David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

Posture

July 7, 2023 by David M. Ward

It’s not easy to define, but you know it when you see it.

007 had it. He was unflappable. And unstoppable. You always knew that in the end, he would beat the bad guys and save the world, and no matter what happened, you’d never see him sweat.

Your clients want that in you.

Calm, cool, collected. Strong and confident, ready to save the day.

How can you convey that?

Say less. Tell them how you can help them, but don’t try so hard. Let your deeds (and reviews) do most of the talking for you.

Be willing to admit you don’t know everything, and don’t do everything yourself. You have top quality people who work for you or with you. You count on them and so can your clients.

Don’t push, don’t convince, let the facts do that.

Don’t react, respond. Your manner should display a relaxed intensity. Calm, cool, collected, remember?

Don’t be a slob. 007 was always impeccably dressed. If he had a desk and an office, you know it would have been immaculate.

Don’t talk about how busy you are. It makes you look needy. Instead, let them see a busy waiting room. And don’t always be available whenever they want to talk to you.

Don’t cut your fees. You’re the best and deserve to be paid accordingly.

Don’t chase. You’re 007. Let ’em chase you.

Filed Under: Client relations, Image, Law office management Tagged With: posture

Why should I believe you?

July 6, 2023 by David M. Ward

You’ve been practicing for thirty years? Handled thousands of cases? Have a billion dollars in settlements and verdicts?

Impressive. But so what? Maybe you got that way by cheating your clients. You’re a lawyer and I’m scared. Just because you tell me you’re good and will help me doesn’t mean I’m ready to believe you.

What’s that? You have reviews? Testimonials? Things other people say about the good things you did for them? Or for their clients?

In their own words, not yours. Their stories, with enough details to convince me they’re telling the truth?

Much better. But hold on. I see other lawyers who also have good reviews. Maybe y’all only post the good ones and pay off the bad ones.

The struggle is real.

Hold the phone. I just remembered my friend hired you once and asked him about you. He said you did a great job for him.

I know him. And trust him. Sign me up.

Yes, there are other ways to get people to trust you. But these are the best. These are the ones you should focus on getting and deploying.

Number one, referrals from clients and from other professionals (whose clients have hired you).

Number two, reviews and testimonials from your clients and endorsements from lawyers and other professionals who know you and your reputation.

Number three, articles (by you or about you) in prestigious publications, awards you’ve received from prestigious organizations, and presentations you’ve given at prestigious events.

If you say it, they can doubt it. If other people say it, it’s probably true. If someone they know and trust says it, it must be true.

How to get referrals from other lawyers

Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: building trust

How to get new clients to pay you more

July 5, 2023 by David M. Ward

Actually, you can do this with existing clients, too. Anyone who is about to hire you or authorize you to do some work. Before you hand them the retainer or ask for the go ahead, ask them one more thing:

“Do you want fries with that?”

That simple question sells more fast food and it can sell more legal services.

It’s called an upsell, and it’s an effective way to get clients to hire you to do more than they originally contemplated.

It’s good for them, because they get something else they need but might have postponed. It’s good for you because you get paid more, but also because it’s one less thing to ask them about later.

It works because the client is in “buying mode”. They’ve already decided to hire you for something and thus are more likely to hire you for something else.

Instead of asking if they “also” want your additional service or add-on (your fries) you can ask if they want to upgrade their entire “purchase.” If you offer a basic service and a deluxe version, explain why they should consider the upgrade—the additional protection they get, the convenience of not coming back for more later, and, if (if you want), that they will save money by buying the package instead of getting all of your services separately.

You could instead position the extra services or addons as a free bonus for electing your deluxe package.

Another option for you is to “cross-sell” instead of “upsell”. Bundle your other unrelated services, or the services of another lawyer in your firm, and give the client reasons to get everything at the same time.

Upsells and cross-sells are simple ways to get clients to pay you more (and be happy about it).

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Closing the sale, Fees and Billing, Marketing legal services Tagged With: increase-law-firm-profits

5 slots

July 3, 2023 by David M. Ward

So tell me, how much do you do on a typical day? How many tasks, appointments, or meetings? How many cases or projects do you work on?

You want to do as much as possible, but you don’t want to burn out.

You need a plan.

Most people don’t plan effectively. They do the work that’s in front of them. They look at their calendar and task list, see what’s on deadline, think about their goals, and fill their day with as many tasks and appointments as possible.

And end the day exhausted.

They had a busy day. They got a lot done. But they aren’t running their business, their business is running them.

If you ever feel that way about your practice, consider making a slight change. Instead of seeing what’s in front of you need to do each day, first decide how much you want to do.

Pick a number. Not too much, not too few. Choose a number of “slots” to fill with work before you fill them.

Slots first. Work second.

Let’s say you choose 5 as the number of tasks you want to complete each day. That’s your upper limit. Maybe 2 or 3 are MITs (Most Important Tasks) and the others are less important.

Whatever number you choose, it doesn’t include routine tasks you also do, such as clearing email, returning phone calls, and reviewing and signing routine letters and documents.

A task is something that’s both important and takes a fair amount of time and energy to complete. More than a few minutes, anyway. In fact, you might specify that a task is anything that requires 30 minutes or more.

Of course, you can group small tasks, allocating 30 minutes for calls or for emails, for example. And yes, it’s a good idea to block out the time for this on your calendar.

You can do the same thing with appointments and meetings. Decide in advance how many slots you allow each day.

Maybe you allow yourself 2 tasks and 2 appointments each day. Or designate certain days for appointments, other days for tasks.

The point isn’t how many tasks or appointment slots you choose, or when you do them. It’s that you decide how many slots in advance.

Planning this way keeps you from getting overwhelmed. You get your most important work done and have time and energy left to do anything else you choose to do.

You run the practice instead of the other way around.

Filed Under: Productivity

To dream (and achieve) the impossible dream

June 30, 2023 by David M. Ward

Think bigger. Follow your dreams. Don’t play small. We’ve heard all this before (and probably said it a time or two) but do we do it?

No. We’re lawyers. Logical, careful, traditional. We don’t like risk. At least when it comes to our business.

So we take ten years to reach our goals, if we reach them at all, when we might reach those goals in one. That’s what authors like Tim Ferriss, Benjamin Hardy, Grant Cardone, and others tell us.

“Impossible goals are easier to accomplish than “possible goals” they say. And they actually have a point.

When you set reasonable goals and seek incremental growth, to increase your income by 10%, for example, you have too many options and strategies to choose from. These are the “trivial many” in 80/20 parlance. Small ideas, common strategies, that are likely to only reach small results.

To grow by more than 10%, we should be looking at the “precious few”.

To increase your income by 10%, you might look for a new marketing technique or improve an existing one. You’ll do what you’re already doing or something like it. With hard work and a little luck, you might achieve the goal. But because the goal is small and unexciting, you also might lose enthusiasm, get busy with other things, or bump heads with every other lawyer who is trying to do what you’re trying to do.

Instead of walking, you need to run. Instead of playing it safe, you need to do things you’ve never done before.

Not only are these likely to be more exciting and motivating, they are the only things that offer you a chance of achieving massive growth.

The reason they do that is simple. Impossible goals force you to innovate and find things nobody else has thought of, let alone is doing. Find and focus on those precious few ideas, connections, or strategies, and you can grow much bigger and much faster.

Impossibly big goals help us to “shape the process,” in part by making us ask better questions. If you ask, “What would I have to do to increase my income by 10% this year?” you get a long list of options. If you ask, “What would I have to do, or what would have to happen, to grow my income by 1000%?” you get a very small list of options to choose from, and you only need one.

The idea comes from “constraint theory” which is explained in the book, “The Goal”. Every goal, but especially a big goal, has a core restraint or bottleneck that is keeping the business from achieving it. Most people don’t focus on the bottleneck or constraint. They focus on the 80% that doesn’t matter.

Growing by 10% is about doing more. Possibly a lot more and for a long time. Growing by 1000% and achieving your impossible dream is about doing something different.

Filed Under: Leverage, success Tagged With: 80/20 principle

Nobody messes with mom

June 29, 2023 by David M. Ward

Promise your mother you’ll do it and you’ll do it. Because nobody messes with mom.

Accountability is a proven method for getting things done you might otherwise not do. When someone else is watching and will call you out when you don’t do what you said you would do, you are much more likely to do it.

In school, you may have had a study partner you met in the library who kept you accountable. You showed up because you didn’t want to explain why you didn’t.

In law school, you might have been in a study group where you agreed to brief certain cases and present a summary to the other members. You did it because they were counting on you.

Today, it might be your spouse, your law partner, or a business coach. Someone you know who is watching and will call you out if you don’t do what you committed to do.

Try it sometime. If you are pursing a goal and having trouble sticking with your plan, having someone hold you accountable might be just the thing that gets you to stick with it.

But there’s something else you can do. You can hold yourself accountable to yourself.

Start your day with a written list of tasks you intend to do. At the end of the day, write down what you did and didn’t do.

That’s it. The simple act of writing down what you did and comparing it to what you said you would do keeps you self-aware and accountable. You can’t cheat because you know the truth.

You’ll either follow your plan or change it. Changing it is okay because it’s your plan. So when you change it, you’ll know, and either be okay with that or feel guilty and change it back.

Unfortunately, there is another possibility. You might quit.

You’ll quit because accountability is a bitch. That’s why it’s so effective.

And, if holding yourself accountable isn’t working, there’s only one thing left to do.

Yep, call your mom. She won’t let you get away with anything.

Filed Under: Productivity, success Tagged With: accountability

Your clients want this

June 28, 2023 by David M. Ward

Clients want you to be trustworthy, competent, and effective. Yes, you know that. But there’s something else they want that you might not know.

It has nothing to do with paperwork, verdicts, or settlements. It’s not work product, billing, or keeping them informed.

But clients want this almost more than anything else.

They want to feel good.

Good about their future. Confident that their problems can and will be resolved or their situation improved.

They want to have hope. They’re often desperate for it. And it costs you nothing to give it to them.

Mostly, it’s about your attitude. No matter how bad things might be, your attitude and demeanor should be positive.

Show them you’re working on it. Making progress. Smile when you are around them. Remind them you know what to do and are good at doing it.

And that you are on their side.

Your clients might be up shit’s creek without a paddle. Give them that paddle.

When they know they can count on you, when they feel a sense of relief when they hear from you, they’ll feel better about their future.

Which means you’ve done your job.

Filed Under: Client relations

It takes a lot of emails to get a new client

June 27, 2023 by David M. Ward

Yes, some new subscribers will hire you immediately, or at least soon. Or call and ask questions and then hire you.

Of course, this depends on the urgency of their issue. If someone was just sued or arrested, they don’t have a lot of time to choose a lawyer.

But you shouldn’t assume that, either. Because you don’t know who is on your list.

Some subscribers need you but can’t afford you. They’ll try to fix their problem themselves, or hire someone cheap, and hire you later when they realize their mistake.

Some subscribers aren’t in a hurry. They’re going to take their time.

Some subscribers will never hire you (or any lawyer) but, if they like your emails, tell people about you.

And some subscribers are already your clients and don’t need anything else. But reading your emails reminds them they made a good choice in hiring you, making it less likely they’ll leave, and more likely they will hire you again when they need your help.

And no matter who they are, or where they came from, everyone on your list is busy. They might not see your message or read it. They might not be ready to take the next step.

All you can do is keep mailing until they’re ready.

