If Rod Serling narrated your marketing story

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A picture of two attorneys. The first attorney works hard at marketing. They talk to a lot of people, share good content on a blog or in a newsletter or on social media, advertise or network to meet more people in their niche or market, and continually build their list of prospective clients, subscribers, and business contacts. 

Prospective clients call, follow their posts, read their articles, opt-in, respond to their ads, make appointments, and the attorney gets new clients. 

Unfortunately, those prospective clients don’t always hire them, or don’t have a lot of work for them, or can’t pay for the work they need done. 

The first attorney makes a living but, sometimes, only just. 

The second attorney also talks to a lot of people, shares content, builds their list, gets calls and regularly speaks with prospective clients, but unlike the first attorney, a high percentage of those prospective clients are glad they found them and glad to hire them. They have lots of work for the attorney, liberally provide referrals and introductions, and willingly pays the higher fees the attorney deserves. 

The first attorney gets clients from their marketing. The second attorney gets more clients from the same effort and they are usually “better” clients. 

What’s the difference? Why does one attorney get better results from their marketing? 

One reason? The first attorney “chases” clients and the second attorney “attracts” them. 

If you want to get better clients and better results with your marketing, never chase clients. Make them come to you.

How do you do that? 

Mostly, by believing you can. You’re very good at what you do, one of the best, and you can get most or all of your business from clients who seek you out and ask you to represent them. 

That belief gives you the posture you need to attract those clients. 

Marketing isn’t just about what you do, but how you do it. How you do it comes from belief in yourself. Even if you aren’t the best, you conduct yourself like you are.

In your content marketing, you provide helpful information and (gently, not urgently) invite them to get more. You give them examples of the kinds of work you do and problems you solve, show them (not tell them) you’re good at your job,  and tell them what to do to get that additional information or take the next step. 

Clients are more likely to believe in you when they see that you believe in yourself. You are confident. Calm, cool, collected. The successful professional in demand by others.

That means you don’t “warn” them or use emotional appeals or “fear of loss” more than is appropriate. You don’t push them. You give them the facts, show them what you have done for others, and let them decide to move forward or not. 

You attract clients by inviting them to look at information, ask questions, and raise their hand if they want to take the next step. You follow-up regularly, with additional information and new success stories. You stay in touch with clients and prospects and professional contacts, even though you’re busy (and want them to know that). You are successful, in demand, and don’t need more clients, but for the right one, you’ll consider it.

That’s posture.

In a nutshell, clients want to hire the attorney who can help them but might not be available. 

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Clients prefer sexy lawyers

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I’m not talking about physical attractiveness. That might help, but it could also get in the way.

No, I’m talking about posture. How you present yourself to prospective clients and the people who refer them.

When you have good posture, you inspire confidence and trust. People tend to like you and give you the benefit of the doubt. You get hired more easily and more often.

Posture makes you attractive.

It comes from being good at your job and knowing it. You’ve got the knowledge in your head, the notches in your belt, and the accolades all around you.

You’re sexy and you know it.

When you have good posture, you don’t have to chase clients or “sell” your services.

But what if you’re not there yet? What if you don’t have the track record and accolades? Act as if. You can be more attractive by doing things that are done by people with good posture.

That means not chasing clients. Letting them come to you. It means not selling your services, letting clients “buy” them. It means not trying to convince anyone that you’re good and they should follow or hire you.

Lawyers with posture don’t do those things They let their website and content, testimonials and word-of-mouth do all the selling, while they remain calm, cool, and collected.

The most you should ever do is invite people to see your page, download your report, or watch your video. Invite, offer, let them know it’s available.

You don’t do more because you don’t need to do more. You don’t need to push or chase or persuade. Let people know what you do and give them the opportunity to learn more.

Let other lawyers push and hustle and be aggressive. Let them ask clients to hire them and work hard to close them.

Don’t go after clients. Let them come to you.

They’ll do that when you have posture.

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Attraction marketing

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The best way to find prospects is to get them to find you. You don’t want to chase people and they don’t want to be chased. So don’t do it. Because it looks to prospective clients as bad as it feels to you.

How do you do attraction marketing? By making yourself and your solutions attractive to prospective clients. 

You do that with:

  1. An effective website. It doesn’t have to be complicated (or expensive), it just needs to do a good job of telling people about you, what you do and how you help people. Include a form that allows visitors to request an appointment or get more information, and/or sign up for your newsletter.
  2. Content. Educate your market about their problems and available solutions. Tell them their risks and options. Share examples and stories to illustrate and inspire people to see that you are the best choice for them.
  3. Referrals. Equip your clients and contacts with information about your services, how to recognize your ideal client, and how to make an effective referral. Keep them informed about new content on your or blog and other channels, so they can share this with people they know who might like to see it.
  4. Staying in touch. You don’t lose posture by continuing to contact people who know, like, and trust you because they hired you or connected with you in the past, as long as you have their permission. If you continue to share valuable or interesting information, and remind them about what you can do to help them and the people they know, they will appreciate you and tell others.

These are the primary sources of new clients for many attorneys and they can be for you. Done well, they not only allow you to maintain “attractive” posture, they are likely to enhance it.  

Yes, you can also advertise, network, do public speaking, conduct seminars, write articles, and do other things to market your services, without chasing anyone. But you may not need to.

Isn’t that refreshing?

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Make them come to you

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You’ve heard it before—don’t chase clients. Because it looks bad (and feels bad) and usually pushes cliens away because you look needy and unsuccessful. 

Clients want to hire successful lawyers, and if you’re chasing, that’s not you. 

Something else, when they chase you, they’re usually willing to pay more to work with you. 

So don’t chase, make them come to you. 

How? What marketing strategies are best for attracting clients? 

First (by a long shot) are referrals. When clients and professionals and business contacts recommend you, it is the ultimate affirmation of your success. They know you. They’ve seen your work. And their recommendations make their referrals easier to sign up. 

You also tend to get better clients and bigger cases through referrals than any other marketing method.

On the other hand, you can’t scale as quickly as you might like via referrals, which leads to my second recommendation—advertising. 

Surprised? Don’t be. Advertising allows you to maintain posture.

You’re not chasing anyone because you’re not talking to anyone—until they decide they like what they see and want to talk to you. 

Yep, they come to you. 

And advertising scales. And can pay for itself. When you have an ad (or campaign) that works, you can run more ads in more places. You can run bigger ads and run them more often. And bid on more competitive keywords. 

You don’t have to advertise your services directly if that’s not something you want to (or are allowed to) do. You can advertise your book or report, your channel or blog, your seminar, or anything else that gets your name and offer in front of prospective clients and the people who can refer them.

They see, they like, they come to you.

The third way to get clients to come to you is through content marketing. 

You share information about the law, explain problems and solutions, and show people what’s possible, and in doing that, those people see that you know what you’re doing and become interested in learning more about how you can help them.

They come to you. 

You can do content marketing via a blog, newsletter, podcast, video channel, or by being interviewed on someone else’s channel or for their newsletter. You can speak at industry events, conduct seminars, network with people in your target market, or offer your content via social media. 

Or through advertising. 

Referrals, advertising, and content marketing. Three proven strategies for making clients come to you. 

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Posture

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It’s not easy to define, but you know it when you see it. 

007 had it. He was unflappable. And unstoppable. You always knew that in the end, he would beat the bad guys and save the world, and no matter what happened, you’d never see him sweat. 

Your clients want that in you. 

Calm, cool, collected. Strong and confident, ready to save the day.

How can you convey that? 

Say less. Tell them how you can help them, but don’t try so hard. Let your deeds (and reviews) do most of the talking for you. 

Be willing to admit you don’t know everything, and don’t do everything yourself. You have top quality people who work for you or with you. You count on them and so can your clients. 

Don’t push, don’t convince, let the facts do that. 

Don’t react, respond. Your manner should display a relaxed intensity. Calm, cool, collected, remember? 

Don’t be a slob. 007 was always impeccably dressed. If he had a desk and an office, you know it would have been immaculate. 

Don’t talk about how busy you are. It makes you look needy. Instead, let them see a busy waiting room. And don’t always be available whenever they want to talk to you.

Don’t cut your fees. You’re the best and deserve to be paid accordingly. 

Don’t chase. You’re 007. Let ’em chase you. 

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Your fees are too high

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What do you say to a client or prospective client who says your fees are too high?

Do you negotiate? Offer to reduce your fees?

Yeah, don’t do that.

Do you tell them that’s what you charge and they can take it or leave it?

Don’t do that, either.

Instead, say something like, “When you say my fees are too high, what are you comparing this to?”

Let them tell you about other lawyers who charge less.

And then show them why you charge more because you are worth more–to them.

Show the client what they get with you they won’t get from other attorneys.

The best way to do that, of course, is to let your other clients do it for you. Show them your positive reviews and testimonials and share success stories about what you’ve done for other clients.

But maybe the client doesn’t have anyone they’re comparing you with, they think all lawyers fees are too high.

In that case, go over their current problem or situation and ask how much this is costing them now, in terms of time and money and mental anguish.

Let them see how they will be better off hiring you than continuing to live with their current situation.

Finally, if they can’t see things your way, say something like this:

“I don’t want to take your money if you don’t think this is going to work for you. I understand you want to solve this problem but I don’t want to work with you if you’re not committed to working with me to solve it”.

C’mon, you know you want to.

Referred clients make the best clients. Here’s how to get more

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What’s wrong with this picture?

