Are you paid enough for the risks you take in your law practice?

April 6, 2012 by
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“The choice isn’t between success and failure; its between choosing risk and striving for greatness, or risking nothing and being certain of mediocrity.” — Keith Ferrazzi

Every day you make decisions in your law practice. You’re usually right but sometimes you make a mistake. It’s okay because when you make a mistake, you can usually fix it. If you can’t fix it and your client suffers a detriment, you have insurance.

Your clients pay you to make decisions. It’s what you do. It’s what you get paid for. Every time you make a decision, however, you take a risk. But are you being compensated for those risks?

In business, the bigger the risk, the bigger the potential reward. When you are the principal, your fortunes rise or fall on the outcome. As advisors, however, we are paid by the hour or the case or the work product. Other than contingency fees, our compensation is almost never commensurate with the risks.

You prepare a “simple” will. You get paid a few hundred dollars. But what if the client needed something different? What if you leave something out? Hundreds of thousands of dollars could be are at stake, but you are paid a few hundred dollars.

It seems to me we should be paid according to the risks we take in our work. Our insurance carriers are. Our business clients are. But we are not and we probably never will be. We can’t charge thousands of dollars for a simple will.

But while we probably won’t get paid more for taking risks in our legal work, we can get paid more for taking risks in our marketing. Ironically, these are risks most attorneys avoid.

If you want to reap bigger rewards in marketing your services, you need to take bigger risks.

Time, money, ego–invest more, risk more. Yes, you might waste that time or money, or take a big hit to your ego. But you might also get rich.

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Fees and Billing, Law office management, Legal industry, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , , ,

How to find out what your clients want (so you can give it to them)

April 4, 2012 by
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Attorneys ask a lot of questions. We ask to find out what our clients want and need so we can prepare the right documents. We ask questions through discovery, to avoid surprises, develop a strategy, and gain an advantage. Questions are how we tell a story in the courtroom or negotiate a settlement in the hallway. Questions are even how attorneys answer questions they don’t want to answer.

We’re good at asking questions.

We know when to ask open-ended questions and when to ask leading questions. We know how to question a hostile witness, an expert witness, and our own client. We know when a question is proper and when it is objectionable.

All day, every day, we ask questions in our work. Why don’t we do the same thing in our marketing?

Your clients and prospective clients can tell you what you need to do to grow your practice. They can tell you what you need to say to get them to say yes. They can tell you what you need to do (or not do) to make them happy. They can give you information you can use to improve every aspect of your practice.

All you have to do is ask.

You can ask about the specific handling of their case, what they liked best in your latest newsletter, or how they were treated when they called to make an appointment.

You can ask what topics they would like you to write about in your newsletter, whether they are interested in other services you’re thinking about offering, and whether they think your fees are too high, too low, or just right.

You can ask them what you did well for them, and where they felt you could have done better. You can ask which headline they like best, which blogs or magazines they regularly read, or whether they want paper copies mailed to them or if email is just fine.

You can ask in person or over the phone, through email or online surveys and polls. You can ask directly or, for more honest feedback, let them answer anonymously.

You can ask anything, and they will tell you, and what they tell you could be worth a fortune to you.

What if you have always assumed your clients wanted updates only when there is something important to report but in reality, most of them want to hear from you every month? What if you’ve been writing about how to avoid infringing on others’ patents but they want to know is how to minimize employee lawsuits? What if you have always assumed your receptionist is doing a good job but half of your clients think he is rude?

And guess what? People like being asked. They like giving their opinions and they will appreciate you for asking. It tells them that you care about what they think, and that you want to make them happy.

Make a list of questions to ask your clients and prospects and business contacts. Get in the habit of regularly asking people what they want, what they like, and what you can do to improve. And then do something even more important: listen.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Get bigger results with a DMO (daily method of operation) with these 4 components

April 3, 2012 by
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Most attorneys handle their day by (a) looking at the calendar and (b) responding to phone calls, emails, and regular mail. They handle the work in front of them and never seem to find time for much of anything else.

They know they “should” spend some time on marketing, for example, but that time never seems to materialize.

The solution is to create a “daily method of operation”–a written list of daily activities that help you move forward towards your long term and short term goals.

Your “daily method of operation” is a broad plan for the day. Rather than spelling out the specific tasks you need to do each day, a DMO focuses on the big picture. It reminds you to pay attention to what’s important, rather than what’s in front of you. It allows you to run your practice instead of your practicing running you.

