, make sure you get their card so you can stay in touch with them.

Learn more:

How to Sell Your Legal Services in 15 Seconds or Less

Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Networking

Keeping clients

May 28, 2020 by David M. Ward

My wife called to cancel a service we no longer need. After a few questions, the girl who answered the phone turned the call over to her manager.

He asked more questions. Were we unhappy with the service, did the rep do something wrong, is there anything the company could do to get us to stay, how about a free month of service?

Normal questions.

When we didn’t bite, the manager played the guilt card. He pointed out that the rep would suffer financially from our departure.

If that’s part of the script, they need a new script. Even if that strategy works, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

I’m guessing they’re getting a lot of cancellations right now and they’re feeling the pinch.

Anyway, the experience reminded me to remind you that having a retention strategy in place is important for lawyers.

When a client calls to tell you they’re leaving or they’re unhappy with something or they want you to stop working on their case, you should be prepared to ask questions, put out fires, and keep them on board.

And be prepared to work things out with them when they say (or it appears) they can’t afford to continue.

Think it through, write it out, spitball it with your team, and make sure everyone is trained on what to say and do.

Because it’s going to happen.

But, here’s the thing. There’s only so much you can say or do and only so many clients will stay.

That’s life.

What you can do is prepare their exit for their eventual return and for referrals.

Tell them you understand, accommodate their needs, apologize if appropriate, tell them they’re welcome back if their situation changes, and wish them well.

And whatever you do, don’t play the guilt card.

How to get former clients to send you referrals

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations Tagged With: client retention