The real formula for success

March 31, 2016 by
Share

Jerome Howard once shared the formula for success. He said, “If at first you don’t succeed, keep on sucking until you do suck seed.”

But that’s not really true. Continuing to do what you’ve always done, expecting different results, isn’t a formula for success. The real formula for success, if there is one, is to figure out what the masses are doing and do the opposite.

Most lawyers earn average incomes and have average practices. If you do what they do, you are unlikely to achieve more than average results. It’s the same for most endeavors. In the investing world, for example, when everyone is buying you should probably be selling.

Most lawyers either don’t have their own website, or if they do, it is severely lacking in (a) valuable content, and (b) personality. Their website is banal, devoid of anything that might attract a prospective client, let alone persuade them to hire the attorney.

Okay, there are degrees of banality, but you get my point: most lawyers don’t get much bang for their website buck.

So, do the opposite of what they do. Make your website a compendium of articles, posts, videos, reports, and other content that shows prospective clients how you can help them, answers their basic questions, and persuades them to call.

Put lots of “you” into your site. Share your opinions, tell your story, and talk about what drives you. Where most lawyers perfunctorily present “just the facts,” make your website an extension of yourself so that someone who visits can get a sense of what it will be like to work with you.

In addition, talk about your clients. Tell their stories. Show how bad off they were before you helped turn things around. Use their comments (testimonials, reviews) to shine a spotlight on your greatness, so you don’t have to do it yourself.

Look at your competition–other attorneys in your practice area and market–and look for ways you can do the opposite of what they do.

Obviously, you won’t always be able to do the literal opposite of what they do. But you can easily distinguish yourself by doing things differently.

If most attorneys see clients five days per week, between 8 to 5, for example, you might stand out in a meaningful way by opening your office for a few hours on Saturday, or by opening early or staying late once or twice a week.

If most attorneys have their staff meet with clients most of the time, you might not have the time to see them all yourself, but if you’re in the office, you could make a point of greeting them when they arrive or wishing them well at the end of the appointment.

Most lawyers do what most lawyers do. Top lawyers do things differently. Study what the top lawyers do. and learn from them. Examine their process, tools, and messaging. Find out how they get new clients, and how they work with them. Talk to them and seek their advice.

But if you have limited access to the best of the best, you can probably figure out what they’re doing by looking at what the masses do and doing the opposite.

How to get your website to make the phone ring

Share
Filed Under: Online Marketing, success

Get better at writing by invoking your inner couch potato

February 9, 2016 by
Share

One reason I’m able to turn out emails so quickly is that I’m lazy. I get ideas from lots of sources but I primarily write what’s in my head.

I don’t slow down to do research, or spend time looking for graphics. I don’t stop to ask myself if I’ve addressed the subject before or worry about contradicting myself. I don’t spend time hunting down every typo.

I just write. Fast. You can, too.

It doesn’t matter if you said something before. This time, you’ll say it differently. But even if you don’t, no worries. Repetition is the mother of learning. Your readers might not have absorbed your message the first time, or the 31st time. Maybe this time, they will.

Your readership is constantly changing, too. Every day, new people come to your website or blog and subscribe to your list and they’re hearing your words for the first time.

Marketing isn’t solely about delivering information. That’s part of it, but an even bigger part is that you are regularly touching the lives of the people on your list. You know, the people who can hire you or send you referrals. Yeah, those people.

Write a few paragraphs and tell people what you’re thinking or how you feel. Share an idea or comment on someone else’s. Ask subscribers questions, ask them to do something, or just say hello.

Stay in their minds, and their mailboxes and they will hire you (again) and send you referrals and traffic and promote your events.

Write a lot, and write quickly. It will make you a better writer. Writing quickly allows you to bypass the filters in your brain that tell you what you should and shouldn’t do, or that tell you you’re not good enough.

Just write, okay? Don’t worry about what comes out. Emails aren’t briefs or white papers or reports. Nobody is expecting you to be scholarly or brilliant. Besides, you know more than your readers do and they won’t know if you left something out or got something wrong.

Stop trying so hard. Get lazy and write something.

Want ideas for blog posts and emails? This is what you need

Share
Filed Under: Communication, Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing

Have you pissed someone off today?

January 27, 2016 by
Share

Yesterday’s email was about the seemingly uncontroversial topic of dressing like a lawyer. I heard from several lawyers who shared their thoughts.

Some cheered my message and deplored the way some lawyers dress today. An entertainment lawyer friend had mixed feelings about the subject. One lawyer told me he wears a pony tail and does just fine.

Another said, “Perhaps you should set aside your fatuous fashion jihad for a moment and review the fundamentals of grammar, to wit: The plural of “client” is “clients,” not “client’s.”

Fatuous fashion jihad? Hmmm. . . Something tells me he’s upset about something. Call it a hunch.

And does he really think I don’t know how to pluralize “client”? Me thinks not. That’s his anger talking.

Apparently, he strongly disagrees with my opinion that lawyers should “wear the uniform” and “look like a lawyer”. He didn’t say why. He didn’t share his preferred sartorial style, nor offer any reasons why everyone else should accept it.

But I like that he spoke up. I like that he disagrees with my old fashioned take on the subject. In fact, I wish I heard from more people who were pissed off at me.

Look, if you’re not not upsetting some people, if everyone agrees with everything you write, you’re going to put people to sleep. Lawyers tend to be especially boring and bland in their writing.

We need to stir things up.

Conflict keeps people watching TV shows and it keeps people reading your writing. So court some controversy. Push the envelope. Say things that make people go “huh?”

You’ll stand out, be read and remembered, and build a following of people who like your style. They’ll share your content, buy your products and services, and recommend you to their friends.

Of course you will also get people who think you’re an ass-hat, say you’ve gone too far or you’re too vulgar for their taste, and they will un-subscribe.

Good. You don’t want them. They’re not your fans and will probably never hire you or recommend you. They need to go. Give up their seat so you can fill it with others who like what you say, or at least like that you’re not afraid to say it.

For more on email and marketing online, go here

Share
Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Email, Image, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing

Bad clients are the result of bad marketing

January 12, 2016 by
Share

Bad clients are the result of bad marketing.

What do I mean by bad clients? Hmm, let’s see. . . how about. . .

Malcontents who blame you for things that aren’t your fault and then post bad reviews and ratings about you.

Price shopping clients, penny pinching clients, slow paying clients, and no paying clients.

Clients who don’t follow your advice, don’t show up for appointments, and don’t remember anything you told them.

You get my drift?

Every lawyer gets the occasional lemon, but if you get more than your share, bad marketing is usually the culprit.

So what do I mean by bad marketing?

I mean targeting the wrong market, or, more commonly, no market, so you wind up with whatever shows up at the door.

I mean relying too much on Internet and advertising, which attract price shoppers and harder to please clients, instead of focusing on repeat business and referrals.

I mean failing to educate prospective clients about the law and procedure, their risks and their options, or much of anything without the meter running. Low information clients are like low information voters. They don’t understand, they don’t appreciate, and they don’t always make good decisions.

Bad marketing means talking only about features (what you do–practice areas, services, office hours, etc.) instead of benefits (what the client gets–solutions, outcomes, peace of mind, security).

Bad marketing means failing to differentiate yourself from other lawyers in a meaningful and memorable way.

It means failing to surprise and delight your clients with amazing “customer service,” and failing to stay in touch before, during, and after engagements.

Bad marketing also means taking on clients you know you probably shouldn’t, and failing to “fire” clients who prove themselves to be more trouble than they are worth.

Oh yeah, bad marketing also means doing all the right things but simply not doing them enough.

So yeah, bad clients are the result of bad marketing, but this is good news because bad marketing can be fixed and bad clients can be replaced with good ones.

Good marketing starts here

Share
Filed Under: Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Writing

If Goldilocks handled your law firm marketing

January 11, 2016 by
Share

Is your porridge too hot? Do you give prospective clients too much information on your website or in your other marketing materials?

Probably not. If you’re like most lawyers, your porridge is too cold. Your give them too little. Prospective clients can see what you do and where you are located, but not much more.

If Goldilocks handled your law firm marketing, she would tell you that you have to get your porridge just right.

How much information is “just right”? More than you think. When someone goes online to find an attorney it’s because they have a problem and they want information about their problem and the available solutions before they will consider you for the job.

Don’t just list your practice areas and services. That’s not enough. That’s too cold.

Teach people about the law and procedure. Discuss the risks and the options. Tell them about other people who have had these problems and, with your help, overcame them. Tell them about people who waited too long or made the wrong decisions and made things worse.

But don’t expect them to wade through too much information and understand how it all fits together. That’s too hot.

