David M. Ward – Page 263

Grow your law practice by adding new services

October 15, 2014 by David M. Ward

So you want to grow your law practice and you’ve got an idea for a new service. Do you work out all the kinks and then offer it to the world? If you’re like most lawyers (i.e., perfectionists, slightly paranoid, risk-adverse), there’s a good chance you’ll neverÂ launch that puppy.

Instead, consider borrowing a concept from the start-up world. The idea is to create a “minimally viable product” (service) and offer it not to everyone but to a segment of your target market. Do it quickly and see if anyone wants it before you spend a lot of time or money.

Make it as attractive as possible, and price it as low as possible, but don’t polish it until it’s all shinny and near perfect. Get something out there, flawed though it may be, and see if it sells.

If it does sell, improve the service and put more effort into marketing it. If it doesn’t sell, if it’s what they call in the real estate investment world a “don’t wanter,” move on.

Don’t waste time working on something until you know people want it. It doesn’t have to be great. Good enough is good enough for testing purposes.

If you’re concerned about offeringÂ a service that’s not yet up to your usual standards, test it outside of your primary market. Put up some Google ads or Facebook ads and see if you get some traffic and opt-ins before investing your time learning the ins and outs of the new service. Or, partner up with another attorney who offers that service. If you get some “sales,” you can turn those clients over to them while you brush up on your knowledge and skills.

You can also use this concept to test marketing strategies for your existing services. Write a report in a day or two (instead of weeks) and put it out there to see who “buys” it (signs up for your list or inquires about your services). If you get decent results, go back and expand and improve the report and offer it in more places. If it doesn’t work, pull it and try something else.

What new service could you start testing?

Maybe we’re not using our calendars enough

October 14, 2014 by David M. Ward

Most people use their calendar to record appointments and deadlines and little else. Followers of David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology see the calendar as a place to record the “hard landscape” of their life, meaning only those things that need to get done on specific days and times.

We might want to start using our calendars more liberally.

In an interview, Stanford professor, Jennifer Aaker, author of The Dragonfly Effect, said that, “people who spend more time on projects that energize them and with people who energize them tend to be happier. However, what is interesting is that there is often a gap between where people say they want to spend their time and how they actually spend their time.”

Those gaps, she says, occur primarily because we don’t write down those activities. Adding them to a to do list is good; scheduling them on a calendar is even better:

“When you put something on a calendar, you’re more likely to actually do that activity–partly because you’re less likely to have to make an active decision whether you should do it — because it’s already on your calendar.”

If you want to get in shape, for example, instead of merely planning to exercise after work, put it on your calendar.

I have long recommendedÂ scheduling marketing time (even 15 minutes a day) on your calendar as an appointment. If you do this, you know it makes it much more likely that you will do it. Of course you have to treat it like a real appointment, a “must do,” and not a “would be nice to do”.

In a nutshell, using our calendars to schedule time for people and projects that energize us and are consistent with our goalsÂ can make us happier and more productive.

What might you add toÂ your calendar?

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, success, Time Management Tagged With: calendar, getting things done, gtd

Do you have time for sex?

October 13, 2014 by David M. Ward

In consultations with lawyers, after I’ve recommended a course of action, they sometimes say, “I don’t have time for that,” when in truth, they just don’t want to do it.

“Do you have time for sex?” I’ve been known to respond. Of course they do, because sex is important to them. “Then you have time to do what you want to do, don’t you?”

There is no shortage of time. We are awash in it. We choose to allocate our time based on our priorities. So when someone says, “I don’t have time for that,” they’re really saying, “That’s not a priority”.

Be honest with yourself. It will empower you to make better choices. Instead of telling yourself you don’t have time for something, say, “I have the time, but this isn’t one of my priorities right now”.

When you receive advice you don’t want to follow, don’t hide behind a glib lack of time, admit that you don’t want to do it. It will help you achieve clarity about what direction to take. If you make a bad decision, you’ll find out soon enough and can correct course.

When someone asks for your help with something that doesn’t support your priorities, you should be tactful about declining, but decline you must. Of course if maintaining a relationship with the person who is asking for help is a priority for you, then giving them some of your time is part of the equation.

In short, you have enough time to do what’s important. Being honest with yourself and others will not only help you decide what’s important, it will help you stay focused on doing what’s important.

