The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

What to do when business is slow

July 26, 2019 by David M. Ward

It happens. You’re not bringing new clients at the same pace as before. You may have lost some clients. Your income is down.

Don’t panic.

Or maybe you should panic if you’re in denial about what’s happening.

Either way, there’s something you can do to turn things around.

Here is a 3-step plan to help you sort things out:

STEP ONE: ASSESS

Take half a day, or several days, to stand down from your daily routine and figure out where you are, how you got there, and what you can do about it.

Start by looking at your numbers. What’s different from before (when things were good)? Where have you lost ground? What’s stopped working?

Look at last year at this time. Do you see any pattern? Is this a seasonal fluctuation that’s gotten worse?

Look at your competition. Are things slow for them, too? If not, what are they doing differently?

What’s still working for you? Where does most of your new business come from? Which sources, which strategies, which markets, which types of cases or clients?

Look at your marketing. What worked before that you’ve stopped doing? What worked before that you’ve changed? Where are you spending less time? Less money?

Look at your target markets. What’s happening to your client’s businesses or industries or niches that might be affecting their need for legal services?

Look at your referral sources. Has their business slowed, too?

Talk to your colleagues. What are they doing that’s working well?

Talk to your employees. What do they see that you might be missing?

STEP TWO: PLAN

Brainstorm your options. Things you can do to get more traffic to your website, more sign-ups for your newsletter, more prospects calling to make an appointment?

What can you do to get more people to take the next step?

What can you do to get more referrals from your current and former clients?

What can you do to get more referrals from your professional contacts?

Where can you meet new referral sources? New prospective clients?

What marketing methods can you start doing again? What new marketing methods can you start doing?

What relationships can you/should you strengthen?

How can you improve your marketing message? Your website? Your lead magnet? Your offers?

What skills do you need to improve? Acquire? What tools do you need to acquire or upgrade?

After you’ve exhausted the possibilities, write a one-page plan. Choose no more than three strategies (for now). Decide on the best one and focus on that first.

STEP THREE: EXECUTE

Get your team on board with your plan and get busy.

Do the things that only you can do and delegate everything else.

Track your results so you can do more of what’s working.

Get help. Get a workout partner. Join a mentoring group. Hire a company or consultant to advise you. Hire a coach.

Keep a journal throughout this process to record what you’re doing and what you will do to prevent future slowdowns.

If you want help, let me know

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing Plan

Are you an authority? You could be.

July 25, 2019 by David M. Ward

Are you better than other attorneys in your practice area or market?

Better than some? Better than most? Does it matter?

Yes, it matters. Better clients prefer to hire better attorneys and they’re generally willing to pay more to get them.

But how do they know you’re better?

If you have 20 years experience, clients usually see you as better than attorneys with only two years experience. If you’ve won some big verdicts or have an office on “attorney row,” clients tend to see you as the better choice.

When you look successful, people see you as an expert, an authority in your field. They tend to trust you and value you more.

Brain scans confirm that people process information coming from authorities differently than from other sources. That’s why success breeds success.

What if you don’t have a long track record or a big office? What can you do to get prospective clients (and the people who refer them) to see you as an authority?

Positive reviews help. So do testimonials and endorsements from influential people in your niche.

Get ’em and feature them on your website and your marketing materials.

Public speaking helps, probably because so many people fear it. Do what you can to get in front of a room a few times and add this to your bio.

Finally, one of the best ways to be perceived as an authority is to publish a book. Authors are author-ites, so get to scribbling.

Give people reasons to see you as an authority and more people will see you as the better choice.

Want help writing and publishing a book? Contact me

Filed Under: Image, success Tagged With: building authority, writing a book

5 keys to creating a new habit

July 24, 2019 by David M. Ward

Let’s say you want to get in shape. For exercise, you’ve chosen walking. You want to make this a habit and stick with it long enough to see results.

Here are 5 things you can do:

Choose a goal you know you can meet

You’re trying to create a new habit, not set any records, so your initial goal should be something you are almost certain you can achieve.

Walk three days a week, for example, for 10 or 15 minutes.

Establish the habit first. Once you’re done that, you can increase your target or goal. That’s how I started my walking habit.

Commit to a fixed period of time

Some studies show it takes 21 days to establish a new habit. Other studies say it’s 66 days. Choose a period of time, in advance, and commit to it.

Make it visible

Put your planned activities on your calendar. Use an app to receive a daily prompt. Put sticky notes on your computer.

Keep the habit in front of your face where you will see it often.

Document your progress

Check off each day you complete your activity. You can do this on your calendar or in a “habit-tracking” app.

Once you’ve started, don’t break the chain.

Get a workout partner or accountability partner

Find someone who wants to do what you’re planning to do and do it together. Or, check-in at the end of each day or week to share your progress.

