One of the primary objectives for any attorney interested in attracting clients is to show the world why they are a better choice. One way to do that is by bragging about your achievements.
Unfortunately, nobody likes a braggart.
The obvious alternative is to let others brag about you. That’s what word of mouth is all about. Happy clients telling others. Your task, then, is to make sure your clients and contacts know about your achievements and have an easy way to share them with others.
You need a “brag book”.
What is a brag book?
A brag book is a place to collect laudatory information about you. It’s a physical notebook, or the digital equivalent, with pages of clips and stories and information about you and your accomplishments.
Those clips and stories show people what you have done for others and suggest that you can do the same for them. The book is filled with third party validation, proving that you are experienced and knowledgeable and trustworthy.
What’s in a brag book?
Your brag book can have a variety of content:
- Testimonials
- Endorsements
- Awards
- Thank you letters
- Articles about you, your cases
- Articles by you, especially if they appear in an important publication
- Photos of you with happy clients
- Photos of you with important people
- Photos of you helping a charity or important cause
- Photos of you speaking from stage
- A photo tour of your office
- Success stories about your clients/cases
- Stories about big/important verdicts
- Press releases
- Your CV or bio
- Client survey results
- FAQ’s that show how and why you are different/better
How do I use my brag book?
Use the contents of your brag book whenever you create a new marketing document. Having this information and these documents and photos in one place will make it easier for you or your copywriter to put together new brochures, seminar slides, web pages, or other documents.
You can also put together an entire book that can be shown to clients and prospects, meeting planners, publishers, and others you want to impress.
Use your brag book, or mini-versions thereof:
- On the table in your waiting room
- Framed on the wall in your office
- As a page your web site; link to it from your “About” page
- As a handout at seminars, networking events
- As your “firm brochure”
- In your “new client kit”
- Send it to prospects who inquire about your services
How do I start a brag book?
Start by collecting these documents and putting them in one location. If you have paper documents, scan them. You could set up a separate notebook in Evernote for this purpose, or simply add a tag (i.e., “bragbook”) to any note that contains brag-worthy information or documents.
As your collection of items grows, you’ll be prompted to seek out additional documents to add to your book. You might ask more clients to provide a testimonial, for example, or make a point of saving copies of photos you have been tagged in on Facebook.
Once you have started your book, it will remind you to fill it, and use it.
Do you have a brag book? Are you going to start one? How will you use it?