And that might be a while. Weeks, months, or years.

And?

And until that happens, you should mail often.

If it takes you 25, 50, or 100 emails before some subscribers are ready to sign up, and you email only once a week, it might be a couple of years before that happens. If you email once a month, it could take forever.

Don’t be shy. Email as often as possible.

You might think you don’t need to. You might not want to. But the more often you do, the more new clients and repeat clients you’ll get and the more you will earn.

Is there such a thing as emailing too often? No.

No?

There will always be subscribers who think you’re emailing too often, and they will unsubscribe.

Let them go.

If your emails are valuable and/or interesting, as they should be, and they want to leave, they were probably never going to hire you.

At least you should assume that and focus on the ones who like hearing from you often because they are the ones who will help you build your practice.

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Email

4 ways to learn (anything)

June 26, 2023 by David M. Ward

Most formal learning occurs through reading, watching videos, listening to presentations and interviews, and taking courses. Learned knowledge is the most common way we acquire information, but it’s just one way we learn.

We also learn by doing activities—trying out the information, practicing the skills—and we often learn more because we’re using more of our senses and getting feedback about our activities.

You can learn how to how to improve your closing arguments by reading books, but you learn more by practicing the skills and techniques in those books.

Taking notes on what we read or hear is also activity knowledge. As we process the information we’ve seen or heard, and record our thoughts or questions about that information, we internalize our learned knowledge, give it context, and make it more likely we will remember it.

But there’s a third way we learn—by modeling others.

You can learn how to get more referrals by reading blogs and books and getting ideas and tips. Then, you might rehearse what to say, say it, and thus get better at it. You’ll get better still by observing someone who is good at talking about referrals with their clients or colleagues, because you can watch their body language, observe their timing, and see how they handle questions and objections. You can also ask them questions and ask them to observe you and provide feedback.

Finally, there is “teaching” knowledge. We learn the most by teaching others what we know and do. Want to learn how to get better at negotiating? Prepare a presentation on that subject or teach a CLE class.

Learned knowledge, activity knowledge, modeling knowledge, and teaching knowledge. 4 ways to learn new information and improve your skills.

Learn how to get more referrals from your clients

Filed Under: Personal development

Need a topic for your blog, stat?

June 23, 2023 by David M. Ward

It’s happens to everyone. They need to post an article on their blog or in their newsletter, but don’t know what to write. And the clock is ticking.

No problem.

It’s okay to write about subjects you’ve written about before. Your “go to” topics. Things you know well and can talk about with ease.

It’s also okay to grab something you’ve written before and use it again.

Yep.

An article, part of a presentation or report, any content in your archive.

Re-post or re-publish it, as is. With no changes or additions.

I do it. Everyone does it. And guess what? Your readers either won’t notice or won’t care.

You have new subscribers or visitors who never saw it. You have old subscribers who saw it but didn’t care about it because they didn’t have that problem (but now they do). Your article might be precisely the thing they need to see today and they will marvel at how you must be reading their mind, and be grateful that you are.

Or forward it to a friend who just told them they have that problem.

And guess what? Even if your readers have seen it before, that doesn’t mean they paid attention. (How many times have you reminded your clients not to do something or say something? Or to come in to talk to you about something?)

Remind them again in your newsletter.

Of course, if you have a little time, go ahead and update your old post. Re-write or re-edit it, change the headline or title (or keywords), emphasize different points, add new examples, add a different graphic if you want to, or shorten or lengthen the post.

Your newsletter, your rules.

Okay, maybe don’t re-use posts you published last month; give it some time.

And relax. Be easy about this. You won’t get a knock on the door from the blog police hastling you for reposting something.

After publishing thousands of articles and blog posts, and endlessly repeating topics, I’ve never once had anyone say, “Again? Don’t you have anything else to write about?”

Of course, there’s always a first time

More easy ways to create content for a newsletter or blog

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters