Marketing is easier when you use leverage

November 26, 2012 by
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As I mentioned last week, this Wednesday, at 2 pm PT, I’m being interviewed and you’re invited. Among other things, I’ll be talking about my latest marketing course, The Attorney Marketing Formula.

One of the themes throughout The Attorney Marketing Formula is leverage–getting bigger results out of the same effort. A simple example of leverage in marketing a law practice is the use of forms and checklists. You invest time to memorialize a process and then use that process over and over again, saving you lots of time, reducing errors, and impressing the hell out of your clients who see how remarkably well organized you are.

Another example of leverage is focusing on your current and former clients as a source of repeat business and referrals in preference to other ways of seeking new clients. There are much lower costs associated with marketing to people who already know, like, and trust you, and much better results. Even if someone can’t hire you again right now, and doesn’t know anyone they can refer, there are other ways they can help you. They can send traffic to your web site through social media, for example, or forward your email to their friends and colleagues.

A marketing joint venture with professionals and business owners to get exposure to their lists is another form of leverage. If you’re a small business attorney, for example, you could get together with an accountant, a tax lawyer, a commercial insurance broker, and a financial planner. Each of you contributes a report, article, audio, or video, and the four of you send (or offer) this collection to your lists. Or, you can put together a bundle of services for the small business owner, with discounts and/or free services from each of you, and offer this bundle to your lists.

Anyway, I hope you’ll join us on Wednesday and bring your questions. I’m looking forward to speaking with you!

Save an extra $10 on The Attorney Marketing Formula through 5 pm PT tonight, November 26th. Use discount code “thankful”.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Law office management, Leverage, Marketing legal services, News, Productivity Tagged With:

Get your attorney marketing questions answered next week (video interview)

November 21, 2012 by
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Next week, I will be interviewed by attorney Mitch Jackson on his Spreecast channel. The subject: The Attorney Marketing Formula, the course that teaches you how to earn more than you ever thought possible.

Please join us at 2 pm Pacific time on Wednesday, November 28. The event is free and open to everyone. Bring your marketing questions and I’ll answer them live on video. Or, if you can’t make it, send me your questions in advance. The show will be recorded and you can watch later.

Register here, or just bookmark the link to watch the replay.

If you don’t yet have a copy of The Attorney Marketing Formula, you can save an extra $10 through the Thanksgiving weekend. Use discount code “thankful” (without quotes). This promotion runs through Monday, November 26, 2012 at 5:00 pm Pacific.

I appreciate you and look forward to seeing you next week. If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have something special planned.

The Attorney Marketing Formula is way better than a 40-inch TV. Save an extra $10 with discount code “thankful”.

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

What percentage of your income do you re-invest in your law practice?

November 20, 2012 by
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I started my law practice with a few thousand dollars for rent, furniture, stationery, and a typewriter. It was a drop in the bucket compared to what I spent over the years to grow and expand that practice.

Like any business, I took a percentage of net income and re-invested it. A bigger office, more employees, marketing. How about you? How much do you re-invest in your practice, and in what are you investing?

  • CLE
  • Law library, form files
  • Technology, equipment, furnishings
  • Employees/outsourced help
  • Employee training
  • Human Resources
  • Web site/blog
  • Marketing/Client Relations
  • Advertising
  • Personal development/training
  • Risk management/insurance/compliance
  • Office management/HR
  • Bookkeeping, billing, accounting, collections
  • Investments/retirement planning

A law practice is a business. If you don’t re-invest in your business to stimulate and support its growth, your business will decay and eventually die.

Some of these categories are more important than others, and deserve a bigger investment of your time and money. One of these categories, however, is much more important than the others.

Which category do you think I would say is number one?

Nope, marketing is second. Number one is personal development. If you get that right, you will understand the vital role that marketing plays, you will commit to making it a priority, and you will get better results. You’ll also do a better job of handling all of the other categories.

Growing your practice starts with growing yourself.

If you’re ready to make marketing a priority, you need to master the six key strategies in The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Personal development

All lawyers market their services, although some don’t realize it

November 19, 2012 by
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I got an email from an attorney who wanted to hire someone to do all of her marketing for her. She said she’s “not good at marketing and not interested in it.” She doesn’t realize it but she’s already engaged in marketing. Every lawyer is.

Every time you say thank you to a client or referral source, you’re marketing.

Every time you hand someone you business card and ask for theirs, you’re marketing.

Every time you have a meal with someone, you’re marketing.

You may be doing it poorly, or getting poor results, but it’s marketing nevertheless.

Marketing is defined as, “everything you do to get and keep clients”. Key word–“everything”. All of the little things you say and do, the warmth of your handshake, the sincerity of your smile. It all counts.

You do yourself an injustice when you conclude that marketing is something you can hand off to someone else.

