The market is boss

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It doesn’t matter how good your services are, how much value you deliver to clients, or how good you are at marketing. . . if there’s no demand for your services, you’re not going to sell any.

The good news is that the converse is also true.

If you offer services your market wants and is willing to pay for, you don’t need to do a lot of selling. You just need to get your message in front of the right people.

In One More Customer, football great turned mega-entrepreneur Fran Tarkenton said, “Look, if your big idea needs super-salesmanship. . . it’s not so big after all. Steven Jobs didn’t sell the iPad; he announced it. If you’ve got a truly great idea, you’ll only have to announce it and inform people about it.”

When you offer legal services people want and need, your job is to identify the people who need those services (or know people who do) and keep your name and message in front of them.

As a business partner of mine used to put it, “You don’t have to be good, you just need to be busy”.

Tell prospective clients how you can help them. Give them ways to learn more, e.g., information, seminars, consultations, etc. And stay in touch with them.

That doesn’t mean you don’t need to improve your skills, your “customer service,” and your marketing. You do, because your competition is doing all of the above and you need to stay out ahead of them.

You will always need to work on personal and professional development. But if you offer something people want, you don’t need to obsess about it.

The easiest way to stay in touch is with email

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Are you sure about that?

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“I don’t know. I can’t recall. I’d be guessing.”

We like to hear things like this (sometimes) when our client is testifying but what about when we hear ourselves saying them?

They make us sound weak, don’t they?

No. They make us sound smart.

According to Jeff Bezos, “The smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they’d already solved. They’re open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.”

Just when we think we’ve got this “law practice” thing working smoothly. . . that’s when we need to stop and re-assess.

What if we don’t know? What if we’re wrong? What if there’s a better way?

But do we do that?

Unfortunately, we often think we know better. We think we’re good at what we do and that’s enough. “If it ain’t broke. . .” we tell ourselves.

Sure, we take CLE, we read the journals, we keep up with the latest in our field. But all that knowledge can’t help us if we’re afraid to be wrong.

It takes courage to admit you’re not as good as should be, and courage to do something about it.

How do you develop that courage? A good place to start is to surround ourselves with people who challenge us and are willing to be honest with us and being willing to listen to them.

Early in my practice, I had people working for me who knew more than I knew and were better at their job than I was at mine. I got better at my job because I was willing to admit I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Today, I’d like to think I would be willing to do the same.

Would I? Would you?

If we’re as smart as we think we are, the right answer is “I don’t know”.

Is your email marketing as good as it could be?

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Multiple streams of clients

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Some preach the wisdom of multiple streams of income. “Don’t rely on your law practice,” they might tell you. “Diversify”.

Not so fast.

Building a successful law practice takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears and if you want to make it, you have to give it everything you’ve got.

Mark Twain, among others, counseled, “Put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket”.

I agree.

Once you’ve built a successful practice, you can consider other ventures. But don’t try to do two things at once.

On the other hand, you should diversify your sources of clients. Don’t rely on just one marketing source or method.

No matter how well something is working for you, something else might work better.

And, things change. A strategy that’s worked for you for years may cease to work or may cease to be available. I used to do a fair amount of yellow pages advertising. Need I say more?

Besides, why limit yourself? If you can bring in clients from a variety of sources, without burning out or exhausting your budget, why wouldn’t you?

Jeff Bezos says, “Be stubborn on vision, but flexible on details.”

Take some time to find some new strategies to your marketing mix.

I’ll give you one: marketing joint ventures with other lawyers and other professionals.

This will help.

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Your clothes, give them to me. Now.

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No, I’m not getting frisky with you. Just quoting a line from The Terminator, which YouTube is offering in their new “free with commercials” program.

If you’ve never seen the original, or haven’t seen it in a long time, you might want to check this out.

But hold on. There are two versions. Which one is right for you?

The first is the TV version. It comes in at 1:29 and change. Next to it in the carousel is the theatrical version that runs 1:47.

Different versions for different audiences. Just like lawyers offer different versions of their services to different clients.

Wait, you don’t do that? You offer the same services to everyone? Same services, same fees, same marketing?

Who says you have to offer the same services to everyone?

Who says you have to charge all clients the same fees?

Okay, okay, you may not be able to offer different services or charge different fees (or want to) but you could create different marketing collateral for different niches.

Talk about issues people in that niche relate to. Use different buzzwords and examples. Share stories about their colleagues you’ve represented.

Physicians and entrepreneurs and accountants are different niches. High-tech, blue collar and “mom and pop” are different niches.

If you want more people in a niche market to see you as the best lawyer for them, you should market to them differently.

That’s all for me today. But. . . wait for it. . . I’ll be back.

This will help you find your niche

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Is marketing boring (and does it matter)?

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Are you bored with your marketing? Are you doing the same things over and over again, lost in the routine, feeling like you don’t want to do it anymore?

Yeah, that sounds boring.

But we all do things we don’t enjoy, don’t we? We do them because we have responsibilities, or because we like the results we get more than we dislike the routine.

If your marketing is boring but you’re making a fortune or you’re accomplishing worthwhile goals, does it matter?

On the other hand, who says our marketing has to be boring? What if you loved marketing and looked forward to doing it–wouldn’t you get even better results?

Indeed.

But how? How do you un-borify marketing?

The answer is different for everyone, of course, but here are a few thoughts.

First, your routine may be boring but people can be interesting. Maybe you don’t need to change your routine, you need to change your people.

Find a different crowd to network with. Target a new niche market. Get rid of the clients with boring problems and replace them with clients with exciting problems.

