Do your clients have kids?

February 3, 2021 by
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Many attorneys are transactional. They get a case or client, do the work, get paid, and wait for the next case or client to show up.

They wait for their clients and prospects to contact them if they have another matter, a question, or know someone who might need help.

These attorneys know they do good work and expect that this is enough to get repeat business and referrals.

Often it is. But not often enough.

Lawyers who aren’t protectively building a relationship with their clients are missing the boat.

You need to get to know your clients as individuals, not just an entry on a ledger. Find out what they do when they’re not being a client. Find out where they went to school. Find out about their work and their personal life.

Get to know them and the people they know. You might find you have some mutual contacts, or get yourself introduced to some new ones.

Find out the names of their kids so you can ask about them by name.

Have you ever had a client leave, and you didn’t know why? Or find out a client had a referral but didn’t tell you? Or a client had a possible case but didn’t contact you because “they didn’t want to bother you”?

That happens when you don’t know your clients and they don’t know you.

When you know your clients and they know you, they’ll tell you when they have a new legal issue, a question, or a referral. They’ll tell you when you’re doing things right, so you can do more of that. They’ll tell you when they’re unhappy about something you said or did, so you can fix it.

Your clients are your partners in the future of your practice. Take care of them and they’ll take care of you.

How to use a newsletter to stay in touch with your clients

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Filed Under: Client relations

The attorney marketing triad

February 2, 2021 by
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There are lots of ways to build a law practice, but if I had to name just three, here’s what I’d choose:

(1) A content-rich website that attracts traffic and persuades visitors to contact me to make an appointment or ask questions and subscribe to my list so I can stay in touch with them.

That website would educate prospective clients about legal problems and solutions, tell them what I do and how I can help them, and prove to them I can deliver what they need and want.

The website would be a digital hub for my practice and my primary presence on the Internet. It would attract prospective clients via search and referral, and it would do most of the “convincing” for me.

(2) Build a list and stay in touch. Most people don’t hire an attorney the first time they visit their website or otherwise encounter them. It may be weeks or months or years before they’re ready to take the next step.

When you have a list, you can stay in touch with prospective clients, remind them of the solutions and benefits you offer, provide additional proof and encouragement, and be in their minds and mailboxes when they’re ready to take the next step.

Your list can also stimulate them to provide referrals (actual clients, traffic to your site, followers on social), and provide reviews and testimonials.

Your list will also generate more repeat business and referrals.

(3) Build relationships. I’d serve my clients’ legal needs and help them with other aspects of their business or personal life. I’d also do that with professional contacts and other centers of influence in my niche or local market.

I’d provide information, introductions, and referrals. I’d promote their business, practice or cause. I’d get to know them on a personal level and help them get to know me.

Because we’re in the people business and the quality of our relationships is a major factor in our success.

If you get these three things right, you may not have to do anything else.

How to build a website that makes your phone ring

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

How did you react to finding out you passed the bar exam?

February 1, 2021 by
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I was willing to wait for the results to come in the mail but my father (attorney) wanted to know if his son had passed and didn’t want to wait.

He drove downtown, to the Daily Journal newspaper office, where the results were posted in a street-level window.

I remember getting his call, telling me the good news. I think he was more excited than I was.

Actually, I felt relief more than excitement. Relieved that all my hard work had paid off, relieved that I didn’t have to study for it again or take it again. Relieved that I could move on to the next phase in my career.

With such a low pass rate in California, it was a big deal and I’ll never forget how it felt.

The other day, I saw a video of a young man in front of his laptop, logging in to get his results. His mother stood behind him, hands on his shoulders, looking at the screen, waiting for the results to be displayed.

As you can see, mother and son have different reactions to the news.

We all handle important news differently. How did you react when you got your results?

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Filed Under: Just for fun

“The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous”

January 29, 2021 by
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Marketing legal services is often defined as “everything you do to get and keep good clients”.

That covers a lot of ground.

Everything from lead generation to getting prospects to sign up to getting repeat business and referrals, and a lot more.

It includes prospecting, qualifying, presenting, overcoming objections, and closing. Yes, pure salesmanship, for many attorneys, the bugaboo of legal marketing.

But selling your services doesn’t mean becoming a salesperson. You don’t have to use unseemly tactics to get people to do things they don’t want to do.

If your marketing is effective, you don’t have to do much selling at all.

Peter Drucker said, “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.”

When you do a good job of marketing your services, clients sell themselves.

Prospective clients learn what you do and how you can help them, and see proof of what you’ve done for others. They learn about your experience and abilities and get a sense of what would be like to work with you. And then, on their own, they decide whether to take the next step.

They make an appointment or contact you to ask questions or request more information. Eventually, they either sign up or they don’t.

Without you having to sell them.

Don’t misunderstand, it’s useful to know what to say when a prospective client hesitates. Knowing how to overcome objections and close can help them decide to hire you and thus get the benefits they want or need.

But it is your marketing that does the heavy lifting.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship

When is this thing really due?

January 28, 2021 by
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Are your calendar and task manager filled with due dates and deadlines you regularly fail to meet? I’m not talking about statutory or contractual deadlines; I’m sure you have these under control.

Because you have to.

Bad things happen when you miss “hard” deadlines.

I’m talking about “soft” deadlines, dates you assign to your tasks and projects that you would like to meet but often don’t.

There are ways to turn a soft deadline into a hard one, making it much more likely that you’ll meet it. Tell a client when you’ll have something ready for them, for example, and they (and your fear of losing the client) will usually hold you accountable to getting it done as promised.

But there’s something else you can do to prevent yourself from missing soft deadlines.

Stop setting them.

Many “experts” advise scheduling due dates for everything. The problem is, most people aren’t very good at estimating how long things will take, or what they will be working on weeks or months in advance, and wind up missing many of their due dates.

When you routinely miss soft deadlines without penalty, your brain learns that it is okay to miss due dates, and eventually ignores them.

It’s dispiriting to continually move tasks from one (missed) due date to another. It makes you feel like your tasks are in charge of you instead of the other way around.

A better system is to reserve “due” dates for hard dates only (meetings, filing deadlines, appointments, and things you’ve promised to get done). For everything else, use a “do” date or “start” date.

“Do” dates and “start” dates are aspirational. You plan to do something or start something on a certain date, but there are no negative consequences if you don’t. They’re not deadlines, they’re reminders.

For long-term projects, or projects you’re not sure you’re ready to start, you can also schedule periodic reminders or “review” dates.

Or you can do what I do.

I only record hard deadlines.

Everything else I need to do, or want to do, I keep on lists, and schedule hard deadlines to review those lists.

Once I week, I go through my lists and decide what I want (or need) to work on that week (or soon). I move these to another list.

I go through that list every day (or the night before) and decide what to work on that day.

I may not know what I’ll be working on next week or next month, but I get things done and never worry about missing a deadline.

If you use Evernote for your lists, check out my Evernote for Lawyers ebook

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Filed Under: Productivity

Practice makes pregnant

January 27, 2021 by
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In college, I lived in a dorm. If the nickname “El Konk” sounds familiar to you, you know the place.

Like most dorms, we had a rec room where we played cards, read, talked about life, and occasionally do homework.

Just outside the rec room was a hallway. The walls of that hallway were about 6 feet apart.

No, I didn’t measure them. I know how far apart they were because I’m a little over 6 feet tall and I was able to “walk” up those walls.

By putting me feet on one wall and my hands on the opposite wall, I was able to push my way up the walls, all the way to the ceiling.

Some people thought it was funny and called their friends to come look. Some thought it was cool and wanted to try it. Some thought I was nuts.

Why did I do it? Because I was curious and wanted to see if I could.

So, what’s the point of this story?

That I was in better shape when I was in college? That I was an unmitigated clown? That I drank too much?

None of the above.

In fact, there is no point to this story. It’s just something I remembered recently and thought I’d write about.

And that is the point.

Writing down memories, however pointless, is a good way to improve your writing. Any skill gets better with practice, so if writing is important to you, I suggest you write something every day.

Not legal work, something creative or fun.

You might keep a journal and write down your thoughts about the past, what’s going on in your life right now, or your dreams for the future.

Writing regularly will improve your ability to come up with ideas (because there’s no pressure to write something pithy or useful). It will also improve your ability to put your ideas into words.

Writing every day will make you a better writer.

Do it enough and who knows, you might get lucky and write something with a point, something you can use in an article or blog post.

Like I just did in this one.

Ideas you can use in your blog or newsletter

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Filed Under: success, Writing

What secret word unlocks email marketing success (But isn’t a secret)?

January 26, 2021 by
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One word. A word that can turn a boring newsletter, blog post, or article into something your subscribers look forward to reading. A word that helps you forge relationships with your readers and bring them closer to hiring you and referring you.

The word is hardly a secret. You use it every day in conversation, but perhaps not so much in your newsletter, articles, and blog posts, because “experts” tell you to avoid it.

The word? “I”.

Yes, talk about yourself.

Of course you will mostly talk about your reader–their problems, their wants and needs, their niche market or community.

Talk about subjects that interest your reader, but don’t leave yourself out of the picture.

Tell your story. Let people get to know you and what it’s like to work with you.

Because you are the solution to their problems.

When you talk about the law, use examples and stories from your practice. Talk about how you’ve dealt with these issues before, on behalf of other clients.

Describe yourself in action, talking to people, creating documents, writing letters, arguing or negotiating on behalf of your clients.

Your readers what to know what you’ve done for other clients, because it shows them what you can do for them.

Don’t make your newsletter all about you. But don’t forget to talk about yourself, because that’s how your readers get to know, like and trust you.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

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Filed Under: Content creation, Email, Newsletters, Writing

The Bandwagon Effect

January 25, 2021 by
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Psychologists tell us most people tend to think or act a certain way when they believe others are doing the same. They don’t want to make a mistake or miss out so they usually follow the crowd.

The “Bandwagon Effect” is a cognitive bias that causes people to buy a certain product or act a certain way because it is the more popular option.

Prospective clients often choose the attorney who appears busier for the same reason.

You can use this innate cognitive bias in your conversations and presentations with prospective clients.

When you present two or more options to a prospective client, e.g., Package A (your “starter” service) and Package B (your bigger service), for example, before you ask what they’d like to do or which option they prefer, tell them which option is more popular: “Most of my clients prefer Package B” (if that’s true) and tell them why.

You can do something similar in your articles and blog posts, and in your sales materials.

“Most of the people I talk to about [issue] tell me they don’t want to wait, they want to take care of this immediately because. . .”

Most people want to follow the ostensibly safer and better path chosen by others, so make sure you tell people what most people usually do.

Ready to make this year your best year ever? This will help

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Filed Under: Advertising, Closing the sale, Communication, Copywriting, Presentations, Public Speaking, Salesmanship

4 lists that can grow your practice

January 22, 2021 by
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You want new clients. You want everyone you know to refer clients to you, send traffic to your website, and promote your content and events.

You want introductions to centers of influence in your niche or local market. You want invitations to be interviewed and speak or write for publications that serve your target markets.

You might want help with advertising, website or computer matters, writing, or presenting. You might want help getting organized or learning or troubleshooting computer programs, or recommendations for hardware, apps, or methodologies.

Whatever you want, it should go on a list, the first of four:

  1. WHAT I WANT

List number one will remind you to think about what you want and train yourself to recognize people you know and meet who can provide it.

Keep this list in front of you and look at it often because you get what you focus on.

  1. HOW I CAN HELP

You should also maintain a list of ways you can help your clients and contacts besides your legal services.

What do you know they’d like to know? What skills do you have that can help them? What kinds of introductions and referrals can you give them?

This list will help you become proactive in helping people. When you help your clients and contacts, they’ll help you.

  1. WHAT MY CLIENTS AND CONTACTS WANT

Your clients and contacts want things, too, and their wants and needs should go on another list.

What kinds of clients or customers do your business and professional contacts want? Who would they like to meet? What information would help them, personally or in their business life?

You can use this list to help them get what they want. You’ll know who to refer to them, who to introduce to them, and what kinds of information to send them.

  1. HOW MY CLIENTS AND CONTACTS CAN HELP

This list is a record of what your clients and business contacts can do for you and your other clients and contacts.

What do they know? Who do they know? How can they help people?

These four lists will help you help others. They will help you to be an effective matchmaker, content creator, and business contact.

You’ll be able to do things for your clients and contacts most lawyers don’t do and build the kind of network and practice most lawyers will never have.

When you help others, you get more repeat business and referrals

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Referrals

What’s on your ‘today’ list?

January 21, 2021 by
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The most important list on our list of lists is our ‘today’ list.

We have things to do tomorrow, next week and next month, and we can plan for these, but all of our “doing” takes place today.

Many people overload their Today list with too much to do.

Not only does this mean that some important things don’t get done, an oversized list tends to cause anxiety because you always have too much you haven’t done.

I know. I used to bite off much more than I could chew.

Awhile back, I found a solution.

Instead of one big Today list, I break it up into two.

The first part of my Today list are my MUST DO’s. These are (usually) the 3-5 most important or urgent tasks (MIT’s) for the day, tasks I cannot leave for tomorrow.

If they are on my MUST DO list, I must do them today. If something is still on that list at the end of the day, I don’t move it to tomorrow, I keep working on it until it’s done.

Because it is a MUST DO.

My MUST DO list includes appointments, tasks with a deadline or due date today, and things that are due soon I need to start working on today.

The second part of my Today list is my TARGET list. This includes tasks I could do or want to do today, but don’t have to.

When I start my day, I start working on my MUST DO list. This might only have one or two tasks on it and often doesn’t have any.

When I’ve completed my MUST DO list, I move on to the TARGET list and work on those items.

If I’ve completed both my MUST DO and TARGET lists and I want to keep working, I’ll dip into my other lists to find something else to do.

Unless I don’t want to.

I might take the rest of the day off.

I’m good with that because I know I’ve completed my most important work.

Bifurcating my Today list this way has made a big difference in how I plan and approach my day. I get my most important tasks done each day and never panic about things I didn’t do.

It’s made me a mellow (and productive) fellow.

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Filed Under: Productivity
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