Will it work?

March 14, 2022 by David M. Ward

How do you know if your marketing strategy will be effective? Will your article get calls, will your newsletter get subscribers, will your ads bring in leads?

How do you know? You don’t. You don’t know anything until you try it.

So you try lots of things and lots of different versions and you see what works and what doesn’t.

It’s called, “Plan, Do, Review”.

But with so many options available, how do you know what to try?

You read and watch videos. You observe what other lawyers are doing (that’s working), and what other professionals and small business owners do, too. You soak up a lot of ideas and choose one (just one), that you can see yourself doing, and you try it.

You might not stick with that idea and that’s okay. Everything you try has value. You might learn that you have zero aptitude or interest in doing (something) and either cross that off your list, delegate it to someone on your staff or hire someone else and pay them to do it for you.

Maybe you still like the idea, but you need help. You could hire a consultant to guide you, or outsource the entire project.

You could get a “workout partner,“ another lawyer or business contact or friend who is good at what you’re trying to do, or who is on the same path as you—trying to learn and implement the idea, and help each other.

Maybe you’re doing it, but you need accountability to keep you on course. That workout partner might serve that function, or you might hire a coach.

Maybe you’re doing it, but you want to get better results. You keep reading, take a class or course, and keep at it. In time, you get better and so do your results.

Or maybe you’re not getting any results to speak of but want to keep at it. How do you do that? How do you find the motivation to continue when nothing is happening?

You think about other things you’ve done in your life that were successful but had less than auspicious beginnings. Or think about your goals and why it’s important that you do this.

Or call your mom and cry on her shoulder.

Finally, maybe you’re doing it and getting decent results, but what you’re doing is taking time away from other things you’d like to try. Other things that might get better results or be a better match for you.

What do you do?

You either slow down or pause what you’re doing, to give you time to try the other idea, or you dedicate more time to marketing. Instead of one hour a week, for a while, you do two hours, do both, and find out what works best.

These are your options. This is how you find out if something will work.

This will help you create a simple but effective marketing plan

Filed Under: Inspiration, Marketing Plan

You only need a few

March 11, 2022 by David M. Ward

Clients come and go. They pay us for our services and we may never hear from them again, even if they’re thrilled with our work.

They may return, they may refer, but as a whole, they are an unreliable asset. Treat them well, be there when they need you, stay in touch with them, but don’t count on them to do anything more than pay your bill.

Unless they show themselves to be among the precious few clients (and professional contacts) who can truly be described as a fan.

A fan is someone who promotes you, your services, your content, and your events. Someone who is not only willing to send you business but goes out of their way to do that, because they like you and appreciate you and want to help you.

They join your list and read everything you write. They share your content and send traffic to your blog. They praise you publicly, through reviews and testimonials, and privately, by telling people all about you.

When you recognize a fan, pay attention. Remember their name, take their calls, find out all about them and their business, and go out of your way to help them, and not just with legal services. Find out what they want or need in their business or personal life and help them get it.

Give your fans more attention than regular clients and contacts. Invite them into your inner circle and stay close to them.

Because they are your future. They can help your practice not just grow but multiply.

Fans will attract more fans, lead you to opportunities and opportunities to you. They are also a reminder that what you do is important.

Clients come and go. Fans are rare. But you only need a few.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Leverage, success

Play the long game

March 10, 2022 by David M. Ward

If things aren’t going the way you want right now, if your practice isn’t growing like you hoped, if you messed up something or your personal life is a dumpster fire, don’t freak out. Don’t panic. Keep calm and carry on.

But how?

How number one:

Find one thing that’s going right for you and focus on that. Think about it throughout the day, imagine it getting bigger and better, and enjoy that feeling. What you think about grows and if you think about what’s working for you, other things will start working.

It is law.

How number two:

Think in years, not days. This week there might be disappointments or challenges, but that doesn’t mean things will be the same next week. Or next year.