You need to give people enough information so they can see how you can help them, and make it compelling enough to motivate them to take the next step.

You have to capture their attention with provocative and benefit-rich headlines. You have to keep them reading with a narrative thread that speaks to their emotions and shows them that you understand their pain. You have to tell them that you can help them, like you have helped others. And you have to tell them what to do next.

But don’t explain everything. You want to make them curious enough to contact you. Don’t get too specific about fees on your website, for example. Give them guidelines, perhaps, but make them call to find out more.

So that’s the challenge. That’s the art of marketing. And porridge making. Not too hot, not too cold. . . just right.

Learn how to make your online law firm marketing just right: click here

Share
Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Writing

How much would you pay for a list of 10,000 prospective clients?

January 6, 2016 by
Share

How much would you pay for a list of 10,000 prospective clients for your services? You get their name and email address and permission to contact them as often as you want.

You can send them information about your services and share success stories about how you have helped other people with similar issues. You can invite them to your webinar or seminar, offer them a free consultation, or make them a special offer on one of your services.

Of course not everyone on the list will hire you. But those who don’t may know people who need your help and you will probably get a fair number of referrals.

I promise you, this isn’t a spam list. Every single person on the list has given permission to be on that list and to have you contact them. They’re also not just a bunch of random names; these people are interested in some aspect of what you do.

Therefore, when you email the people on this list, the odds are they will know who you are and read what you write.

So, how much would you pay for this list?

Would you pay $10,000? That would actually be a pretty good deal. Some experts say that a list like this is worth $1 per name per month. So if your average client pays you an average fee of $10,000, to cover your costs, all you need is one client from this list in an entire year.

But. . . if this list pays you $1 per name per month, that would be $120,000 in fees over the course of a year.

You might do less. You might do more. It will depend on your average fee, how you go about “closing” clients when they contact you, how often you email them, what you say when you do, and lot of other factors.

Anyway, I’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is that this list I’ve spoken of doesn’t exist. You can’t buy it or rent it anywhere, for any price. The good news, however, is that you can create a list like this yourself.

You can advertise, drive traffic to a landing page, and get people to opt into your list. You can create content on your web site that attracts search traffic and social sharing and accomplish the same thing. You can promote your website when you speak, when you network, when you write and publish articles and guest posts and whatever else you do to promote your practice.

And, you’re not limited to just 10,000 names. You can build a list as big as you want.

How about some more good news? You might find yourself earning $120,000 per year with a much smaller list. One thousand names might do it, if it’s the right one thousand names and you know how to market to them.

Do you want to know how to build a list of prospective clients? It’s easier than you think and I’ll show you what to do. Start with this.

Share
Filed Under: Email, List building, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Marketing online by profiling your clients

December 21, 2015 by
Share

Dollar Shave Club has a unique approach to marketing. On their website, they feature the businesses of their customers and the stories behind them. They recently featured a coffee roaster, for example. According the folks at Small Business Trends:

“Each article comes complete with an interview that gives a glimpse into the personality of that person’s brand. Rather than sum it up, they go to the source, which gives a more truthful glimpse into the companies they are featuring. The people that run and care about the business are those who get to speak about it and that’s not so common anymore.”

Customers can fill out a form on the site describing themselves and their business. “If the submission catches the editor’s eyes, a rep may reach out with some more questions.”

If you represent businesses of any kind, you could do the same thing. Profiling and promoting your clients’ businesses will benefit you in several ways:

First, it makes you look good. Instead of saying nice things about yourself, you’re saying nice things about your clients.

Second, your client gets more exposure and more business, thanks to you. They might reciprocate and tell their customers all about you and your practice. Also, as their business grows, they will probably have more legal work for you. More referrals, too.

Third, no doubt your featured clients will tell everyone they know about their profile on your site. You’ll get more traffic, more subscribers and followers, and more clients.

Fourth, this is an easy way to create interesting content for your blog.

Finally, you might get other websites talking about your innovative approach to marketing. Like mine.

If you have a consumer practice, undoubtedly some of your clients own or run a business. Or they are connected to a charity or cause-oriented group. Find the ones who have an interesting story to tell and help them tell it.

You can also interview your professional contacts and feature their business or practice. You may not be able to send a lot of referrals to an accountant you know; promoting his practice this way might bring him lots of new clients.

