Another lesson from Apple: how to get clients to pay higher legal fees

October 25, 2012 by
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Yesterday, I wrote about Apple’s pricing strategy with the new iPad Mini. Instead of competing with other tablets for the low end of the tablet market, they’re letting other companies duke it out while they target the more profitable high end. The same is true for their entire product line.

Apple fans are willing to pay more for Apple products (and stand in line to get them) because they believe it’s worth it. They believe they get more value for their dollar.

Style is certainly one aspect. So is functionality. But more than anything, I think what appeals to Apple users is ease of use.

Apple’s slogan, “It just works,” is arguably responsible for converting legions of PC users, frustrated with complicated, buggy, and virus prone machines to the Apple brand. True or not, the impression Apple’s marketing team has created is that with Apple products you won’t have continual crashes or blue screens, and you won’t have to take a class to learn how to use it. You just turn it on and it works.

And that’s exactly what Apple’s customers want.

Well guess what? That’s what your clients want, too. At least the clients you should be targeting. They want to know that when they hire you, you’ll get the job done.

They don’t want complications. They don’t want to know the boring details. They want the peace of mind of knowing that when they hire you, they’ll be in good hands. If you can give this to them, they’ll pay you more than what other attorneys charge.

Now I know many attorneys will cynically argue that their clients are very price conscious and won’t pay a penny more if another attorney will do it for less. And that’s true–THEIR clients are price conscious and won’t pay a penny more. But that’s not true of all clients.

Didn’t the PC world say the same thing about Apple when their prices first became known? “Why would anyone pay double for something just because it’s nicer looking?”

The answer was, and still is, because “it just works.”

You can follow in Apple’s footsteps. Target the higher end of the market for your services. Show them that when they hire you, everything is taken care of for them. They won’t have to worry about getting a bill filled with surprises, or an attorney who doesn’t explain things or return their phone calls. Show them that “you just work” and they’ll pay you more. Because it’s worth it to them.

Learn how to earn more than you ever thought possible. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Fees and Billing, Image, Increase your income, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , , ,

What Apple’s new iPad Mini can teach lawyers about pricing legal services

October 24, 2012 by
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So everyone is buzzing about Apple’s new iPad Mini. Comments abound about the features, or lack thereof, but the number one topic of discussion is price.

Many predicted (hoped?) Apple would price the Mini in line with what Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Google are pricing their tablets, in the neighborhood of $199-$249. They said that in so doing, Apple would crush the competition and own the small tablet market. Instead, the lowest priced Mini is offered at $329.

Many observers are questioning Apple’s strategy. How can they compete with tablets priced so much lower?

The answer is they’re not even trying.

Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, told The Verge, “I think what Apple has done here is create a new category of premium small tablet.” The writer Greengart spoke to summed up Apple’s strategy thusly: “[I]t appears Apple is simply opting out of the low end of the market altogether, much like it’s done with personal computers.”

Greengart continues: “I don’t think this puts Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Google out of business, but it means that those three — and anyone else entering that market segment — are all competing against each other for the budget consumer.” [emphasis added]

Apple is letting everyone else compete for the low end of the market while it offers a premium product to the smaller but more profitable segment of the market that is willing to pay a premium price.

This is exactly what lawyers should do.

Most lawyers offer the same services at the same prices to the same prospects. Everyone looks the same and says the same things. Nobody stands out. Everyone is average. And so the average lawyer gets average results from their marketing and earns only average income.

The better strategy is to offer higher quality services to those who are willing to pay for them.

Marketing is easier because you have something better to offer. Marketing is less expensive because you’re not trying to deliver your message to everyone. Other lawyers can’t compete with you because they don’t offer what you offer. And your income is higher because your clients are paying more.

You may not have Apple’s resources or “sex appeal” but you can follow the same strategy they do. Let other lawyers fight over the masses while you offer a better “product” to a smaller, more profitable segment of the market.

Most lawyers will never do this. They won’t offer premium services and, frankly, don’t even know what that means. That makes it so much easier for you.

