Increase your income Archives - Page 20 of 23 - The Attorney Marketing Center

The problem with free consultations (and my offer to you)

January 18, 2012 by David M. Ward

People prefer to hire lawyers they know, like, and trust. One of the best ways to get prospects to know, like, and trust you is to give them a sample of what you do.

To some extent, that’s what you do when you provide free information. Blog posts, reports, articles, seminars, and so on, give prospective clients an insight into what you have done for others, suggesting that you can do the same for them. They can see you know what you’re doing and get a sense for what it would be like to work with you. Through your words, they come to know, like, and trust you, bringing them one step closer to hiring you.

And yet, of all the people who read or listen to your information, only a small percentage actually take it upon themselves to call and book an appointment. There’s too big of a gap between “reader” and “client”. One way to bridge that gap is by offering a free consultation.

Free consultations allow you to initiate a personal relationship with a prospect and provide them with “customized” information. It’s one thing to provide generic information in your practice area, quite another to interpret that information in the context of a prospect’s particular problem. Prospects who read your information may like what you say and the stories you share but this will never take the place of actually speaking with you.

Done right, free consultations can bring in a lot of business. The problem with free consultations, especially in practice areas where they are common, is that they are usually not done right.

“Free” is one of the most powerful words in the dictionary, but just because something is free doesn’t mean anyone will want it. Many prospects today, seeing that most attorneys in your field offer free consultations, don’t see the value in yours. In fact, many prospects see no value in a consultation, believing it is just an excuse to get them into your office so you can do a sales pitch for your services. Unfortunately, for many attorneys, that’s exactly what it is.

One solution is to include a detailed description of everything the prospect gets as part of the free consultation. Tell them what they will learn, what you will explain, what you will do for them, and what you will give them (e.g., reports, checklists, case evaluation, issue summary, etc.).

Also tell them how they will benefit. Yes, you evaluate their situation and explain their options, but so what? What does that mean to them? It means they will be able to make better decisions about what to do, making it more likely that they will resolve their problem or achieve their objective. It means they will save time or money. It means they will be one step closer to eliminating their anxiety and worry and sleepless nights.

In other words, you can’t simply say the magic words “free consultation” and expect people to come running. You have to “sell” it.

Let me give you an example with my own services.

Starting today, until further notice, I’m offering free consultations for my consulting and coaching services. These will be on a first come, first served basis since I can only do so many of these and I expect to get a lot of response.

During our consultation we’ll talk about where you are and where you would like to be in your career. I’ll ask questions and I will give you my advice. I won’t mince words. I’ll tell you straight out what I think you should do. As a result, you’ll know exactly what to do to bring in more clients, increase your income, or otherwise improve your current situation.

In addition, you’ll be able to ask me questions. You can ask about marketing, cash flow, productivity, goals, or anything else that’s on your mind.

As you know, I’m not somebody who simply read a few marketing books and set up a web site. I practiced law for more than twenty years and learned (the hard way) what it takes to bring in good, paying clients. I know what works and what doesn’t, what works quickly and what doesn’t, because I’ve tried it all. I’ve been in your shoes. I know what it’s like to struggle to make rent. I know what it’s like to question whether you made the right choice of career or specialty or market. I also know what it’s like when the business is coming in faster than you can handle.

I have seventeen years experience consulting with attorneys and helping them to get more clients and increase their income. But then if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know most of this. That’s why you read it.

These consultations are free and there is no obligation to you whatsoever. Sure, I hope that after the consultation you will want to hire me or buy something from me, but that’s not important. What’s important is that I give you so much value during our consultation, so many ideas for taking your practice to a much higher level, that you can’t wait to get started. I know that if I deliver that to you, we’ll do business some day.

Because I expect to get a lot of response to this offer, I must limit these consultations to 15 minutes. Therefore, after we schedule your consultation, please email me as much information as possible about your current situation. Tell me your problems, obstacles, questions and objectives, so that when we talk, we can get right to the solutions.

Fair enough?

If you’re interested in setting up a consultation, please email info[at]attorneymarketing.com and put “consultation 15” in the subject. Give me three dates and times when you will be available for 15 minutes and the best telephone number to reach you. (I’m in California, so mind the time zone.) I’ll email back and we’ll confirm the date and time.

I look forward to helping you make 2012 your best year ever.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Coaching, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, success Tagged With: another-word-for-do-for-them, another-word-for-for-your-information, another-word-for-your, another-word-for-your-information, consultation-wording, do-lawyers-give-free, do-lawyers-give-free-consultations, do-lawyers-have-free-consultations, email-wording-for-free-consultation, for-your-information-better-words, free-business-consultation-wording, free-consultation-wording, lawyers-give-free-seminars, ways-to-offer-free-business-consultation, whats-another-word-for-free-consultation, whats-free-consultation, whats-is-a-another-word-for-free-only, why-do-attorneys-give-free-consultations, why-free-consultations-dont-work, wording-for-free-seminar

My Wish for You in 2012: A Plan for Building Your Law Practice

December 12, 2011 by David M. Ward

Are you hoping things will get better in 2012? A lot of people are, but unfortunately, “hope is not a strategy“.

If you want things to get better, you need to make them better. But how?

Don’t start with technique, start with strategy–a plan. What do you want to happen, and why? What will do you do to make it happen? Is this really something you want to do?

Too often, people grab hold of a technique they hear about and run with it. They spend time and money doing the requisite activities, without considering why they are doing it. They install an expensive motor on their row boat hoping it will get them to their destination faster, but they never look at a map.

Techniques are important. Using the right tools for the job, execution, timing–can make a big difference in your results. But without the right strategy, the latest techniques won’t help you to get where you want to go.

What are you good at and enjoy? Writing? Speaking? Networking? Technology? Make it the core of your business building strategy.

Your strategy doesn’t have to be elaborate. In fact, the simpler it is the better. But simple is not synonymous with small. Your plan should inspire you to accomplish big things. After all, the goal isn’t merely to survive, it is to thrive, and you cannot do that by dabbling.

I’ve seen great practices built by using only one or two techniques. Once you know where you want to go and you have a plan to get there, you don’t need dozens of techniques.

Without the right strategy, no technique is good enough, no matter how much it costs or how hard you work at it. With the right strategy, almost any technique will do.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Goal Setting, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, success Tagged With: 2012-plans-for-attorneys, attorney-marketing, attorney-marketing-blog, building-a-2012-plan, i-wish-for-you-in-2012, i-wish-that-in-2012-you-get, mitch-jackson, my-wish, my-wish-2012, my-wish-for-2012, my-wish-for-2012-is-_________________, my-wish-for-you-2012, my-wish-for-you-for-2012, my-wish-for-you-in-2012, my-wish-on-2012, our-wish-for-you, our-wish-for-you-in-2012, plan-you-2012, what-i-wish-for-you-in-2012, write-wishing-for-2012

How to get more clients from cases you don’t handle

December 8, 2011 by David M. Ward

I’m sure you read the story about the blogger in a defamation case who got hit with a $2.5 million judgment because, the judge said, she is not a journalist and was not protected by the state’s shield laws.

Interesting story. Important subject.

You read the story but did you make any money with it?

Attorneys can easily leverage a story like this to get more media attention, more traffic to their web site, more prospects, more referral sources, and more clients. And I’m not talking about the attorneys who handled the case itself, I’m talking about you.

Interested? Here’s all you have to do.

First, write a two or three page report summarizing defamation laws in your jurisdiction. You don’t have to practice in this area to do this, Uncle Google will help you, or you can ask an attorney friend who does (and tell him about this idea so he can do it, too).

In your report, mention the case about the blogger. Offer your opinion. Include a few citations, maybe a few resources.

Now, go back to Uncle Google and ask him to give you a list of bloggers in your target market(s) who are in your state or province.

Next, contact these bloggers (a personal email will do) and tell them you wrote a report for bloggers about how they can protect themselves against lawsuits like the one in the news. Offer to send it to them, free of charge. Tell them they are welcome to send it other bloggers they know and care about. (If you know the blogger, you could just send them the report in your first email).

In one day, you can get your report into the hands of dozens of people who every day write and influence the people you are targeting for your services. You have provided value to the blogger on a personal level, and asked nothing in return.

Where can this lead? Interviews, hosted webinars for their readers, guest posts, referrals, introductions, you name it.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t practice tort law. If you do, that’s an added benefit, but the point of this effort isn’t to show these bloggers you can help them in this particular area of the law, it’s to meet them.

