Too hot, too cold, or just right?

April 7, 2016 by
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If you give prospective clients too many options for hiring you, you risk confusing them, and a confused mind usually says no.

If you only give them one option, however–hire you or don’t–you may lose them for other reasons.

The objective is to find a balance between too many  options and not enough.

Take a look at each of the services you offer. Are there too many choices? Are you confusing them with variables, add-ons, upgrades, and optional services that make it difficult to choose?

If so, look for ways to simply those options. Aim for clarity. Make it easier for them to decide.

If you don’t offer any options, however, if you give them a choice between “A” or “nothing,” look for ways to provide them with a second option. Something that adds value without adding confusion.

Let them choose “A” or “B” because whichever one they choose allows them to get the benefits they seek, and allows you to get a new client.

Sometimes, a third option is warranted. Should you offer it as option “C” along with the first two options? Should you hold back and offer it later? Or should you include it as a free bonus for choosing your higher priced package?

The answer is: I don’t know. And neither do you.

You could look at what other lawyers offer. You could conduct surveys and see which option prospective clients say is the most attractive. You could “go with your gut”. But the only way you’ll know for sure is to offer different options it to prospective clients and see how many sign up.

If you’re still not sure, start with two options. Price the second option higher than the first, but not a multiple of the first. $3,000 and $4,000, but not $3,000 and $10,000.

If you charge by the hour and you don’t offer any flat fees or packages, look for ways that you could do that because more clients will sign up when they know in advance how much it’s going to cost.

Master the art of successful billing and Get the Check

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Closing the sale, Fees and Billing, Law office management

A simple plan for quickly bringing in new clients

April 6, 2016 by
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There are lots of ways to bring in new clients. Referrals, writing, speaking, networking, and other “reaching out” methods all work. But nothing is quicker than advertising.

Done right, an ad can pull in new clients within minutes after it appears.

Not only that, in the online world especially, advertising gives you unprecedented control over your message–where it appears, how often it runs, and who sees it.

You can test different headlines, copy, and offers, to find out what works best. You can start out with inexpensive PPC and classified ads, and when your ads are working, increase your budget to maximize your return.

Maybe you don’t like the idea of advertising. I understand. But don’t hang up the phone until you hear what I propose., because what I propose could be your ticket to quickly growing your practice.

Many lawyers who reject the idea of advertising do so because they think it’s unprofessional or inconsistent with the image they want to portray. Or they believe it “won’t work” for their type of practice or their target market.

I’m not going to debate any of that right now. Instead, I’m going to propose a different idea.

Instead of advertising your firm or your services, what if you advertised a book or a report?

The spotlight wouldn’t be on you, it would be on the report.

Many attorneys write books and other information-based “products”. What’s wrong with advertising them, either for sale or as a free giveaway?

Nothing. Nothing is wrong with that.

Okay, so you have to write a book or report. But you could do that in a weekend.

“The 30 Day Referral Blitz” shows you everything you need to know to quickly write a “Special Report” you can advertise, and use for other marketing purposes.

You could also hire someone to write the report, or help you write it, but don’t overthink this. If you can pass the bar exam, you can write a report that prospective clients will want to read.

Once your report is written, you advertise it and give it to prospects who visit your website (or a separate website dedicated to the report, if you want) in return for signing up on your email list. Your website can handle the sign-ups and delivering your report, automatically.

Then what?

Your report provides your prospective clients with valuable information on a subject that interests them. It also shows them how you can help them. If they like what they see, and they’re ready to hire an attorney, you’ll probably get the call.

And this can happen immediately. Some prospects will request your report, see what you do, and call you even before they read the report.

Others will read the report, follow links to your (other) website where they can learn more, and then hire you.

Some won’t be ready to hire you, but they’ll be on your email list and you can send them additional information about what you do and how you can help them. When they’re ready to hire an attorney, there you will be–in their minds and their (e)mail boxes.

It doesn’t get simpler–or quicker–than that.

