Maybe you should start a side business

March 18, 2016 by
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During my career, I’ve started more than a few businesses. While not every business was successful, each business taught me something about commerce and marketing and about working with people–partners and customers alike.

And that’s one reason I suggest you start a side business.

Selling products is different from selling professional services. You’ll be introduced to strategies and techniques you may have never considered and be able to use some of them. You might, for example, find that advertising isn’t an abomination and find ways to use it to build your practice.

The second reason for starting a side business is that the business itself might be an excellent way to indirectly expand your practice. If you handle PI, divorce, estate planning, bankruptcy, or other consumer practice areas where almost anyone is a potential client, your side business could introduce you to a world of new contacts. Some of those contacts will need your services. Others will become new referral sources.

The third reason for starting a business is that it might provide you with additional income for retirement, or an exit strategy when your practice tells you it’s time to move on.

My network marketing business has been all of those things for me.

I know you’re wondering how you could possibly justify taking time away from your practice to start a business. I asked myself the same thing when I started looking.

The answer to that question is “part time”. Find a business that doesn’t require full time to run. Fortunately, there are many businesses today that fit the bill.

Also, look at your ROI. Yes, it will take time to run a side business, but if the time you invest therein brings lots of new clients for your practice, or lots of income from the business itself, if your ROI is big enough, then your investment will have paid off.

I don’t know if starting a business is right for you, or if you will find the right one for you, but I encourage you to look at what’s available. Even if you never take the plunge, you’ll learn some things and meet some people, and the next time you meet with a prospective client who owns a business, you’ll have a lot more to talk about.

Leverage is key to increasing your income

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services

Give prospective clients a little somethin’ somethin’

March 16, 2016 by
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I found a video I was interested in watching but I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit 27 minutes out of my busy day. I could start it and see if it’s worth continuing, or I could save it for later, which is what I did, but I knew that “later” would probably never arrive.

I do the same thing with blog posts and articles. I can skim them, of course, and usually do, but my appetite is often bigger than my stomach and more often than not, I save blog posts and articles for later consumption. But I have hundreds of them saved for later and, you guessed it, more often than not, I don’t get around to them.

If you use content to market your legal services, and you should, you have to factor this dynamic into your strategy. Your target market is busy and while they may be interested in your topic, they may never get around to hearing what you have to say.

What do you do? The answer is simple. You issue a mix of long and short posts and videos.

Someone will watch a two minute video, for example, and see that you offer value. So when you post a 15 minute video or a 27 minute video, they are more likely to watch it. You’ve earned their attention and made it to their short list of approved content producers, aka, lawyers.

Short content allows you to offer people a taste of your wisdom and makes it more likely they’ll come back for more. It’s like the Chinese restaurant in the food court at the mall, handing out samples of tempura chicken on a toothpick. They give you a sample, you like it, so you order a complete meal.

They might spend $100 a day giving away free samples, and in return sell $1000 worth of additional meals.

Sampling works. Give people a taste of “you” and if they like you they’ll come back for more. If you’ve ever conducted a free consultation you know that most people who avail themselves of your offer will hire you.

Now, if offering short samples of your content and your advice work, how about offering samples of your actual services?

Think about all of the services you offer, and all of their component parts, and see if you can offer a sample. What could you offer at a discount or free?

Discounts? Free services? That’s crazy talk, right?

Give it some thought, will ya? Because investing $100 to earn an extra $1000 is a good thing in any business.

Marketing for attorneys who want to work smarter: here you go

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With:

Finding more places to market your legal services

March 8, 2016 by
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I finally converted a Kindle book to paperback. It’s the same book, re-formatted and published on a different platform (CreateSpace), exposing my wares to paperback buyers, libraries and bookstores, and others. I plan to do the same thing with other ebooks.

With very little effort, I am increasing my income. You can do the same.

You already have marketing methods and channels that are working for you. Why not explore ways to extend what’s already working for you into different channels or markets, or increase your exposure in existing markets?

For example, you already get referrals from other lawyers, right? A simple way to get more clients is to find more lawyers who can and will send you referrals. (My Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals course shows you how to do that).

Go through your existing marketing mix and think about how you could find or develop

  • More professional referral sources
  • More places to run your ads
  • More free and paid online directories and referral services you can sign up for
  • More places to publish your content
  • More cities and venues for conducting live seminars
  • More podcasts and blogs to interview you
  • More online and offline publications to publish your guest posts or articles
  • More social media platforms where you can network, push out content, and gain more followers
  • More ways to get more subscribers to your email list
  • More professionals to interview for your blog, podcast
  • More websites, blogs, podcasts, to target different searches or market segments, or promote different services
  • More websites, blogs, podcasts, to target the SAME searches or market segments
  • More videos on youtube
  • More groups where you can speak and network
  • More clients empowered to recognize your ideal client and refer them
  • More (new) niche markets, client types
  • More ways to use existing content (i.e., re-purpose posts, presentations, videos, ebooks, etc.)
  • More new content to publish on existing platforms (i.e., new articles, blog posts, videos, etc.)
  • More ways to surprise and delight your clients (so they return, refer, provide positive reviews, and send traffic to your web site)

And so on. Maybe even more bookstores to sell your books.

It’s called working smarter. It’s called leverage. Taking something that’s already working and finding ways to make it work harder. So you don’t have to.

Get more referrals from your clients with MAXIMUM REFERRALS

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Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services

What’s new? I’m glad you asked!

March 7, 2016 by
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When someone asks you, “What’s new?” what is your typical reply? If you’re like most people, you say something akin to, “Not much,” am I right?

If so, you’re missing out on an opportunity to promote yourself and your practice in an easy, non-promotional way.

Instead of deflecting the question, tell people what’s new.

Share some news with them. Tell them about an interesting case you just signed up or just settled. Tell them you just hired someone new or you’re looking for someone. Tell them about moving your office, or that you’re thinking about it.

Your news, however inconsequential it might seem to you, is far more interesting than saying “not much” or engaging in small talk. News has intrinsic energy. It shows you doing things, taking action, moving forward. It tells people that you’re growing and successful.

News gives you a talking point that allows you to start a conversation with someone you just met. It also gives you an excuse to contact people you know with something to share.

Never leave home without something news to share.

What’s that? You don’t have any news? Make some. Write an article or report or a short video and post it on your website. Tell people about it–what it does and who it helps. Invite them to go see it or offer to send them a copy. Ask them to share it with people in their network who might be interested.

If you don’t have a new article, tell them about an old one and ask if they’ve seen it. Or tell them about one that you’re working on or thinking about writing.

There’s always something new.

Now, don’t keep your news under wraps, waiting for someone to ask, “What’s new?” Reach out to clients and professional contacts and share your news. Use your news as the excuse for re-connecting. “Hey, I just wanted to let you know about. . .” or “Hey, I wanted to ask if you saw. . .”

When you meet someone new, after you introduce yourself, tell them about your new article or your updated article or the article that just got mentioned on another website, and invite them to check it out.

When you always have news to share, you’ll always have something to promote. You don’t have to promote yourself or your services. Promote your article or report and let it promote you.

How to write a report worth sharing: click here

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking

The first book I ever wrote

March 4, 2016 by
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In my personal injury practice, I had every client bring in their auto insurance policy. As I reviewed their policies, I noticed that most of my clients were spending too much for insurance.

They bought coverage they didn’t need, had deductibles that were too low, and routinely purchased from companies that charged double or triple what other carriers charged.

Anyway, I fell into the habit of going over their policies with them and showing them how to improve their coverage and lower their costs. A nice added value service that my clients appreciated.

One day, I decided to wrote a book on the subject. I thought that in addition to giving copies to my clients, I could sell the book, something I had always wanted to do.

And I did sell a copy. Yep, just one.

Why? It was a good book. The problem was that I didn’t have a viable way to market it.

This was before Amazon and other online book stores. No websites, no “online”. Advertising was my best bet but my margins (the gross profit on the book) weren’t enough to cover the costs of advertising.

I didn’t have a back end product or service to sell. If I had been in the insurance business, I could have sold the book at break even, or at a loss, and made my profit on the back end selling insurance.

The lesson is that it’s not the product, it’s the marketing. It doesn’t matter how good your product is if you don’t have a profitable way to reach your target market.

That’s true whether you’re selling books or candlesticks or legal services.

You may deliver outstanding legal services but you will starve to death if you don’t have a way to reach potential clients and deliver your message. On the other hand, if you are merely competent as a lawyer but you use sound marketing strategies, you can make a fortune.

The good news is that legal services have big margins. You can afford to spend money (or the equivalent in time) disseminating your message. The even better news is that most attorneys do such a poor job of marketing that you can easily beat them to the punch.

Ready for more good news?

