How to find the time for marketing your legal services

April 5, 2012 by
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You’ll often hear me say that you can get appreciable results in marketing in just 15 minutes a day. Why is this so? Because marketing is doing a lot of little things, like taking a few extra minutes to make a new client feel welcome, writing the first draft of an article or blog post, or calling a fellow professional to invite him for coffee.

You can do a lot in 15 minutes. The key is to do something every day. An apple a day keeps the doctor away; seven apples on Sunday will give you a stomach ache.

But marketing is also doing bigger things, like joining a new networking group. You’ll spend a couple of hours a week at the meeting, plus additional time on committees, special events, and meeting with new contacts. This is a commitment of several hours a week. Where do you find the time?

The key to bigger marketing activities is being selective. You don’t join four networking groups, you join one. If it’s the right group for you, the extra time you spend will be well worth it.

When it comes to marketing, attorneys are often “a mile wide and an inch deep”. They try to do too many things and get poor results at most of them. Choose one or two marketing techniques or platforms and get good at them. Learn everything you can about LinkedIn, for example, and master it. Put your time and energy into it and don’t worry about Facebook or Twitter or anything else you could be doing.

When you approach the big things in marketing this way, you’ll find that not only do you have the time to do it, you get much better results.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Productivity, Time Management 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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Smart marketing by a smart lawyer

March 29, 2012 by
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Yesterday, I was interviewed live via a new video broadcast service, Spreecast. The interviewer was my friend and fellow attorney, Mitch Jackson. The subject was using Evernote in a law practice and my Evernote for Lawyers ebook. You can watch the replay here.

In the interview, you’ll note my comment to Mitch that his Spreecasts are smart marketing on his part because it allows him to network not only with the experts he interviews but with a large number of attorneys and allied professionals who come to watch. It positions him as a leader and gets his name in front of a lot of people who can either directly refer clients to him or who can lead him to others who can.

Although these Spreecasts are new, I know Mitch has for many years done a great job of networking in this fashion, promoting others’ law practices, books and events to his large network. I also know he gets a lot of referral business.

Smart marketing, and you can do the same thing. It’s called being a connector.

Being a connector can not only help you grow your practice, it is also a great vehicle for learning. I’m sure Mitch will tell you in reading the blogs and books of the experts he interviews, he learns the best ideas and latest techniques, which help him become a better lawyer and a better marketer.

To become a connector you need two things.

First, you need a platform. This can be a blog, a Facebook or LinkedIn Group, a newsletter, your own Spreecast channel, or a local breakfast group. This is where you match up content (writing, speaking, interviews) with your audience. You are the organizer, the master of ceremonies, the interviewer, the publisher. Everything goes through you.

The platform is easy. Just pick something and plant a flag.

The second thing you need might be a little more difficult. It’s not something you sign up for, it’s something you must have within you. To be effective as a connector, you need to truly enjoy helping others. It’s true, the more value you create for others, the more you promote them and champion their practice or product, the more you will benefit. But you must be willing to help others without any agenda, other than the pleasure you get from seeing others succeed.

Mitch has a series of great interviews lined up. Follow his Spreecast Lawyers Group (channel) and invite your friends.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Online Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Why some lawyers shouldn’t bother with marketing

March 22, 2012 by
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On a discussion board I follow, a link had been posted to an article about why attorneys should write a blog. Several attorneys added their comments, most of which were in agreement.

One poster said, “In an industry which is increasingly commoditized, blogging allows a a lawyer to show creativity and wit — skill sets that are underrepresented in the profession, but vital for client development and practice management.”

Another mentioned that blog posts provide a record of your ideas and create an inventory of material you can use elsewhere in your marketing.

Good stuff.

But one comment in particular caught my attention: “I would be concerned that if the public began to know you too well, legal strategies could be predicted.”

Sure, we all have a few tricks up our sleeves we don’t want everyone knowing, but c’mon, that’s not a reason to avoid blogging.

Want to know what I think? I think she’s afraid. She’s afraid that if she writes a blog, she will no longer be able to hide behind her technical skills, she will have to expose her true self to the world.

And she’s right.

Building a law practice means building relationships. You have to meet people and make them like and trust you. You can’t do that without showing them who you really are.

When you write a blog or a newsletter, or do any public speaking or networking, you must do more than state the facts and provide the citations. You must give color and contrast to what you write or say, and that means injecting your personality, your opinions and your experiences.

