Where will your next client come from?

February 27, 2013 by
Share

Check your records. Where did your last twenty clients come from?

It’s important. You need to know because the odds are that’s where your next client will come from.

If most of your clients are coming from ads or search engines or social media, that’s not good. Most of your clients should be coming from referrals.

Nothing wrong with ads or search or social media. But if you’re doing a good job for your clients and you’re building relationships with professionals and other referral sources, at least seventy to eight percent of your new clients should come from referrals.

If your clients aren’t thrilled with your work and the way you treat them, you need to fix that. If you’re not letting clients know that you appreciate their referrals, you need to start. If you aren’t sending referrals and helping to promote your professional contacts, this needs to be a top priority.

Referrals are waiting.

Now, if most of your business does come from referrals, congratulations. But don’t rest on your laurels. You need to figure out how to get even more referrals.

And better referrals.

Better referrals? Yes. Bigger cases, higher paying clients, clients with lots of legal work, and clients who have lots of contacts they can also refer.

Better referrals.

You can get better referrals by continuing to improve on what you’re already doing. Even better service and more value. Not just sending referrals to your professional contacts when they fall in your lap, but actually going out of your way to look for people you can refer or introduce to them.

To get better referrals, you also need to make room for them.

Prune your client list and dismiss clients who aren’t the best. Get rid of the trouble makers, the no-pays and slow-pays. Let go of clients who can’t or won’t pay top dollar. Decline to take the smaller cases.

If you continue to accept less than the best clients, you’re telling the universe that you will settle for less and that’s what you’ll continue to attract.

It’s like cleaning out your closets: if you want new and better, you have to get rid of the old and tattered.

Marketing for smart people: The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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

The hidden cost of social media marketing

February 13, 2013 by
Share

Social media marketing isn’t free. You pay with your time.

It takes time to

  • Read incoming tweets, stories, posts, and mentions
  • Reply and/or re-post incoming tweets, stories, posts, and mentions
  • Create or find content to share
  • Create and update your profiles and pages
  • Stay up to date with all the new tools and techniques
  • Try out new apps to manage all of the above
  • Read posts like this one. . .

Whether you do this yourself or you hire others to do it for you, there is a cost to social media marketing.

I’m not saying it’s not worth it. It could very much be worth it. If you spend $1500 a month (your time or someone else’s) and bring in $10,000 a month in new business, that’s a good thing.

But that’s a big “if”.

I don’t think most people get this kind of return on their investment.

If you’re not making a profit on your investment in social media, or you don’t “do” social media marketing because you don’t believe it will be worth it (and you don’t want to spend the time to find out), I have a suggestion.

Keep your social media profiles up to date. Promote your web site content to your social media connections so they can push it to THEIR social media connections. But instead of trying to interact with hundreds or thousands of fans, followers, and connections, instead of “one” (you) to “many,” use social media as a tool for marketing “one to one”.

Use it to find one person who targets the same market you do. Another professional, a business owner or executive, a consultant, a blogger. Someone who would be a good fit.

Learn about them. Approach them. And begin the process of networking with them, the old fashioned way. In case you’ve forgotten, that means talking to them and meeting them for coffee.

Find out what you can do for them and they for you. Networking. One to one.

Marketing is simple. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t do it. Here’s proof.

Share
Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Referral sources, Referrals, Social media, Social media marketing, Time Management Tagged With: ,

Easy way to get fresh content for your blog or newsletter

February 12, 2013 by
Share

Last night, I hosted a one hour conference call for one of my businesses. There were six speakers, each of whom spoke for a few minutes. My job was to introduce them, let them share their story, and ask a few follow-up questions.

Easy.

We got good feedback on the call. People liked the stories and the information. Told me I did a great job. Hey, I just asked questions. Someone else lined up the guests.

Anyway, if you’re looking for an easy way to get some fresh content for your blog or newsletter, here’s what to do:

  1. Contact one of your referral sources (or a professional you would like as a referral source) and ask if you could interview them for your blog or newsletter.
  2. Jot down five to ten questions, things you think your readers would want to know about the expert’s area of expertise.
  3. Interview them on the phone, in person, or via email. Post the audio or a transcription on your blog or newsletter.

Easy.

Your readers get valuable information from a subject matter expert. You get content for your blog or newsletter. The expert gets exposure to your list.

What’s next? The expert interviews you for their blog or newsletter, of course.

Marketing is easy when you know The Formula.