The 30 Day Referral Blitz shows you how to write and deliver your report

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Filed Under: Advertising, Email, List building, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Another way your clients can help your practice grow

April 5, 2016 by
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Will you be seeing any clients today? This week? Good. When you’re done with your meeting, ask them if they can help you out with something and tell them it will only take 15 minutes.

When they ask what you have in mind, tell them you want to ask them a few questions about their experience with you and your office.

When they agree, ask them if it would be okay if you record the conversation. And then, do a brief interview.

Ask some basic questions about why they needed a lawyer, how they found you, and what you did for them. Ask about:

  • Their background/occupation
  • The legal issue or objective that prompted them to seek legal help
  • How they found you (referral, search, other)
  • If they saw your website, what did they read, what did they like?
  • Did they talk to other lawyers before they decided to hire you?
  • Why did they choose you?
  • What did you do for them/how did you help them?
  • What did they like best about having you as their lawyer?
  • Is there anything they think you need to improve? Anything you don’t do but should?
  • Would they recommend you? What would they say about you?

And so on. You’ll think of other questions, and they’ll volunteer statements about their experience with you and your firm.

At the end of the interview, ask them if it would be okay to post their comments on your website or put them in your newsletter. Ask them if you could use their name. You might also ask for a head shot photo, or take one on the spot.

Have the interview transcribed. You might use the transcript in it’s entirety, or lift quotes from it and use them in a “client profile”.

There are several benefits to doing this:

  • It’s an easy source of content for your blog or newsletter
  • You’ll get lots of readership. Your other clients and prospective clients like to see what others say about their experience with you
  • The interviewed client will “sell” readers on hiring you, so you don’t have to.
  • Their positive comments help your other clients feel good about their decision to hire you
  • The interviewee may share your post with their friends and followers, bringing you more traffic and more clients (indirect referrals)
  • If your client owns a business, this is a simple way for you to promote that business; they’ll also be likely to share your post
  • You’ll get feedback about what you’re doing right, and ideas you can use to add value

Go ahead, give this a try. Your clients will be flattered that you want to interview them. And once you see how easy this is, you’ll want to do it again.

Could you interview one client per month? Of course you could. If you do, and you write a weekly blog post or article, one-quarter of your monthly content will be taken care of.

More ways to get your clients to provide referrals

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Web traffic Tagged With: , , ,

This week’s marketing challenge: make a new business contact

April 4, 2016 by
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This week’s marketing challenge is to make a new business contact. Meet another lawyer or other professional in your community or target market.

All you need to do is introduce yourself, get their “details” (what they do, their contact information) and give them yours.

I’ll make it easy for you. You can “meet” them via email or on the phone. (Phone is better, for many reasons, but email is a place to start).

Okay, but where do you find them, and what do you say?

You find them anywhere. Grab a phone book, bar directory, or go online and search.

What do you say? You tell them your name, what you do, and where you’re located.  Then tell them where you found them: I found your name in the Chicago Bar Association member directory. I found your website. I saw your ad, read an article you wrote, saw your picture in the paper.

For good measure, say something nice about them: I like your website, I liked your article, I was impressed by your story.

Next, tell them why you’re contacting them.

“I thought I’d find out more about what you do, tell you a bit about what I do, and see if there’s a way we might be able to work together [help each other]”.

Simple. Honest. Straightforward.

If your first contact is via email instead of the phone, use that email to invite them to speak with you on the phone or meet you for coffee. You need to talk to them, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

When you speak, ask them about their specialty or what kinds of clients or customers they target. To get things started, or keep the conversation going, you might ask, “How long have you been doing that?” or “How did you get started?”

You want them to open up and tell you about themselves. Your turn will come later.

If things go well, ask them what they do to bring in new clients. Do they advertise? Network? Blog? Do they have a newsletter? Do they do webinars? If they’re good at marketing, they might be able to send you a lot of referrals.

Exchange contact information. Tell them you’ll send them some information about what you do or your new report, and then follow-up. If things go well, before you end the conversation, you might schedule another time to talk or to meet for lunch.

