David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

Do more of what works

January 13, 2016 by David M. Ward

Let’s talk about your practice. And get you more clients like your favorite client.

So who is your favorite client? Don’t give this a lot of thought. What’s the first name that comes to mind?

Got it? Okay, now why are they your favorite, or one of your favorites?

Is it their personality? Is it because they pay you lots of money? Is it because they don’t question you or complain?

Maybe all of the above. Maybe something else.

Whatever it is, write it down. In fact, you should probably write down all of this because once we’re done here, you’ll want to do this for your next favorite client. Maybe your top ten.

Now, think about where you met your favorite client or how they found you. What did you do that precipitated their becoming a client?

Were they a referral? Answer your ad? Did you meet them networking? Did they find you online?

Whatever it was that brought you together, you should probably continue doing it. If your ad in a certain journal brought them to your door, no doubt you’d like other clients like him to find you the same way.

If they found you online, what did they search for? What page did they land on? What did they do after that, and what finally convinced them to take the next step and contact you?

Next, it’s time to do a deep dive into your favorite client’s world. Find out what they do and who they know.

The Law of Association says that we tend to be like the people with whom we associate most. Your client’s friends and colleagues, therefore, are likely to have similar attributes, needs, and the ability to pay, and your favorite client can refer them to you.

Find out what your favorite client reads, who he listens to, and where he spends his time. Study him. Become on expert on him. This is valuable intel. Use it in your marketing so you can do more of what’s working, and get more clients like your favorite client.

How to create a profile of your ideal client

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan Tagged With: ideal client, Law of Association

Bad clients are the result of bad marketing

January 12, 2016 by David M. Ward

Bad clients are the result of bad marketing.

What do I mean by bad clients? Hmm, let’s see. . . how about. . .

Malcontents who blame you for things that aren’t your fault and then post bad reviews and ratings about you.

Price shopping clients, penny pinching clients, slow paying clients, and no paying clients.

Clients who don’t follow your advice, don’t show up for appointments, and don’t remember anything you told them.

You get my drift?

Every lawyer gets the occasional lemon, but if you get more than your share, bad marketing is usually the culprit.

SoÂ what do I mean by bad marketing?

I mean targeting the wrong market, or, more commonly, no market, so you wind up with whatever shows up at the door.

I mean relying too much on Internet and advertising, which attract price shoppers and harder to please clients, instead of focusing on repeat business and referrals.

I mean failing to educate prospective clients about the law and procedure, their risks and their options, or much of anything without the meter running. Low information clients are like low information voters. They don’t understand, they don’t appreciate, and they don’t alwaysÂ make good decisions.

Bad marketing means talkingÂ only about features (what you do–practice areas, services, office hours, etc.) instead of benefits (what the client gets–solutions, outcomes, peace of mind, security).

Bad marketing meansÂ failing to differentiate yourself from other lawyers in a meaningful and memorable way.

It means failing to surprise and delight your clients with amazing “customer service,” and failing to stay in touch before, during, and after engagements.

Bad marketing also means taking on clients you know you probably shouldn’t, and failing to “fire” clients who prove themselves to be more trouble than they are worth.

Oh yeah, bad marketing also means doing all the right things but simply not doing them enough.

So yeah, bad clients are the result of bad marketing, but this is good news because bad marketing can be fixed and bad clients can be replaced with good ones.

Good marketing starts here

Filed Under: Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Writing

If Goldilocks handled your law firm marketing

January 11, 2016 by David M. Ward

Is your porridge too hot? Do you give prospective clients too much information on your website or in your other marketing materials?

Probably not. If you’re like most lawyers, your porridge is too cold. Your give them too little. Prospective clients can see what you do and where you are located, but not much more.

If Goldilocks handled your law firmÂ marketing, she would tell you that you have to get your porridge just right.

How much information is “just right”? More than you think. When someone goes online to find an attorney it’s because they have a problem and they want information about their problem and the available solutions before they will consider you for the job.

Don’t just list your practice areas and services. That’s not enough. That’s too cold.

Teach people about the law and procedure. Discuss the risks and the options. Tell them about other people who have had these problems and, with your help, overcame them. Tell them about peopleÂ who waited too long or made the wrong decisions and made things worse.

But don’t expect them to wade through too much information and understand how it all fits together. That’s too hot.

You need to give people enough information so they can see how you can help them, and make it compelling enough to motivateÂ them to take the next step.

You have to capture their attention with provocative and benefit-rich headlines. You have to keep them reading with a narrative thread that speaks to their emotions and shows them that you understand their pain. You have to tell them that you can help them, like you have helped others. And you haveÂ to tell them what to do next.

But don’t explain everything. You want to make them curious enough to contact you. Don’t get too specific about fees on your website, for example. Give them guidelines, perhaps, but make them call to find out more.

So that’s the challenge. That’s the art of marketing. And porridge making. Not too hot, not too cold. . . just right.

Learn how to make your online law firm marketing just right: click here

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Writing

Time is money. Unless it’s not.

January 8, 2016 by David M. Ward

If you bill by the hour, time literally is money. You get paid based on how many hoursÂ you work. If you offer flat fees, contingency fees, or anything other than hourly billing, however, time isn’t money. It’s just time.

WhenÂ you bill by the hour, there are only four ways you can increase your income. You can raise your hourly fee. You can work more hours. You can lower your overhead. Or you can hire people to do some of the work and pay them less per hour than you bill your client.

Unless you use one or more of these methods, you can’t increase your income. Bringing in more clients won’t do it because there are only so many hours you can bill in a day.

If you want to earn more, instead of selling your time, you should be selling your advice or your problem-solving solutions. Not only will you earn more per client, the more clients you bring in, the more you will earn.

If you charge $400 per hour and bill out $2000 per day, you’re earning $10,000 per week, which is nothing to sneeze at. But you’ll never earn $30,000 per week.

I know it’s “hard” to come up with an alternative to hourly billing that protects you when you estimate too low or when contingencies occur, but it’s not impossible.

First, you need to stop thinking like a lawyer and start thinking like an entrepreneur. Instead of trying to eliminate risk, you will intelligentlyÂ manage risk and use the law of averages to your advantage

If you take on twenty hourly-billed clients who each pay you $5000 to $20,000, or an average of $10,000, you take in $200,000 in gross fees. If you charge flat fees, however, and twenty clients each pay you $15,000, you gross $300,000. Now, if one or two of those twenty clients or cases wind up costing you more than you expected, even double what you expected, you’re still way ahead of the game.

I know I’ve said this many times before but I thought it was time for a reminder. Because time isn’t money. Unless it is.

How to earn more per client:Â hereÂ

Filed Under: Fees and Billing, Increase your income, success

The most important (and neglected) element in legal marketing

January 7, 2016 by David M. Ward

Alrighty then. You’ve got a blog and a newsletter. You crank out reports, ebooks, articles and presentations. You do email. Maybe even social media.

You’ve got this content marketing thing down.

Or do you?

If you’re like many lawyers, there’s something missing from your content. Something important. Something your clients and prospects want to see.

You. There’s not enough “you” in your marketing.

You’ve got the law down. Procedure, too. You obviously know your stuff. Anyone who accesses your content can see that you are qualified to help them. But then so are all of the other lawyers out there who do the same thing.

The thing that differentiates you from your competition, more than anything else, is you.

Because clients buy you before they buy your services.

Clients want to know what it would be like to work with you.

The law? Not that interesting to most people. Clients want to know that you understand it and can work your magic with it and get them some great results (or die trying), but in the end, they are far more interested in hearing about the man or woman behind the curtain.

That’s you.

They want to hear your voice. If not literally (via audio and video and live presentations), through your writing. They want to know your personality, your opinions, and your habits. They want to know about what’s important to you.

They want to know something about your personal life. What do you do when you’re not working?

They want to know about your other clients. How do they feel about you and what you did for them?

They want to know about your staff, your partners, and others with whom you associate, because our associations are a big part of who we are.

They want to know your opinion about things–cases and clients you’ve handled, trends in the law or in their industry or community. Maybe your predictions, too.

They want to know what it would be like to sit in your office, sharing their secrets with you, and looking to you for help.

