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
