What will your clients want from you ten years from now?

February 5, 2015 by
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says that if you want to build a successful, sustainable business, don’t ask yourself what could change in the next ten years that could affect your company. Ask what won’t change, and then put all your energy and effort into that.

Bezos knew that Amazon’s customers will always want low prices and quick delivery and he invested heavily in the infrastructure and systems that allow him to provide these. He sacrificed short term profits to build something great for the long term. “When you have something that you know is true, even over the long term, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it,” he said.

What should you invest in? What do your clients want today that they will still want ten years from now?

Well, more than anything, your clients buy “you”. So invest time and energy in becoming the best you can be. Invest in your skills, your knowledge, and your ability to communicate.

Work on your writing, speaking, and selling skills. Work on becoming a better manager and a better leader. Invest as much as 25% of your time in personal and professional development.

There are other things clients want from you, related to your specific practice area(s), services, and client types. Figure out what those are and invest in them, too. If you find that your clients really want services performed quickly, for example, focus your energy on finding ways to do that.

But mostly, focus on making the best you possible so you can attract the best clients possible.

If you want to learn how to differentiate yourself from other lawyers, get The Formula

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Communication, Image, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Personal development

7 ways to write faster

January 30, 2015 by
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My goals this year require me to do more writing. To accomplish this, I plan to write faster.

The faster I write, the more work product I will get out the door producing more income, bringing more traffic, generating more leads, and building my brand.

Here’s how I plan to accomplish this:

(1) Stick with what I know

One of the biggest causes of writers’ block is not knowing what you want to say. When you write about what you know, writing is easier and faster.

You also don’t have to do a lot of research. If I do need to research a particular subject, I’ll either do it before I write, so as to not interrupt the flow, or “write around it,” i.e., leave a blank and come back to the subject later.

(2) Create more detailed outlines

I often find myself going down rabbit holes and off on side roads in my writing because I haven’t done enough advance planning. More detailed outlines will allow me to know what I’m going to say before I say it. That will allow me to not only write faster, but avoid wasting time on topics that are off subject.

(3) Write shorter

I’m working on a book now that will be less than one-third the length of the previous one. Shorter writing means more readers coming into my funnel. It also means I can get onto the next project that much quicker.

To write shorter, I’ll (a) choose narrower topics and (b) leave out some details, explanations, and examples.

(4) Bigger daily word count

I write every day, but I don’t crank out as many words as I know I could. This year, I’m committed to a bigger daily word count. I’ll do that by using the AIC method (“ass in chair”).

(5) Dictate more

I wrote most of the first draft of the book I’m working on now in a few hours. How? By looking at my outline and dictating it. I’ll transcribe it myself and flesh it out as I do so.

I’ll also try working more with Dragon Naturally Speaking, which I haven’t yet been able to master.

(6) More music to tame my inner teenager

After about 15 minutes of writing, I feel the urge to check email or do something else on the Internet. It gets me out of “flow” and takes me longer to get back on track.

Music helps me write for longer periods of time. Classical or new age; nothing with lyrics.

(7) Reward myself

Yes, the work product, and the income it will generate, is its own reward. Nevertheless, I’ve got a couple of new books I’m itching to crack open, digitally speaking. I’m looking forward to finishing my work for the day so I can get my reward.

So, no more time to chat. I’ve got words to write before I rest, and miles to go before I sleep.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Productivity, Time Management, Web traffic, Writing

What to do when you have nothing new to offer

January 12, 2015 by
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What’s new?

Unfortunately, for most attorneys, the answer is “nothing”. They offer the same services today that they offered last year, and the year before that.

The clients change, the cases have different elements, but for most attorneys, same old same old. Even if they offer a menu of services, the menu rarely, if ever, changes.

Worse, many of their clients need them only once in their lifetime.

If attorneys owned any other type of business, they would regularly offer new products or services. Their business would always be growing.

But if a client doesn’t need another divorce, or doesn’t get in another accident, it’s game over.

It would be great to be able to offer the client another service, wouldn’t it? But if you specialize (as you should), you probably don’t have anything else.

Some attorneys offer updated documents, reviews, and modifications, and that’s good. But what about everyone else?

Well, there are a couple of things every attorney can do.

First, you can partner with other attorneys and promote their services to your clients. In return, your partner promotes your services to their clients. You can also do joint ventures with other types of professionals, and businesses, too.

Your clients have problems and needs that go beyond what you can do for them. They need help finding high quality professionals and vendors. They would love to get a good deal, or at least know they aren’t getting a bad one.

You can help them, and in so doing, help yourself.

Think “clients” not “cases” or “engagements”. Continually look for ways to help your clients with their other business or personal needs.

See The Attorney Marketing Formula for different ways you can work with joint venture partners.

Second, no matter what kind of practice you have, you should continually be creating new content.

Every article, blog post, report, seminar, video, or ebook you produce and put out into the market place can bring you new clients.

They can bring traffic to your website via search and social sharing. You can ask your clients and contacts, (and joint venture partners), to share our content with their clients and lists. You can offer them for sale on Kindle and other venues, where millions of prospective clients can find them.

Each piece of content you create educates prospects about what you do and how you can help them. It pre-sells them on the need for an attorney, and why that attorney should be you. And it prompts them to contact you to ask questions, make an appointment, or sign up for your list.

New services, albeit someone else’s, and new content. These are your new products and services. This is what you should continually create and offer.

Then, when someone asks, “What’s new?” you’ll be able to show them.

To learn more about joint ventures, get this

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Legal industry, Leverage, List building, Marketing legal services, Referrals, Web traffic

Don’t break the chain

January 9, 2015 by
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You know a lawyer whose practice is rocking. More business than she can handle, lots of money, busy as all hell. Three years ago, she had just opened her doors. No clients, tiny office, nothing happening.

How did she get from a standing start to where she is today?

Many factors could have contributed to her growth, including talent, connections, hard work, and luck. But one factor may be more important than you might think.

Momentum.

When she started her practice, she did some things to bring in business, and then she kept doing them. She got better at them, and did them faster. She got progressively bigger results. Those results compounded and she continued to grow, until her practice reached the tipping point and became the juggernaut it is today.

Momentum is a critical factor in anything we do. Creating it is the hardest part of anything we do.

It’s like pushing a car from a dead stop. It takes a lot of effort to overcome inertia, but once the car starts rolling, it gets easier, and then easier still, until you have to do little more than lean on it to keep it going.

Alrighty then, how do we create momentum?

We do it with consistency.

Whatever it is you need to do, you do it regularly. You don’t “do” some marketing this week and pick it up again in six months. You do a little bit every day or every week.

You get better at it. It becomes easier. You do it faster and get better results.

Your results affect other areas of your life. If you build momentum with an exercise program, you get more energy to do other things. You might finally be able to read that book you’ve been wanting to read, or start that new website project.

When you write a blog post or newsletter article each week, you become a better writer, of course, but you may also become a better speaker. You may get better at networking, too, as you reach out to other professionals to invite them to do a guest post for you and as they do the same for you.

When Jerry Seinfeld was starting out, he promised himself that he would write one new joke every day. Every day he did it, he made a mark on his calendar. As the marks piled up, he kept going because he didn’t want to “break the chain”.

In any area you want to improve, find something you can do and do it. Walk for ten minutes three times a week. Write two paragraphs every morning. Invite one professional to lunch every week.

Get started and don’t break the chain. Consistency breeds momentum, and momentum breeds results.

If you need a marketing plan that really works, get this. 

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Personal development, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With:

Planning 2015 and beyond

January 7, 2015 by
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What do you want to accomplish this year? Be specific. Next year at this time, if I ask you, “Did you do it?” I hope you’ll be able to answer in the affirmative, but what is “it”?

You have many options. You must decide what you want and be very clear about it. What’s the number? What’s the outcome?

Do you want more clients? How many? Do you want better clients? How do you define better? Do you want fewer clients who pay you more? How many and how much?

Start with the big picture–where do you want to be five or ten years from now?

Do you want to expand into a new market? Branch out into a new practice area? Attract different types of clients?

