David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

Some people are weird

July 20, 2022 by David M. Ward

Some prospective clients just don’t get it. They hear the reasons, want the benefits, understand the urgency, have the resources, and still say no.

What’s up with that?

Why don’t they see the value of saying yes?

Don’t get your panties in a festival trying to figure it out.

Yes, examine all of your marketing collateral and look for ways you can make things clearer or more compelling. See if you can find stronger testimonials or more relevant success stories. Do what you can to improve your services and offers.

And stay in touch with them.

Stay in touch with them until they buy or die. And when they die, stay in touch with their heirs until they buy or die. And when they buy, stay in touch with them until they buy again or buy something else you offer, or send you referrals.

Never stop marketing to anyone. Unless someone’s a jerk and you don’t want them, or their referrals..

But if you want them and you’ve done everything you can do to get them to say yes, and the answer is still no, move on.

Again, don’t stop emailing. Keep them on the list. When I say “move on” I mean focus your time and emotional energy on other people.

Because some people will never “get it” no matter how compelling their need, or how clearly or how often you communicate.

Some people are weird.

Just the way it is.

You’re a problem solver, not a miracle worker. Go find some other people who want you to solve their problems in this lifetime.

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services Tagged With: Follow-up

Getting to “yes”

July 19, 2022 by David M. Ward

Do you have any clients or prospective clients who need one or more of your services but can’t seem to pull the trigger?

Of course you do.

They might have legitimate reasons for waiting and one day surprise you with the go ahead.

They didn’t have the funds, and now they do. They didn’t trust you (enough) and now they know you better. They needed approval from someone and finally got their blessing.

On the other hand, they might want to do it, plan to do it, but never get around to doing it.

Because they don’t feel the urgency to do it.

They might never feel that urgency. Unless you tell them something that tips the scale in favor of “now”.

Which is why you drip on them, via your newsletter or other mechanisms, providing them with reasons and social proof, and reminding them of the need to do it by continuing to show up in their mailbox.

Drip, drip, drip, and one day, they’re ready.

That’s a great plan. But there’s something else you can do to help them reach the tipping point.

And it’s pretty darn simple.

If they don’t yet feel the urgency, you can create that urgency through the use of scarcity.

Find a way to trigger their innate FOMO, their fear of missing out, by limiting the quantity of your offer or the dates when it is available.

Even something as simple as “There’s only one appointment left this week” can work.

Now before you say, “that’s manipulate and I won’t do it,” remember, these folks need what you’re offering, want to say yes, and plan to say yes, but have been dragging their feet.

You’re doing them a favor by giving them a reason to do what they want (and need) to do sooner rather than (possibly) never.

You and your little friend, FOMO.

Email is the best way to drip

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

Make sure your clients have these

July 18, 2022 by David M. Ward

You want your clients to make your job easier, don’t you? To help you do a better job for them?

Yes you do.

You also want your clients to help you prosper. Send you more work (theirs and referrals), promote your events, send traffic to your website, and do other things that help your practice grow.

So, help them. Send them the information you want them to know.

About their legal matter—what will happen, what they need to tell you, what they need to do, what they need to avoid.
About you. What you do, what it’s like to work with you, why they made a good decision to hire you (and stick with you).
How to help the people they know get the benefits and solutions you offer.

Substantive information (reports, checklists, forms about the law and procedure), and information about you and how to work with you.

Examples of the latter:

A summary of your practice areas and services—your capabilities and solutions
Information the client should record and/or send you
FAQ’s—Questions prospective clients and new clients ask, and your answers
Your bio, your firm’s bio
Awards and accomplishments
Testimonials, reviews, success stories
A description of your ideal client (and what to do when they recognize them)
Hand outs: information reports, business cards, checklists, referral cards
Links to your socials, websites, channels
Your content: books, blogs, articles
Your events (seminars, videos, podcasts)
Talking points: what to say to people about you and your solutions
Your policies and procedures re protecting your clients and safeguarding their data
Other: what to do in an emergency, where to park, how to reach someone after hours, how to do a Zoom, what not to send via email, etc.
A pitch to sign up for your newsletter and/or subscribe to your blog
What to do if they have questions, a new legal issue, or their existing problem worsens
When to contact you about an update or to discuss additional services

Make a list of information you want your clients to know and a schedule for delivering it. Some should be sent to (or handed to) new clients, some should be sent at the end of the engagement, some in the weeks and months that follow, and some should be sent every year.

