Less thinking, more doing

November 10, 2015 by
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If you’re like me, and you are, you think too much. Not about everything, but about many things, especially things you’re not sure you want to do. For most lawyers, anything associated with marketing seems to fall into that category.

You know you need to update your website, for example, but the idea sounds daunting and unpleasant, so you don’t do it. You’d like to get more referrals from other lawyers but you think this will require doing things you won’t want to do (it doesn’t) so you procrastinate.

Thinking is an occupational hazard for smart people.

Lately, I’ve been noodling about starting a podcast. I’m watching videos, learning about equipment and process, reading blog posts, and imagining what it might be like.

Will I be any good at it? Will I get business from it? Is it too complicated, too expensive, or too time consuming?

And. . . most importantly. . . will I like it? Because if I don’t, I know I won’t stick with it.

Sound familiar?

Anyway, the only way to find out any of these things is to actually do it.

Less thinking, more doing.

But here’s the thing. Going from not doing a podcast to doing a podcast is a big leap. Maybe too big. Instead of making that leap, I might do a short audio message for you, or a YouTube video, and see how that goes.

No commitment to a weekly podcast, just a “one-off”. If I like it, I might do another. At that point, I’ll be a different person, have different knowledge, and can make better decisions about what to do next.

Whatever it is that you think you need to do, or think you want to do, try it. Do it once, or do it for a few weeks, and see what you think and how you feel.

Thinking, planning, and research are good things. But you won’t know for sure until you do it.

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

How to get more clients with “The Puppy Dog Close”

November 9, 2015 by
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The Puppy Dog Close is a well-known concept in marketing and sales. Here’s the skinny:

You go into a pet store, just to look. The salesman sees you playing with the puppies in the window. You’re almost there, but the salesman can tell you’re not sure. So he says, “Why don’t you take one of these little fellas home for the weekend. No charge. If it doesn’t work out, bring him back on Monday.”

You bring the puppy home, give him a name and fall in love. There’s no way you’re bringing him back.

The salesman didn’t have to close you, you closed yourself.

You may recognize this approach when you go looking at new cars. The test drive is a form of The Puppy Dog Close.

Okay, so you don’t sell puppies or cars. How can you use this approach in your practice?

The odds are, you already do.

Think about it. Aren’t you giving people a “free sample” of your wisdom when you do a seminar or other presentation? When you write articles or blog posts or give away reports or videos, aren’t you showing people how you think and giving them a sense of what it might be like to work with you?

You also do it when you network. As people get to know you, they begin to like and trust you, and that leads to hiring you or sending you referrals.

If you offer free consultations, prospective clients get a chance to try you out and fall in love with you, or at least the benefits you offer. You help them gain clarity about their problems and the available solutions. You help them see a way out and a way forward and they like you for it. It’s hard for them to walk away from that.

You might want to take this up a notch. In addition to offering free consultations, you might offer a free entry-level service. Prepare a free simple Will, for example, as a gateway to doing a trust or other estate planning services. Give prospective divorce clients the first hour free, so they can see how much value you deliver.

Once a prospective client tries you for an hour, they’re probably not going to take you back to the lawyer store.

Crazy talk? I don’t know. How about giving this idea a try before you say it’s not for you. You might fall in love with this puppy.

To learn more about promoting trial, get The Formula

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship

Playing ‘hot potato’ with your client files

November 6, 2015 by
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There’s a productivity maxim that says we should only touch a piece of paper or file one time. If you pick it up, you do something with it. Get it off of your plate and onto someone else’s.

It’s like the kids’ game, ‘hot potato’. You have to hand it off quickly, lest you get stuck with it when the buzzer sounds. (No extra charge, there, for using “lest” in a sentence.)

Fortunately, most of what you have to do on most of your files can be done quickly. Take a look, make a decision, scribble a note, done. Give it to your secretary or assistant to carry out your instructions.

When I was practicing, I would come into the office in the morning to a big pile of files and papers on my desk. My mission was to get through that pile as quickly as possible and put those files on my secretary’s desk.

I’d write a note, review an incoming letter, dictate something, sign a letter, and so on, and in a minute or two, each file was done and off my desk.

It was a game and I played it well. I delegated like a boss, because, well, I was the boss.

Of course there were plenty of files that required more than a few minutes of attention. No problem. As I chopped the wood pile down to size and got rid of the kindling (the easy files), I started a new pile of bigger logs. This didn’t violate the “touch once” rule because I did something with the bigger files–I looked at them, decided they needed more time, and put them in another pile.

An overwhelming pile of twenty-five files would thus (no charge there, either) be reduced to a much more manageable five or six. While my staff was working on the pile I had given them, I would dig into the bigger projects.

Yes it’s all a mental game. But if you’re like me, it’s a game you enjoy playing. You keep your staff busy, you keep your desk clear, and you get more balls into the opposition’s court so they can do what they have to do and get back to you with offers.

That’s how you keep the cash flowing and go home early.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With:

Why I stopped collecting coins

November 5, 2015 by
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I was a coin collector as a kid. My grandfather got me started. I subscribed to Coin World, and read it every week. I belonged to The Kennedy Coin Club, where I where I met with other collectors to buy, sell, and trade.

I always had my Want/Have list in my wallet–a list of coins I needed to fill in gaps in my collection and duplicates I was willing to sell or trade.

I remember how much fun it was to go through my pocket change (or my father’s pockets) and find silver coins or rare coins from the past. Sometimes, I’d go to the bank and “buy” a bag of coins so I could go through it to find the one or two coins that were worthy of saving. I’d replace them in the bag and exchange it for a new one.

Collecting coins was a fun hobby. But eventually, there came a time when you could no longer find rare coins or silver coins in your change, and I stopped doing it. It wasn’t fun anymore.

You know what? That’s a good metric for everything in life. If it’s not fun, don’t do it.

If you don’t enjoy practicing law, do something about it. Change your practice area or your clients, get good at marketing, or go do something else.

I said as much in an interview I did yesterday for a podcast. “What’s one piece of advice you could share that we haven’t talked about,” I was asked at the end of the interview. “If it’s not fun, you’re not doing it right,” I said.

Of course it’s not all black or white. There’s lots of gray. You may not like networking, for example, but you love the results so you keep doing it. That’s actually a good way to look at it. Focus on what you like, not what you don’t like.

Don’t forget, everything is relative. Maybe you don’t like marketing, but you don’t like getting calls from bill collectors even less.

Find some aspect of what you’re doing that’s fun. Because otherwise, why do it?

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Marketing legal services, Personal development, success

Sweaty men, heavy machines, pizza and beer

November 4, 2015 by
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They’re re-paving the streets outside my house. I love watching the men do their job. Sorry ladies, I didn’t see any women on the crew. Just a bunch of sweaty guys doing back-breaking work. I can almost smell the testosterone. Okay, maybe it’s hot asphalt and diesel fumes I smell, but you get the picture.

They use trucks and machines I’ve never seen before, to do a job I don’t fully understand. But I can tell that they do the job well. Everyone knows what to do and I am fascinated watching them. In fact, I could watch them all day.

As a kid, I loved watching the new construction in my neighborhood. The sounds of big trucks and bulldozers, nails being hammered, wood being sawed, trucks backing up and dumping fill dirt. This is the stuff of childhood, at least it was for me, which is interesting because I can barely change a light bulb.

I still love watching people do their jobs, and not just construction. I love to see them do what they do with precision and confidence, like they’ve done it so many times before.

Wouldn’t it be great if people loved watching lawyers do their job?

Unfortunately, they don’t. People expect lawyers to do what they see depicted on TV. The reality, of course, is very different.

Nobody wants to see you dictate a letter or prepare someone for a deposition. Nobody wants to watch you read case law, stroke your beard, and look at the ceiling while you think about the issues in a case.

But alas, all is not lost. You can show people what you do and you can make it interesting. You can do that by telling work-related stories. The good news is that those stories don’t need to be exciting. They also don’t need to be very long. A sentence or two, a few paragraphs, are all you need to show people what you do for your clients.

But here’s the thing. Don’t talk about issues or statutes, pleadings or agreements. Talk about people.

No matter what kind of practice you have, your work helps to solve problems for or deliver benefits to people.

Talk about the people you represent and their business or their family. Talk about why they contacted you and what you did for them. But mostly, talk about them.

For example:

“Yesterday, I was hired to review a lease on a new property for my client, Charlie Booker. His company makes beer-infused pizza, and business has been great. He’s growing so fast, he needed a bigger facility. He wanted me to negotiate the lease on the new property and make sure there weren’t any ‘gotchas’.

Charlie started the company just two years ago in his garage. Just him and his wife. His two kids helped out after school, putting together the boxes for the pizzas and passing out fliers in the neighborhood. Today, Charile employs 40 people who are passionate about making the best tasting beer-flavored pizza known to humanity. I’ve eaten a lot of pizza in my lifetime, and I’ve had a few beers, too, and I’ve got to tell you, there’s nothing like Charlie’s Beerizza. Go to his website and see what they do and where you can get some Beerizza. Tell him I sent you.”

In other words, talk about the client, not yourself.

You did the lease. Fine. I’m sure you did a good job. But nobody cares. Leases are boring (to most people), so mention what you did, but tell stories about the people for whom you did it.

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Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing

The best career advice I ever heard

November 3, 2015 by
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I was at a real estate investment seminar in the 1970’s with hundreds of others. The speaker knew that most of us would never do the one thing they needed to do become a real estate investor: take action.

Most people procrastinate. Hell, most people don’t even read the materials that come with the course. They let fear and inertia stop them from doing the activities that will take them from where they are to where (they say they) want to be.

To make his point, the trainer stood at the front of the room and took a twenty dollar bill out of his pocket. He held it up in the air and said, “Who wants it?”

Many hands went up. There were murmurs throughout the crowd. The trainer stood there for what seemed like an eternity, but nothing happened. Then, a brave young man got out of his seat, ran to the front of the room, and plucked the twenty dollar bill from the trainer’s hand.

The trainer pointed out that to get what you want in life, you have to take action. Immediately. Like the young man who walked away with the prize.

Good point. Well played.

Don’t think about it. Get your ass out of the chair and go get it. That’s the ticket to success.

I imagine that if the same demonstration had been done in a room filled with attorneys, nobody would come up and take the money. They would be trying to figure out the catch. Or the tax consequences. Or how to get a third of someone else’s money.

So, if the key to success is taking action, what is the key to taking action? Later, the trainer told us the answer.

He said that it was a belief in the I.G.D.S. philosophy. That stands for “I’m Going to Die Someday”. Life is not a dress rehearsal. There’s no “later,” this is it. You’ve got one shot and the clock is ticking.

Cue Bon Jovi.

I don’t remember much else from that seminar all these years later, but I remember these lessons. I can’t say I’ve always been faithful to them, however. It’s the dying thing. I’m still searching through the fine print.

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development, success

Working part time on your fortune

November 2, 2015 by
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Personal development legend Jim Rohn advised us to, “Work full time at your job and part time on your fortune.”

Your job pays the bills. It keeps the machine running. And most people need to spend most of their time doing that. But not all of their time. Some of their time should be invested in their future.

Your future might be where you want your practice to be in five years. It might be a side business or project you’re working on that will allow you to slow down, retire, or enter another phase of your life. It might be your investments, a cause that excites you, or something else you dream about.

How much time should you invest in your future? That’s for you to decide, but 20% seems like a good place to start. If you work an eight hour day, spend 90 minutes working on your fortune, and the rest earning a living.

If that’s too much, if you need a full eight hours to do the work that pays your bills, then for the next few years, you might have to work a 9 1/2 hour day. Or, work on your fortune after your work day ends, in the morning, and on your lunch break. That’s what I did when I started my publishing and consulting business.

And hey, don’t go looking for the time. You won’t find it. You have to make the time. Look at your calendar and block out 90 minutes a day, or two 45 minute periods, or six 15 minute periods every day.

Don’t forget commute time or exercise time. You can make calls in the car or dictate letters and articles at the gym. I dictated the first draft of this post while I was on my morning walk.

If 90 minutes is too much, start with 30 minutes and work your way up. Whatever number you choose, make sure you do it every day. If you don’t, if you skip days, you are telling your subconscious mind that your dream isn’t important. Before you know it, it won’t be.

Whatever future you desire and dream of, if it’s important to you, you will make it a priority. You’ll get up early or stay up late, and you will do what needs to be done. If it’s not important, you won’t.

In a few years, you’ll either say, “I wish I had,” or “I’m sure glad I did”.

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development, success Tagged With:

Another example of email done wrong

October 30, 2015 by
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I got an email yesterday that said “Hey David, I just came across your LinkedIn profile and decided to reach out.”

Alrighty, but he didn’t send the email to the email address I have with LinkedIn. Lying in the first sentence? I don’t know, but we’re not off to a good start.

Oh, and addressing me by first name instead of waiting for permission? Manners, please.

He introduced himself: “I’m with [company]–we connect entrepreneurs like you with the marketing talent that can grow your business.”

A sales pitch already? That didn’t take long. And, did he even read my profile or go to my website? If he had, he might have noticed that I’m in the marketing game myself.

Onward.

“I hope you don’t mind the cold outreach, but I thought you’d be interested and decided to go for it. Here is the link” and he provided a link to his website.

Interested in what? He didn’t say. He didn’t give me a reason to click the link.

I wouldn’t necessarily mind a cold email, but not done this way. How about earning my trust, first? How about giving me a reason to pay attention? How about a little finesse?

He closed the email and “signed” it with his first name as the CTO of his company. Again, he thinks we’re on a first name basis. And, you want me to trust you but you haven’t told me your full name.