Ask “How will I feel about this a year from now? Will it even matter?“

Probably not.

Life might deal you some bad cards, but this doesn’t mean all your cards will be bad.

Five years from now, when today’s challenge is a distant memory, you’ll be playing a different hand. You will have recouped the loss, solved the problem, overcome the pain, found a new love, and be in a very different place.

That’s life.

Don’t dwell on the bad hands. Keep playing. Play the long game.

Filed Under: Inspiration

4 styles of marketing—which one describes you?

March 9, 2022 by David M. Ward

There are four different approaches to marketing. Which one describes you?

(1) OLD SCHOOL.

You don’t do any marketing to speak of, nor do you want to. You’ve built a successful practice by doing good legal work and treating your clients well, and while you’re open minded (which is why you’re reading this), someone will have to work hard to convince you it’s worth your time or money to do anything else.

You might do a little networking or speaking, but only because someone invited you. You might send your clients a Christmas or birthday card, but other than that, you believe they know where to find you if they need you. You don’t understand or see the value in social media. You might invite a business contact out to lunch, but for you, this is friendship or good manners, not marketing. You might have a one-page website or directory listing, but you might have to ask your assistant how to find it.

(2) CASUAL.

You do some marketing, either regularly or sporadically, and you’re willing to do more, but it’s not something you relish. You do it because you want to get more clients and better clients or cases, and increase your income, but you would like it better if you didn’t have to.

You might occasionally do some writing or speaking or networking. You’re willing to be interviewed, but it’s not something you seek out. You might have a few social media accounts, but you don’t post regularly. You might have a list of your client’s emails and send them something from time to time, but it’s not a priority. You don’t keep a list of prospective clients; you don’t write a newsletter or blog, but you do have a website and post information about your services and about the law.

(3) ACTIVE.

You believe that marketing is important, and you do it regularly and enthusiastically. You read, take courses, and continually look for ways to improve your marketing. You regularly create and post content and stay in touch with your clients and prospects and professional contacts.

You write a newsletter and/or blog; you educate people about what you do and how you can help them and the people they know, and you do whatever you can to encourage repeat business and referrals. You schedule time for marketing each week and while you might spend only an hour a week, this is a priority for you and you take it seriously.

(4) ALL IN.

You see marketing as essential to achieving your goals. You want to be top dog in your field and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get there. You consistently invest time and money and creative energy in marketing and developing your practice.

You have lists and actively build them. You stay in touch with clients and former clients, prospective clients, centers of influence in your target market, and your professional contacts. You advertise or wish you could. You hire people to assist you and/or advise you. Marketing isn’t something you have to remember to do or force yourself to do, it’s integral to your vision of your future.

Obviously, things aren’t always this black and white. There is a lot of overlap and things frequently change. But where are you on this spectrum right now? Where would you like to be? And what will you do next to get there?

The Attorney Marketing Formula will help you get sorted

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

I know you won’t read this

March 8, 2022 by David M. Ward

Most people don’t have time to read your blog posts and articles. That includes mine. At best, they’ll give you a few seconds and skim.

But that’s enough.

It’s enough to give them a nugget or two of information they can tuck away in their minds or their notes. It’s enough to show them you know what you’re doing and deserve a return visit. It’s enough to let them know you’ve helped others like them and you can help them, too.

It’s enough, but only if you do a few things.

First, avoid the “wall of text”. Make your article look inviting and easy to scan:

Headlines that get attention and pique curiosity
Short articles that look like they can be consumed in a few minutes
Short paragraphs and sentences
Bullet points, numbered lists, sub-heads
Bold, CAPS, indents, and other visual cues
Images, graphics, simple charts or tables
Minimal citations/hyperlinks, if any

Second, make it interesting to read and relevant to your reader:

Get to the point—and stay there
Ask questions, to draw them in, make them think, and keep them reading to find out the answer
Include surprising statements, statistics, inside information, opinions
Stories about people like your reader
Quotes from clients, experts, influential people
Imagery—show what happened or what will happen
Conversational tone; active voice
Repetition to clarify and sell your points
Simple language, vocabulary; even for a sophisticated audience
Point out the risks but be mostly positive
A light touch, where appropriate
Share contrasting views, arguments, stories
Involvement—ask them to do something (while reading)
Call to action—ask them to do something (when they’re done)

There’s more you can do to make your articles interesting (and easy to skim) but if you do only some of the above, you’ll find more people consuming your articles and eager to hear more.

