Random acts of marketing legal services

August 22, 2013 by
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A new study suggests that investing at random is as effective as hiring expensive financial advice. As reported in Wired, a physicist and an economist in Italy seem to have proven that throwing darts at stock listings can actually bring decent returns.

What if marketing legal services works the same way?

What if instead of hiring expensive consultants to manage their marketing, lawyers simply chose marketing related activities at random. Instead of trying to figure out the perfect strategy, they just kept busy?

I like this idea. You don’t need to hire experts and gurus or go to expensive seminars. You can ignore the “method of the week”. Just do something, every day, to reach out to people you know and people you want to know.

Call or write to someone. It doesn’t matter who. They don’t have to be your best client. It doesn’t matter if they can’t send you a lot of referrals. What happens next doesn’t really matter because over time, everything will average out and you will at least get average results from your efforts, if the analogy is true.

But hold on. Since most attorneys do no marketing, or do marketing very badly, your random acts of daily marketing should bring you results that are much better than average.

So, here’s what you do. Get out your calendar and schedule 15 minutes every day for marketing. Mark this time on your calendar as an appointment with yourself. If someone wants to see you at that time, you must tell them you have an appointment and you’ll have to see them a little later.

Now, keep that appointment. Every day, do something marketing related. It doesn’t matter what it is, just do something.

Scroll through your contact database and pick someone at random. Call or email them and say hello. If it’s a client, say thanks for being a good client. If it’s someone you met at a networking function three years ago and haven’t spoken to since, tell them you just found their name and wanted to see how they are doing.

It doesn’t matter who you contact or what you say. These are random acts of marketing, remember? Just keep busy and do something every day. If you get stuck, go find a chimpanzee and when he points at something, do that.

Marketing is simple. Lawyers are complicated. Stop thinking so much and do something.

Marketing is simple with this and this.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Bullet Journal: A paper based system for recording and managing tasks

August 21, 2013 by
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I was browsing the “What’s Popular” category on Youtube and saw a video about Bullet Journal, an analog journaling and note taking system. Basically, it’s a way to use pen and paper (or a Moleskine notebook) to record and manage your tasks, notes, and events.

What I like:

  • Pen and paper and Moleskine notebooks
  • The idea of having everything with me in one book
  • Writing on paper makes you think about what you’re writing
  • Low cost, always on, no batteries needed
  • The website. Great way to show you what it is and how it works
  • The title: Bullet Journal

What I don’t like:

  • Too much writing
  • Too much re-writing
  • Not good for projects (without a lot of re-writing)
  • Not good for recurring tasks (without a lot of re-writing)
  • You can’t move anything (without re-writing)
  • Writing on paper makes you think about what you’re writing (and maybe I just want to get it out of my head and not think about it)
  • I’ve already got a calendar

You probably know that I use Evernote to record my notes, tasks and projects. One place for everything and everything with me everywhere. If I wanted to go analog, however, the concepts behind Bullet Journal are appealing. But watching the video of what it takes to write and re-write tasks makes me glad I don’t use a paper-based system.

How about you? Do you use a paper based system? What do you think of Bullet Journal?

If you use Evernote, get my Evernote for Lawyers ebook.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Technology, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

It’s Better to Be Different than It Is to Be Better

August 20, 2013 by
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In marketing, we often hear that we need to be better than our competition and if we can’t be better, be different. One expert says being different is actually better than being better.

Tsufit (that’s her full name) was an attorney who started a second career as an entertainer. Today, she helps professionals develop their personal brand. She says, “It’s better to be different than it is to be better. If you focus on creating differences and distinctions between you and everyone else, you don’t have to focus on boasting or showing that you’re better.”

Tsufit says that in building your brand, you don’t want to come across as too perfect. “Drop the excessive professionalism and simply be yourself,” she says. Showing your vulnerabilities makes you more credible, she says.

Tsufit also says that the biggest mistake in personal branding is “not standing for anything, not having a slice of the market that is yours and yours alone.” “If you say you’re for anybody, you’re really for nobody because there’s no way to find you among the sea of other people who do what you do.”

Wise words from someone who has obviously followed her own advice. You can read more about her in this profile.

If you want to know how to be different, get The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: Image, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , ,

Selling legal services doesn’t make you a sales person

August 19, 2013 by
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I was at a seminar on Saturday and one of the speakers briefly outlined a six-step process for selling anything. Of course that includes selling legal services.

The process is the same whether you’re sitting down with a client and selling him on giving you a check, networking with corporate bigwigs and selling them on discussing their legal needs, and everything in between. To some extent, the process is the same when you are selling legal services from the stage or in print.

Here are the six steps with my comments in parentheses:

STEP ONE: COMMIT

  • Make a personal commitment to the process. (If you look down on selling as beneath you, if you dismiss it and say, “that’s not why I went to law school,” you’re missing the point. Lawyers sell legal services. That doesn’t mean we are sales people.)
  • Set S.M.A.R.T. goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time oriented. (What do you want to accomplish? When? How will you know if you did or did not achieve your goal?)
  • Define “why”: what’s the big picture for you that makes the effort worthwhile. (When you’re not getting the results you want, you need to remember why you opened your own office.)

STEP TWO: PREPARE

  • Adjust your attitude. (Selling is helping people get what they want by removing obstacles. Be proud of what you’re doing.)
  • Work on your skills. (Read, practice, learn from your mistakes.)
  • Add to your knowledge. (Learn about sales, human psychology, and your client’s industry or interests.)

STEP THREE: CONNECT

  • Appearance. (Make sure everything you do is done professionally.)
  • Approach. (Don’t always leave it up to them. When appropriate, take the initiate. Make the call.)
  • Rapport. (Build trust before you show them what you can do.)

STEP FOUR: INVESTIGATE

  • Observe. (What are their problems? What do they want to achieve?)
  • Ask. (Learn more by asking open ended questions. Find out what they want, what they have tried before, what you need to say or do to persuade them that you are the best choice.)
  • Listen. (20% asking, 80% listening.)

STEP FIVE: PRESENT

  • Timing. (Not too soon, not too late. Look for signs they are ready. If you’re not sure, ask for permission.)
  • Solutions. (We get paid to solve problems and achieve results. Show them what’s possible. Tell them how you have helped others in similar situations.)
  • Use their language. (Mirror their style, pace, and lexicon. Refer to your notes and reflect back to them what they told you they wanted and needed.)

STEP SIX: CLOSE

  • Ask for the sale. (Tell them what to do to get the benefits they want.)
  • Overcome objections. (“I need to think about it” is never the real objection. Find out the real reason(s) and show them why the benefits you deliver trump those reasons.)
  • Support. (If they sign up, plug them into your support system so they feel easy about what will happen and what to do if they have questions. If they don’t sign up, plug them into your follow-up system.)
  • Referrals. (Always ask for referrals, even if they’re not ready to get started.)

Selling legal services is a skill and it can be learned. The better you get, the more people you can help. Last I heard, that’s at least one of the reasons’ you went to law school.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep clients. Start here.

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Handling objections, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship Tagged With: ,

WTF: Cussing in email, blogs

August 16, 2013 by
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Last week I got an email from a subscriber who disapproved of my use of the word “bastard” in a blog post. He referred to it as a “strong cuss word” and thought I should refrain from using such terms.

That surprised me. I don’t consider that a strong cuss word. I’m not even sure it’s a cuss word anymore, at least in most circles.

I think I monitor my language pretty well. I don’t use four letter words in my posts and emails. But coarse language does have its place in communication. If used appropriately and not overdone, it can add color and contour to our writing and speech.

So, at the risk of pissing off some of my subscribers (oops), I don’t plan to change anything.

On the other hand. . .

If most of my subscribers told me they didn’t approve of my language, I would be foolish not to listen. If you want to stay in business, you have to pay attention to your market.

But you can’t listen to everyone who is unhappy with something you said.

At the end of the day, you have to be yourself. You will attract people who like you “as is”. They may not like everything you say, but if they read something that bothers their sense of propriety, you have to assume they will let it go. If they don’t, it’s their loss, not yours.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Image, Presentations, Public Speaking, Writing Tagged With: , ,

A simple marketing plan for lawyers

August 15, 2013 by
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The experts and gurus tell you you’re not doing nearly enough to market your legal services. They provide you with a laundry list of tasks you need to do and you had better do them, they say, or you will be left behind by your competition.

Screw ’em.

You don’t have to do everything. I certainly don’t. Not even close.

I write a daily blog post, I occasionally do some guest posts, and I spend about five minutes a day on social media. Okay, you got me, I also do a lot of reading. But I am not consumed with doing everything others say I must do. I don’t worry about what anyone else is doing, and you shouldn’t either.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are,” Teddy Roosevelt said. He was replying to a request for more guns and soldiers during the Spanish American War. His generals wanted more. He told them they were fine with what they had. You are, too.

Yes, there are other things I’m working on. Because I want to, not because I have to. I’ve got the basics covered.

You may be different. You may have more time than I do. Okay, let me re-phrase that–you may want to spend more time on marketing than I do. You may love posting and pinning and tweeting and commenting and sharing and instagramming. You may be a video stud or a mobile maven.

And that’s fine. It’s great, in fact. God bless you. You’re doing what you enjoy and it’s working for you. That’s the way marketing should be.

Because if it’s not, if marketing is something you loathe in all it’s forms and iterations, you shouldn’t do it. Why make yourself miserable? Partner up with someone who likes marketing. Or get a job.

Because marketing must be done.

If you want to do more, do more. Not because you see other lawyers doing more and you think you must keep up with them. Do it because it makes sense to you and you want to do it.

Start by learning about what’s possible. This blog is a good place to start. My course, The Attorney Marketing Formula, provides a system for marketing legal services and includes a simple marketing plan for lawyers. My other course, Make the Phone Ring, shows you how to do marketing on the Internet.

I mentioned Teddy’s quote in a previous post where I also quoted Mark Zuckerberg. He said we often start projects with the hard parts, figuring we can always do the easy bits. He says that instead, we should start with what’s easy. This way, we will have started and starting is the most important part.

If you start, you can get better, maybe even learn to like it. If you never start, that can’t happen.

Starting is easy. Starting includes things like reading and thinking and making notes.

So don’t worry about what anyone else is doing, or what anyone says you must do. You can market your services any way you want. Find out what’s possible, do something and see how it goes. And start with easy.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

10 tips on public speaking for lawyers

August 14, 2013 by
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Admit it. You’re a ham. You like the limelight. You love to be in front of the room.

Okay, even if you don’t, you know that public speaking is an excellent way to market legal services.

Here are 10 tips on public speaking for lawyers:

TIP #1: Write your own introduction. Your audience will hear everything you want them to hear and nothing you don’t. It’s better to let the host say nice things about you than it is to say them about yourself.

TIP #2: If you use handouts, pass them out at the END of the talk. Otherwise, everyone will read and not listen. (The exception would be handouts that track on screen bullet points.)

TIP #3: Don’t read. You should know your material well enough that you don’t need to read anything. It’s okay to have notes with you but only as reminders of points you want to cover.

TIP #4: If you use slides, aim for no more than three bullet points on each slide. Keep it short, simple, and easy to read. No animation or fancy graphics. Also, try to use no more than a dozen slides. The audience is there to listen, not read.

TIP #5: Tell stories. All facts make Jack a dull boy. Stories show people what is important and why. People relate to the people in your stories on an emotional level.

TIP #6: Engage the audience. Make eye contact. Speak to individuals in the room, not to “the crowd”. Mention people by name. Ask rhetorical questions (e.g., “What would you do if that happened?”) and questions that call for an audible response.

TIP #7: Mix it up. Vary your speed, tone, and voice level. Pause for effect. Gesture. Walk from one side of the room to the other. Point to something.

TIP #8: Aim for one main take-away. One main point, one memorable line, one evocative story. If they are asked about your talk two weeks later, what’s the one thing you want them to remember?

TIP #9: Keep it short. Twenty minutes is ideal. After twenty minutes, people get restless. If you have a bigger topic, break it up into twenty minute segments.

TIP #10: Close with a “call to action”. Tell them what to do next: visit a website, fill out paperwork, call to make an appointment. If you tell them what to do, more people will do it.

Do you have any tips to add to this list? Please share in the comments.

Start your marketing library with The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Presentations, Public Speaking

My clients are driving me crazy

August 13, 2013 by
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I got an email from an attorney who said, “my clients are driving me crazy”. Apparently, many of his clients don’t appreciate him. They are rude and think they know better and he is finding it difficult to maintain his composure.

What do you do in a situation like that?

The first thing I would suggest is to take a look at yourself. Why? Because your law practice is a reflection of you–your attitudes and habits. If you have a preponderance of clients who don’t appreciate you, that may be because you don’t appreciate them.

We don’t attract the clients we want, we attract the clients we deserve.

Do you appreciate your clients? More importantly, do they know it? Do you show them by your words and deeds that you care about them and will do whatever you can to help them? In what ways do you show them? How often do you show them? Is it sincere or is it something you do because you think you have to?

You can’t fake this. People know.

But you may not know. You may not be able to see yourself clearly. So, ask your staff what they think. Ask other professionals who know you. And ask your clients. Send them a survey they can respond to anonymously and leave room for their suggestions.

The other thing I suggest is that you focus on the clients who do appreciate you so you can attract more like them.

What’s different about them? What services do they hire you to perform? How did they find you? (Clients who come from referrals are often better than clients who come through the Internet or advertising).

Are they at the high end of the fee spectrum or the low end? Are they first time clients or repeat clients? What is their background or occupation? Age? Income level?

Survey them as well and see what they like best about you.

Look for patterns and create a profile of these better clients. Then, work on attracting more like them by focusing your time, energy, and resources marketing to people who fit that profile. Start with your existing and former clients who fit that profile. They will lead you to people like themselves.

And, as soon as possible, start pruning your client garden. Get rid of the clients who don’t appreciate you, first, before you have found clients to replace them. Scary? Yes. But you will feel great getting rid of all that negative energy and soon, the void you create will be filled with the clients you want and deserve.

This shows you how create a profile of your ideal client.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Personal development Tagged With: ,

What does “hard work” mean to you?

August 12, 2013 by
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One day early in my career I was looking for new office space. I found myself looking at a nice space in Beverly Hills that had been recently leased by some young turks (small “t”). They had taken a bit more space than they needed and were looking for a sub-tenant to take over one of the offices.

As he was taking me on a tour, the turk explained to me how he and his partners conducted business. He said, “we work hard and we play hard”. Even though I was going to be a tenant, not a partner or employee, I got the feeling he wanted to see if I was a good fit.

He didn’t elaborate but something told me I wasn’t a good fit. I don’t know what “playing hard” meant to them but I’m pretty sure it didn’t mean they played a lot of chess. Don’t laugh. I like playing chess. A lot.

Anyway, this morning, when I was in the rain room, I recalled this exchange and thought I would ask what you think about this whole work vs. play business.

Here’s my take on it.

To me, work means doing things you don’t want to do. Play means the opposite. My entire method of operation is to try to do as much of what I want to do and as little of everything else.

In other words, my ideal would be no work and all play.

That doesn’t mean goofing off. It doesn’t mean the absence of accomplishment.

It means eliminating or doing less of the things I don’t like or am not good at. I do that by delegating those tasks to someone else or finding creative ways to run my business and personal affairs so as to avoid or minimize them.

We weren’t put here to endure, we were put here to enjoy. There is no virtue in hard work for hard work’s sake.

Anyway, what do you think? How do you define work and play? And do you work hard and play hard or, like me, do your best to enjoy the journey? Let me know in the comments.

By the way, when I called back the next day to ask if I could take another look at the office, the turk told me they had rented it. I was pretty sure that was not true. I think they discriminated against me because I wasn’t cool. I don’t know what gave me away. It couldn’t have been my fez because fezzes are cool.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Personal development, Productivity, success Tagged With: , ,

The strangest secret

August 9, 2013 by
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You just found out you won the Powerball. Hundreds of millions of dollars or pounds or shekels or yen. Life changing wealth.

Smile. Bask in the thought. Feel the tingle of delight go up your spine (or down you leg).

From this day forward, your life will never be the same.

Now, what will change? What will your new found wealth allow you to do?

Will you continue practicing law? If so, is there anything about your practice that you will do differently? Different cases or clients? More employees? Fewer?

Will you retire? What will you do all day?

Will you give the money away?

What will you buy? Where will you live? What will you be doing a year from now?

You may think it silly to indulge in such fanciful thoughts. You may remind yourself that you don’t play the lottery and see this exercise as a waste of time.

It’s not a waste of time.

It makes you examine your life to see what might be different. It may make you realize that some of things you’re doing aren’t serving you. Maybe you can get rid of them. Or begin moving in that direction.

Many people live their entire lives doing what they have always done. They never consider changing course. They may be unhappy but they are settled into their unhappiness. It’s easier to maintain the status quo.

And then a crisis occurs. A serious illness. The death of a loved one. A divorce. A financial calamity. Only then are ready to consider making changes. And then they find that some of those changes are a welcome relief.

I don’t want you to wait for a crisis before you examine your life. Use your imagination instead. Let your mind dwell on the impossible dream. Let your inner child frolic in the playground of your mind.

Grab a pen and start writing. Or grab a friend and a beer and start jabbering. You just got the word that you won the lottery and now, anything is possible.

What’s the first thing you will do? What will you do after that?

Now, how does it feel when you think these thoughts?

If it feels good, it means you are already moving in the right direction. The essence of what you desire is on its way. You are attracting the changes you desire.

If it doesn’t feel good, if you feel resistance towards what you have imagined, things will not change for you, at least not the way you want them to.

In his classic recording, The Strangest Secret, Earl Nightingale said, the key to success and the key to failure is this: “We become what we think about.”

He also said, “Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality.”

Our thoughts have power. I hope you use that power to get what you really want.

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Filed Under: Goal Setting, Inspiration, Personal development Tagged With: , , ,
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