Share
Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Referral sources, Referrals Tagged With: ,

How to turn $100 a month into a steady stream of referrals

February 5, 2013 by
Share

In his twelve year career selling cars at a Chevrolet dealership, Joe Girard personally sold 13,001 cars. Do the math. That’s 90 cars a month, every month, twelve years in a row.

Holy cow. That’s got to be a world’s record.

Actually, it is. The Guinness Book of World Records says so, giving Joe the title of “The World’s Greatest Salesman.”

How on earth did he do it?

In his book, “How to Sell Anything to Anybody,” Joe tells all. One of his “secrets” was sending everyone who ever bought a car or stopped in for a test drive a monthly greeting card. Each month had a theme. In January, it was New Years. February was President’s Day, March was St. Paddy’s Day, and so on. The cards were colorful and fun, with a funny or charming line or two. Each card was hand signed by Joe.

If you were on his list, every month like clock work you got a card from Joe. If it was your birthday that month, you got a birthday card.

Now that’s not all Joe did, but he says these cards kept his name in front of enough people that in a very short period of time, he was getting a steady stream of referrals. Every day, people would call and people would walk-in and ask for Joe. Eventually, he had to hire assistants to handle all the customers.

Could you do something like that? Of course you could. Would it work today when nobody sends regular mail anymore. It will work even better today because nobody sends regular mail anymore.

Start with $100 a month as your marketing budget. (Yes, you can do more.) Send out 100 cards a month to clients and former clients. (It shouldn’t cost you more than $1 per card, including postage.) Do this every month for the next six months and watch what happens.

Every month you remind people who know, like, and trust you that you’re still around and still thinking about them. And every month, they’re prompted to think of you and, naturally, people they know who might need you.

Eventually, Joe’s customers looked forward to getting his cards each month. One month he was late and he got a bunch of worried calls from folks who thought he might be sick. Talk about a following.

Once you’re convinced that this is working, you can expand it to include your prospects, referral sources, and other “friends of the firm”.

Will you get referrals? Yes. Will you get 90 referrals a month and set a world record? I don’t know, but if you do, have a drink on Joe.

Marketing can help you earn more than you ever thought possible. Go here and find out for yourself.

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

A simple way to add value to your legal services

February 4, 2013 by
Share

Our garage door was damaged when it closed on the rear bumper of my car.

We had three companies come out to give us estimates.

The first one said it was damaged beyond repair and explained why. He gave us an estimate to replace everything except the motor for $1129.

The second one agreed. Estimate: $875.

The third one said the door was fine. He said the track was bent and he could fix it. An hour and half later, he’d fixed the track, replaced some brackets, and installed a new weather strip. Total bill: $219.

The door has never been this quiet or run this smoothly. Even when it was first installed. My wife and I keep opening and closing it, marveling at our splendid “new” door.

Oh yeah, my wife sent the guy over to talk to our neighbor about her door. One of the previous estimators had noticed a gap or something and said to tell her she needed to have it serviced. Nope. The guy who got our business said her door was fine.

Imagine that.

Yes it does pay to shop around. And yes you should be leery of what so-called experts tell you, especially when they have something to sell. And yes you should pay attention to what other people say on Yelp and other such sites. The company we hired had dozens of five-star reviews and sterling comments. We’ll be adding ours.

Now, suppose you had this experience with your garage door and the next day a client asks if you could recommend a garage door company. Would you tell him about this one? Of course you would. You’d be doing him a big favor.

You probably know other companies you would recommend to your clients and contacts, as well as CPAs, insurance brokers, and other lawyers. And if your clients call and ask for a referral, you’d be sure to tell them.

But why wait for them to ask?

If you’re looking for a simple way to add value to your legal services, it doesn’t get any simpler than this. Contact your clients and tell them that if they ever need a referral to a garage door company, auto dealer, roofer, or anything else, they should call your office. Tell them you have a list of companies you have used personally or that other clients have used and recommended.

Encourage them to call. “What do you need? I’ll help you find it.”

Your recommendations help your clients save time and money and avoid problems. Do you think they might love you even more and tell all their friends about their wonderful attorney?

Your recommendations also help the vendors and professionals you recommend. Do you think they might be thankful for your referrals and inclined to reciprocate?

What’s that? You don’t know if you have time for all those calls?

Trust me, you want your phone ringing off the hook with people asking for recommendations because every time it does, you plant more seeds that grow into repeat business and referrals.

One more thing. Encourage your business clients and referral sources to do something similar for their clients and prospects. Why? So you can get your name on their list, of course.

Marketing is simple, if you know The Formula.

