Wake up the marketing genius inside you

April 1, 2016 by
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In the last 30 days, how many blog posts or articles did you write, for your site or any others? If you published a video or audio you can count that, too.

So how many?

If you’re like most professionals, the answer is probably not in the double digits. It might not have any digits at all.

I know you understand the value of publishing lots of content. I mention it enough, and so does everyone else who is worth listening to. More content brings more traffic to your website, more prospective clients learning about what you do and how you can help them, more sign-ups for your list, and. . . more clients.

I also know why, despite this knowledge, you don’t publish more content.

No, it’s not that you don’t have the time. You can write something worth reading in 15 minutes. Remember the bar exam? Look at how much you wrote when you had to.

It’s not that you don’t know what to write about. Uncle Google and Aunt Bing are your friend. Type your practice area or one of your services into the search bar and see where it takes you.

If you still don’t know what to write about, look at what other lawyers in your field are writing about and write something about the same subject.

No, the real reason you don’t write more content (or any content) is that every time you sit down to do it, or think about doing it, you think you have to create art.

And you think you will be judged by that art, and found lacking. So you resist.

But here’s the thing. You don’t have to write brilliant words, you just have to write words. That’s something you do every day. Do you have any trouble writing letters and emails? I’m guessing you do not.

So instead of writing articles and blog posts, write letters and emails.

In fact, here’s your assignment: send me an email and about either of the following:

  • “Three things people always ask me about [your practice area/services],” or
  • “The strangest/best/worst/funniest case or client I ever had”

Don’t spend more than 15 minutes on this. A few paragraphs is all you need. Go ahead, do it now. Don’t think too much. Write quickly and get it done.

Then, go through it once and do a quick edit. One more pass to polish that puppy. And send.

Only don’t send it to me, send it to your clients. And post it on your website. Because what you just wrote will probably make some good reading.

See how easy that was? A lot easier than creating art.

Content ideas for your website: click here

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Filed Under: Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing

The real formula for success

March 31, 2016 by
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Jerome Howard once shared the formula for success. He said, “If at first you don’t succeed, keep on sucking until you do suck seed.”

But that’s not really true. Continuing to do what you’ve always done, expecting different results, isn’t a formula for success. The real formula for success, if there is one, is to figure out what the masses are doing and do the opposite.

Most lawyers earn average incomes and have average practices. If you do what they do, you are unlikely to achieve more than average results. It’s the same for most endeavors. In the investing world, for example, when everyone is buying you should probably be selling.

Most lawyers either don’t have their own website, or if they do, it is severely lacking in (a) valuable content, and (b) personality. Their website is banal, devoid of anything that might attract a prospective client, let alone persuade them to hire the attorney.

Okay, there are degrees of banality, but you get my point: most lawyers don’t get much bang for their website buck.

So, do the opposite of what they do. Make your website a compendium of articles, posts, videos, reports, and other content that shows prospective clients how you can help them, answers their basic questions, and persuades them to call.

Put lots of “you” into your site. Share your opinions, tell your story, and talk about what drives you. Where most lawyers perfunctorily present “just the facts,” make your website an extension of yourself so that someone who visits can get a sense of what it will be like to work with you.

In addition, talk about your clients. Tell their stories. Show how bad off they were before you helped turn things around. Use their comments (testimonials, reviews) to shine a spotlight on your greatness, so you don’t have to do it yourself.

Look at your competition–other attorneys in your practice area and market–and look for ways you can do the opposite of what they do.

Obviously, you won’t always be able to do the literal opposite of what they do. But you can easily distinguish yourself by doing things differently.

If most attorneys see clients five days per week, between 8 to 5, for example, you might stand out in a meaningful way by opening your office for a few hours on Saturday, or by opening early or staying late once or twice a week.

If most attorneys have their staff meet with clients most of the time, you might not have the time to see them all yourself, but if you’re in the office, you could make a point of greeting them when they arrive or wishing them well at the end of the appointment.