How does Apple compete with Google? It doesn’t. How do you compete with other attorneys? You don’t.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you how to offer premium services and get premium fees.

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Filed Under: Fees and Billing, Image, Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , , ,

The power of focus: how one new habit can transform your practice or your life

October 23, 2012 by
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Darren Hardy, publisher of Success Magazine, tells the story of Paul O’Neill and what he did as the incoming CEO of Alcoa. It was 1987 and O’Neill was being introduced to investors and analysts for the first time. To everyone’s chagrin, O’Neill didn’t talk about growing market share, lowering expenses, or expanding markets. He didn’t talk about anything directly related to increasing the company’s profits. Instead, he turned everyone’s attention to the subject of safety.

It wasn’t that safety was such a big issue or that there was a direct correlation between improving it and increasing profits. O’Neill later said he wanted to disrupt everyone’s habitual thinking and get them all focused on one thing. Hardy calls this “one thing” a “Keystone habit,” “a pattern of behavior that has the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as it moves throughout the organization.”

To everyone’s surprise, it worked. Focusing on improving safety led the company to record growth and record profits during O’Neill’s tenure.

In explaining how focusing on one habit can create seemingly unrelated results in other areas, Hardy cites another example, a dieting study. The participants in the study were told to concentrate on writing down everything they ate at least one day per week. Nothing more. It turns out that this one habit led to other habits, which in turn led this group to lose twice as much weight as everyone else.

Even more surprising was how many of the participants

. . .reported big improvements in other areas of their lives… areas they weren’t even focused on, but awareness and improvement in one area, with noticeable results, bolstered their self-confidence and informed them about other areas of their life, which also improved. It had a rippling effect throughout most every other area of their lives.

Hardy notes that if you want to transform some aspect of your life, trying to adopt too many new habits is unsustainable. He challenges his readers to choose one new habit and track it, and I am challenging you to do the same.

Pick something and commit to it. Make a change and watch how other things change.

Could something like going for a twenty minute walk three days a week actually lead to an increase in your income? Will writing a weekly blog post for your practice improve your marriage?

I don’t know. But I do know that you’ll be healthier and get more clients.

Get in the habit of focusing on marketing. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and learn how.

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Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With: , , ,

A simple way to get clients to choose you instead of other attorneys

October 22, 2012 by
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I know something about you. At least I think I do. I know that the services you offer are pretty much identical to what other attorneys in your market offer.

Am I right?

If I am, you have a problem. And an opportunity.

The problem is that when you offer essentially the same services other attorneys offer, it’s harder to stand out. “Why should I choose you?” clients want to know.

There are many ways to differentiate yourself from other lawyers. One of the simplest is to enhance the “value proposition” of your services by offering something different.

No, not radically different. A divorce is a divorce after all. A small change or addition to what you offer is enough to differentiate you.

What could you add to the services you offer that would make you “a little bit better”? Could you add a bonus service? A guarantee? Free updates or reviews?

Fill in the blanks: “When you hire me to handle your _____________ (legal matter), not only do you get _______________ (services), you ALSO get_____________ “.

A divorce lawyer might give clients a free “Will/Living Will package”. A bankruptcy attorney might provide information and advice on “Re-Building Credit after Bankruptcy”. A PI lawyer might provide an insurance policy review, showing clients how to save money and improve their coverage.

By the way, the “something extra” you offer can be provided by another professional. For example, our divorce lawyer might offer his clients a “financial makeover” provided by a financial planner or CPA.

Offering something extra, something other attorneys don’t offer (or don’t promote) could be just enough to get clients to choose you instead of other attorneys. But there’s something else it might do: allow you to charge more than other attorneys.

When you offer more value to your clients, you are worth more. Clients can fill in the blanks, too. If they say about you, “Yes, he charges a little more but with him, I also get _________”, not only will they choose you instead of other attorneys, they’ll pay more for the privilege.

Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and learn more ways to differentiate yourself from the competition. 

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

The myth of “finding time”

October 19, 2012 by
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Several readers caught my mistake in yesterday’s post. Instead of writing “meditate” I wrote “mediate”. Freudian slip? Subconscious lawyer mind echo? Nah, just a typo.

Coincidentally, I was reading an article today about meditation. It begins with the statement, “People say the hardest part about meditating is finding time to meditate.” The author points out that because meditation is seen as “doing nothing,” it’s hard for people to justify the time.

His point is that by understanding the benefits of meditation, which include making us more productive, we can then see the value of taking the time to do it.

This is true. It’s true of any activity. If there’s no perceived value in doing something, why bother?

So, when people say they don’t have the time to do something, or that they need to find the time to do it, aren’t they really saying they don’t see enough value relative to the time required for doing it?

Yes. (I like answering my own questions.)

In truth, we usually find time for the things that we value. We only say things like, “I don’t have the time,” when we are being asked to do something we don’t value, or don’t value enough.

True, we have obligations imposed upon us by work or family or school, but even then, you don’t have to “find the time” to do them. You do them because you see the value, i.e., the pleasure of doing something for someone you love, avoiding embarrassment, keeping your job, and so on.

So, if you find yourself saying or thinking you don’t have time to do something, before you try “to find the time” or feel guilty for not trying, ask yourself if what you are contemplating doing is really worth doing. Often, the answer will be no and you can let it go.

You don’t have to “find the time” to do things that are important to you. You just have to be honest enough with yourself so you know what is important.

If earning more is important to you, The Attorney Marketing Formula should be a priority.

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Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , , ,

Are you thinking about quitting the practice of law?

October 18, 2012 by
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I just heard from an attorney who says he’s thinking of getting out of law. He’s been very successful in the past, not so much right now.

He was looking for “inspiration” so I asked him if he really wants out or would he choose to continue practicing if he could again be successful.

I told him not to use logic to answer, but to look to his feelings.

Your logical mind will lie to you. It will tell you to you what you’ve habitually said to yourself over the years, or what your parents have said, or what you think you should say. Your logical mind will have you say, “I’ve invested all these years in building my career, I can’t just walk away from it and start over.”

Yes, you can. People do it all the time.

You can talk yourself into or out of just about anything. You can add up all the pluses and minuses, examine your skill set and other interests, talk to your loved ones, and seek the guidance of mentors. With logic, you can come to a measured, intelligent decision about what to do. But would it be the right decision?

When it comes to making a big decision like this, don’t trust logic, but don’t ignore it, either. Examine the facts. Let them incubate in your subconscious. Plot out the alternatives. Give yourself a month or three to think it through.

And then, before you make your decision, go get drunk or meditate or go to the beach and stare at the waves. Think about the alternatives and ask yourself, “what feels better?”

My grandfather always told me to “trust my gut”. I’m offering you the same advice.

If you decide to stay in your practice, do yourself a favor and order The Attorney Marketing Formula. You’ll thank me later.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Personal development Tagged With:

More ways to use Google Alerts to grow your practice

October 17, 2012 by
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I’ve written before about using Google Alerts to spy on your competition and to find out what others are saying about you and your clients. Every day I get an email alert with links to articles and posts that mention my name and the key words I target in my marketing. I get to see what others are saying about me or my market and get ideas for articles.

I just found out that when it comes to Google Alerts, I’m a piker.

This excellent post provides a roundup of different ways the author uses alerts to leverage his brand (his name and business), authority, traffic and sales. Thanks to this, I see so much more I can do.

For example, although I have an alert for my name, I never considered adding one with variations of my name. The same goes for my web sites. I could be missing mentions that don’t get the name just right, but I will now.

I also like his suggestion for monitoring questions in your niche. “You can monitor your niche for a range of question based terms and then jump in and provide an expert answer with a link back to your site,” he says.