Second, it might not be what you do, it might be how you do it. What if you improve your skills?

Maybe you find networking boring because you come home with a bunch of business cards and not much happens after that. What if you got better at making things happen?

Third, maybe it’s as simple as trying something different.

Make a list of all of the things you do or have done in the past that could be considered marketing. Make another list of things you’ve never done, or did before and gave up.

What if you could find a strategy that wasn’t boring?

All you need is one.

This will help

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No jail can hold our clients

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I saw an article today about why folks may want to create a family motto, something that fosters unity and inspires the kids. Of course, I immediately thought about how this could apply to a law firm.

Off the top of my head, I can think of two mottos for law firms, both DUI defense lawyers who have done a lot of advertising: “No Cuffs” and “Friends don’t let friends plead guilty.”

So, how about your firm?

Hmmm, for a family law firm: “When you can’t take it anymore, call us”. Hey, not bad.

How about immigration: “They’re here. We can help them stay.” I think that might actually work.

Landlord/tenant (evictions): “30 days means 30 days.” I like it.

I’m on a roll.

Insurance defense: “Our JDs can increase your ROI”.

PI: “Insurance companies hate us.”

Anyway, even if you don’t advertise, give some thought to creating a motto or slogan for your firm. It can help you conceptualize a key benefit you want to convey to prospective clients.

Or, create one for internal use only. C’mon, it’ll be fun.

I’ll start.

Litigation: “Will sue for food.”

Start ups: “Legal obstetricians: We help you give birth to your great idea”

IP: “We help you ‘Ink and Grow Rich'”

Okay, that’s enough from me. Your turn.

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How?

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I saw a quote today that provides a valuable lesson to everyone who markets professional services:

“Don’t just sell the thing you do. Sell the way you do the thing you do.

“Why is this so valuable? Because services are intangible. People can’t see what they get when they hire you.

Of course, you must tell prospective clients what will happen when they hire you. Tell them how their situation will be improved, how their problems and pain and risks will lesson, how they will be able to sleep better at night.

Clients don’t hire you to write documents and talk to other lawyers–they hire you to get results.

But since other lawyers do what you do, if you want to stand out, you should also tell people how you do what you do.

Show them a picture.

Tell them about the information you collect, the questions you ask, the steps you take to move things from point A to point B and beyond.

Show them what it will be like having you as their attorney.

Your competition does essentially the same things you do but they’re not you. Your style, your habits, your personality, are all a part of what you do. Show people what that looks like.

Don’t just sell the thing you do. Sell the way you do the thing you do.

This will help

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Frustrated, overwhelmed and disillusioned

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Somethings wrong. You’re working hard but spinning your wheels. You’re stressed out and you don’t know what you’re doing wrong.

Am I incompetent? An imposter? A fool?

Maybe. But probably not. That’s probably your frustration, overwhelm, and disillusionment talking.

More likely, you’re simply trying to do too much.

I’ve been there. Early in my practice. Ready to pull my hair out because I was working hard but not making any money.

I hadn’t heard about The Pareto Principle–the 80/20 rule–and the power of doing less to accomplish more.

But something told me I had to start taking things off my plate, and I did.

I eliminated or delegated things that weren’t working (or that I hated), no matter how “promising” they seemed or how much I wanted them to work, and freed up time and mental energy to do the few things that were actually working.

The “20% activities that produce 80% of your results”.

What happened? Besides being scared to death that I was cutting out too much and doing too little, my income went up.

Because I was focusing on (and getting good at) a few things, instead of trying to do “everything”.

I was earning more and working less.

One of the things I focused on was marketing. Ah, but not all kinds of marketing. I focused on a few strategies. One of these was learning how to bring in more referrals.

You can learn how to do that, here

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Have you taken your vitamin today?

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Back in the days when vitamins were first making their way into our collective consciousness, companies that made “multiple vitamins” would promote the simplicity and ease of taking “one a day”.

You don’t have to figure out which pills or what dosage to take, just take our “one a day” pill.

In fact, some companies still do this. They know that the easier it is for customers to do, the more customers will do it.

And that makes sense.

Of course, I see a parallel between taking vitamins and marketing legal services.

If I make it easier for you, you’ll be more likely to do it.

Yes or yes?

So, here’s your “one a day” marketing vitamin:

Once a day, connect with one person.

You could call a former client, to say hello, or send him an article you thought might interest him.

You could follow-up with a prospective client, to see if they have any additional questions.

You could call a professional contact, to schedule coffee, compliment their new article, or see what they’re up to.

One a day.

It doesn’t sound like much but for many attorneys, it’s more than they do now.

The key is to make a habit. Take your vitamin every day.

A simple but effective way to improve the health of your practice.

More

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Boom, baby, boom

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I’m talking about Baby Boomers. Tens of millions of people who might need your legal services and probably have the money to pay for them.

How about that as a target market?

Yes, even if you don’t do estate planning or elder law or anything typically associated with older folk.

Because older folk get divorced. File bk. Get arrested. Start businesses. File patents. Sue and get sued. And God knows they get injured.

But here’s the thing: even if they don’t, they have family and friends who do.

You accept referrals, don’t you?

Boomers are also sought after by other professionals (financial planners, retirement planners, investment advisors, et. al.). When you target Boomers, you will have something in common with those professionals, which means you can network with them and tap into their other clients.

Put this on your to-do list: talk to Mom and Dad about their generation (or, look in the mirror and talk to yourself about your generation) and start paying attention to this market. 

Tens of millions of potential clients are waiting for you. (You do offer a senior discount, right?)

Need help choosing your target market? Here it is

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