And that’s how it’s done. And that’s your challenge for the week.

Learn more on what to say and what to send them: click here

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Filed Under: Referrals

Wake up the marketing genius inside you

April 1, 2016 by
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In the last 30 days, how many blog posts or articles did you write, for your site or any others? If you published a video or audio you can count that, too.

So how many?

If you’re like most professionals, the answer is probably not in the double digits. It might not have any digits at all.

I know you understand the value of publishing lots of content. I mention it enough, and so does everyone else who is worth listening to. More content brings more traffic to your website, more prospective clients learning about what you do and how you can help them, more sign-ups for your list, and. . . more clients.

I also know why, despite this knowledge, you don’t publish more content.

No, it’s not that you don’t have the time. You can write something worth reading in 15 minutes. Remember the bar exam? Look at how much you wrote when you had to.

It’s not that you don’t know what to write about. Uncle Google and Aunt Bing are your friend. Type your practice area or one of your services into the search bar and see where it takes you.

If you still don’t know what to write about, look at what other lawyers in your field are writing about and write something about the same subject.

No, the real reason you don’t write more content (or any content) is that every time you sit down to do it, or think about doing it, you think you have to create art.

And you think you will be judged by that art, and found lacking. So you resist.

But here’s the thing. You don’t have to write brilliant words, you just have to write words. That’s something you do every day. Do you have any trouble writing letters and emails? I’m guessing you do not.

So instead of writing articles and blog posts, write letters and emails.

In fact, here’s your assignment: send me an email and about either of the following:

  • “Three things people always ask me about [your practice area/services],” or
  • “The strangest/best/worst/funniest case or client I ever had”

Don’t spend more than 15 minutes on this. A few paragraphs is all you need. Go ahead, do it now. Don’t think too much. Write quickly and get it done.

Then, go through it once and do a quick edit. One more pass to polish that puppy. And send.

Only don’t send it to me, send it to your clients. And post it on your website. Because what you just wrote will probably make some good reading.

See how easy that was? A lot easier than creating art.

Content ideas for your website: click here

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Filed Under: Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing

The real formula for success

March 31, 2016 by
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Jerome Howard once shared the formula for success. He said, “If at first you don’t succeed, keep on sucking until you do suck seed.”

But that’s not really true. Continuing to do what you’ve always done, expecting different results, isn’t a formula for success. The real formula for success, if there is one, is to figure out what the masses are doing and do the opposite.

Most lawyers earn average incomes and have average practices. If you do what they do, you are unlikely to achieve more than average results. It’s the same for most endeavors. In the investing world, for example, when everyone is buying you should probably be selling.

Most lawyers either don’t have their own website, or if they do, it is severely lacking in (a) valuable content, and (b) personality. Their website is banal, devoid of anything that might attract a prospective client, let alone persuade them to hire the attorney.

Okay, there are degrees of banality, but you get my point: most lawyers don’t get much bang for their website buck.

So, do the opposite of what they do. Make your website a compendium of articles, posts, videos, reports, and other content that shows prospective clients how you can help them, answers their basic questions, and persuades them to call.

Put lots of “you” into your site. Share your opinions, tell your story, and talk about what drives you. Where most lawyers perfunctorily present “just the facts,” make your website an extension of yourself so that someone who visits can get a sense of what it will be like to work with you.

In addition, talk about your clients. Tell their stories. Show how bad off they were before you helped turn things around. Use their comments (testimonials, reviews) to shine a spotlight on your greatness, so you don’t have to do it yourself.

Look at your competition–other attorneys in your practice area and market–and look for ways you can do the opposite of what they do.

Obviously, you won’t always be able to do the literal opposite of what they do. But you can easily distinguish yourself by doing things differently.

If most attorneys see clients five days per week, between 8 to 5, for example, you might stand out in a meaningful way by opening your office for a few hours on Saturday, or by opening early or staying late once or twice a week.

