Make this your next project

May 13, 2022 by David M. Ward

Before you do anything to bring in new clients, your next marketing project should be to win back former clients and engage or re-engage prospective clients with whom you’ve lost touch.

Former clients know, like, and trust you. Prospective clients may not trust you yet, but they know who you are and have given you permission to contact them.

Send them one or more emails. Reintroduce yourself and your services to people who can hire you or refer you, immediately or down the road.

It’s one of the most effective marketing strategies you can use.

What do you say to them?

Some clients left because they were unhappy about something. They should probably be called and you should be prepared to apologize and make amends. A surprising number will come back and forget all about their differences.

Most clients don’t have an issue, they simply drifted away. So, hearing from you again, even if you don’t say anything special, may be enough to get them re-engaged.

And, you can write about almost anything. Here are some ideas to grease your wheels:

Just checking in/How are you?/Thinking about you (It’s amazing how well this works)
It’s time. . . (to update something)
Have you moved? (Verify their contact info)
Check out this (article, video, post)
Happy birthday (or holiday)
It’s our anniversary (of working with you)
I’d like your opinion about (something)
I have a question for you
A client success story
A client who didn’t (do something and got hurt) story
A gift to you (free ebook, training, form, checklist)
Let’s connect (your social media channels)
I’m sorry (for not staying in touch)
News (about you, your services, a legal issue) that can affect them
An invitation to an event
Yeah, just about anything

A few guidelines:

Write from “you,” not “the firm”
Be yourself; speak plainly
Build on what they already know and value
Consider including a special offer
Tell them what to do (call to action)
Invite them to join or re-join your newsletter (so you can continue to stay in touch)

You invested time and money to bring in these clients and connect with these prospects. What might happen when you connect with them again?

You might find one or two former clients who hire you again or send you a referral.

You might find a handful of prospective clients who decide they’re ready to get started.

And you might find yourself smiling all the way to the bank because you’re bringing in an additional ten or twenty or fifty thousand per month that would have otherwise passed you by.

Why not write a few emails and find out?

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Increase your income, Marketing legal services

How to add value (and why should you)

April 20, 2022 by David M. Ward

What do you think would happen if you became more valuable to your clients and business contacts?

You’d get more repeat business and referrals. You would increase your gross and net income. Gross income because you’d have more work coming in. Net income because you could spend less on outside marketing and enjoy the economics of scale.

You would be “in demand”. Clients and influential people in your market would learn of your good work. They’ll want to hire you, network with you, interview you, and recommend you.

The more value you bring to the market, the more value you will receive in return.

It is law.

How do you become more valuable? You find out what the people in your market need and want and you help them get it.

What are they talking about, reading, asking, and doing? Survey your lists or talk to them individually. Everyone likes to talk about themselves. Encourage them to do that and they’ll tell you what you need to know.

You’ll discover their problems—legal, business, and personal. They’ll share their goals. You’ll learn what they want and what they need—information, advice, recommendations, ideas, clients or customers.

They’ll tell you how you can become more valuable.

If you can’t deliver what they need yourself, talk to your clients and business contacts and see what they can do.

Does a client need more customers for their business? Introduce them to a blogger or podcaster you know who can get them some exposure.

Does a client have a personal issue with a member of their family? Tell them about a book you heard about on that subject or give them some advice that has worked for you.

Did a professional you know mention the high cost of his insurance premiums? Maybe you know something about that and can offer some advice, or refer him to a broker you know who has worked miracles for some of your clients.

Adding value doesn’t just mean giving clients more deliverables or better outcomes, or helping them get more clients or customers. It also means doing things that give your clients a better experience.

It might mean simplifying your billing process or offering alternative payment methods. It might mean communicating more often, sharing information and ideas and recommended resources via a newsletter, videos, or podcast. Or it might mean cutting down the frequency and quantity of that information if that’s what they prefer.

Adding value can be as simple as getting to know your clients on a personal level and being there for them when they need another set of ears to listen to their idea or a shoulder to cry on when they’re having a rough time.

Value means different things to different people. Your job is to find out what it means to your clients and contacts, and then do what you can to help them get it.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Increase your income

How much should you charge?

April 19, 2022 by David M. Ward

How much should you charge for your services? Well, how much are your services worth?

You don’t want to charge less than what you’re worth. That’s not fair to you or your kids.

But you can’t charge more than you’re worth because that’s not fair to your clients (or sustainable).