Every attorney’s DMO should have these four components:

  1. Professional and personal development. Every day you should be reading or listening to training, learning new ideas, and finding ways to improve what you already know and do. Without continual development, you will stop growing and eventually begin to decay. This category includes continuing legal education, but also things like practicing your next presentation in front of a mirror, reading books on sales and business, and spending time with a mastermind group or a workout partner.
  2. Money making activities. This is work that brings in revenue. Make sure you’re doing things that allow you to bill or settle cases, not wasting time in pointless meetings.
  3. Marketing. Marketing is everything you do to attract clients and you must do it every day. It includes staying in touch with former clients and making sure your current clients are happy. In fact, from a marketing standpoint, there is nothing more important than “client relations”. Whatever you do for marketing–blogging, speaking, networking, social media, advertising–schedule time and do it every day.
  4. Administrative. If you run your own practice, there will always be things you need to do or to supervise to make sure things are running smoothly. If you aren’t in charge, there are things you need to do to stay organized and out of trouble. Schedule time each day to make sure you’re on top of things, but not so much time that the other components get short-changed.

To stay on track, you should also set goals for each component. There are two types of goals–activities and results:

  1. Activities: e.g., make one “how are you?” call each day to a former client, attend one networking function per week, etc.
  2. Results: e.g., one new client per week via online marketing, increase revenue 25% this quarter, etc.

Create a daily method of operation for your practice and schedule time for all four components. If you spend only 15 minutes a day on marketing but do it every day because it’s part of your DMO, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

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

“Who the hell are you and why are you contacting me?”

March 15, 2012 by
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Begin rant. . .

I got this voice mail message the other day: “Hi David, this is Joe Blow. Please give me a call at [telephone number]. . .”.

He didn’t say who he was (other than his name, which I did not recognize) or why he was calling. He didn’t give me any reason to call him back.

Guess who I didn’t call back?

I shouldn’t have to tell anyone this but it happens often enough so I guess I do: when you leave a message, tell people who you are and why you are calling.

Are you a client? A colleague? A fan? Do you want to hire me? Is there an issue I need to look into? Do you have something to propose?

When you leave a voice message, give them a good reason to call you back.

And. . .

State your name clearly. Spell it (unless it’s very common). Say your number slowly so they can write it down. Repeat the number so they don’t have to listen to the message again. Give them your time zone and the best time(s) to reach you. Say please and thank you.

Common courtesy and common sense.

And. . .

The same goes for email.

Tell people who you are and why you’re writing. What do you want them to know or do? Give them a web site so they can find out more. Use correct grammar and spelling. Format your email so it doesn’t look like a DECLARATION OF WAR! And get to the friggin point!

When you contact someone for the first time, you’re making that proverbial first impression. The only thing they have to go on is that email or voice mail message. Make it professional. Show them you care. Because if you don’t care, why should they?

Rant over. . .

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Filed Under: Communication, Email, Image, Law office management, Personal development, Salesmanship Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

How would you answer these interview questions?

March 12, 2012 by
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I’ve hired a lot of people over the years. I always tried to go beyond the standard interview questions so I could gain some insight into the real person sitting across the desk from me.

But I didn’t have any “sure-fire” questions to get them to reveal themselves. I played it by ear.

Today, I think I would have a few additional questions ready to ask. This morning, I read a collection of unique interview questions and I was fascinated by them, for two reasons.

First, there’s no way a job candidate could prepare for questions like, “Here’s a roll of duct tape. What are ten things you can do with it?”, “Why is a manhole cover round?” or “How many cars are there in the US?”

Answers to questions like these will show how creative they are but also how they handle the pressure of trying not to sound like an idiot. Do they have fun with the question or do they fall apart? Are they willing to admit they don’t know or will they try to fake it? Will they respond to the question with a question (e.g., “Why do you ask?”)?

The second reason I was fascinated by these questions is they made me wonder how I would answer them. There were several questions I knew I’d bomb. What does this mean? What if I was interviewing myself for the job, would I be unqualified to work for me?! And is it fair for me to ask questions like these if I wouldn’t have good answers?

What say you? How would you answer these questions? And will you use any of them with the next job candidate you interview?

Okay, here are my ten ways you could use duct tape: (1) Get your client to keep quiet in court; (2) dip in sugar water to make an ant trap; (3) fix a book with a broken binding; (4) seal a perforated air hose; (5) tape index cards to the wall when you don’t have push pins; (6) keep statues from falling over on your desk; (7) emergency rain gear; (8) fake suicide bomber vest for Halloween (!!); (9) slap a “Kick Me” sign on your friend’s back; (10) emergency handcuffs.