Most lawyers do what most lawyers do. Top lawyers do things differently. Study what the top lawyers do. and learn from them. Examine their process, tools, and messaging. Find out how they get new clients, and how they work with them. Talk to them and seek their advice.

But if you have limited access to the best of the best, you can probably figure out what they’re doing by looking at what the masses do and doing the opposite.

How to get your website to make the phone ring

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Filed Under: Online Marketing, success

Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

March 30, 2016 by
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If you’re smarter than a fifth grader, your intelligence, and more specifically your vocabulary, might be holding you back.

How’s that?

If your write and speak at a post-graduate level and your audience is comprised of people with little or no college, your audience won’t follow everything you say, nor do what you ask them to do.

Does that mean you should dumb down your writing and speaking? Indubitably.

There, someone reading this might not know that I just said yes. They might deduce that from the context of my other words, but it might take a few seconds, and whether you’re selling ideas or legal services, a few seconds could cost you the sale.

When you use simpler words, however, all of your readers and listeners will understand you, including those with a bigger vocabulary or a higher education. In addition, simpler words make it more likely that your thoughts will be perceived more quickly and understood at a deeper level.

As Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Don’t write merely to be understood. Write so that you cannot possibly be misunderstood.”

By anyone.

Whether you’re writing an article for your website, an email to your clients, or an appellate brief, unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, it’s best to use plain language. Some experts recommend writing at a seventh grade level. Others claim fourth grade is the cut off. I say, use common sense and when in doubt, err on the side of simple.

Now I just used the world err. According to an app I just discovered, Simple Writer, err isn’t on the list of the 1000 most common words in the English language. But to my chagrin, neither is the word error or the word mistake.

The Simple Writer app tells you if the words you type are on the list, and if not, it suggests that you consider replacing them.

That doesn’t mean you have to.

When I typed, “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” into the app, it told me that “fox” and “lazy” aren’t on the list of most common words but to avoid using them would clearly be absurd for any audience. The point is to be more aware of what you’re writing and continually seek to make it simpler.

Because everyone understands simple.

There are nine keys to an effective website. Does yours make the cut?

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Filed Under: Communication, Presentations, Writing

Does your practice run like a well-oiled machine?

March 29, 2016 by
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If your practice was a machine you would want that machine to operate at peak efficiency. You’d want everything to work properly, needing little more than routine maintenance.

Your machine would make no sound other than the quiet hum of a well-oiled, finely tuned motor. It wouldn’t need a lot of attention, it would just work.

Your practice should be like that–no snags, no sticking points, no wasted time or money. You should know that everything is working efficiently and not be worried about it suddenly seizing up, and if there is an emergency, you should have a plan in place for that.

You create this efficiency through systems.

Your workflow should have a system. All of the steps should be documented, with all of the forms and procedure you need close at hand. You should have the right software and other tools you need, and know how to use them.

You should have an office manual that outlines all of the mundane functions of running an office, including a process for hiring and training employees, bookkeeping, billing, banking, and replenishing supplies. Your staff should know how to handle nearly everything and not have to come to you for every little hiccup and burp.

When you have all of this in place, when your practice runs efficiently and produces optimal work product and profits, you can focus on the one remaining task: marketing. Because without marketing, nothing else matters.

No marketing, no new clients, and your machine will grind to a halt.

You don’t need to have brilliant marketing, but whatever you do must be done regularly, consistently, and efficiently. You do this the same way you run the rest of your practice–with a system.

Your system should tell you what you will do this week to bring in new clients and serve existing ones. What will you write, where will you go, who will you call?

You should have the forms, the letters, the scripts, and the process at your fingertips so that you don’t have to figure out what to do, you can just do it.

Marketing should never be an afterthought, something you do when the files are running low or when you think about it and can find the time. It should be planned in advance and executed on a regular schedule.

Marketing is the fuel that makes your motor run. Keep your tank full and it will take you where you want to go.

Start or update your marketing plan with this

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services Tagged With:

How do you stack up against other lawyers?

