Don’t fall for this email scam!

May 15, 2017 by
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AT & T is my wireless carrier. Last night they sent me an email asking me to take a survey. I usually decline these things because I’ve been burned before by survey requests that promised to take only a few minutes but went on endlessly, but in a moment of weakness, I clicked and answered the first (easy) question.

Things quickly got real.

If you get the same email, don’t open it.

It’s a trap.

They’ll ensnare you in a bottomless pit of questions, asking you to decide between a four and a five, a six or a seven, and you’ll wind up clicking anything just to get to the next question, and you’ll swear you’ve already answered that question twice, but no, they’ll ask it a third time, and after what seems like twenty minutes, you’ll either give up and close your browser or berate yourself for getting suckered yet again.

They’ll tempt you to play their insidious game. They’ll tell you they depend on you, they’ll offer to enter you in a drawing, they’ll make you curious about what they might reveal.

Resist. Start another Netflix episode. Or close up shop and go to bed.

I can’t imagine that the companies that conduct these surveys get much useful information out of them. I suspect that most people who start them never finish, and the ones who go all the way do so because they’re not crazy about the company and want to vent.

They do these surveys, I suspect, because they think it will make them look good to shareholders.

There’s nothing wrong with surveys, per se. They can provide valuable feedback and you might put one together for your clients. If you do, remember that a survey is as much an opportunity to engage with your clients as it is a way to guide your next move. So if you do it, don’t alienate them with one of these monstrosities, make your survey short and sweet.

Promise it will only take 30 seconds, a minute or two. And keep that promise.

Ask a few questions, not every question you can think of.

Make it easy for them to choose by asking things like, “Of these two options, which one do you prefer?”

And when the survey is done and you tally up the results, share those results with your clients and subscribers. Let them see that you really do value their feedback and appreciate them for taking the time to help. They’ll feel good about responding and be more likely to do it again the next time you ask.

Because a survey is as much an opportunity to engage with your clients as it is a way to guide your next move.

Where is your next referral coming from?

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Filed Under: Client relations Tagged With:

Give your clients a piggyback ride

May 12, 2017 by
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Some professionals host events for marketing purposes—a party, picnic, seminar, fundraiser, golf tournament, and so on. They invite their clients and prospects and encourage them to bring their friends.

It’s a form of “member get a member,” an old-school marketing strategy that still works today.

But suppose you don’t have the funds to do this, or the time to organize it? Or you don’t know how to put it all together?

You can start small and host a “get acquainted” event in your conference room. Serve some food, pass out some information, and go from there.

Or you can piggyback on someone else’s event.

One way to do that is to find a professional a business that targets your market and is holding an event and talk to them about joining forces. You might pay for half of their convention booth, for example, or pay a fee to have them pass out your free report to passersby. You might offer to speak about tax issues at their investment seminar. Tell them that in return, you’ll promote their event to your clients.

Or you can do it informally.

Perhaps a Tony Robbins event is coming to town and you plan to attend. Announce to your list that you’re going and invite them to join you. Encourage them to invite their friends or clients who might also want to attend.

The more the merrier.

There may be 3000 people at the event but your group of 20 can get together at the breaks, go to dinner together, meet and compare notes. You get to meet some new prospective clients or referral sources, without doing anything more than promoting someone else’s event that you were already planning to attend.

You could do the same thing with a golf tournament: “a bunch of us are going to play. . . come join us and invite your clients and prospects. . .” You might spice things up by offering your own prizes–whoever has the most people join them, the lowest scoring foursome, or a random drawing for your group, for example. Or give everyone who comes some kind of freebie or special offer.

Every summer, our city has a “concert in the park” series with music and food. If there’s something like this in your area, you could promote it. “Join me, it’s going to be fun! I’ll be near the hot dog stand and I’d love to see you. Bring your neighbors and come say hello.”

Keep your eyes open for events someone else is doing and think about how you can piggyback on those events. If nothing else, it gives you an opportunity to contact your clients and prospects (to tell them about the event) and keep your name in front of them.

Marketing is easier when you know the formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Write your own Yelp reviews

May 11, 2017 by
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Many lawyers complain about review sites like Yelp. They point out that one bad review can do tremendous damage and that many bad reviews are dishonest and unfair.

You can’t stop the crazies from posting their opinion. All you can do is encourage your happy clients to post positive reviews and drown out the bad ones.

And that’s exactly what you should do.

Whenever a client thanks you or praises you or your staff, they should be asked to post a review. Explain that even a few words can make a difference. Tell them how much you appreciate it and point the way to your “page”.

You should also stimulate more good reviews by conducting surveys at the end of every case or engagement. A few questions will do the trick but make sure to include a field that allows them to add comments. When you see positive comments, ask the client to use those comments to post a review.

There’s something else you can do to get more positive reviews. Write your own.

Hold on, don’t get your panties in a festival. I’m not suggesting anything nefarious or unethical. Just the opposite.

Let me explain.

Go to Yelp or another review site and peruse a bunch of reviews for attorneys. Find some of the good ones, especially of attorneys in your practice area. Copy those reviews into a document. Then, do the same thing for the bad reviews.

Bad reviews? Yes, you’ll want those too.

Next, take the good reviews and pull out phrases and sentences and stories that resonate with you. Imagine that these things were said about you and your practice. Then, use them to write a mock review, saying nice things about yourself from the point of view of an extremely satisfied client.

Grab this faux review and a pile of negative reviews about other lawyers and call a meeting with your staff. Show them the faux review and point out why it so good. Then, let the brainstorming begin.

Ask for suggestions about how you could bring about the kinds of results mentioned in the faux review. What do you need to do or change to earn reviews like this one? Write it down.

What you’re doing is creating a manifesto for your firm. Things to do to make your client’s experiences so incredible they feel compelled to write (real) positive reviews. A standard to live up to from this day forward.

One more thing.

Break out the bad reviews and share them. Have a laugh or two, and thank your lucky stars that these things weren’t written about you. Take those bad reviews and add a bunch of “don’ts” to your manifesto.

Follow your manifesto and you won’t ever worry about reviews again.

Reviews are just one way your clients can help your practice grow

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Filed Under: Law office management Tagged With:

Firing clients out of a cannon

May 10, 2017 by
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It’s time to do some spring cleaning. Go through your client list and get rid of the clutter.

Start with the ones who owe you money and aren’t paying. You don’t need them. Oh, I know, you care about them. They’re just going through a tough time. They’ll pay you eventually.

Fine, make an arrangement. A payment schedule. Give them more time. But not much. You have a business to run and bills to pay and you can’t be chasing after people to pay you. If they don’t pay, show them the door.

Next up, get rid of the ones who make your life miserable. The complainers. The micro-managers. The trouble makers. Say bye bye to clients who are a nuisance to you and your employees.

What’s that? You need the money? You can’t afford to jettison paying clients no matter how much trouble they cause?

You can’t afford not to.

These clients may fill up your bank account but they are a drain on your psyche. They’re bad for your health and the health of your practice. You can replace them with better clients. If you’re not ready to fire these pain-in-the-ass clients today, make a plan to do it as soon as possible. 90 days at the latest.

(Nature really does abhor a vacuum. When you get rid of some clients, new clients will come your way to fill the void.)

Okay, that’s bad clients. Next, take a look at your “wrong” clients. The ones who have matters outside your primary practice areas. The ones with cases that are too small or who take up too much of your time relative to the fees you charge them. The ones with work you don’t enjoy. The ones who can’t or won’t pay top dollar to have you as their attorney.

Yep, fire them too.

Move them out and make room for more clients like your ideal client. They’re out there and they will come.

Clients owe you money? Here’s how to Get the Check

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Filed Under: Law office management

The $20 rule

May 9, 2017 by
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Years ago, I established a spending rule for myself. If there was something I wanted and it cost under $20, I bought it.

No research. No sleeping on it. No guilt.

C’mon, it’s just $20. My time is worth a lot more than that. So why spend any of it second-guessing or worrying about spending too much on things I might not need or use?

Capiche?

I shake my head in amazement reading app reviews or book reviews by people complaining about wasting $3 on something they didn’t like or didn’t use. I know, it’s their $3 and they have the right to say what they please. But seriously? If you don’t like it, throw it away. Move on. Stop embarrassing yourself.

And next time, read the damn product description before you click the buy button.

Anyway, I buy a lot of books using this rule, because, well, books. I don’t read all of them and I don’t get a lot out of all of the ones I do read, but I have another rule for that: if I get one tip or idea from a book, it was worth it.

Now, my rule only applies to one-time purchases. If something is $20 per month, that’s a different story. I’m much more careful. Thrifty, even. I take my time. I do my homework. I read reviews and think about whether I really need the item before I make a decision.

Because one-time purchases, even relatively big ones, usually don’t do as much damage as ongoing expenses.

Maybe you spent too much furnishing your office. I’ve done that. At a time when I could ill afford it, I spent thousands more than I needed to. (Keeping up appearances, and all that).

It wasn’t smart but it was a one-time purchase. One and done.

Overhead is another animal.

A hundred dollars a month here, $50 dollars there, before you know it, you might be wasting thousands of dollars a month.

And that could make a big different to your bottom line.

In sum:

One time purchases, especially small ones? Live a little.

Ongoing expense? Get your Scrooge on.

Here’s the formula for building a profitable law practice

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Filed Under: Law office management Tagged With:

More about goal setting (and goal getting)

May 8, 2017 by
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Last week I talked about breaking up your big, long-term goals into short-term activities. You can’t “do” a goal, you can only do the activities that help you achieve it.

But sometimes, you find yourself intimidated by the immensity of a project and you procrastinate. Or you start but find it taking too long and give up.

If you’ve ever planned to update your website, create a new presentation, or start a new marketing campaign, for example, and found yourself putting these on the back burner, you know what I mean.

The key to doing a big project is to break it up into small tasks.

Let’s say your goal is to write a book. The first step is to break up that goal into a series of mini-goals: brainstorming topics, writing an outline, completing the first draft, and so on. Each mini-goal is less daunting and more doable. As you complete each mini-goal, you take a step closer to achieving the bigger goal.

Okay, you know this. No doubt you do it. You put the big goal at the top of the page and write a list of tasks or mini-goals underneath. But if you’re like most busy professionals, you still may find yourself procrastinating, or starting and abandoning projects.

The solution is to take each of your tasks or mini-goals and break it up into even smaller parts. The smaller the task, the more likely you are to do it.

Instead of a goal to write a 2,000-word chapter, for example, break it up into four 500-word sub-chapters or sections. Writing 500 words on a narrow aspect of the chapter’s subject is much easier than writing an entire chapter. If you know your subject, you can probably write those words in a matter of minutes.

Smaller tasks are easier to start because you can see the finish line. You won’t be as likely to procrastinate when you know you can complete the task in fifteen or twenty minutes.

But here’s something else: Smaller goals allow you to achieve more goals. You don’t have to wait until you finish a chapter to feel good about your progress, you can have that feeling each time you finish a sub-chapter. Each time you do, your brain gives you a shot of endorphin, you feel good and are motivated to write the next section.

Mini-goals also motivate you to continue working when you find yourself getting tired or distracted. You’ll push yourself to write “one more section” because you know it will only take a few more minutes.

This is how you build momentum and get the project done.

Whatever the project or goal, break it up into smaller parts or mini-goals, the smaller the better. When you have a few minutes between appointments, you can check off another mini-goal and take a step closer to accomplishing the big goal.

How to get referrals, step-by-step

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Filed Under: Goal Setting, Productivity

The goal setting conundrum

May 5, 2017 by
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So much has been written about goal setting it can make your head hurt.

Many say you should set big goals because they fuel your passion and drive you to reach great heights. Small goals aren’t inspiring, they say. Without big goals, you won’t accomplish big things.

They also point out that if you fall short of achieving your big goal you’ll still be ahead. “Reach for the sun, the moon, and the stars, and you might get the sun and the moon,” they tell us.

But if you’ve ever set big, hairy, audacious goals, and not come close to reaching them, you know there’s something missing in this equation.

Have you ever put up posters with affirmations declaring your big goal, or vision boards resplendent with the goodness that awaits you when you achieve it? It’s exciting at first, but when years go by and you’re not even close to reaching your goal, your goal isn’t inspiring you, it’s doing just the opposite.

What then? Should you set lower, more “realistic” goals? If you aren’t close to a goal of $500,000 per year in income, for example, should you change the goal to $150,000?

No. Don’t lower your goals. That’s no fun at all.

Keep the big goals because they really are inspiring. When you go through a rough spot, your big goals give you a reason to keep going. They remind you that what you’re doing may be hard but it’s worth it.

So what you do?

First, see your big goal for what it really is, a dream, something you’re working to achieve some day. Forget about “when” you will achieve it, or “how”.

You can’t make a dream come true by simply choosing a “due date” for it. Nor is it possible to know how you will make it happen. There are too many variables and unknowns and trying to figure it all out in advance usually leads to anxiety and disappointment.

Instead of “when” and “how,” focus on “what” and “why”.

Think about what you want to be, do, or have, and why this is important to you. Think about how you will feel when you get there, and enjoy that feeling.

By acknowledging what you want and why you want it but remaining flexible about when and how you achieve it, you give emotional power to your dream, allowing it to continue to inspire you, instead of putting soul-crushing pressure on you to make it happen.

But you need something else.

You need to set short-term goals related to the big goal that are likely to move you forward towards achieving it. But whereas your long-term goal is about results, your short-term goals should be about activities.

Again, you can’t predict or control results. You don’t know when (or if) something will happen, or how.

But you can control your activities.

If your long-term goal or dream is to hit the $500, 000 income level, one of your short-term activity goals might be to contact two new prospective referral sources each week. That’s an activity you can control and it is almost certain to increase your income.

Establish a series of small, short-term activity goals that will move you towards your long-term goal. Hitting those goals is how you’ll make your dream come true.

