Would you rather have more clients or higher-paying clients?

July 21, 2016 by
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Yesterday, I did a consultation with a lawyer who has a high-volume/low-fee practice. I asked him, “Would you rather have 50 new $1,000 clients each month or two $25,000 clients?”

I wanted him to upgrade his practice towards the higher end of the client spectrum. You have less overhead, less stress, and less work to do to produce the same income. And you don’t have to compete with everyone and his brother because there is no competition at the top.

I pointed out that he already had a suitable niche market, a certain group of business owners who could provide him with referrals and introductions to other professionals who serve that market.

He said he would need to take CLE classes before he could do this. I suggested that until he was proficient, he could associate with another lawyer who has the experience.

He also said he would need to hire another attorney to handle some of his current caseload, and he’s willing to do that.

So he has a plan.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Niche marketing is smart. Here’s how to do it

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Filed Under: Fees and Billing, Increase your income, Marketing Plan

How to become a better and faster writer (and why you must)

July 20, 2016 by
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Lawyers write, usually every day. But the writing we do for our work usually leans towards the boring and mundane. We use formulaic language, if not actual templates, and while our writing usually gets the job done, in terms of quality, it’s nothing to write home about (pun intended).

You may be able to get away with boring writing in much of your work, but you won’t get away with it in writing that is intended to bring in that work.

Articles, blog posts, presentations, letters to prospective clients and to other professionals we’d like to know must hew to a different standard. It needs to be interesting and compelling and anything but boring.

Because if someone isn’t required to read something we wrote as part of their work, or because it will otherwise benefit them, they either won’t read it or if they do, they won’t act on it.

Your dull and poorly written article won’t inspire anyone to call you. Your dry as kindling presentation won’t inspire anyone to make an appointment.

If your marketing-oriented writing doesn’t engage readers and draw them to you, you might as well not bother.

You can hire copywriters or ghostwriters, or you can learn how to do it yourself.

Writing every day will help. So will writing first drafts quickly and not editing until they’re done. There are other ways to become a better writer but there is perhaps no easier way than to write about topics that interest you.

Write about subjects you are passionate about. Write about things that inspire you. Write about what turns you on, or what pisses you off.

When you do, you’ll be able to write quickly and easily. You’ll become a better writer. And you will attract more clients who like what you say and how you say it.

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Filed Under: Writing

How’s that Pokemon thing working out?

July 19, 2016 by
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Pokemon Go is big, or so I hear. I really wouldn’t know. I had to ask my wife what it was because I’ve paid almost no attention to it. Based on what I’ve heard about it, it’s definitely not my thing.

How about you?

Do you use, or at least try, the latest apps? Do you follow the latest trends?

Sometimes? Never? What’s a smartphone?

I read somewhere that there are four types of people:

  1. Innovators. They’re the first to do, adopt, or promote something.
  2. Early adopters. They see the trend and jump on board earlier than most.
  3. Late adopters. They wait until many or most are doing it, saying it, or using it.
  4. Dinosaurs. They rarely adopt anything new.

Or something like that.

Me? It depends on the thing. I was on board early with Evernote but I don’t own an iPad. I was one of the first to create a marketing course for attorneys and I started a blog before it was fashionable, but I do almost nothing on social media.

How about you?

I would guess that most lawyers are late adopters but I think we all need to be flexible. Some things are worth exploring early on, even if we don’t adopt them. Some things are worth our time and energy because they make us more productive or they’re just plain fun.

And then there’s Pokemon. I’m pretty sure I’ll take my first selfie before I download that one.

The best way to build your practice is to master the fundamentals

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Technology Tagged With:

What are you, chicken?

July 18, 2016 by
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What are you afraid of? C’mon, you know there are things you should be doing to grow your practice that you don’t do because of fear.

You don’t ask clients to help you, for example, because you’re afraid of appearing weak. You don’t approach prospective clients at a networking event because you’re afraid of rejection. You don’t delegate enough of your work because you’re afraid nobody can do the job as well as you.

You can overcome your fears if you want to. The first step is to imagine yourself doing the thing you fear.