If most attorneys have their staff meet with clients most of the time, you might not have the time to see them all yourself, but if you’re in the office, you could make a point of greeting them when they arrive or wishing them well at the end of the appointment.

Most lawyers do what most lawyers do. Top lawyers do things differently. Study what the top lawyers do. and learn from them. Examine their process, tools, and messaging. Find out how they get new clients, and how they work with them. Talk to them and seek their advice.

But if you have limited access to the best of the best, you can probably figure out what they’re doing by looking at what the masses do and doing the opposite.

How to get your website to make the phone ring

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Filed Under: Online Marketing, success

Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

March 30, 2016 by
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If you’re smarter than a fifth grader, your intelligence, and more specifically your vocabulary, might be holding you back.

How’s that?

If your write and speak at a post-graduate level and your audience is comprised of people with little or no college, your audience won’t follow everything you say, nor do what you ask them to do.

Does that mean you should dumb down your writing and speaking? Indubitably.

There, someone reading this might not know that I just said yes. They might deduce that from the context of my other words, but it might take a few seconds, and whether you’re selling ideas or legal services, a few seconds could cost you the sale.

When you use simpler words, however, all of your readers and listeners will understand you, including those with a bigger vocabulary or a higher education. In addition, simpler words make it more likely that your thoughts will be perceived more quickly and understood at a deeper level.

As Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Don’t write merely to be understood. Write so that you cannot possibly be misunderstood.”

By anyone.

Whether you’re writing an article for your website, an email to your clients, or an appellate brief, unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, it’s best to use plain language. Some experts recommend writing at a seventh grade level. Others claim fourth grade is the cut off. I say, use common sense and when in doubt, err on the side of simple.

Now I just used the world err. According to an app I just discovered, Simple Writer, err isn’t on the list of the 1000 most common words in the English language. But to my chagrin, neither is the word error or the word mistake.

The Simple Writer app tells you if the words you type are on the list, and if not, it suggests that you consider replacing them.

That doesn’t mean you have to.

When I typed, “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” into the app, it told me that “fox” and “lazy” aren’t on the list of most common words but to avoid using them would clearly be absurd for any audience. The point is to be more aware of what you’re writing and continually seek to make it simpler.

Because everyone understands simple.

There are nine keys to an effective website. Does yours make the cut?

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Filed Under: Communication, Presentations, Writing

Does your practice run like a well-oiled machine?

March 29, 2016 by
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If your practice was a machine you would want that machine to operate at peak efficiency. You’d want everything to work properly, needing little more than routine maintenance.

Your machine would make no sound other than the quiet hum of a well-oiled, finely tuned motor. It wouldn’t need a lot of attention, it would just work.

Your practice should be like that–no snags, no sticking points, no wasted time or money. You should know that everything is working efficiently and not be worried about it suddenly seizing up, and if there is an emergency, you should have a plan in place for that.

You create this efficiency through systems.

Your workflow should have a system. All of the steps should be documented, with all of the forms and procedure you need close at hand. You should have the right software and other tools you need, and know how to use them.

You should have an office manual that outlines all of the mundane functions of running an office, including a process for hiring and training employees, bookkeeping, billing, banking, and replenishing supplies. Your staff should know how to handle nearly everything and not have to come to you for every little hiccup and burp.

When you have all of this in place, when your practice runs efficiently and produces optimal work product and profits, you can focus on the one remaining task: marketing. Because without marketing, nothing else matters.

No marketing, no new clients, and your machine will grind to a halt.

You don’t need to have brilliant marketing, but whatever you do must be done regularly, consistently, and efficiently. You do this the same way you run the rest of your practice–with a system.

Your system should tell you what you will do this week to bring in new clients and serve existing ones. What will you write, where will you go, who will you call?

You should have the forms, the letters, the scripts, and the process at your fingertips so that you don’t have to figure out what to do, you can just do it.

Marketing should never be an afterthought, something you do when the files are running low or when you think about it and can find the time. It should be planned in advance and executed on a regular schedule.

