How to find out what your clients want (so you can give it to them)

April 4, 2012 by
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Attorneys ask a lot of questions. We ask to find out what our clients want and need so we can prepare the right documents. We ask questions through discovery, to avoid surprises, develop a strategy, and gain an advantage. Questions are how we tell a story in the courtroom or negotiate a settlement in the hallway. Questions are even how attorneys answer questions they don’t want to answer.

We’re good at asking questions.

We know when to ask open-ended questions and when to ask leading questions. We know how to question a hostile witness, an expert witness, and our own client. We know when a question is proper and when it is objectionable.

All day, every day, we ask questions in our work. Why don’t we do the same thing in our marketing?

Your clients and prospective clients can tell you what you need to do to grow your practice. They can tell you what you need to say to get them to say yes. They can tell you what you need to do (or not do) to make them happy. They can give you information you can use to improve every aspect of your practice.

All you have to do is ask.

You can ask about the specific handling of their case, what they liked best in your latest newsletter, or how they were treated when they called to make an appointment.

You can ask what topics they would like you to write about in your newsletter, whether they are interested in other services you’re thinking about offering, and whether they think your fees are too high, too low, or just right.

You can ask them what you did well for them, and where they felt you could have done better. You can ask which headline they like best, which blogs or magazines they regularly read, or whether they want paper copies mailed to them or if email is just fine.

You can ask in person or over the phone, through email or online surveys and polls. You can ask directly or, for more honest feedback, let them answer anonymously.

You can ask anything, and they will tell you, and what they tell you could be worth a fortune to you.

What if you have always assumed your clients wanted updates only when there is something important to report but in reality, most of them want to hear from you every month? What if you’ve been writing about how to avoid infringing on others’ patents but they want to know is how to minimize employee lawsuits? What if you have always assumed your receptionist is doing a good job but half of your clients think he is rude?

And guess what? People like being asked. They like giving their opinions and they will appreciate you for asking. It tells them that you care about what they think, and that you want to make them happy.

Make a list of questions to ask your clients and prospects and business contacts. Get in the habit of regularly asking people what they want, what they like, and what you can do to improve. And then do something even more important: listen.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Get bigger results with a DMO (daily method of operation) with these 4 components

April 3, 2012 by
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Most attorneys handle their day by (a) looking at the calendar and (b) responding to phone calls, emails, and regular mail. They handle the work in front of them and never seem to find time for much of anything else.

They know they “should” spend some time on marketing, for example, but that time never seems to materialize.

The solution is to create a “daily method of operation”–a written list of daily activities that help you move forward towards your long term and short term goals.

Your “daily method of operation” is a broad plan for the day. Rather than spelling out the specific tasks you need to do each day, a DMO focuses on the big picture. It reminds you to pay attention to what’s important, rather than what’s in front of you. It allows you to run your practice instead of your practicing running you.

Every attorney’s DMO should have these four components:

  1. Professional and personal development. Every day you should be reading or listening to training, learning new ideas, and finding ways to improve what you already know and do. Without continual development, you will stop growing and eventually begin to decay. This category includes continuing legal education, but also things like practicing your next presentation in front of a mirror, reading books on sales and business, and spending time with a mastermind group or a workout partner.
  2. Money making activities. This is work that brings in revenue. Make sure you’re doing things that allow you to bill or settle cases, not wasting time in pointless meetings.
  3. Marketing. Marketing is everything you do to attract clients and you must do it every day. It includes staying in touch with former clients and making sure your current clients are happy. In fact, from a marketing standpoint, there is nothing more important than “client relations”. Whatever you do for marketing–blogging, speaking, networking, social media, advertising–schedule time and do it every day.
  4. Administrative. If you run your own practice, there will always be things you need to do or to supervise to make sure things are running smoothly. If you aren’t in charge, there are things you need to do to stay organized and out of trouble. Schedule time each day to make sure you’re on top of things, but not so much time that the other components get short-changed.