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, Time Management

The key trait Steve Jobs had that most lawyers don’t

October 10, 2014 by David M. Ward

In a recent talk, author Malcolm Gladwell said that there was one trait that distinguished Steve Jobs more than any other. It wasn’t intelligence, creativity, or resources. It was a sense of urgency.

Gladwell told about the time Jobs saw the prototype for the first computer mouse and was told it was still in the very early stages of development. Jobs got excited and demanded his team build a mouse and graphical user interface, even though they told him it couldn’t be done. They did the impossible and the result was the Macintosh computer.

His sense of urgency made Jobs nearly impossible to work for, but heralded his monumental success. He approached life like a little kid, demanding what he wanted, when he wanted it, no matter the cost or risk.

His refusal to settle for anything less changed the world.

Lawyers are often demanding of themselves and others but I don’t think you could say we have a well-developed sense of urgency. We’re too caught up in the risks, the costs, and the illogical nature of doing the impossible. And yet each of us is capable of summoning this sense of urgency when we need it.

Look at what we’re able to accomplish in the days and hours leading up to a vacation. Weeks of work gets done, our desk tops are finally clean, and we’re able to delegate a mountain of tasks and responsibilities we were previously convinced nobody else could do.

Can a sense of urgency be developed? I think it can, but only if we are willing to re-evaluate our priorities. As long as “avoidance of risk” is job one, we’re never going to find out what we’re capable of. As long as “thoroughness” trumps immediacy, we’ll always find ourselves one step behind.

To develop our sense of urgency, we have to be willing to let go of our beliefs about what’s possible. Start with little things. If you believe something will take two weeks to complete, for example, set a deadline of one week and get it done. Once you believe in the impossible, your team will start believing.

Of course Jobs didn’t merely demand urgency, he also demanded near perfection. More often than not, he got it.

Was it because he believed that what he wanted was possible? Did he just declare what he wanted, hoping his team would figure out how to make it happen? Did he have a gift for seeing abilitiesÂ in others they could not see in themselves? Did his team do the impossible because they didn’t want to suffer his wrath?

I don’t know. All I know is, life is short and without a sense of urgency, we will never trulyÂ know what’s possible.

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, success Tagged With: Malcom Gladwell, sense of urgency, Steve Jobs

An easy way to write a blog post

October 9, 2014 by David M. Ward

When I don’t know what to write about, sometimes I find ideas by looking at famous quotations. Today, I thought I would show you how easy it is to write a blog post starting with nothing more than a random quote.

I did a search for “success quotes” and clicked on the first site in the list. I looked through the first few quotes displayed on the page and this one caught my eye:

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it. –Bruce Lee

Don’t try to be someone else, Lee says. You are unique and valuable and need nothing else. Success isn’t a function of mimicry, it is a function of being true to who you are. Not only is this the best path to success, it is the only path.

This is encouraging, isn’t it? To be told by one of the most successful martial arts practitioners in our lifetime that we have what it takes to be or do whatever we want?

On the other hand, haven’t we always been told to better ourselves by associating with successful people in our field and following in their footsteps? Aren’t we encouraged to study history and read biographies of successful people so we can learn from their stories and avoid their mistakes?

I don’t think these messages are inconsistent. We can and should learn from others, not to copy them but to improve ourselves.

Lee had great teachers and sparring partners. He spent many years training and perfecting his technique and eventually created his own style of martial arts. He learned from many others, but when he stepped onto the mat to fight an opponent, he didn’t try to emulate them. He made his mark on the world by showing us who he was.

So. . . there you go. A blog post, from scratch. From a quote. I could add some observations about how this might apply to marketing a law practice, but it’s not necessary. The lesson touches on a universal theme.

When you write a blog post or article for your list, you don’t have to talk about the law. In fact, you probably shouldn’t talk about the law most of the time, even if you’re writing for other lawyers. Write about things that resonate with you and you’ll find an audience of people who want to hear what you say.

Be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself.

Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, success, Writing Tagged With: Bruce Lee

You can have everything in life you want if you do this

October 8, 2014 by David M. Ward

Zig Ziglar famously said,”You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

It sounds like good advice, and it is. Help enough clients get what they want and they will make you rich.

But helping clients solve legal problems is only the tip of the iceberg. Your clients have wants and needs well beyond what your services can do. Help them get what they want in other aspects of their life and you will be rewarded with a multiple of what they pay you in legal fees.

