If J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice

December 21, 2012 by
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Billionaire J. Paul Getty, once described as the richest man in the world, wrote a book describing how he made his money. In “How to Be Rich,” he offered three keys to wealth:

  1. Be in business for yourself
  2. Have products in demand
  3. Multiply your efforts through other people

If you are self-employed or work for a firm that compensates you for helping the firm grow, you are “in business for yourself”. If you offer services your clients want and are willing to pay for, you have “products in demand.” And if you have employees, you are “multiplying your efforts through other people”.

But if J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice, he might point out that while you are doing the right things, you might not be doing them enough.

If you are doing any work in your practice that could be delegated to someone else, you’re losing money. You should do “only the work that only you can do” and delegate everything else, he would tell you. “I’d rather have one percent of the efforts of 100 people than 100 percent of my own efforts,” he said.

Once he had you leveraging the efforts of the people who work for you, I think Getty would turn his attention to the efforts of people who don’t work for you: your clients and professional contacts. They may not be getting a pay check from you but every one of them can help your practice grow.

The quickest path to “multiplying your efforts through other people” is to get more clients to send referrals.

Getty made most of his money in oil and understood the power of leverage. The more wells he drilled, the wealthier he got. Your clients are like oil wells. The more of them who refer, the wealthier you will become.

But Getty didn’t stop there. When he found a well that produced oil, he had his engineers look for ways to increase the yield from that well. He didn’t settle for a well that produced 100 barrels a day when that same well might product 200 barrels a day.

Your clients work the same way. If a client is sending you one referral a month, you should look for ways to get that client to send you two referrals a month.

If J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice, he would tell you there’s oil in your client and contact list and while you will hit many dry wells, if you drill enough, you will also hit some gushers.

Download The Attorney Marketing Formula to learn more ways to multiply your efforts and your income

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: ,

Do you have long term goals? That’s your problem

December 18, 2012 by
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A wealthy business friend of mine does a lot of speaking to other business owners. They come seeking to learn how they can reach the levels of success he has attained. On the subject of marketing, he usually asks the audience, “How many of you have long term goals?” Hands are proudly raised. “That’s your problem. You’re thinking about long term when you should be thinking about today.”

He tells them the only thing that matters is how many times your company’s story is told today. How many people hear about what you have to offer. What can you do today, right now, this afternoon, to get your story told?

Of course tomorrow you’ll do the same thing. That’s how a big business is built–one day at a time.

My friend will acknowledge the need for planning beyond “today” but he says too many people spend all their time planning and not enough time doing. “You don’t have to read your car’s manual to know how to make it go,” he says.

My friend says success is about mastering the fundamentals. He coaches junior football and says, “We teach those kids how to pass, punt, block, and tackle. You get good at those four skills. That’s how you win games.”

Building a successful business or law practice works the same way. You learn the fundamentals and practice them. You get good at a few things.

You don’t have to know everything about marketing or bookkeeping. You don’t need to have the latest technology. And you don’t have to read the manual.

Unless, of course, it’s mine.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, success

Build the law practice you would want to represent you

December 14, 2012 by
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If your law practice would fit in a box and I could buy it at a store, what would I see when I opened that box? Would I see something so beautiful it would make me smile? Would I admire the clock-like precision and attention to detail? Would I be so enamored by what I saw I would tell everyone I knew to go buy one?

Or would I see flaws? Things that don’t work right? Missing parts?

Most law practices aren’t broken, but neither are they great. They’re good enough and for most clients, good enough is good enough. But is it good enough for you? How would you feel if you were the client of your firm, knowing what you know about what goes on behind the scenes?

In an interview, Steve Jobs offered an excellent description of the standard befitting a great company, or a great law practice:

We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” [Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

For Steve, good enough was never good enough.

If you want to build a great law practice, you need great clients. Learn how to get them here.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Law office management Tagged With: ,

Evernote for Business: Is it right for your law firm?