To stay on track, you should also set goals for each component. There are two types of goals–activities and results:

  1. Activities: e.g., make one “how are you?” call each day to a former client, attend one networking function per week, etc.
  2. Results: e.g., one new client per week via online marketing, increase revenue 25% this quarter, etc.

Create a daily method of operation for your practice and schedule time for all four components. If you spend only 15 minutes a day on marketing but do it every day because it’s part of your DMO, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

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

Save time, reduce anxiety with a DON’T do list

April 2, 2012 by
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It is said that successful people make up their minds quickly and change their minds slowly, if at all. As someone who often spends waaaay too much time thinking about things, that’s not what I wanted to hear.

But when you’re intelligent, you can see many possible outcomes. Things are rarely black and white and we should never decide anything important without taking time to reflect.

At least that’s what I tell myself.

Actually, what I think happens is that we often do decide quickly, but as human beings with ingrained self-doubts, and as lawyers trained to see both sides, we go back and forth challenging our decisions in an effort to justify them. We’ll go through the motions of trying to find fault, but usually, we’ve already made up our minds.

I don’t think we can’t change the way this works. We can, however, eliminate much of the anxiety and time wasting that occurs by re-thinking and second-guessing our decisions.

One way to do that is with a “don’t do” list.

If you’re married or otherwise monogomous, there are certain things you don’t do. You don’t go to single’s bars for example. In fact, you don’t spend any time thinking about single’s bars. It’s on your mental “don’t do” list. Why not create a similar list for other areas of your life?

For example, as you read this blog, you are presented with many ideas for marketing your legal services. Some ideas you like. Other ideas you have considered and rejected. They’re not for you. And yet you continue thinking about some of those ideas. Even though you have rejected them, you continue reading about them, you download apps, and you talk to other lawyers to see what they think.

I suggest you make a decision and be done with it. Put it on a “don’t do” list.

Open a text file or an Evernote note and start recording a list of things you’re not going to do. Once something is on the list, don’t read about it, don’t think about it, and by all means, don’t worry about it. You considered it and made your decision. Move on.

Your list might include advertising, for example. Your practice area might be one where many attorneys advertise and you’ve thought about it. Make a decision–will you or won’t you?

Maybe “advertising” is too broad. It might be something you can see yourself doing at some point. No problem. It doesn’t go on your list. But perhaps you’ve decided that yellow pages advertising is something you aren’t going to do (or no longer do) and you can put that on your don’t do list.

Maybe you don’t like social media and have decided you’re not going to have anything to do with it. Fine. Think of all the time you’ll save by not reading about it, exploring the different platforms, or actually engaging in it. You should feel good about your decision.

You see an article about lawyers getting clients through Pinterest. Tempting, eh? But you’ve already explored it and put it on your don’t do list. Not for you. So you don’t read the article or ponder the issue (“maybe there’s a new angle to this. . .”). Next subject. . .

On the other hand, social media marketing can produce a lot of business and just because you don’t have time for it right now or you don’t want to do it right now, you might not want to write it off completely. Don’t put it on your list. But if you’re camera shy and you know you don’t want to make youtube videos, put that on your list.

This doesn’t mean you never re-consider your decisions. I do many things today I never saw myself doing a few years ago. People change, technology changes, circumstances change. So, periodically, perhaps every six months or once a year, re-visit your don’t do list and see if there’s anything you want to remove.

Every day we are confronted with issues that require a decision. The less time we spend deciding, and the less time we spend re-considering our decisions, the more time we will have to do the things we’ve decided we want to do. A don’t do list can help.

So, what’s on your “don’t do” list? I know, I know, you want more time to think about it.

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Filed Under: Dealing with stress, Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Get more writing done in less time with OmmWriter

March 30, 2012 by
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I wrote this post in OmmWriter, an application that creates a quiet, uncluttered writing space. Just a simple, full page of blank writing surface, a few basic fonts, and little else.

The idea is to be able to write without being distracted by Facebook, email, or other web sites or applications. It gives you a quiet place to be alone with your thoughts, so you can get more writing done in less time.