Share
Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Marketing legal services, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With:

If J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice

December 21, 2012 by
Share

Billionaire J. Paul Getty, once described as the richest man in the world, wrote a book describing how he made his money. In “How to Be Rich,” he offered three keys to wealth:

  1. Be in business for yourself
  2. Have products in demand
  3. Multiply your efforts through other people

If you are self-employed or work for a firm that compensates you for helping the firm grow, you are “in business for yourself”. If you offer services your clients want and are willing to pay for, you have “products in demand.” And if you have employees, you are “multiplying your efforts through other people”.

But if J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice, he might point out that while you are doing the right things, you might not be doing them enough.

If you are doing any work in your practice that could be delegated to someone else, you’re losing money. You should do “only the work that only you can do” and delegate everything else, he would tell you. “I’d rather have one percent of the efforts of 100 people than 100 percent of my own efforts,” he said.

Once he had you leveraging the efforts of the people who work for you, I think Getty would turn his attention to the efforts of people who don’t work for you: your clients and professional contacts. They may not be getting a pay check from you but every one of them can help your practice grow.

The quickest path to “multiplying your efforts through other people” is to get more clients to send referrals.

Getty made most of his money in oil and understood the power of leverage. The more wells he drilled, the wealthier he got. Your clients are like oil wells. The more of them who refer, the wealthier you will become.

But Getty didn’t stop there. When he found a well that produced oil, he had his engineers look for ways to increase the yield from that well. He didn’t settle for a well that produced 100 barrels a day when that same well might product 200 barrels a day.

Your clients work the same way. If a client is sending you one referral a month, you should look for ways to get that client to send you two referrals a month.

If J. Paul Getty were managing your law practice, he would tell you there’s oil in your client and contact list and while you will hit many dry wells, if you drill enough, you will also hit some gushers.

Download The Attorney Marketing Formula to learn more ways to multiply your efforts and your income

Share
Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: ,

What do you like best about practicing law?

October 12, 2012 by
Share

“What do you like best about practice law?” I was asked that 1,000 times when I was practicing and I’m still asked that today. I’m sure you are, too. My standard reply is that I liked helping people and I liked making money, and that’s the truth. That’s why I went to law school, after all.

Do I like the title or the prestige of being a professional? Actually, it’s not important to me. When I’m introduced to people and they find out what I do [did], something changes in the dynamic and while sometimes it’s a good change, just as often it’s not. I can’t put my finger on it but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. They look at you like you’re not a regular person. They become guarded, as if you’re going to ask them some tough questions and find out their secrets.

What about the work itself? There were some things I really enjoyed and some things I despised. Most of what I did I found boring.

But that’s me. How about you? What do you like best about what you do?

Make a list of all of things you do as a lawyer, and all of the things that being a lawyer means to you. Write down the big things and the little things, about the work, the people, the challenges and the rewards. Look at your calendar, look at the files on your desk or in your computer, look at how you spend your time.

Write down everything and when you’re done, look at your list and put a star next to the things you like best about what you do. And then, focus on those things.

Do more of what you like. The rest–the things you don’t like or the things you are bored by–don’t matter. Eliminate them, delegate them, or just do them, but focus on the things that you do like.

In my case, I focused on the people. My clients. Much of the work may have been routine and boring, but the people never were. They were unique. Every one of them. I enjoyed meeting them and finding out about their lives. I enjoyed explaining how things were going to get better for them and then helping make that happen. I enjoyed delivering the results and watching them smile and say thank you. And I enjoyed getting calls from their friends who had heard about me and wanted me to help them, too.

That’s what I enjoyed and that’s what I focused on. It made everything else, all of the things I didn’t like, relatively unimportant. It’s also what made my practice grow.

Whatever we focus on grows. By focusing on what you like about your practice, you will create more of it. Focus on your problems and you’ll have more of them. Focus on what frustrates you and you’ll have more to be frustrated about it. Focus on what you love, what gives you meaning, and you will create the life that you want because you will be doing more of what you want.

You don’t have to know how it works, just know that it does work, and do it.

If you want to earn more than you ever thought possible, download The Attorney Marketing Formula

Share
Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Client relations, Increase your income, Inspiration, Referrals Tagged With: , ,

The most important question you can ask a new client

August 28, 2012 by
Share

How many new clients did you get last month?

If you don’t know the number, either you didn’t get any new clients or you’re not keeping track.

You need to keep track.

You also need to keep track of where they came from. Who referred them? Which keyword did they use to find your website? Which ad did they click on?

You need to know how every new client made his or her way to your doorstep. That’s why the most important question you can ask a new client is: “How did you hear about us?”