Another option is to announce your new habit/goal to someone who will hold you accountable if you don’t stick with it. A spouse, a child, someone at work.

One more thing.

If you find yourself missing a day or breaking the chain, don’t beat yourself up, just start again. I’ve had to do it, more than once.

It’s okay.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, and a good day to start (or re-start) a habit.

Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With: habits

Too much to read? Here’s what I’m doing

July 23, 2019 by David M. Ward

In days gone by, I used to have huge stacks of unread magazines piled up in my office. Every once in awhile, when I was tripping over those stacks, I would spend a couple of hours and go through them.

I tore out the articles I wanted to read, staple the pages together (or fold the corners to hold the pages together) and throw out the rest of the magazine.

Much better.

The “to read” pile was more manageable, but the pile was still huge and more often than not, I didn’t read anything.

I knew there was gold in those articles so I started doing something to lessen the load. Every few days, I’d throw a handful of articles in my briefcase, to read at night or waiting in court or at the doctor’s office.

I’d read them and when they were gone, I’d grab a few more. Eventually, that huge pile of articles was gone (until I added more).

It’s been a long time since I subscribed to a paper magazine (or newspaper), but going digital has made things worse. Until recently, I had hundreds of unread articles and blog posts and pdfs in a reading list in Evernote.

I did something similar to what I used to do with magazines.

I set up two notebooks in Evernote. (You can do the same thing with tags, folders, labels, or briefcases if you have paper.)

I put (no more than) 20 articles in the first notebook. Everything else goes in a second notebook.

When I’ve read those 20 articles, I go to the second notebook and move 20 more to the first notebook.

If I find myself with more than 20 articles in my first notebook, I move the overage to the second notebook.

I still have hundreds of unread articles in Evernote but I don’t see them. I only see 20 (at a time).

My reading list is manageable and I get a lot more reading done.

My ebook: Evernote for Lawyers

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: evernote, reading list

Your most important client

July 22, 2019 by David M. Ward

When I was writing my first marketing course, I did my best to work on it every day. I’d eat a quick lunch and work on it for 30 or 45 minutes, I worked on it after work and weekends, and sometimes I worked on it in the office between appointments.

I probably averaged one hour a day (over 3 years) working on my course.

I could have used that time doing more legal work, or anything else, but this project was important to me and I was willing to invest the time.

I thought about this as I was reading a blurb about a biography of Warren Buffett, The Snowball, where he tells a story about his partner, Charlie Munger:

Charlie, as a very young lawyer, was probably getting $20 an hour. He thought to himself, â€˜Whoâ€™s my most valuable client?â€™ And he decided it was himself. So he decided to sell himself an hour each day. He did it early in the morning, working on these construction projects and real estate deals. Everybody should do this, be the client, and then work for other people, too, and sell yourself an hour a day.

Do you have a side-project? Investing, writing, another business? Do you work on it every day?

If you don’t have a side-project, you could be that side project.

What would happen to your practice if you invested one hour a day “sharpening your saw”–improving your personal and professional skills?

I encourage you to ‘sell yourself’ an hour a day to work on your project. Because you are your most important client.

Learn how to use email to build your practice

Filed Under: Personal development

Wake up, I’m not done yet!

July 19, 2019 by David M. Ward

If you ever do presentations, from the stage or in the courtroom or boardroom, you probably know that your audience tunes out after 10 minutes or so, unless you do something to keep their attention.

An article suggests ways to do that: putting people (stories) in your presentation, using visuals (videos, photos, props, demos), and inviting questions to engage the audience.

My thoughts:

Yes, stories are important. They help illustrate your points and add an emotional element to your message. Every presentation should include them.

Visuals are important and there are many ways to do them.

I used to do a presentation using an overhead projector and a movie screen. I showed the audience slides with charts and bullet points and photos and I wrote on plastic transparencies, all of which were projected on the screen.

One night, the bulb in the projector burned out and we had no replacement.

What did I do?

I made fun of myself for being unprepared and finished the presentation without visuals.

The audience watched and listened raptly, to see if I could do it with just words, and, no doubt, to see if there would be another gaffe.

The incident provided its own visual.

Of course, you can also convey a visual element with colorful words, examples, and stories. Some of the best presenters I’ve known never use slides or visuals, they do everything with their words.

Today, I actually prefer presenting without slides, et. al. I am the visual.

I hope you noticed that instead of merely talking about visuals, I told a story.

Now, about inviting questions from the audience. . .

This is not always possible, due to time constraints, nor advisable. People ask strange questions and it’s often better to handle them in private, not in front of the room.

Instead of inviting questions, I usually ask questions. For example, “With a show of hands, how many of you. . .” or “Did you ever do X? If you did, you probably found. . .”

It gets the audience involved and avoids the risk of having someone ask, “What time will this thing be over?”