Marketing is the fuel that makes your motor run. Keep your tank full and it will take you where you want to go.

Start or update your marketing plan with this

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

How do you stack up against other lawyers?

March 28, 2016 by
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Okay boys and girls, grab your giant pencils and your Big Chief Writing tablets and take a look at the assignment I’ve posted on the black board. This week, you are to look at three or four review sites and write a paper about how you compare to other lawyers.

You don’t need to have any reviews or ratings yourself. The purpose of this assignment is to see what other lawyers’ clients said about them, so you can learn how you can deliver a better experience to your clients.

Start with the “five star” reviews and read the comments. What did the clients like about their lawyer? What did their lawyer do that surprised them or especially pleased them? How were they different or better than other lawyers?

Read as many positive reviews as you can and take notes. Write down ideas you might use in your practice.

Did the lawyer being reviewed go out of his or her way to return the client’s phone calls in a timely manner? Did they have special hours in the office, perhaps opening their doors at 7 am once a week, or staying late until 8 pm, to accommodate clients who couldn’t see them during the day?

Brainstorm ways you could do something similar for your clients. Check out the attorney’s website to learn more about what they do for their clients. Consider contacting them to ask questions and get more ideas you can use.

One benefit of this exercise is that you may discover that the attorneys who received five-star reviews didn’t do anything radical. They simply treated their clients with respect and care and provided them with value.

You might find yourself inspired by these reviews, realizing that you can do this, too.

When you’re done, take a look at the bad (i.e., “one-star”) reviews. As much as you may have learned from the positive reviews, you will surely learn even more from the negative ones.

You’ll see many clients telling their tales of woe. They’ll say how their lawyer disappointed them, where they failed them. You’ll see broken promises, neglect, and negligence.

But you’ll also see problems occasioned by nothing more than a lack of understanding. The lawyer didn’t explain something, the client misunderstood something, or once the lawyer was retained, they failed to keep the client updated.

You can learn a lot from negative comments. It is a compendium of things to avoid. Learn from the mistakes of other lawyers, and confirm that you’re not making the same ones.

When you’re done with this exercise, you should have several pages of notes. Use them to prepare a ten page report on ways to improve your client relations and get lots of positive reviews.

Your paper is due by the end of the week, and yes, spelling counts.

Better client relations will bring you more repeat business and referrals

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Filed Under: Client relations Tagged With: , ,

Excuse me while I check my notes

March 25, 2016 by
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I’ve done a lot of presentations over the years and I don’t just mean in the courtroom. I’ve done them to small crowds with friendly faces and to big audiences where many people had no idea who I was or why I was on stage. I’ve scored home runs and bombed brilliantly, and everything in between.

Every one of my presentations was done without a script, except two.

The first was when I delivered a eulogy for a close friend and didn’t think I could get through it without the written page to hold onto. The second was when I received an award and was given two minutes to speak, which wasn’t enough time to thank everyone, let alone say what I wanted to say. (I took six minutes, thank you.)

There are times when a written speech is warranted. If you’re testifying before Congress, go ahead and use a script. But for most occasions, you’re better off without one.

You can write a script and use it to practice. But leave the script in your pocket during your talk.

You can use bullet points on your slides or on note cards to prompt you. This will help you avoid leaving out something important or taking too long on one point to the detriment of others. But if you know your material well enough, you may not need any help.

If you’re like some presenters I’ve seen, however, make sure you have a clock in front of you, so you don’t take 90 minutes to deliver a 60 minute talk. Or six minutes when you’ve been allotted two.

One way to prepare for your talk is to imagine yourself having a conversation with a friend. You make a point, they ask questions, and you respond. Not only will this allow you to inculcate your natural speech patterns into your talk, you might discover gaps in your material you need to fill.

The bottom line with most presentations isn’t the content, however. When your talk is done, most people won’t remember what you said. They will, however, remember how you made them feel, and the best way to make them feel good about you and your message is to talk with them, not at them.

Use your website to get more clients

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Filed Under: Presentations
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