Getting paid to learn how to practice law

December 19, 2016 by
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As you probably know, when I started my practice, I took any legal work I could get. I did divorces for two or three hundred dollars. I consulted with pro pers for $75. I took personal injury cases that settled for $750.

Good times.

I did what I had to do because (a) I needed the money; (b) these clients couldn’t afford to pay more; and (c) I often had little or no experience with a particular matter and taking it forced me to learn.

I’d spend hours in the law library. I sought the advice of other lawyers who pointed me in the right direction. I spent hours drafting and revising simple documents, (on legal pads and typewriters) learning how to do them right.

I also did some work for other lawyers. One time, I was hired to write a motion. I got to the lawyer’s office late in the afternoon. He let me use his library and stay late to finish and told me to lock up when I was done. Good thing he did because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.

When I finished, the sun was coming up. I must have worked ten hours on that motion (ten hours!) but I only billed him for two because, well, ten hours! (He was happy with the work, btw.)

The point is that when I was new, I was paid to learn how to practice law. So if you’re new or entering a new practice area, don’t worry about how much (or how little) you’re being paid.

There’s a marketing lesson in this, too.

Sometimes, it pays (long term) to do work for certain clients at a discount or even free. That’s right, I said it. I said the “F” word. F-f-f-ree. As in no charge. Let them see what you can do and when they fall in love with you and want to hire you again, full price, baby!

If there’s a big client you’d love to work with, make them an offer they can’t refuse. If you do unlawful detainers or collection work, for example, you might pitch a prospective client with “first case is free”. If you do estate planning, you might offer a simple Will package at a steep discount.

Get your foot in the door, win them over, and one day you’ll be telling the story about how you took over your market.

Marketing is simple when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Spank me and send me to bed without supper

December 16, 2016 by
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I blew it.

Yesterday I said that referrals are number one and advertising is number two on my list of favorite marketing methods. When I said that, I was thinking about the days when I was practicing. Back then, those were my top two favorites.

Today, I would give you a different answer.

For most of my days in practice, the Internet wasn’t a thing. At least not something most lawyers had access to. We didn’t have email, either. Cell phones? I wore a pager and used pay phones. For a long time, I didn’t have a fax machine.

Anyway, if I was practicing today, I would tell you that referrals are number one and email is number two. Advertising would be third on the list, not second.

If you don’t like advertising or aren’t allowed to do it, this should come as good news to you because email marketing is something just about any lawyer can do.

It’s easy. There’s little or no cost. It doesn’t take up a lot of time. And it works incredibly well.

If you’re not using email for marketing, the best place to start is to use it to stay in touch with clients and former clients. Remind them that you’re still around and can still help them and the people they know.

Most attorneys can get most of their new business from people who have hired them before and email is the easiest way to do that.

If you are currently using email to stay in touch with clients and former clients, great. But be honest: When was the last time you emailed all of them? When do you plan to do it next? NB: if you have to think about this, you’re not emailing often enough.

Next, start using email as a tool for courting prospective clients. People who have connected with you but haven’t yet hired you. They are much more likely to hire you or send you referrals than someone who doesn’t know you from Adam.

Bottom line? If I had email when I was practicing, I would have grown much bigger, much faster, and with a lot less effort. Today, my entire business is built around email.

So yeah, I should have told you that yesterday. My bad.

Referrals, first and always. Then email. Advertising if you want to take things to the next level.

How to use the Internet and email to build your practice

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Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services

What’s your second favorite method for marketing legal services?

December 15, 2016 by
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Let’s face it, referrals are pretty much everyone’s favorite marketing method.

What’s not to love? Clients come to you, pre-sold, so you sign up a high percentage. They tend to be better clients than the unwashed masses who find you online. They are less likely to complain or try to mico-manage you. They tend to stick around longer. And they are themselves more likely to refer.

We love us some referrals, don’t we?

Anyway, other than referrals, what’s number two on your list of favorite marketing methods?

Me? No question about it. Advertising.

Advertising gives you control. You run an ad and if it works you continue to run it. And run it more frequently. And buy bigger ads. And run ads in more publications or on more sites.

If your ads don’t work, you change something–the headline, offer, copy, publication or list–until you find the right combination.

You can start with a small budget. If your ads work, you scale up. If they don’t, you pull out.

You can use ads to test new markets, new services, and new offers.

You can advertise your services directly, or you can advertise your seminar, book, or report, and build a list that produces clients over the long term.

Advertising can bring in clients fast. Run an ad this morning and you can have new clients this afternoon.

Yep, advertising works. I’ve done a lot of it over the years and swear by it. It’s my number two pick, however, because you have to know what you’re doing. (The preponderance of horribly ineffective attorney advertising proves my point.)

