The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

The reasonable man standard, tagging edition

March 31, 2021 by David M. Ward

You and I have things to keep track of: information, ideas, tasks, projects, reference material, and more. No matter where we keep this information, we need a system that allows us to find it when we need it.

We might use tags, notebooks, folders or labels. We might keep paper lists or use apps and rely on search. No matter what system we use, it’s a good idea to periodically review and update that system.

And that’s what this reasonable man is doing.

If you’d like to join me for a little spring cleaning of your tags, here are some thoughts that might help.

First, tagging isn’t something we can set and forget. It will always be a work in progress. Right now, you may have too many tags (folders, notebooks, etc.) and need to cut them down to size. Too many tags and things get messy and hard to use. You’re not sure if you found what you want because you’re not sure you clicked or searched the right tag(s).

But there’s also the danger of under-tagging. This can keep you from finding things in a reasonable amount of time.

We’re looking for balance. Not too hot, not too cold.

Start by making a list of tags you want to continue using, or start using, in the following categories:

Class (task, project, reference, archival)
Context (people, places, tools, time, conditions–calls, emails, agendas, waiting for)
Dates (start, review, due)
Status (investigation, open, filed, settled, closed, active, in progress)
Actions (to do, to read, to write, to decide, to review, to buy, to contact)

You could have more categories. Or fewer. But this list should get you started.

Set up some “rules” for yourself, that keep you from over- or under-tagging, and to make your tags more useful.

I don’t tag every name, for example, just the people I know personally and am likely to connect with again.

Decide what your tags will look like. Will you use small letters or upper-and-lower? One word, hyphens or underscores, or spaces? Once you choose, be consistent.

Eliminate duplicates, consolidate plurals and variants (spelling, aliases). Write a style sheet and keep it handy.

Experiment. Try different words, different ways. Look at what other people do for ideas. Keep track of your changes so you can easily change back if you want to.

Finally, prune your garden often. Doing it every few months instead of every few years will be easier and keep your system running smoothly.

Evernote for Lawyers ebook

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: tagging, tags

How to become a better writer

March 30, 2021 by David M. Ward

When asked how to get better at writing short stories, Ray Bradbury said, “Write one story a week”.

Write 52 stories a year and how could you not improve?

The same is true for writing anything– emails, articles, scripts for videos or podcasts, motions, final arguments, or appeals.

The more you do it, the better you get.

Just like any skill.

You’re a better lawyer today than you were the day you started because you’ve had a lot of (ahem) practice.

One reason I write every day is because I want to get better at it. That’s Bradbury’s advice and mine, too.

At first, you may not be good at it. Do it anyway.

Don’t show it to anyone if you don’t have to, but keep writing. Focus on quantity, not quality.

Quantity will lead to quality.

But I’ll let you in on a little secret.

When you show your writing to people, when you publish it on a blog or send it to newsletter subscribers, when you stand up in front of a judge or jury and flap your gums. . .

. . .you get better faster.

If you want to get better at writing, keep doing it. If you want to get better, faster, do it publicly.

Filed Under: Writing

You have one chance

March 29, 2021 by David M. Ward

Last week, I watched a few videos about some software I’m using. I liked what the guy was saying and wanted to know more about how he used the software. During the video, he said he had a newsletter and if you sign up, he’ll send you his template and other goodies that show you his entire setup.

“I want that,” I said to myself, found his website and signed up.

Note, he didn’t tell us the web address. I searched his name and found it. Not difficult but an extra step. If you want to build your list, make it easy for people to find you. But hey, he’s a tech guy and didn’t ask for my opinion.

After I signed up, the system told me my subscription went through. I went to my email inbox, eager to retrieve the template, but no fruit cup. (Let me know if you know where that’s from.)

Anyway, there was no email from the guy, and of course, no template.

No bueno.

The next day, I did get a welcome email, but there was no mention of the template.

The heck?

Usually, I would blow it off and move on. But I really wanted what he offered so I replied to his email and politely asked for the template.

As of this morning, I haven’t heard back from him. Doesn’t mean he’s not going to reply, but so far, I’m not impressed.

Some lessons:

If you want people to sign up, make it easy for them to get to your signup page.
Always send a welcome message, and send it immediately. Don’t make them wait, even a day. Don’t make them wonder if or when they’re going to hear (something) from you.
You’ll get more subscribers if you offer an incentive. I signed up for this guy’s list because I wanted his offer. I wouldn’t have done so without that.
Keep your promises. Send a link to download the incentive, either in the welcome message or immediately thereafter. Don’t make them wait or wonder if you’re a flake. Do let them see you’re on top of things.

Look at it from the prospective client’s (subscriber’s) point of view. Assume it’s their first time finding you, they have a painful legal problem and need an attorney yesterday, they’re looking at other attorney’s websites, but don’t know who to trust or who to choose.

Don’t give them any reason to choose someone else.

How to write a simple but effective welcome message

Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing

Is ‘tell your story’ good advice?

March 26, 2021 by David M. Ward

Who are you? How can you help me? Why should I trust you?

This is what prospective clients are thinking about you, even when you are referred to them by someone they trust.

It’s only natural. They want to know what you can do for them and what it will be like to work with you.

So, tell them. Tell your story.

Tell your story in your marketing materials. Tell your story to people who ask, “What do you do?” (My ebook, How to Sell Your Legal Services in 15 Seconds or Less shows you how to answer that question.)

So yes, it is good advice. But a word of caution:

Don’t be “that guy” or “that gal” who talks about themselves all the time.

Tell your story and be quick about it. A few sentences is usually more than enough.

Another caution: when you talk about yourself, some people may doubt you. So, do what you can to get others to tell your story, via testimonials and positive reviews.

What someone else says about you and how you helped them is much more persuasive than anything you say about yourself.

Testimonials and positive reviews aren’t the only way to do this, however. You don’t need clients to tell their stories, you can tell their stories for them.

When you write an article or blog post, when you deliver a presentation, when you speak to a prospective client or fellow professionals, tell stories about the clients you’ve helped.

Client success stories are a subtle but powerful form of marketing. Collect them and use them liberally, because while you may do the “talking,” it is the client’s story that delivers the message.

It’s not difficult to do this. In your next article or conversation, start a paragraph by saying, “I had a client who. . .” and tell their story. Describe the problem they had when they came to you, what they hired you to do, and what happened.

Tell your story. And tell client success stories.

How to Sell Your Legal Services in 15 Seconds or Less

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

What to do when you don’t know what to do

March 25, 2021 by David M. Ward

You’ve got a situation. A problem, something you need or want and you can’t figure out how to get it. You’re confused and frustrated and don’t know what to do.

We have a situation like this in our family right now. A close relative is ill and we’re trying to sort out the medical, legal, and financial options. It’s all been a bit overwhelming.

When you have a problem and you don’t know what to do, your feelings aren’t going to help you, you have to focus on action.

Here’s how:

1) State the goal

Where do you want this to end up? What would be a good outcome? How would you define success?

You need to know the destination before you you know what to do to reach it.

2) Write down the facts

What do you know about the current situation, and what do you need to find out?

What are the options? What can you do? What are the problems, issues, and obstacles stopping you from reaching the goal?

3) Choose the “next action”

Once you know the facts, it’s time to take action. Not just any action, however, the logical “next action,” in Getting Things Done terms, meaning something you can do to move the situation forward.

If you’re having trouble getting started, choose something small and easy to do:

Write down a list of questions. Make a call. Do some research.

Once you’ve done that, ask again: “What’d the next action?”

And do that.

If the next action is too big, break it down into smaller steps and find one you can do.

If you have several next action candidates and don’t know which one to choose, your next action might be to talk to someone or to weigh the pros and cons of each option so you can decide which one to choose.

We did this with our family situation and while it’s been a bumpy ride, we’ve moved forward from a place of not knowing what to do to knowing what to do (next).

And we know that if we continue asking, “What’s the next action?” and doing it, we’ll get through this difficult situation and eventually reach our goal.

Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With: getting things done, gtd, next action, problem solving

If you do this, you’ll get more clients

March 24, 2021 by David M. Ward

If you’d like a mind-numbingly simple way to get more clients, read on my fellow legal peep. I think you’re going to like this idea.

It will work for just about any type of practice or practice area and you can start using it immediately.

And, did I mention it was simple?

All you need to do is create a one-page letter, form, card, web page or email that says:

“Please send me free information on:”

Under this, put a list of subjects that might interest a prospective client.

For example:

“How to hire a good xyz attorney without losing your shirt”
“The least you need to know about X”
“An easy way to protect your [family/business/estate, etc.]
“How to [benefit] in 30 days or less”

Anything a prospective prospective client (and the people who can refer them) might want to know.

These can be old blog posts, reports, articles, videos, presentations, or anything else you’ve created (or can create). You can start with a few options and add more later.

Provide check boxes or links and explain what to do to request the information. Include a paragraph about you and your practice, so they know who you are and how you can help them. And tell them there is no cost or obligation.

When someone requests information, you learn who they are and what they’re interested in. You can follow up with them, offer more information, offer a free consultation or other incentive, and stay in touch with them until they’re ready to take the next step.

Your report tells them something they want to know, and shows them why they should hire you or contact you to get more information.

But, here’s the thing.

Even if they don’t read your report, they have your contact information. If and when they decide they need to talk to a lawyer, the odds are that you’ll get the call.

Once you have created you “information request form,” put it in your new client kit, send it to former clients (a good excuse to re-connect with them), and encourage everyone to share it with their friends and contacts.

See, I told you this was simple.

How to get more clients

Filed Under: List building, Marketing legal services Tagged With: lead generation

How to defeat ‘Productivity Shame’

March 23, 2021 by David M. Ward

‘Productivity Shame’ is the feeling that you haven’t done enough.

You haven’t accomplished enough, you didn’t work hard enough, you’re not good enough.

In part, it’s caused by believing you “should” accomplish at a certain level or pace. You should work as hard as others do and accomplish as much as they do, and if you don’t, you’re weak and ineffectual.

So, we push ourselves to do more than we’re able to do and set ourselves up to fail.

We do that by setting unrealistic goals or schedules for ourselves, because humans tend to underestimate the amount of time needed to complete a task, and/or overestimate our ability to complete a task in that amount of time.

How can we change this?

First, stop comparing yourself to others.

We all have different goals, responsibilities, and energy. What someone else does (or says they do) may inspire you to attempt to do more but if that doesn’t work for you, stop it and allow yourself to do what you can do.

Because you can only do what you can do.

Your body needs time to rest and recharge and time to do other things. You have to stop beating yourself up because you can’t (or don’t want to) live up to someone else’s standard.

Pushing ourselves when weâ€™re exhausted leads to bad decisions and bad outcomes. Things take longer to do because we’re tired, make mistakes and need time to fix them.

If we keep pushing, it can lead to burnout.

On the other hand, when you work at a pace that’s suited to you, you get more done in less time and you get better results.

Second, focus on what’s important and let go of everything else.

There is never enough time to do everything. Determine your priorities and get them done.

When you do that, when you get your most important tasks done each day, the things you didn’t do don’t matter.

Look at your list of tasks and choose the most important one. Ask yourself, “If I could only get one thing done today, what would it be?”

This doesn’t mean you can’t do more. It means that if get your most important task done, your day has been productive and you have nothing to be ashamed of.

Finally, celebrate your accomplishments.

When you have a good day, meaning you accomplished one or more important tasks, pat yourself on the back, forget about everything else, and don’t look back.

Think about what you did, not what you didn’t do.

Feel good about yourself and reward yourself for having a productive day.

Whatever you do, stop caring about what other’s think. What they think is none of your business.

The Quantum Leap Marketing System for Attorneys

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity

Old school marketing for attorneys

March 22, 2021 by David M. Ward

Some attorneys don’t do any marketing. Not in the way most people think of it.

They don’t have a website, write a newsletter, do social media, create presentations, or advertise. They don’t network, do interviews, or stay in touch with their former clients.

And yet they have a thriving practice. More business than they can handle.

They may have done some marketing early in their career, or when they started their own practice, but they no longer need to do that.

So, how do they build their practice?

They work hard for their clients, deliver great outcomes, and give them great “service”.
That’s it. This brings them lots of repeat business and referrals.

That’s what my father did.

He did some networking when he started practicing. Later, he became personal friends with many of his better clients. And that’s about it.

Once he had some good clients, he got more of them. He didn’t ask for referrals, they just happened.

New clients led to more repeat business and referrals and, over time, his practice grew and grew.

Old school, but it works just as well today. And it should be the foundation of your practice-building efforts.

But you have to give it time.

If you want things to go faster and your practice to grow bigger, here are 3 things you should do next:

Set up a one-page website that lists your practice areas and contact info. Make sure your clients have the url so they can see “what else” you do, e.g, your practice areas. When they have a referral, they can send them to that page. Later, if you want to, you can add an “About” page (with your head shot), answers to FAQs, a few articles and other information a prospective clients might want to know.
Stay in touch with your clients and contacts. You might start with birthday or holiday cards. Later, if you want to, you can send them articles you think might interest them. Find these online or write them yourself. Send these regularly and you can call it a newsletter.
Create a handout to give to your clients and contacts they can pass along to their clients and contacts. A form, checklist, report, or list of resources. Something helpful your clients can give to friends, and your professional contacts can give to their clients.

Is there more you can do? Of course. But this is a good place to start. If you do a good job for your clients and give it time, you might not need to do much more.

How to start and build an email newsletter to build your practice

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

A simple idea for your next newsletter or blog post

March 19, 2021 by David M. Ward

Your clients and prospects see lawyers at work on TV and in the movies and think this is a realistic depiction of what lawyers do. They might be a bit disappointed to learn that our work isn’t glamorous and problems don’t get solved in 42 minutes, but they are curious about what lawyers do.

If you’re looking for ideas to write about in your newsletter or blog, educate your readers about the “legal industry” and what you do in your practice.

Here are a few idea to stimulate that big brain of yours:

What a typical day looks like for me
How I get new clients
Why I advertise/don’t advertise
How Zoom meetings have changed my practice
The software tools I use every day
Top ten questions I get from prospective clients
How I decide to take a case (and what I do if I don’t)
Legal fees, costs, and retainers, oh my
Why some lawyers earn more than others
Malpractice: what is it and what lawyers do to avoid it
Questions I ask prospective clients before I take their case
What I tell new clients before I start working on their case
What I’ll tell you if you ask me, “How much is my case worth?”
How often do I need to update my [business/estate documents?]
Phone, mail, email, or text: how I communicate with my clients
Why I (usually) love what I do (and when I don’t)

Articles like these are quick to write, give people interesting and helpful information about a subject that interests them, and helps them appreciate what you do. When someone is looking for a lawyer, this is precisely the kind of information that can help them decide to choose you.

Tell people about your work. Even if it’s not glamorous.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Legal industry, Marketing legal services, Newsletters

Daily notes: a journal by a different name

March 18, 2021 by David M. Ward

I’ve tried keeping a journal and find it useful (and fun) to record my thoughts but the habit hasn’t stuck.

I’d like to try again and may have found a way to do that.

There’s a new breed of note taking apps (Roam, Obsidian, and others) and I’m trying out one of them.

One feature is a “daily notes” page that automatically appears (unless you turn off that feature), with the date and plenty of room to write. You can also set up templates to prompt you to record whatever is important to you.

Yes, it’s really a journal with a different name. But it might work because the daily notes feature is built into the app. I don’t have to stop what I’m doing to go write in my journal, I can simply add some thoughts or notes on my daily notes page when they occur to me throughout the day.

In that sense, the daily notes page work like an inboxâ€”a place to deposit ideas and notes to be sorted, filed and worked on later.

A daily notes page also works like an “outbox”.

At the end of the day, you can record notes on what you did, what you thought, and what you plan to do later. Because it’s built into the app, it’s easy to drag or copy/paste notes written elsewhere onto the page.

What can you record in your daily notes? Anything you want:

What you did today, what you learned today, what you want to remember
Goals, plans, ideas
Quotes from books you read, a list of books you want to read
Websites and apps you want to check out
Questions you have about something you’re working on
Habits you want to track
New clients, new prospects, new marketing campaigns
Earnings, expenses, debts you need to pay, money you need to collect
Ideas for new projects, notes about improving your workflow, your attitude, your skills, or your well-being

Anything you did or want to do, anything you want to remember, in as little or as much detail as you want.

Some days, you’ll write hundred of words. Other days, you might write a single sentence, or nothing at all.

This morning, I wrote a few questions about the notes app I’m trying, and a few thoughts about the concept of daily notes.

At the end of the day, you can add comments and additional thoughts, and tags or labels or links to related notes. You will no doubt want to move some of those notes to other folders or pages or other apps.

Daily notes allow you to memorialize your journey and build a repository of information you can go back to help you manage your work or personal life.

Daily notes also help you hold yourself accountable to doing what you said you would do, and what you need to do to achieve your goals.

When I look at what I did and didn’t do last week, I see what I’m doing right and what I need to improve.

Yeah, I’m not sure I like that part.

Filed Under: Law office management, Personal development, Productivity, success