You need to know so you know what’s working. Are your ads pulling or are you throwing your money away? Which ad is working better? Are you getting clients through your efforts on social media or are you wasting your time? Which social media platform is working better? Which posts?

John Wanamaker, who owned department stores in the early part of the twentieth century and spent a fortune on advertising, once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Department stores do “brand advertising”. They don’t usually track response. Although they can do focus groups and track coupons, they don’t know with any degree of accuracy if what they are doing is working. You won’t have that problem if you ask, “How did you hear about us?”

Don’t just ask new clients, however, ask everyone. If they call your office, if they contact you through email, if they show up at your door, ask them.

In my office, our new client intake form had a space to record the name of the person who referred the new client. We kept track, so we knew who to thank. It also allowed us to bring up the subject of referrals with the new client.

We had a form next to the phone to record the name of the referring person or the phone book or other ad that prompted them to call. We tracked them after the call, to see if they became a client. In this way, we learned which of our ads generated new business and which ones didn’t. (Some brought a lot of calls but not a lot of clients.)

Today, there are other options for measuring response to ads and traffic to our web sites. But nothing beats asking, “How did you hear about us?”

Share
Filed Under: Advertising, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Harley-Davidson of law practices

August 24, 2012 by
Share

Seth Godin pointed out that it is more profitable to be #1 in a small market than number three in a larger market.

I agree.

He says the market leader sets the agenda and attracts the leading customers.

That’s true.

He says that Harley-Davidson isn’t #1 for all motorcycles but they are clearly #1 in their category.

Yes they are. They have a very loyal following and get lots of word of mouth referrals (or maybe that should be “word of ear” referrals).

There is great wisdom in this concept. I followed this in my practice where I targeted a small niche market, I preach it daily in my private consulting, and I write about it extensively in my new course, The Attorney Marketing Formula.

Let others fight over the mass market while you go fishing in a small(er) pond. Marketing is easier, the clients are better, the profits are greater.

As Godin points out, by redefining your focus and the way you serve your clients, you redefine (and come to own) your market.

As attorneys, it’s easy to stroke our chins, nod our heads, and say, “yes, this is truth.” But most attorneys go right back to swimming in the vast “mass market” ocean. Sadly, most attorneys will never come close to being #3, or even #333 in the mass market. But they could easily be #1 in a smaller market.

Yesterday I corresponded with an attorney who told me he is struggling to find a good niche market. I pointed out that in his email, he mentioned that his practice served many same sex couples and that this is a niche market.

By networking with other professionals and businesses owners who target that market, by working deeply in that market, he could become #1 in that market for his practice area.

Then he could afford a fleet of HOGS.

Share
Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

How to get a much higher return on your marketing investment

August 21, 2012 by
Share

Yesterday, I said “don’t settle for good when you can get great.” Clients agreeing to pass out your cards if and when they meet someone who needs your services is good. Clients knocking on doors, looking for people to refer is much better.

What I didn’t say is what might happen as a result.

Imagine what your practice would be like with an army of “unpaid sales people” beating the bushes on your behalf. Every day, people who know, like, and trust you are spreading the word about you. They’re making calls or posting on Facebook. They’ll putting your reports in their waiting rooms and forwarding your emails to their colleagues. They’re introducing you to referral sources and inviting you to speak to their employees or church group.

Do you think you might get more repeat business and referrals? Traffic to your web site? Attendees at your seminars?

Your practice would grow exponentially and your clients would do all of the marketing for you.

By the way, you can (and should) do everything I talked about yesterday not just for clients but for referral sources and other “friends of the firm.” Your clients want to help you but may not be able to do as much as a handful of equally inspired professionals with big lists.

It’s true that all of this extra attention I’m suggesting you give to your clients and professional contacts requires extra effort on your part. It takes time to get to know people on a personal level, beyond what is needed to handle their legal matter. You’ll probably spend a few dollars, too. Where do you get the time and money to do that?

Well, think about all of the time and effort (and money) you spend on marketing right now. What if you didn’t have to do that? What if you put that aside and re-invested everything in delivering to your clients the exceptional level of service we’ve talked about?

It would be worth it, wouldn’t it? Especially if you no longer had to spend time on networking or social media, or spend money on advertising or SEO.

Most attorneys finish one case and go looking for the next one. They help one client and then go looking to replace them.

Dollar for dollar, hour for hour, marketing to your clients and professional contacts is far more effective and profitable than marketing to strangers. You can market to strangers too, but you’ll get a much higher return on your investment by marketing to the people who already know, like, and trust you.

Share
Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »