The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

Lawyers are big babies

October 14, 2019 by David M. Ward

Lawyers are cautious creatures, as they should be, but their cautious nature often prevents them from reaching their potential.

We see it all the time.

We see lawyers emulate their competition because it seems like the smart and safe approach, but you can’t stand out from the crowd when you are a part of it.

We see lawyers majoring in minor things, making incremental improvements in what they already do instead of trying big ideas that might help them achieve next-level growth.

We see lawyers settle for low hanging fruit, targeting average clients and charging average fees, instead of reaching for the sweetest fruit that’s a little bit out of reach.

We see lawyers stifling their productivity by riding the wave of perfectionism, not realizing that done is better than perfect.

We see lawyers working hard and staying busy, because that’s what’s expected of them, instead of looking for ways to achieve exceptional results with less effort.

It’s fear. Fear of failure, fear of being different, even fear of success.

Are you guilty of any of this?

You can’t change overnight but you can change. You can adopt a new mindset, one that values being different and the lessons taught by failure.

A mindset that says success doesn’t depend on the elimination of all risk but on the intelligent management of it.

A mindset that focuses on what you want instead of what you think you’re supposed to do.

Fear can be tamed. Optimism can be learned. Success is available to all.

Even lawyers.

If you’re ready to get to the next level, this is how you get there

Filed Under: Inspiration, success

Calculation fatigue

October 11, 2019 by David M. Ward

That’s the title of an article in this month’s Chess Life magazine. The sub-title is, “The dangers of delving too deeply into one particular variation”.

The article is an examination of a botched game by a strong player, a game that might have been awarded a brilliancy prize but for the player’s errors occasioned by following one idea too far and losing the central theme of the game.

What does this have to do with practicing law? Everything.

Because lawyers (and other very smart people) often do what this Grandmaster did. They focus too much on the details, the minutia of a case or an issue, and sometimes lose a won game.

I’ve done it. I’m sure you can think of times when you’ve done it, getting lost in researching an issue to the nth degree, perhaps, making a big deal about a small point.

You see it during oral argument when the judge or jurors eyes glaze over and you know they’re didn’t follow your last point, or no longer care.

You see it in marketing. You get bogged down in choosing better keywords or creating better funnels, months go by and thousands of dollars have been spent and you find you could have gotten better results with something simpler.

You see it in a lot of websites. A would-be client visits, hoping to learn something about his problem and what you can do to help him and is confronted by a library of information. There’s too much to read, he doesn’t know where to start, so he leaves.

(NB: keep the library but hide it and link to it for those who want more information.)

We see it in presentations where we try to make too many points and leave no stone unturned and we simply confuse the audience (and a confused mind says no).

What should we do? We should periodically stand down from business as usual, put aside all the small stuff and focus on the big picture.

The strategy, not the technique. The main argument, not the “Hail Mary” we throw in just in case.

You started practicing with a few simple ideas and you did okay. If you’ve found yourself getting off track lately, a return to fundamentals might be just what you need to reset and revitalize your practice.

It might even earn you the brilliancy prize.

The Attorney Marketing Formula can help you get back on track

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing Plan, success

What are your clients saying about you?

October 9, 2019 by David M. Ward

Wouldn’t you like to know what your clients and professional contacts tell people about you and your practice?

Are they saying good things? Accurate things? Powerful, amazing things that get people interested in working with you?

Are they telling their friends how you saved the day and rescued them from dragons, how you gave them an incredible experience and made them fall in love with you?

Are they helping people understand what you do and the kinds of problems you solve? Are they telling people why they should choose you instead of any other attorney?

What would you LIKE them to say about you?

What words would you like them to use to describe you and what you do? What stories would you like them to tell?

Take some time to think about this and write down 3 or 4 sentences, “sound bites,” or stories you would love people to share.

Once you have these, create a plan to get people to start sharing them.

One of the things on your plan should be to give your clients an experience that lives up to the amazing statements you would like them to say about you.

Give them some new stories to tell.

People are talking about you. If you’ve ever received word of mouth referrals you know that’s true.

This is a way to get a lot more of them.

More ways to get more referrals

Filed Under: Referrals

Closing the deal

October 8, 2019 by David M. Ward

Lawyers need to be good closers, right? There are many sales techniques and scripts we can use to do that.