I remember going to the library in high school to write papers I didn’t want to write. Once I settled down and resigned myself to getting started, the quiet helped me to focus. Applications like OmmWriter create a similar environment.

On the other hand, I usually don’t need a quiet setting to write. In fact, like many people, I enjoy having some distractions. I think that’s why you see so many people writing or doing homework at Starbucks.

Also, when I write I usually refer to notes or articles I’ve saved or have open in a browser. Being in a writing app that takes over the full screen means I have to close the app to get to those notes or articles.

I do enjoy writing in OmmWriter, especially when I’m writing about something I know a lot about or have strong feelings about. The writing is quicker and flows more freely. What I mean is that I’m not so much engaged in the act of writing as I am in connecting my thoughts with my keyboard. For first drafts especially, it’s a more intuitive, natural process, and in some ways, the writing is better.

Applications like this are a good idea for writers who need that quiet space where they can let their creativity flow. If you ever find yourself unable to settle down and get into your writing, this is a good solution.

I’ve tried other applications like this. Some are browser based, some, like OmmWriter, you download. OmmWriter offers a feature I like, background colors and sounds (music) they have found to be conducive to writing. They provide a sort of “white noise” that helps me focus better.

OmmWriter is free and there is also a paid version (donation-ware) with more colors and sounds. I have used it off and on since I first downloaded it a month ago and I will continue to use it. It’s easier than driving to the library, and a lot cheaper than Starbucks.

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

Smart marketing by a smart lawyer

March 29, 2012 by
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Yesterday, I was interviewed live via a new video broadcast service, Spreecast. The interviewer was my friend and fellow attorney, Mitch Jackson. The subject was using Evernote in a law practice and my Evernote for Lawyers ebook. You can watch the replay here.

In the interview, you’ll note my comment to Mitch that his Spreecasts are smart marketing on his part because it allows him to network not only with the experts he interviews but with a large number of attorneys and allied professionals who come to watch. It positions him as a leader and gets his name in front of a lot of people who can either directly refer clients to him or who can lead him to others who can.

Although these Spreecasts are new, I know Mitch has for many years done a great job of networking in this fashion, promoting others’ law practices, books and events to his large network. I also know he gets a lot of referral business.

Smart marketing, and you can do the same thing. It’s called being a connector.

Being a connector can not only help you grow your practice, it is also a great vehicle for learning. I’m sure Mitch will tell you in reading the blogs and books of the experts he interviews, he learns the best ideas and latest techniques, which help him become a better lawyer and a better marketer.

To become a connector you need two things.

First, you need a platform. This can be a blog, a Facebook or LinkedIn Group, a newsletter, your own Spreecast channel, or a local breakfast group. This is where you match up content (writing, speaking, interviews) with your audience. You are the organizer, the master of ceremonies, the interviewer, the publisher. Everything goes through you.

The platform is easy. Just pick something and plant a flag.

The second thing you need might be a little more difficult. It’s not something you sign up for, it’s something you must have within you. To be effective as a connector, you need to truly enjoy helping others. It’s true, the more value you create for others, the more you promote them and champion their practice or product, the more you will benefit. But you must be willing to help others without any agenda, other than the pleasure you get from seeing others succeed.

Mitch has a series of great interviews lined up. Follow his Spreecast Lawyers Group (channel) and invite your friends.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Online Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

How to get your tweets re-tweeted

March 28, 2012 by
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I am not an expert on twitter. So when an expert says something, I’m inclined to listen. But sometimes, what an expert says doesn’t feel right to me. Case in point:

This article quotes a social media expert (a professor–hmm, maybe that’s the problem) who says that every Tweet should include:

  • One @ mention (This makes it more likely that someone will read the Tweet)
  • One hash tag (Makes the Tweet more searchable)
  • One link: (Links represent value and value is more likely to be shared)

I agree, we should make an effort to include these in Tweets, but all three? In EVERY Tweet?

If I Tweet a link to my latest blog post, who am I supposed to @ mention? I don’t know about you, but it kinda bothers me when someone mentions me for no apparent reason other than to get me to read something that doesn’t necessarily pertain to me.