And get writing.

Then, do something similar for your professional contacts.

It may seem like a lot of work, but (a) you don’t have to do it all at once, (b) you probably have a lot of content you can use, and (c) most of what you write will only have to be written once.

Which means you’ll be able to automate the process of helping clients help you.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Law office management

Your best market

July 15, 2022 by David M. Ward

Of all the possible markets you could target, one is better than the rest. It’s easier and less expensive to reach this market, and likely to produce the most new business and profits.

People in this market require little or no persuading about the need for your solutions or your ability to deliver them. They are easier to work with, more likely to hire you for other legal matters, and more likely to send you referrals.

What’s more, the names and contact information of everyone in this market are readily available to you.

In fact, you already have them.

Yes, we’re talking about your warm market. People who know you and trust you. They’ve hired you before or know you professionally or personally. If you email, call, or knock on their door, they’ll answer and greet you by name, because they know you.

We should also include the people on your newsletter list, subscribers to your blog, and your social media connections, because while you might not know their name, many of them know yours.

It’s called your warm market, in contrast to your cold market, which includes everyone who doesn’t know you.

It’s much more difficult and expensive to market to the cold market. Yes, the cold market is bigger than your warm market, but that is its only advantage.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should stop marketing to the cold market and only market to your warm market. Some attorneys can and should do that. Some shouldn’t.

Some should market to both.

The question is, if you do market to both the warm and cold markets, how much of your time and resources should you dedicate to each?

Talk to your partners, accountant, and marketing people. Take a good look at your numbers, market trends, and your goals.

And don’t be afraid of change. Don’t stick with something because you’ve always done it that way or because most of your competition does it that way.

And ask yourself some questions:

If I could get most of my business through repeat business and referrals, would I want to? Or would I always want to keep a hand in the cold market?

Is this the time for me to go all out and build this thing as big as I can as fast as I can? Or am I happy where I am and satisfied with my current rate of growth?

What’s my plan for the next two years? Ten years? What does my gut tell me is right for me now?

I don’t know your numbers or goals or anything else about you but I can offer one piece of advice that worked well for me and countless others.

Focus on your warm market first.

Give your practice a solid foundation of repeat business and referrals before you venture into or expand efforts in the cold market.

Then, no matter what happens in the cold market, you will always have that foundation.

Unless you’re brand new, in which case, all bets are off.

Here’s The Formula

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Ask me anything

July 14, 2022 by David M. Ward

A Chicago law firm encourages visitors to their website to fill out a contact form, or call their office, to ask questions about any legal matter, which a lawyer at the firm will answer free. Questions and answers are then posted on the firm’s blog.

“We get so many good legal questions that aren’t worthy of a full blog. So every few months I like to group the “best of the rest” in to one post. Here are some great questions we’ve received recently:“

They do answer these questions. But I see a problem with their approach.

They say they answer questions, “Every few months”. But when someone has a legal issue, the clock is often ticking and they need immediate answers. Even if they could wait a few months for an answer, most people don’t want to. They’ll go find another lawyer who won’t make them wait.

So I hope the lawyers review these questions every few days and reach out to the people who need immediate answers.

Help the folks now; post your answers for others to see later.

Besides, what do they (the lawyers) do when they can’t answer a question without getting additional information?

They need to talk to the folks. I hope they do that.

On the other hand, there’s a lot to like about this strategy and it might and it might be something other lawyers should consider:

It’s easy to do. And you can do research if you need to and edit your answers before posting.
It gives you new content for your blog, newsletter, and socials.
It might bring in new clients or cases. Probably not a lot, but even one new client a year could be worth it.
It’s free to the public and might generate publicity and positive word-of-mouth for your firm.
It can bring traffic from people with questions, helping you grow your email list and social media following.
It can bring you prospects you can refer to lawyers in other fields, earning their good will and reciprocal referrals.
It can help you promote your other services to visitors. There may be nothing that can be done about their immediate problem, but they might remember you favorably when they have another issue.
It gives you something to promote when you speak or network. Tell folks what you’re doing. They might send people your way, or want to know more about you and your services.

It takes time to do this so you might consider an alternative: periodic “call-in” days.