But most lawyers don’t use them.

Most lawyers simply deliver information to the prospective client, showing them what they do and how they can help them.

They tell them about the features and benefits of the services they offer, they tell them their options, they share some examples or stories and answer frequently asked questions.

But they don’t close.

No scripts, no techniques. At most, after they’ve presented the information, they ask the client, “What would you like to do?”

But you know what? That’s a closing question. A soft one, to be sure, but if you’ve done a good job of educating the client about what’s at stake and what you can do to help them, you probably don’t need anything else.

Are you relieved?

You can let the client sell (and close) themselves.

Besides, you don’t want clients who feel like they “got sold” or who regret signing up, do you? If they’re a good candidate for your services, they’ll make the right decision for them, which is also the right decision for you.

On the other hand, every lawyer should learn some basic sales skills, including how to close.

Because not every prospective client will do a good job of selling themselves and may need a little help from you.

And that’s really what sales is about: helping people make good decisions.

When you’re ready to take a quantum leap in your marketing. . .

Filed Under: Closing the sale, Salesmanship

5 Ways to Grow Your List

October 7, 2019 by David M. Ward

If your marketing has gotten complicated and you find yourself doing less and hating it more, it might be time to get back to basics.

Here goes:

One of your most important marketing tasks is to continually build your list of prospective clients and professional contacts. This is essential because of attrition. The list you had yesterday won’t be big enough or “ready” enough tomorrow.

You know there are many ways to build your list and, no doubt, you’ve used some of them in the past.

The question is, what are you doing now?

In case you aren’t doing much (or anything) right now and you want a place to start or re-start (or expand) your list building activities, here are 5 simple but effective options to consider.

Networking

You connect with people (prospective clients, referral sources, centers of influence) in your target market, find out what they want and how you can help them, and build a relationship with them, leading to engagements, referrals, and joint venture marketing activities.

Social media

This is “networking” done online.

You find groups of people in your target market, learn about the groups and the people in them, introduce yourself, and then take your “conversations” offline, e.g., phone, meet for coffee.

And/or, you can offer a free report or another lead magnet to people in the group and send them to your web page to opt-in to your list.

Advertising

If you have more money than time, advertising is a great way to scale up your list building and lead generation. There are many ways to do it and many experts who can advise you and help you set up and run your campaigns.

Media exposure

Find podcasts, blogs, and publications in your target market and get yourself interviewed. You can also submit articles and guest posts and comment on existing posts and articles.

Leverage existing contacts

This is the easiest and a great place to start. Ask the people who are already on your list to share your content, invite their friends or colleagues to your webinar or event, check out the content on your blog, or subscribe to your video channel or podcast.

So, there you go. A few places to start (or re-start) your list building.

Of course, having a list doesn’t mean you’re done. You need to stay in touch with the people on your list.

I recommend email.

Filed Under: List building

Life is tough and then you die?

October 4, 2019 by David M. Ward

All our lives we’ve been taught to work hard, face our fears and fight for what we want. We’ve been told that nothing good comes easily.

Frederick Douglass said, â€œIf there is no struggle, there is no progress.â€ Napoleon Hill said, “Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle”. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Every step. . .requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle”.

In a recent piece, even Leo Babauta at Zen Habits advocates that we “move towards what we resist”.

“Find the thing in your business or personal life that you know would be powerful for you, but that youâ€™re resisting doing. Move toward that,” he said.

I’m confused. I thought Zen was about letting go of struggle and resistance.

I’m also confused about the notion that we should ignore what our gut is telling us. It’s there for a reason, isn’t it?

Short term, we can “feel the fear and do it anyway”. We can make the call, review the document, or work on the project for an hour, even when we really don’t want to.

But long term and big picture–your career, life decisions, relationships–shouldn’t we listen to that little voice in our head? It might be telling us we’re headed in the wrong direction.

How about a compromise?

Instead of ignoring our gut and pushing forward in the face of fear, or listening to our gut and doing nothing we fear, how about looking for a way around what we fear, a way to get where we want to go and “enjoy the journey”.

I vote for that.

Because the idea that our entire existence here is meant to be hardship and struggle doesn’t work for me.

And if we can find a way to make things easy, or at least easier, why wouldn’t we?

Filed Under: Inspiration

How would the person I wish to be act today?

October 3, 2019 by David M. Ward

In his newsletter, writer James Clear challenged us to consider this. I think it’s a good question.

It’s a good question because it forces us to think about where we are right now and where we want to go in our personal development.

What skills or habits do we want to acquire or improve? How would we respond to different situations? How would we like to be known?

Not so easy to figure all that out. But important.

It may help to consider people you know or people from history you can use as models.

What were their values or core beliefs? How did they conduct their life? What did they accomplish that you want to do?

You don’t need to accept anyone whole cloth. Take the best of them and ignore the rest.

John F. Kennedy had many faults, for example, but there was also much to admire about him.

The other reason this is a good question is that it forces you to think about your behavior. If you have a meeting or phone call coming up, you can take a moment in advance to see yourself in your mind’s eye acting like the person you wish to become.

Nicer, tougher, or a better listener, for example.

At the end of the day, ask yourself how you did.

Did you behave like the person you wish to become? If not, note what you need to do to correct course.

Who is the person you wish to become? How would he or she act? Did I act that way today?

Good questions for your journal.

Filed Under: Personal development

Yikes, found this on Yelp

October 2, 2019 by David M. Ward

We were looking for a roofer and had several bids. Before we chose, my wife looked at reviews for the candidates.

One roofer who was in the running had mostly excellent reviews. But one review stood out, which I’ve edited slightly to protect the guilty:

“[The owner] wouldn’t even go on top of the roof to take a look, making excuses that it’s a 3-story building and that ladders are heavy. He then proceeded to quote me for a repair, which I called him on for not even going to the roof to take a look. I’ve never seen anyone look so dumbfounded, like I was just supposed to roll with it?”

Okay, an issue. But something that could be fixed, right?

The owner of the company didn’t try to fix it, however. Instead, he posted this response:

“Wow, what a cheap shot coming from a loser that can’t even take a verbal roof quote, let alone pull the trigger and get it fixed. What would make you think I owe it to you. You got a simple quote with a guarantee. . . to fix 1 simple leak. . . But then again, what would you know about maintaining a roof, you’re just a Big Crybaby.”

Needless to say, we crossed this roofer off our list.

His response is practically a master class in how NOT to respond to a bad review. How many jobs has he lost, and will continue to lose, because of it?

I have long said the best way to handle a bad review is to ignore it. Let the weight of the good reviews “bury” the stinkers.

Given the current state of “the world,” today I think I would revise that and admit that there are times when you simply have to respond.

I’m not going to give you any guidelines about when you should or shouldn’t do that, however. I’ll wimp out and simply say, “it depends.”

But I will say that if there is a review you believe needs a response, you probably shouldn’t do it yourself.

Have someone respond on your behalf. (No, not your lawyer.) Someone in your office who will remain calm, cool, and collected and make you look good.

Someone who won’t sound defensive or argumentative or make excuses.

Someone who will provide a thoughtful and caring response, apologize if appropriate, offer to make things right, and then invite the client to continue “the conversation” in private.

So it doesn’t turn into an online battle, and so you can indeed make it right.

You may not be able to placate every unhappy reviewer, but you can show the world that you tried.

Client relations made simple

Filed Under: Client relations Tagged With: Handing a bad review

Here’s your plan

October 1, 2019 by David M. Ward

What if there was a law firm that provided top-notch, added-value legal services instead of the “me-too” services most lawyers offer?

What if there was a law firm that understood what their target market and prospective clients wanted–not just their legal needs but also ways to improve their business or personal life–and worked diligently to provide this?

What if there was a law firm that dedicated time each week to improving their workflow, systems, tools, and other processes?

What if there was a law firm that had highly effective marketing strategies in place that consistently brought them traffic, leads, subscribers, and new clients?

What if there as a law firm that worked hard at making every client feel appreciated so their clients never left them and went out of their way to send them referrals?

Now, what if a law firm like that moved into your area and targeted your clients and future clients?

Don’t let this happen to you.

Don’t wait for other lawyers or firms to pose a threat to your livelihood.

Do something now, to make sure YOU are the one to beat.

Commit (or re-commit) to creating and continually improving superlative marketing and management systems.

And get busy.

Because you never know how many other lawyers or firms are doing this right now. Or reading this right now and are about to get started.

This will help you create a simple but effective marketing plan

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing Plan