The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

How to get bigger, faster

March 28, 2022 by David M. Ward

We’re told that it takes time (years) to build a successful law practice. It takes time to learn what to do and time to do it.

It takes time to develop your writing and speaking skills, negotiating skills, and people skills. It takes time to bring in good clients, keep them happy, returning, and referring. It takes time to find good business contacts and build relationships with them. It takes time to build your reputation, make your mistakes, recover, and grow.

And while you can’t shortcut the entire process, there are things you can do to speed things up.

The first thing you can do is to try everything. Until you do, you really don’t know what will or won’t work for you, what you will be good at, or where what you do today might lead you tomorrow.

Try lots of things, including (or maybe especially) things that take you out of your comfort zone, things you swore you’d never do, or do again.

You might find that, with practice, some things you’re bad at or hate you come to love. Or prove to yourself that you shouldn’t waste time on some things, giving you more time to double down on others.

The second thing you can do is meet a lot of people. Instead of trying to do everything yourself, find people who already do it and learn from them or hire them or read their books and do what they did.

Buy a lot of lunches. Not forever. Just enough to meet a few people who inspire you or introduce you to other people you need to know.

We’re in a people business. Go meet more people.

The third thing you can do to speed up your success is perhaps the most important.

Move faster.

When you move slowly, you often waste time, over-analyze, procrastinate, and lose confidence, because things are taking too long. When you move quickly, you don’t have time to dwell on what’s not working, you’re busy doing other things that are.

When you move quickly, you compress time and develop momentum. Small wins lead to bigger wins and they happen more often. Your growth accelerates and compounds and you accomplish in months what might otherwise have taken years.

It’s easier to build your practice quickly than to do it slowly. Especially when you try lots of things and meet lots of people.

If you want to take a quantum leap in the growth of your practice, here’s how

Filed Under: success Tagged With: momentum

Pick two?

March 25, 2022 by David M. Ward

I don’t know who first said it, but people are still saying it today. “You can get the work done quickly, you can get it done well, or you can get it done cheaply.” “Pick two,“ they say. “Because you can’t have all three”.

We’ve heard that said about all manner of products and services and undertakings. We may even say it ourselves.

But is it true?

Who says we can’t have all three?

In our world, the practice of law has three areas:

Core legal skills: research, writing, presenting, strategizing, negotiation, etc.,
Managing: hiring, budgeting, supervising, productivity, etc., and
Marketing: bringing in the business, client relations, etc.

Who says they can’t be good at all three?

Clearly, they can. Many lawyers are excellent at all three.

But there are also many successful lawyers who are good at only one of the above.

They may be good at lawyering, all thumbs when it comes to running a practice, and clueless about marketing.

They may be good at running their practice (and making the most of what they have), but only “okay” in the other two areas.

They may be good at marketing but only adequate or reasonably competent at doing the work and running the practice.

So, I’m calling BS on the adage that you can only pick two. I say you can be good at all three. I also say you can be successful when you’re good at only one.

Now, something else they say. They say that we should focus on our strengths and not worry about getting good at everything. They say we can hire our weaknesses. They say we can be good enough at what we’re good at that we can succeed despite our weaknesses.

And to that, I’m going to agree.

Don’t ignore your weaknesses. But don’t spend a lot of time improving them (unless you want to). Get better at what you already do well, and everything else will take care of itself.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Increase your income, Law office management, success

How to get ‘em to sign up

March 24, 2022 by David M. Ward

You don’t need to be salesy to get clients to sign up. But you do need to close the sale.

For the client’s sake and for yours.

You don’t need to follow a formal process to get there, however. You can do it organically, by asking questions.

No doubt you know the power of asking questions and use them every day in your work. You know that questions allow you to control the conversation and find out what you need to know.

Questions also allow you to guide the client towards signing up. They do that by helping you to:

Assess the problem and/or what the client needs and wants
Assess their personal urgency and readiness to do something
Give you key points you can repeat back to them, to show them you listened and understood, and to let them hear, in their own words, why they need your help
Make sure they understand their options
Make sure they understand the risks of waiting or not taking action
Find out about their ability to pay and/or if anyone else needs to approve hiring you
Find out if they’re ready to sign up, need more information, or have any objections

All of which helps you to move them forward, from problem to solution, from first meeting to new client.

If you do it right, the client might signify they want to get started, or at least ask the kinds of questions someone would ask if they are ready to do that. If they don’t, or if you’re not sure, ask more questions.

Closing questions don’t have to be complicated. You can ask

Are you ready to get started?
Is there anything else you need to know before we get started?
Would you like me to start today or next week?

Or, simply, “What do you think?”

You find out what they think and what they want to do. You sign them up, continue the conversation, or, if they’re not ready, schedule a follow-up.

You can also “assume the sale”—hand them the paperwork and a pen and see what happens.

If you’ve asked the right questions, and answered theirs, that’s often all it takes.

Filed Under: Closing the sale

You will be judged

March 23, 2022 by David M. Ward

Prospective clients (and referral sources) who encounter you for the first time usually don’t know a lot about you. They don’t know if you are competent, honest, fair, or someone they’d like to work with or represent their friend or client.