Marketing online for attorneys made simple

Share
Filed Under: Blogging, Client relations, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Web traffic, Writing

You are advertising, whether you know it or not

November 20, 2015 by
Share

I was looking at an email from an attorney. At the bottom, after his signature, it said, “Attorney at Law”. He provided contact information but said nothing about his services.

He’s advertising, but doing it badly.

Why badly? Because an attorney is what he is, not what he does.

Telling people you’re an attorney tells them almost nothing. Do you handle car accidents and help people get compensation for their injuries? Do you help people get amicably divorced? Do you represent big businesses on environmental matters, or small start-ups take their first steps?

His email, and everything else he puts out into the world, should tell people what he does.

How about you? When someone asks, “What do you do?” what do you say? Do you tell them what you are or what you do? Do you tell them the services you offer? Do you at least tell them what kind of law you practice?

Because you’re advertising, whether you know it or not.

On your business cards, your stationery, your website, and the sign outside your office, don’t just say you are an attorney or that you offer legal services, tell people what you do.

What services do you offer? What benefits do they get when they hire you? What kinds of clients do you represent?

Don’t make people ask you what you do or how you can help them. Don’t make them visit your website to find out.

Tell them, right up front, “This is what I do and this is how I can help you”. You’ll get more people clicking, calling, visiting, and saying, “Tell me more”.

Want a website that gets clients? Here’s how

Share
Filed Under: Advertising, Business cards, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Why you should teach prospective clients to do it themselves

November 16, 2015 by
Share

Suppose you are a personal injury attorney. And suppose you write a report showing people how to handle their own property damage (no injury) insurance claim. You tell them what to do and how to do it.

You tell them not to admit fault, teach them how to measure and document their damages, give advice about what to do if it’s a total loss, and equip them to present and negotiate their claim.

You know, stuff you often do for clients and prospects without charge.

Show them how to do it themselves so they don’t ask you to do it for them. Of course you also tell them what to do if they do have injuries. You tell them what an attorney can do to help them maximize their claim and have peace of mind and how hiring an attorney usually pays for itself.

You distribute your report to your clients and prospects and to anyone else who wants a copy. You give it away on your website and hand it out when you’re networking. You contact other lawyers who don’t do personal injury and let them give the report to their clients and contacts.

What will happen? You’ll get a lot of people who are grateful to you for your sound advice. Some will be injured and call you. Some will hold onto your report and call you when they have an injury claim. And some will call you with questions about their property damage claim, even though you showed them what to do and assured them they could do it themselves.

That’s okay. Take their call. Encourage their call. Give them a few minutes of your time. Write a letter or make a call for them, without charge. It’s an investment in their future business.

Think “clients” not “cases”.

If you don’t handle personal injury, you can do something similar in your practice area. Teach people how to file their own simple divorce, quit claim their property to their spouse, or file a fictitious business statement.

Help people do things for themselves and when they have something they can’t do themselves, they’ll call you.

Want more referrals? Quickly? How about 30 Days?

Share
Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Writing

Marketing legal services: let other people do it for you

November 12, 2015 by
Share

You don’t want to blog or do a podcast but other people in your niche do. They need people to interview and people to write guest posts.

You, for example.

Find blogs and podcasts and video channels in your niche and introduce yourself to the head guy or gal. Compliment their work. Promote their content to your lists. Comment on their posts. Get on their Hangouts and contribute to the conversation.

Stay on their radar and eventually they will ask if they can interview you. In fact, once they know who you are, let them know that you are available and you’ll probably move to the front of their list.

By helping them, you help yourself. Your interviews and posts will get your name and contact information in front of people who need your services or who know someone who does. You’ll get more traffic to your website, more followers on social media, and more subscribers for your list. New clients will be next.

Remember, they need content and they can only create so much themselves. They need people like you to help them. As you help them, you help yourself.

The more you get your name out there, the more other bloggers and podcasters will seek you out. Marketing will get easier for you. Instead of doing one interview this month you’ll have three interviews this week.

Soon, your target market will see you “everywhere” and they will know that when they need a lawyer who does what you do, you are the one they want. Other professionals will see that you are in demand and choose you for their referrals.

Help others with their marketing and they will help you with yours.

Learn more about marketing legal services online, here

Share
Filed Under: Blogging, List building, Marketing legal services, Networking, Online Marketing, Publicity, Social media marketing, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With:
« Previous Page
Next Page »