When it comes to fees, follow The Goldilocks Rule: Not Too Hot, Not Too Cold (but how much is ‘just right’?)

Well, you have to consider:

The size and complexity of the problem or goal
Clients’ willingness to pay to solve that problem or achieve that goal
Clients’ ability to pay
Urgency (deadlines, risks, pain, associated problems)
Your experience and reputation
The clients’ sophistication and experience in working with lawyers
How much other lawyers charge
The economy
And other factors

Yeah, it’s complicated. You can’t figure this out with a spreadsheet. So, let the market give you the answer.

It starts with you. How much do you want? Quote a fee and see what clients are willing to pay.

Willing buyer, willing seller.

If most clients complain or try to negotiate, if they hire you once and never again, you may be asking more than your services are (or appear to be) worth.

If most clients pay without blinking, however, you may be asking less than you could. A common affliction among our kind.

But if most clients pay what you ask, readily hire you again and refer others, your fees are probably about right.

But that doesn’t mean you should set them and forget them.

Over time, your kids (and creditors) want you to increase your fees and continue doing that until the market tells you no more.

But that’s not necessarily the last word on the subject.

If you want to increase your fees but the market says “too much,” you have three options:

Add more value so more clients are willing to pay more
Improve your marketing and salesmanship and increase the perceived value of your services
Target a different market

The market tells you how much you can charge. But you have to ask. And listen.

The lawyers’ guide to stress-free billing and collection

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Fees and Billing, Increase your income

Pick two?

March 25, 2022 by David M. Ward

I don’t know who first said it, but people are still saying it today. “You can get the work done quickly, you can get it done well, or you can get it done cheaply.” “Pick two,“ they say. “Because you can’t have all three”.

We’ve heard that said about all manner of products and services and undertakings. We may even say it ourselves.

But is it true?

Who says we can’t have all three?

In our world, the practice of law has three areas:

Core legal skills: research, writing, presenting, strategizing, negotiation, etc.,
Managing: hiring, budgeting, supervising, productivity, etc., and
Marketing: bringing in the business, client relations, etc.

Who says they can’t be good at all three?

Clearly, they can. Many lawyers are excellent at all three.

But there are also many successful lawyers who are good at only one of the above.

They may be good at lawyering, all thumbs when it comes to running a practice, and clueless about marketing.

They may be good at running their practice (and making the most of what they have), but only “okay” in the other two areas.

They may be good at marketing but only adequate or reasonably competent at doing the work and running the practice.

So, I’m calling BS on the adage that you can only pick two. I say you can be good at all three. I also say you can be successful when you’re good at only one.

Now, something else they say. They say that we should focus on our strengths and not worry about getting good at everything. They say we can hire our weaknesses. They say we can be good enough at what we’re good at that we can succeed despite our weaknesses.

And to that, I’m going to agree.

Don’t ignore your weaknesses. But don’t spend a lot of time improving them (unless you want to). Get better at what you already do well, and everything else will take care of itself.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Increase your income, Law office management, success

March 4, 2022 by David M. Ward

A simple way to lose clients

You want to increase your fees. It’s time, you deserve more, but, like many lawyers, you’re nervous about it because you don’t want to lose any clients who can’t or won’t pay more.

Understood.

There is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

The wrong way is to do what a certain app company did not long ago when they wanted to increase their revenue. They alienated a large percentage of their customers by taking away from them a bundle of features those customers were used to getting free and would henceforth have to pay for.

That’s a no.

Don’t take things from customers because when you do, you’re taking away something they already own (even if they got it free).

The company lost a lot of customers, suffered a slew of bad reviews and a loss of good will. Apple told them that they had violated their terms of service and they were forced to reverse course and come up with a different plan.

And that’s the plan I’m going to recommend to you.

Grandfather in existing customers (clients) and charge new customers or clients the higher rate (or make them pay for things your old clients got free.) Who says you have to charge all clients the same rate?

New clients won’t know and old clients won’t care.

You keep your old clients happy, at least until a suitable point in the future when you can justify raising rates for them, too. But whatever you do, don’t take away from any client anything that’s “theirs”.

Get the Check: Stress-Free Legal Billing and Collection

https://www.attorneymarketing.com/2022/03/04/13297/

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

What’s the one thing you can do to build your practice?

March 2, 2022 by David M. Ward

One of my favorite questions to ask myself comes from Gary Keller, founder of Keller-Williams real estate and author of The One Thing. Keller asks, “What’s the ONE Thing you can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?“

You can ask that about anything. Including the subject of marketing and practice development.

Let’s say your one thing is “referrals”. You’re thinking that if you could increase them significantly, everything else you might do for marketing would be easier or unnecessary. You’d have more income, which would allow you to hire more help and turn down marginal clients and open up new locations if you chose to.

More referrals would lead to better clients, meaning bigger retainers, less hand holding, more repeat business, and even more referrals.

It wouldn’t matter so much if your SEO wasn’t that great, you did fewer presentations (or none), and you pulled a lot (or all) of your advertising. Referrals would be your one thing. Focus on it and you’ll be on track to building your dream practice.

Make sense?

But once you choose your one thing, in this case, getting more referrals, you have another question to ask yourself: “What is the ONE thing you can do to get more referrals such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

You would examine your options and come up with an answer. The “one thing” that would help you achieve your “one thing”.

You might answer “networking with financial professionals who represent (the types of clients you want to represent)”.

Or, “teach my clients how to recognize a good referral for me and the best way to refer them”.

Or, “offer (generous) referral fees to (a type of lawyer)”.

Or, “write a book and ask my clients and professional contacts to tell their clients and contacts about it,” e.g. , get them to refer people to the book and let the book sell those folks on hiring you.

Which of these or other options would be best for you and your practice?

What’s your ONE thing? And what’s the ONE thing you could do to accomplish it?

If referrals are your ONE thing, you need to study this

Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: focus, The One Thing

Do you need more than one website?

January 6, 2022 by David M. Ward

Do you need more than one website? Most lawyers and law firms don’t. But there are several reasons to at least consider the benefits of having additional sites.

If you do PPC ads or SEO and target highly competitive keywords, having a site that’s “tuned” for those keywords could give you an advantage. If you do broadcast or display advertising for major tort cases or consumer class actions, having sites dedicated to those matters also makes sense.

If you target very different markets, financial professionals on the one hand and first responders on the other, for example, or businesses and consumers, having separate sites that provide content, testimonials, use cases and offers appropriate for those markets may also be a good idea.

The same goes for your practice areas. Your business clients might not be interested in your criminal defense work and might actually see you in a different light if those practice areas are promoted on the same site. And remember, clients prefer to hire lawyers who specialize, so keeping what you do separate from what else you do might be a sound practice.

Do you have different locations or practice in different jurisdictions? Do you target clients who speak different languages? You might want to “localize” your marketing with separate sites for each location or language.

If you want to test special offers for new clients, without alienating your existing clients, maintaining separate sites is a good way to insulate yourself.

Finally, if you have more than one or two lawyers, especially in different practice areas, you might want each lawyer to have their own site in addition to the firm’s site.

That way, each lawyer can build their individual brand, post their own practice-area specific content, maintain their own blog, promote their own newsletter and social media channels, and otherwise do their own marketing, without getting in the way of anything being done by the other lawyers, or the firm.

So yeah, different websites might be just what the doctor ordered.

How to create a website that makes the phone ring

Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Say it again

November 15, 2021 by David M. Ward

One of the most important principles in marketing is repetition. If you want to put more butts in seats at your events, get more people reading and sharing your content, and more people hiring or recommending you, once is not enough.

Because the first time you say it, offer it, or ask for it, the odds are nothing will happen.

Why?

Maybe they didn’t get your message. Maybe they didn’t read it. Maybe they weren’t ready to take the next step.

For a lot of reasons:

They didn’t have the money
They didn’t want to spend the money
Their problem wasn’t yet painful enough
They didn’t understand you, believe you or trust you
They needed to get someone else’s buy-in
They have another attorney and feel bad about switching
They didn’t want what you offered
They had more pressing issues

So, you say it again.

You send the same message, or a different message. You repeat your arguments, examples, and stories, or you use different ones.

But they still may not be ready. So you follow-up with them again. And again. And again. And when they’re ready to take the next step, they will.

But that’s not the end of the story.

You continue to stay in touch with them, even after they hire you, because they may have other legal matters that need addressing (and may not realize they do), or they might not need your services right now but know someone that does.

Each time they hear from you, each time they find your message in their inbox, you remind them about what you do and how you can help them.

And people need to be reminded.

On the other hand, guess what happens if you only send one message, or even two or three?

A year, two years, three years later, when they need you and are ready to take the next step, you will be a long-forgotten memory and some other lawyer will get the call.

So, two rules for your rulebook:

Don’t rely on one message to close the deal, and
Stay in touch with people repeatedly, over time.

When they’re ready, willing, and able to hire you (or refer you), there you will be, in their minds and in their mailboxes.

The easiest way to do this? Yes, email.

Hey, have you noticed that I’ve said this before? Many times, in fact?

Just practicing what I’m preaching.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Copywriting, Email, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Newsletters

You can change your name, but not your stripes

October 26, 2021 by David M. Ward

Jimmy, the protagonist in Better Call Saul, couldn’t do it. Changing his name didn’t change who he was.

That’s true for all of us. How we think, what we do, who we are.

Our beliefs about ourselves and the world are the core of our “operating system”. And while we can change our beliefs, we can’t do it by changing our name.

Our beliefs determine our attitudes towards the choices we make, the things we do and how we do them. Our activities determine the results we get. And our results determine our success and lifestyle.

Look at how this works in the context of marketing and managing a law practice.

(1) Our beliefs determine our attitudes

If you believe that that nothing is achieved in life without hard work, that there are no shortcuts, no such thing as “working smarter,” you will no doubt be skeptical about strategies that suggest otherwise.

You would be reluctant to try these strategies because they are inconsistent with your core beliefs.

If you did try any of these strategies, you might do so with an attitude that says, “Those things never work” and you may seek to prove you’re right.

On the other hand, if you believe that some “working smarter” strategies can work, you’ll be open to learning more and giving some strategies an honest try

(2) Our attitudes affect our activities

If you believe working smarter is possible, that you can increase your income without working more hours (and even by working fewer hours), you’ll be willing and perhaps eager to explore strategies that promise that outcome.

Your attitude will be “let’s see” instead of “no way.” And if you try those strategies, you’ll look for ways to make them work instead of trying to prove they won’t.

You may have always used hourly billing in your practice, for example, but you may be willing to try flat fee billing. If you’ve tried it before, you may be willing to try it again.

You’ll at least be open to getting more information about ways to do it effectively and to see how other lawyers are doing it.

(3) Our activity determines our results

Your activities—what you do, how you do it, how much you do and for how long, determine the results you get.

Do more marketing activities, do them better, and you’ll bring in more clients. Try different billing methods and if you find one that allows you to earn more from the same work, you’ll increase your income without putting in more hours.

Maybe even by working fewer hours.

(4) Our results determine our success and lifestyle

If you are able to increase your income by working smarter instead of working harder, in the case of our example, by successfully implementing flat fee billing, you will earn more without working more.

You’ll be able to do that because you believed it was possible.

Our beliefs guide our attitudes, our attitudes affect our activities, our activities determine our results, and our results are how we measure success.

How does this explain the success of people who lie, cheat, and steal their way through life? Who believe that the way to succeed is to do whatever it takes, even if it’s wrong?

They may get away with it, but only for so long. Eventually, their nature catches up with them.

And changing their name, or the name of their company, won’t stop that.

Get the Check: Stress-Free Legal Billing and Collection

Filed Under: Fees and Billing, Increase your income, Law office management, Leverage, Personal development

Just because it’s free doesn’t mean anyone will buy

July 12, 2021 by David M. Ward

You offer a free consultation. A free ebook, report or other download. A free seminar, or even a free introductory service.

But just because it’s free doesn’t mean you’ll get any takers. You have to sell your freebies as much as you do your paid services.

Prospective clients don’t want to load up their hard drives with useless reading material that’s little more than a sales pitch for an attorney’s paid services. Or consult with an attorney who won’t give them any meaningful advice and will only push them to sign up.

And that’s what most prospective clients think about your free offers.

It’s up to you to show them the benefits they get by downloading your report or booking an appointment.

What will they learn? What will they be better able to do? What do they get and why should they trust you?

Give them the details. And tell them how other clients have benefited by downloading your report or speaking to you. Better yet, show them testimonials from those other clients so they can hear it from them, not you.

In the eyes of a prospective client, nothing’s really “free”. You’re asking them to spend their time and/or risk making a mistake.

They’re afraid. They don’t know you. They don’t trust you. And other lawyers offer the same freebies you offer.

Ease their concerns. Show them it’s safe to give you their email address or some of their time and show them how they will better off if they do.

Because just because it’s free doesn’t mean anyone will buy.

Get more clients and increase your income: The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services