Today, we do have Amazon and other online book stores, and websites of our own. We can economically reach book buyers, and then sell them legal services on the back end. Our marketing is paid for by book sales. Instead of paying for advertising, our advertising pays us.

How to identify your best target market

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

Maybe you need some new friends

March 3, 2016 by
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When you get together with other lawyers, at a bar function, in the courtroom hallway, or anywhere else, what do you talk about?

Do you talk about cases and clients? Do you rap about the law? Do you talk about sports or the weather?

One thing I’ll bet you don’t talk about is marketing.

Yes, I know you’re not like most lawyers. You read me, after all. You “get” that marketing is important and valuable and you work at it. But can the same be said of the lawyers you speak to every day?

Many lawyers are uncomfortable talking about marketing. They don’t want anyone to know they do it, fearing that it makes them look weak and unsuccessful. So marketing isn’t talked about in polite company. Marketing isn’t cool.

Silly, but can you tell me this isn’t true?

Here’s the thing. I believe that the lawyers who are most attracted to marketing, and aren’t embarrassed to admit it, are the lawyers who need marketing the least.

If you like marketing, or at least you respect it and actively work at it, the odds are you’re already doing well in your practice. The lawyers who look down at marketing tend to be the ones who need it most. They are either uninformed, in denial, or resting on their laurels. They are unaware that they are living on borrowed time.

We can differ and debate the different types of marketing. Some lawyers advertise, some don’t. Some are aggressive, some are willing to sacrifice results in deference to image. That’s okay. What’s not okay is pretending that marketing is beneath you and can safely be ignored.

One reason it can’t be ignored is that every attorney is already “doing” marketing, whether they know it or not.

Remember, marketing is everything you do to get and keep good clients. Everything. Any attorney who believes that clients relations isn’t marketing, for example, or that they don’t need to work at it, is fooling nobody but themselves.

When you talk to other attorneys, bring up the subject of marketing. It’s good to compare notes. See what’s working for them and what’s not working. Ask them what they’re doing to get more traffic to their website, for example, or get their former clients to send referrals.

If you get a blank stare, or if your attorney friends don’t have anything positive to say about marketing, it might be time for you to get some new friends.

If your attorney friends are open to learning, tell them to start here

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Party favors for new clients? Yes, that’s a thing

March 2, 2016 by
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Remember when you were a little kid and you went to a friend’s birthday party? You got party favors–puzzles, noisemakers, toy soldiers, cap guns, candy, and other fun stuff? Something to take home with you and show your siblings and parents?

It made the party more fun, didn’t it?

Ooh, remember those finger puzzles where you put your index fingers in both ends and couldn’t get them out?

Anyway, you should do the same thing with your new clients.

Party favors for new clients? Why not? Even though it’s not a party, even though they may be seeing you about a very serious problem that is anything but fun, you should make a point of giving new clients things to take home with them.

Maybe a nice folder to hold the paperwork on their case. Maybe a nice pen with your contact information on it. Maybe a book you wrote or a book you recommend. Maybe a gift card so they can get dinner on you and forget about their troubles.

Load them up because people like getting stuff. Adults are just big kids, aren’t we?

You don’t have to spend a lot of money, but don’t let them go home empty handed. Legal services are intangible. Give them something they can hold in their hand and show their spouse or friends.

Make sure you also give them information about your practice areas. Educate them about their problems and the solutions you provide. Show them how you can help them and the people they know. Teach them how to identify your ideal client and give them tools (reports, coupons, DVDs, etc.) they can pass out.

If you have a practice that is suited to having a bit of fun, you can give new clients something whimsical. Maybe an adult coloring book and colored pencils. If that’s not your thing, give them coloring books they can take home to their kids.

I know, lawyers don’t do these things. That’s the point. Party favors are an easy way to stand out, be talked about, and remembered. And maybe put a smile on the face of someone who’s going through a difficult time.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Marketing legal services

I’d rather have four quarters than 100 pennies

February 26, 2016 by
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I love keeping things simple. But simplicity for simplicity’s sake is a foolish economy if it results in fewer or poorer results. “Leverage” means getting MORE results with less effort, or at least more results with the same effort.

A marketing guy I follow echoed my philosophy when he said, “I’d rather have four quarters than 100 pennies”. He was talking about the value of having fewer but better clients.

Fewer clients with bigger cases, or fewer clients who have more work for you and are willing and able to pay higher fees.

Fewer but better clients means you have fewer hands to hold, problems to solve, and fires to put out. It means you can spend more time and more money bringing in new clients and keeping them happy. It means you can earn more income with less effort.