Sup wit dat?

More bad vibes: There’s an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email, which means he went ahead and subscribed me to his list without my permission. A one-time cold email is something I can live with. A subscription without permission and you’re going straight to Internet jail (spam).

Look, it’s okay to send email to people you don’t know. But don’t lie to them or pitch them right out of the box. Say something that lets them know you are a real person who wants to introduce themselves and that you are someone who might be worth knowing.

The recipient knows you’ve got an agenda of some sort. Everyone does. Put it in your back pocket for now and take the time to turn a cold name and email into a warm prospect.

As a lawyer, you might think that you would never send a cold email to someone you don’t know, particularly someone you would like to have as a client. I wouldn’t contact consumers unless I had been invited to do so, but you can contact professionals you’d like to know. You could also contact potential business clients, if you do it right.

Start by showing them you know something about them and what they do and that you’re not sending spam to the masses. Compliment them on something you like, tell them how you are similar in your interests or your work, or ask them a question.

Your motto: “friends first”.

Then, offer something they might find valuable and relevant. A blog post, video, report, or something else that’s free and easy to access. Don’t make them go to your website to see if you have anything interesting, tell me what it is, how it would benefit them, and where to get it.

But maybe you should save that for your next email.

For more on email marketing, get Make the Phone Ring

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Filed Under: Advertising, Copywriting, Email, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Salesmanship

Speechnotes: A Free alternative to Dragon NaturallySpeaking?

October 29, 2015 by
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If you’ve never tried voice dictation before, but you’re not ready to take the plunge and invest in the gold standard of voice dictation software Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you might want to try a free online alternative called Speechnotes. (Note, it’s .co, not .com). I’ve been playing around with it for a few days and I am impressed.

Speechnotes is a speech-enabled online notepad that lets you turn your voice into text inside your browser. There’s also an extension, for Chrome users only right now. Go to the website, click on the graphic microphone, and you’re ready to dictate.

Speechnotes uses Google’s technology and it’s fast and accurate. Not as accurate as Dragon NaturallySpeaking (or Dragon for Mac), with which I am able to achieve 99% accuracy, but it does remarkably well considering it doesn’t “know” my voice, speech patterns, or vocabulary. I dictated the first draft of this post with it and estimate it had better than 90% accuracy.

Speechnotes also lacks editing capabilities, but does allow for dictation of basic punctuation. You can use it dictate notes or correspondence on the fly, and then download the text, upload it to Google Drive, or simply cut and paste your words into the application of your choosing.

One thing I really like is that the program doesn’t time out, like Siri or other free dictation solutions. You can dictate for as long as you want, pause and come back for more. I haven’t been able to make it work on my iPhone, unfortunately.

Give it a try. There is no login, registration, installation, or download needed to use Speechnotes. If you like it, it may be all you need. If you really like it, go look at all you can do with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Technology, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

The shortest distance between you and new clients

October 28, 2015 by
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How many people in the world know what you do? How many clients, prospects, friends, and colleagues know the kinds of problems you solve and the services you offer?

Whatever the number, whether it’s in the hundreds or the tens of thousands, all of these people can help you build your practice.

If they can’t send you a referral right now, they can send traffic to your website, share your content, and say nice things about you on social media.

The people who know your name are the shortest distance between you and new clients.

Unlike other methods of marketing, you don’t have to do much more than keep your name in front of them.

Yes, you can teach them how to recognize your ideal client. You can provide them with content they can share. You can tell them what to say and what to do to make a referral. But most of the heavy lifting is done by simply being there, in their minds and their mailboxes, when they need your services again (a self-referral) or know someone who needs your help.

It’s so simple, and yet most attorneys don’t do it.

Most attorneys don’t stay in touch with former clients and other people they know. Or they don’t do it enough. They look for new people, in a costly and time-consuming effort to win their business.

It’s so much easier to leverage the networks of the people who already know, like, and trust you.

Build a list. Email is easy. Add a form to your website, connect an autoresponder, and offer visitors an incentive to sign up.

Tell your clients to join the list, or email them manually.

What do you send them? Honestly, it almost doesn’t matter. Send them anything that might interest them or help them in their role as a consumer or business person.

Ideas, tips, opinions. Articles, blog posts, videos. Something you create or something you find online. Send them information, links to resources, photos, and stories. Send them your favorite cookie recipe, a holiday greeting, or a review of the last movie you saw.

Let them see that you’re not just a legal technician, you are a person they might want to know better.

Stay in touch with the people who know you. It’s the shortest distance between you and new clients.

Learn how to build a list and what to send them. Get this

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