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I saw a post on Flakebook this morning that made me want to scream. It said, “If anybody needs to reach me today, I won’t be available until Noon.”

What’s wrong with that? It’s terrible posture.

It says, “I’m online most of the time because I’m not very busy. I’m not very busy because I’m not very good at my job and don’t have a lot of clients. I hope you need me and will contact me and give me some work. Please?”

Yes, you want clients and prospects to know that you can be reached if they need you, but not like this.

Let them know you have office hours. If there’s an emergency, they can reach you through an assistant or answering service (if you have that kind of practice). Otherwise, they should contact your assistant and see if they can help them. Or make an appointment to see you or speak to you. Or leave a message for you and you’ll get back to them as soon as your schedule permits.

Bad posture: Call me any time. Email me any time. Message me any time. And expect me to be available at any time.

Good posture: I’m busy. In high demand. My time is valuable. You can talk to me but you have to get in line and follow the rules.

If you’re not busy, don’t tell anyone. Nobody wants to hire an attorney that nobody else wants to hire.

If you are busy, let people know it. It will make them want you even more.

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Posture

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Yesterday, I talked about how some lawyers are afraid of their clients. They bend over backward to give them whatever they want, even if they don’t deserve it, because they’re afraid of losing the client or having them say bad things about them.

They try to please everyone, thinking they’ll attract more clients, but all they do is drive clients away.

When you’re too eager to please, too available, or too generous, you project an image of neediness. Clients can sense it.

When clients see you as needy, they get nervous. It’s like pulling up to a restaurant at 6 pm and seeing an empty parking lot. Nobody wants to eat where nobody else is eating.

People want to hire attorneys who don’t need their business. True or not, that’s what you want them to think.

Don’t be so quick to give them what they want. Make them wait a day or a week to book an appointment. Have them speak to someone on your staff or fill out a form on your website before they get to speak to you.

To pull this off, you have to believe that they need you more than you need them. If you don’t believe this, you need to work on that. For starters, make your services different and better than what other lawyers offer, or at least package and present them that way.

It’s called posture and the most successful attorneys have it in spades.

Have you seen attorneys who accept new clients “by referral only”? That’s posture.

You want to attract clients, not chase them. You want them to see you as the best choice, not just another pretty face in the crowd.

On the other hand, don’t do what some attorneys do. Don’t overplay your hand. Some attorneys come off as cocky, expensive, and too unavailable. Hey, if a client wanted that they’d hire a doctor, not a lawyer.

How to get clients to see you as the one they want

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Are you afraid of your clients?

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I heard an interview with an expert on international affairs. He was asked why Europe was the way it was. (I’ll let you fill in the blank about what that means.)

He said, “They’re afraid of their people.”

Europe has a history of revolutions and uprisings. Monarchs have been dethroned (and beheaded), corrupt leaders have been convicted and jailed, and the current heads of state are simply fearful of a similar fate.

Interesting. Explains why they outlawed guns, doesn’t it?

Anyway, my question for you is, “Are you afraid of your people?”

Do you operate out of fear of what your clients may say or do? If they ask for something, do you give it to them even if they don’t deserve it or you can’t “afford” it, because you’re afraid of losing them or offending them or being accused of something untoward?

If you do, stop it. Person up. (That’s how they say toughen up in Europe, y’all.)

Your job isn’t to make everyone happy no matter what. Your job is to do your job, and you get to choose for whom you do it.

You also get to choose to give more value to your best clients, the ones who deserve it, because it’s smart for you to do that, and not to every client because you’re afraid of losing your head.

How to make your clients happy

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Stop telling clients you’re not in your office

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Your clients don’t need to know that you are away from the office. Or on vacation. They don’t need to know that you received their email, or be told that you will reply as soon as possible.

So why do you tell them?

Being accessible is important, especially when so many attorneys aren’t. But that doesn’t mean you should put yourself on a leash.

Away messages, vacation messages, and “I got your email” messages send the wrong message. They say, “I’m here, you can always reach me, and if I’m away for a bit, I’m sorry, don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”

It’s bad posture. It says, “I need your business,” when in truth, the message you want to convey is just the opposite.

Your clients need to know that you’re good at what you do, you work hard for them, and if they have you as their attorney, they are very fortunate.

They need you. You don’t need them.

Most clients shouldn’t even have your personal email address. They should have an “office” email and know that it is monitored by someone who works for you. If a client writes, they need to know that someone will read it and reply promptly.

That someone probably won’t be you.

You want clients to know that you’re busy, in demand by other clients, and successful. Your time is extremely valuable and you have people working for you who do most of the front line communication on your behalf.

You’re there, behind the scenes, calling the shots. If your staff can’t help them, or there’s an emergency, they can reach you.

But your clients need to go through them.

Just like when they call.

Delegate more and you will earn more

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