A simple way to enhance focus

July 27, 2018 by
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My wife and I just closed out the storage unit we’ve had for decades. We brought a handful of boxes home and got rid of the rest.

I recently donated several hundred books to the library bookstore. I’m down to one bookcase.

I’ve lost weight in the last year and recently got rid of about half of the clothes in my closet.

I thought I was just getting rid of junk but I find I’m actually practicing minimalism. I just figured out why that appeals to me.

Minimalism makes it easier to focus. Focus creates clarity. And clarity helps you become more efficient and effective.

You’re more efficient because fewer options (e.g., using just a few apps or a few marketing strategies) reduces distractions and the loss of momentum occasioned by switching from one option to another.

You are more effective because you’re able to spend more time getting the right things done which helps you accomplish your most important goals.

There’s also an esthetic quality to minimalism. A cleaner desk (and desktop), for example, helps me feel relaxed and in control.

If you like the idea but resist doing it, start slowly. Put most of your apps into one or two folders and leave only a few on your desktop. Clean out one closet or one drawer. Give yourself just one hour this weekend to gather up stuff to give away or throw away.

And if that’s too much, don’t get rid of anything yet, just make piles or lists of giveaway “candidates”. When you’re ready, you can take the next step.

I guess you could call that a minimalistic approach to minimalism.

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: ,

No friends, no problem

July 26, 2018 by
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Yesterday, I said the best way to network is to have your friends introduce you to some of their friends. But what if you don’t have many friends? Or the friends you have don’t know anyone in your target market?

You go to plan b. You do everything you can to meet some people (without an introduction or endorsement) and do your best to turn them into friends.

Yeah, it’s work. It’s not easy. It takes time. But you do what you’ve gotta do.

Yesterday, I heard from someone who has started a professional networking group in Manhattan. He’s looking for a few lawyers to come to their upcoming event and check out the group. He asked me to let him know if I knew anyone.

I assume he’s already invited all of his professional contacts and asked them to extend the invitation to their professional contacts. (If he hasn’t, he should.)

But that’s not all he can do.

He can get on the phone and call lawyers in his market, introduce himself, and invite them to the event. If they can’t/don’t want to come, ask them to pass along the invite to their lawyer friends.

If they say yes, they’ll come, offer to allow them to invite their contacts to come with them.

Spend an hour or two, call enough people, make the event sound sexy, offer free food, and you’ll get some folks showing up. Oh yeah, start your calls by reaching out to the contact persons at professional networking groups out of your immediate area. They may know people who are looking for a networking group that’s closer to their home or office.

What else?

He can post the event on his social media channels. He can post the event in appropriate Facebook and Linked In groups. He can do a mailer or advertise in professional journals. He can email his clients or customers (because everyone has a lawyer in the family). He can knock on doors in office buildings near the event and invite the occupants or pass out some flyers.

He doesn’t have to do this every week. Just long enough to get the group going and make some new friends.

Thing is, everyone he invites to his event who doesn’t come is someone he might be able to network with anyway. Call them again, remind them who you are, and get to know them. Who knows, they might become a friend even if they never come to your event.

The attorney marketing formula

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Filed Under: Networking

Friends first

July 25, 2018 by
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Networking isn’t just about meeting new people. It’s about how you meet them and what happens after you do.

The best way to meet new people is to be introduced to them by a mutual friend. The operative word is friend. Not an acquaintance or a casual business contact, a friend. Someone who knows, likes and trusts you.

When a friend introduces you to another friend, magic can happen. The number one rule of networking, then, is to make friends first.

Friends enjoy each other’s company. They do things for each other and are willing to ask each other for help.

Look at the list of people you know. How many are friends? It might be only a few but you only need a few to start.

Your friends can introduce you to their friends. You can gain access to their groups and meet influential people in them. When you do, look for ways to make new friends by finding out what they need or want and looking for ways to help them get it.

Networking isn’t just a tally of transactions. It’s about friends helping each other because they want to, not because they are obligated to.

If you want to grow your practice or build your career, go make some new friends.

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Filed Under: Networking

Sometimes, you should let them see you sweat

July 24, 2018 by
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Seth Godin said something I’ve mentioned before. He said there are two ways to provide your service. The first way is “with drama”. Let the client see how hard you’re working. Make a big deal about all the additional effort you’re expending on their behalf.

In other words, let them see you sweat.

The other way: “Without drama. Make it look effortless.”

Godin says both ways can work and you should choose the approach depending on the client and the situation.

I agree that both approaches are viable but there’s a third option. You can let the client know you’re working hard for them or giving them extra effort or value without being dramatic.

If you’re providing extra services or other freebies, for example, list them on your invoice followed by a “courtesy credit” or other indication that you’re not charging for those extras.

You can also provide invoices with lots of details about your work instead of the more typical invoice that omits most of the details. Let them see all that you did behind the scenes to get the job done.

You can also involve them in the natural drama of the matter by sending regular reports about your work and progress and by cc’ing them on correspondence. When you speak to them, you can use body language and tone of voice to provide subtle clues about the magnitude of your effort, no sweating required.

At the end of the day, you want clients to know that what you do is hard but you have it under control.

Invoices that get paid

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Filed Under: Client relations, Fees and Billing

Productivity made simple

July 23, 2018 by
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Stephen R. Covey says “Start with the end in mind.” This is sometimes referred to as a “top-down approach.” You start with the long-term, big-picture and work downward (or backward) to the medium-term, followed by the short term, and so on until you get to today.

Let’s say you want to retire in ten years with $4 million in cash and investments. That’s the long-term vision or goal. Working backward, you figure out how much you need to save each year and what you need to do to earn it, followed by what you need to do each month, each week, and today.

It’s like following a map. You need to know your destination before you start the trip or you won’t wind up where you want to go.

The “bottom-up” approach, advocated by David Allen, acknowledges the big-picture and long-term but advocates starting with the short-term. He suggests we first get clarity and control of our current situation, then plan for the future.

Both approaches say it’s not about managing our time it’s about managing our priorities. As Covey puts it, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities.” That’s a simple way of saying that we should be pulled by our vision instead of pushed by our circumstances.

Look at your calendar and task list. Are you prioritizing your schedule or scheduling your priorities? Are you being pulled by your vision or pushed by your circumstances?

Your top marketing priority: referrals

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: ,

Thinking on paper

July 20, 2018 by
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Thinking is hard work. That’s why we get paid well to do it. But sometimes, we don’t know what to think or what to do about a problem.

That’s when I grab a piece of paper and a pen or sit down at the computer and write what’s going on in my head.

I write down what I know. I write down the problem and some ideas or options for solving it. I write down what I want or what I want to change.

I write a list of steps. I draw a mind map. I write an outline. Or a list of pros and cons.

When I don’t know what to write, I write a stream-of-consciousness screed. Yep, I vent on paper. I bitch and complain and curse and I keep doing that until I run out of steam and start coming up with something useful.

Sometimes, I put the page or document aside and come back to it later. Sometimes, I never figure it out.

But thinking on paper usually helps me sort things out. At least until I decide I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, throw out the page and start over.

C’est la vie.

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Filed Under: Productivity

If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right

July 19, 2018 by
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Dale Carnegie said,”People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they’re doing”. Was he right? Can you be successful doing work you hate? Or work that bores you to tears?

In the short term, sure. We’ve all done it. But in the long term, if you don’t enjoy what you do, you’ll never accomplish as much as you could.

But here’s the thing. You don’t have to enjoy every part of it.

When I was practicing, I loved helping my clients–watching them smile when I told them the great result I’d obtained for them, hearing them say thank you, getting cards and gifts, and having them refer lots of friends and family.

That was fun.

I also had fun going to the bank and making deposits. That never gets old.

Everything else? Being papered to death by deep pocket defense firms, Los Angeles traffic, calendar calls, the lack of conviviality with some of my opposition, the bar’s arrogance and heavy hand, clients who tried to micromanage their case?

Not so much.

But, on balance, it was fun. Until it no longer was. That’s when I started looking for my next adventure.

How about you? Are you having fun? If not, what needs to change?