And they only have a few ways to find out.

They can read your bio. They can look at your online reviews or see what others say about you on social media. They can talk to the person who refers them to you. Or they can take you up on your offer for a free consultation, ask questions, and see for themselves.

But there’s one more thing they can and will do to “check you out” and it can be the deciding factor. Especially when your background appears so similar to that of many other attorneys.

What is this difference maker?

Your content.

Your blog posts and articles, audios and videos, books and reports and presentations.

They read or listen and see what you say and how you say it.

And judge you by it.

If they think you know what you’re doing and are confident, thoughtful, and want to help people, that’s good. If they can’t deduce these things because you provide little information, don’t show them (with examples and stories) how you’ve helped others, or they think you’re arrogant because of the way you talk about yourself, that’s not so good.

If you are generous with the information you provide, if you teach them something or help them do something better or faster, help them make better decisions, or inspire them to take action, they appreciate that and are more likely to take the next step.

If your content lacks substance, if it makes you sound boring, close-minded, or hard to work with, people may (and often do) move on.

Your content doesn’t need to be great. But it needs to be good. Because what you say and how you say it helps people decide how they feel about you.

And how they feel is much more important than what they think.

Recently, I found a guy online who creates content (and sells his products and services) on a subject that interests me. I signed up for his newsletter and downloaded his free report.

And I was very disappointed.

It looked like he spent ten minutes throwing it together.

He didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know. He didn’t show me how to do anything better or faster. He didn’t inspire me or show me something that made me think, “I want to hear more from this guy”.

That first impression told me everything I needed to know. And I moved on.

Our content speaks to prospective clients for us. It either convinces them to take the next step or convinces them not to.

Our content doesn’t have to be great. But it has to be good.

How to create good content for your blog or newsletter

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters, Writing

5 tips for writing quicker blog posts and newsletters

March 22, 2022 by David M. Ward

Notice the word “tips” in the title of this post? I recently said I rarely use that word to describe things I write because it suggests something common and of lesser value. I’m using it here to illustrate that there are exceptions.

It’s okay to use the word when you’re sharing quick ideas, short bits of information, a list of resources or recommendations.

It’s also okay to use the word because you want to.

But always consider when you might use a more powerful alternative.

Today, I’m using the word because it fits this article—simple practices that allow you to write brief articles in less time.

As you know, I write an article every weekday. Here’s how I do it:

No research. Write from your knowledge and experience, from something in your notes or files, something you read, watched, observed, or thought.
Collect ideas. Set up a file and save articles, notes, observations, quotes, and fleeting ideas you find or think of throughout your day. When you have hundreds of ideas at your fingertips, you never want for something to write about.
Choose your topic the night before. Your subconscious mind will “work” on the idea overnight and the next day, you won’t have to decide what to write. You can sit down and write it.
Short and simple. A few paragraphs are fine. A few hundred words are plenty. Don’t obsess over images, SEO, link building, or formatting.
Watch the time. Give yourself 20 or 30 minutes to finish (at least the first draft). Train yourself to write, publish, and get on with your day. Adopt the motto: “Done is better than perfect.”

Bonus tip: write often. The more you write, the quicker you get.

For more ways to write quicker (and better), get this

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Writing

Give them options (but not too many)

March 21, 2022 by David M. Ward

If you tell prospective clients to “take it or leave it,” you shouldn’t be surprised if they leave it. They may not be ready or able to hire you or talk to you about their case. That’s why it makes sense to give them other options:

Get more information (about your services/offers)
Subscribe to your newsletter, podcast, or channel
Download your free report
Follow you on social, like your page, share your post
Sign up for your next webinar or in-person event, or watch a replay
Send questions to be answered (during your next event, in your newsletter, etc.)

Because anything they do is better than doing nothing.

For them and for you.

It’s better for them because they learn more about their problem and how you can help them. It’s better for you because they take a step closer to knowing, liking, and trusting you—and hiring or referring you.

And, when they do something, they are more likely to do something else.

The problem is, when you give them too many options, they may get confused and do nothing.

The same is true when you talk to them and give them too many options for hiring you.

Give them the option to choose service A or service B and they might choose one or the other. Give them too many choices and they often tell you they have to think about it, which means they probably won’t.

So, give people options, but not too many.

How many is best? The answer is as much art as science. Test different numbers (science) and see what works best, but also make sure you know your prospects (art)—what they might need, what they might want, the likely urgency of their problem, and other factors.

Which means you have to know your ideal client, since that’s who you want to attract.

You also need to consider context.

If you’re speaking to them personally, you can ask questions and assess how ready they are to take the next step. If you’re “speaking” to them from the stage at the end of an in-person presentation, the context is different.

It’s also different online. If they’re on your website, the page they are viewing makes a difference. Are they reading a page that describes one of your services or offers? Are they reading your blog? Have they come to a landing page from an ad? Have they followed a link you included in your newsletter?

Give them options. But not too many. And consider the context.

The elements of an effective website

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

It’s alive!

March 18, 2022 by David M. Ward

My not terribly ancient desktop computer got so slow I stopped using it. I’ve been using my laptop but missed my big monitor and mechanical keyboard.

While I was pondering what to do next, I heard Google is releasing a light-weight operating system, Chrome OS Flex, which can be installed on older Windows and Mac laptops and desktops and convert them into Chromebooks.

Who would want a Chromebook, I thought? Someone who’s current computer is all but useless, for one.

What do I have to lose?

I watched a couple of videos, and within minutes, my old desktop had been reincarnated. And works great. Incredibly fast and fun to use.

If you’ve got a closet full of old machines gathering dust, you might want to do the same thing.

A few points:

Chrome OS Flex is still in early development. It is the “dev” version, so many features don’t work yet and/or are buggy.
It works on most Windows and Macs with an Intel or fairly recent AMD processor. It doesn’t work on every machine.
The OS allows you to install Linux, but it’s not smooth sailing, at least not yet. Install it if you know what you’re doing; if you’re like me, you might want to wait until the full release.
You can’t access The Play Store. Hopefully, that will change.
You can (and I did) boot the OS from a pen drive, to try it out before you install it.
If you install it, it will wipe out your hard drive, so back up everything first. (NB: if you have multiple hard drives on the same machine, it will wipe these, too.)

Without Linux and Android apps, Chrome OS is very limited. You can run web apps and extensions and not much more. That’s fine for many use cases, since most people use a computer for email, watching videos, and other basic functions.

For the rest of us, with apps we depend on that won’t run on a Chromebook, there is a decent workaround.

As soon as I got the machine up and running, I installed the Google Remote Desktop extension, allowing me to run those apps remotely on my laptop.

Anyway, if this sounds like something you’d like to try, YouTube is your friend.

Let me know how it goes.

Filed Under: Law office management Tagged With: Tech

One word you usually won’t hear me say

March 17, 2022 by David M. Ward

I write about marketing and productivity. What to do, how to do it, how to do it better, at lower cost, in less time, and with better results.

You usually hear me describe these ideas as strategies, techniques, methods, advice, best practices, and the like, but I don’t call them “tips”.

To my ear, “tips” are like candy—tasty but lacking nutritional value. The word implies the information is commonplace, light-weight, and for a general audience. I associate “tips” with the content of articles in pop culture magazines and consumer-oriented blogs and channels.

Not the kind of information I want to convey to you or, I would think, you want to deliver to your readers.

Yes, it’s just a word, but it lacks gravitas. It’s not the type of word we expect to hear in content created by experts, professionals, and other serious-minded people.

At times, you may think me a wild and crazy guy, but I hope you never think of my ideas that way.

We all read articles that contain tips because we think we can quickly skim the article and find one or two interesting facts or nuggets we can use. That’s not a bad thing.

What’s bad is when we avoid reading the article entirely because we’re busy, we think we know most of the tips already, and we prefer to invest our precious time consuming content we think will be more valuable.

Speaking of tips, may I offer you one? Yeah, so can everyone else.

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Copywriting, Writing

So what?

March 16, 2022 by David M. Ward

How much do your readers, followers, or audience already know about the law and other things you write or speak about?

That’s not the right question.

The question isn’t, do they know? It’s, “are they doing anything with that information?”

Information abounds. Your audience can find it in a book or video or on hundreds of websites. Countless other lawyers, writers, and other experts provide that information. You’ve probably provided that same information to them many times before.

So what? You’re not in the information delivery business. You’re in the “solving problems” and “delivering solutions” business. It’s up to you to show people the significance of the information and persuade them and guide them to do something with it.

Help them understand what the information means in their world. Tell them what could happen next, tell them the options they have available, and convince them to take action.

Use the information to scare them or inspire them and get them to make the right decision.

You’re an advocate, so advocate. Use the information as your evidence, your witnesses, and your arguments. Present the evidence, tell them what to do, and why.

Because if they do nothing with the information, and they need to, you’re not going to get the verdict you seek.

If you’re ready to take your practice to the next level, this is what you need

Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Presentations, Writing

Only you

March 15, 2022 by David M. Ward

You want to stand out. Get people to notice you and choose you to represent them. But that’s not easy to do when every other lawyer in town offers the same services you do.

They also “look” like you.

They have a website with the same pages and elements as your website. They do presentations, write articles, blog posts, and a newsletter, just like you. They write and speak about the same subjects you write and speak about.

They even dress like you.

So, how do you differentiate yourself?

There’s a long answer (with a lot of things you can do) and a short answer. The short answer is, don’t worry about it, because while you may appear to do the same things other lawyers do, you aren’t the same person.

You have your own style. Your own examples and stories. Your own personality. And this will show in everything you do.

Go ahead, write the same article. Give the same talk. Because even if you make identical points, your article or presentation will be different—because your voice is different.

And, while it’s true that clients hire you and pay you for your services and the outcomes you deliver, they “buy” you before they buy your services.

In a crowded field with so many lawyers to choose from, the simplest way to stand out is to be yourself.

But it’s not the only way. Which leads me back to the long answer—how to differentiate yourself, your services, and your practice.

You’ll learn everything you need to know about how to do that in The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Image, Marketing legal services