One time clients will become lifetime clients. They will return again and again and refer other clients. They will promote your events and your newsletter, send traffic to your website, share your content on social media, and help you build your list. They will give you testimonials and sing your praises to anyone who asks.

What can you do for your clients beyond your legal services? Well, what do they need? What are their personal and professional goals? What problems do they need resolved?

Do they want to refinance their mortgage? Perhaps you can introduce them to someone who can help. Do they want to expand their business? Recommend a book or share your experiences in building your practice.

When it comes to helping people, little things can mean as much as big things. Start by making a list of different ways you can help. What do you know how to do? Who do you know that you can recommend?

Can you help someone set up a blog? Make a video? Write an article? Do you have speaking or networking tips you can share? Can you help someone get a better deal on a new car? Find a trustworthy housekeeper, baby sitter, or building contractor? Recommend places to stay in a foreign country?

Keep adding to your list and look at it often. It will help you see how valuable you are and remind you to ask your clients about “what else” they need beyond your legal services.

Of course you can also help prospects and professional contacts and personal friends. And you should. The more people you help, the more people there are who want to help you.

Where do you find the time for all this non-billable work? Think of it as marketing time. Marketing is helping, after all. And remember, it might be non-billable time, but it’s anything but non-paying.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing Tagged With: zig ziglar

Marketing your legal services as if your life depended on it

October 7, 2014 by David M. Ward

Many lawyers tell me they’re doing the best they can to bring in new business. But they’re not. Not even close.

How about you?

Be honest. Are you serious about marketing or is it something you do here and there? Do you do it every day or do you wait until you’re in a slump?

Okay, let’s play “what if”. C’mon, it’ll be fun.

What if you had to bring in ten new clients by the end of this month or. . . you would die? Literally. If you don’t have ten new clients signed up by the close of business at month’s end, terrorists will behead you.

For realz.

If this was true, what would you do? Would your attitude towards marketing your legal services be different? How much time would you spend on marketing? How much money?

The clock is ticking. What would you do?

What are you not doing that you would start doing immediately?

What would you do more? What would you improve?

Would you drain the kids’ college funds and run a bunch of ads, even if you’ve never advertised before? Would you get your ass out the door and get to some networking events? Would you personally call every former client you’ve ever had to see if they have any work or referrals?

If your life depended on it, what (exactly) would you do?

If you’ve ever told yourself you’re doing the bestÂ you can to bring in new clients, now you know the truth. If you’ve been honest with yourself, you know you could do more.

Now you have to make a decision. Business as usual, or something different? Your life might not depend on it, but your future sure does.

For a simple marketing plan that really works, get The Formula

Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Personal development

What to do when you get a “one star” review

October 6, 2014 by David M. Ward

It had to happen. I’ve been riding high on a unbroken string of five star reviews of my Kindle book, “Recruit and Grow Rich” (about network marketing) and comments like these

“The Best Network Marketing Book I’ve Ever Read!”
–Mitch Jackson

“By Far The Best & Most Complete Resource for Network Marketing!”
–Erik Christian

“Incredible Resource for Anyone in Network Marketing!”
–Marcia J. LeVoir

Donald Gravalec, an attorney, said, “This book is an absolute must read for any attorney considering a network marketing opportunity.”

Nice, huh?

Then, last week, I got a stinker. A one star review. The anonymous reviewer said, “No (sic) recommended. Not that good. Too basic.”

I don’t know what this guy is smoking. The book covers the basics, as a book like this must, but there is so much more. If anything, there is too much information, especially for newbies. My guess is Mr. Anonymous didn’t read past the introduction or first chapter.

Right or wrong, that’s his opinion. What can I do about it?

The same thing you do when you get a bad review or rating from a client on a review site or social media:

You bury it.

You reach out to your clients and ask them to post a review on the site. Most will leave you good reviews, right? As new reviews come in, the stinker will move down and eventually off the page. If a prospective client does see it, he will also see that it is one bad apple in a big barrel of satisfied clients.

Will you help me? If you read the book, would you please leave a review. Just a line or two is fine. I would appreciate it. You can do that on this page.

If you don’t have the book, you can check it out here.