More money? Shorter hours? A better crop of clients?

A partner? No partner? More employees? No employees?

A shorter commute? Less trial work? Less paperwork?

What?

Whatever it is, you can have it. I promise. Figure out what you need and go get it. Because no matter how well you’re doing right now, you’ll do better and be happier when you’re having fun.

Referrals are fun!

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Just for fun

Don’t sell the service, sell the appointment

July 18, 2018 by
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Many lawyers promulgate a marketing message (ad, email, web page, article, etc.) with a call to action that says little more than “hire us”.

That’s okay if you’re talking to people who are ready, willing, and able to hire an attorney. But most people who see that message aren’t.

Some aren’t sure they have a legal problem. Some aren’t sure they need an attorney. Some think they can wait. And just about everyone doesn’t yet know, like, and trust you.

What’s the answer? Don’t try to close the sale with your first impression. Use that to get them to the next step.

Don’t sell your service, sell the appointment. Get them into the office so you can diagnose their problem, show them their options, build trust and persuade them to hire you.

But selling the appointment at stage one may also be too heavy a burden. You’ll probably be more effective selling your report or ebook or seminar, to get them to opt-in to your list. From there, you can sell the appointment.

But wait. You have to get their attention, first. Offer them some free content, on your website, on youtube, or on others’ blogs (as guest posts or interviews). Let your free content sell the report you give them when they opt-in. Let that report and the accompanying emails you send them sell the appointment.

It’s called a marketing funnel. You start broad (with free content) and sell them on taking the next step. And so on. Until they’re sitting in your office and handing you a check.

Some prospects will skip steps. Some will speed through the steps and hire you the first day they hear your name. All good. But most will need to go through the process, so make sure you have a process for them to go through.

Marketing is easier when you know the formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With:

4 words that helped me pass the bar exam

July 17, 2018 by
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In law school, as we learned how to ‘think like a lawyer,’ we learned the importance of being able to look at both sides of an issue and argue either one. On exams, that’s precisely what we did.

On exams, I routinely used a four-word expression to transition from one side to the other: “On the other hand”.

No doubt, you did too.

We need to remember those four words when crafting (or signing off on) a marketing message (presentation, ad, conversation, etc.) directed to prospective clients.

Prospective clients know there are alternatives to hiring you. When you acknowledge this, you gain trust. You don’t look like a salesperson, you look like an advisor.

So you might say, “Here are your options:”

  1. “You could do nothing. That may work out if. .  On the other hand. . .”
  2. “You might wait and see if X happens. If it does, you should be okay. If it doesn’t. . .”
  3. “You could handle it yourself (e.g., write a letter, talk to the other lawyer). But, you’re taking the risk of [bad things that could happen])”
  4. “Or, you could let me handle this for you. Here’s what I’ll do. . .”

Given these options, most prospective clients will make the decision that’s best for them, which is usually the one that’s best for you.

How to get more repeat business and referrals

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Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting

Regrets, I’ve had a few

July 16, 2018 by
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I’ve messed things up more times than I can remember. Failed business ventures, bad investments, lost cases and clients, lost friendships. I think about these from time to time but I don’t dwell on them because while you can learn from the past, you can’t change it.

I’ve heard that most people think about their past 3 times more often than their future. That’s a waste of time.

Instead, I try to focus on the future. The projects I’m working on, the things I want to accomplish, where I’m going instead of where I’ve been. I get ideas and inspiration from the future I plan to create and the impetus to move forward.

You may wonder why I don’t focus on the present. Why don’t I get my “zen” on?

Because if things aren’t going well presently, what good would it be to think about that? Feel bad about my mistakes or shortcomings? Beat myself up for letting it happen?

Nope.

There’s no value in feeling guilty about your past or your present. Besides, the present is only a moment away from being the past and you have to let that go.

If things are going well, I acknowledge this and enjoy the moment, but no matter how good things are they can always be better and that (in the future) is where I put my attention.

Let go of the past and the present. You can’t change them, you can only change your future.

See you there.

Here’s the formula for creating a better future

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Filed Under: Personal development
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