How to find and approach new referral sources

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Filed Under: Goal Setting

How to win a pie eating contest

May 4, 2017 by
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When I was in high school, a friend told me he was going to “work” at a corporate picnic, directing cars to and from the parking lot, in return for free food and some fun. He asked if I wanted to join him.

Free food? Fun? What time do we go?

I don’t remember much about that picnic but I do remember watching a pie eating contest.

Contestants lined up at picnic tables in front of a row of pies. They wore lobster bibs because pies are messy.

And then they explained the rules. They were simple. Whoever eats the most pie, wins. If you finish your pie before time is up, another will be placed in front of you.

Oh yeah, one more rule: no hands. You have to keep them behind your back.

And with that, the whistle blew and the contest began.

Everyone took a bite, chewed quickly, and went back for another bite. Everyone except one guy who had a different approach. He smashed his face down into the pie and devoured it.

Bites? Chewing? That’s for amateurs. He went swimming in the pie and sucked it down. He was almost finished with his second pie when time was called and it was obvious who had won. Nobody else was close.

He was covered in boysenberry pie. His face looked like he’d been shot. He had pie in his hair and in his eyes, down his shirt and on his pants. Bib? What bib?

He won because he was all in. No fear, no hesitation, total commitment. He knew what he had to do and he did it.

But how did he know?

I later learned that he’d won the contest the previous year, too. He had seen that most people do what everyone else does—take bites, chew, and try to stay relatively clean. He knew the way to win was to do what everyone else wasn’t willing to do.

A great metaphor for building a law practice.

Build your practice with the formula

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Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With:

The red pill or the blue pill?

May 3, 2017 by
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I know something about you. I know that no matter what you do to market your services there are other things you don’t do.

The question is why?

Why don’t you implement some of the marketing strategies you learn from me or from others? Is it because you don’t think they will work? You don’t have time? You’re not “good” at “it”?

But are these true or do you choose to believe them?

Everything you do is a choice. You can choose to believe that something won’t work or you can choose to try it. You can choose to tell yourself you don’t have time to learn something, let alone do it, or you can choose to make the time.

It’s all a choice. A or B. Red pill or blue.

You can choose to make a few marketing-related calls today or you can choose not to. You can choose to eat lunch at your desk and work on your book for 30 minutes or you can choose to go out. You can choose to read a book about how to get better at remembering people’s names or you can tell yourself you’re just not good at it.

You have free will. You get to choose.

Even if something is “against the rules,” you have a choice. If you would like to advertise, for example, but your firm or bar association prohibits it, you can choose to accept this or you can choose to look for ways to change the rules or find a way around them.

Every day you make choices. Your choices, big and small, aggregate and determine your results.

Now, you can choose to believe what you just read, and do something about it, or you can make a different choice.

Red pill or blue?

You can choose to take action to get more referrals

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Filed Under: Personal development

What’s new and exciting?

May 2, 2017 by
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If you’re like me (and you are), you get excited when you get a text message from Amazon, telling you there is a package waiting for you on your doorstep. There’s nothing wrong with old stuff that continues to work well, but let’s face it, new stuff is exciting.

C’mon, you know what I mean. Your shiny new laptop rocks your world. Your new car is the bee’s knees. Your new girlfriend? Excite-a-mundo.

New things, new people, new adventures. Makes you all tingly inside.

But here’s the thing. The other side of the excitement coin is fear. In fact, that’s why we’re excited. When we ran around in loin cloths, our fears kept us alert and alive. Anything new and different raised the hair on the back of our necks and caused us to be on high alert.

And that’s still true today.

We’re excited about the new laptop but part of that excitement is fueled by our fear that it might have issues, we might not like it as much as we thought, or that we spent way too much.

Same for that new girlfriend.

And God knows it’s the same for new clients who might write you a bum check or make your life crazier than it already is.

So change is scary, but scary is good. Our fears tell us we’re alive, and that’s almost always better than the alternative.

So, I propose that we all get a steady diet of newness in our lives.

What do you say?

Click the button in your shopping cart and place the order. Visit the car dealer after work and put yourself behind the wheel of that Tesla. Book that trip to Octoberfest, terrorists be damned.

More than anything, it’s time to get some new clients.

Picture yourself interviewing them, writing down the facts, thinking about what you will do. Picture them signing docs and handing you a big check.

Nice, isn’t it?

More, please.

Picture your phone ringing with a referral on the line. Picture yourself at an event, three people ask for your card, asking when they can talk to you. Picture yourself hiring another assistant to help with all of the new clients you’re bringing in.

Take a big whiff and smell the success.

Hell yeah, it’s exciting! Okay, maybe not as exciting as the new girlfriend but hey, it’s all good.

What’s your plan for bringing in new clients?

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Filed Under: Inspiration
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