Now I know I wouldn’t hire me. . .

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

Not all clients are the same. Don’t treat them all the same.

February 6, 2012 by
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Some clients are better than others. You know the ones I’m talking about. They have more work for you (or bigger cases), they pay on time, and they don’t call you every other day to ask the same questions you already answered three times before.

I’m sure you have your own list of what constitutes a better client.

Better clients are worth more to us and we should acknowledge this. We shouldn’t feel guilty about treating some clients better than others or trying to treat everyone the same because it’s fair or politically correct.

Look, if someone is paying me $150,000 a year, I’m going to give him more attention than someone who pays me $1,000 for a one time transaction. That’s just the way it is.

Of course today’s $1,000 client could refer tomorrow’s $10,000 client who could, in turn, refer next year’s $100,000 client. And so the notion of treating some clients better than others does not imply that it’s okay to treat some clients below a minimum standard of care. In fact, we should strive to exceed that minimum whenever possible. But let’s face it, not all clients deserve the same treatment.

Seth Godin agrees.

So does Richard Koch, the author of The 80/20 Principle:

“Marketing, and the whole firm, should devote extraordinary endeavour towards delighting, keeping for ever and expanding the sales to the 20 per cent of customers who provide 80 per cent.”

Make a list of your “twenty percent” clients, the ones who provide the bulk of your income. Start paying more attention to them, acknowledging them and strengthening your relationship with them. Give them more of your (non-billable) time, spend more on their Christmas gifts, and do whatever you can do to convert them from being merely “satisfied” clients to raving fans.

And while you’re at it, make a similar list for your referral sources.

By the way, the same idea applies to prospects. Some are better than others. You should have a plan in place to give more to those who are worth more.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Law office management, Leverage Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Save time and reduce mistakes with form letters

February 2, 2012 by
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I suspect that as much as one third of the mail and email messages you send each week are routine responses or messages. Inquires are answered, new clients information is transmitted, newsletters are mailed. You probably have some of these saved as form letters. You may also store snippets of text you use frequently, ready to copy and paste into your outgoing messages.

If you’re not doing this, now is the time to begin assembling a library of form letters, just as I’m sure you have for pleadings, discovery, and agreements.

If you do use form letters, it’s a good idea to review them to see how you can make them better.

Not only do form letters save the time otherwise spent drafting an original letter, they also save time spent instructing others who respond on your behalf. After all, it’s a lot quicker to tell your assistant to “send letter 3-B” rather than explain what you want them to say (or dictate the letter yourself).

Form letters also reduce mistakes. You won’t forget to tell someone something that is already in your letter.

Form letters also reduce the number of incoming calls seeking additional information or clarification. Clients and prospects will like seeing that you are prepared and thorough.

The first step to improving your form letter library is to make extra copies of every letter and email you send over the next week or two. If you use Evernote, you can send everything into a temporary notebook for this purpose or assign a “form_letters” tag. You might also want to go through your sent email folder for the last few months and selectively forward emails to your Evernote email account. You can do the same with digital copies of letters sent by regular mail.

Also, go through your incoming mail. You may be getting letters sent to you that are (a) answered by phone or in person (i.e., at the consultation or meeting), (b) not being sufficiently answered, or (c) not being answered at all. Send these to your email account, too.

(For more ways to use Evernote in your law practice, check out my Evernote for Lawyers eBook.)

Once you have assembled a sampling of letters and emails, the next step is go through them and ask yourself,

  • How often do I send all or part of this information?
  • Is there anything in here that I could save and use?
  • Is there anything here that could be improved? Expanded? Clarified?
  • Is there anything here that could be put into a form letter?

Take the time to create or expand your library of form letters and get in the habit of using them. And every time you dictate an original letter, ask yourself if some or all of it could be added to your library.

If five percent of your current messages today are form letters, and you could increase this to just ten percent, you should see a significant time savings.

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

Dear Attorney: Would You Hire You?

January 31, 2012 by
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I’ve been conducting free consultations with attorneys who want to earn more and/or work less. I’m pretty quick at getting to the heart of the matter, but since we have just a few minutes together, I’ve asked each attorney to answer a few questions before we speak. One of those questions is, “What are your strengths?”

Most of the attorneys say pretty much the same thing. They’re good at what they do, they provide good service, and their clients seem to like them.