An estate planning attorney could create alerts for “Why * living trust”, “How * avoid probate”, or “Does * avoid estate taxes”, for example. The author says, “Every time I create a new piece of content that answers questions about a certain topic I setup corresponding alerts so I can direct people to the answer.”

Nice.

The author has suggestions for using alerts to monitor mentions about your content, finding new guest post and link building opportunities, monitoring your site’s security. and discovering new niches.

The author challenges you to be creative in how you use alerts. Okay, here’s an idea: let’s say our estate planning attorney would like to network with CPA’s who represent small businesses in his or her local market. Our estate planner could create an alert that notifies them when a CPA in their market posts new content with appropriate key words. Our estate planner could then contact the CPA to compliment them, promote their content, and invite them to lunch.

I like that you don’t have to be tech savvy to use google alerts, nor do you have to let them overwhelm you. You can set up alerts for daily or weekly notification, and have those results delivered via email, RSS.

Check out The Ninjas Guide to Google Alerts and tell me how you use (or plan to use) Google Alerts in your practice.

Here’s an alert for you: The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you how to get more clients and increase your income.

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

Get into flow and get more done by grouping your activities

October 16, 2012 by
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A friend of mine was making follow-up sales calls to prospective clients he’d spoken to previously. He commented that the mindset for making follow-up calls is different from the mindset of first calls and the two activities should be done at different times.

I agree. Don’t edit when you write and don’t write when you edit. Two different activities, two different mindsets.

My friend cold calls. When he makes a first call, he is prospecting. He moves quickly through large lists. He is sorting, looking for someone who will take his call and agree to look at some information. His focus is on the mechanical act of dialing rather than the quality of any one conversation. He knows that if he makes a certain number of dials, he will get a certain number of leads.

Follow-up calls are different. When he calls someone who agreed to look at some information, my friend is in sales mode. He engages the prospect. He asks questions to find out their hot buttons. When he knows what they want, he can show them how his service can help them get it. My friend answers questions and responds to objections. He moves the prospect forward to the next step, using finesse and skill.

It is important to my friend that he separates first calls from follow-ups because the mindset, energy, and rhythm are so different. When he’s prospecting and banging out calls, the last thing he wants to do is slow down and change gears into sales mode. It’s better to keep dialing and racking up leads and make follow-up calls later, after a break.

This is good advice for any activity. Do your work in bunches. Finish one bunch before moving onto another.

See new clients during a two hour block of time rather than spaced out throughout the day. Make all your calls to adjusters back to back. Review three files in a row.

When you get into the rhythm and feel of an activity, stay in it as long as you can. When you’re in a groove, you’ll get more done. Time will pass more quickly. You’ll get better results.

Psychologists refer to this as “flow“. One of the hallmarks of being in a state of flow is joy. It comes from being fully immersed in an activity and focusing on that and nothing else.

Joy is the catalyst to growth. The more my friend is on the phone, the better he gets at what he does (he just reported going seven for seven on first calls), and the joy he feels makes him want to do more.

When you find the joy in what you’re doing, success is imminent. You don’t need a psychologist to explain it:

The more you do of something, the better you get. The better you get, the better your results. The better your results, the more you enjoy it. The more you enjoy it, the more you want to do it. And the more you do it, the better you get.

Get better at marketing. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Law office management, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Productivity

What do you do when you f****d up?

October 15, 2012 by
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The other day an attorney asked me, “What do you say to your client when he says “you f***d up and I’m not going to pay you?”

I told him that if he did do something wrong, the answer is easy: admit it, fix it, and be prepared to offer a refund.

Don’t blame others for your mistake. Be honest about what you did or didn’t do. Your client will understand and respect you for admitting it. Then, do whatever you have to do to fix the problem.

The good news is that when you do the right thing after making a mistake, when you fix things to your client’s satisfaction, they often feel a stronger allegiance to you. You didn’t try to hide it, you took responsibility and respected them enough to admit your mistake. And, of course, you fixed the problem.