So put more “you” into your marketing. Not too much, of course. You don’t want to sound like a politician who can’t stop saying “I”. Just enough about yourself so that people can see who you are, not just what you do.

Because people buy you before they buy your services.

Legal marketing is easier when you know The FormulaÂ

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing, Writing

How much would you pay for a list of 10,000 prospective clients?

January 6, 2016 by David M. Ward

How much would you pay for a list of 10,000 prospective clients for your services? You get their name and email address and permission to contact them as often as you want.

You can send them information about your services and share success stories about how you have helped other people with similar issues. You can invite them to your webinar or seminar, offer them a free consultation, or make them a special offer on one of your services.

Of course not everyone on the list will hire you. But those who don’t mayÂ know people who need your help and you will probablyÂ get a fair numberÂ of referrals.

I promise you, this isn’t a spam list. Every single person on the list has given permission to be on that list and to have you contact them. They’re also not just a bunch of random names; these people are interested in some aspect of what you do.

Therefore, when you emailÂ the people on this list, the odds are they will know who you are and read what you write.

So, how much would you pay for this list?

Would you pay $10,000? That would actually be a pretty good deal. Some experts say that a list like this is worth $1 per name per month. So if your average client pays you an average fee of $10,000, to cover your costs, all you need is one client from this list in an entire year.

But. . . if this list pays you $1 per name per month, that would be $120,000 in fees over the course of a year.

You might do less. You might do more. It will depend on your average fee, how you go about “closing” clients when they contact you, how often you email them, what you say when you do, and lot of other factors.

Anyway, I’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is that this list I’ve spoken of doesn’t exist. You can’t buy it or rent it anywhere, for any price. The good news, however, is that you can create a list like this yourself.

You can advertise, drive traffic to a landing page, and get people to opt into your list. You can create content on your web site that attracts search traffic and social sharing and accomplish the same thing. You can promote your website when you speak, when you network, when you write and publish articles and guest posts and whatever else you do to promote your practice.

And, you’re not limited to just 10,000 names. You can build aÂ list as big as you want.

How about some more good news? You might find yourself earning $120,000 per year with a much smaller list. One thousand names might do it, if it’s the right one thousand names and you know how to market to them.

Do you want to know how to build a list of prospective clients? It’s easier than you think and I’ll show you what to do.Â Start with this.

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

Cheap legal services are too expensive

January 5, 2016 by David M. Ward

I don’t buy a lot of clothing but when I do I favor quality over quantity. One reasonably expensive suit not only looks better than its cheap counterpart, it lasts longer, too. The same goes for dress shirts and shoes.

An article I read this morning agrees with me. It says thatÂ cheap clothes ultimately cost more and recommends buying quality instead.

The same can be said for cheap legal services.

You don’t want people to hire you because you’re cheaper than the other guys. You want them to say, “He costs a bit more but he’s worth every penny.” And you want them to know why.

You want people to understand the risks of hiring an attorney solely because they charge less and the benefits of hiring a high quality albeit more expensive alternative.

Like you.

Most people have a difficult time discerning this difference so it is importantÂ that youÂ educate them. Help them to understand that cheap legal services are usually too expensive.

On the other hand, the smart play in marketing your services isn’t to targetÂ the masses andÂ educate themÂ about this difference. It is to target that segment of the marketÂ who already know this and are willing to pay more to get more.

Target the top 20% of your market and show them a lawyer who costs more and is “worth every penny”.Â Most attorneys don’t do that. They target the bottom 80% of the market and while they might not overtly compete on “price,” it’s obvious that beingÂ competitive on fees is baked into their essence.

You don’t need to be the most expensive lawyer in town, but you should at least be in the top one-third. AndÂ make sure you’re worth it.

How to write an invoice clients want to pay: click here

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Fees and Billing, Law office management, Marketing legal services

The most important thing you should do this week

January 4, 2016 by David M. Ward

You’re at your desk with another cup of coffee. Your desk is (relatively) clean because you made it so before you left for the long new year’s weekend.

Now what?

What’s first? What documents do you need to draft? Who do you need to call? What files do you need to review?

Good news. You already decided most of that before you closed up shop last week. You planned out your week and you’re ready to hit the ground running.

I’m right, aren’t I? You are looking more organized this week than most weeks? You took the time to plan and you don’t need to do that this morning.

Dig in and get to work and go home at a decent hour.

It’s like this whenever you go on vacation, isn’t it? In the days leading up to leaving, you go into crunch mode, clean up your backlog, review open loops, write lists, and plan what you will do when you return.

Like a boss.

Now, you’re relaxed. Rested. Focused. And feeling pretty good about your week. In fact, you’re so well organized, you can see spaces on your calendar you could fill with marketing activity. You actually have time to write something or call someone and make some of that rain you’ve heard about.

Life is good.

So here’s the thing. If you’re able to do this before you go out of town or shut down for the holidays, why couldn’t you do it every week?

You could. And you should. Because life is supposed to be good every week.

So the most important thing you should do this week is prepare for next week. Before you go home on Friday, your desk should be (relatively) clean, you should be caught up on your backlog, and you should have lists of what you will do next week.

Two hours on Friday should do it. Put this on your calendar. Make it a “recurring appointment” with yourself.

Because life is supposed to be good every week.

Start or re-start your marketing with this

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, Time Management

My New Year’s wish for you

December 31, 2015 by David M. Ward

As the wheel turns and we enter a new year, my wish for you is the habit of focusing on the positive in every situation.

I believe in the Law of Attraction. I believe we get what we focus on, good or bad, and that our thoughts create our reality.

Think about what you want, not what you don’t want. Think about what you have, not what you lack.

If you think about problems you get more of them. If you think about making progress, finding solutions, and achieving success, you’reÂ on your way towards a better future.

Don’t bury your head in the sand. When you notice something you don’t want, when something bad happens, acknowledge it, but don’t dwell on it. Instead, shift your thoughts towards the positive aspects of your situation.

Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses. Focus on what you can do, not on what you can’t do. Count your blessings, tally up your accomplishments, and remind yourself of the resources at your disposal.

Think thoughts that feel good when you think them.Â Because we get what we think about.

Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development Tagged With: law of attraction

Your clients think you’re getting rich at their expense

December 30, 2015 by David M. Ward

Your clients have no idea how expensive it is to run a law practice. Is it any wonder thatÂ some clients shake their heads at $400 an hour? Can you understand why a $10,000 retainer might be incomprehensible to someone who earns $40,000 a year?

How do we get clients to understand that we’re not getting rich at their expense?

ShouldÂ youÂ tell yourÂ clients how much youÂ actually earn? No. It’s none of their business.

Besides, you want your clients to thinkÂ that you earn a very good living. Â Nobody wants to hire a lawyer who isÂ struggling to pay their rent.

But perhaps you could help your clients to understand that running a law practice is expensive, and that what you bill out in no way approximates what you take home.

One way to do that would be to take new clients on a tour of your office. Show them how many desks and chairs there are. Show them your conference room and library. Point out the computers and copy machines and other equipment. Introduce the people who work for you and describe their function.

You might also want to explain, perhaps in a letter in their “new client welcome kit,” what you and your staff will be doing for them. You might point out that at any one time, there are at least three peopleÂ working on their case. You could also provide a soup-to-nuts description of the major steps you take to do what you do.

Let them know how you investigate a case, conduct research, prepare pleadings and motions and discovery, and get ready for trial. Mention something about the costs you incur on a typical case.Â If your work is handled on contingency, remind them that while you are good at what you do and selective aboutÂ the cases you accept, there is no guarantee that you will win every case and if you don’t, you will get paid nothing.

In your newsletter, talk aboutÂ the things you do to hold down costs. Talk about how the forms and templates you have developed over the years allow you to save your clients money, for example. Let them see that while you don’t cut corners, you don’t spend money unnecessarily.

At the same time, unless your clients are wealthy, don’t talkÂ about your new Mercedes, your lavish vacation, or expensive new toys. Don’t “dress down” — you’re expected to do well — but don’t give clients cause to believe that you are indeed getting rich at their expense.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Legal industry