Where will you be in six months?

June 7, 2018 by
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It’s six months from today and things are little slow. (Or, things are fine and you want to take your practice to the next level.)

Either way, you want more business.

No problem. You have a list of lawyers and other professionals who have clients that are a good match for you. They can send you referrals.

Most of these professionals have colleagues who are similarly situated. They can introduce you to them.

Most of these professionals know your name and what you do. They know you’re good at your job.

Some of them have met you, either in person or online. Some could be considered friends.

So, you make some calls.

You re-introduce yourself or tell them you’re checking in to see how they’re doing. You ask what they need or want and how you can help.

Do they need clients or customers? Introductions, recommendations or advice?

You do what you can to help them.

They ask how you’re doing. They ask what they can do to help you.

They send you referrals. They introduce you to their colleagues. They give you advice and recommendations. Your practice grows.

You want that list, don’t you? It sounds like just what you need.

There’s just one thing. That list isn’t going to make itself. You need to do that.

Better get started. It will be six months from now before you know it.

Step-by-step instructions on how to do this: click here

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Filed Under: Referral sources, Referrals

The todo list that never was

June 6, 2018 by
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When I was practicing. I didn’t use a todo list. My calendar and the stack of files and mail on my desk told me what I needed to do.

Sometimes, I’d jot down a few items on a piece of scratch paper or on the paper blotter/calendar on my desk. A reminder to call someone, a list of things to pick up on my way home. But mostly, my list was stacked up in front of me.

Each morning, my secretary put files on my desk pertaining to clients who had appointments that day and other work. I’d go through the files, look at my notes (and hers) and review new letters and documents. I dictated letters and pleadings and instructions and gave the files back to my secretary. She’d type and/or make calls, make notes, and return the files to me for my review, signature, and further instructions.

Back and forth we went. It was simple. Primitive by today’s standards. But it worked.

Today we seem obsessed with apps and systems for managing lists. So many lists.

Lists of things we need to do now, lists of things we should do next, lists of things we might do someday. Are we really any more productive this way? Are our lives so much more complicated that we need to manage things at such a granular level?

It seems like we spend as much time managing our lists as we do doing the work.

I’m not suggesting we go back to an all-analog world. I like my apps. I like having my business in my pocket. And without staff today, I do have to manage both ends.

But perhaps we would be better off finding ways to simplifying things. A calendar, a simple list of work to do today, and not that much else.

I’ll put that on my @someday/maybe list and @review it later.

Earn more. Work less: The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With:

Don’t show all your cards to prospective clients

June 5, 2018 by
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You have an appointment with a prospective client. You plan to tell them everything you will do to help them with their problem. You’ll describe all of your services and give them a list of the many deliverables they can expect.

Before you tell them everything, you might want to hold something back.

Instead of telling them about A, B, and C, maybe only tell them about A and B. Because if you spill your guts the first time you speak with prospective clients, you won’t have anything left to offer them later.

  • To offer as a bonus for signing up TODAY (e.g., at your seminar, this week only, etc.) instead of waiting
  • To get them off the fence when they want to think about it, talk to someone, or otherwise put it off
  • As an incentive: buy A and B, get C, at no additional cost
  • As an upsell (an optional service they can also “buy”)
  • As an unannounced bonus, to surprise them with after they sign up

You hold things back when you negotiate on behalf of clients, right? Same concept.

If you don’t have anything you can hold back, create something. A voucher they can use on another matter or a service provided by another professional.

Hold something back. You never know when you might need it.

Marketing is easier when you know the formula

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Marketing legal services

Ripping the bandage off slowly

June 4, 2018 by
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What do you do when you have to do something you don’t want to do?

We’ve been taught to rip the bandage off quickly and get it over with. The pain will only last for a moment. Pulling it off slowly is worse.

That’s usually good advice. But not always.

I’ve started a project I’ve been putting off for years. I’m getting rid of books in my home office, closet, garage, and at our storage facility. I hate it. I love my books. But it has to be done.

Thinking about carting off my prized possessions to the library bookstore in one fell swoop has caused me to avoid doing it. But I’ve kept that particular bandage on my finger for too long.

But, rather than doing it all at once (and getting it over with), I’m doing it slowly. In stages.

The first pass was easy. I removed books that are outdated–old software manuals, for example, books related to business ventures I’m no longer involved with, and books I’ve never read and know I’m never going to.

Second pass (which I haven’t started yet) will be to pare down what’s left. This won’t be too difficult because I will know I don’t yet have to make the hard decisions.

The third pass will be tougher. I plan to remind myself that, “If I ever need or want this book, I can buy it again.”

How many books will I keep? That will depend on how much room I have left on my shelves. I’m committed: No more boxes, no more garage, no more storage.

I’ll get it done. I have to. Tripping over books, dusting books I haven’t looked at in years, storing books I used for projects 20 years ago, just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Anyway, I thought I’d pass this along to you in case you’re a book lover and need to make room somewhere (maybe for new books!), or in case you have anything else you need to do but don’t want to.

Instead of waiting for referrals to happen, make them happen

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Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With: ,

Maybe you need a babysitter

June 1, 2018 by
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After yesterday’s post about scheduling time to do things you’re not getting done, (in this case, reading time), a subscriber wrote: “I’ve TRIED something like this many times, but I always just ignore the scheduled thing. Any tips for getting my ass to stick to the schedule? It’s quite frustrating.”

My advice: “Don’t ignore the scheduled thing.”

I’m serious. Annoying, but serious.

We all make choices about what we will and won’t do. If we choose not to do something, even though it’s good for us and we say we want to do it, even though we put it on our calendar, the truth is we really DON’T want to do it.

Because if you wanted to do it, you would.

So, remove it from your calendar or agenda until you want to do it. Or until you decide you must do it.

Here’s what I mean.

If we consider all of our tasks and projects, ideas and someday/maybes, read/reviews, we can break them down into three categories: Must-do, Should-do, and Could-do.

We do a good job of getting our must-dos done because penalties ensue if we don’t. So how about creating a new list or tag for “must-read/review” and scheduling time just for this?

Everything else? I say, don’t worry about it.

If it’s not something you must read or review, read it if you want to and don’t if you don’t. And don’t beat yourself up about what you don’t read.

What about “should-read/review”? I think it’s overkill for discretionary reading, but it’s up to you.

Okay, a couple more ideas for “forcing” yourself to stick to your schedule. Here are two taken from the Kanban world:

  1. Limit your work in process (WIP). In the case of reading, limit yourself to three articles (for example). If you finish those and have room for more, you can go get more. If you don’t, move on. If three is too many, start with one or two.
  2. Make it visible. Put your reading list/folder on your desktop or as a top-level bullet or tag in your master list or a column (or swim lane) in your Kanban. By keeping your list in front of you, you’ll continually be reminded that this is something you’ve decided to do and you’ll be one click away from doing it.

Okay, one more: Get a babysitter.

Still serious.

Designate someone to hold you accountable for whatever it is you’re resisting. It could be your spouse, your secretary, your partner, a colleague, or anyone else. Have them check in with you to find out if you did or didn’t do what you said you would. Implement some kind of penalty if you don’t and maybe a reward if you do.

If you designate your secretary for this role, for example, and you don’t do your daily reading or marketing or whatever, they get to take the rest of the day off.

Something tells me stuff is gonna get done.

Update your website

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Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity

What gets scheduled gets done

May 31, 2018 by
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My “read/review” backlog of articles, websites, videos, ebooks, pdfs, et. al., has gotten out of hand. Too many items. I’ll never get caught up.

I think that’s okay. Maybe what’s important floats to the top of my subconscious and gets my attention and everything else is merely digital compost.

And yet, I’m plagued by FOMO–Fear Of Missing Out. That nagging feeling that I’m missing something important. So, rather than going through “the stacks” whenever I “find the time,” or “I feel like it” I’m going to schedule the time to do it.

Because what gets scheduled gets done.

As I said yesterday, you can get a lot done in a few minutes a day if you do it every day.

Hold on. Be right back. Okay, I did it. I scheduled a 15-minute recurring “appointment” on my calendar, weekdays at 4 pm (when my energy is lower) to catch up on my reading and reviewing.

We’ll see how it goes.

I might wind up changing the start time. I might cut the appointment to 10 minutes or extend it to 20. I might have to add a nap to my schedule.

Stress-free billing: click here

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Filed Under: Productivity

The tyranny of the urgent

May 30, 2018 by
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What’s the most important thing in your professional life that you’re not doing? Or doing enough?

Something that can take your practice to a much higher level. Help you accomplish a major goal or change your life in a significant way.

Whatever it is, you’re probably not doing it because while it’s important, it’s not urgent and your day is filled with urgent matters that get first call.

Deadlines, due dates, promises made to clients that have to get done on time. Or problems that need to be addressed today, lest they lead to even bigger problems tomorrow.

There are many things you can do to “find more time” for important work but in my experience, nothing more effective than blocking out time for it on your calendar.

How much time? Probably not as much as you think.

You can make appreciable progress on a project if you work on it for as little as five or ten minutes a day. The key is to do it every day.

Pick a number of minutes. I suggest 15. If that’s too much, start with ten.

Schedule time on your calendar for that project, five days a week. If possible, make this your first task of the day. Get it done before you start your other work when your energy is highest and distractions and interruptions are likely to be fewer.

Get it done first and then no matter what else happens that day, your day will have been fruitful.

Make it a habit. A part of your daily ritual. Try it for two months and see what happens. I think you’ll like what happens.

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Filed Under: Personal development

Want to see me take the hot pepper challenge?

May 29, 2018 by
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My wife showed me a video of a guy taking the hot pepper challenge. Seeing if he can ingest some of the hottest peppers in the world. The kind that burn your guts and makes you feel like you’re dying. The kind that sometimes leads to a trip to the emergency room.

It turns out there are a lot of people taking this challenge, including people like Kelly Clarkson.

So, what do you think? Would you like to see me do a video taking the hot pepper challenge? Watch me puke my guts out and regret the day I was born?

Thanks for asking but, uh, nope. Not me. Not in a million years.

Anyway, it appears that the hot pepper challenge is trending and we can leverage that trend without ever having to participate in it.

Lawyers can write, post, tweet, link, share, etc., about potential liability for manufacturing and selling products that can send a customer to the hospital. Or getting a friend to take a dare.

But you can leverage this trend (and just about any other) without talking about legal issues.

Mention the trend on social media. Offer your opinion. Link to a video or article. Put keywords in your posts so you’ll get picked up by search engines.

A few years ago, I wrote a post that featured Steve Jobs in the title. I think it was shortly after he died and everyone was talking about him, praising his accomplishments, and so on. His name was trending big time. Not surprisingly, my post (with his name in the title) got more traffic than anything I’d ever posted before.

What was the post about? I don’t remember and it doesn’t matter. His name was trending and a lot of folks came to my site to read what I had written.

Obviously, trends don’t last. They come and then they are gone. But while trends don’t last, some of the people who subscribe, follow and connect with you do.

Earning more without working more: not a trend

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With:

Have I got a deal for you!

May 25, 2018 by
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It’s Memorial Day weekend and everybody and his brother is having a sale. Everyone except lawyers. But that doesn’t mean we have to miss out on all the fun.

Do you have any clients or business contacts who are having a sale? Why not email your other clients and contacts and tell them about it.

Wait. Maybe your business clients are willing to offer a little extra to people who mention your name.

How ’bout them apples.

Your clients will appreciate you for tipping them off (and arranging the extra discount). Your business clients will appreciate you for sending business their way.

Could it get any easier?

What’s that? You don’t have any (or many) business clients or contacts who are having a sale?

No problem. Go knock on some doors.

Talk to some local business owners and ask them if they’re planning to (or willing to) put anything on sale. Tell them you’re sending an email to all your clients and you’d be happy to mention them.

Hold on. You’re not done. Ask if they know other merchants (businesses, professionals, etc.) you might talk to. Betcha they do.

This is a simple way to meet and introduce yourself to business owners, get on their radar and in their good graces.

Who knows, they might mention you in their newsletter. Or let you put some brochures on their counter or in their waiting room. Or send you some referrals. Because no other lawyers in town are promoting their business.

Leverage is a wonderful thing

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Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing

Why are you making it so complicated?

May 24, 2018 by
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Lean. Simple. Efficient. That’s how I want things to work in my life. I’m sure you do, too. Because not only does this often bring us better results, it takes less time and puts less stress on our systems.

So why do we make things so complicated?

In our writing. In our task management. In our presentations, conversations, marketing, management, relationships, methods, and everything else.

Why do we add unnecessary elements? Why do we change things that are working? Why don’t we adapt things that are clearly better?

Habit? Always done it this way. Don’t see a pressing need to change.

Pride? Look at how busy I am. Look at how complicated and important my work is.

Laziness? I can’t be bothered with that nonsense.

Fear? What if I make a mistake?

All of the above?

But it’s important and we have to do it.

Admit that simple is usually better and make it a priority.

Look at all of the steps and all of the resources and ask:

  • Is this necessary? Could I do without it?
  • Is there a better way to do this?
  • Can this be done more quickly? Less expensively?
  • Can I re-use or re-purpose something I used before?
  • Can I consolidate this step with others?
  • Can I delegate this to someone else?
  • Can I do the same thing with only one tool?

Piece by piece, pare down your world. Fewer methods. Fewer steps. Fewer tools. Fewer people.

If you’re not sure about something, remove it. You probably won’t miss it. If you do, you can add it back.

Start with something small. Clean out a drawer, edit a form letter, or unsubscribe from a few emails. Once you get started, if you’re like me (and you are) you’ll want to do more.

Make it a part of your weekly review. Challenge yourself to make your life as simple, uncluttered, and efficient as possible.  Because in doing so, you’ll earn more, work less, and make room in your life for the things that matter most.

A simple way to get more referrals from other lawyers

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , , ,
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