You need to talk to your clients

November 18, 2015 by
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You frequently hear me tell you to “think clients, not cases,” meaning you must consider the lifetime value of your clients and not just the fee from a single case or engagement. That $1500 fee for a first-time client could lead to $15,000 or $50,000 in fees over the lifetime of the client.

Even if a client never hires you again, cultivating a relationship with them can bring referrals, traffic to your website, sign-ups for your list, attendees at your seminars, and followers on social media, all of which will lead to new business.

Get it? Got it. Good.

So. . . stay in touch with your clients and former clients (an oxymoron).

How? Letters are great, but can get expensive. Email is great but may be overlooked. Send letters and emails but don’t ignore your number one tool for building and sustaining relationships: the phone.

You need to talk to your clients, bro. They need to hear your voice.

Yes, people still answer their phone. If they are away, leave a message. They’ll hear your voice and get an injection of your essence. Virtual you is almost as good as the real you.

Here’s my challenge to you: invest six minutes a day calling people. In six minutes, you could talk to one or two clients, or leave five or six messages.

Why 6 minutes? One hourly billing unit. If you bill $300/hr., you’re investing $50/day or $1100 per month (22 work days) to grow your practice. If that brings you one new client per month, will it be worth it? What if it brings two?

What do you say when you call? Did yo mama teach you nothing? Say hello. Ask them how they’re doing. Tell them you were going through your contact list, saw their name, and thought you’d give them a quick call.

Another? Okay, tell them you just posted a new article or blog post or video on your website and thought they might like to see it. Tell them where to find it and tell them to have a nice day.

Easy stuff. Even for a lawyer.

You want it even easier? You’re lazy? Okay, have someone who works for you make the call. Tell the client, “Mr. Jones [that’s you] asked me to give you a quick call to say hello and see how you’re doing.” It’s not your voice the client hears, but you by proxy will do.

Anyway, I can hear what you’re thinking. Yep. You’re thinking this won’t work. It’s ridiculous. Nobody will hire you again or send you referrals just because you called and said hello.

Fair enough. Try it for a week or two. It may not work for you. On the other hand, what if it does?

Marketing online for attorneys is a real thing

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Filed Under: Client relations, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Referrals

How to do a screencast video

November 17, 2015 by
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After my last video about mindmaps, a subscriber asked for information on how to do a screencast. I’ve posted a new video that explains the tools I use and how easy it is to to create your own screencast video.

Here’s the link to the video on YouTube.

Let me know what you think.

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

Why you should teach prospective clients to do it themselves

November 16, 2015 by
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Suppose you are a personal injury attorney. And suppose you write a report showing people how to handle their own property damage (no injury) insurance claim. You tell them what to do and how to do it.

You tell them not to admit fault, teach them how to measure and document their damages, give advice about what to do if it’s a total loss, and equip them to present and negotiate their claim.

You know, stuff you often do for clients and prospects without charge.

Show them how to do it themselves so they don’t ask you to do it for them. Of course you also tell them what to do if they do have injuries. You tell them what an attorney can do to help them maximize their claim and have peace of mind and how hiring an attorney usually pays for itself.

You distribute your report to your clients and prospects and to anyone else who wants a copy. You give it away on your website and hand it out when you’re networking. You contact other lawyers who don’t do personal injury and let them give the report to their clients and contacts.

What will happen? You’ll get a lot of people who are grateful to you for your sound advice. Some will be injured and call you. Some will hold onto your report and call you when they have an injury claim. And some will call you with questions about their property damage claim, even though you showed them what to do and assured them they could do it themselves.

That’s okay. Take their call. Encourage their call. Give them a few minutes of your time. Write a letter or make a call for them, without charge. It’s an investment in their future business.

Think “clients” not “cases”.

If you don’t handle personal injury, you can do something similar in your practice area. Teach people how to file their own simple divorce, quit claim their property to their spouse, or file a fictitious business statement.

Help people do things for themselves and when they have something they can’t do themselves, they’ll call you.

Want more referrals? Quickly? How about 30 Days?

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Writing

My first YouTube video in over 3 years

November 13, 2015 by
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Oops, I did it again. After a hiatus of more than 3 years, I uploaded a new YouTube video. It’s a quick overview of mind-mapping using Xmind software.

The video is unscripted and done without notes. I was trying out my screen-casting skills using screencast-o-matic software and wasn’t planning on uploading it, but when it was done, I thought it wasn’t terrible and you might like to see it.

While you’re on YouTube, you might want to watch a funny video I did 5 years ago, call The Convention. It’s about an attorney going to his first ABA convention and may be good for a few chuckles.

No matter how disinclined you are to doing a podcast or any other content creation requiring a regular commitment of time, even the busiest attorney can occasionally create simple videos and post them online. Even me.

