The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

Talk to me, baby

February 1, 2024 by David M. Ward

A few thoughts about talking to people you want to like you, hire you, and follow your advice.

First, assume they’re nervous; say something “neutral” to break the ice. Ask about the traffic or parking, or how they found you. If you know something about their problem, and it’s bad, acknowledge that up front.

If you’re in person, make eye contact. And smile. So simple, and so effective at showing them you’re listening, you care about what they say, and you’re a nice person. It makes them much more likely to like you and listen to you.

You want them to do most of the talking, so ask open-ended questions to get them to do that. Ask appropriate follow-up questions to clarify what they say (and show them you care about getting it right). Then, repeat their important points back to them, to give them a chance to hear what they told you, e.g., “So, what you’re saying is…”, and thus, prompt them to confirm it, change it, or add to it.

And again, to show them you’re listening.

If you feel the need to correct something they said, be gentle.

Share information, but don’t show off how much you know. And, whatever you do, don’t talk all about yourself. Talk about them, their legal matter, and the options available to them.

Take notes. Let them see you writing what they say, or hear you typing or scratching if on the phone. It tells them that what they say is important, you care about accuracy, and you want to do a good job for them.

Finally, ask them to tell you if there’s anything else they want you to know (but might not have mentioned).

They might tell you something important, but if they don’t, they’ll appreciate your thoroughness and that you let them get in the last word.

Filed Under: Communication

Ai ain’t Cyrano

January 31, 2024 by David M. Ward

Ben Settle was talking about email copywriting, but it applies to any kind of writing if your objective is to get someone to do something, buy something or believe something.

So, writing.

And we would do well to remember it when we toy with the idea of using Ai to do all of our writing.

It might be a good idea if you just want to shovel words at a reader. But not if you want to persuade them (and get paid lawyer money to do it).

Settle said, “Email is a transfer of emotion and energy from writer to reader”.

Which is something Ai can’t do.

A professional copywriter can. You can. But Ai can only transfer information, not emotion or energy, which is why we shouldn’t let it turn our heads.

Use Ai for research, for outlining, for ideas, even for first drafts. But not for anything that requires the human touch.

Someday? I don’t think so. But what do I know? I’m only human.

Filed Under: Writing

When do prospective clients decide to hire you?

January 30, 2024 by David M. Ward

By the time most prospective clients meet you or speak to you, they’ve already decided to hire you. Or not.

They usually know something about you—from your website, your ad or mailing, a review, or a friend who referred them. When they speak to you, their gut tells them yes or no.

You can give them more information about yourself, about their case and what you can do to help them. But they’ve usually already decided. They use the information you give them to confirm their decision or to see if there’s a reason to override it.

Which means you don’t have to give them a lot of information or go hard trying to persuade them.

If, based on first impressions, they’ve decided they want to hire you, you only need to tell them enough so they can justify their decision. If you give them more, you risk overwhelming or confusing them, giving them more things to think about or question, and talking yourself out of the sale.

On the other hand, if they initially decided to not hire you, loading them up with information is unlikely to get them to change their mind.

People don’t like changing their minds.

Give them basic information and not too much of it. If they want more, they’ll ask for more.

Hey, this is good news. Since the sale is made before you speak to the prospective client, you just have to say enough to not screw it up.

Filed Under: Client relations, Closing the sale, Salesmanship

Managing expectations

January 29, 2024 by David M. Ward

Years ago, each January, my wife and I attended an “expectation” party which took place at a friend’s home. Everyone found a seat and wrote a letter to their future self, to be read the following year. Instead of writing our goals, we wrote our expectations for the upcoming year, supposedly because expectations are more realistic than goals. They’re based on what we’ve been doing and thus, what we expect to happen—not just what we want.

The next January, we would gather again and read our letters, out loud if we wanted but usually to ourself. And then, write our expectations for the next year.

Unfortunately, most years I usually didn’t achieve what I expected. Probably because I wrote what I wanted, not what I expected. You want big things to happen in your life. So naturally you set lofty goals (expectations), even if they are unrealistic.