Clients buy us before they buy our services. If you want people to like and trust you, you have to expose yourself to them and if you’re not willing to do that, you probably shouldn’t bother with marketing. You’ll be happier in a job where client development isn’t required or with a partner who is good at bringing in new business while you handle the paperwork.

There are many reasons why you should write a blog. There’s only one reason you shouldn’t: you don’t want to.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Career satisfaction, Image, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , ,

How to get a bigger return from your seminar or conference

March 20, 2012 by
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I was reading some tips on planning a successful conference and thought there was one tip that was missing. Every event you run should be recorded.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a speech, an all day seminar, a webinar, teleseminar, or a multi-day conference, why settle for only what you can get from a one time event?

If you record it, you can

  • Make it available for those who couldn’t attend
  • Sell the video, or create products from portions of the content
  • Run the video periodically on your web site
  • Offer the video, or portions thereof, as a lead generation incentive
  • Transcribe the event and create reports, articles, blog posts, and audio content
  • Watch the event so you can make the next one better
  • License the event to other lawyers in other jurisdictions

In fact, with any content you create, whether it’s a live event or something you write on the weekends, always look for ways to get a bigger return on your time and investment. Evergreen content that you create once and use over and over again is a smart, leveraged use of your time.

Wouldn’t it be great to do the same thing with your services? No, it’s not possible with a service, but you can do the next best thing. Every time you create a form, a checklist, a template, or a script, something you can use over and over again, you are leveraging your time and increasing your return.

To earn more and work less, never settle for a one-to-one return on your time or investment.

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Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services, Presentations, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , ,

Going from huh? to duh! The four stages of learning how to market legal services

March 19, 2012 by
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When I opened my first law office, I had no idea how I was going to get clients. Had I known how tough it was going to be, I may have given up before I began.

But I was motivated by the need for independence and the stubborness of youth and I found myself with an office, a typewriter, and no work.

What to do. . .?

I had read a lot about mail order and direct marketing in my youth, but I didn’t know anything about marketing legal services. I didn’t think I could use mail order to bring in clients (although I think that now) and so I took out some ads (to other lawyers) and that did bring in some work. Not the best work–overflow and some appearances, mainly. It helped pay the rent.

I knew there had to be something else I could do. Other lawyers brought in clients, why couldn’t I?

Experts in learning would say I was a “conscious incompetent”–I knew that marketing could bring in clients and I also knew that I was clueless about how to do it.

Years later, I learned that there are four stages to learning:

  1. Unconscious incompetent: You don’t know what you don’t know. Think of the young child in the car seat with one of his parents behind the wheel. The child doesn’t know what “driving” is, let alone how to do it.
  2. Conscious incompetent: You know what you don’t know. The child is aware that his parent is doing something to make the car go but he does not know what or how.
  3. Conscious competent: You are able to do it with focus and mental effort. You are aware that you are doing it. After drivers’ training and some practice, the child is able to drive, but he has to think about what he is doing.
  4. Unconscious competent: You can do it effortlessly, without thinking about it. Eventually, like the rest of us, the child is able to drive on autopilot.

As a “conscious incompetent” in marketing legal services, I made the decision to start learning. I read every book I could find on the subject. I studied ads and brochures and seminar sales letters. I talked to other lawyers and asked them what they were doing.  And I tried lots of different things. Eventually, I had some success.

But I wasn’t good at everything. Some things came easily to me. Writing, for one. And speaking. But other skills I am not as good at. I know how to network, for example, and I’ve certainly done enough of it, but it’s not my favorite thing to do. As a result, I have to think about what I’m doing while I’m doing it. (“Jeez, why on earth did I say that. . .!?”) With networking, I am a conscious competent.

Knowing these four stages of learning has helped me to appreciate my strengths and weaknesses. Whatever you’re trying to learn or improve, it helps to know where you are and what you need to do to get to the next level:

  1. Unconscious incompetent: Read, listen, observe, ask questions. Find out what you don’t know. You’ll discover things you’ve never heard of before, (especially in the social media arena–and let’s use that as an example) and you will become aware of what you don’t know.
  2. Conscious incompetent: Now that you know, you need to do more reading, listening, observing, and asking even more questions. You need guidance and support from others. And you need to try it. Open an account, set up a profile, play around with it. Practice and you will get better.
  3. Conscious competent: So you know what to do. You’re posting regularly, networking online, integrating your web site, and downloading the newest apps. You know what you’re doing but it’s still something you have to think about and remind yourself to do. You need to continue doing what you’re doing (more practice) and you need to get feedback and advice from others.
  4. Unconscious competent: You have mastered it. You tweet and post and link like a pro and you can do it in your sleep. The risk here is that you will get bored and stop learning and stop growing, so make sure you stay up with all the new tech and trends and continue to challenge yourself. Even better, help others learn because the teacher always learns more than the student.

