How often should I call a prospective client?

April 9, 2013 by
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A lawyer wants to know, “How often should I call a prospective client after a free consultation or a first phone call?”

The answer is you shouldn’t.

Don’t call. But do follow up.

Don’t call, because calling is bad posture. It makes you look like the pursuer, not the pursued. And that’s true even if you have someone in your office make the call.

You want to attract clients, not chase them. You are a professional. Highly sought after. Booked up.

Let them call you when they’re ready to hire you.

There are exceptions. If the prospect asked you to call. If they called you and you’re returning the call. Or if you are calling to find out if their wife’s surgery went okay.

Otherwise, don’t call.

Follow up by email or regular mail. Send them a thank you note. I enjoyed meeting you, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.

Courtesy, not sales.

Then, put them on your mailing list. Send additional information about their legal issue. Articles and reports. Emails that direct them to relevant content on your website.

But no personal mail or email.

Stay in touch with them and all of your prospects by mail or email. Each time you mail, it reminds them that you still exist and you’re still available to help. You maintain a bit of distance and the correct posture because you’re mailing this information to everyone on your list, not just them.

Information, not sales.

If they came to see you and didn’t hire you, there’s a reason. If they don’t have the money, or they need someone else’s permission, sending information is about all you can do. When they’re ready and able, they’ll call.

If there’s another reason they didn’t hire you, you need to figure out what it is and fix it. Because until you do, no amount of information is going to get them to call.

Get more clients and earn more from the clients you get. Click here.

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Communication, Email, Image, Marketing legal services

Are you playing it safe in marketing your legal services?

March 26, 2013 by
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You don’t play it safe when you advocate for your clients. So why do you play it safe when you advocate for yourself?

In marketing, you must stand out. To stand out, you can’t play it safe, you have to be different.

Have you ever noticed how most attorney’s web sites look the same? Change the name and the photo and another attorney in the same practice area could take over the site without missing a beat.

How do you expect clients to notice you when you look like everyone else? Why should anyone choose you when you don’t show them how you are different?

Being different starts with including some personal information in your marketing. Share some of the things that define you as a person–your family, your hobbies, your crusades. Give the world a glimpse into the human being behind the professional.

Being different also means saying things most attorneys don’t say. Examples? Revealing how most law schools don’t prepare lawyers for the courtroom. Or how lawyers pad their bills. Or lawyer discipline. Or what to ask a lawyer to see if they are competent.

If you’ve never spoken about these things, you should. Your colleagues may not like it, but your clients will.

You can also be different by sharing your opinion on something controversial. Most attorneys straddle the middle of the road. If there’s something you believe strongly in, you should take sides and open your mouth.

Look at Donald Trump. He’s never afraid to say what he thinks. Did he earn a fortune because of this or in spite of it? I don’t know. But I do know that whenever he opens his mouth, he makes money.

The same goes for Ted Turner. And Rush Limbaugh. The more you hate them or laugh at them, the more they earn.

I’m not saying you need to go to these extremes. But you do need to take some chances.

Here’s the challenge: On your web site, or in your newsletter, say something you know will not sit well with someone. Nothing radical. Don’t start a fight. Just say something a little different or a little out of character.

Make a few eyebrows rise. Show people a side of you they’ve never seen.

It might not be what you say but how you say it. A coarse reference, perhaps. Or gansta slang, yo.

Click the send button. If your heart beats a little faster and you wonder if you’ve made a mistake, you know you’re doing it right.

You’ll find it liberating. Maybe even exhilarating. Possibly terrifying.

You might hear from someone who likes what you said. That’s good. You might hear from someone who doesn’t like it. That’s good too.

Communication isn’t solely about delivering information. It’s about touching people on an emotional level. Making them listen. And think. And feel. And respond.

If you get no response, the odds are nobody noticed. Try again. Push harder. Keep stirring.

Eventually, you may lose some people who don’t like what you say. That’s the risk. The reward is that there will many more who take their place, who love you and want to work with you and tell all their friends about you, in great part because you aren’t like everyone else.