Think big, we’re told. Aim for the sun, the moon, and the stars. If you fall short, you’ll accomplish more than you would if you hadn’t thought big.

But that’s not the best advice because we usually set goals that are too high (and long term) and continually fail to reach them. We fall short and thus condition ourself to expect to be disappointed. And unhappy. And too often, that’s what happens.

Charlie Munger, said, “If you have unrealistic expectations, you’re going to be miserable all your life.”

Better than setting big goals and continually failing to meet them is setting small goals and continually reaching them. When we do, we condition ourself to expect to succeed, which is a much better place to be.

If you expect to bring in 5 new clients each month but only bring in 2, you’re disappointed and frustrated. If that happens enough, you start to believe you can’t get more.

Instead, lower your expectations. Stop trying to accomplish more than what’s realistic and failing. Choose a goal you are reasonably certain you can reach and succeed.

You’ll feel better about yourself and what you can do. You’ll be successful and feel successful, and that’s what will allow you to accomplish more.

Setting and reaching goals, albeit lower goals than you really want, is a recipe for success because you gain confidence in yourself and what you can do. From that platform, you can set incrementally higher goals and realistically expect to reach them.

Taking a gigantic leap sounds good, but you are more likely to get to the top by taking one step at a time.

Filed Under: Goal Setting, success, Uncategorized

Why are some lawyers more successful than you?

January 25, 2024 by David M. Ward

You’re good at what you do. You work hard. Your clients love you. So, why do some of your less capable competitors do better than you?

Does it come down to better marketing?

That’s a good bet.

They might have embraced marketing sooner than you did and have more experience. They might use strategies you don’t use or execute them better. They might have better professional contacts or a bigger email list.

Your clients love you, but maybe their clients love them more and they get a lot more repeat business and referrals.

Maybe they advertise, and you don’t. Have deeper pockets or a better team of advisors.

Maybe it is a combination of factors—little things they do or do better than you.

Or maybe it’s none of the above. Maybe they just got lucky.

You know what? It doesn’t matter. What matters is what you can do to become more successful.

I have two suggestions:

Keep trying. Try new ideas, strategies, and methods. And improve things you already do. Get more help, give it more time, invest more money, study, practice, and learn from others.
Relax. Don’t be upset that you’re not as successful as the competition, or that it’s taking you longer. Don’t strain or struggle. Don’t force yourself to do things you aren’t good at or hate. You’ll get there. You’ll find the right combination. Things that make use of your talents and interests and style.

Success leave clues, not a blueprint.

Filed Under: success

Talk less

January 23, 2024 by David M. Ward

All of the marketing and advertising you do is merely a prequel to having a conversation with a prospective client.

During that conversation, they want to know what you think about their situation or question; they want to know if you can help them; and they want to know what it will take for you to do that.

So, you ask questions. And listen.

You listen so you can diagnose their problem or need and tell them how you can help them and what it will cost. If they like what you say, they begin to trust you and move closer to taking the next step.

But they might not be ready. They might have more questions.

Questions are good. It means they’re interested.

But the key to reaching agreement isn’t for you to do all the talking. They key is to get them to do most of the talking.

Which means asking them more questions.

You want them to tell you more about their situation, what they want and what they fear. As you validate what they say, through your words and body language (and additional questions), they see that not only are you knowledgeable about their situation and capable of helping them, you want to.

But don’t let them wander. You must control the conversation by narrowing the scope of their questions and keeping them focused on the solutions they need and want. Answer their question and ask your own:

Does that make sense? Is that what you want? Would (this) be better for you or would (that)?

When you see that they might be ready to take that next step, ask a “closing” question. If you’ve answered their questions and told them what you can do to help them, your closing question might be as simple as, “Are you ready to get started?”

Talk less. Listen more. They’ll tell you what they want—and what you need to say to get them to say “yes”.

Filed Under: Closing the sale, Salesmanship

Create content about what you do

January 22, 2024 by David M. Ward

Your clients, prospective clients, subscribers, friends and followers, and even your business and professional contacts, want to know about you and your work.