I think a better rule of thumb is to do what’s natural. Tweets, like any social media message, are meant to communicate, and that should be the operative rule. If you force these three things into every Tweet, you may write the “perfect” Tweet but find nobody is reading it. As one comment to the post put it,

“Ick. I’m afraid that if you include one of each of those in every tweet, I for one will not follow you! I prefer the people I follow to be original, not simple link factories or repliers to someone else’s thoughts.”

The article has some good advice on the best times to Tweet, best practices for link placement, and other expert tips. But here’s this expert’s advice: don’t listen to any advice without having your BS detector in the on position.

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Filed Under: Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: ,

If I could use only ONE marketing tool

March 27, 2012 by
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I started this post intending to make the case in favor of email as my favorite marketing tool. There’s no question that it is one of the most effective ways to deliver messages to people who can hire you or refer someone who can. It’s (almost) free, almost everyone has an email address, and email is still more popular than social media.

With the click of a button, you can send out an email to hundreds or thousands of people, and almost as quickly, get orders or phone calls and appointments.

Strange that so many attorneys (most?) don’t use email in their marketing, at least not as much as they could. Or should.

You may have a list of people–clients, former clients, and business contacts–but if you’re not communicating with them on a regular basis, you’re not going to get their business. They forget about you, or they forget how to contact you, or they’re just not motivated to contact you because. . . you haven’t contacted them.

The point of having a list, indeed, of all of your marketing efforts, is to stay in touch with people. Or as I put it, “. . .to be in their minds and their mailboxes so that when they are ready to hire a lawyer, or know someone who is, there you are. . .”.  Email is one of the most effective ways to stay in touch.

So, I was going to say email is my favorite marketing tool, but that’s not quite accurate. Nope. My favorite marketing tool is. . . a sales letter.

Lawyers may not call it that. We’ll call it a newsletter or information or anything but a sales letter (because we don’t sell, right?)–but whatever you call it, and however you disguise it, if it’s designed to get someone to do something, it’s a sales letter. My favorite marketing tool.

A sales letter is words, on paper (or electrons), that communicate a message and an offer or a request. People read it and call for an appointment, Like your web page, or sign up for your seminar. You can send it by postal mail, or by messenger. Hand it to someone in person, or deliver it via fax or text message. You can post it on your blog, web page, or on Facebook.

Oh, and guess what? Every time you talk to a prospective client on the phone or in person and you tell them about your services and what you can do to help them, you’re delivering a sales letter. A spoken sales letter.

Do yourself a favor and write it down, so you can send it by email.

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Filed Under: Communication, Email, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Relationship marketing, Salesmanship, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Getting things done by letting your “trusted system” remind you

March 26, 2012 by
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Waiting for others to do what they’re supposed to do used to make me anxious. Not anymore. Instead of trusting my memory, scraps of paper, post-it notes, et.al., I record the task in a “trusted system” and let the system remind me. Until it does, I don’t think about it.

A trusted system usually starts with a calendar. Most attorneys routinely calendar due dates, but are sometimes unprepared when the due date “sneaks up on them.” The solution is to add a review date prior to the due date, prompting you to check up on the outstanding task. Or a series of review dates if there is a long time horizon. You can also calendar review dates even when there is no fixed due date.

Another way to handle “waiting” tasks is to keep a separate list of them and review that list on a regular basis, i.e., during a weekly review. Or, instead of keeping everything on one list, you can assign a tag or label to each individual task. During your weekly review, check everything that has the “waiting” tag or label or is in your “waiting” folder.

For your own tasks, you can keep separate lists or folders labeled “Now” or “Next” or “Someday” or use tags for the same purpose.

For my trusted system, I use my calendar (google) for tasks with a due date or a review date, and Evernote for everything else. Anything on the calendar that has an associated note in Evernote is linked to that note with a “note link,” a hyperlink that opens the note in Evernote.

