Who loves ‘ya, baby?

February 15, 2019 by
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We’re trained to see both sides of an issue and that’s good. It makes us better at our job. But building a successful law practice requires you to stand out from the herd. 

One way to do that is to choose sides on a controversial issue.

Not politics or religion, although you could choose one of these if you’re willing to go all in. No, I’m talking about something less ideological.

Something like reverse mortgages. 

I know someone whose parents got one and were happy until they spent all the proceeds buying things they didn’t need. It made the last few years of their life difficult and they became a burden on their kids who had to help out. 

It would be easy to demonetize reverse mortgages and use stories like this one to write and speak and warn people not to believe the hype.

You could build an entire practice doing that. 

On the other hand, I’m sure there are many people who are perfectly happy with their decision to get a reverse mortgage. They timed it right, they were careful with the money, they got good advice along the way, and they are enjoying their retirement.

You could take that side, too. 

If you adopt the latter view, you could write about how reverse mortgages can be a blessing, network with real estate professionals who specialize in them and build a successful practice as a champion for the industry. 

I don’t know if reverse mortgages are, per se, good or bad. I haven’t looked into it. I’m saying that you can get a lot of mileage out of choosing sides on a controversial issue (e.g., Bitcoin investing) and marketing the hell out of it.

Whatever the issue, choosing sides will make you some enemies.  (If it doesn’t, you haven’t chosen the right issue.) Making enemies is the price you pay to make a name for yourself. 

The other option is to play it safe and have nobody know your name. 

Marketing legal services is easier when you know the formula 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

We love practicing law!

February 14, 2019 by
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I got a postcard from a real estate broker team in my area looking for listings. The first thing you read on the postcard is a series of bullet points:

  • We LOVE Real Estate!!!!
  • We LOVE our clients! Thank you for your support over the years.
  • We LOVE listings! We get the most eyes on your property.
  • We LOVE negotiating! We fight hard for your money.
  • We LOVE selling houses! That’s what we do best.

And so on.

Anything wrong with this? Plenty. 

Whether real estate broker or attorney, clients don’t hire you because you like what you do. They hire you because of what you can do for them.

A postcard featuring what YOU like about what you do doesn’t get the job done. Especially when that’s what you lead with. 

In any marketing communications–websites, emails, ads,  postcards, or anything else, you have a few seconds to catch the prospect’s attention and compel them to continue reading. 

Talking about YOURSELF first doesn’t do that. Instead, talk about what’s on the reader’s or listener’s mind, what’s going on in their world (and their head). Talk to them about their problems and desires. Then talk to them about your solutions. 

The bullets on this postcard mention some benefits: “We get the most for your property, We fight hard for your money, We get the most eyes on your property,” but they aren’t “in focus”.

The brokers are in focus–what they love, what they’re good at. 

In addition, the benefits in these bullets are weak and common. You read them and your eyes glaze over. 

Look: 

You have to get the prospect’s attention before they will read the content of your message. You can’t do that by telling them about yourself, you have to talk about them.  

You have to tell prospects what’s in it for them. What benefits do you offer? How can you help them become better off? Quantify and dramatize the benefits; you can’t bore anyone into hiring you. 

And you have to tell prospects why they should choose you instead of anyone else who says the same things. How are you different? Why are you better? What do you offer that others don’t?

Because if you say the same things everyone says, you’re really saying nothing. 

One more thing. Putting a pretty picture and “Happy Valentine’s Day” on the front of the postcard doesn’t help. 

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Filed Under: Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Uncategorized

My computer ate my homework

February 13, 2019 by
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Last night I did quite a bit of work on my laptop. This morning, when I logged into the app on my desktop, I found that the work I’d done hadn’t synced. 

Yes, I save, and yes, I have backups, but last night’s work didn’t back up. 

So, I lost a lot of work. Too bad, so sad. 

Question is, what am I going to do about it? 

That’s simple. I’m going to suck it up and re-do the work. 

I’m not going to blame the software. Phooey on that. What happened was my fault. I didn’t check a box I should have checked when I updated the software on one machine.

My bad. 

We’ve all lost work. We’ve all made mistakes, lost money, pissed off friends, alienated clients, angered judges, and embarrassed ourselves in public.

We have to own our mistakes.

If we don’t take responsibility for our lives, if we blame the software, our employees, or our elected officials, we certify our victim-hood.

Phooey on that. 

By owning our mistakes, we empower ourselves to repair the damage. As Dave Ramsey said, “If you’re the problem, you’re also the solution”.

Of course, taking responsibility for bad things that happen means we can also take credit for the good things. 

I’ll take that deal all day, every day.

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Filed Under: Personal development

Clients with benefits

February 12, 2019 by
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When I was in law school, I helped the girl I was dating with a couple of legal issues. Don’t get excited, I was under the supervision of a practicing lawyer.

That girl and I got married and have lived happily ever after.

I was thinking, what if I had been licensed at the time I helped her with those matters? Today, in many jurisdictions,  I might be in trouble since dating a client is verboten.

Is that prohibition a good thing? 

In my opinion, it isn’t. I can see how dating a client can lead to trouble but that doesn’t mean it always leads to trouble. So on this issue, I am decidedly libertarian: 

Leave us alone, overseers, and trust that we will usually do the right thing. If we don’t, do what you have to do.

On the other hand, while I don’t like “not dating” as a rule, it makes a lot of sense as a recommendation. A strong one, even, complete with examples of all the things that could go wrong.

Here’s another recommendation: don’t treat your clients like personal friends. 

If you hang out with your clients, if you are overly familiar with them or use coarse language in front of them, or you do a host of other things that might be considered undignified and unprofessional in the eyes of your clients, you run the risk of damaging your reputation. 

Be friendly with clients, but maintain a bit of distance. Let down your hair with them occasionally, but don’t ever let them see you drunk.  

We need our clients to respect us and look up to us, something our friends don’t always do. Especially if we’re sleeping with them.

How to get referrals from other lawyers

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Filed Under: Uncategorized

Building your law practice by design, not default

February 11, 2019 by
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When you need a new computer and visit a retailer to see what’s available, the sales person (if they’re doing their job) will probably ask you a series of questions:

  1. What will you be doing with it?
  2. Are there any “must have” features?
  3. Anything that’s “good to have but not required?”
  4. What’s your budget?

Your answers will help eliminate from consideration computers that don’t have the power or features you want or need or that cost more than you want to spend. From the remaining options, you can zero in on the right choice.

It seems to me that these questions can also help you make the right decisions about managing and growing your practice.

What type of work do you do or want to do?

What practice areas, niches, target markets, and types of cases or clients?

Start with the big picture. Eliminate what you don’t want so you can focus on what you do want.

Must have features?

You might say, “I don’t want partners, I want a preponderance of my clients to come from referrals, I don’t want to do any paid advertising, and I want to commute no more than 40 minutes to my office.”

Good to have but not required?

You might say, “I would like to able to work from home two days per week, I don’t want any full-time employees, and I would prefer do little or no litigation.”

What’s your budget?

How much time and money are you willing to invest to manage and build your practice?

How much on overhead (dollars and/or percentage of gross)? How much on advertising (if any)? How much time on marketing each week?

There are no right or wrong answers, of course, but thinking these things through can help you zero in on what you need, what you want, and what you’re willing to do.

No high-pressure sales people required.

For a simple marketing plan that really works, go here

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing Plan

How do you compete with this?

February 8, 2019 by
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Comes this question: What do you do when a prospective client  (who found you through the Internet) tells you they probably won’t hire you because they’ve had free consultations with several of your competitors, suggesting that one of them will get the nod?

If most of your competition offers free consultations, and you don’t, should you change course to stay competitive?

Maybe. 