December 4, 2012 by
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Evernote has launched Evernote for Business, which promises enhanced sharing capability for the workplace. For lawyers, the idea is that your firm would have it’s own business account, with a library of shared notes (documents) which employees (with permission)  can access. You and your employees can also have your own personal Evernote notebooks which are private.

Does your firm need this capability? I’m not so sure.

Personal Evernote accounts already allow sharing. You can set up one or more notebooks in your account and share those notebooks with others in the firm. Sharing basic firm documents such as email templates, checklists, and blank forms is pretty straightforward. Where things get hairy is with sharing client files or other non-public information.

In Evernote for Lawyers, I discussed the idea of storing client files in Evernote. If it’s just you who is accessing that information, your comfort level will depend on whether you feel the need to encrypt that information before uploading it. The more critical issue is sharing that information electronically with others in your firm.

Evernote can be accessed anywhere there is an Internet connection, so if your employees aren’t as careful as you are, someone who is not authorized to access those shared notebooks might be able to do so. If your secretary’s laptop is stolen, for example, your client files could wind up in the wrong hands.

I don’t know how Evernote for Business handles permissions and other security issues, but if it makes shared access to private information more secure, that alone would make it worth considering. The added functionality it promises would be icing on the cake.

Evernote for Business is $10 per month per employee, a small investment if it allows you to set up a secure virtual filing cabinet for your firm. But that remains to be seen.

Are you planning to use Evernote for Business? Let me know in the comments.

Evernote for Lawyers shows you how to use Evernote for marketing, GTD, blogging, AND storing client files.  

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Filed Under: Law office management, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Marketing takes up too much time? I wrote this post in 15 minutes

November 29, 2012 by
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In the interview yesterday, (replay), I said that if you (the viewer) got nothing else out of my comments, I hope you are inspired to commit 15 minutes a day to marketing. Even if all you do is sit and think, or write down ideas, or read some articles. I said that if you do that, eventually you will pick up the phone and make some calls or write something that could be considered marketing-related. Like a blog post, article, or email.

You can do a lot in 15 minutes.

I wrote this post in 15 minutes. Sure, most of my posts take longer but I have the time. You might not. That’s okay. Short posts are fine.

How do you write a blog post in 15 minutes? You start with an idea and write it down. In this case, “writing a blog post in 15 minutes”. You open up something to write in. I write my posts in Evernote. And you begin writing. Put down your thoughts. Share a couple of tips or resources. Give your opinion on something related to your area of expertise.

Three or four paragraphs and you’re done. I’m at 200 words at this point. My posts are usually in the 300 to 500 word length. Length isn’t critical, as long as you have said what you need to say.

Then, edit. Make sure the thoughts flow. Not hard, really (pauses for a sip of coffee, reads. . .). Looks pretty good. Time to publish. Copy and paste into WordPress. Add some tags and hyperlinks and I’m done for the day. Elapsed time: 14 minutes. And what do you know, this post is now just over 300 words.

If you missed the interview yesterday, you can watch the replay here. It was about an hour so you might have to watch over the next four days. If you don’t have time, just order The Attorney Marketing Formula and call it a day.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: ,

The problem with multiple streams of income

November 27, 2012 by
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Smart people often counsel us to diversify our investments. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” they say. From an investment standpoint they’re probably right. If all your money is in gold or oil futures or a single stock and the market turns south, your losses could be catastrophic. But diversification has a dangerous side.

If you are building a law practice, buying a restaurant or another business that requires your time and mental energy is usually not a good idea. Buy (or start) another business only after your practice is at a point where you can devote some time to the business. Donald Trump made several fortunes in real estate before he branched out into other businesses. Donald Sterling made a bundle as a personal injury attorney before he turned to real estate and only years later to buying sports franchises.

Most people who try to build two businesses simultaneously usually fail to achieve great success in either. Perhaps that’s why Mark Twain said, “Put all of your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket.”

Yes, I started my attorney marketing business while I was still practicing. It was the kind of business that only required a few hours a week at first, to see if I could make a go of it. Once I did, I began shutting down my practice as I ramped up the new business. After a couple of years, the marketing business was running smoothly. I had competent staff who were taking care of the day-to-day operations and the demands on my time were minimal. At that point, I started another business. Again, just a few hours a week at first.

Today, I own two successful businesses. I would never have been successful in my practice or businesses had I tried to build them at the same time.

Okay, you get this. You wouldn’t lose focus and try to build two businesses simultaneously. But a lot of attorneys do exactly that and they don’t even know it.

When you try to build a family law practice, for example, and you also handle personal injury, you’re building two businesses simultaneously. Each practice area is different. Each has it’s own rhythm and culture. Referral sources are different. The judges are different. Marketing is different.

Some practice areas compliment each other. Many don’t. Put all your eggs in one basket and let the world know that you have the finest eggs available.

If you want help in choosing the right basket, get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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

Marketing is easier when you use leverage

November 26, 2012 by
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As I mentioned last week, this Wednesday, at 2 pm PT, I’m being interviewed and you’re invited. Among other things, I’ll be talking about my latest marketing course, The Attorney Marketing Formula.

One of the themes throughout The Attorney Marketing Formula is leverage–getting bigger results out of the same effort. A simple example of leverage in marketing a law practice is the use of forms and checklists. You invest time to memorialize a process and then use that process over and over again, saving you lots of time, reducing errors, and impressing the hell out of your clients who see how remarkably well organized you are.

Another example of leverage is focusing on your current and former clients as a source of repeat business and referrals in preference to other ways of seeking new clients. There are much lower costs associated with marketing to people who already know, like, and trust you, and much better results. Even if someone can’t hire you again right now, and doesn’t know anyone they can refer, there are other ways they can help you. They can send traffic to your web site through social media, for example, or forward your email to their friends and colleagues.

A marketing joint venture with professionals and business owners to get exposure to their lists is another form of leverage. If you’re a small business attorney, for example, you could get together with an accountant, a tax lawyer, a commercial insurance broker, and a financial planner. Each of you contributes a report, article, audio, or video, and the four of you send (or offer) this collection to your lists. Or, you can put together a bundle of services for the small business owner, with discounts and/or free services from each of you, and offer this bundle to your lists.

Anyway, I hope you’ll join us on Wednesday and bring your questions. I’m looking forward to speaking with you!

Save an extra $10 on The Attorney Marketing Formula through 5 pm PT tonight, November 26th. Use discount code “thankful”.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Law office management, Leverage, Marketing legal services, News, Productivity Tagged With:

What percentage of your income do you re-invest in your law practice?

November 20, 2012 by
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I started my law practice with a few thousand dollars for rent, furniture, stationery, and a typewriter. It was a drop in the bucket compared to what I spent over the years to grow and expand that practice.

Like any business, I took a percentage of net income and re-invested it. A bigger office, more employees, marketing. How about you? How much do you re-invest in your practice, and in what are you investing?

  • CLE
  • Law library, form files
  • Technology, equipment, furnishings
  • Employees/outsourced help
  • Employee training
  • Human Resources
  • Web site/blog
  • Marketing/Client Relations
  • Advertising
  • Personal development/training
  • Risk management/insurance/compliance
  • Office management/HR
  • Bookkeeping, billing, accounting, collections
  • Investments/retirement planning

A law practice is a business. If you don’t re-invest in your business to stimulate and support its growth, your business will decay and eventually die.

Some of these categories are more important than others, and deserve a bigger investment of your time and money. One of these categories, however, is much more important than the others.

Which category do you think I would say is number one?

Nope, marketing is second. Number one is personal development. If you get that right, you will understand the vital role that marketing plays, you will commit to making it a priority, and you will get better results. You’ll also do a better job of handling all of the other categories.

Growing your practice starts with growing yourself.

If you’re ready to make marketing a priority, you need to master the six key strategies in The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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

All lawyers market their services, although some don’t realize it

November 19, 2012 by
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I got an email from an attorney who wanted to hire someone to do all of her marketing for her. She said she’s “not good at marketing and not interested in it.” She doesn’t realize it but she’s already engaged in marketing. Every lawyer is.

Every time you say thank you to a client or referral source, you’re marketing.

Every time you hand someone you business card and ask for theirs, you’re marketing.

Every time you have a meal with someone, you’re marketing.

You may be doing it poorly, or getting poor results, but it’s marketing nevertheless.

Marketing is defined as, “everything you do to get and keep clients”. Key word–“everything”. All of the little things you say and do, the warmth of your handshake, the sincerity of your smile. It all counts.

You do yourself an injustice when you conclude that marketing is something you can hand off to someone else.

You can hire people to assist you. They can do most of the behind the scenes work. They can advise you, create your ads, run your blog, and promote your seminars. They can set up meetings with people on your behalf.

But you have to be at those meetings.

Building a law practice means building relationships and that’s not something that can be delegated.

If this is an anathema to you, if you are terminally shy or you just don’t like people, you’ll be a lot happier finding a partner who is good at what you don’t enjoy. Let him or her be the face of the firm, while you do what you’re good at.

But guess what? You’ll still be marketing.

Every time you say thank you to a client, you’re marketing. Every time you give someone your card and ask for theirs, or have a meal with someone, you’re marketing.

You can’t escape. Everything means everything.

If you want to improve your marketing, you should read (and apply) The Attorney Marketing Formula. 

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

Evernote search just got easier. Well, sorta

November 14, 2012 by
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Although I use it extensively, I don’t write much about technology. One reason is that by the time I’m up to speed on a new piece of software or hardware, it’s usually old news. One exception is Evernote, my favorite tech tool.

I’ve written before about how I use Evernote for everything from note taking to writing to managing all of the information in my personal and professional life. I also use it for Getting Things Done (GTD).

In fact, so great is my love for Evernote, I wrote a book about it: Evernote for Lawyers: A Guide to Getting Organized & Increasing Productivity.

I included in the book’s resources an extensive list of Evernote’s “Search Operators”–the syntax used by Evernote to find notes. These search operators are powerful but can be difficult to remember, so many of us use “Saved Searches,” another Evernote feature that comes in handy, especially with complex searches. But Saved Searches don’t help when you’re looking for something for the first time.

I just found an alternative that looks promising. BitQwik is free software (for PC’s and Mac’s that can run Windows) that serves as a front end portal for searching your Evernote database using natural language. That is, you don’t have to remember precise search operators to find something. Instead, you can use a regular query, much like you would ask Siri.

Here are some examples, from the BitQwik web site:

  • “Show me notes created between May 1st and March 15 that are tagged with robotics, surgical robots, or telepresence”
  • “I want notes sent to me via the E-mail gateway”
  • “Find my encrypted notes that have the words financial data or private in the title but leave out notes I created yesterday”
  • “Give me notes with pictures from Skitch”

I usually find notes in Evernote by browsing tags and using a few simple search operators. But as my database has grown to over 5,000 notes, I find myself relying more on search, and BitQwik looks like it might be just what the doctor ordered.

I just downloaded BitQwik, so I don’t have a lot to report just yet. If it pans out, I could see Evernote adopting this technology, and that would be great because I don’t like the idea of using yet another piece of software. But I’m not holding my breath because everything Evernote does has to work on ten platforms, not just one, and that doesn’t happen overnight.

If you’ve tried BitQwik, let me know what you think. You can add your comments below, or join me on the Evernote Forum.

Get your copy of Evernote for Lawyers. Unless you don’t want to be organized and productive.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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