Good stuff. But is it true?

How do you know you provide good service? How do you know your clients like you? This is your perception, after all, and let’s face it, you are just a little biased.

Do you ever ask your clients for feedback, through surveys, questionnaires, or interviews?

Do you ever have a “mystery shopper” sit in your waiting room and watch the way clients are greeted? Does your staff greet them with a smile and make them feel welcome? Are they offered something to drink? How long do they have to wait?

Have you ever listened in on phone conversations between your staff and your clients? Have you ever recorded yourself speaking with clients and listened to the conversation?

No matter how well you’re doing you can always do better. But you have to put some energy into it. Start by looking at what your firm does through the eyes of your clients. Take inventory of what you do and how well you do it.

Your clients like you but that’s not enough. You want them to love you, to be so enamored with the way you treat them that they are not only willing to refer clients to you, they go out of their way to look for people they can refer.

Commit to making superlative service a fundamental part of your firm’s culture. Conduct meetings, trainings and weekend retreats with your staff, focused on improving client relations. Recognize and reward your employees who treat clients right.

If you regularly receive referrals, testimonial letters and thank you notes from your clients, that’s good. But don’t settle for good when you can be great.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management Tagged With: , , ,

The paperless law office: what’s the big deal?

January 20, 2012 by
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I like the idea of going paperless. I think most people do. Millions of people have opted for paperless billing and banking, reducing the paper and clutter in their lives and saving on postage and fees. Millions more are investing in scanners to eliminate paper that resides in their closets and file cabinets.

Lawyers in particular, who have more than their fair share of paper, are coming to understand the benefits of a paperless law practice:

  • Saving money. A paperless practice saves the not inconsiderable costs of paper, copy machines, toner, file cabinets, office space, and storage space, not to mention the wages of staff members responsible for creating, storing, and retrieving all that paper
  • Increasing productivity. Digital information can be retrieved, and therefore, utilized, much more readily than paper files. And having information in the cloud means it is available to you anywhere–from home, office, the courtroom, in a meeting.

Converting a law practice to paperless, or even “paper-lite,” is not a simple task for most lawyers. First, there is the process of converting thousands of closed files to their digital equivalents. Then there is the issue of working with current files and open cases using a laptop or iPad instead of a manila folder. How do you get the information in, and how do you get it out? All of this has to be thought through before the first page is scanned. Finally, lawyers must consider the security of client data, both on their hard drive and in “the cloud”.

The larger your practice, the more complicated these issues become. A big practice will probably hire a consulting firm to advise them on the process of going paperless and selecting the tools for doing so. A smaller practice must address the same issues as the big firm but they have more options, many of which are free or low cost.

I wrote about “going paperless” and “data security” in my new eBook, Evernote for Lawyers: A Guide for Getting Organized & Increasing Productivity. If you want to eliminate or reduce the use of paper in your law practice, Evernote is a great tool for doing so. If you are a small firm, it could be all you need.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Legal industry, Productivity Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

New eBook Shows Lawyers How to Use Evernote to Organize Everything

January 10, 2012 by
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If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know how much I love Evernote. I use it for everything: notes, documents, writing, task management, you name it. Today, I’m proud to announce the release of a new eBook, “Evernote for Lawyers: A Guide to Getting Organized & Increasing Productivity“.

Lawyers manage an incredible amount of information and finding that information quickly is imperative. More and more attorneys use Evernote for capturing notes and web clips, and initially, that’s all I used it for. I’ve since discovered many other ways Evernote can be used to organize the information in my life, and that’s what this book reveals.

Topics include using Evernote for research and writing, time and billing support, marketing and career development, and managing client files and documents. Other chapters include, “going paperless,” “data security,” “working with email,” and “working with your calendar”.

Attorneys who use David Allen’s Getting Things Done® methodology (or want to), will want to read Chapter 4, which covers this subject at length. I’ve written before about my Evernote/GTD system. Evernote for Lawyers presents my latest thinking on this subject, as well as the latest updates to my gtd system and work flow.

Evernote currently has 20 million users world wide and was recently honored as Inc. Magazine’s 2011 Company of the Year.

Evernote is free and is available for Windows, Mac, on the web, and all major mobile platforms. A premium version with enhanced features is also available.

Evernote for Lawyers: A Guide to Getting Organized & Increasing Productivity is available for immediate download in pdf format at OrganizedLawyer.com

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Filed Under: Law office management, News, Productivity, Technology, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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