If you find yourself stuck in stage two or three and you never get to stage four no matter how much effort you put in, the odds are this is not a natural strength. You might want to get someone to do it for you so you can go do something else.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development, success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The one thing attorneys need to know about getting more referrals

March 8, 2012 by
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If you’re not getting as many referrals as you think you should, the primary reason is that you don’t deserve them.

Ouch.

“But I’m good at what I do. I work hard for my clients and I produce results.”

Sorry, that’s not enough. That’s the minimum standard for any professional. If you aren’t competent and you don’t consistently get results for your clients, you shouldn’t be practicing law.

I can’t give you a checklist of things to do or say that will qualify you to deserve referrals. It’s not that simple. And yet, it’s not complicated, either.

Mostly, it’s common sense and common courtesy. It’s answering your client’s questions before they ask them. It’s offering them coffee because you truly want them to be comfortable, not because it’s expected. It’s speaking to them and making eye contact and shaking their hand and letting them know you’re listening.

It’s not taking phone calls during the client meeting or talking about other clients or cases that are on your mind. It’s showing up early at court not because you need to but because you know your clients are probably nervous and you need to be there for them.

Look at what you do from your client’s perspective. What do they expect from you and what do they get? From the moment they first speak to you on the phone to the last time they meet with you, and everything in between, what do you say and what do you do? What do you not say and not do?

Everything is important. Everything counts. It’s hundreds of little things and you have to get most of them right.

Your clients want to feel like you understand them and care about them as people, not as names on a file. They want to know that although you’ve done this 1000 times before, they are in that moment your most important client. They want to know that you truly appreciate them and that you know they could have gone to 100 other attorneys but they chose you.

Even more than your legal services, they want your respect.

I know an attorney who doesn’t get it. He’s technically good at his work, he’s friendly and patient with his clients and he works hard for them. But there’s something missing. He doesn’t do the little things that make his clients feel like he really cares. He says a lot of the right things, but you can tell he’s just going through the motions. His mind is on other things. He does what is expected of him and delivers results, but he does not go the extra mile.

He does get referrals from his clients. But he could get so many more.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why the average law firm doesn’t grow

March 2, 2012 by
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Over the last couple of posts I talked about legal fees. The average lawyer is paid average fees and they will continue to be paid average fees as long as they don’t do anything to distinguish themselves from other lawyers.

Similarly, the average law firm doesn’t grow. They have approximately the same number of clients today as they had six months ago. Six months from now that number will be approximately the same.

They may see spikes in new business, a rapid influx of new clients here and there, but in the growth department, most law firms aren’t seeing large and steady increases in clients or revenue.

But some firms do see that kind of growth. Every month they see more clients and higher revenue than the previous month. They aren’t churning, they are growing.

What do these lawyers do that average lawyers don’t do?

They provide exceptional service.

When you provide average service, nobody cares. “Yeah, my lawyer was okay–he did the job I paid him for. . .”. Yawn.

When you do more, when you provide clients with exceptional service that surprises and delights them, they’re going to talk about you. “Wow, if you’re looking for an attorney you should definitely call mine. She is absolutely amazing!”

Lawyers who are growing give people something to talk about. They provide exceptional service that makes clients feel that they got more than they paid for. These clients will not only recommend those attorneys, they will often go out of their way to do so.

They’ll talk about them to anyone who will listen. They’ll keep their eyes and ears open, looking for people who need them. They’ll recommend them, send traffic to their web site, and invite people to their next event.

The law of reciprocity says so.

When you give something to someone, there is a psychological compulsion to reciprocate. Give them what they paid for, it’s a fair exchange. Give them more than what they paid for or expected and they will return the favor.

If you want to charge higher fees than other lawyers, or you want to bring in more clients and see your firm grow, it all comes down to service. Average service, average fees and (lack of) growth. Exceptional service, higher fees and steady growth.

Fortunately, since the average attorney provides average service, it doesn’t take much to stand out. A little creativity and effort on your part and you’ll be the one people are talking about.

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

Why the average lawyer earns average income (and why you don’t have to)

March 1, 2012 by
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In yesterday’s post I made the point that most clients don’t price shop, that price isn’t at the top of their list of hiring criteria. A lawyer posted on Facebook that he sees price shopping all the time, the result of the commoditization of legal services.