You can hire people to assist you. They can do most of the behind the scenes work. They can advise you, create your ads, run your blog, and promote your seminars. They can set up meetings with people on your behalf.

But you have to be at those meetings.

Building a law practice means building relationships and that’s not something that can be delegated.

If this is an anathema to you, if you are terminally shy or you just don’t like people, you’ll be a lot happier finding a partner who is good at what you don’t enjoy. Let him or her be the face of the firm, while you do what you’re good at.

But guess what? You’ll still be marketing.

Every time you say thank you to a client, you’re marketing. Every time you give someone your card and ask for theirs, or have a meal with someone, you’re marketing.

You can’t escape. Everything means everything.

If you want to improve your marketing, you should read (and apply) The Attorney Marketing Formula. 

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

Would you hire you?

November 16, 2012 by
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If I was interviewing you for a job working for my law firm, one thing I would evaluate is your attitude. What would I see in you?

Is it:

  1. “I’ll try.” Hmm, not too promising. It’s better than, “I won’t try,” but not much. Was this your attitude when you enrolled in law school? How about when you got married? Sorry, I’m looking for someone with a stronger commitment to success.
  2. “I’ll do my best.” Ah, much better. But what if your best isn’t good enough? Will you put your ego aside and ask for help? Will you work hard to improve your skills? Will you make your best even better?
  3. “I’ll do whatever it takes.” Now that’s the attitude I’m looking for. It tells me you’ll work hard, stay late and come in early. You’ll do what is expected of you and a lot more. You won’t let obstacles get in your way, you’ll overcome them. I can count on you to do the job and stick around for the long haul. If you’re willing to do whatever it takes, I’m willing to invest in you.

When someone’s attitude says they’ll try, what they’re really saying is that if they don’t like it, or it’s too hard, or they find something they like better, they’re going to quit. Yes, that could be true of anyone, but when you start out with that attitude, it does not bode well for your future. Why should I choose you when someone else has a much better attitude?

An employer–or a spouse, law partner, or business partner–is looking for commitment. They’re looking for someone who will do, “whatever it takes” to make their relationship a success.

So, take a look in the mirror. What is your attitude towards your legal career? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to be successful?

Would you hire you?

If you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make your practice a success, you need The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Personal development, success Tagged With:

Corporations don’t hire lawyers, people do

November 15, 2012 by
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I was asked for marketing advice for a law firm whose clients are, “. . .legal entities, not individuals.” My response was that the process is essentially the same.

When your prospective client is a business entity you may have to do presentations and fill out RFP’s, and there are probably more decision makers and a longer time line, but in the end, it’s still people talking to people.

You find out what they want and show them how you can help them. You earn their trust, answer their questions, and prove that you can deliver. It’s more formal, but it’s still people with problems talking to people who offer solutions.

Yes, there are other differences but they are minor and you should not get hung up on them. Stay focused on courting the individuals who make hiring decisions, and the people who advise them. Corporations don’t hire lawyers, people do.

The Attorney Marketing Formula works no matter who your clients are. Find out more here.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Evernote search just got easier. Well, sorta

November 14, 2012 by
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Although I use it extensively, I don’t write much about technology. One reason is that by the time I’m up to speed on a new piece of software or hardware, it’s usually old news. One exception is Evernote, my favorite tech tool.

I’ve written before about how I use Evernote for everything from note taking to writing to managing all of the information in my personal and professional life. I also use it for Getting Things Done (GTD).

In fact, so great is my love for Evernote, I wrote a book about it: Evernote for Lawyers: A Guide to Getting Organized & Increasing Productivity.

I included in the book’s resources an extensive list of Evernote’s “Search Operators”–the syntax used by Evernote to find notes. These search operators are powerful but can be difficult to remember, so many of us use “Saved Searches,” another Evernote feature that comes in handy, especially with complex searches. But Saved Searches don’t help when you’re looking for something for the first time.

I just found an alternative that looks promising. BitQwik is free software (for PC’s and Mac’s that can run Windows) that serves as a front end portal for searching your Evernote database using natural language. That is, you don’t have to remember precise search operators to find something. Instead, you can use a regular query, much like you would ask Siri.

Here are some examples, from the BitQwik web site:

  • “Show me notes created between May 1st and March 15 that are tagged with robotics, surgical robots, or telepresence”
  • “I want notes sent to me via the E-mail gateway”
  • “Find my encrypted notes that have the words financial data or private in the title but leave out notes I created yesterday”
  • “Give me notes with pictures from Skitch”

I usually find notes in Evernote by browsing tags and using a few simple search operators. But as my database has grown to over 5,000 notes, I find myself relying more on search, and BitQwik looks like it might be just what the doctor ordered.