If you want mediocre results, keep doing what everyone else is doing. If you want superlative results, you’ve got to take some chances.

Want more ways to be different? They’re in The Formula.

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Filed Under: Communication, Email, Image, Marketing legal services, Writing

Gmail users now have another way to achieve inbox zero

March 18, 2013 by
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In my Evernote For Lawyers ebook, I described how I (finally) achieved “inbox zero”. In case you don’t know, that means my email inbox is empty. The short version of how I did it: I identified the important emails that needed a reply or further action or that I needed to save and then archived everything else.

If you’ve never experienced an inbox zero, you should try it. Looking at an empty inbox and knowing that you have everything under control is a great feeling.

Now, what about the important emails? No surprises. I forward them to Evernote where I tag them for further action or assign them to a project. This allows me to keep my email inbox empty.

But there is a niggling issue. To reply to the original email I have saved to Evernote, rather than starting a new email, I have to find the original email in my Gmail archive. Not terribly difficult, but I just leaned something that makes it so much easier.

It turns out that Gmail allows you to bookmark your emails. Every email has a unique URL that you can access from your browser address bar. By copying and pasting that URL into an Evernote note or other note taking app, you can retrieve that email by clicking on the url. If you are logged into your Gmail account, the bookmarked email will open, ready for your reply.

Gmail gives you other options for curating and retrieving emails. Labels, filters, and stars are all helpful. But there’s nothing faster or more accurate than clicking on a URL to find a specific email.

You can also use this function to bookmark emails you need for an upcoming meeting or event. Paste the URL into your todo app or calendar and everything you need is just one click away.

Do you bookmark your email URLs? How has this helped you become more productive?

Evernote for Lawyers shows you how to get organized and increase your productivity

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Filed Under: Email, Law office management, Productivity, Technology Tagged With: , , ,

Attorneys want to know: How often should I email my list?

March 15, 2013 by
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After yesterday’s post about email, I heard from a lawyer who wanted my take on his email signature. Ah, but it wasn’t a signature, it was an attachment (pdf). I pointed out that

  • Some email servers treat emails with attachments as spam so his emails might not get through,
  • Some people refuse to open attachments because they’re afraid it might contain a virus, and
  • Many people simply won’t take the time to open an attachment.

So, while his attachment has some good information in it, a lot of people will never see it. I recommended a simple text or rich text signature, so people can see some basic info, and a link to a web page for those who want more.

Now, pdf’s are one thing. When I get an email with an MS Office document attached that I am charged with reviewing, unless there is a reason I need to see the original formatting, I often reply and ask the sender to cut and paste the text into the body of the email. It’s not so much fear of a virus as convenience. It’s easier for me to respond to a text email with my responses or corrections, especially if where there will be a series of back and forth corrections.

Okay, maybe that’s just me. But just in case it’s not just me, my advice is to not send attachments unless you have no other choice.

Onward.

How often should should you email your list?

Often.

If you’re providing valuable information (newsletter, blog posts, resources), information people want and have signed up for, don’t hold back. Write as often as you can.

I email every day, five days a week. I hope you find value in what I write. If you don’t, or you don’t have time to read every email, you can save my emails for later, delete them, or un-subscribe.

There, I said it.

Hey, it’s not a bad word. I get a lot of people un-subscribing from my list. And that’s good.

How can that be good? Well, if they don’t value what I’m sending them for free, they’re not going to hire me or buy something from me, so why clutter up my list or their email inbox?

That’s reality. Some love ya, some don’t. Some listen to your advice, some don’t. Some only want free stuff and will never buy anything, some will.

The same goes for your list. Think about it: Would you rather have a list of 10,000 people who don’t read your emails and won’t hire you or a list of 400 people who read every email, share your content, promote your web site, hire you, and send referrals?

Exactly.

And guess what? The more often you mail, the more of your services you’ll sell. That’s a fact, Jack.

So don’t worry when someone un-subscribes from you list. It’s a good thing. And don’t worry about writing too often. As long as you are sending valuable information that (the right) people want to consume, you almost can’t mail too often.

I’m on several email lists that don’t send valuable information. Every email is either an ad or an invitation to a webinar where products will be pitched. No tips, resources, or advice. And many of these email me daily. Sometimes twice a day. Why on earth do I stay on these lists? The value to me is that it lets me see what other marketers are doing. I skim and delete. But I stay subscribed.

Value is in the eye of the beholder.

Now I don’t recommend emailing nothing but ads for your legal services. It’s true, these marketers wouldn’t continue sending nothing but ads and webinar invites if it wasn’t working for them, but they’re not selling legal services. Make your email (and website content) 90-95% valuable content, only 5-10% promotion.

And every practice is different. I doubt many people want to get daily emails from their criminal defense attorney no matter how good the information is. But every client is also a consumer so if you are sending consumer tips and advice, daily might be just fine.

There is a risk in not emailing often enough. If you email quarterly, for example, you risk people forgetting who you are and sending your email to spam. Not only do they ignore your message, you get penalized.

You need to write often enough to keep your name in front of your list. Once a month is probably the minimum, and that’s cutting it close. Once a week is much better. If you don’t think you have enough for a weekly email, write shorter emails. One or two tips is all you need.

Stay in touch with your list. You can build a very large law practice with email.

Create value. Build a list. Mail often.

Marketing made simple: The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: Communication, Email, Marketing legal services, Technology, Writing

Clients don’t hire anonymous lawyers

March 14, 2013 by
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I get a fair amount of email from lawyers. At least I think they are lawyers. Unfortunately, many of them don’t tell me who they are or what they do for a living. All I know about them is their email address.

No name. No phone number. No web site.

They would never send a letter via regular mail that was devoid of contact information. Why do they do that in an email?

If they are using the same email account to communicate with clients and prospects and professional contacts, they’re not helping themselves. Nobody wants to hire, refer to, or network with an anonymous lawyer.

Even if the recipient knows who you are, emails like this tell them that (a) you are clueless about the simplest of technology, suggesting that you might be lacking in other areas of your knowledge or abilities, or (b) you don’t care.

Either way, you’re not communicating the right message.

The solution is simple. Put your full name in the “From” section of your email. Every time you send an email, the recipient will see your name, making it more likely that they will open and read your message and remember who you are.

Put an email signature at the bottom of your emails. At a minimum, it should have your full name and a link to your web site. If you want, you can also add additional contact information, your practice areas and links to social media accounts.

You can do both of the above on any web based email or email client software.

Also, don’t use your personal email address for business. You wouldn’t invite clients to meet you at your kitchen table, would you? You wouldn’t send them a business letter on your Doctor Who stationery, would you? (Okay, that would be cool.)

Word to the wise: don’t send business emails from flopsie12@aol.com or headbanger42@hotmail.com. Cough up $10 and get your own domain name so you can send a business email from you@yourname.com.

One more thing: Go easy on the disclaimers and CYA language. All that boilerplate lawyer language may protect you (may), but it does nothing to reach out to your reader and connect with him. It does just the opposite.

It says, “I don’t trust you and you shouldn’t trust me. I’m just like all the other lawyers out there, hiding behind this wall of fine print.”

Do what you have to do, but no more than you have to do.

Do you want to earn more and work less? Get The Formula and find out how.

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Filed Under: Communication, Email, Image, Technology

Christmas cards are for wimps

December 19, 2012 by
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When was the last time you wrote your clients?

No, I don’t mean sending a Christmas card, the same one you send to all your clients. I mean a real letter. With real words, not a holiday sentiment written by someone else.

A letter from you (not your firm), not to promote anything, or remind them to update their Will or do their fourth quarter Minutes. Just to say hello. Or to send them an article you thought they might like.

I know, you’ll get back to me on that.

Not long ago, this might have been a big project. Expensive, too. You don’t have that excuse today. Email makes it simple, and virtually free.

If you don’t have an email list for your clients, you need to. Make this your numero uno marketing project. At the top of your list. With a gold star and three exclamation points!!!

Because if you don’t, you won’t write your clients, at least not as often as you should. And if you do, you will have a mechanism for “fundamentally transforming” your practice. English translation: make a boat load of money.

An email list, and regular contact with it, to your clients, prospects, and professional contacts, is critical today. You want repeat business? Stay in touch with your list. You want referrals? Stay in touch with your list. You want traffic to your web site? Stay in touch with your list. All you need is a few minutes to write something and then click a button to send.

That’s the easy part. The hard part? Wanting to do it. See, I know you want the business. What I don’t know is if you believe me when I tell you that this is one of the best ways to get it.

If you’re afraid they don’t want to hear from you, you’ve got to get over that. Send them something interesting, valuable, or inspiring, and they will be glad you wrote and look forward to your next message. Stay in touch with them and when they need your services or know someone who does, they won’t go to a search engine to find a lawyer, they’ll go to their email inbox and find your number.

Lawyers are complicated. Marketing is simple.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Email, List building, Marketing legal services Tagged With:

The problem with video marketing

August 8, 2012 by
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Everyone (and his brother) is touting video as THE marketing tool you MUST use. You have to deliver content using sight and sound and movement. You have to entertain people. Nobody reads anymore. Yada yada yada. . .

Of course it’s true that a well done video is a great way to engage people. Video also allows you to control the staging of your material, so you can deliver it for maximum effect. Millions of youtube views per day demonstrate the public’s appetite for video content.

But there’s a problem with using video in marketing: there are too many of them.

With everyone (and his brother) using videos, with so many coming at me every day, I don’t have time to watch them. So I delete the email or close out the web page. Or I bookmark it to watch later, and we all know that later never comes.

A brilliant video that nobody watches is worthless.

The written word is, and always will be, better than video.

People can skim a written message, and get the gist of it. If they like what they see, they will find the time to read more.

People can print a written message. When it’s in front of them on their (real) desktop, they are more likely to read it.

People can read a written message in their email inbox, without doing anything more than opening it.

And if people read your message, even if it is only mediocre, it will always outperform the brilliant video they do not watch.

I’m not saying ‘don’t use video’ in your marketing. Use it if you can. Audios, too. A lot of people like to listen while they are commuting or at the gym.

But if you don’t also use the written word, you’re missing out on a boatload of people who might be interested but didn’t have the time (or bandwidth) to find out.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Communication, Email, Marketing legal services, Presentations, Technology, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With:

The best way to open and close your emails and letters

May 11, 2012 by
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“Dear Reader:”

Doesn’t make you feel all warm and fuzzy, does it?

“Dear Friend,”

A little better. And note that a comma is less formal than a colon.

“Dear George,”

Much better. Speaking to an individual. Nothing sweeter than the sound of one’s own name. But “Dear” is a bit old fashioned in an email.

“George,”

Arguably the best way to open an email. Much better than “Hey!” although it’s okay to use something like that for informal messages with people you know really well. Of course if you know the recipient really well, you could skip the salutation altogether and just get right to the message. Perfectly acceptable in email today.

What if you’re mailing to a big list of people? A lot of cc’s or bcc’s or your email newsletter?

Of course you must consider to whom you are writing and the context of the message. You don’t want to be unprofessional, but email is generally considered a less formal medium so a less formal greeting is almost always appropriate. If you don’t know which salutation to use, consider omitting it. You’ll probably be just fine.

What about signing off? “Very truly yours,” or “Regards”? “Sincerely,” or “All the best,”?

I usually sign my emails with “All the best,” followed by just my first name. Friendly, personal, informal. Or I just put my name with no close. With people I email to a lot, I often put my initials (just to be different) or no close at all.

Your emails should be a natural extension of who you are, but also reflect the context of your relationship with the recipient. Use whatever feels right to you, but lean towards informal. Formal messages put distance between you and the reader, and you generally want to bring them closer.

Snail mail is more formal than email, of course, but a personal salutation and warm closing will go a long way towards reaching out and connecting with your reader. “Dear Mr. Jones,” or “Dear Joe,” is much better than, “Dear Client:”.

If you’re sending something to opposing counsel and you want to be businesslike and maintain posture (and a little distance), you’ll probably continue using whatever you use now. With clients and prospects and colleagues, anyone with whom you have or want to have a closer relationship, a less formal and warmer approach is warranted.

Finding the right salutations and closings begins with greater awareness. Over the next few days, take a few minutes to review the emails and letters you send and receive. What do others do? How do they make you feel? What do you do and what affect do you think they have on your readers?

Chances are you won’t make many changes with letters and emails sent to counsel or insurance carriers, nor do you really need to. But there’s probably a lot you can do with letters to clients and friends.

What salutations and closings do you use in your emails and letters? Have you considered any alternatives?

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Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Email, Newsletters, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If I were starting my law practice today, here’s what I would do to bring in clients

May 7, 2012 by
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If I were opening a law practice today, my “marketing plan” would be very different than it was when I opened my office thirty-plus years ago.

The Internet changes everything.

So. . . here’s what I would do:

I would start by setting up a web site to showcase what I do. It would be my online brochure as well as a mechanism for networking and lead generation. It would be an information hub, the center of all of my marketing activities.

My web site would be a self-hosted WordPress blog so I could update it without depending on anyone else. I would spend less than $10/yr. for a domain, and less than $10/mo. for hosting.

I would keep things simple, with a clean, professional look. I would favor quality content over bells and whistles. The look would say, “competent, confident, accomplished and approachable,” because that’s what I would want if I was looking for an attorney.

I would add articles and other content to the site, to provide value to visitors and generate search engine traffic. I would continue to add content, seeking to make my site the most comprehensive in my practice area. When someone needed an answer, everyone would point them to my site.

I would make it easy for visitors to contact me through the site and I would encourage this. I want people to ask questions. My answers bring me one step closer to an appointment and a new client. Their questions and my answers would also give me fodder for new content.

I would add testminonials and success stories to the site, providing social proof of my capabilities and add a dramatic aspect to otherwise dry material.

I would set up a lead capture system, using an autoresponder to deliver an online newsletter. I would encourage visitors to subscribe so I could stay in touch with them. Over time, I know they will become clients, provide referrals, and generate even more traffic to my site through their social media channels.

Once my hub was set up, my focus would be to drive traffic to the site and grow my list. I would start by leveraging my existing contacts, telling them about my site and the benefits of visiting. I would ask them to spread the word to the people they know.

Every piece of printed collateral, including my business cards, would include a link to my web site. Every email I sent would link to the site. Every article I wrote would include a resource box and a link to my site.

I would become active in forums and on social media. I would do some networking and speaking to meet new contacts and to stay up to date with the news in my target market.

I would look for other professionals who target my market and propose writing for each other’s blogs and newsletters. If they were physically near me, I would meet them for coffee and explore other ways we could help each other.

I would regularly email to my list, notifying them of new content on the site and sending them other content I found that I thought they might like to see. I would stay in touch with them so that I would be “in their minds and their mailboxes” when they needed my services or encountered someone who did.

I would let people know I appreciate their referrals and thank those who have provided them in the past. I would suggest other ways they could help me, i.e., forwarding my emails to their friends and contacts, promoting my seminar or other event, or introducing me to people they know that I should meet.

I would look for ways to provide added value to my list and even more so to my clients. I would give them information and advice, but not necessarily in my practice area or even anything legal.

I would smother my clients with attention, exceeding their expectations in every way possible, because I know the best way to build a law practice is with referrals from satisfied clients and other people who know, like, and trust me.

Wait. . .  the Internet doesn’t change everything. Marketing is the same today as it was thirty years ago. The Internet just makes it easier, quicker, and less expensive.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Email, Image, List building, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Referrals, Social media marketing, Technology, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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