Use stories in your newsletter; this shows you what to do

Filed Under: Presentations, Seminars and webinars Tagged With: public speaking

Dealing with social media marketing overwhelm

July 18, 2019 by David M. Ward

I read an article recently about what it takes to get started on YouTube. The article provided a list of things you need to do or skills you need to learn:

Editing videos
Speaking in front of a camera
Mastering camera settings
Lighting
Graphic design or photography for thumbnails
Learning how to optimize YouTube videos for Search
Posting “best practices” on Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms
Researching trends and topics
Understanding and using YouTube analytics data (to rank higher, get more traffic, etc.)

You know, the basics.

You may have some or all of these skills (and equipment), or be willing to acquire them, but if not, you may look at this list and say, screw it.

Because you don’t have time to do all that. Or you don’t want to do all that. Or you don’t want to be in front of the camera.

You want to build your practice and everyone says that social media is the place to go so you look at doing podcasts. Gotta be easier, right? No camera.

You do some research and find that there’s nearly as much to learn and do.

You look at Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and other platforms and find them nearly as complicated or time-consuming.

How about blogging? To do that the way “everyone” says you should do it also requires a serious commitment of time and effort.

It’s all too much, you say. But don’t give up.

You don’t have to learn everything or do everything from day one.

You can start by posting screen-capture videos on YouTube–just you talking and showing the front page of your website and providing a few minutes of valuable information.

You can post content on a WordPress blog without worrying about SEO or keyword research or any of the other things bloggers do.

You can set up social media accounts and post or re-post anything, even if you don’t know what you’re doing.

You can dip your toe in the social media waters, using what you already know and the skills you already have, and not give a flying fig about everything else.

Start where you are, with what you have. You can learn about keywords later.

I do most of my marketing with email

Filed Under: Social media marketing

If it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to leave

July 17, 2019 by David M. Ward

I heard a public service radio spot featuring advice from Smokey Bear and the need to make sure your campfire is completely out before you walk away. “If it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to leave,” Smokey advises.

That’s the takeaway. The nugget listeners should remember. In my opinion, it’s better than the traditional, “Only you can prevent wildfires (previously “forest fires”).

It’s better because it doesn’t lecture us about preventing forest fires, (yes, but how?), it reminds us to make sure our fire is out and provides a simple way to do that.

Easy to remember, easy to do.

Anyway, it got me thinking again about tag lines and slogans, something most attorneys don’t usually adopt but perhaps should.

A slogan or tag helps people understand what you do and how you can help them. It helps them remember this so that when they have a legal situation, they think about you. And it gives them something they can tell others about you.

He’s the lawyer who. . . , She helps people with. . ., They’re the law firm that. . .

My website has the tag line, “Earn more, work less.” That’s what I want visitors to know, remember, and tell others about me and what I offer. It’s simple, easy to understand and contains important benefits.

Tags or slogans don’t need to be brilliant, and this certainly isn’t. But it does the job.

Give some thought to creating a tag or slogan for your practice. Ask yourself, What do I want people to know about me, remember about me, and tell others about me?

Once you have something, take it for a test drive. Share it with your staff or a lawyer friend. Add it to your email footer. Survey your clients.

But don’t take what anyone says as the last word on the subject. Friends may tell you “it’s great” because they don’t know what to think or they don’t want to hurt your feelings.

The best place to test it is with prospects. Someone who doesn’t know you or what you do. If they hear your tag and ask you to tell them more about your services, you may just have a winner.

For more advice on building your practice, go here

Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: Slogan, tag line

Did you celebrate National Simplicity Day?

July 15, 2019 by David M. Ward

In honor of Henry David Thoreau’s birthday, July 12th was National Simplicity Day, a day to celebrate a simpler, uncluttered, and slower pace of life.

Who knew?

I didn’t before I watched a video that mentioned it and challenged viewers to use fewer apps and online tools in our work.

The hosts mentioned 3 apps they use every day in their business and how those apps replaced other apps they had previously used, simplifying their work process and saving time and money.

I thought about my use case. I have many apps and online tools at my disposal but only a few I use every day. I’m re-reading The 80/20 Principle and thought about how I get 80% (ish) of the value of these tools from only 20% of them.

I could eliminate many of the rest–the ones I use only occasionally or haven’t used in a long time.

How about you?

How many apps, programs, and online tools do you have in your arsenal? How many do you use regularly? How many of the others could you eliminate?

Okay, apps are easy. Here’s something that’s a bit more complicated:

Which of your cases or clients or practice areas contribute a preponderance of your income or projected income? Could you safely eliminate the ones that don’t?

I asked myself that question many years ago when I had a general practice. I took a leap of faith and jettisoned everything that wasn’t related to the one practice area that was producing best for me, and my income and happiness skyrocketed.

Thank you, Henry David, for showing us the value of keeping things simple.

This is my primary marketing tool

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: simplification