Now, what else could you do with your report? Here are a few ideas:

Send it to local media with a cover letter letting them know you are available for interviews.
Call or email your clients and contacts: Who do you know in (your area) who writes a blog? Tell them you have a report that can help them.
Offer it through social media; post a video on youtube, opining on the story and linking to your report; offer it via forums, chat groups, listserves, and other areas where bloggers and people who know bloggers congregate.
Contact local blogger groups, business groups (anyone who has a blog), and offer a lunch talk.
Write about it on your blog or in your newsletter.
Take out ads and offer the report, as a “public service”.
Send it to lawyers in your practice area in states or provinces where you don’t practice. Tell them what you’re doing with the report in your area, invite them to do the same in theirs. (If you have to ask how this could help you, forget about this idea.)
Do a presentation at your bar group’s next function on how you used a news story to market your services.

You get the idea.

Oh, and you don’t need a news story to do this, you can write about anything that affects people in your target market or they people who influence them.

It’s about providing value in a leveraged way. It’s simple and it works. And if your report goes viral, it could help you take a quantum leap in the growth of your practice.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogging, Increase your income, Leverage, List building, Marketing legal services, Networking, News, Online Marketing, Publicity, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Social media marketing Tagged With: attorney-marketing-blog, attorney-marketing-letter, attorney-marketing-letter-to-clients, bring-more-cases-in, clients, get-cases, how-an-atorney-can-get-clients, how-to-collect-more-and-more-cases, how-to-get-cases, how-to-get-cases-from-clients, how-to-get-more-cases, how-to-get-more-cases-by-a-lawyer, how-to-get-more-cases-for, im-a-lawyer-how-do-i-get-more-clients, lawyer-get-more-clients, legal-services-marketing, linkedin-app-icon, marketing-for-lawyers-who-hate-marketing, marketingtoolsforlawyers, sitewww-attorneymarketing-com-business-insurance

“It’s the cases I don’t take that make me money”

November 18, 2011 by David M. Ward

“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.” -Lin Yutang, writer and translator (1895-1976)

Last night, I spoke at an event. One of the topics I talked about was “The 80/20 principle,” aka, “The Pareto Principle,” the idea that a large percentage of our results come from a small percentage of our activities.

Afterwards, I was chatting with a man who works for a bankruptcy attorney. He liked my talk and was telling me about their practice and how busy they were. He quoted something his employer said, but I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly so I asked him to repeat it:

“It’s the cases I don’t take that make me money”.

He explained that the attorney was very selective about the cases he accepts. A lot of business comes knocking on his door, but he turns down a large percentage. He turns down the lower-end of the spectrum of clients, the ones who don’t have enough for a retainer, who need installments, price shoppers, etc., in favor of those who can pay his higher than average fees.

A lot of attorneys will take the lower-end clients, figuring that whatever they pay will contribute to overhead. But this attorney understands that those clients would actually cost him money, and not just in the literal sense of “not paying,” but because they would take up a disproportionate amount of time and energy.

And, he doesn’t have the extra overhead he would have if he accepted the lower end clients.

By eliminating as much as eighty percent of the possible client pool, he is able to run a lean and profitable practice. I’m sure he also makes it home for dinner.

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Career satisfaction, Fees and Billing, Increase your income, Productivity Tagged With: 80/20 principle, attorneys-cases-about-money, besides-the-noble-art-of-getting-things-done, besides-the-noble-art-of-getting-things-done-there-is-the-noble-art-of-leaving-things-undone-the-wisdom-of-life-consists-in-the-elimination-of-nonessentials--lin-yutang, clip-art-8020, clip-art-for-getting-things-done, clip-art-on-getting-it-done, clip-art-thank-you-for-your-referral, getting things done, goal-and-clipart, goal-clip-art, goal-clipart, gtd, lawyers-dont-make-money, pareto principle, productive, productivity-day, productivitydefinition, there-is-an-art-ot-getting-things-done-but-an-art-to-leaving-things-undone, workaholic-clipart

Do you have too many clients?

November 8, 2011 by David M. Ward

Most attorneys say they want to get more clients but if they’re not ready for more clients, it can actually cost them.

If you can’t serve your clients, they aren’t going to stay. You must have the staff and other resources in place to do the legal work and support functions or new clients will leave as quickly as they came.

What about “one time” clients? You’re going to handle their divorce or bankruptcy or injury claim, do their estate plan or handle their closing, and you’ll probably never see them again. Can you have too many of them?

Yes. These clients may not themselves return but if you treat them well, they can and will send you referrals. If you don’t, not only will they not send you new business, they’ll tell everyone they know that you are sloppy or slow and did not do a good job for them.

Taking on too many clients is especially a problem for firms that grow quickly. Legal services do not scale in the same way selling widgets does. We are in a personal service business and we need people to provide that service. It takes time to find the right people, hire and train them. Unbridled growth can cause serious financial problems, inordinate stress, and an increased risk of malpractice for the firm that is unprepared.

Rapid law firm growth is not uncommon. A dramatic upsurge in “intakes” can occur for a variety of reasons. Every firm needs to have a plan in place now, before that growth occurs.

If your practice tripled in the next 90 days, where will you go to find the personnel, the technology, and the other resources you need to accommodate that growth?

Will you partner with another firm? Turn away the smaller business to handle the bigger cases or clients? Will you hire a head hunting firm or consultant?

Start thinking about these things right now, and not just because you need to be prepared. Think about these things because in doing so, you will send a message to your subconscious mind that you are ready for and expecting that growth. You will then start seeing things you need to see and attracting the information and the contacts you need to make that growth a reality.

Too many clients? A nice problem when you’re ready for it.

Filed Under: Client relations, Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing Plan, Productivity Tagged With: dont-want-to-get-too-many-clients, how-many-clients-can-a-legal-services-attorney-handle, how-many-clients-can-one-attorney-have, how-many-clients-do-attorney-have, how-many-clients-do-i-need-to-make, how-many-clients-does-a-law-office-have, how-many-clients-does-a-lawyer, how-many-clients-does-a-lawyer-get, how-many-clients-does-a-lawyer-need, how-many-clients-should-a-lawyer, how-many-clients-should-a-new-law-firm-have, how-to-handle-too-many-clients, law firm clients, law firm growth, lawyers-taking-too-many-clients, many-clients, too-many-clients, what-should-the-attorney-do-when-he-has-too-many-clients, what-to-do-if-you-have-too-many-clients, with-how-many-clients-did-you-start

Can pro bono legal work help you grow your law practice? Yes it can.

November 1, 2011 by David M. Ward

When I opened my own office shortly after law school, I had an abundance of free time and a lack of clients or experience. Once or twice a week, I volunteered the day at a legal clinic for women. The clients had mostly domestic violence and other family law issues. When I began, I knew very little about family law but I quickly learned. I was able to use those skills in my private practice.

Last week was “pro bono” week. This article presents the “Top 5 Reasons to Do Pro Bono Work“. I’m sure I can lay claim to all five.Â The article misses a reason, however. My pro bono work helped me to build my practice.

The clinic I worked at allowed us to offer our paid services to the clients. Granted, most of them had little or no money, but I did get some paying work. And little or nothing wasÂ definitelyÂ better than nothing. It allowed my nascent practice to stay afloat, which allowed me to continue to volunteer.

I also got some referrals from those clients. Yes, most of them were in the same financial shape as the clients who referred them, but not all of them.

I was also able to network with the administrators of the clinic, their benefactors, and the other attorneys who volunteered. I met people who introduced me to others and as my network grew, so did my practice.

I’m not ashamed to admit that growing my practice was one of the reasons I volunteered at the legal clinic. I don’t think any of the hundreds of clients I saw for free or almost free would have any objections.

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Career satisfaction, Image, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Networking, Referrals Tagged With: can-i-use-pro-bono-work-to-show-income, can-of-bono, canpro, does-pro-bono-style-of-law-work, exceptionstoclientclipart, freeschoollogosamples, grow-family-law-practice, how-ensure-practice-grew, how-to-ensure-your-law-practice-grows, how-to-make-a-legal-practice-grow, is-probono-help-you-really, law-reviews-on-incentives-to-increase-pro-bono-work, making-sure-a-law-practice-grows, marketingtoolsforlawyers, pro bono legal work, pro-bono-attorneys-rancho-cucamonga, pro-bono-divorce-lawyers-in-rancho-cucamonga, pro-bono-family-court-lawyers-in-rancho-cucamonga, pro-bono-legal-work-marketing, when-can-you-practice-pro-bono

Cutting costs can increase net income but it can also put you out of business

October 27, 2011 by David M. Ward

When attorneys are getting fewer clients and their income is waning, it’s only logical to look at cutting expenses. After all, every dollar you don’t spend on overhead is a dollar more in net income.

There are a lot of ways to reduce overhead. Go through your ledger (or bank and credit card statements) and I’m sure you’ll find many small items that can be reduced or eliminated. or a month expenses may not jump out at you, but when you add them up, you may find yourself spending thousands of dollars you don’t have to.

Also look at big items. Can you move to a smaller office? Can you work from home and use another attorney’s office to see clients? Can you get by with a less expensive car?

There’s one category of expense that you should not cut. In fact, when times are tough, it’s the one expense you should look at increasing. When times are tough you should spend more on marketing.

Attorney Philip Franckel explains why on his blog:

Reducing your advertising and marketing budget will cause your law firm. . . to fall further behind and allow your competitors to gain a substantial advantage. When revenues increases, you will have to start all over again. Additionally, all previous work and investment in branding will have been for nothing. In a bad economy, this is preciously the time to take advantage of lower marketing costs.

I agree completely. Think about it, the business is out there, at least enough business for YOU. If they aren’t finding you now, what makes you think they will find you later? You’ve got to help them find you. So when business is down, you must increase your marketing, not cut it.

Franckel also commented on another attorney who boasted that his firm had cut expenses by eliminating advertising contracts in favor of “variable” marketing expenses, ostensibly allowing the firm to spend more when they can and less when they cannot. Franckel points out that this strategy will wind up costing the firm more, not less:

Fixing marketing costs can be a huge benefit. When entering into a large five figure advertising spend on TV, I committed to a 12 month budget to fix the cost of media. This allowed me to pay the same known cost for media every month. Otherwise, I would have faced huge increases, or have been forced to temporarily discontinue advertising, because of temporary changes in media demand such as elections.

I agree with this, too. In the past, when I was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on advertising, I saved as much as 70% and sometimes even more by locking in a yearly contract, versus what I would have paid “month to month”. (NB: I only agreed to the contracts, however, after testing the ads and the publications.)

Now, what about attorneys who don’t spend money on advertising or marketing? It may be time to consider it. You don’t have to start advertising if you’ve never done that before and don’t want to do it now. But how about improving your web site or joining a new networking group? How about doing a mailing to your former clients?

Note also that your time (spent marketing) is another expense. Don’t cut down on this, either.

When business is slow, yes, cut your overhead but don’t cut marketing. Investing more time and more dollars in growing your practice will always be the best way to increase your net income.

Filed Under: Advertising, Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services Tagged With: advertising expenses, cost-cut, costs-of-cutting-net-income, cut-costings, cutting expenses, cutting-costs, cutting-expense-cost-budget, decrease-overhead-increase-marketing, does-cutting-expenses-improve-net-income, how-to-reduce-your-overhead-lawyers, important-task, lawyers-cutting-fees, lawyers-spend-advertising, marketing costs, Marketing legal services, net-income-for-attorney, net-income-lawyers, reducing overhead, what-is-the-cut-that-an-attorney-get, when-cost-increases-net-income

Making Money in the Current Economy: Advice for the Nervous

October 12, 2011 by David M. Ward

A friend emailed me recently, seeking financial advice. He’d just watched a video on our current economic woes and the bleak forecast for the future.

He’s in his late 20’s, a creative type (graphic arts, web design, dance, music), and intelligent, but not savvy about business or finances. He currently works part time and does some freelancing, and he is nervous about his future.

He asked for books I might recommend, so he can educate himself, and for advice. I thought I’d share with you the advice I gave him, edited and with a comment or two for attorneys.

Here is what I told my young friend:

The best thing you can do is to own your own business. Don’t rely on a job, hire yourself. Yes, that’s risky and frightening, but so is being dependent on someone else.
Do something that excites you, even if you don’t know how you can make money at it. If you’re passionate about what you do, you’ll do it long enough to get good at it and the money will find you.
Focus. Put all your eggs in one basket. You can have more than one business [he has several interests], but only if they are related, or you start one after the first is successful.
Employ leverage. Find ways to use OPM and OPE (other people’s money and other people’s efforts). If your income depends solely on what you do, you’ll never grow as big as you could and vacations and retirement will be problematic.
Work at your business every day. Most people give up; you can stand out by consistently showing up.
Give more than is expected of you. The more value you deliver, the more your business and life will be enriched.
Go global. Use the Internet to offer your products or services worldwide. [Attorneys, if possible, don’t depend on just your local market. Can you get licensed in other jurisdictions? Can you create a law-related product (book, course, etc.) that can be sold to people outside your local market?]
Don’t fear competition, embrace it. Your voice and style makes you unique. You can earn more by working with your competition than you could trying to beat them. [Attorneys, you don’t sell your services so much as you sell yourself. You are your brand and your brand is valuable.]
Surround yourself with good people. You only need a few but choose them carefully.
Don’t worry about whether or not you’re good enough right now. Study your craft, do it every day, and you will soon be good enough. Just get started. Teddy Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
Don’t worry about the economy or fixate on politics. Don’t put your head in the sand but realize you can’t do much about it. I agree with Barbara Bush who said, “What happens in your house is far more important than what happens in the White House”.
Think about what you want, not what you don’t want. You will attract what you think about.

A law practice is an extension of you. You are worth far more than you know.

Marianne Williamson said it beautifully:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Filed Under: Dealing with stress, Increase your income, Inspiration Tagged With: are-most-attorneys-making-less-money-in-this-economy, attorney-marketing-advice, being-watched-nervous, career-advice-in-this-current-econonomic-climate, careers-that-make-good-money-in-this-current-economy, economy-advice, financial-advices-in-the-current-economic-climate, how-to-make-money-in-the-current-economy, how-willl-you-make-it-in-the-current-economy, in-the-current-economy-what-businesses-are-making-money, is-the-current-economy-good-for-lawyers, making-money-in-the-current-economic-climate, money-in-the-current-economy, nervous, nervous-being-watched, nervous-business, nervous-lawyer, pictures-about-the-current-economy, starting in business, starting your career

Ten ways attorneys can use a newsletter to grow their practice

October 5, 2011 by David M. Ward

For many attorneys and law firms, newsletters bring in a lot of business. If you don’t have a newsletter, here are ten reasons you should:

A newsletter requires an investment of time, and possibly some capital, but the return on that investment can be substantial. If you want to grow your practice, a newsletter is one of the most highly leveraged marketing activities you can do.

Filed Under: Increase your income, Leverage, List building, Marketing legal services, Networking, Newsletters, Referrals, Web traffic Tagged With: business-services-newsletter, can-you-send-lawyer-newsletters-to-non-clients, give, newletters-for-attorneys, newsletter, newsletter for attorneys, newsletter for law firms, newsletter-for-lawyers, newsletter-gif, newsletter-images, newsletter-law, newslettergif, newsletterimages, Newsletters, newsletters-for-attorneys, peoplereadyanewsletter, tagline-examples, Writing, www-waysattorneys-com, your-work-going-fill-large-part-your-life

Farming for law firms: getting a higher yield from your client relationships

September 28, 2011 by David M. Ward

To be productive, a farm needs acres and acres of land. Rich top soil, Â seeds planted a few inches under the surface, within reach of the sun’s rays, regular water, and the loving care of the farmer. The farmer knows that each seed can yield only so much, so he plants lots of them. More seeds, bigger harvest.

A farm is “an inch deep and a mile wide.” Unfortunately, so are many law firms. They plant a lot of seeds, going wide instead of deep, collecting fees and moving from new client to new client. But while a seed planted in the Earth can only yield so much, clients can yield far more than the fees they initially pay.

Each client can also:

Hire you again
Hire you for other services
Provide referrals
Introduce you to prospects, referral sources
Promote you via social media
Send traffic to your web site
Recommend your newsletter, ezine, blog
Distribute information by and about you
Invite their colleagues to your seminars
Provide information to you about their industry and/or key people
Give you testimonials and endorsements
Provide feedback about your marketing

The big money in a law practice is not the initial harvest, the fees earned on front end. The big money is earned on the back end. You may earn $10,000 from a client today, but $100,000 over their lifetime.

To bring in his big crop, the farmer must nurture his seedlings. So must you nurture your clients. Communicate with them. Appreciate them. Acknowledge them. Give to them. Build strong relationships with your clients and they will bear much fruit and continue to blossom for many seasons.

A farm is an inch deep and a mile wide; a law firm should be an inch wide and a mile deep.

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