I just downloaded BitQwik, so I don’t have a lot to report just yet. If it pans out, I could see Evernote adopting this technology, and that would be great because I don’t like the idea of using yet another piece of software. But I’m not holding my breath because everything Evernote does has to work on ten platforms, not just one, and that doesn’t happen overnight.

If you’ve tried BitQwik, let me know what you think. You can add your comments below, or join me on the Evernote Forum.

Get your copy of Evernote for Lawyers. Unless you don’t want to be organized and productive.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

What your veterinarian can teach you about marketing legal services

November 13, 2012 by
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A couple of weeks ago, our cat had a thorn stuck in his paw and was limping. We took Seamus to a new vet, someone we’ve never visited before. She removed the thorn and gave us antibiotics for the infection. She called a few days later (personally) to ask how Seamus was doing. (He’s fine.)

Did the vet call to protect herself against possible liability? I’m sure that’s part of it. Would she have called if we had come in for a check-up and nothing was wrong? I don’t know. What I do know is that getting that call meant a lot to us.

When your clients leave your office, do you call to find out if they’re okay? You should.

See how they’re doing. See if they have any questions. See if there’s anything else you can do for them. And while you’re at it, thank them again for choosing you as their attorney.

Do this yourself if possible. At the very least, have someone from your office call. It only takes a minute and yes, you can leave a voice mail.

If you want to convert a first time client to a lifetime client, you need to get the little things right. In a professional practice, the little things are the big things.

Marketing legal services is simple, if you know The Formula.

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

How to get endorsed on LinkedIn (and why you’ll want to)

November 12, 2012 by
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Recently, I’ve gotten several Endorsements from connections on LinkedIn. I’ve been endorsed for Blogging, Marketing, Published Author, Referrals, Productivity, and other skills. If you were kind enough to endorse me, thank you!

So what do these endorsements mean? They mean pretty much what LinkedIn’s “Recommendations” mean–someone thinks highly of you and wants the world to know. So what’s the difference?

“Recommendations” come with a narrative from the endorser, a personalized testimonial from someone who has hired you or otherwise done business with you. Endorsements are more casual observations that can be added with the click of a button.

Recommendations carry more weight than Endorsements because of the personal attestation, but because they take time to write, they are harder to come by.

I think there is a place for both.

How do you get Endorsements and Recommendations? This article suggests two ways:

  1. Ask for them. Send an email to your list, post on your blog, etc., and
  2. Endorse others. Many will reciprocate.

Comments under the referenced article suggest that the ease of getting Endorsements diminishes their value. That’s probably true. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have value.

When someone visits your profile, either because you sent them there or they found you through search, having lots of Endorsements will give them an instant dose of “social proof” regarding your skills and experience. Yes, there may come a time when Endorsements are so common people don’t notice them, but they will surely notice if other attorneys have them and you don’t.

Want to earn more? Of course you do. Here’s where to start.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The simplest way to get things done when you have too much to do

November 9, 2012 by
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In yesterday’s post, I told you how I was able to organize my work flow and do a better job of following up with prospective clients. Today I want to talk about what to do when you find yourself not following up on your tasks and projects.

Actually, there are a lot of things you could do to improve your “completion ratio.” The simplest strategy, however, is to take on only one thing at a time.

One goal. One project. One task.

Start. Finish. Next.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when there are too many things on your plate. It’s a lot easier when you only have one.

When you focus on just “one thing,” you aren’t distracted by everything else. You’re better able to complete that task or achieve the goal when it’s the only one in front of you.

Of course you will still have many tasks and projects on your list and many will need to be done today or this week. That will never change. You’ve got five files you need to work up, two hearings to prepare for, and three documents to draft. But while they all need to get done, they don’t need to get done simultaneously.

Do one thing at a time. Finish it. Or take it as far as you can right now and then move it out of the way. Now, what’s next?

I remember a time when I got way behind in my work. I had several stacks of files on my desk and I wasn’t working on any of them. There must have been 40 files and I didn’t know where to start. I had put off working on them for so long I think I was afraid of what I might find. Deadlines missed, responses long overdue, problems I had ignored and made worse.

I was overwhelmed and feeling sorry for myself. If I had a blanket in the office, I probably would have crawled under it.

My wife was in the office that day and offered to help. Not with work itself but to help me get through it. She sat across the desk from me and asked me what I needed to do with the file on the top of one of the stacks. I opened it and could quickly see what to do. It wasn’t so bad. I either did it on the spot or made notes for myself or my secretary.

“Great, what about the next file?” my wife asked.

And so it went. In about two hours, I had gone through all of the files on my desk. My wife sat with me the entire time. My Consigliori.
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When I was done, I still had files I needed to work on but I had a handle on it. I had notes about what to do, I knew which ones I needed to work on first, and I was able to move forward. There weren’t any major problems.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you get more work done? One file at a time.

If you don’t know what to do next, I suggest you read The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Personal development, Productivity
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