Gmail now allows you to star or label your outgoing emails, which makes tracking replies so much easier. Before you click “send,” add a “waiting” label, for example, to any email where you are waiting for a reply. You can then forget about it until your periodic review.

Getting things out of your head and into a trusted system can help you achieve a “mind like water”. The “open loops” still exist, but you can relax and let your trusted system take care of the remembering and reminding.

—
I’m being interviewed live this Wednesday at 3pm Pacific about using Evernote in a law practice and my Evernote for Lawyers ebook. I hope you can join us. If you can’t make it, you can post your question on my new Evernote for Lawyers ebook fanpage.

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

A stupidly simple way to get referrals

March 23, 2012 by
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So you want more referrals, eh? Okay, here are two questions you can ask people that should do the trick:

  1. “Who do you know who. . .?” (and yes, I know it’s “whom”), and
  2. “Will you introduce me?”

Yep, that simple.

Of course you have to finish the first question so that it frames the referral request properly. If your request is too broad (i.e., “. . .who might need my services”) you’re making it too hard on the person you’re asking. They can’t see, in their mind’s eye, anyone who fits that description, at least not without a lot of work on their part.

If your request is too narrow, (i.e., “. . .who owns an ios app development company and wants to file a patent claim against Apple”) you’re probably not going to get a lot of positive response.

Your work is to write a question that’s not too hot, not too cold, but just right for the person you are asking. Don’t ask them to mentally inventory everybody they know in search of someone they can refer to you. Help them narrow their focus to a handful of candidates so that they can spot someone who fits the description.

You can do the same thing to get referred to prospective referral sources instead of directly to clients: “Who do you know who is a fee-based financial planner in West LA or the South Bay?”

Even though you ask the right question, you’ll still get people who don’t know anyone they can refer, or don’t realize that they do. That’s okay. You’re follow-up question is, “Who do you know who might know someone who does. . .?”

If they don’t know a fee-based financial planner in West LA or the South Bay, they might know an accountant who does. Or a commission-based planner who does. Or a planner on the other side of town who does. Help them to help you by asking a question they can answer, and they will.

Oh, and always ask, “Who do you know,” not “Do you know anyone. . .?” The former assumes they know someone and, through the power of suggestion, makes it more likely that they will come up with a name or two. The latter begs them to say no.

Ask enough people, “Who do you know. . .” and “Will you introduce me?” and before you know it, you’ll be talking to someone who can hire you or refer you to someone who can.

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Filed Under: Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: ,

Why some lawyers shouldn’t bother with marketing

March 22, 2012 by
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On a discussion board I follow, a link had been posted to an article about why attorneys should write a blog. Several attorneys added their comments, most of which were in agreement.

One poster said, “In an industry which is increasingly commoditized, blogging allows a a lawyer to show creativity and wit — skill sets that are underrepresented in the profession, but vital for client development and practice management.”

Another mentioned that blog posts provide a record of your ideas and create an inventory of material you can use elsewhere in your marketing.

Good stuff.

But one comment in particular caught my attention: “I would be concerned that if the public began to know you too well, legal strategies could be predicted.”

Sure, we all have a few tricks up our sleeves we don’t want everyone knowing, but c’mon, that’s not a reason to avoid blogging.

Want to know what I think? I think she’s afraid. She’s afraid that if she writes a blog, she will no longer be able to hide behind her technical skills, she will have to expose her true self to the world.

And she’s right.

Building a law practice means building relationships. You have to meet people and make them like and trust you. You can’t do that without showing them who you really are.

When you write a blog or a newsletter, or do any public speaking or networking, you must do more than state the facts and provide the citations. You must give color and contrast to what you write or say, and that means injecting your personality, your opinions and your experiences.

Clients buy us before they buy our services. If you want people to like and trust you, you have to expose yourself to them and if you’re not willing to do that, you probably shouldn’t bother with marketing. You’ll be happier in a job where client development isn’t required or with a partner who is good at bringing in new business while you handle the paperwork.

There are many reasons why you should write a blog. There’s only one reason you shouldn’t: you don’t want to.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Career satisfaction, Image, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , ,
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