Many attorneys are uncomfortable with marketing. Or at least certain aspects of it. They don’t like networking, writing, or talking to people about referrals. They don’t like doing interviews or presentations. They don’t like advertising, generating traffic, or buying leads.

It’s out of their comfort zone and they resist doing it.

The old saying, “Do the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable” comes to mind, but if you can’t or won’t start, you’re never going to get there.

There are two solutions.

The first solution, instead of trying to “jump” out of your comfort zone, ease out of it. Take baby steps until you learn to walk.

Make a list of options, different types of marketing and different ways of doing them, choose one, learn all you can about it, get some help if you need it, and do it on a very small scale, until you “get used to it”.

You don’t like networking? Take a friend to lunch or ask to accompany them when they go to their next meeting. Get your feet wet in a non-threatening situation where nothing is expected of you other than showing up.

You might find you don’t hate it as much as you thought and can eventually take the next step.

You don’t like talking to people about referrals? Try writing a letter to your clients about the subject and how it helps both them and the people they refer. Don’t send the letter, just write it for now. Maybe you’ll send it later. Or maybe you’ll read one of my books or courses and find better ways to ask or ways to get referrals without asking for them.

Baby steps, baby cakes.

The other solution? Sit yourself down and have a talk with yourself.

Talk to yourself about the activity you’re resisting and why you’re resisting it. Pretend you’re talking to a parent or teacher, and tell them all the reasons you don’t want to do it. Don’t forget to pout and say, “and you can’t make me!”

And then, talk to yourself as that parent or teacher and convince yourself that you can and should.

One way to do that is to reframe the activity by changing how you think about it, or contrasting it with the alternatives.

You did that somewhat if you looked at networking as just going to lunch with a friend.

You could explain to yourself that writing a weekly email may not be something you’re excited about doing, “but it’s a lot better than going to a weekly meeting” (if that works for you).

If you don’t advertise because you see it as an unnecessary expense, think about it as a investment which could have a very profitable return. Talk to someone who advertises, see what they do, play with some numbers, and you may find a way to eliminate your resistance and get excited about the possibilities.

Maybe you hate social media. You might remind yourself that, “It’s a lot better than cold calling or sending spam emails”.

You don’t want to do any marketing, it’s all horrible? Reframe this by telling yourself it’s a lot less horrible than having no clients and being one month away from getting evicted from your office, which is where I was early in my career, before I “got religion” and saw marketing as a better alternative to losing everything.

Baby steps and/or reframing. Two ways you can do what’s uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable.

How to get referrals without asking for referrals