So, start with referrals. Make them the foundation of your practice-building strategy. Then, if you have a mind to, use advertising to scale up your practice, but take your time to do it right. Your referral-based practice will give you the time to do that.

If you do it this way, referrals first, you’ll also have more flexibility with your advertising. You can run ads that break-even, for example, because you have a system in place for getting referrals from those new clients.

Make sense? Good. Now go make some dollars.

Marketing legal services via referrals

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Filed Under: Advertising

I know you can’t but what if you could?

December 14, 2016 by
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What if you had a new way of getting ideas, solving problems and achieving goals? What if this new way was as simple as asking yourself a simple question? What if asking this question would either give you an immediate answer or program your subconscious mind to deliver the answer overnight?

What if I shut up and tell you the question?

If you’ve read this far, you may know the question because I’ve repeated it several times: “What if?”

It’s a question that helps you look at things in a different light. Some call it “possibility thinking” because it helps you to see what’s possible and take a step towards finding the solution rather than getting stuck on the problem.

Try it right now and see what it can do. Think about something you would love to do but don’t know how or don’t think you can. Ask yourself, “What if I did know?” or “What if I could?”

You can also ask yourself how things would be different if you achieved the goal. “What if I did find my perfect mate?” “What would my life be like if I could stop working and still get paid?”

Once you’ve asked the question, let it go and let your mind go to work.

Does it work all of the time? I don’t know, but what if it did?

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Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With:

Why you should do something other than practicing law

December 13, 2016 by
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You work long hours, most of which are spent doing the same things with the same people (or type of people) and while this may be a factor in building a successful career, it might also be holding you back.

Doing the same things day after day, decade after decade, can lead to boredom, a loss of perspective and a stifling of creativity.

Even if you don’t have the time to do it, or perhaps because you don’t have the time to do it, you should consider doing something outside of your practice.

Starting a part-time business would almost certainly allow you to network with people you otherwise might not meet in your “day job”. It could allow you to create additional income, develop new skills you can use in your practice, and give you something to do when you retire.

Taking classes in an unrelated field could stimulate your mind, teach you something you’ve always wanted to learn and provide you with fodder for your blog, newsletter, or presentations.

A new hobby, or the resurrection of an old one, could give you something pleasant to look forward to on weekends.

Joining a club or group might help you meet people who share your interest in something important or entertaining and give you a pleasant distraction from the stress of practicing law.

You are more than the sum of your legal experiences, or at least you could be. As you plan for the new year, consider doing something different. Look at your “someday” list or bucket list or pick something at random and dip your toes in.

You might find something that gives your career a new dimension, or, as I did, a completely new career.

I built my practice, and found my second career, by getting good at getting referrals

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Filed Under: success

Why should I buy your hamburgers?

December 12, 2016 by
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If you were going to open a coffee shop, you would start by researching the market. You’d look at the existing restaurants in town and size up the competition.

How many coffee shops are there in a one-mile, three-mile, and five-mile radius? What’s on their menu? Do they have any specialties? What are their prices?

You would look at population density, traffic patterns, parking, and a hundred other factors, in an effort to find an unmet need in the market or an opportunity to improve on what other coffee shops do.

And then, you would come up with an angle, something that would make your coffee shop stand out from the competition. It might be the furniture, lighting, or decor. It might be the name of your coffee shop, your menu, or prices.

You would look for something you could do to get customers to notice you and give you a try. You would then give them the best experience possible so they would come back again and tell their friends about you.

Which is exactly what you need to do with your law practice.

You need to give people a reason to notice you and hire you instead of the legions of other lawyers in town with a similar menu. You need to stand out from the competition by being better or different.

So tell me, why should I buy your hamburgers?

How to develop an angle for your practice

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

Know, like, trust, rinse, repeat

December 9, 2016 by
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You’ve heard it before: “All things being equal, clients prefer to hire attorneys they know, like, and trust”.

You need all three but let’s take a minute and talk about “know”.

In a sense, it is the easiest of the three because it is the simplest. The more people who know you, the more clients you are likely to get. Assuming you are reasonably likable and trustworthy, getting more people to know you is the 20% activity that brings you 80% of your results.

Note that it’s not necessarily how many people you know, it’s how many people know you. How many recognize your name? How many people who go looking for an attorney will find you?

It’s called exposure.

One of the best ways to get more exposure is to leverage the contacts of influential people in your target market.

Centers of interest in your community. Professionals, executives, business owners. People who run blogs and video channels. Authors, consultants, and sales people who write for, sell to, or advise people in your target market.