See yourself clicking the button and sending your clients an email asking them to forward it to a friend, or to share your new post with their social media contacts.

See yourself in the physical act of doing the thing you fear and you will be on your way to overcoming that fear.

The second step is to imagine the results. See yourself getting new clients as a result of your email, and see the big smile on your face as you realize that you made that happen.

Nice.

Now, the third step. Do the thing. Send the email, make the call, talk to the person.

Mark Twain said, “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”

At first, your knees may tremble. You may need to hoist a pint or two. You may do it poorly. But you can do it, at least once, and if you can do it once you can do it again.

Eventually, your fear will either be completely gone or so diminished that you can do the thing at will.

Now, here’s the thing. The things we fear are often the very things we need to be doing. The things that allow us to grow quickly and reach our full potential. So don’t ignore your fears. Hear their message. Acknowledge their value. And then show them who’s boss.

How to get your clients to send you referrals

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Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With:

Developing the marketing habit

July 15, 2016 by
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When an activity become a habit, it becomes automatic; you do it without thinking about it. Eventually, through repetition, you get better at it and you get better results.

That’s true of the exercise habit, the reading habit, and the marketing habit.

In James Clear’s recent article, The Scientific Argument for Mastering One Thing at a Time, he offers some observations about developing new habits, based on research:

1. You are 2x to 3x more likely to follow through with a habit if you make a specific plan for when, where, and how you are going to implement it. This is known as an implementation intention.

2. You should focus entirely on one habit. Research has found that implementation intentions do not work if you try to improve multiple habits at the same time.

3. Research has shown that any given habit becomes more automatic with more practice. On average, it takes at least two months for new habits to become automatic behaviors.

Conclusion: it’s best to focus on one specific habit, work on it until you master it, and make it an automatic part of your daily life. Then, repeat the process for the next habit.

I have long preached the value of working on marketing every day for 15 minutes. I’ve said that you should schedule those minutes in your calendar as an appointment and keep that appointment. I’ve said, “you can use that time to do anything related to marketing, even if you’re only reading about it or thinking and making notes”.

But Clear suggests that you have a specific plan for working on your new habit. Is doing “anything related to marketing” specific enough?

When you are first establishing the habit, I think it is. Blocking out the time and doing something every day is the new habit. Being able to do anything gives you the flexibility to be bad before you get good.

Once the 15-minute habit is firmly a part of your routine, however, your plan should become more specific.

If you want to develop the habit of finding and reaching out to professionals with whom you can network, for example, work on that during your 15 minutes.

And only that.

Clear’s other points tell us to work on one new habit only, for at least two months. Once you have established your new habit, you can move onto others.

When I committed to writing daily emails, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Now it is automatic. It’s a part of me. I don’t have to think about it, I just do it.

My new habit has paid me many dividends, so, once you have developed your 15-minute marketing habit, if you’re looking for another habit to work on, you might want to work on writing.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development Tagged With:

How do you know your email marketing is working? 

July 14, 2016 by
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You’ve started an email list or newsletter. How do you know your email marketing is working?

Well, you’re getting more clients. Year-to-year your numbers are growing. If you pay close attention, you realize that your growth is accompanied by less effort because frankly, writing emails is about as easy as marketing gets.

If you’re doing it right, you’re also hearing from subscribers who thank you for your emails. They like your tips and have benefited from them and shared them with others. They tell you that when your email arrives they read it first thing. They look forward to your emails because they know they contain valuable information, and even more, they are fun to read.

Note to self: make emails fun to read.

If you’re really doing it right, they tell you that you are the only lawyer they read, or that they only read a few lawyers’ emails and yours is definitely one of the few.

You also get questions they’d like you to answer. It’s called engagement. It’s also called giving people what they want, not what you think they want or need.

I know these things because I hear them from you. I appreciate your feedback and kind words. I also appreciate you for buying my products and hiring my services, and for sharing with me the results you are getting because of my advice. I also appreciate your telling other lawyers about me and my site.

All of these things come from or are greatly enhanced by my email marketing.

Now, how do you accomplish these things?

