David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

Krispy Kreme’s missed opportunity

November 4, 2019 by David M. Ward

You run Krispy Kreme and you hear there’s a college student in Minnesota who drives four hours every Saturday to buy up to 100 boxes of your doughnuts and resell them to his fellow students.

What do you do?

Do you applaud him, interview him, write about him, maybe offer him a job?

Do you look into opening stores in the town where this guy goes to school?

Do you encourage your franchisees to offer a delivery option to people who don’t have time to get to a store?

Think, man, how would you leverage this to get some great publicity and increase your sales?

Maybe you saw the same news story I saw. The one with the headline, “Krispy Kreme orders Minnesota student who bought, resold doughnuts to ‘shut down operations'”

Yeah, that’s what they did.

This kid reminds me of myself in elementary school. I bought candy and gum at the 7-11 and re-sold it to the other kids. I had a nice little business going. So I felt for this guy.

He wasn’t doing anything wrong. But, someone at corporate thought what he was doing might be a liability for the company, so, right or wrong, they told him to stop.

But that’s not the whole story. The best part of this story is what happened next.

He didn’t call a lawyer. He didn’t complain to the government about restraint of trade. He didn’t hold a protest march and cry victim.

No. He shut down his business.

I don’t know if he felt he couldn’t fight the company or that it just wasn’t worth it but, just like that, he was out of business.

But not for long.

His posted this on social media:

“Life happens, and it could be a sign that something else is meant to be. Appreciate everyone’s love and support to make this happen, couldn’t have done it without you all.”

And then he encouraged everyone to stay tuned because he might “have another entrepreneurial adventure you will be interested in”.

I love this young man’s attitude. And I can’t wait to see what’s he does next.

Filed Under: success

How good do you need to be?

November 1, 2019 by David M. Ward

Lawyers need to be good at many things but they don’t need to be great at anything.

It helps, but being good is usually good enough.

Take writing, for example.

Lawyers need to write clearly–to express their ideas and persuade people to follow a course of action.

They also need to write succinctly, so readers don’t have to work hard to find their point.

From a marketing and practice-building perspective, a lawyer’s writing should also speak to the reader’s self-interest.

Your writing should show that you understand what your reader is going through–their problems, their pain, their desires–and cast vision for a better future for them, with you by their side.

Your writing should also be–for lack of a better word–“interesting”.

Your articles, blog posts, emails, presentations, et. al., should have some color in them. Don’t just talk about the law, talk about life–your readers’ and yours.

Just about any lawyer can accomplish this and turn out good writing.

Some lawyers may need practice. Lots of writing to sharpen their saw.

Some lawyers may need someone to edit or at least review their writing prior to hitting the send button.

Some lawyers may need to do some homework, to learn more about their clients’ business or industry, background, and personal interests.

And some lawyers may need to get out of the office more or take up a hobby or loosen up a bit and be willing to talk about their day.

Writing is what lawyers do and we need to be good at it. But we don’t need to be great.

If you want to learn how to write a more effective newsletter, get this

Filed Under: Writing

You don’t need a bigger plate

October 31, 2019 by David M. Ward

You know you will always have “too much” to do, don’t you? You’ll never get it all done, no matter how hard you try.

So stopping trying so hard. And don’t worry about what you don’t get done, as long as you’re getting the most important things done.

Instead of getting a bigger plate (so you can work harder), if you’re busier than all hell, figure out what to take off your plate.

Make room to do more of the important things you’re doing now or to do things you want to do but “haven’t had the time.”

Yes?

How do you decide what to take off your plate?

The logical way, the way most people do it, is to use a cost/benefit analysis.

Examine everything, note the amount of time and money and other resources you’ll need to devote to it, and compare that to the potential return.

It’s math. Do this thing, pay this price, earn this amount.

Go over the numbers with your staff or your accountant or your business coach, if that will help, and make a decision.

Ah, but sometimes the numbers don’t add up.

You don’t how much time or effort something is really going to take. Or you can’t project ROI because there are too many variables.

What do you do then?

Forget the numbers and trust your gut.

Your gut may give you the same answer your accountant gave you but it might surprise you.

If you’re really listening to your gut (and not the voice of what you think you’re “supposed to” do), your gut will lead you to what’s best for you.

Things that give you a bigger return than you could imagine or open up new opportunities you didn’t know were there.

Your gut will never fail you. But you might not know that so that’s why you have to TRUST your gut.

So, that’s it. Make decisions based on logic or intuition.

You can use either one, or both.

But a note of caution. If you use logic and it tells you to get a bigger plate, don’t listen.

Because you don’t need a bigger plate.

Make room to do bigger things

Filed Under: Productivity

Hack your next networking event

October 30, 2019 by David M. Ward

If you’ve ever tried networking and stopped, no doubt one reason was that you weren’t getting any business out of it.

Sure, there are other benefits to networking. It’s fun to hang out with people you like and have something in common with. It’s fun to see and be seen.

But if building your network and your practice is a primary reason for networking and it isn’t happening, or you’d like to make your next networking function more productive, according to a study, there’s one simple thing you should do.

Go somewhere new.

Find a new meeting, a new group, a new event, where nobody knows you.

According to the study, “people who are already embedded in a social network of friends and advisors don’t network much at all,” said Sharique Hasan, an associate Professor Duke Universityâ€™s Fuqua School of Business, who conducted the study.

He said, “Once you have a network in place, you tend to explore less. As a result, you likely miss out on opportunities to learn from new people who might be sitting next to you.”

Bottom line, if you network to have fun, stick with what’s familiar. But if you network to meet new people, learn new ideas and discover new opportunities, don’t go to Cheers (where everybody knows your name), go somewhere new.

Filed Under: Networking

The best way to build your list

October 29, 2019 by David M. Ward

The simplest way to get more clients and increase your income is to get more people to discover what you do and how you can help them.

In other words, build your list.

That doesn’t mean fill it with names. You want quality. You want people on your list who need your help and have the money to pay you, and you want people who know people like that and can tell them about you.

So, what’s the best way to have them find you?

Referrals. From people like the people you want to attract.

You won’t get as many people joining your list as you might get through advertising or other means. But the people you do get will be higher quality because someone they know, like and trust told them about you.

You’re more than half-way to “the sale” at the moment they join your list.

Okay, how do you make that happen?

The best way is to give people a reason to talk about you.

Give your clients an experience that is “chat-worthy,” that is, so good they want to tell people about you.

When you do that, you’ll get more referrals.

You’ll also get more people visiting your website or following you on social or coming to your seminars, to find out more about what you do and how you can help them.

What else?

Create a report, a checklist, a set of forms, or something else the people you want on your list would like to have. Make it something good and valuable, something that can solve a problem or help them achieve an objective.

Then, tell people where to get it.

One of the best (and easiest) places to tell people about your free report or other offer is your existing list.

Tell your social media connections, your networking contacts, the people who read your blog, and your newsletter subscribers about it and encourage them to tell others.

Case in point, my free report, “Marketing for Lawyers who Hate Marketing” is now available on my website. It shows lawyers how to build their practice without networking, blogging or social media.

If you know any lawyers who would like a copy, tell them about the report and my newsletter.

More ways to build your (email) list

Filed Under: List building

Want people to read your emails?

October 28, 2019 by David M. Ward

By far, the best way to get people to read your emails is to send those emails to people who know who you are.

A client or former client or a business contact will open your email because they recognize your name and want to hear what you say.

Your clients and business contacts–your warm market–read your emails because they know, like, and trust you. The same is true of your newsletter subscribers.

When you send email to people who don’t know you, it’s a different story.

If you write to strangers, or to people who relatively new on your list and may not yet recognize your name or recall that they signed up for your newsletter, you have to use the “subject line” in your email to get them to read your message.

The subject line is the headline for your message. Like any headline, it has to first get the reader’s attention and then give them a reason to read more.

Your subject line should make them curious or promise a benefit or otherwise inspire them to click to see what your message is all about.

Quick example.

Let’s say you don’t know me but I want you to read my email that tells you about my course on building your practice with email. In the subject, I might say, “Want people to read your emails?” because I know that when you read that, you’ll probably answer in the affirmative (and then open the email to see how to do that.)

Like the subject of the email you’re reading right now.

And yes, my email marketing course does show you how to write email subject lines that get people to open and read your emails. It also includes 203 ‘irresistible’ email subject lines you can use, to help you do just that.

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters

It’s called ‘maybe’ for a reason

October 25, 2019 by David M. Ward

I love hearing how other people structure and use their lists. When I find an idea I like, I try it and see if it works for me. Sometimes, they are a keeper. Sometimes, they don’t work for me and out they go.

And then there are ideas that are DOA.

I read one of these this morning. The author of the article said that he takes the tasks on his ‘someday/maybe’ list and either puts them on his calendar or deletes them.

He says this eliminates a lengthy weekly review of all of the tasks on that list.

I have three issues with this:

Issue no. one: Tasks on my someday/maybe list are merely ideas. I have zero commitment to them. I may do them, someday, but the odds are that I won’t. Why should I schedule anything I probably won’t do?

Issue no. two: When the scheduled date for the task arrives, if the author can’t or doesn’t want to do it, he re-schedules it (or deletes it). Since I don’t see the value in scheduling someday/maybe tasks to begin with, the idea of continually re-scheduling them seems like a poor use of my time.

Don’t they just clog up your calendar or tickler list?

Which leads me to

Issue no. three: Scheduling tasks doesn’t work for me, period.

I know many people do this successfully but unless a task has a due date or I have to get started on it so I can meet a future due date, I don’t schedule it.

Instead, I keep my lists of active tasks nearby and, once a day (usually), decide which of those tasks I’m going to do that day or that week.

I spend no time trying to figure out the priority of tasks I may not get to for weeks or months, and no time scheduling them.

A someday/maybe list does tend to get big and unwieldy, however, and I admit I don’t go through mine every week. I go through it periodically and purge ideas that no longer appeal to me, and move the ones that do to another list.

To save time, sometimes I go through my someday/maybe list and only look at items that have a certain tag or that were added to the list over a year ago.

Of course, the biggest time-saver is not adding ideas (like this one) to the list in the first place.

Ready to take a quantum leap in your practice? Here’s what you need

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: getting things done, gtd, Someday/Maybe

Why nobody reads your newsletter

October 24, 2019 by David M. Ward

I see a lot of attorney’s newsletters. I see them but I don’t read them because, well, why should I? I can get that information anywhere.

The same goes for a lot of blogs, articles, videos, and other content.

The information is often good. Legal and business or consumer tips that can help the reader accomplish something or learn something useful.

The problem is the author doesn’t give anyone a reason to read their version of the information.

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix.

Put some of “you” into the writing. Tell readers your experience with or opinion of the information.

Instead of sending your readers an article or a link to an article about how to take better photos, for example, tell them why you wanted to take better photos of your kids and that you found a site that helped you do that in less than 30 minutes, and now your family loves your photos.

Instead of telling them how insurance companies trick people and what to watch out for, tell your readers about a client who got tricked by an adjuster into settling his case for much less than it was worth, or a client who wisely called you for advice before they signed a release and didn’t fall into that trap.

Instead of sending a list of books everyone should read in their lifetime, tell them about a book you read recently and why you recommend it. Tell them what you liked, what you got out of it, what you agreed with, and where you differed.

In other words, instead of sending your readers an information dump, tell them how you or your clients or others have used that information, and benefited, or failed to use it, to their detriment.

Stories, bub. Context. Examples from your practice or personal life.

Not just “the information” but what you think about the information.

Put some personality into your writing.

Do that, and your subscribers will not only read and enjoy your newsletter, they’ll look forward to reading your next issue.

If you want to learn more ways to write a newsletter your subscribers will love to read, get my email marketing for attorneys course

Filed Under: Newsletters, Writing

Once is not enough

October 23, 2019 by David M. Ward

Marketing legend Dan Kennedy who passed away recently once noted something he learned from consulting clients in the dry cleaning industry. He said that if you get a new customer to return to your store three times in a relatively short period of time, they’re likely to be your customer for life.

The banking, insurance and investment industries also know that getting a customer to open three accounts or buy three of their products makes it much more likely the customer will stick with their company.

I can’t imagine why this wouldn’t also be true for lawyers and firms.

Get your clients to hire you for three different matters or cases, and the odds are they will keep you as their lawyer for life.

Assuming you don’t give them a reason not to, of course.

Does this fall into the category of interesting information or can you do something with this little gem?

No doubt you do whatever you can to get first-time clients to return and “buy” your other services, and you don’t stop with three.

But perhaps now, knowing the magic of the number three, you’ll work a little harder to get a first time client to hire you again, and a client who has hired you twice to hire you a third time.

Maybe you’ll work a little harder to get them to do that sooner, rather than later.

Maybe you’ll offer your clients an incentive to do that.

Invest a little at the beginning of your relationship to create a lifetime of client loyalty.

Yes but, what do you do if most of your clients only need your service one time and you don’t have any other services to offer?

You might break down your service into smaller parts. Get them to hire you for part one and then offer them parts two and three.

You might promote to them the services of another lawyer you recommend and stay involved during the engagement (ie., go to the first meeting, get cc’d on progress reports, etc.)

You might get clients to engage with you in other ways such as attending a seminar in your conference room or online. They might not need to hire you again but attending your seminar does fill in the gap between first time/one-time client and lifetime client (and source of referrals).

Get your clients to hire you again, sure, but if you can’t do that, get them involved with you in some way after the first engagement.

Good client relations leads to referrals

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations

Are you focusing on your market or your marketing?

October 22, 2019 by David M. Ward

It all comes down this: generic marketing (which most lawyers do) vs. marketing that is customized to your target market.

Generic marketing is “one size fits all”. It focuses on the lawyer or firm, not the market or client. Because of that, their marketing tends to produce poorer results because one size does not fit all.

If you handle family law, for example, every service you offer could be (should be) packaged and presented differently for each of the different types of clients you target.

The prosperous professional fighting tooth and nail to modify a visitation order is very different from the millennial who just wants to get things over with.

Your marketing must reflect those differences.

That’s why you need to decide who you are marketing to (and who you are not) and understand what makes them tick.

What do they want? What will get their attention? What will persuade them? What type of lawyer will they relate to?

Study your target market. What are their highest values, most painful problems, and most fervent desires?

When you’ve figured that out, your marketing is much more effective.

You spend less time and less money marketing to them. Your words and examples resonate with them. You get more of them to make an appointment and more to sign up.

Because they see that you understand them.

Generic marketing is simple. But so much less effective. Everyone hears the same message, and most people tune you out.

You have to work harder and spend more time and more money getting your message out into the world. You have to make sure your fees are “competitive” because the clients you’re likely to attract are comparing your “offer” to everyone else’s.

If you want your marketing to be more effective, if you want to get a higher percentage of people saying yes and paying more, don’t focus on your marketing, focus on your market.

As a friend of mine puts it, “Go so deep into a single niche that you know your customers [he advises businesses] better than they know themselves.”

I show you how to do that in my email marketing course

Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: Market research, Niche marketing, target marketing