How to use scarcity to get more clients and increase your income

April 2, 2013 by
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Scarcity creates value. When something is in short supply and people want it, its value increases. A soda may cost less than a dollar at any supermarket but that same soda costs $4 at the baseball game where there is no competition.

If you are the only attorney in town, the value of what you do increases. When a client needs you, they will pay a premium price for your help. On the other hand, if there are lots of attorneys in your market who do what you do and a client can choose any of you, the value of what you offer goes down.

This is why you must show prospective clients that you aren’t like other attorneys. You must show them that you are different in a way that is important and valuable to them.

If you specialize in personal injury cases for clients who ride motorcycles, for example, and ride one yourself, your superior knowledge and commitment to that niche market gives prospective clients a clear reason for choosing you instead of other attorneys.

You can learn more about showing people why they should choose you instead of other attorneys you in The Attorney Marketing Formula. Right now, I want to talk to you about another form of scarcity you can use in your marketing: “limited availability”.

You know that people want what they can’t have, right? When you put a time limit or a quantity limit on something you are offering, (assuming it is something people want), it tends to increase demand.

Why?

The first reason is “fear of loss”. They don’t want to miss out. Limited availability suggests that other people are getting something that could be theirs, thus, they are losing something they already “own,” i.e., whatever you are offering. Fear of loss is one of the most powerful motivations there is.

The other reason is “social proof”. As people see others buying what you are offering, it strengthens the perceived value of your offer. It’s like when you see a long line waiting to get into a restaurant. It tells you the food must be good.

You can use limited availability to get more people to sign up for your webinar or other event by letting them know there is limited seating or phone lines. If they wait too long, they might not get in.

You can use the same idea with impending fee increases. “Book your appointment now and lock in our current rates before they go up on the first of the month”.

Anything with a deadline invokes scarcity. If you ever use special offers–discounts, bonuses, freebies–a time limit on the offer (e.g., “This week only”) will almost always increase response.

I do this when I release a new product or service. I offer a discount to early bird purchasers and put a strict time limit on that discount. Wait too long and you miss it. I do the same thing when I hold a sale. The time limit forces people who might otherwise procrastinate to make a decision that allows them to get something they want.

Limited availability also applies to you and your time. If you are always available, you appear less valuable. If you answer your own phone, for example, it suggests that you are not “in demand” by others. Better to have someone else answer your phone and grant limited access to you and your valuable time.

The same goes for setting appointments. You don’t want clients to think you aren’t busy and that they can see you at almost any time. Put them off for a day or three or give them a short window of availability (i.e., “The only time available is Tuesday between 4 and 4:30 and Thursday at 2”.)

Put limits on what you offer, including your time. Especially your time. You’ll get more people waiting in line to get it.

Learn how to get prospective clients to choose you instead of other attorneys. Click here.

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Filed Under: Image, Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services

Increase your income: offer a premium version of your legal services

March 29, 2013 by
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A simple way to increase your income without increasing your fees is to offer a premium version of your legal services.

If your basic service is $2500, you might offer a deluxe package for $2950 which allows clients to get additional services they will probably need down the line. They can get everything taken care of all at once and save a few bucks.

What options, extras, or “nice to have” additional services could you offer to new clients? The best time to present these extras is at the initial engagement when they are in a buying mood. They see that it’s “only a few hundred dollars more” and it’s an easier decision than if you went back to them later.

Having a deluxe version also allows you to offer prospective clients a choice between the two versions, which is better than offering them a choice between hiring you or not. No matter which version they choose, you have a new client.

You can create a deluxe version of your services by adding something to what you ordinarily do. Or, you can leave out something you ordinarily do and call that your basic package. So, if you ordinarily do A, B, C, and D, your basic package would now be A, B, and C and your deluxe package would include everything.

You could also create a deluxe package by including services from another lawyer. For example, your basic version may be a business start up package and your deluxe package might include an employee manual produced by an employment lawyer. If you are an estate planning lawyer, your deluxe package might include a mini-plan from a financial planner you work with.

A deluxe package doesn’t necessarily have to include additional services, however. It might be a higher level of service–quicker turnaround or priority handling, for example.

Offering a premium version of your services is a simple way to increase your income. Even if only a small percentage of clients opt for it, you come out ahead.

The Attorney Marketing Formula: The 6 Keys to Higher Income. Click here to learn more.

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Increase your income, Marketing legal services

When lawyers say, “I don’t have time for marketing,” they really mean, “I don’t want to”

March 13, 2013 by
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Admit it. When it comes to marketing, if you’ve ever said, “I don’t have time,” what you really meant was, “I don’t want to.” Not having time is simply the excuse.

How do I know? Because you do have time for marketing.

I’ll prove it.

How long does it take to call a former client and say, “Hello, I hope you’re doing okay”? Three minutes if they answer the phone? Sixty seconds if you leave a message?

Too long? Okay, how about sending an email? It might take five seconds to insert their email into a template and click the send button.

Five seconds. Could you do that once a day?

Of course you could. If you wanted to.

So the real issue is why you don’t want to.

Fear? (“I don’t want to sound like I’m fishing for work.”)

Ego? (“I shouldn’t have to do this.”)

Well, while you figure that out, I’m going to give you a suggestion that may help:

Do it anyway.

You don’t have to want to do it. Do it because you want the results.

You don’t exercise because you want the pain. You want a lean, strong, and healthy body. You want to look good in your clothes. You want to feel good about yourself. So you put up with the pain and inconvenience and hit the gym three or four days a week, whether you feel like it or not.

Marketing works the same way. You do it because you want the results.

Fall in love with the results. Get excited about the idea that a few minutes a day could result in thousands of dollars per month in additional income.

In the time it took you to read this post, you could have found your next client. And you wouldn’t even break a sweat.

Marketing is simple. Start here.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Productivity, Time Management

Build your law practice more quickly by compressing time and leveraging effort

March 7, 2013 by
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You’ve heard me say it many times before:

Do something marketing-related every day. Make a few calls. Send a few emails. Write a blog post. Jot down some ideas. You can make significant progress with just 15 minutes a day of effort because of the compound effect of doing something every day.

To build your practice more quickly, you should compress time and leverage your effort. You compress time by

  1. Doing things faster,
  2. Doing things more often, and
  3. Doing things in bigger chunks.

You do things faster by getting better at them. That comes from experience and from learning (new techniques, shortcuts, different methods).

Doing things more often means doing something three times a day instead of once. Or every day instead of every other day.

Doing things in bigger chunks means instead of doing something for 15 minutes, you do it for two hours or an entire day. You will get further ahead by compressing several weeks of activities into a single day because the bigger chunk of time allows you to create momentum.

You will also grow more quickly by leveraging your effort. That means getting more results out of the same activities.

An example of leverage would be networking with potential referral sources instead of prospective clients. By attending the Kiwanis Club dinner, you may make friends with someone who needs your services, and that’s good. A more leveraged result would be making friends with the president of the Kiwanis Club, who knows everyone in that chapter and five others.

Another example would be doing things that have a “long tail,” i.e., writing an article that will reside on your web site indefinitely, continually pulling in leads and new business. If you’re going to spend an hour writing something, write something that will produce a residual “income”.

A third example of leverage is re-purposing your content. You do a presentation. Now, take that presentation and turn it into five blog posts, three videos, and an ebook. Don’t settle for a one time presentation to 50 people when you can re-purpose your content and get it in front of 5,000.

A fourth example of leverage is re-distributing your content. You take your report and send it to everyone on your list. You put it in your new client kit. You put it on a download page and link to it on your web site. You give print copies to your referral sources and ask them to put them in their waiting rooms. You email a pdf to your clients and ask them to forward your email to their friends and family.

You’ve heard the expression, “working smarter”? Now you know what it means.

For more ways to compress time and leverage effort, get this.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

What to say when a prospective client’s first question is, “How much?”

February 26, 2013 by
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The phone rings and a prospective client is on the line. His first question is, “How much do you charge for [a service]?” Is this a danger sign? Should you avoid price shoppers like him?

Yes, it is a danger sign. This is someone who is no doubt calling several attorneys and comparing fees. We can assume he intends to choose the lowest priced attorney and I will assume that this is not you.

But that doesn’t mean you should automatically reject him.

Just because someone is shopping price doesn’t mean he is incapable of understanding and appreciating value. Once he sees that you offer so much more than other attorneys, even though your “price” is higher, he may persuade himself that you are the better choice.

The trick is in how you handle his question.

If the initial question is, “How much do you charge for a Living Trust?” most attorneys would answer with a dollar amount. If you do that, then what you offer is a commodity and commodities are bought and sold based on price.

Let other attorneys compete on price. You don’t sell a commodity like they do, you offer professional services and your services are unique.

The better answer is something like this: “We offer a variety of estate planning and protection packages; the attorney needs to speak to you to determine which one is best for your situation.”

You want to be different from other attorneys. You don’t want people comparing the price of your apples to the price of their apples. Get prospects into the office where you can do a complete job of diagnosing their needs and showing them benefits they won’t get from other attorneys.

You should be prepared to give callers a broad idea of what they can expect if they hire you, however. If your least expensive package is $15,000, and they have a $1,000 budget, you’ll be doing both of you a favor by letting them know.