March 28, 2016 by
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Okay boys and girls, grab your giant pencils and your Big Chief Writing tablets and take a look at the assignment I’ve posted on the black board. This week, you are to look at three or four review sites and write a paper about how you compare to other lawyers.

You don’t need to have any reviews or ratings yourself. The purpose of this assignment is to see what other lawyers’ clients said about them, so you can learn how you can deliver a better experience to your clients.

Start with the “five star” reviews and read the comments. What did the clients like about their lawyer? What did their lawyer do that surprised them or especially pleased them? How were they different or better than other lawyers?

Read as many positive reviews as you can and take notes. Write down ideas you might use in your practice.

Did the lawyer being reviewed go out of his or her way to return the client’s phone calls in a timely manner? Did they have special hours in the office, perhaps opening their doors at 7 am once a week, or staying late until 8 pm, to accommodate clients who couldn’t see them during the day?

Brainstorm ways you could do something similar for your clients. Check out the attorney’s website to learn more about what they do for their clients. Consider contacting them to ask questions and get more ideas you can use.

One benefit of this exercise is that you may discover that the attorneys who received five-star reviews didn’t do anything radical. They simply treated their clients with respect and care and provided them with value.

You might find yourself inspired by these reviews, realizing that you can do this, too.

When you’re done, take a look at the bad (i.e., “one-star”) reviews. As much as you may have learned from the positive reviews, you will surely learn even more from the negative ones.

You’ll see many clients telling their tales of woe. They’ll say how their lawyer disappointed them, where they failed them. You’ll see broken promises, neglect, and negligence.

But you’ll also see problems occasioned by nothing more than a lack of understanding. The lawyer didn’t explain something, the client misunderstood something, or once the lawyer was retained, they failed to keep the client updated.

You can learn a lot from negative comments. It is a compendium of things to avoid. Learn from the mistakes of other lawyers, and confirm that you’re not making the same ones.

When you’re done with this exercise, you should have several pages of notes. Use them to prepare a ten page report on ways to improve your client relations and get lots of positive reviews.

Your paper is due by the end of the week, and yes, spelling counts.

Better client relations will bring you more repeat business and referrals

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Filed Under: Client relations Tagged With: , ,

Excuse me while I check my notes

March 25, 2016 by
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I’ve done a lot of presentations over the years and I don’t just mean in the courtroom. I’ve done them to small crowds with friendly faces and to big audiences where many people had no idea who I was or why I was on stage. I’ve scored home runs and bombed brilliantly, and everything in between.

Every one of my presentations was done without a script, except two.

The first was when I delivered a eulogy for a close friend and didn’t think I could get through it without the written page to hold onto. The second was when I received an award and was given two minutes to speak, which wasn’t enough time to thank everyone, let alone say what I wanted to say. (I took six minutes, thank you.)

There are times when a written speech is warranted. If you’re testifying before Congress, go ahead and use a script. But for most occasions, you’re better off without one.

You can write a script and use it to practice. But leave the script in your pocket during your talk.

You can use bullet points on your slides or on note cards to prompt you. This will help you avoid leaving out something important or taking too long on one point to the detriment of others. But if you know your material well enough, you may not need any help.

If you’re like some presenters I’ve seen, however, make sure you have a clock in front of you, so you don’t take 90 minutes to deliver a 60 minute talk. Or six minutes when you’ve been allotted two.

One way to prepare for your talk is to imagine yourself having a conversation with a friend. You make a point, they ask questions, and you respond. Not only will this allow you to inculcate your natural speech patterns into your talk, you might discover gaps in your material you need to fill.

The bottom line with most presentations isn’t the content, however. When your talk is done, most people won’t remember what you said. They will, however, remember how you made them feel, and the best way to make them feel good about you and your message is to talk with them, not at them.

Use your website to get more clients

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Filed Under: Presentations

Slow down, you’re moving too fast. . .

March 24, 2016 by
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I just read an interesting article positing the benefits of working slowly. Those benefits include feeling less frenzied and less fatigued, creating higher quality work product, and being more productive.