They can give you direct referrals. They can publish your guest post on their blog or in their newsletter. They can interview you for their podcast or video channel. They can promote your seminar, become an affiliate for your book or course, and promote your free report to their subscribers.

They can give you exposure to a large number of prospective clients. Even better, they can influence them to follow you and hire you. When they promote you, or even just mention you to their clients, readers, and contacts, they are impliedly endorsing you.

That’s the best kind of exposure you can get.

Do yourself a favor and get to know more people like that. Start by asking your existing professional contacts to introduce you to other professionals in their line of work.

You still have work to do with these new contacts but the most important part is done. Thanks to your mutual friend, they now know you. They’ll take your call and reply to your email. You’re on your way to getting their contacts to know, like, and trust you.

How to get referrals and other help from attorneys and other professionals: here

 

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Filed Under: Leverage, Referrals Tagged With:

How to quickly get new clients

December 8, 2016 by
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If you want to quickly get new clients, here are three marketing methods you should consider.

(1) Advertising

An effective ad program can put your offer in front of a lot of prospective clients literally overnight.

If you’re not permitted to advertise your services, or you don’t want to, consider advertising your book or report or other information product.

You can sell that information or give it away, and each person who buys or downloads it will learn what you do and how you can help them. They also get added to your list so you can stay in touch with them, leading to more clients over time.

(2) Referrals

One of the best ways to build a law practice is through referrals from clients and professional contacts. For most attorneys, referrals happen when they happen. With a little effort, however, you can make them happen.

One reason people don’t give you referrals is that they don’t think about it. You’ll get more referrals if you contact them regularly and remind them how you can help their friends, clients, and colleagues.

One of the best ways to do that is to create a written document that describes your ideal client and explains the best and easiest ways to make a referral. My two courses, Maximum Referrals and Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals show you how.

(3) Joint ventures/strategic alliances

Another way to quickly bring in business is to align yourself with people with a list of clients or contacts who might need your services.

Professionals with a similar target market to your own can promote your webinar to their list, for example, in return for you doing the same for theirs. You can write guest posts for each other’s blogs or newsletters. You can promote each other as speakers at your respective networking events.

Advertising, referrals, and joint ventures give you access to other people’s lists, listeners, readers, or contacts. You can quickly get new clients by leveraging their relationships and getting your name and message in front of a large number of prospective clients.

Quickly get new clients through referrals

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

What vs. How

December 7, 2016 by
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In a “how to” article, report, or post, you describe the problem and present the various solutions you offer, but you should also tell the reader what they can do without you.

Tell them how they can avoid the problem in the first place. Tell them how to mitigate damages. Tell them how to protect themselves in the future.

The question is, having told them what to do, should you also tell them how to do it?

If you say that filing a quit claim deed is an option, should you tell them where to get the form and how to fill it out? If they can file for a simple divorce on their own will you tell them how to do it?

These are things you need to think about.

You want to provide value to readers and that usually means telling them more rather than less. More information shows them you know what you’re doing and builds trust. Being generous with your knowledge and advice endears them to you, making it more likely that if they hire any attorney, you’re the one they will choose.

But the choice isn’t always simple. If you tell them how to do something and they mess up, you may lose credibility and expose yourself to liability. If they follow your instructions successfully, they may decide they don’t need you for anything else.

Should you tell them all of the “whats” but none of the “hows”? Should you tell them all of the “hows” but encourage them to contact you to look it over?

Decisions, decisions.

My advice? Err on the side of too much rather than too little. Add your “on the other hands,” cover your backside, and encourage them to contact you to learn more. But don’t hide from telling them what to do and how to do it. Remember, you’re writing a “how to” not a “what to”.

Marketing legal services successfully starts with successful philosophies

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Presentations, Writing Tagged With: ,

What’s in your wallet? Briefcase? Desk drawer?

December 6, 2016 by
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When a client leaves your office, especially after your first meeting, what do you hand them? When you’re networking or running errands, what do you give to the people you meet?

It could be anything, as long as it has your name and website on it. Your business card, a brochure, your newsletter, a copy of your book or report.

I’m all for digital, but nothing beats a tangible handout for helping people to remember you and prompting them to get more information.

Put something in their hand they can take home with them and show their spouse or partner. Give them extras they can pass out to friends. “One for you, the other in case you talk to someone who might need my help”. Plant the seed and equip them to provide referrals.

Don’t rely on your handout to do the work, however. Use it as a mechanism to get their contact information. And make sure you follow-up with them, to tell them you enjoyed meeting them, to offer additional information, and to invite them to take the next step.

Marketing is simple. It’s even simpler when you have something to hand out.

The perfect handout 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking Tagged With: , ,
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