Anyway, let me know what you think of my new creation, or if you have any questions. And if you have any requests for additional videos, as Ross Perot used to say, “I’m all ears”.

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Filed Under: Presentations, Productivity, Technology, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Marketing legal services: let other people do it for you

November 12, 2015 by
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You don’t want to blog or do a podcast but other people in your niche do. They need people to interview and people to write guest posts.

You, for example.

Find blogs and podcasts and video channels in your niche and introduce yourself to the head guy or gal. Compliment their work. Promote their content to your lists. Comment on their posts. Get on their Hangouts and contribute to the conversation.

Stay on their radar and eventually they will ask if they can interview you. In fact, once they know who you are, let them know that you are available and you’ll probably move to the front of their list.

By helping them, you help yourself. Your interviews and posts will get your name and contact information in front of people who need your services or who know someone who does. You’ll get more traffic to your website, more followers on social media, and more subscribers for your list. New clients will be next.

Remember, they need content and they can only create so much themselves. They need people like you to help them. As you help them, you help yourself.

The more you get your name out there, the more other bloggers and podcasters will seek you out. Marketing will get easier for you. Instead of doing one interview this month you’ll have three interviews this week.

Soon, your target market will see you “everywhere” and they will know that when they need a lawyer who does what you do, you are the one they want. Other professionals will see that you are in demand and choose you for their referrals.

Help others with their marketing and they will help you with yours.

Learn more about marketing legal services online, here

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Filed Under: Blogging, List building, Marketing legal services, Networking, Online Marketing, Publicity, Social media marketing, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With:

Won’t you be my neighbor?

November 11, 2015 by
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My wife and I have lived in their house for over 20 years. We don’t know most of our neighbors, however, and we like it that way. We like our privacy and, we think, most of our neighbors do, too.

But what’s true for a home isn’t true for a business. At least it shouldn’t be. One of the easiest ways to get more referrals is to get to know your neighbors.

Most of the professionals and businesses near your office have local clients or customers. If you handle consumer or small business matters, they are a natural source of referrals for you, if not potential clients themselves.

Okay, you get this. What can you do to start getting some of that business?

You could mail something to them, and that’s better than nothing, but why not simply knock on their door?

Introduce yourself and ask for their card and perhaps a brochure. What’s your “excuse” for doing that? You don’t need one, but if you think you do you could tell them you were “in the building” (that’s true; you don’t have to tell them why you were in the building), you saw their name on the door or on the building directory and wanted to find out (more about) what they do.

Which is also true.

Give them your card, tell them to have a nice day, and you’re done.

When you get back to your office, send them a one or two sentence email that says, “Great to meet you”. If you feel bold, you might also say you’ll keep them in mind if you have a client or meet someone who might need their products or services. Do not ask them to do the same.

That’s enough for now. Actually, that’s quite a bit. You have a new contact who has a favorable impression of you.  You did comb your hair and wear a clean shirt, right? Great. You’ve opened new doors to endless possibilities.

To get referrals from lawyers and other professionals, use this

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Referrals

Less thinking, more doing

November 10, 2015 by
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If you’re like me, and you are, you think too much. Not about everything, but about many things, especially things you’re not sure you want to do. For most lawyers, anything associated with marketing seems to fall into that category.

You know you need to update your website, for example, but the idea sounds daunting and unpleasant, so you don’t do it. You’d like to get more referrals from other lawyers but you think this will require doing things you won’t want to do (it doesn’t) so you procrastinate.

Thinking is an occupational hazard for smart people.

Lately, I’ve been noodling about starting a podcast. I’m watching videos, learning about equipment and process, reading blog posts, and imagining what it might be like.

Will I be any good at it? Will I get business from it? Is it too complicated, too expensive, or too time consuming?

And. . . most importantly. . . will I like it? Because if I don’t, I know I won’t stick with it.

Sound familiar?

Anyway, the only way to find out any of these things is to actually do it.

Less thinking, more doing.

But here’s the thing. Going from not doing a podcast to doing a podcast is a big leap. Maybe too big. Instead of making that leap, I might do a short audio message for you, or a YouTube video, and see how that goes.

No commitment to a weekly podcast, just a “one-off”. If I like it, I might do another. At that point, I’ll be a different person, have different knowledge, and can make better decisions about what to do next.

Whatever it is that you think you need to do, or think you want to do, try it. Do it once, or do it for a few weeks, and see what you think and how you feel.

Thinking, planning, and research are good things. But you won’t know for sure until you do it.

Get more referrals from lawyers

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development Tagged With: ,

How to get more clients with “The Puppy Dog Close”

November 9, 2015 by
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The Puppy Dog Close is a well-known concept in marketing and sales. Here’s the skinny:

You go into a pet store, just to look. The salesman sees you playing with the puppies in the window. You’re almost there, but the salesman can tell you’re not sure. So he says, “Why don’t you take one of these little fellas home for the weekend. No charge. If it doesn’t work out, bring him back on Monday.”

You bring the puppy home, give him a name and fall in love. There’s no way you’re bringing him back.

The salesman didn’t have to close you, you closed yourself.

You may recognize this approach when you go looking at new cars. The test drive is a form of The Puppy Dog Close.

Okay, so you don’t sell puppies or cars. How can you use this approach in your practice?

The odds are, you already do.

Think about it. Aren’t you giving people a “free sample” of your wisdom when you do a seminar or other presentation? When you write articles or blog posts or give away reports or videos, aren’t you showing people how you think and giving them a sense of what it might be like to work with you?

You also do it when you network. As people get to know you, they begin to like and trust you, and that leads to hiring you or sending you referrals.

If you offer free consultations, prospective clients get a chance to try you out and fall in love with you, or at least the benefits you offer. You help them gain clarity about their problems and the available solutions. You help them see a way out and a way forward and they like you for it. It’s hard for them to walk away from that.

You might want to take this up a notch. In addition to offering free consultations, you might offer a free entry-level service. Prepare a free simple Will, for example, as a gateway to doing a trust or other estate planning services. Give prospective divorce clients the first hour free, so they can see how much value you deliver.

Once a prospective client tries you for an hour, they’re probably not going to take you back to the lawyer store.

Crazy talk? I don’t know. How about giving this idea a try before you say it’s not for you. You might fall in love with this puppy.

To learn more about promoting trial, get The Formula

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship

Playing ‘hot potato’ with your client files

November 6, 2015 by
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There’s a productivity maxim that says we should only touch a piece of paper or file one time. If you pick it up, you do something with it. Get it off of your plate and onto someone else’s.

It’s like the kids’ game, ‘hot potato’. You have to hand it off quickly, lest you get stuck with it when the buzzer sounds. (No extra charge, there, for using “lest” in a sentence.)

Fortunately, most of what you have to do on most of your files can be done quickly. Take a look, make a decision, scribble a note, done. Give it to your secretary or assistant to carry out your instructions.

When I was practicing, I would come into the office in the morning to a big pile of files and papers on my desk. My mission was to get through that pile as quickly as possible and put those files on my secretary’s desk.

I’d write a note, review an incoming letter, dictate something, sign a letter, and so on, and in a minute or two, each file was done and off my desk.

It was a game and I played it well. I delegated like a boss, because, well, I was the boss.

Of course there were plenty of files that required more than a few minutes of attention. No problem. As I chopped the wood pile down to size and got rid of the kindling (the easy files), I started a new pile of bigger logs. This didn’t violate the “touch once” rule because I did something with the bigger files–I looked at them, decided they needed more time, and put them in another pile.

An overwhelming pile of twenty-five files would thus (no charge there, either) be reduced to a much more manageable five or six. While my staff was working on the pile I had given them, I would dig into the bigger projects.

Yes it’s all a mental game. But if you’re like me, it’s a game you enjoy playing. You keep your staff busy, you keep your desk clear, and you get more balls into the opposition’s court so they can do what they have to do and get back to you with offers.

That’s how you keep the cash flowing and go home early.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With:

Why I stopped collecting coins

November 5, 2015 by
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I was a coin collector as a kid. My grandfather got me started. I subscribed to Coin World, and read it every week. I belonged to The Kennedy Coin Club, where I where I met with other collectors to buy, sell, and trade.

I always had my Want/Have list in my wallet–a list of coins I needed to fill in gaps in my collection and duplicates I was willing to sell or trade.

I remember how much fun it was to go through my pocket change (or my father’s pockets) and find silver coins or rare coins from the past. Sometimes, I’d go to the bank and “buy” a bag of coins so I could go through it to find the one or two coins that were worthy of saving. I’d replace them in the bag and exchange it for a new one.

Collecting coins was a fun hobby. But eventually, there came a time when you could no longer find rare coins or silver coins in your change, and I stopped doing it. It wasn’t fun anymore.

You know what? That’s a good metric for everything in life. If it’s not fun, don’t do it.

If you don’t enjoy practicing law, do something about it. Change your practice area or your clients, get good at marketing, or go do something else.

I said as much in an interview I did yesterday for a podcast. “What’s one piece of advice you could share that we haven’t talked about,” I was asked at the end of the interview. “If it’s not fun, you’re not doing it right,” I said.

Of course it’s not all black or white. There’s lots of gray. You may not like networking, for example, but you love the results so you keep doing it. That’s actually a good way to look at it. Focus on what you like, not what you don’t like.

Don’t forget, everything is relative. Maybe you don’t like marketing, but you don’t like getting calls from bill collectors even less.

Find some aspect of what you’re doing that’s fun. Because otherwise, why do it?

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Marketing legal services, Personal development, success
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