Sounds good to me. But I’ve spent a lifetime doing just the opposite–looking for ways to work faster, finish sooner, and get more done in less time–and old habits are hard to break.

Even though I can see the benefits of slowing down, I’m wondering how I can do it.

Busy busy busy. . . no time to stop and chat, I’m late I’m late I’m late.

How about you?

How about if you and I try an experiment and see what happens.

Pick a task or project, or part thereof, grab your calendar, and schedule time to do it. But instead of blocking out the amount of time you think it might take to do the task, allocate more time.

If you think you can do it in 15 minutes, block out 45 minutes or an hour.

Does the thought of doing that make you nervous? Yeah, me too. And that’s why I think we may be onto something.

Now, when the scheduled time arrives, the important thing is to use all of the scheduled time on the task and nothing else. If you finish early, go through everything again. Check your work, revise and update. See if there’s something you missed or something you can improve. If other ideas come to you about other things you need to do, write them down and put them aside.

Don’t stop working on the scheduled task until the scheduled time is up. Force yourself to work slowly on this and other projects, as a way to train yourself to slow down.

In fact, you might schedule a regular block of time on your calendar for “slow time”. This is time you dedicate to more focused, reflective work. As you race through the rest of your week and find tasks that might benefit from greater focus, i.e., a slower pace, mark them to be done during slow time.

You might eventually block out an hour a day for the same purpose.

I don’t know how well this will work, but I’m going to try it. I’ve got a project on my plate I’d planned to do today and I’m going to spend more time on it than I originally planned. If all goes well, I’ll not only get it done, I’ll get it done right–better than I might have done if I sped through it.

And then I’ll skip down the cobblestones, feeling groovy.

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Filed Under: Productivity, Time Management

How to sell your legal services in one minute or less

March 23, 2016 by
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Tell me your marketing message. Tell me how you can help me. Show me why I should hire you instead of any other lawyer.

Go on, tell me. I’ll give you a minute.

One minute? You can’t convince someone to hire you in just one minute.

No, probably not. But it doesn’t take longer than that to show a prospective client how you can help him and interest him enough to ask you to tell him more.

What does a prospective client want to know? He wants to know that you do what he needs done. You have the skills and experience to help him achieve a desired result.

He wants to know about the process. If he hires you, what will happen? What will you do, what will you expect of him? How long will it take?

And he wants to know that he can trust you. You’ll work hard for him, keep him informed, and be available when he has questions.

What about fees? Yeah, he wants to know about that, but that’s not number one on his list. (If it is, he’s not the right client for you.) Show him that you have what he wants and when he asks to see more, you can talk about fees.

You need a message you can deliver in just a few sentences. Those sentences will get your foot in the door (and eliminate the clients who aren’t right for you).

The key is to crafting an effective message is to make your message as simple as possible. Start long. Include everything. Then cut out everything that’s not essential, reducing your message to the most important points. And when you’ve done that, make it simpler still.

So simple, a child could understand it.

So tell me, why should I hire you? I’ll give you a minute.

It’s easier to sell legal services when you know the formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Why you should always assume the sale

March 22, 2016 by
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Whether you’re talking to a prospective client, speaking to a jury, or negotiating any kind of deal, you should always assume that you will get what you want.

Assume that you’ll win the case or get the best deal. Assume that the prospect will sign up, and not just for your entry level offering but for your “full package”.

Always assume the best possible outcome because assuming the sale will help you close it.

Aren’t you setting yourself (and your client) for disappointment? I didn’t say you should tell the client what you expect. In fact, you should do just the opposite. Do your best to lower their expectations, so that (a) if you get what you want, you will exceed their expectations and made them very happy, and (b) if you don’t get what you want, they won’t think that you blew it.

Okay. But shouldn’t you also lower your expectations? Don’t you need to be realistic?

No.