How to write a newsletter that brings in clients

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Writing

How long will it take to do it?

March 7, 2022 by David M. Ward

“How long will it take to complete that project?“ I hate that question because I never know the answer. I estimate one hour and it takes three. I think I can get it done in a week and two months later I’m still working on it.

Turns out, humans aren’t good at estimating how long it takes to finish things. So I usually avoid estimating. I tell myself it will take as long as it takes and don’t think about it.

Unless there is a deadline. And then I think about it a lot and get the thing done, usually on time, thank you.

If I’m forced to estimate, and it’s not something I’ve done many times before, I usually pick a figure and then double or triple that number, to give myself extra time. But I’m still usually wrong.

Sometimes, I choose a target completion date and calendar it. But I usually ignore that date because I know it’s an artificial deadline and there is no penalty if I miss it.

It’s hard being me.

It’s better for me to schedule a “start date” and/or dates to work on the project. Short deadlines, even of my own making, work better for me. They allow me to make progress without worrying about missing a day because there’s always tomorrow.

We all have our own ways and means of working and we all seem to get things done. Sometimes because we have to, sometimes because we want to and we keep working at it until it’s done.

Instead of asking, “How long will it take?“ I think a better question is the one asked in GTD: “What’s the next action?“ We may or may not work on the project, but at least we know what to do next if we do.

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: gtd, next action

March 4, 2022 by David M. Ward

A simple way to lose clients

You want to increase your fees. It’s time, you deserve more, but, like many lawyers, you’re nervous about it because you don’t want to lose any clients who can’t or won’t pay more.

Understood.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

The wrong way is to do what a certain app company did not long ago when they wanted to increase their revenue. They alienated a large percentage of their customers by taking away from them a bundle of features those customers were used to getting free and would henceforth have to pay for.

That’s a no.

Don’t take things from customers because when you do, you’re taking away something they already own (even if they got it free).

The company lost a lot of customers, suffered a slew of bad reviews and a loss of good will. Apple told them that they had violated their terms of service and they were forced to reverse course and come up with a different plan.

And that’s the plan I’m going to recommend to you.

Grandfather in existing customers (clients) and charge new customers or clients the higher rate (or make them pay for things your old clients got free.) Who says you have to charge all clients the same rate?

New clients won’t know and old clients won’t care.

You keep your old clients happy, at least until a suitable point in the future when you can justify raising rates for them, too. But whatever you do, don’t take away from any client anything that’s “theirs”.

Get the Check: Stress-Free Legal Billing and Collection

https://www.attorneymarketing.com/2022/03/04/13297/

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Fees and Billing, Increase your income, Law office management

If you want to be prolific, you have to do this

March 3, 2022 by David M. Ward

If you want to be prolific, build more relationships, deliver more presentations, write more books or blog posts or articles, more than anything, there’s one thing you have to do. You have to let go of the need to make things perfect.

Perfectionism has been my “issue” for as long as I can remember. When you’re wrapped up in it, you’re wrapped in a straightjacket of your own making and artificially limit your accomplishments.

More content, more relationships, more good habits, usually lead to more good things happening in your life. Even if the things you create aren’t perfect, but merely good.

Remind yourself that you don’t have time for perfect. You have deadlines and goals and people who depend on you.

Set a different standard for yourself. Instead of going for 90% allow yourself to do 70%. Because unless you’re performing surgery, 70% is usually good enough.