You talk to the folks and get additional information that allows you to provide more complete answers. They immediately know what they can or can’t do. And you know if they have something you can help them with (or refer).

Nobody has to wait months. Except readers of your blog who don’t care when the questions were asked or answered.

Your blog can make your phone ring

Filed Under: Blogging, List building, Publicity

Got referrals? Great! Here’s how to get more.

July 13, 2022 by David M. Ward

It’s makes sense to focus most of your attention on your clients and professional contacts who regularly send you business. But there are many other people who can send you business.

I’m talking about

Prospective clients. Folks who signed up on your list, attended your event, downloaded your report, or talked to you about their case.
Former clients. They hired you once and while they might not need to hire you again, they might know people who do.
Social media connections. Even if you’ve never met them or talked to them, you’re connected digitally and that gives you permission to communicate with them, which can lead to referrals.
Professionals, business owners, consultants, experts, and others in your niche or target market who don’t know you, or know you but have never referred, and others who don’t know you but are open to meeting you.
Your business clients’ employees, vendors, and other business contacts. Your clients know a lot of people who know a lot of people and have influence with many of them.
Friends and relatives. They have neighbors, co-workers, businesses they patronize, and more, who might need your help today or one day.

According to people who have studied the subject, the average person knows 250 people. You probably know more. If each of those people knows 250 people—do the math. That’s a lot of people in your extended network. An untapped source of referrals.

Why not tap into it?

You can do that by simply educating your network. Make sure everyone knows 3 things about you:

What you do—your services, practice areas, problems you solve, benefits you deliver. Many don’t know what you do or they don’t know everything you do, or all the ways you help your clients.
Your ideal client. Tell them what a good referral looks like for you. What do they look like? What do they do for a living? What are their problems and desires? And, what are the life events that typically trigger their need for an attorney who does what you do?
Your content—your book, blog, channels, seminars, etc., and how to access it. Many in your network might not be willing or able to refer clients to you, but they might do the next best thing—refer their contacts to your content, directly or through social media. That can lead to a lot of new business.

It’s also good to educate your network about what to do when they recognize someone who might need your help. What should they tell them about you? What should they tell them to do if they have questions or want to hire you?

Most of the people you know have never sent you a referral. Many are willing and able, but don’t know how.

Educate them and you might awaken an army of new referral sources.

Step-by-step instructions

Filed Under: Referral sources, Referrals

Read this first

July 12, 2022 by David M. Ward

You have a lot of good content on your website and your visitors want to read it.

They want to know what you can tell them about their problems and your solutions. They want to know what you have done for other clients and what you can do for them. They want to know what you’re like as a person and why they should trust you as their attorney.

You have this information on your site, but your visitors don’t know where to find it. Or where to start.

Help them. Take them by the hand and show them where to go to get the information they want and the information you want them to know.

Provide a site map and an index of your content. Tell them which page to visit if they want to know X and which page to visit if they want to know Y.

Most visitors haven’t been to your site before. You might want to “greet” them with a page just for “first-time visitors” and give them a tour.

Some visitors have been to your site or heard you speak or read something you wrote on another site. They want to know what to read next or they have questions. You should have a page for them.

Your clients might come to your site to see “what else” you do or learn about updates or addons. Some want to refer a friend. Make sure they know where to go, what to read, and what to do next.

Consider adding “welcome” pages and indices for professionals who might have someone to refer, and for people who have spoken to another attorney and are looking for a second opinion.

Don’t leave it to your visitors to navigate their way through a forest of content. Give them a playlist.

Because if you leave it to them, they might get to your site, see a forest of content, and turn around and leave.

What to include on your website or blog

Filed Under: Online Marketing Tagged With: Website

The attorney marketing paradox

July 11, 2022 by David M. Ward

You want to stand out from other attorneys. Get noticed so you can show people an advantage to choosing you.

But you don’t want to be so different that you scare off prospective clients.

So, you need to fit in. Look like a lawyer who does lawyer things. But if you only do that, if there’s nothing to differentiate you, you become a commodity. Just another option among many.

You give people no reason to notice you or choose you.

You want to stand out, but you also want to fit in. Look like an attorney, not an anomaly.

How do you achieve that balance? How do you stand out and at the same time fit in?

That’s what you need to figure out.

If you do anything different in your practice, make sure people know about it. Tell the world what you do that other lawyers don’t do.

And if you do nothing different, you can make it appear that you do.

How’s that?

If you do what everyone else in your field does, but the other citizens of lawyer-town don’t talk about that subject, when you talk about it, you own it.

For example, if you handle plaintiff’s personal injury claims and your competition doesn’t talk about all the things they do to investigate a case, and you do, the world will see that you are different and better.

Even if you’re not.

When you are the (only) lawyer who uses a 12-point checklist to ensure all the facts and evidence are collected and documented, you appear to offer your clients an advantage.

Yes or yes?

But there’s another way to stand out and also fit in.

When you look at your competition, you probably notice that not only do most of them appear to do the same things, they also tend to look and sound the same.

Like identical cousins, Patty and Cathy Lane. You can lose your mind.

But they’re not identical. One likes the ballet, the other rock and roll.

All of us were humans before we went to law school, and most of us still are. We can use our humanness to stand out and also fit in.

And it’s easy to do.

Don’t hide your personality or personal interests from the market. Let the market see that you like the ballet or rock and roll, and that while you do the same work other lawyers do, you are different individuals.

Market yourself first, your services second, and your firm a distant third.

Because people buy you before they buy your services.

How to stand out and fit in

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

How to build a big law practice without advertising

July 8, 2022 by David M. Ward

Some attorneys do a lot of advertising. They invest heavily in media and consultants, generate a lot of leads, and build systems to help them convert those leads into clients.

But that’s a big stick to swing and not everyone can swing it. Or wants to.

Successful attorneys are also good at getting referrals, and that’s something every attorney can do.

But while that doesn’t take a lot of cash, it can take a lot of time.

You need a base of clients and contacts who have referrals to give and who like and trust you enough to give them, and that doesn’t happen overnight. But you can start small and eventually get big.

And if you get a few things right, it doesn’t take as long as you think.

What do you have to get right? Besides keeping clients happy?

Happy clients will naturally tell others about you, but they’ll do it more often when you prompt them.

So, prompt them.

Educate them about how to recognize a good referral for you and what to say and do when they do. Ask them to introduce you to the other professionals they know. Provide them with information they can share with friends.

And stay in touch with them.

People are busy and don’t necessarily think about you, even when they talk to someone who needs your help. When you stay in touch with them, you remind them about the problems you solve and benefits you deliver and they think about who they know who can use your help.

Simple dimple.

They share your content with friends, co-workers, neighbors, or clients. They mention your name and give them a link to your website. They tell a story about what you did for them or someone they know.

You get more traffic to your website, more opt-ins to your list, more calls and appointments, and more new clients.

You also get more repeat business.

Getting referrals isn’t complicated. But if you wait for everything to happen on its own, it might be a minute.

Don’t wait for referrals to happen. Take some simple steps and make them happen.

How to get more referrals

Filed Under: Referrals

Help! I don’t know anyone!

July 7, 2022 by David M. Ward

You may be a new lawyer or moving to a new city or state. Or you might be at a point in your career where you realize you need to meet some new people.

There are a lot of things you can do; here are 3 of the best:

(1) Ask for introductions. Contact people you know and ask them to introduce you to a professional or business contact in your target market. Be specific about the type of people you’d like to meet, but not so specific they can’t think of anyone who fits that description.

Even better, ask them to introduce you to someone you know they (probably) know, someone influential you’d like to meet. If they hesitate to do that, ask them if you can use their name, and contact them yourself.

(2) Join something. Networking can be a drag, but it’s a good way to quickly meet some new people. Find organizations and groups in your target market, attend their meetings, introduce yourself to the leadership, and volunteer on a committee or two. You might meet someone who knows someone who needs your services or knows people who do.

You’ll also learn more about your target market and the people in it, and be able to use that in your marketing.

(3) Write something. A report, guide, or checklist that people in your target market might find helpful, and offer it to everyone you know and everyone you meet. It’s a great way to give people a “sample” of your expertise, and interest them in learning more.

One of the best things you can write is a book. Being an author, by definition, makes you an authority, and people want to hire and refer authorities. They also want to talk to them when they meet them, and interview them for their blog or podcast.

If you have a collection of articles or blog posts, cobble them together and self-publish your first book. If not, start typing. Or dictating.

Clients, and the people who can refer them, are everywhere. These strategies can help you meet them.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking