How much do lawyers earn?

September 18, 2013 by
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How much do lawyers earn? A lot, apparently. According to a recent study, law firm net profit margins were among the highest in the world of commerce, at nearly 20 percent. In contrast, the average net profit margin for private companies is around 7 percent.

But so what? Does knowing this help you in any way?

Unless you are an economist (or the mother of a lawyer) there’s no point in comparing the legal “industry” with any other. You are not the industry.

In the same way, there’s little point in comparing your profit and loss statement with that of any other lawyer. True, you may learn that you are spending too much on rent or employees or advertising, relative to your gross revenue, and maybe you could make some adjustments. But what really counts isn’t how much you spend running your practice, it’s how much you take home.

If your net margins are “only” five percent but you take home millions, who cares that you spent a fortune on advertising or payroll?

On the other hand, if your net income is one-third of revenue, much higher than the average, but your gross is only $150,000, you don’t have much to brag about.

I’m not suggesting that you pay no attention to the cost of overhead. In fact, I’m a big believer in keeping fixed costs as low as possible. But, your number one priority isn’t low overhead, it’s net profit.

How much did you take in? How much did you spend? How much was left?

Don’t forget to subtract the value of your services before you calculate your net. If it would cost $150,000 to hire an attorney to do what you do and your net income is $150,000, your net profit is zero.

A cynic would say, “you don’t own a practice, you own a job”.

Yeah, but I’ll bet you’re the best boss you’ve ever had.

Get more clients and increase your income. Get this.

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

What are you NOT telling your clients?

September 12, 2013 by
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There are no little things in marketing or client relations. Everything is important.

I just spoke to someone who went to his dentist expecting to pay $80 for a cleaning but when he went to pay the bill, he had to fork over $128. It seems that when he called to inquire about the cost of the cleaning (he’s on a budget and wanted to make sure he had enough in his account), he was told it would be $80. He was NOT told that there would be an additional charge for the exam.

It is a lot of money (to him). It is a big deal (to him). When he called to ask “how much,” the dentist should have made sure he was told what the total charge would be.

A professional (or any business) cannot be sloppy about details, especially when it comes to money. People notice. Any trust they had for you before will be in jeopardy.

“What else aren’t they telling me?”

Never assume your clients know anything. If you’ve told them the fees and costs, tell them again. If there might be extras, make sure they know and get their okay before you go ahead.

I’m not suggesting you get all paranoid and lawyer-like, (wait, that’s redundant) and get their initials on everything, in triplicate. Just be aware. And sensitive.

Your client is your mother, and trust me, you don’t want to mess with Mom.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. Everything. 

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Fees and Billing, Law office management, Marketing legal services

If your five year old was managing your law practice

September 6, 2013 by
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It’s been a long time since I had a five year old in house but not so long that I can’t remember what kids are like. Hey, I can even remember what I was like.

So, what if kids ran the world? More to the point, what if your five year old was managing your law practice? What changes might they make? What would they tell you to do?

1. Have fun. Find ways to put some fun into what you do. Because if you don’t, you’ll burn out. Or get sick. Or ruin your marriage.

That might mean you need to delegate more tasks. Eliminate others. And loosen up. Find some light in the darkness. Find something to smile about and laugh about every day. Put some play into your day. Because if your practice isn’t fun, at least some of the time, you probably need to do something else.

2. Learn stuff. Kids love to learn. It’s keeps them young. If you’ve stopped learning, you need to rekindle your innate thirst for knowledge and learn something. Legal stuff doesn’t count.

Read and listen to things outside your normal areas of interest. You can use those nuggets in your blog posts, articles, speeches, and conversations.

Schedule weekly learning time and study marketing, writing, speaking, leadership, management, and productivity. Read history. Read profiles about business leaders and creative people. Go to museums and art galleries.

3. Tell me a story. Kids love to read stories and have you read them stories. You do, too. You just forgot. So, read some fiction now and then. All facts make Jack a dull boy.

And tell stories to your clients and prospects. Stories are the best way to show people what you do and how you can help them. They are interesting because they have people in them and because something happens to them. Put stories about clients and cases in your marketing materials.

Visuals can tell stories, too. Put photos on your website. Use charts and diagrams to deliver information (but only if they are simple and interesting).

Oh yeah, make sure you have some coloring books and crayons in the office so your client’s kids have something to do.

4. Could I have a dollar? Kids like to have their own money to spend so we pay them for chores or give them an allowance. If they ran your practice, they wouldn’t understand it if you did work but didn’t get paid. Get rid of clients who don’t pay. Ask people who owe you money to pay you (but don’t cry or throw your toys if they don’t).

5. Nap time. Stop running all day. Take breaks. Get some rest. Have a snack. And make sure you get a good night’s sleep because tomorrow is going to be a busy day.

If your five year old were managing your law practice, your law practice would be pretty cool place.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Dealing with stress, Increase your income, Law office management, Personal development Tagged With: , ,

What does “hard work” mean to you?

August 12, 2013 by
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One day early in my career I was looking for new office space. I found myself looking at a nice space in Beverly Hills that had been recently leased by some young turks (small “t”). They had taken a bit more space than they needed and were looking for a sub-tenant to take over one of the offices.

As he was taking me on a tour, the turk explained to me how he and his partners conducted business. He said, “we work hard and we play hard”. Even though I was going to be a tenant, not a partner or employee, I got the feeling he wanted to see if I was a good fit.

He didn’t elaborate but something told me I wasn’t a good fit. I don’t know what “playing hard” meant to them but I’m pretty sure it didn’t mean they played a lot of chess. Don’t laugh. I like playing chess. A lot.

Anyway, this morning, when I was in the rain room, I recalled this exchange and thought I would ask what you think about this whole work vs. play business.

Here’s my take on it.

To me, work means doing things you don’t want to do. Play means the opposite. My entire method of operation is to try to do as much of what I want to do and as little of everything else.

In other words, my ideal would be no work and all play.

That doesn’t mean goofing off. It doesn’t mean the absence of accomplishment.

It means eliminating or doing less of the things I don’t like or am not good at. I do that by delegating those tasks to someone else or finding creative ways to run my business and personal affairs so as to avoid or minimize them.

We weren’t put here to endure, we were put here to enjoy. There is no virtue in hard work for hard work’s sake.

Anyway, what do you think? How do you define work and play? And do you work hard and play hard or, like me, do your best to enjoy the journey? Let me know in the comments.

By the way, when I called back the next day to ask if I could take another look at the office, the turk told me they had rented it. I was pretty sure that was not true. I think they discriminated against me because I wasn’t cool. I don’t know what gave me away. It couldn’t have been my fez because fezzes are cool.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Personal development, Productivity, success Tagged With: , ,

Long blog posts, articles, and emails, or short?

August 7, 2013 by
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How long should an article or blog post be? Right, long enough to say what you have to say. If you can communicate your information or message in three well written paragraphs, great. That’s what it should be. If you need 2500 words to get the job done, that’s what you should do.

But there are other considerations.

It is well known that long blog posts (articles), I’m talking 2000 words, or more, tend to get more search engine traffic and incoming links. Longer posts tend to be perceived as authoritative and rank well with search engines and human beings (social media sharing).

On the other hand, the objective isn’t just traffic. It’s clients and sign-ups for your email list. To accomplish that, visitors have to read your content and see how smart you are and what you have to offer. If your content is long, they may save it “for later”. I don’t know about you but I’ve got gigabytes of saved articles (and pdfs) that I’ll probably never get around to reading.

Also, if you write to your email list frequently, as I suggest you do, you may overwhelm them with too much content. They either won’t read it or they will unsubscribe from your list.

How frequently you post or write, and how long individual posts should be, does depend on context. Are you writing for consumers or business people? If you’re writing to professionals and providing valuable and relevant content, they will probably make the effort to stay with you. Consumers may not, but if are writing about the very problem that currently plagues them they’ll read every word.

So, the answer to the question of “long or short” is a very lawyer-like, “it depends”. The best course is to have a mix of both.

Write longer, authoritative articles and posts for search engine traffic and to address issues prospective clients want to know about. Write shorter posts to engage your readers and allow you to contact them more frequently.

One thing you can do with longer material is to break it up into segments. Three 700 word posts instead of one with 2000 words. In addition to giving readers the impression that there’s not “too much to read so I’ll save it for later,” it gives search engines three opportunities to find you. (Make sure each of the three parts is optimized for different keywords).

So, this post is around 400 words. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

Learn more about internet marketing for attorneys. Click here.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Email, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With: ,

How to write a thank you note

August 6, 2013 by
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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, people used to use a pen to write thank you notes. When someone did something nice for you, or even when you just wanted to acknowledge that you enjoyed meeting them, a hand written note was de rigueur.

Today, not so much. Email is the new standard. Therefore, if you really want to make an impression on someone, take a few extra minutes to write a note, on a note card, and put it in the mail.

What do you say? I found a great article about how to write a thank you note. The author, who sent a gift (books) after his conversation with a subject matter expert who generously gave of her time and information, made sure to include in his note specific details about the conversation and about the expert.

He used a G.R.E.A.T. format:

G stands for Grateful: Express appreciation for the other person’s time or graciousness or other contribution.

R stands for Reference: Tell them what you got out of your conversation –what you learned or what you will remember.

E stands for Explain: He told her he was sending her a book related to the problem their conversation helped him solve.

A stands for Action: If you talked about working together or the next time you might meet, mention this “next step,” but don’t focus on it.

T stands for Thanks: End your note with “thanks again” or something similar, followed by your signature.

You can see the actual note the author sent, using the above points, in the article.

Your thank you notes don’t have to include all of these points, nor are you obligated to send a gift. But when someone does something especially nice for you, such as providing a referral or taking extra time to provide advice, you should do everything you can to acknowledge their help.

Think about the last time you received a heartfelt thank you note. It felt good, didn’t it? Like you made a difference in someone’s life? You make others feel that way when you send them something similar.

Sending a thank you note is not just an act of courtesy, it’s good for business. It makes people remember you and want to see you again or help you again because they know you appreciate them and what they have done.

Thank you for reading this post and sharing it with others.

Marketing is simple. Say please and thank you and in between, try not to mess things up.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Thank you letters, Writing Tagged With: ,

Business cards and attorney websites

August 5, 2013 by
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Awhile back I wrote a report about business cards–what should go on them, how to use them, that sort of thing. A few attorneys who read the report asked me whether they should put their photo on their business card as they had seen real estate agents and others do. They wanted people to remember their face after a networking event, for example, but thought that kind of card might be unprofessional, especially in court.

I pointed out that they could have more than one card. They could have a plain, traditional card to give to lawyers and judges, and a card with their photo, a slogan, a list of practice areas, and anything else they might want, to give to others.

They could have several cards, in fact, each one tailored for a specific target market. If they ride a motorcycle, for example, and want to target bikers for their personal injury practice, they could have a card that shows them riding.

What’s true of business cards is also true for attorney websites.

You don’t have to limit yourself to one website.

Your could have a main website (or page on your firm’s website) that is plain and professional, to show lawyers and judges, and other websites for other purposes. You can have websites with content optimized for different keywords. You can have websites for different practice areas or different niche markets. You can have a personal blog, where you write about your personal life, causes, and hobbies.

You can have more than one business card, more than one brochure, more than one youtube channel, and more than one website.

The most effective marketing is targeted marketing. The more focused and specific you are, the more your message will resonate with a specific market.

If you want to learn more about attorney websites and Internet marketing, get this.

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Filed Under: Business cards, Image, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Internet marketing for attorneys and handymen

August 2, 2013 by
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My wife and I hired a handyman yesterday. She found Dan on a review site for trades people. He had nearly 100 positive reviews, more than any other on the site.

Dan doesn’t have his own website. He probably thinks he doesn’t need one. He’s got all that business coming in from the review site and I’m sure he also gets lots of referrals.

But what if that review site shuts down? Yes it does happen. Sites that aren’t making money, sites that are mismanaged, sites that get sold to someone who has different ideas.

Just like that, Dan’s online presence would be gone. All the business from that site, gone.

Then what?

Okay, he would still get referrals. But when the people getting referred go online to “check him out” and find nothing, what do you think they will do? They’ll go find someone else, that’s what they’ll do.

Now then, how about you? What kind of online presence do you have? Do you have a website? If you don’t and someone goes online to “check you out,” what will they find? Bad stuff? No stuff? Don’t you want them to see some good stuff?

If you do have a website but it is hosted on a site that you don’t own, what will you do if that site goes away?

It won’t happen? That’s what everyone who had their sites at Posterous.com said, just before they shut down.

You need your own site. Hosted on your own account. www.yourname.com.

Directory listings and reviews on other sites are fine. Having a page on your firm’s site is fine. You still need your own site.

I get a lot of emails from attorneys who use the email account at their current employer’s law firm. joelaw@myemployerfirmname.com But what happens when they leave that firm? They lose that email address.

A year from now, if someone has a referral and wants to email them, they can’t. They don’t work here anymore. Do they track him down? Who knows.

So, if you’re not ready to create your own website, at least get you own domain name and your own email address that will never change. you@yourname.com

Here are some of the resources I use and recommend for domains and hosting.

And here is my course on Internet marketing for attorneys.

And, if you need a good handyman. . .

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Filed Under: Email, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Audit your website

August 1, 2013 by
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When was the last time you audited your website?

Okay, you need to do that. You need to go through the pages of your site and make sure that all of the requisite elements are present.

Like your contact form. Have you made it easy for website visitors to contact you by phone and email (at least)? Is there a link to this on every page?

Or your newsletter sign up form. You want visitors to join your list so you can stay in touch with them until they are ready to hire you or refer someone. That should also be on every page.

How about a page that lists all of your services, with links to sub-pages providing details about each of those services?

But here’s the thing. Your website may have these and other essential elements and you may think you’ve got things covered. But having them isn’t enough. They need to be easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to use. It’s hard to be objective about things like this.

So, after you audit your website, I suggest you find someone who has never seen your website and ask them to do the same.

Ask them to go through your site, page by page, and tell you what they see and what they think. You might do this with another lawyer, i.e., they go through your site and you go through theirs.

Give some instructions, i.e., “find the services I provide,” “sign up for my newsletter,” or “email me and tell me you want an appointment.”

Have them report if they hit any snags along the way. Was everything easy to find? Was it easy to understand? Did anything slow you down? Did you have any questions that weren’t answered?

Have them start on your home page, and then start again on one of your blog post or article pages, i.e., “landing pages” where they might enter your site if they find it via search.

After they read the home page, ask them to tell you what page they went to next. How long did they stay there? How many pages did they click through to get to something they wanted to see?

The best way to do this is to sit them down in front of a computer and watch them. As they go through your pages, have them narrate their journey–what they see and what they think.

See if they can quickly navigate through your site and find everything you have asked them to find and anything else they are attracted to. This is very valuable information.

You’ll learn what your website visitors encounter when they arrive at your site. You’ll see what you need to add, improve, move, or replace. You’ll know what questions visitors ask themselves as they arrive at and click through your site. And you’ll see how long it takes them to find the key elements that make your site work.

In Make the Phone Ring, I identify nine essential website elements for attracting (prospective) clients and getting them to hire you or take the next step. Whether you create your own websites or hire someone, if you want to get more clients online, you need to know what these elements are and how to implement them. Check it out on this page.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Law office management, List building, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Technology, Web traffic Tagged With: ,

One year ago I. . . and today. . .

July 30, 2013 by
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Let’s try a little exercise. I want you to think back to one year ago. Look at your calendar to remind yourself where you were and what you were doing. Sort your notes by date. Read your diary.

What did you do or change one year ago that has positively affected your life today? It doesn’t have to be exactly one year ago. Close enough is close enough.

Write it down.

“One year ago, I. . .” and then describe how your law practice or personal life has improved as a result. Something like this:

One year ago. . .

“. . .I started. . . and today, I. . .”.

“. . .I improved. . . and today, I. . .”.

“. . .I changed. . . and today, I. . .”.

“. . .I updated. . . and today, I. . .”.

“. . .I stopped. . . and today, I . . .”.

You might find it easier to work backwards, that is, to think about something positive in your life right now and see if you can relate it back to something you did last year. For example, if you are seeing an increase in new clients today, you might realize that last year at this time, you began reading my blog or you purchased one of my courses. (Smiley face with big grin goes here.)

Anyway, if you can find something you did last year that has benefited you this year, it should be noted and reflected upon. How did you come to make that change? What precipitated it? What has been the best part? What might you have done differently or better?

Now, think about the future. How can you amplify what you did last year to make it even better this year? What should you continue doing and what should you consider changing? What should you do more of and what might you cut back on?

By now, you have probably figured out that the point of this exercise isn’t really to get you to look back so much as it is to get you to look forward.

What could you do today so that one year from now, you can look back at this date and see how you effected a positive outcome?

Go on, give it some thought and write down your answers. What could you start, improve, change, update, or stop doing today?

Send me an email next year and let me know how it worked out.

The Attorney Marketing Formula includes a simple marketing plan. Check it out here.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Personal development, success
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