Do you want a big firm, with lots of employees and offices, or a small firm with low overhead and low(er) management requirements?

Do you want to build a war chest to finance something new, or passive income so you can retire?

Before you make a plan or take action, you must know what you want. But there’s something else you need to figure out.

Why?

Whatever it is that you want, you have to know why you want it. You want more income? Why? What will you do with it?

When you think you know your “why” take it deeper. You say you want more money to pay off debt, start a college fund, or hire some new staff. Fine. Why do you want that?

Ah, more staff will allow you to earn more and work less. Okay, why do you want that?

It will give you more time with the family you love. You won’t miss soccer games and ballet recitals. You’ll be able to pursue music or art or travel the world.

Okay, but why do you want those things?

Keep asking yourself “why” until you get to the emotional core that is driving what you want. That core will be fueled by one of two emotions: love or fear.

Your love of your children will keep you going when you hit an obstacle. So will your fear of disappointing them.

It is our emotions that drive us and unless we access those emotions, it’s too easy to get distracted, procrastinate, or give up.

When you have emotional clarity about what you want, nothing will stop you from getting it. Without that clarity, anything can stop you.

Get clear about what you want, and why you want it.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Increase your income, Personal development, success Tagged With:

Selling legal services without breaking a sweat

January 6, 2015 by
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I once had a secretary who asked me for a raise. I thought I paid her well but I told her that I would consider paying her more if she would first show me that she was worth more. I knew she capable of a lot more and was only doing enough to keep her job.

She countered. She said that if I wanted her to do more, I had to pay her more. First.

She used to work for the government, so I know why she didn’t get it. In the real world, if you want to earn more, show your employer that you are worth more. If you do, you may not even have to ask for a raise.

The same goes for lawyers in private practice. Show your clients and target market that you are worth more to them, and then you can easily raise your rates.

I talked about this yesterday. I said that the foundation of marketing and building a successful law practice is delivering value to your clients and target market. The more value you give, the more clients, repeat business, referrals, and other benefits you get, and that includes being able to charge higher fees.

Give more value, FIRST.

One of the benefits of doing this is that it practically eliminates the need to do any selling. The value you deliver does the selling for you.

Something as simple as posting high quality information on your website tells your market what they need to know about you and how you can help them. Through this information, and the client stories you tell to illustrate your points, people can see that you have knowledge, experience, and a work ethic that they want in an attorney.

Prospects get to know and trust you through your content. They sell themselves on hiring you. Referral sources see how much you know and how much you do for your clients and they know that their referrals will be in good hands.

How else can you deliver value to your market?

By providing referrals, making introductions, and promoting their business or practice.

By sharing their content with your lists and contacts.

By helping their causes through donations and volunteering your time.

When you deliver enough value to your market, you don’t need to sell your services. You need do little more than mention them.

They already know and trust you. They already know you’re good at what you do. If they need your help, or know someone who does, they’re not going to go anywhere else.

Selling legal services is easier when you know the formula

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing, Salesmanship Tagged With: ,

The foundation of all attorney marketing

January 5, 2015 by
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The foundation of all attorney marketing is value. The more value you deliver to your target market, the more successful you will become.

When you deliver more value, you get more clients, and better clients, and you’re able to charge higher fees. You get more referrals and fewer complaints. You build a base of loyal fans who are not only willing to help you, they go out of their way to do it.

Value starts with your services, of course, but it’s not just the excellence with which your perform those services. It is a function of everything under the umbrella of “client relations”.

It is the little things you do for your clients that improve their entire experience with you. It’s the way you show them that you care about them as individuals and not just names on a file. It’s how you make them feel about themselves and their decision to put their trust in you.

Maya Angelou said it best when she said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Value doesn’t stop with clients. You also deliver value to your prospects, referral sources, and others who work in, advise, or sell to your target market. Give them more value, make them feel good about knowing you, and they will remember you when they need your services or know someone who does.

You can deliver value to your prospective clients and referral sources through content-rich websites, videos, podcasts, articles, books, and speaking engagements that educate and empower them and help them make better decisions. You can deliver value through free consultations and free seminars, or paid seminars, books and courses.

The foundation of all attorney marketing is value. Find out what your market wants and deliver it to them. Over and over again. Surprise and delight them by giving them more than anyone else in the market, and you will own that market.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Increase your income, success

An attorney who gets it

November 20, 2014 by
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I may not use the word “posture” but that’s what I mean when I recommend charging top dollar for your services, refusing to discount or match another lawyer’s fees, and being confident enough to tell prospective clients to talk to other lawyers, as I did in yesterday’s post. Virginia appellate attorney Steve Emmert gets it.

After reading yesterday’s post, he emailed me the following:

Hi, David –

I read this entry, and it suggested a related topic. You may recall that I’m an appellate lawyer. Because my state’s appellate bar is small, we all know each other and we’re all pals. I therefore have a ready database of available alternate counsel.

My “related topic” is my fees. I have intentionally set my fees at the upper end of the range for appellate lawyers here. When someone – either a prospective client or one of my “customers,” a trial lawyer – calls and asks about my fee, I tell them up-front that I’m one of the most expensive appellate lawyers in the state. I then quote them a fee based on that premise.

As you might imagine, my fees dissuade many customers and clients from hiring me. I’m never upset when they can’t afford me; I tell them I can find them another capable appellate lawyer who can do it for less money. That makes everybody happy – my pal gets a new case that he would never have seen otherwise, and the client/customer gets to experience the unthinkable – an attorney telling him or her, “Don’t give me your money.” That usually floors them, and I have received more than one message, a year or two later, thanking me for my honesty and for the referral.

Finally, the real point of this overlong note:

Some customers or clients ask me to reduce my fee. My stock reply harks back to the previous paragraph: “No, but if you want, I can find you a capable” etc. This usually generates one of two responses. The first is, “Yes, please, I’d like to save some money.” I give those folks a name or two and then go about my life with a clean conscience. People who want to economize on a lawyer are not high on my target list of incoming business.

The other possible answer, which often comes after a day or two, is “I’ve thought about it, and while I appreciate the offer of a less-expensive lawyer, I’ve decided that I really want you to represent me. I’ll pay your quoted fee.” Imagine what that feels like; these are the kind of customers that you really go the extra mile for.

As you might surmise, Steve loves what he does. He gets to pick and choose the cases he accepts and because he charges top dollar, he doesn’t need lots of business to enjoy a very comfortable income.

Hold on, you say? That’s fine for someone with his years of experience and stellar reputation. One look at his website and you know that this is the guy you want to hire. Most attorneys can’t be that choosy. Most attorneys can’t get away with being “one of the most expensive” in their field.

And you are right. Most attorneys can’t. But far more could do so than even make the attempt.

Look, you’ve got to be good at what you do and you’ve got to be able to prove it. You have to have the chops. You can’t be the new kid on the block and expect to charge what lawyers with thirty year’s experience charge.

But you can charge more than you think.

Most attorneys play it safe. They “price match” what other attorneys charge, or they undercut them. They’re afraid of the competition. They expect that all clients choose their attorney based on price (they don’t) and believe they have to be competitive to get their “share” of the work that’s available.

They operate in fear, not confidence.

Who’s to say you can’t charge more than you do? Who’s to say you’re not as good as other lawyers who charge more, if not better?

I don’t know if you have what it takes to be “one of the most expensive” attorneys in your market, but I have long advocated setting fees that are at least in the upper one-third of the market. Obviously, most attorneys don’t.

If you’re not good enough yet, do what you have to do to get there. But if you are, don’t let a lack of confidence or a fear of losing business to other (cheaper) lawyers stop you from getting what you’re worth.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Fees and Billing, Increase your income, Legal industry Tagged With:

Get better results by asking better questions

October 30, 2014 by
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Yesterday, I spoke with an attorney who wants to increase his income and is transitioning into a new practice area. It turns out that if he had a choice, there’s something else he’d rather be doing career-wise and it’s not practicing law.

I slammed on the brakes and asked him to write a one page, “ideal life” scenario dated five years from today. I said there were no rules, he didn’t have to follow logic to explain how he got there, “just describe your life as you want it to be five years from today.”

Because you can completely re-make your life in five years.

Write your scenario in the present tense. It’s already happened. You’re living the life you want, doing the things you want, being with people you want.

What does your typical “ideal day” look like?

I’ve given this exercise to many people, and done it myself. I’ve found that people often have trouble being honest with themselves about their ideal day. They don’t believe that what they really want is possible so they choose something different, something they think is possible, or something they think other people in their life would approve of.

When you do this exercise, you must forget possible. Ignore “how” (for now) and simply describe “what”.

The idea is that once you have described your ideal life, you’ve got something to work towards. “Start with the end in mind,” and work backwards to make it so.

Anyway, today I was clicking my way through the Interwebs and found a blog post that asked readers a provocative question I thought was on point:

What would you do with your time if you weren’t allowed in your house from 8am – 7pm, didn’t have to work, and your children were being taken care of?

Answering this question can help you describe your ideal life scenario.

Once you have done that, once you know where you want to go, the next thing you have to do is figure out how to get there. You do that by asking yourself another question.

In the post, the author says

The better questions we ask ourselves, the better the answers will be. . . Your subconscious mind. . . will start working out ways to answer your question.

So, if you constantly ask: ‘Why do I never get what I want in life?’ Your subconscious mind will go to work to help you find the answer and it will always be negative. Whereas if you constantly ask yourself ‘How can I make this possible? your subconscious mind will get to work and start looking for ways to get what you want.

To get better results in life, first ask, “What do I want?” Then ask, “How can I get it?” Your subconscious mind knows the answers.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Increase your income, Mentors & Coaches, Personal development, success

More on lawyers testing a “mimimally viable product”

October 16, 2014 by
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In response to yesterday’s post about expanding your practice by offering a “minimally viable product” (service) to test the waters, I heard from two lawyers who disagree. Their comments and my responses follow.

The first lawyer I heard from added this comment to the post itself:

Not very good advice here, and would possibly lead one down a path to malpractice, test a “minimally viable service”? really?

The “start up world” is not analogous to the practice of law

Could offering a service you’re not competent to handle lead to malpractice? Of course. If you’re not at least minimally competent to handle this new service, don’t offer it. I never suggested otherwise.

If you’re thinking of offering estate planning services, for example, you wouldn’t start by offering to form offshore trusts if you’ve never done that before. You would start with simple wills, powers of attorney, and health care directives, assuming you know where to find the forms, how to fill them out, and what questions to ask to determine if the client needs anything else.

The operative word in the term “minimally viable service” is “viable”. It means the product or service does what it’s supposed to do. It may not have all the bells and whistles or options, but it solves the client’s problem.

This is the second comment, received in a tweet from Richard W. Smith:

“David – enjoy your posts, but disagree with this approach: “Make it as attractive as possible, and price it as low as possible”

He didn’t elaborate, but I’m guessing he doesn’t have an issue with making your service and offer as attractive as possible, he disagrees with the idea of pricing it as low as possible.

If we were talking about offering your regular services, I would agree. I’m the last person to suggest wholesale discounting or competing on “price”. In fact, I believe and have often said most lawyers don’t charge enough. But things are different when you’re testing.

When you’re testing a new service, you want to know if there is a market for it. Your goal isn’t to maximize revenue or profit, it is to see if you can get anyone to buy. So you offer a minimally viable service at an attractive price point. If your test works, if you get clients or opt-ins or inquiries, you then add to the offer (more features, more options), raise the price, and put more time and money into marketing.

If you don’t get “sales,” or you decide you don’t want to handle that new practice area after all, you close the door and move onto other things.

I should have added that in testing the new service, you shouldn’t price it so low as to cheapen what you are offering. Test a new service (or market) by asking for a fee that is low enough that your “price” isn’t the reason prospective clients don’t hire you, but not so low that they think something is wrong with you or the service.

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Filed Under: Fees and Billing, Increase your income, Marketing legal services
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