If you get (or want to get) most of your clients via an Internet search, where prospective clients are given to shopping and comparing fees, you probably need to offer free consultations just to stay in the running. 

On the other hand, if you get (or want to get) most of your clients through referrals, and prospects talk to you because they trust the client or professional who referred them and/or they don’t want to bother shopping around, then maybe not. 

But there is one more option.  

If you do something or offer something most other lawyers don’t do, and you can “sell” that difference to prospective clients, you may not have to make any compromises. 

Do you specialize in a particular area of the law that most lawyers don’t handle, or focus on representing a certain type of client? 

Do you have a better track record you can quantify and point to?  

Do you offer benefits that no one else offers (or no one else promotes?) 

Failing these, if you what you offer is pretty much what everyone else offers, there’s only one other way to beat them–with better marketing. 

You need a stronger on-boarding process, better marketing documents, better follow-up, and better salesmanship. 

When someone takes a look at you, you need to do a better job of selling them on hiring you. 

Start by answering this question: “Why should anyone hire you instead of any other attorney in your field and market?”

If you have a good answer to that question, you’ll know what to do. If you can’t, you’ll know you have some work to do.

Check out my free referral course 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

I might not be the right lawyer for you

February 7, 2019 by
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Scrivener is my favorite writing app for long documents. I use it on two Windows machines and my iPhone. 

But Scrivener has a flaw.

Because of the way the software is built, you can’t use iCloud to sync between devices, you have to use Dropbox. 

(Funny, I use another writing app that doesn’t play well with Dropbox; I have to use iCloud to sync.)

Anyway, on the App store, Scrivener generally gets great reviews, but there is a chorus of complaints from customers who want to sync via iCloud and are PO’d that they cannot. So they give Scrivener one- or two-star reviews and call it a day.

The sales page says that syncing “requires a Dropbox account (not compatible with iCloud” but it’s a footnote and, apparently, a lot of folks miss it. 

If I was in charge, I would put the “no iCloud”disclaimer up front and center.

I would explain the technical reason why you can’t use iCloud and talk about why had to do it this way so that customers could get certain unique features that are key to Scrivener’s greatness. 

This will cut down on bad reviews but it should also lead to more sales to customers who are intrigued enough by the unique features of the app that they’re willing to switch to Dropbox to get them. 

In sales, this is known as “admitting your flaws”. It’s designed to reduce objections, buyer’s remorse, and bad reviews. Telling customers the flaws of your product or service before they discover them on their own builds trust and allows you to turn a weakness into a strength.

It works the same whether you’re selling software, houses, or legal services. 

I heard from an immigration attorney recently who isn’t an “accredited specialist” in his country because he doesn’t do the type of work that the accreditation accredits. He wanted to know how he should handle this on his website and other marketing. 

He should be upfront about it.

Admit his “flaw”. Explain that he specializes in a different area of immigration law and that accreditation isn’t required to practice in this area. 

He should do this because some prospective clients are no doubt wondering why he isn’t accredited, as they see other lawyers are. 

Give them a good explanation and most of them will not only be satisfied, they’ll see that you specialize in precisely the services they need (instead of everything) and thus see you as the better choice. 

He added, “It’s interesting because just yesterday I was reading the website of a competitor who is an accredited specialist and I was more drawn to his personal story about why he does migration than his credentials. If I was a potential client of his that’s what would get me.”

Me too. 

What to put on your website

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Copywriting, Salesmanship

This is so ridiculous I had to read it twice

February 6, 2019 by
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I read a lot of articles and posts about a lot of different subjects. Some provide information I can use in my business or personal life, some are inspiring, some are just plain fun.

ome articles make me check the calendar to make sure it’s not April 1st.

Behold:

“Minimize Worry by Scheduling It Into Your Day,” summarizes an article in Psychology Today promoting the idea of scheduling 30 minutes a day on your calendar to do your worrying.

What the hell?