Frequency. Write as often as possible. Once a month is not often enough. Once a day isn’t too often.

Consistency. Whatever schedule you choose, stick to it.

Value. Give them information they can use. Tips, links, reviews, resources, ideas, examples, explanations, how-tos.

Entertainment. Make them smile, tell them stories that make them ask, “What happened next?”

Personal. Talk about the people in your life and the things that happen to them, and to you.

Relatable. Don’t talk about your BMW if your subscribers primarily drive Toyotas.

Original. Tell them things they don’t ordinarily hear from lawyers.

Surprising. Don’t be boring or predictable.

There, that’s not so difficult, is it? (See that, I asked you a question. That’s another thing you should do).

But don’t hide your wares. Don’t be shy about telling them to hire you or take the next step. Do it often. Every email isn’t too often.

They need to hear this. They expect it. And as long as you are also delivering value, they don’t mind it.

If you believe they need what you offer and will be better off by hiring you, you owe it to them to do whatever you can to help them get it. So tell them what to do, remind them why, and remind them what might happen if they don’t.

Your clients will be grateful that you helped them finally do what they knew they needed to do but didn’t. They’ll be glad they chose you because, through your emails, they believe they know, like, and trust you. They’ll be glad to know that if they don’t need you today, you’ll be there tomorrow when they do.

And you and your bankbook will be glad that they’re glad.

Email marketing will make your phone ring. Here’s how

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Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services Tagged With:

What makes content shareable?

July 13, 2016 by
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You’re ready to write a blog post, article, or social media post and you want your subscribers and followers to share it. What should you write that will make that more likely to occur?

We know that sex and scandal and other tabloid-esq topics sell, but that’s off the table. Humor and human interest (kittens, babies, sports, games) are highly shareable, and you can write about those things occasionally, but only occasionally.

What then? News? Opinion? World events?

Sometimes. But your best bet is also the simplest. Write about your area of expertise.

Write about legal problems and solutions. Write about the law and procedure, the timeline and processes, the benefits of taking action and the risks of waiting too long. Describe your services and the pros and cons of each.

Answer the questions prospective clients and new clients frequently ask you. And write about the questions they should ask you but often don’t.

Show people what it’s like to work with you by describing what you do and how you do it.

Write about your clients and how you have helped them. Write about people you know who didn’t get help and are now paying the price.

Educate people about what they can do themselves. Teach them when they should talk to a lawyer and what questions they should ask them.

Write about solving problems, preventing problems and mitigating consequences when problems occur.

If you have a consumer-oriented practice, you can also write consumer-related topics such as buying the right insurance, saving money, retirement, taxes, etc. You can also write about issues and developments in your local community.

For a business-oriented practice, write about marketing, management, productivity, and issues and developments in your target market’s industry or niche.

No matter what type of practice you have, you can also write about personal development because everyone reading what you write is, unarguably, a person.

This is the kind of content that people will share with friends and colleagues and co-workers and family, because they know they need it or they know they would benefit from it.

And that’s all any of us could ask.

More ideas for creating shareable content that will make your phone ring

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Social media marketing, Writing Tagged With: , ,

Out of sight, out of luck

July 12, 2016 by
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One of the main reasons people who could refer you business don’t do so is that they “don’t think about it”. They’re busy and have other things on their mind. Unless they have a legal need, they don’t think about you or your services.

Out of sight, out of luck, me bucko.

You can change that, and get more repeat business and referrals, by doing the following:

1) Stay in touch with them

The easiest way to do that is via email. One of my subscribers, an associate in a firm that severely limits his ability to do any marketing, told me that he now emails his clients and prospects and referral sources every two weeks.

He writes about legal matters, and also about what he’s doing in his practice and, I suppose, in his personal life.

He’s staying “in their minds and their mailboxes” and getting repeat business and referrals, and lots of it.

He tells me, “It has worked like a charm. When you write email blasts “right where they live” you are reaching out to them, and many think it is personal. You establish your credibility. You establish a reputation.”

2) Talk about referrals

Another reason you don’t get as many referrals as you could is that you’re not talking about referrals. There are many ways to do that, but one of the simplest is something I suggested to the lawyer mentioned above: put a blurb at the bottom of your emails asking the recipient to forward it to their friends, colleagues, etc., who might like to receive his updates. Spell out what those people should do if they want to be added to the list.

People read your wisdom, tacitly endorsed by the friend or colleague who forwared it to them. They like what they see and want to see more. They ask to be added to your list. You stay in touch with them and they hire you and send you referrals.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

You can make this work better by using an autoresponder to manage everything and offering an incentive to join your list–a report, ebook, or a collection of some your best prior articles–but you don’t have to.

3) Make it easy to refer

Many clients and contacts come close to referring but don’t do it because they don’t know what to do. Do they tell the referral about you and give them your number? Do they send the referral some information about you, and if so, what should it be? Do they tell you about the referral? If they do that, what will you do?

Of course, when it comes to making it easy, “forward this email” is about as easy as it gets. Your contacts don’t have to refer people to you, they can refer them to your content and then your content refers you.

Get this if you want to learn how to get more referrals

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

If IKEA managed your law firm

July 11, 2016 by
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Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I visited IKEA. Among other items, I bought a side chair for my home office. This morning, I opened the box and looked at the instructions for setting it up.

Note to self: never look at instructions before having coffee.

I’m sitting here now, coffee mug at hand, remembering the other IKEA furniture I’ve set up. As intimidating as some of the instructions have been, I never once failed to set up anything, and I’m not what anyone would call handy.

IKEA sells millions of items that need to be set up, to millions of people who aren’t handy, many of whom don’t speak English. Or Swedish. They do it by providing caveman-simple picture instructions that spell out everything. No words, just big, easy-to-understand drawings of all of the parts and what to do with them.

If you don’t understand something, they tell you to call to get help. Yep, they use pictures to explain that, too.

Now, do you think your clients would like this kind of help when they buy your services?

Yes they would. They would like to know exactly what you are doing with their case and exactly what they should do and not do. They don’t want to have to call you to explain everything, but they like knowing that if they wanted to, they could.

You need written, detailed, dead-simple instructions for every service you offer, and for every stage of those services. You can’t use pictures, and you probably need to translate everything into other languages, but this is definitely something that should be a hallmark of your practice.

Think about it. When you prep a client for a deposition, you talk to them and explain what’s going to happen and what they should and shouldn’t do. How much of what you tell them registers and is remembered?

You probably role-play with them. You may show them videos that demonstrate the process. That’s all good, but they should also have written, detailed instructions they can refer to, with plenty of if/then statements, explanations, and examples.

If an IKEA rep had EXPLAINED to me how to set up my new chair, even if he role-played with me, without written instructions in front of me, I’m not sure I could set the thing up. Even if I could, I know it would take longer, I would make mistakes, and the entire experience would be a stressful mess.

IKEA does a lot of things right but do you think one of the reasons people buy from them instead of other retailers is that they make things easy? If you make things easy for your clients, do you think some might choose you instead of other lawyers who don’t?

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Filed Under: Law office management

You don’t know what you don’t know

July 8, 2016 by
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New computer arrived and it’s faster than hell. I had no idea that apps and sites and pages could load that fast.

The hard drive is faster, the processor is faster, and it has twice the RAM. I’m sure being new also has something to do with it.

The last time I saw this happen was the last time I got a new computer. “So this is how the rest of the world lives,” I thought.

Anyway, this isn’t about why you should consider replacing your old equipment with something new. It’s about not knowing what you’re missing in your life until you actually experience it.

Like the first time you hire someone who is really good at their job. I once hired a temp who was so fast and competent I begged her to work for me full time. She didn’t, but she set the standard for everyone who followed.

Or the client who is scared to death to hire a lawyer and finds out you’re not scary and you can truly can help them and they are so relieved they want to cry.

We don’t know what we don’t know and the only way to find out is to try a lot of things.

When it comes to marketing and practice management, read everything you can get your hands on and try as many things as time permits. One idea, one technique, one tool, one contact, could change everything.

But you’ll never know unless you try.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Personal development, Technology
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