Assume the sale. Assume great things will happen. Assume you will win. Because when you do, you’ll “act as if,” meaning you’ll act the way you would if you knew you would be successful, and that makes it more likely that you will be.

When you act as if you expect to win, you’ll have more confidence. You’ll say things that would be said by someone who expected to win. Your decisions, timing, and body language will be consistent with closing the deal.

Your believe in a successful outcome will help you create that outcome.

Your confidence will influence the parties with whom you are dealing. Even the most hardened negotiator or judge will perceive the spring in your step and the gleam in your eye, no matter how subtle those cues might be, and they can’t help but be affected by it.

Consider the alternative. Consider what a judge might think if you come into his courtroom with body language that bespeaks a lack of confidence in your argument.

Am I saying you should lie to yourself, tell yourself things are going to work out a certain way, even if the facts and logic tell you otherwise?

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Because assuming the sale helps you close it.

Don’t be reckless. You have to have contingency plans in place and be prepared to respond to other outcomes. But once you’ve done that, put on a happy face and go out and conquer the world.

Always assume your clients will give you more referrals. Here’s how to get them

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Filed Under: Personal development, Salesmanship, success Tagged With: , ,

How can I get better clients?

March 21, 2016 by
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How can I get better clients, you ask. That’s a great question. It’s great because you asked “how” instead of “can I?” Your question acknowledges that (a) there are better clients to be had, and that (b) it is possible for you to attract them.

Instead of making do with the clients you’ve been getting, you’ve opened the door to better ones. And opening that door is the first step.

Your next step is to define what “better clients” mean. Who is your “ideal client?”

Be specific. If you mean bigger cases, bigger retainers, or bigger fees, how big is big? If you mean clients who pay on time, follow your advice and don’t try to micromanage you, write down some examples of actual clients who fit that description.

What about clients who have lots of repeat business for you? What about clients who are influential in your target market(s) and can send you lots of referrals?

Write it all down and think about it for a few days. Edit and add to your list, until it hums.

For each characteristic on your list, write down the benefits. What will bigger cases or better cash flow allow you to do in your practice? How will it add value to your personal life?

Don’t skip this part. It’s important to know how but more important to know why because when you know why, you’ll figure out how.

Imagine what your practice will look like when nearly 100% of your clients fit your ideal. Exciting, isn’t it?

Okay, what’s next?

Next is stating your intention to acquire them. Not your desire, not your goal, your intent.

A goal is an aspiration. Intent is a declaration that something is going to happen. It is a commitment, and it has much more energy than a goal.

What’s that? You say this is your intent? Okay, prove it. Let go of your clients who aren’t ideal.

Not all at once. You don’t have to go cold turkey, although you might want to. “Leap and the net will appear,” and all that.

How about this–start by firing (or non-renewing) one client who doesn’t fit your ideal. One is a place to start, and trust me, after you’ve let go of one, you’ll be itching to let go of more.

Yes, but what do you do to replace them? How do you fill the void you just created?

Nature will take care of some of it for you. Remember, she abhors a vacuum. By making room on your client list for better clients, you just instructed her to fill that void. She will command your reticular activating system (RAS)–look it up–to filter out prospective clients who don’t fit your ideal and make you more aware of those who are.

You’ll notice things, hear things, and be inspired to do things that lead you to those better clients. That’s what happened to me in my practice when I went through this process. It was amazing how quickly the void was filled with “better” clients.

Okay, I know you don’t believe me. Not completely, anyway. It sounds good but you want to hedge your bets by identifying things you can do to make it happen, instead of waiting for it to happen.

But that’s the easy part. You can ask yourself, “Where do I find them?” and “What do I say or do or offer?” and you’ll start getting some answers.

Your RAS will lead you to those answers. You’ll meet other attorneys who have the clients you want to attract and you’ll find out what they’re doing. You’ll stumble upon the perfect blog post or book that will have the answers you seek.

But you had to state your intent, first. Because great things can happen once you commit, but nothing great happens until you do.

Who is your ideal client? Find out here

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: , ,
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