“Instead of letting worry distract you from your life, set aside a special time for it,” the psychologist said. “Studies have shown that scheduling worry into your day decreases anxiety over time.”

Mind you, this isn’t for people with clinical depression or an anxiety disorder. It’s for the rest of us, people with work to do, responsibilities, problems, and all the other things that are a normal part of life.

We’re supposed to validate our worries and schedule time to indulge them?

Okay, I know I don’t have a psychology degree but may I suggest another idea? Instead of scheduling time for worrying, how about scheduling time to do something about the things that worry you?

If you’ve got money problems, for example, set aside 30 minutes a day to work on ways to increase your income or reduce your expenses.

Isn’t that simpler and more logical? Isn’t that what a grownup would do?

No safe spaces, thumb sucking, jammies, or stuffed animals required.

Maybe I’m wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. But you know what? I’m not going to worry about it.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Personal development

A message for sole practitioners, introverts, and misanthropes

February 5, 2019 by
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Contrary to popular belief, I’m not a hermit. I like being around people. But like most introverts, I can only handle so much of that before I get antsy or fatigued or ready to scream.

I can speak on a stage in front of thousands. But for personal communication, I prefer one-on-one or small groups.

Also, I usually prefer to work alone.

Not always, not for everything, but given most of the projects I am involved with, my preferred way of working is to do most of it myself.

No committees, no groups, no partners, no second opinions, just me and my lonesome. At least until I’ve taken it as far as I can, or as far as I need to, and it’s ready to hand off to someone else.

Does this resonate with you? If so, you might be a kindred spirit. I’d give you a hug to welcome you to the club but I’d rather just send you an email.

Anyway, the point isn’t that introverts or extroverts are better or more successful. Based on what I’ve seen, it’s a tie. We are equally successful, but for different reasons.

The point is that no matter which way you swing, as an employer or partner or member of a board, it’s important to understand how others prefer to work so that we can give them what they need to do their best.

If you’re an extrovert, understand that if we don’t want to meet with you or work directly with you, it’s nothing personal. We’ll get back to you when we’ve done our thing.

If you’re an introvert, understand that while we do well working alone, there are times when involving others lets us do even better.

As the well-known African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.”

Does your website need a refresh? This will help

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Filed Under: Communication, Personal development Tagged With:

Apple doesn’t do this, should you?

February 4, 2019 by
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You probably recall Apple’s “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads a few years back featuring a nerd (PC) and a cool guy (Mac) telling us why their platform is superior. 

Apple captured a lot of market share with this campaign, so why don’t they do anything like it today? 

A video, “Why Apple doesn’t talk about competitors” explains why Apple no longer talks about why they are better than the competition. They don’t even acknowledge the existence of competition. 

Ads for Apple’s flagship iPhone don’t compare the iPhone to Android phones, for example, because on specs and price, Android usually comes out better. So Apple positions itself as “number one,” talks about their “magical” products, and markets to their loyal fan base.

Apple’s ads simply compare this year’s model with last year’s model. The new model is faster or has a better camera than the previous generation. 

“They don’t want you to think, ‘Which phone should I buy?'” the video explains, “they want you to think, ‘Which iPhone should I buy?”

Okay, what can we learn from this? 

Should you compare your legal services with those offered by other lawyers? Should you compete on specs?

If you are the big dog in your niche, like Apple, no. What’s to be gained by a feature-by-feature comparison? All you will do is force your smaller competition to point out where they are superior.

If you aren’t the big dog, you have to do what Android does: demonstrate why you offer a better product. You need to give clients reasons to choose you instead of the competition.

How are you better? Faster? Different? 

But you’re not selling a product like a computer or a phone that can be taken apart, examined and benchmarked. So, if you’re not “the best,” don’t fret.

Most people won’t hire you based on how you spec out. Most people will hire you because they know, like, and trust you (or someone who referred them to you). 

And they don’t care whether you use a Mac or a PC.

How to get your clients to send you more referrals

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,
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