When someone asks, “How much?” answer with a lawyer-like, “It depends.” Because if it doesn’t depend, you are selling a commodity and there will always be someone else with a lower price.

Want to know how to ask for (and get) higher fees than other attorneys? This has the answer.

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Increase your income, Law office management Tagged With: ,

How to get more clients like your best clients

February 18, 2013 by
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Who are your best clients? You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones who pay more. The ones who cause the fewest problems. The ones who send you referrals and promote your practice. The ones you like being around.

You know, the clients you’d like to clone.

You can get more clients like your best clients. Here’s how:

DEFINE THEM

Who are your best clients? What attributes do they have in common?

Demographics: Industry, occupation, background, ethnicity.

Legal work: Most work, highest fees, bigger cases, repeat business.

Referrals: How many? How often? What quality?

Other factors: Who can they introduce you to? Do they have lists and are they willing to promote you? Are they influential on social media? Do they like you and want to help you?

PAY ATTENTION TO THEM

Give your best clients more time and attention than other clients. Call them, just to say hello. Write them, to share information. Spend time with them: coffee, lunch, networking events.

Thank them for their patronage, their referrals, and their friendship.

HELP THEM 

Business clients: Send them referrals. Help them find employees, suppliers and joint venture partners. Feature their business or practice in your blog or newsletter. Introduce them to people they might like to know.

Consumer clients: Help them find better deals.  Introduce them to trusted advisers, reputable contractors, high quality service people. Help them get reliable information and advice.

In short, if you want more clients like your best clients, you should build relationships with them. They will lead you to people like themselves with similar needs and values.

We get what we focus on. Focus on your best clients and you’ll get more of them.

Need help identifying your “ideal client”? Click here.

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

Do you offer the iPad of legal services?

February 8, 2013 by
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I was reading an article on why the iPad beats Android tablets. The author concluded thusly (I love that word, don’t you?), “Having reviewed the options, the reason for Apple’s continued dominance in the tablet market seems clear – it makes the best product. It also makes the most expensive product, but that doesn’t seem to deter consumers, who continue to buy the iPad in droves.”

The article points out that there is and will be a big market for Android, and many people prefer that platform for reasons other than lower price.

Something for everyone.

Now, how do your legal services compare? Do you offer iPad-ish services–high quality and high price–or Android-ish–lower quality and lower price?

You can make money in either category, but not both.

Many attorneys lean towards the lower end of the market. I suggest you resist the temptation.

Set your fees at Apple levels. High end. Then, make sure you’re worth it.

Higher margins provide huge benefits:

  • You get better clients. Yes, more demanding (like Apple’s), but better in every other sense
  • You don’t need as many clients; you can take your time and turn out a better work product
  • You can hire better talent and delegate what you don’t enjoy
  • You have a marketing budget so you can expand and grow
  • You earn more profit and enjoy a better life style.

Delivering high quality legal services does cost more. A nicer office, the best employees, a higher level of “customer service” all come at a price. But it’s not how much you spend that counts, it’s how much you earn.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you the six keys to earning more without working more. Click here.

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

Building your marketing investment account one day at a time

January 28, 2013 by
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Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Is marketing a habit for you?

You’ll often hear me say that you can build your practice with 15 minutes a day of marketing activity. Anybody can find 15 minutes today, but most don’t do it every day because it isn’t a habit. Unfortunately, it won’t become a habit until you do it every day.

Catch 22.

But then nothing starts out as a habit. Everything starts out as “the first time”. And then you do it again. Now you’re two days into it. One more day and you’re on your way. Keep going and it will become a habit, especially once you see some positive results.

Leo at Zen Habits has an excellent article today on building habits. He uses the analogy of saving and investing money, i.e., putting away a little bit every day. Over time, the dollars compound.

If you want to (or need to) write, for example, but have not been able to make it a habit, he says:

“. . .just write a sentence today. I’m completely serious. Then write a sentence tomorrow. Do that for a week. Next week, write two sentences. This sound ridiculously easy, so most people will ignore this advice. But if you follow it, you’ll be writing 1,000 words per day, every day, this time next year. Maybe 2,000 per day the following year.”

In the context of marketing, then, if you have not developed the habit of doing something every day for 15 minutes, start with one minute. Read something, write down an idea or two, or just sit and think. That will get you started.

The other thing about habits is that we have to be reminded to do them. “Set a daily reminder. . . and make it a priority to do each day,” Leo says. I take it a step further, suggesting you making a daily appointment with yourself and put this on your calendar. Then, keep that appointment. If a new clients wants to see you at 2 and that’s your marketing time, you must tell them you have an appointment and can’t see them until 2:15.

Yes, we are what we repeatedly do. Today, you may be in the habit of NOT marketing. You’re excellent at not marketing, in fact. But today, you can start a new habit. All you need is one minute.

Want something to read during your marketing minute? Try this.

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

How to get more clients to sign up when you quote your fees

January 24, 2013 by
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I’m listening to Spotify as I write this. The ’70’s station. Elvin Bishop, Paul Simon, Elton John, Al Stewart, Seals & Crofts, America, Earth, Wind & Fire. . .

How cool is that?

I “liked” every single song so far and now they’re in my playlist.

So much music, so little time.

Anyway, I wanted to share something with you that I think will make your day. Or your week. Maybe even your year.

Our microwave died two days ago. It’s amazing how much we use that thing. Boiling water on the stove is so 1970’s.

Anyway, my wife goes online and starts pricing replacements. We’ve had this one for 18 years so it wasn’t that simple. It has to fit in the space above our range and match the oven.

She finds one that works and gives me the price. Holy crap! “It’s a microwave, not a car!” I was overhead saying.

She took that to mean, “keep looking,” and she did. Sure enough, she finds one that has everything we need, fits in the space, and is 40% cheaper than the first one.

“Order it!” I said. And she did. It will be installed tomorrow.

Now, here’s the thing. If she had first come to me with the price on the one we ordered, knowing how I am, I still would have thought it was too high. But because she showed it to me second, it looked like a bargain.

I don’t know if it IS a bargain. I just know I was happy to order at the lower price. “Look at how much we saved. . .”.

Anyway, this reminded me to remind you about pricing your services.

If possible, you should put together a lower priced version of your services to offer prospective clients. If the deluxe package is ,000, and the basic package is ,500, you can show them both and let them choose. If ,000 is “too much,” they can choose the basic version. Instead of “no sale” you get a ,500 sale, and a new client. The client gets his basic needs met and could possibly upgrade later.

Or, show him the ,000 package first. If he objects, (“It’s a legal document, not a car!”) you can show them the ,500 package. It may not have all the bells and whistles but it does the job. In comparison to what he thought he had to pay, it will seem like a bargain.

You’ll get more prospects saying “sign me up,” instead of “I have to think about it.”

Get the Attorney Marketing Formula and find out how to earn more. Click here for details.

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

I wouldn’t fire this guy, I’d promote him

January 17, 2013 by
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In school, if you paid someone to write your paper or take your test, you got in trouble. A big F. “No soup for you!”

So naturally, when you get a job and you pay someone else to do the work for you, you should also get in trouble, right? Fired on the spot!

Not so fast.

Isn’t that what we call “business”? Don’t we do this in a law practice?

We have customers or clients who pay us but our employees do a lot of the work. Maybe most of the work, if you look at the hours. And our clients don’t care, as long as the work gets done and is of sufficient quality.

That’s how we earn a profit. We’re “working smart”. We have leverage.

So, let me ask you, if you found one of your employees was outsourcing his work, what would you do? If he hired someone else to do the work and earned a profit on the difference between what you paid him and what he paid to get the work done, would you have a problem with that?

Assuming the work was high quality and no confidential information was shared, of course.

A software developer at Verizon was just discovered doing this very thing. He earned six-figures in his job and paid a Chinese firm ,000 to do the work. He spent his day surfing the web, playing games, and posting on Facebook.

When his employer found out, they fired him.

Me? I would have given him a raise and a promotion.

The work done by the Chinese firm was considered first rate. Praised for it’s quality, in fact. And always on time. The fact that someone else did it is irrelevant.

The man was lazy but very clever. He should be praised for his cleverness, not punished for it.

During World War II, a brilliant German military strategist described his criteria for managing personnel:

“I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent — their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy — they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent — he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief.”

The author (there is some question as to which of two men actually said it) thought that someone who is “clever and lazy” is qualified for the highest leadership duties, “because he possessed the clarity and composure necessary for difficult decisions.” They are “natural delegators,” always looking for simpler, easier ways to do things. They “focus on essentials, and despise ‘busywork’.”

If the developer at Verizon worked for me, I’d slap him on the back and ask him to show me other ways I could get a six-figure job done for only $50,000.

But no, his boss was probably embarrassed by what he did. “Clever and diligent,” no doubt, and had to fire him.

All our lives, we’ve been told that laziness is a sin. We’re punished for it in school and on the job. We’re told that hard work is a virtue. But it’s not true. Hard work, for the sake of working hard, is the sin. If there’s an easier way to do something and we ignore it, we squander God’s gift of time.

You owe it to yourself, your family, your employees, and your God, to find the easier way, the better way, the more leveraged way to get things done. You’ll earn more and have plenty of time to play games and post on Facebook.

Leveraging time is one of the six keys in The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Leverage Tagged With: ,
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