Who’s right? We both are.

If the services you sell are just like everyone else’s, you have a commodity and if a client can buy it from someone else for less, they often will. In the age of the Internet, it’s easy to find dozens of lawyers who offer the same services. If the attorneys advertise their fees, as many who offer commodities do, it’s even easier to compare prices. When all the client has to go on is price, price becomes important.

At the same time surveys consistently tell us that price is not the number one criteria among clients. It’s not irrelevant, they are just more concerned with issues of trust and quality.

So, we have a dichotomy. Clients say price isn’t the number one factor in choosing a lawyer and yet many clients do compare prices. How do you reconcile these two statements? More importantly, how do you avoid the price shoppers?

There are two ways. The first is to not offer what everyone else is offering so there can be no comparison. When every other attorney is offering apples, you offer oranges.

Package and promote your services so that they are different from what other lawyers offer. The average lawyer offers a commodity, you don’t. You offer something different and better.

If you handle consumer bankruptcy, for example, look for ways to add value and scope to your services and offer a comprehensive bundle of benefits that goes beyond the core services you now offer. This might include loan modification, tax lien negotiation, foreclosure defense, and credit repair. You might offer these additional services yourself or partner with other professionals who do. If not a complete service, at least offer information and advice so the client can get the solutions they need.

Don’t just treat the disease, cure the patient!

Put on your thinking cap and get your creative juices flowing. But don’t start with your services, start with your clients and the problem they want to solve. What caused the problem? What do they need to do to fix it? How can they avoid having this problem in the future? What other problems do they have? What problems have they had in the past or are likely to have in the future?

The answers to these questions will allow you to create a unique bundle of services that distinguish you from other lawyers and allow you to charge more than they do.

If you offer what everyone else does, as the average lawyer does, you will continue to see price shoppers, and in today’s economy especially, downward pressure on your fees. If you offer what nobody else does, or if you promote your services in ways that nobody else does, you will be (or appear to be) unique. You can sell your oranges for more than average attorneys sell their apples.

The second way to avoid price shoppers is by getting referrals. Referred clients come to you pre-sold. Somebody they trust already checked you out, took the risk of hiring you, and gave you a passing grade. If the referred client does go looking at what other lawyers are charging, they still won’t know if those lawyers are any good. And they know they will have to “answer” to the friend who refers them if they decide to go somewhere else.

If you combine the two strategies, packing your services in unique ways and getting most of your business from referrals, your income will be anything but average.

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Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Fees and Billing, Increase your income, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to network without leaving your office

February 28, 2012 by
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No, I’m not talking about social media although you can use that as a starting point. I’m talking about the phone. Pick up the phone and call someone you might like to know.

It doesn’t have to be a prospective client. In fact, for most attorneys it probably shouldn’t be. Call someone who works in the market you are targeting, someone who sells to, advises, or is otherwise influential in that market. It could be another professional, someone who owns or manages a business, a blogger, or the head of an association. Anyone who (a) knows people who might (one day) need your services, or (b) knows people who might know those people.

What do you say? It almost doesn’t matter. Just call and reach out to them. Don’t ask for business or talk about yourself (other than introducing yourself), talk about them. After you introduce yourself, tell them you called to. . .

  • See if you could interview them for your blog or newsletter
  • Ask them to participate in a 90 second survey for an article you’re writing
  • Ask for their take on an article you read in one of their industry’s journals
  • Offer to send them a report, ebook, article reprint
  • Invite them to coffee
  • Invite them to your seminar/webinar/event
  • Invite them to be your guest at your networking group’s next meeting
  • Compliment their web site/ad/brochure
  • Tell them you have a mutual contact

Just get the conversation started. Then ask about them their business. Find out what they do and how they do it. What are they looking for? What can you do to help?

Of course you know they will ask you about your practice. Tell them briefly and change the subject back to them.

Afterwards, send them an email or better yet a hand written note and tell them you enjoyed the conversation. Follow up with the next logical step or if there isn’t one, just stay in touch. If you can, send them a referral. Send another article they might find helpful. Calendar a few weeks or a month or two and call again.

Networking is a courtship. You go on a date and if you like each other you go out again. If things go well, you get engaged. That’s when referrals, joint ventures, and other good things happen.

Most attorneys never do this. They let their egos get in the way or they don’t think it will do any good. That’s sad. There are people out there who would love to meet you but they aren’t going to call you. Go ahead, call someone today. Introduce yourself and see if they want to date.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking Tagged With: , , ,
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