That’s why I talk about letting the mass market of lawyers handle the mass market of clients, while you focus on the upper crust. Let everyone else fight over the scraps while you feast on the steak.

Unless you are especially well funded or daring, you probably won’t be able to do this immediately. But you can immediately state this as your objective and start working in that direction.

When you make it your intent to transition your practice to better clients, you start looking at the universe of clients differently. You make changes to your ads and marketing documents and websites, you start networking with a different crowd, and you do other things that affirm the new direction of your practice.

Eventually, you will embrace this new paradigm and make bigger changes. You eliminate marginal practice areas, for example, and focus on one or two. You might cut down on marketing channels or techniques and focus on the ones that are better suited to the practice you are trying to create.

You may be nervous about some of these changes. I know I was when I started turning down business. There’s a big void in your file drawer when you no longer handle anything that shows up, but if your experience is anything like mine was, you will quickly fill that void with new and better clients.

Then, one day, you’ll get your first “quarter”–a big case or client–and you’ll realize that if you can get one, you can get more. And that’s when everything will change.

This helps you create a profile of your ideal client

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

How to train your brain to come up with marketing ideas

February 25, 2016 by
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This morning, I saw an article with this headline: “Arby’s will offer a vegetarian menu for 1 day only this leap year”. I’m not a vegetarian, and I don’t eat at Arby’s, but the story caught my eye because it is an unusual and creative marketing promotion.

The promotion allows Arby’s to remind the public of their meat-centric menu by extending an olive branch to those who don’t eat meat, and thus, don’t usually visit Arby’s. It uses leap year to underscore that this is a one day special promotion.

(In case you’re wondering, the vegetarian sandwiches are simply regular sandwiches without the meat, sold at the same price.)

So Arby’s gets publicity and, I’m sure, more traffic to their stores. I’m betting that most of that traffic won’t be vegetarians, and that’s probably the point. However this plays out for the company, we have to agree that this promotion is well-played.

Okay, why am I telling you this?

I pay attention to stories about unusual promotions (and regular ones, too) to see if I can find ideas I can share with you or use in my own marketing. When I saw this story, I thought, “How could a lawyer do a “one day” promotion or an “opposite” promotion?

I came up with. . . nothing.

Okay, I suppose a divorce lawyer who represents “men only” could, for one day, accept women clients. An estate planning firm that represents wealthy clients could, for a week or a month, open their doors to “anyone”.

The point isn’t necessarily whether or not you can come up with a suitable promotion for your practice, it is that by thinking about how you might do that, you will stimulate (and train) your brain to be on the lookout for marketing ideas.

The next time you see a business running a promotion, it might cause you to think of a way you could use that idea, or one like it. You will become more observant about how businesses and professionals market their products and services, with or without promotions, and thus become more creative in marketing yours.

It’s the difference between seeing the Arby’s story and saying, “that’s clever” (and perhaps, “I’m hungry”) and asking, “How can I use an idea like that?”

Train yourself to ask “how could I use this idea?” because you won’t get answers to questions you never ask.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With:

What are you working on?

February 24, 2016 by
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What are you working on right now? I’m not referring to your regular work–cases, client work, or the daily activities of running your practice–I’m talking about something else: a project or group of projects designed to take you or your practice to a higher level.

So tell me, what are you working on?

You might be updating your website or expanding your advertising. You might be working on a new office procedure manual, updating your forms or form letters, or writing a series of emails to former clients. You might be putting together a list of names of professionals in your market you plan to call and invite to lunch. You might be working on a new presentation, an ebook, or a video.

You should always have a project you’re working on, and when someone asks, you should immediately know what it is.

There’s always something you can do to improve your marketing or the operations in your office. You can always improve your speaking, writing, negotiation, and sales skills.

So, what are you working on?

Are you learning how to get more referrals? Are you watching training videos about software you bought but haven’t used? Are you planning a meeting with your staff or partners to discuss ways to streamline the workflow in the office, lower costs, or increase profits?

You should always be working on at least one project designed to advance your skills or improve your results. And you should always have time scheduled during the week to work on that project.

You are are a professional but you also run a business. That business has many facets, many moving parts that need to be coordinated and maintained. Your business competes with other firms who do what you do and you need to stay at least one step ahead of them.

Delivering quality legal services isn’t enough. Most lawyers do that. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to do more.

So tell me, what are you working on?

Are you working on your website? This is what you need

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