Even if the problem cannot be fixed, if you bite the bullet and offer to pay compensation, most of the time you can save the relationship. So when you mess up, see it not so much as a problem but an opportunity.

Of course the next thing you need to do is to figure out why you made the mistake and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Ask yourself some questions:

  • Are you taking on too much work?
  • Are you taking on work outside your core competencies?
  • Are you promising too much or too soon?
  • Would a checklist help?
  • Could you get someone to help you?
  • Are you allowing enough time to review your work before the deadline?

The most successful people in the world often attribute their success to having made more mistakes than anyone else. They learned from those mistakes and got better at what they do. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or admit to them. Use them to get better.

But we’re not done with the subject.

What do you do when a client blames you and accuses you of making a mistake you did not make? Clients often blame their lawyer when they don’t get the results they want. Do you have to take the hit?

Not at all. When you aren’t at fault, stand firm. Show the client that you did everything you were supposed to do, everything you could do, and that whatever happened was the result of something outside of your control. If the facts are on your side, and you handle things firmly and respectfully, in time, most clients will see the light. Often, they will apologize.

But we’re still not done.

You will have far fewer unhappy and ready-to-blame-you clients by managing your clients’ expectations at the beginning of the case, rather than trying to explain things at the end. Clients need to acknowledge, before you take their money, that:

  • You don’t promise results of any kind (other than best efforts)
  • They understand the risks and contingencies you have spelled out for them
  • They have declined certain options or a course of conduct you have recommended
  • They know what you will do for them and also what you will not do

You can’t be so heavy handed about this that you scare the client off, but you do need to make sure the client understands, from the beginning, what to expect of you and their case. Then, if something goes wrong, it will be clear that you are not the one to blame.

Get more clients and increase your income. Read The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Personal development

What do you like best about practicing law?

October 12, 2012 by
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“What do you like best about practice law?” I was asked that 1,000 times when I was practicing and I’m still asked that today. I’m sure you are, too. My standard reply is that I liked helping people and I liked making money, and that’s the truth. That’s why I went to law school, after all.

Do I like the title or the prestige of being a professional? Actually, it’s not important to me. When I’m introduced to people and they find out what I do [did], something changes in the dynamic and while sometimes it’s a good change, just as often it’s not. I can’t put my finger on it but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. They look at you like you’re not a regular person. They become guarded, as if you’re going to ask them some tough questions and find out their secrets.

What about the work itself? There were some things I really enjoyed and some things I despised. Most of what I did I found boring.

But that’s me. How about you? What do you like best about what you do?

Make a list of all of things you do as a lawyer, and all of the things that being a lawyer means to you. Write down the big things and the little things, about the work, the people, the challenges and the rewards. Look at your calendar, look at the files on your desk or in your computer, look at how you spend your time.

Write down everything and when you’re done, look at your list and put a star next to the things you like best about what you do. And then, focus on those things.

Do more of what you like. The rest–the things you don’t like or the things you are bored by–don’t matter. Eliminate them, delegate them, or just do them, but focus on the things that you do like.

In my case, I focused on the people. My clients. Much of the work may have been routine and boring, but the people never were. They were unique. Every one of them. I enjoyed meeting them and finding out about their lives. I enjoyed explaining how things were going to get better for them and then helping make that happen. I enjoyed delivering the results and watching them smile and say thank you. And I enjoyed getting calls from their friends who had heard about me and wanted me to help them, too.

That’s what I enjoyed and that’s what I focused on. It made everything else, all of the things I didn’t like, relatively unimportant. It’s also what made my practice grow.

Whatever we focus on grows. By focusing on what you like about your practice, you will create more of it. Focus on your problems and you’ll have more of them. Focus on what frustrates you and you’ll have more to be frustrated about it. Focus on what you love, what gives you meaning, and you will create the life that you want because you will be doing more of what you want.

You don’t have to know how it works, just know that it does work, and do it.

If you want to earn more than you ever thought possible, download The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Client relations, Increase your income, Inspiration, Referrals Tagged With: , ,
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