I dare you to take my marketing challenge

January 6, 2017 by
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I’ve got a marketing challenge for you and it will only take five minutes. I want to prove something to you, or rather, I want you to prove something to yourself.

I want you to see that you really do have time for marketing and that it’s a lot easier than you thought.

With me? Great. Let’s get started.

Yes, right now. As soon as you’re done reading this. Because “right now” is the best time to do just about anything.

Okay, grab a pen or open a new page or tab. I want you to write something. And remember, it’s only five minutes so no excuses about being busy.

I want you to write a note to your former clients. In your note, I want you to simply say hello.

You might say, “I wanted to send you a quick note to say hi and see how you’re doing”. Or, “I haven’t talked to you in awhile and wanted to check in and see what you’re up to.” Or wish them a happy and successful new year.

Nothing brilliant. Just touching base.

If you want, you can add a line or two of news about your practice (e.g., mention your new office, new employee, new website, etc.), or share some personal news (e.g., your daughter got married, your son just got accepted to law school, etc.)

But no selling. No promoting. Nothing serious. Just saying hi.

A few lines. Write quickly. Write without stopping.

Five minutes and done. Ready, set, go.

There, that wasn’t difficult was it? (If you haven’t done it yet, go ahead and do it now. C’mon on, I’ll wait. . .)

Now what? Now, put your note in an email and send it. That’s it. That’s all you have to do.

Tomorrow, or maybe even later today, you’re going to see what happens.

I’ll let you find out for yourself what that is but I’m pretty sure you’re going to like what happens.

Will you take my challenge? It’s just five minutes, unless you don’t have an email list of your former clients, in which case you’ll need to take care of that, first. And trust me, you’ll want to do that because once you see what happens with your first email, you’ll definitely want to email again.

Let me know what happens so I can say, “I told you”.

Everything you always wanted to know about email marketing (but were afraid to ask)

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Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services

How much time should you put into each project?

January 5, 2017 by
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I recently read an article about the best way to pay down your debts. Logic dictates that you should pay more towards the balances with the highest interest rates. According to something called the “Snowball Method,” however, it’s better to first pay off the accounts with the smallest balances.

Paying off small balances tends to have a psychological effect on your sense of progress, providing additional motivation to pay down the rest of your debts.

Years ago, when I had several credit cards with varying balances and interest rates, I intuitively made an effort to do just that. Instead of making a proportionally bigger payment on accounts with bigger balances and higher interest rates, I focused on paying off the $500 department store balance, first.

It simplified bill paying and, more importantly, it felt good to see those accounts zero out. I still had the bigger accounts to contend with but overall, it felt like I was making progress.

Does the “Snowball Method” apply to anything else? I suspect it does. If you have five projects on your plate right now, in determining how much time to give each project, it would be logical to consider the potential payoff of each project. Projects with a bigger payoff should get more of your time, one would think. But that would ignore the psychological impact of completing some of the smaller projects, first.

I know, almost every expert says we should do the most important things first so that we make progress on them, and only then work on the less valuable tasks. (Big rocks first.) Hell, I’ve preached that myself.

But we’re human and sometimes we need to do smaller things so we can cross off them off our list and have a sense of progress.

Building your practice is easier when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: ,

Want my advice? Will that be cash, check, or credit card?

January 4, 2017 by
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Free reports. Free consultations. Free information up the ying yang.

If everything is free, how do you make money?

Good question.

The answer is simple: give away lots of free information but charge for your advice. Another way to put it: if you talk to them, you charge them.

Your time is valuable. Don’t give it away. But information is just paper or electrons and while you invest time in writing or recording or conducting a presentation, you’re investing in creating new clients and the return on your investment is, well, incalculable.

Me entiende?

Information is free. Advice is not.

There is one exception: Free consultations.

Why? Couple of reasons.

First, if you’re in a field where most attorneys offer them, e.g., personal injury, if you don’t offer them, you won’t be able to compete.

Second, ROI. You invest 30 minutes or so talking to a prospective client and in return, you (eventually) earn thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Do ten free consultations, sign up seven new cases (or whatever), and when you add up the collective fees, you look like a friggin genius.

In other words, it’s worth it.

Simple as that.

If we’re being technical here, and we’re attorneys so that goes without saying, you do give the client some advice during the consultation. But at the same time, you’re evaluating whether or not you want the case. Hey, maybe they should charge you for their time.

You can reduce the amount of time you spend on free consults by educating prospective clients and referral sources prior to speaking to anyone. Put information on your website, in your articles, ads, and so on, and especially in your “referral letter,” so that people know when they should and shouldn’t call.

Go write something and give it away. But don’t give away your time. Unless you’re doing a free consultation.

How to create (and use) a referral letter to get more clients

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

How often do you do it?

January 3, 2017 by
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I heard from a subscriber who told me he does it twice a month and wants to do it weekly but his wife thinks this is too often.

I’m talking about email, of course. What were you thinking I was talking about?

He sends his clients and former clients an email (newsletter) every two weeks and wants to bump this up to weekly. His wife thinks that his subscribers will “get annoyed by that many emails and start tuning them out.”

His wife is right. If he increases the frequency of his emails, some clients will be annoyed. Some will stop reading them. Some will complain. Some will ask to be removed from the list. But none of this is necessarily a bad thing.

If your subscribers don’t enjoy reading your emails, you don’t want them as subscribers. You don’t want to cater to the lowest common denominator. You want to build a list of fans.

If your emails are interesting, entertaining, and otherwise valuable, most of your subscribers will look forward to them, read them, and act on them. And it’s those people who matter because they are the ones who will hire you (again), send you referrals, and otherwise help you build your practice.

Sending emails to clients and former clients is about strengthening your relationship with them. Yes, it’s also about keeping your name in front of them, but you need quality, not just quantity.

Just like in the bedroom.

If you are delivering emails that people want to read, you can write every week or every day. If you’re up to it, you can even write several times a day.

Just like in the bedroom.

On the other hand, if your emails are boring and lack value, if you fail to please your subscribers, it won’t matter how often you email, your emails aren’t going to get the job done. Yep, just like in the bedroom.

Once a week is not too often. It just isn’t. Try it, and see for yourself. You will get people asking to be taken off your list but you will also get people thinking you for your words of wisdom, your valuable information, and your wit. They will look forward to hearing from you.

Don’t worry about the ones who don’t. It’s better to have a list of 100 people who love you than 10,000 people who are relatively indifferent.

I used to email once a week and I was nervous about what might happen if I starting emailing daily. (I also wasn’t sure I could keep up with that schedule). But I did it and I’m glad I did.

Is it different if you’re writing to lawyers or to “regular folks,” i.e., clients? No. If anything, busy lawyers would seem to be less tolerant of more frequent emails. But (most of) my subscribers read and like my emails because I deliver value.

Tell your subscribers (in your emails and on your website) how often they can expect to hear from you and remind them that they can opt out at any time. And then have at it.

If you’re still not sure, or if your wife is nervous about how often you want to “do it,” conduct an experiment. Continue emailing clients and former clients on your current schedule but email more frequently to prospective clients. When you see good things happening, you can have another talk with your wife.

Get good at building an email list and using it to build your practice

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Filed Under: Email

Setting up your marketing budget

December 30, 2016 by
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Yesterday, I talked about planning what you will do to reach your ideal clients, i.e., connecting with prospective clients directly, via referral sources and other indirect means, or both. I said you should also decide how much time and resources you will dedicate to each method.

In other words, what’s your budget?

How much money will you invest this year in advertising, websites, referral marketing, email marketing, and whatever else you intend to use?

One thing you can do is to talk to your accountant. Have them set up a “chart of accounts” for you to include different categories of marketing expenses, and then provide you with an approximation of what to budget for each category. If your accountant represents other attorneys and firms, they will be able to make more informed suggestions.

If you want to put money into pay-per-click advertising for your real estate practice, for example, based on their knowledge of what other clients in your market are spending, they can tell you whether you should budget 00 per month or 00, or if you can get started with just 0.

If nothing more, this will give you a place to start.

You should also create a “time budget”.

How much time will you invest in marketing each week? What will you do during that time? On what days and at what times will you calendar to do those activities?

If your plan calls for joining a new networking group, for example, you’ll want to book the meetings on your calendar. You’ll also want to book time during the week to do other things relative to attending those meetings, e.g., following up with new contacts.

If you don’t know how much time to budget, talk to people who belong to the same or similar groups.

The primary purpose of creating a marketing budget isn’t to limit what you do or how much you will spend, however. The primary purpose is to force you to think about what it will actually take to carry out your plans and how committed you are to doing them.

Without that forethought, you are more likely to waste resources and get poorer results. Or not get started at all.

Here’s how to get more referrals without spending a lot of time

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan Tagged With:

Who will you invite to the dance this year?

December 29, 2016 by
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Goal setting, planning, and all that good stuff. It’s almost time to sharpen your pencil and map out the new year.

When it comes to marketing, once you decide on your target market and ideal client, the next thing to decide is how you will reach them. Will you market to clients directly? Will you target referral sources? Will you do both?

Don’t leave this to chance. Think it through. A few things to consider:

  • Where do you get your clients now? Referrals from clients? Professional referrals? Your website? Advertising? Look at your numbers so you can do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t.
  • What do other lawyers in your practice area do to get their clients that you’re not doing, or not doing enough?
  • What mechanisms can you use to reach your audience, e.g., blogs that accept guest posts, groups where you can speak and/or network?
  • What are you good at and enjoy? Writing, speaking, networking? How can you do more?
  • What are your resources–time, money, knowledge, experience, employees/outside help, friends and professional contacts?
  • What are you unable to do (by your bar or firm)? If you can’t advertise to prospective clients, perhaps you can advertise to referral sources. If you can’t advertise your services, perhaps you can advertise your book or seminar. If you can’t use client testimonials, perhaps you can use professional endorsements.