Even more than they want to know about the law.

In fact, unless someone currently has a specific legal issue or question, or has a client or friend who does, they probably don’t want to hear you talking about the law.

It’s boring.

It’s people who are interesting. And you are one of those people.

Tell them about your typical day, the kinds of clients and cases you handle, your staff, how you stay productive, and even the software you use.

Tell them how you do research, the forms and docs you depend on, and how you get new business. (Perfect opportunity to talk about all the referrals you get—and plant a few seeds for your readers).

They want to hear what you like about your work, and what you don’t. They want to know about your favorite case, and about your “client from hell”.

You may think what you do is dry and uninteresting, but you’re too close to it. What you find humdrum is fascinating to others.

However… don’t make your content all about you.

You also need to talk about the law. Because some people find you by searching for a legal topic, and when they do, they want to know everything you can tell them.

But more than you or the law, your content should be about your reader.

Their issues, their industry, their market, and the people in their industry or market.

Yep, talk about clients and prospects and the people in their world. Because there is nothing more interesting to your readers than reading about themselves.

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters, Online Marketing

The “one thing” every lawyer can do to build a more successful practice

January 19, 2024 by David M. Ward

I often refer to the “Focusing Question,” posited in the book, The One Thing: ‘Ask yourself, “What is the ONE thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary”.’ My usual advice for lawyers, of course, is to improve your marketing.

And I’m not going to change my mind about that today.

There’s nothing more important or remunerative than getting better at bringing in new business and keeping it.

But there is something that is a close second.

If you’ve read me for a while, you won’t be surprised to hear me say it is, “improve your writing”.

Yes, many lawyers have brilliant practices or careers without being talented writers. Trial lawyers might be good orators, for example, business lawyers, good negotiators or networkers, and those skills can more than make up for any deficiency they might have with a pen or keyboard.

But any lawyer can be even more successful if they are also good writers.

But you know this. You’ve heard me talk about it enough. About how improving my writing helped me build my practice and several successful businesses.

For one thing, writing is a key component of marketing. Yes, you can delegate or outsource much of your writing, and many successful lawyers do, but for instructing those writers (and/or ai) about what you want done, and making sure you get it, there is no substitute for having some writing chops yourself.

Besides, the most effective writing you do will come from you. And only you.

Improving your writing will help you create better content, achieve greater engagement with your clients, your social media crowd, and your professional contacts. You’ll get more repeat business and referrals and build your professional reputation, all with the power of your words.

Improving your writing will also help you create better content and better work product, and do it faster. If it now takes you two hours to write an article, but you can get to where you can do it in 30 minutes, would that be valuable to you?

Writing is also a competent in thinking, planning, and strategizing. The more you write, the better you become at formulating ideas and plans.

So, how do you get better (and faster) at writing? By writing. You can benefit from reading books and taking courses, but there is no substitute for putting your butt in the chair and pounding out words.

Hold on. I know you already do a lot of writing. It’s a big part of what lawyers do.

Do more.

Write something other than your regular work and do it every day, even for 5 minutes. “Free write” to limber up your writing muscles and let your words pour out onto a page. Don’t worry about how good it is. Nobody will see it until you show it to them, and for now, you don’t have to do that.

Write a journal, scribble a half page of ideas, or re-write your notes about something. The idea is to move your hand and spit out words and do that as often as possible.

When I started, I did it first thing after I rolled out of bed, yes, before coffee. With my brain half awake, I was less critical and learned to write freely and naturally.

Was it any good? No. That came later. But it came, and if you keep at it, it will come for you.

Filed Under: Writing

The last piece of work I do every day

January 18, 2024 by David M. Ward

Years ago, I used to plan my day in the morning. Check the calendar, to-do list, and the pile of documents, letters and files I need to work on.

Today, I do that the night before.

“Plan tomorrow before tomorrow begins,” became my motto after I heard the wisdom of doing that from an expert in productivity and tried it. It’s made a big difference.

I start my day knowing what to do, when and for how long

I’m not trying to plan my day in the morning when my energy is high and is best used doing the actual work.

If something unexpected comes up during the day, I don’t stress about it. I either fit it in, or more likely, (calmly) schedule it for another day.

I’m more realistic about my tasks and time

When I wrote my task list in the morning, I usually put down too many things I “planned” to do. I focused on being busy, not productive, and usually finished the day with a lot of tasks undone.

Now, I take a moment to reflect on my day and imagine myself doing those tasks. I’m more mindful and selective about what I do and have more time to do my most important tasks.

I’m also more likely to start my workday doing something important instead of whatever is at the top of the list.

Planning and executing are different. I execute better (more quickly, more thoughtfully, with fewer mistakes, and less likely to get distracted) when I’m not also doing the planning.

I’m less likely to procrastinate

Not only do I have a schedule for the day, planning it the night before allows me to break down the various steps and schedule those as well.

I know what I will do first, and what I will do after that, and because each step is smaller, I’m more likely to do them.

I don’t feel guilty about relaxing in the evening, or compelled to get to work first thing the next day

Once I’ve planned my day, I go “off the clock”. I take it easy, watch videos or shows with my wife, read, play a few word games, and do other things humans do.

Similarly, in the morning, I don’t feel in a rush to get to work.

Sometimes, I get to it. Sometimes, I don’t.

I might do some light admin work in the morning before I do my “deep work”. Or I might watch some frivolous videos and do nothing meaningful at all until I’m ready for “work mode”. Either way, because I have a plan, I don’t stress about starting my day.

I sleep better

According to one study I heard, spending five minutes in the evening writing a task list for the next day often makes it easier to fall asleep.

I don’t toss and turn as I remember things I need to do the following day. I’ve already decided what I will do and recorded it.

Yes, sometimes I remember things I neglected to schedule, but my phone is always nearby and I can record a quick reminder. But because I know I have a well-planned day, I can forget about it until the morning.

I’m more productive

By making a schedule the night before instead of “the day of,” I may or may not get more work done, but I almost always get my most important work done.

Planning your day in the morning is okay. It’s better than starting the day without a plan. But planning my day before it begins has been (to use an overused term) life-changing for me.

And I recommend you try it.

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: planning

Running out of ideas?

January 17, 2024 by David M. Ward

If you ever have a difficult time coming up with ideas for your newsletter or blog or social media posts, I have a very simple solution for you. Not the only solution, of course. There are many sources of ideas. But when it’s crunch time and you’re looking at a blank page and a deadline, this should be your “go to”:

Find something you wrote (or said) before and write it (or say it) again.

You may notice that I do this all the time. In fact, the subject of this post is something I’ve written about more than a few times. I don’t feel guilty about that and (if you do it) neither should you. Because not only is it good for us to be able to repeat ourselves, it’s also good for our readers.

Here are 4 reasons:

Repetition is the mother of learning. Hearing an idea more than once helps the reader or listener understand and remember that idea.
Hearing that idea again may prompt the reader to actually do what they have learned but aren’t doing, or stopped doing.
Many subscribers or followers may not read what we have written. They were busy, didn’t think they needed the information, or didn’t open the email or visit your blog.
Many subscribers are new and never saw your article or post.

One more reason: the preeminence of fundamentals.

In my case, it’s much more important to remind you why you should prioritize referrals in your marketing, and tell you (again) how to get them, for example, than to tell you my latest strategy for keeping notes.

Okay, repetition for the win. But… a few guidelines:

Spread it out. Don’t write about the same idea 3 times this month, write about it 3 times this year.
Use (different) stories and examples to make your points, to keep it interesting and give your readers something different they might relate to and remember.
Vary the style and length of your articles and posts. One time, you might have a lengthy and comprehensive article, the next time you might rhapsodize about a portion of the same, or simply refer to the idea parenthetically as part of another article or post.

Finally, if you’re really in a pinch, it’s perfectly fine to write nothing new but simply copy and paste your old article as though it is new. (You may find this especially handy when you’re going on vacation).

Most readers won’t notice and those who do won’t care.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters