I was on social media the other day. Yes, I do that occasionally. A company had surveyed a group of lawyers, asking them what they wanted out of their practice, and posted the results.
Nearly everyone said they wanted better systems and automation, to make their practice run more smoothly. They also wanted more affordable help.
Makes sense.
What doesn’t make sense is that only 14% said they wanted help with marketing—“getting more good clients, more reliably.”
Why so low? Who doesn’t want more good clients? What’s going on here?
Ah, what’s going on is that the firm that conducted the survey helps lawyers automate their practice. So their clients’ and followers’ primary interest is in becoming more organized and efficient.
That’s their bias.
Go ahead and survey a cross-section of attorneys and I think your results might be a little different.
Of course my list is also biased. If I did a survey, I’m sure I’d find that most want more good clients and cases.
Because who doesn’t want more good clients?
Okay, some lessons.
- Before you draw any conclusions about the results of a survey, make sure you know who’s conducting it and of whom.
- Surveys are a great way to engage your list. People like to share their opinion and are curious to see what other people say about the subject.
- Surveys are an easy way to generate content for a blog or newsletter and social media. I just did that and it wasn’t even my survey.
Go forth and survey some folks. Or find someone else’s survey and talk about it.