In fact, remind yourself that “good enough is good enough” — because it has to be if you want to get more done.

If you want to be prolific, develop the habit of launching things before you think they’re ready.

That’s what I do. I want quality, but I’m willing to exchange some of it for quantity.

But here’s the thing. When I re-read something I wrote and thought wasn’t up to snuff, I usually find that it’s a lot better than I thought.

Here’s the other thing. Most people aren’t as critical of your stuff as you are. They either don’t notice or don’t care. (They’re worried about their own stuff.)

Another strategy I use is to push things out the door (before I think they’re ready) telling myself I can fix it later. What I often find is that by the time I’m ready to fix it, it’s not as important to me because I’m busy with something else.

Look, at our funeral, nobody is going to say we led a good life and helped many people but could have done a few more rounds of editing. They’ll look at the big picture, and we should too.

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity

What’s the one thing you can do to build your practice?

March 2, 2022 by David M. Ward

One of my favorite questions to ask myself comes from Gary Keller, founder of Keller-Williams real estate and author of The One Thing. Keller asks, “What’s the ONE Thing you can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?“

You can ask that about anything. Including the subject of marketing and practice development.

Let’s say your one thing is “referrals”. You’re thinking that if you could increase them significantly, everything else you might do for marketing would be easier or unnecessary. You’d have more income, which would allow you to hire more help and turn down marginal clients and open up new locations if you chose to.

More referrals would lead to better clients, meaning bigger retainers, less hand holding, more repeat business, and even more referrals.

It wouldn’t matter so much if your SEO wasn’t that great, you did fewer presentations (or none), and you pulled a lot (or all) of your advertising. Referrals would be your one thing. Focus on it and you’ll be on track to building your dream practice.

Make sense?

But once you choose your one thing, in this case, getting more referrals, you have another question to ask yourself: “What is the ONE thing you can do to get more referrals such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

You would examine your options and come up with an answer. The “one thing” that would help you achieve your “one thing”.

You might answer “networking with financial professionals who represent (the types of clients you want to represent)”.

Or, “teach my clients how to recognize a good referral for me and the best way to refer them”.

Or, “offer (generous) referral fees to (a type of lawyer)”.

Or, “write a book and ask my clients and professional contacts to tell their clients and contacts about it,” e.g. , get them to refer people to the book and let the book sell those folks on hiring you.

Which of these or other options would be best for you and your practice?

What’s your ONE thing? And what’s the ONE thing you could do to accomplish it?

If referrals are your ONE thing, you need to study this

Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: focus, The One Thing

Break the mold before it gets moldy

March 1, 2022 by David M. Ward

There’s a lot to be said for adopting positive habits, but if you never stop to review and refine them, you might get so used to doing things the same way you never look for something better.

When was the last time you changed your daily routine, tried a new research tool, or did something completely out of your comfort zone?

Growth requires change. Consider developing the habit of regularly exploring ways to change what you do and how you do it.

Start small. Take a different route to work. Shop at a different store. Try cuisine you’ve never tried before.

Do what you always do, but add an extra element. Do it more quickly or more slowly, do it on a different day of the week or at a different time of day.

Write without an outline. Downsize your project list. Re-write your checklist, create a new form, or call someone you haven’t talked to in years.

When you’re ready, skip a day or assign the task to someone else.

The more you embrace change, however small, the more you tell your subconscious mind that change is good and stimulate it to find other things to change.

Being open to change can lead you to new insights, new ideas, and new solutions to old problems.

Change might be uncomfortable, but it can also be liberating. It can open doors you never realized were closed. Taking on a different type of case or client, for example, might lead you to discover a lucrative new practice area or additional source of income.

You might want to journal on the subject and explore some ideas, or you might dive in and do something completely different, as I did early in my career when I went “all in” on marketing and that one decision changed everything.

At the very least, add a prompt to your weekly or monthly review checklist to ask yourself, “What can I change this week/month?”

Filed Under: Personal development, success