A simple way to grow your email list

March 10, 2020 by
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You want more subscribers for your newsletter, right? More people hearing your words of wisdom, your success stories, and your offers.

You also want these subscribers to be people who are likely to need your services at some point, or to know people who might.

You want to grow your email list because more subscribers eventually translates into more clients.

One of the simplest ways to grow your list is to partner up with other professionals, business owners, bloggers, and other centers of influence in your niche.

If you are an estate planning, consumer bankruptcy, or divorce attorney, you might pair up with an accountant, financial planner, or a financial blogger.

Who might be a good source of referrals for you? If they have a list and write to it regularly, talk to them about a strategic alliance.

What might that look like?

You write an article for them, they write an article for you. Or, you mention their newsletter and they mention yours. Or you promote their offer and they promote yours.

You might interview each other. Or co-author a piece that gets published in both of your newsletters.

You could do the same thing on social media.

The key is to find someone with the right attitude, someone who wants to grow their list and is willing to work with you to do that. You don’t need everyone to say yes, you just need a few.

Once you find someone and execute your first “swap,” you can (a) do it again in a few months, and/or (b) go find someone else.

To learn more strategies for building your list, including the ones that get my highest recommendation, check out my course on email marketing for attorneys.

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Filed Under: Email, List building, Newsletters, Social media

Use this checklist for better headlines, titles, and email subject lines

March 9, 2020 by
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A friend of mine uses a checklist to double-check his titles and headlines. It can be used for emails, blog posts, articles, book titles, presentations, ads, and more.

He calls it the “ABCD” Formula:

A – Attention
B – Believable
C – Care
D – Different

[A] The first job of your headline is to get attention. It needs to make people curious or promise a benefit, to flag them down and get them to read the headline. The headline should then compel them to read your email, blog post, or sales copy.

[B] If the headline isn’t believable, if it promises too much (and isn’t obviously tongue-in-check), the reader is likely to turn the page (or tune out of your presentation).

[C] Your headline or title has to be relevant to the reader or prospective client and their problem or desire They have to care about what you’re saying.

[D] Finally, in the age of massive competition for eyeballs and dollars, your headline or title needs to be different from the competition’s. Why should they read your article or ad when it appears to say the the same thing as a dozen others?

When a prospective client sees your ad or post, they’re asking themselves, “What’s in it for me?” You need to tell them that, and the telling begins with your headline, tile, or email subject line.

Because if it doesn’t start there, it doesn’t matter how good your sales page or email or presentation is, nobody is going to see it.

To learn more about writing effective headlines, titles, and subject lines, especially for your newsletter, check out my Email Marketing For Attorneys course.

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Filed Under: Copywriting, Email, Newsletters, Online Marketing Tagged With:

Free 30-day trial of one of my favorite productivity apps

March 6, 2020 by
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I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite productivity apps is brain.fm. I use it almost every day to block out distractions and improve my focus.

I just found out that they’re giving away 30-day free trials.

Normally, you only get 5 sessions for free before you have to pony up, and that was enough to convince me.

In addition to using the app to focus, you can use it to “relax,” to get to sleep, and to meditate.

This is not just relaxing music or white noise, binaural beats or entrainment. It’s different technology. You can read about it on the site.

The regular price is $50/yr. and it’s well worth it.

You can get your free 30 days here. (Not an affiliate link.)

Let me know what you think.

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Filed Under: Productivity

What are you excited about?

March 5, 2020 by
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If your practice in a rut, the thrill is gone and you’re wondering if that’s all there is, there is a solution.

Find something to get excited about.

  • A new practice area
  • A new office
  • A new slant on your existing service
  • A new niche market
  • A new productivity system
  • A new strategic alliance
  • A new website, presentation, or podcast
  • A new book or course
  • A new client who knows “everyone”

Something that keeps you up at night thinking about. Something that makes you smile when you remember it during the day.

Kinda like when you started your practice and everything was new and you were filled with enthusiasm and ideas and unlimited energy.

Because getting excited invigorates you, fuels your creativity, and helps you step on the accelerator.

Funny thing, what you get excited about doesn’t have to be related to your practice.

If you have identified a new investment with tremendous promise, if you meet a new person who could be “the one,” if you’re excited about (finally) getting in shape, if you have a new side hustle. . .

It could ignite a fire in you that spreads to other parts of your life.

Find something to get excited about, or reconnect with the motivation and energy you had when you started your practice.

When you do, you’ll be able to kiss the rut goodbye.

How to take a quantum leap in your practice

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Filed Under: Inspiration, success Tagged With:

You’re not thinking small enough

March 4, 2020 by
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So, what does Seth Godin say about niche marketing?

He says that it is one of the easiest ways to stand out in your market.

And he says you should choose “the smallest market you can imagine”:

“Stake out the smallest market you can imagine,” he says, “the smallest market that can sustain you, the smallest market you can adequately serve. This goes against everything you learned in capitalism school, but in fact, it’s the simplest way to matter.”

Of course, you know I agree.

Find a niche that’s large enough to sustain you but small enough you can carve out a significant chunk thereof.

And maybe dominate that market.

In other words, be the big fish in a small pond.

Most attorneys don’t target any market. They try to attract “anyone” with a legal problem they’re good at solving.

Hard to stand out that way.

Of the attorneys who do target specific niche markets, most choose markets that are too big and too spread out, and wind up spending a fortune and a lot of energy competing with a multitude of other attorneys.

Example? Targeting the Hispanic market in a city like Los Angeles.

Sorry, too big to be a niche.

Go smaller. “Hispanic restaurant owners in West Los Angeles,” for example.

Choose niche markets where you can identify key centers of influence and a way to communicate with them.

And then, once you’ve choosen a niche, figure out what you can do to make it even smaller.

This can help you choose your niche

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Small favors lead to referrals

March 3, 2020 by
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You want referrals but you may not be comfortable asking for them.

Try this instead:

Instead of asking for referrals, ask your list for a small favor.

Something easy to do.

Like forwarding your email or sharing your link. Or replying to your email and telling you which title (for your next article, for example) they like best. Or, asking your list to recommend a good hotel or restaurant in a city you’ll be visiting for the first time.

Why is this a good idea?

When you ask for a small favor, you invoke the psychological principle of ‘consistency’ which says that people tend to act consistently with how they’ve acted before.

If they’ve done a favor for you, they begin to think of themselves as someone who does favors for you.

Which can eventually lead to referrals.

Try it. Send your list a short email and ask for a favor. Then, thank the people who helped out or sent suggestions or voted for their favorite, and tell everyone what happened, e.g., how you enjoyed the restaurant.

An engaged list is a responsive list, and a good source of referrals.

Engaging your list is a valuable part of email marketing

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Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing

How much should you charge?

March 2, 2020 by
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How do you determine your fees?

No doubt you consider your overhead, how much you want to earn, and how much other lawyers charge.

But there’s something else you should consider:

How much is it costing the prospective client who doesn’t get the benefits and outcomes you offer?

How much are they spending in direct costs, lost opportunity costs, and emotional costs?

If a business owner isn’t collecting money owed to them, how much are they losing each month?

If a estate planning client doesn’t have the protections they need, how much are they putting at risk and how much could it cost their estate if they die or become incapacitated?

If a family law client is seeing a therapist to deal with unresolved emotional issues, how much are they spending each month?

When you know what the prospective client is spending or risking, you can show them how your services provide a better value.

People make “buying” decisions based on emotions and then justify those decisions based on logic.

If you can show them how hiring you actually saves them money, the logic becomes undeniable.

How to take a quantum leap in your practice

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Fees and Billing

I won’t give up, I won’t give in

February 28, 2020 by
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Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t have what you want.

You want what you want and you should have it.

And you will, if you do what needs to be done.

It may take longer than you thought. It may take skills you don’t have. It may take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, or. . . it may not.

It may not take hard work or massive action. It may just take a different strategy.

Confucius said, “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

Don’t give up. Don’t give in. You want what you want and you will have it.

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Filed Under: Inspiration

Would you like a copy?

February 27, 2020 by
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Would you rather send information to prospective clients or have them ask you to send them information?

The answer is obvious.

When people ask you to send them something, or tell them something, or do something, not only do they give you permission to send the information, they identify themselves as “interested”.

Which means they are a better prospect than someone those who don’t ask.

How do you get people to ask?

By asking them a question.

After you mention your offer or benefits, you could say:

  • Would you like to know more about this?
  • Would you like to see some examples of how people have stopped [this problem]?
  • Do you want me to send you the checklist/report/form I mentioned?

You can ask when you speak to a prospective client, in your newsletter, in a live presentation, and anywhere else you connect with people.

Yes, you could make it a statement–“Give me your email and I’ll send you the report”–and there is value in telling people what to do. But asking a question works a bit better because it calls for an affirmative response.

When they say “yes, send me the information,” they are more likely to review what you send them, because “they asked for it”.

How to use email to build your practice

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With:

Work on your strengths

February 26, 2020 by
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Tennis champ Roger Federer once said:

“In your professional life, I think it’s far better to be very, very good at one or two things and just marginal at the rest than to be merely good at lots of things.

“Working on your weaknesses makes you a complete player, but you won’t be dangerous anymore. That’s why I work on strengths.”

What are your strengths? What do you do best? Where would you consider yourself an expert?

Whatever it is, if you want to be ‘dangerous,’ continue working on improving your strength.

If you’re good at building rapport with people, for example, if that’s one of your strengths, you should work on mastering that skill.

Practice it. Research it. Study it. And talk to others who share that skill.

You may do this already. But are you totally committed to it?

When you come across information you know relative to your strength, do you dismiss it? Or do you revisit it, think about it and add it to your notes, with comments and links and questions to answer?

When you wake up, do you think about the mundane work tasks for the day, or do you think about what you’ve learned in the books you’re reading or the courses you’re taking that will help you get the extra edge?

Have you scheduled time today, and every day, to work on your skill?

If you want to be world-class, if you want others talking about you, interviewing you, writing profiles about you, and hiring you when there are so many others they could choose, if you want to be the Gerry Spence of your practice area, identify what you’re good at and commit to becoming even better.

Are you good at getting referrals? This will help you get more

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Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With: ,
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