If you decide to market to both clients and referral sources, you also need to decide how much of your time and resources to allocate to each.

You don’t have to decide everything before the year starts but you should start thinking about these things. They’ll help you get focused and get better results.

Ideal client? Target market? Marketing plan? This is what you need

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan

If you want something done, ask a woman to do it

December 23, 2016 by
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Watching my wife prepare for out-of-town company and get ready for Christmas has been like watching a master class in multi-tasking. I can barely single-task. She goes non-stop, all day long, making me look like, well, like a man.

If saying that makes me a sexist, so be it. I’m convinced that women are the stronger sex. Also the sexiest.

So guys, this holiday, remember to thank your wives and girlfriends and the other women in your life for all they do, and for putting up with you.

Women? Thank the men in your life for what they do because you need them as much as they need you.

Everyone–remember we’re all in this together. No matter your gender, race, or political affiliation, we need each other, and so does the survival of our species.

So yeah, this time of year especially, let’s see if we can all get along, love each other, and give thanks for all of our blessings.

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah.

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Filed Under: Inspiration

Scrivener writing app is on sale

December 22, 2016 by
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f you’re looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for the writer in your family, or for yourself, you can pick up the Windows version of Scrivener right now for just $20.

If you ask me, it’s a bargain at full price.

I use Scrivener every day, mostly for long-form writing (books and reports), but you can use it for articles, blog posts, and any other writing. More than a few lawyers use it for first drafts of briefs, motions, appeals, et. al.

I couldn’t find the discount link on the Literature and Latte site but I’ve seen several sites promoting this so a quick search should give you the link.

Last summer, the publisher released a long-awaited version of Scrivener for iOS. It is full-featured and syncs (via Dropbox) with your Windows or Mac desktop.

In any form, Scrivener gets my highest recommendation.

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Filed Under: Writing Tagged With:

$80,000 with one letter

December 21, 2016 by
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Yesterday, I (once again) danced up and down on my keyboard in an effort to convince you to use email for marketing your legal services. I suggested that a simple weekly email to clients and prospects might bring in enough repeat business and referrals to make you a very happy camper.

A subscriber, an attorney friend who no longer practices, wrote and said my email reminded him of a time when he sent a letter to all of his former clients:

“Back when I practiced law, my New Years resolution one year was to create a new profit center for my practice. So I wrote a letter to all of my old clients – about 200 people — announcing that I was now also handling wills and trusts.

That one letter made me about $80K the next year.”

Waaay better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

As far as I know, my friend didn’t make any crazy-special offer. He merely contacted people who knew, liked, and trusted him and shared his news.

And, as far as I know, he only sent one letter. Would he have earned more if he had written again? No doubt. Because some people may not have received his first letter. Some might not have read it. Some might not have been ready to take action. A second (or twenty-second) letter may have arrived at precisely the time when they were ready to say, “take my money”.

You’re thinking: “Okay, this sounds good but what if I’m not starting a new practice area?”

Well, how about partnering up with other lawyers in other practice areas and recommending their services, in return for them doing the same for you? Know any good accountants, financial planners, insurance or real estate brokers? Business owners with products or services you like?

Yep, you can do the same thing with them. But only if you have a list.

If you don’t want to recommend anyone else’s services for some reason, just keep your name in front of your peeps. When they need your services (again), or know someone they can refer, well, there you are–in their email inbox, a click or a dial away.

Hold on. You’re thinking, “If they need me, they’ll call me. They’ll look up my phone number or go to my website. I don’t have to stay in touch with them, they’ll find me.”

Some will. Most won’t.

I know. I signed up hundreds (thousand?) of clients who, when asked for the name of the attorney who represented them in their prior matter said they didn’t remember. And that’s why they were sitting in my office instead of the office of their former attorney who didn’t stay in touch.

Email is easy when you know how. Here’s how

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Filed Under: Email, Newsletters

Getting paid to write a weekly email

December 20, 2016 by
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I know you don’t have a lot of time but would you write and send out a weekly email if you were paid $1000 per week to do it? How about $2000? $5000?

Would you find the time to send an email every week if it meant increasing your income by hundreds of thousands of dollars per year?

You betcha.

Well guess what? Although nobody is going to pay you that much to write a weekly email, if you write that email to your clients and prospects (and referral sources), you’ll be able to pay yourself.

Yeah, it’s called marketing. And email is about as simple as it gets.

You have to build a list. You can use your website to do that. Add a form and invite visitors to sign up.

You have to have something to say. You’re a lawyer. You have something to say about everything.

You have to be disciplined. That’s why God created the calendar.

You have to start. That’s the hard part. And the most important.

Do me a favor. And by me, I mean yourself. Send an email to some people you know and say something.

Where to start? How about telling them you’re thinking about starting an email newsletter and asking them to submit a legal question? How about summarizing (or copying) something you wrote in the past and sending that? How about wishing them Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, happy holidays, or whatever floats your boat?

Just say something. Anything. And watch what happens.

Here’s how to start

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Filed Under: Email, Newsletters
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