One more thing. Amazon allows people to vote on which reviews are “helpful” and which are not. If you believe the book is good and not “too basic,” please vote down Mr. Antonymous’ review.

Thanks again for you help. I’m looking forward to reading your review.

Filed Under: Book review, Social media Tagged With: network marketing, Recruit and Grow Rich, reviews

Marketing a law firm like a strip club

October 3, 2014 by David M. Ward

One of the biggest challenges in marketing a law firmÂ is getting prospective clients to see how you are different or better than other lawyers who do what you do.

It takes a lot of thought and wordsmithery to come up with the right benefit statement. I don’t have any shortcuts to offer, but I can give you a place to start.

Imagine that instead of an office you work from a retail store in a big shopping mall. All of the other attorneys in town also have stores at the mall. The lawyer next door? He offer the same services you do. The lawyer across the hall? The same.

In fact, the entire mall is filled with your competitors. The shoppers in the mall are your prospective clients. They came to the mall looking for a lawyer to hire and they walk through the mall trying to decide which one to choose.

Will it be you? Or the guy down the hall?

You don’t want to leave it to chance, do you? You want to get them into your store.

What will you do? What will you put in your store window? What signs will you put up to entice them to stop?

Hold on. We know it’s only a matter of time before one of the other lawyers starts standing at the entrance to his store calling out things to passing shoppers. Yeah, like those guys who stand on the street in front of strip clubs encouraging passers-by to come to see their show.

You’re not going to let them get all the business, are you? Hell no. You’re going to stand outside your store, too. Whatcha going to say?

Before you know it, all of the lawyers in the mall will beÂ standing outside their store hawking their wares. It’s going to get extremely noisy in that mall. You’ll need to be really clever if you want clients to choose you.

Yes, this is a picture of a nightmare. But it’s also a decent analogy for the real world. You don’t stand outside a store shouting at passing clients, (at least I hope you don’t) but you do something similar on the Internet, in ads, and at networking events.

Use this exercise to brainstorm ideas for headlines you can use to get the attention of prospective clients who are scanning lawyers’ ads, web pages, or listings in a directory.

What couldÂ you say to get their attention? What could you offer? How can you stand out from the crowd?

Here’s a hint: Your name or your firm’s name is not a good headline. It’s not going to get anyone to come into your store. Nobody but your mama cares about your name.

The good news is that all of those ads and web pages your competitors use with their firm name as the headline make things much easier for you. You can say almost anything else and get more clients than they do.

Write a headline that promises benefits. What do you do for your clients that other lawyers don’t do (or don’t say they do)? What makes you unique or better? Why should they come into your store?

The Attorney Marketing Formula helps you choose a benefit statement for your practice. Go here.

Filed Under: Copywriting, Marketing legal services Tagged With: benefit statement, differentiation, headlines, Unique Selling Proposition, USP

Maybe you should procrastinate more

October 2, 2014 by David M. Ward

There are countless articles and books about overcoming procrastination, offering hundreds of techniques for doing so. But maybe procrastination has been given a bad rap. Maybe it’s not something we must always defeat.

We procrastinate because it serves us in some way. We resist doing things for a reason. Maybe we’re not ready and need more information. Maybe we need help. Or maybe we would be better off letting someone else do it.

If you procrastinate, ask yourself why? What’s the message? What is your subconscious mind telling you? If you need more information, go get it. If you’re not ready to address the jury or give the speech, practice. Burn the midnight oil. Do what you have to do.

If procrastination is hurting your reputation orÂ income, you need to do something about it.

Otherwise, don’t sweat it.

In school, I routinely put off writing papers and studying for exams until the last minute. But I got them done and got good grades. No harm, no foul.

Okay, maybe I could have gotten even better grades if I didn’t put things off. But I enjoyed the challenge of getting a good grade on a paper I wrote in two hours that other students wrote over six weeks.

Plus, procrastinating gave me a great excuse in case I did get a bad grade. “Hey, I barely studied!”

But I was a kid. I’m not recommending this strategy for operating a professional practice. “Sure, we lost the case, but hey, we did pretty good considering I did no discovery.”

Yeah, not so much.

If procrastination is hurting you or your clients, fixÂ it. Immediately. Otherwise, when you find yourself putting off something, figure out why and learn from it. Listen to that inner voice. It’s trying to protect you and guide you towards a better future.

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: procrastinating, procrastination