When a prospective client isn’t ready to sign up. . .

March 3, 2026 by
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You’re speaking to a prospective client about their case or matter, but they’re not ready to hire you. They tell you they need to think about it. Or say something else that means they’re not ready to say “yes”. 

In effect, it’s a “no”. 

What should you do? 

Many lawyers will correctly say that “no” means “not now”. The client may not be ready to sign up today, because they don’t have the money or don’t want to spend it, their pain or problem isn’t bad enough yet, they have people in their ear telling them they don’t need a lawyer and/or urging them to get more information or competitive quotes, and the list goes on. 

But that’s today, and tomorrow it could be a different answer. Assume that “no” means “not now” and let them go, those lawyers will tell you. If, and when they decide they need you, they’ll let you know. 

That’s the nature of business. You win some, you lose some, and some are delayed by rain. 

Letting them go is your first option. Is it your best choice? 

Other lawyers (and advisors) will tell you that “no” means they need more information or more convincing. You didn’t tell them enough or make things plain enough or urgent enough, and your job, as a professional persuader is to persuade. So get to it. 

Tell them more about the law, the risks of not taking action or waiting too long, why you are the best lawyer for what they need, and everything else you want them to know, so they can make the “right” decision. 

After all, if it’s in their best interests to hire you, you owe them a duty to pull out all the stops and get them to see the light (and other metaphors you could mix). 

So, don’t give up that easily. If you told them once, tell them again. More information, more examples, more stories about clients who made the wrong decision, or the right one. Maybe talk to the person who referred them, or a mutual business contact, and see if they can help. 

Many attorneys agree with this and will at least try to get the client to reconsider. And the client often does. They decided to hire the attorney, wrote a check, and all was right with the world.

So, those are your first two options. Let them go or do more convincing. But there’s a third option, and it’s the one I recommend. 

Your third option is to do for them what you would want them to do if your roles were reversed. If you were the prospective client and not ready to sign up, what would you want the attorney to say or do? 

Here’s what I would want:

I’d want the attorney to tell me they understand I’m not ready and won’t push me, thank me for speaking to them, and ask me what I want them to do. 

Do I want them to send me more information? Follow-up with me next week or next month? Validate my parking ticket?

I’d want the attorney to make sure I knew my options and let me tell them what I want to do.

That’s what you would want, isn’t it? That’s what your (prospective) clients want, too. 

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Filed Under: Client relations, Closing the sale

You’re not just paid for your legal services

February 26, 2026 by
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Clients hire attorneys to solve legal problems and deliver desired outcomes. They want our advice and our work product. They pay for our services and the results we get for them.

But that’s not all we’re paid for. 

We’re also paid for the experience we give our clients and, in great measure, that experience is just as important and valuable as the legal work we do and the outcomes we deliver.

It’s true. Airy-fairy as it may sound, clients value how we make them feel when we do what we do. 

Your mom might have told you, it’s the little things that make the difference. 

Little things like showing clients how hard you work to help them and how you give them hope.

A lot of it is in the tone of your voice, the look in your eyes, and the urgency with which you do what you do. The little things really aren’t little at all.

The way you respect them by seeing them at the time scheduled for their appointment (and apologizing if you were even a few minutes late); the way you refuse to look at your phone during your time with them, or the extra time you spend with them (off the clock) when they have more questions or are worried and need you to hold their hand.

And more.

The things you say or do that have nothing to do with your services, like sharing an idea you have that could help their business or telling them about your health challenge to encourage them about theirs. 

Little things, like introducing them to people who can hire them, telling them about a support group you heard about that might have some answers they need or want. 

It all counts. More than we might realize.

When you show clients you care about them as human beings more than you care about their business, you make them feel good about choosing you as their lawyer and good about themselves for overcoming their doubts and fears and taking a chance on you.  

How you make clients feel doesn’t replace the work you do and the results you deliver, but it’s close. 

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations

Why some lawyers get big and some don’t

February 24, 2026 by
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My wife and I were talking about a lawyer we knew many years ago when he was new and full of piss and vinegar, and I had been practicing for only a few years. We lost touch with him, but recently heard he had been gravely ill for several years.

He recovered and built a very successful practice with dozens of employees and the wherewithal to purchase his own office building in a swanky part of town. 

From death’s door to massive success. How did he make it big when so many lawyers don’t?

I don’t know. But I can guess. 

Two things, actually. 

First, he was clearly a fighter. Building a successful practice was nothing compared to beating the Grim Reaper. 

But that’s more “why” than “how”. What did he actually do to build his practice? 

Maybe he made a few powerful connections. Ran a series of ads that took off. Or stumbled into that one big case that brought him lots of attention. 

Maybe. But my guess is it was none of those things. My guess is he became successful doing things any lawyer can do. He just did them consistently, something many lawyers don’t. 

He didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. He didn’t change his tactics or chase after new markets every few years. He didn’t change what he did or who he was. He stuck with the basics but did them over and over again, making small improvements and otherwise sticking to his knitting.

Over time, his efforts compounded and his fortunes grew.

That’s all it takes to keep clients happy, generate positive word of mouth, and bring in a steady stream of repeat business and referrals. 

You show up and do the work and your clients and referral sources fall in love with you. 

No shortcuts. No hacks. No surprises.

Just the basics. 

That’s all any lawyer needs to make it big. With or without surviving a terminal illness. 

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Filed Under: success

The pros and cons of changing practice areas

February 19, 2026 by
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I know a lawyer who, after decades of building a successful practice, started a new (for him) practice area. I don’t know if he wants to replace his current practice area with the new one or he plans to continue doing both, but as someone who has contemplated this question more than once over the years, I know it’s not an easy decision and here are some of my thoughts.

First, the pros: 

  • A new practice gives you the opportunity to bring on new clients and/or cases you might otherwise have never have attracted, and additional revenue you might never have realized
  • A new/secondary practice area gives you the opportunity to cross-sell your new services to your existing and former clients
  • You have something new to offer to prospective clients who can’t or won’t hire you for your primary services 
  • You might bundle one service with another service and increase your average “sale’
  • In certain markets and for certain clients, offering new, additional services might make you the better choice of lawyer or firm for them
  • You might be able to stop doing, or do less of, something you don’t enjoy, aren’t especially good at, or that’s too competitive. Do less litigation (or eliminate it), for example, and replace it with something less stressful, time-consuming, or expensive.
  • A new practice area might be “fun”; you get to meet new people, use new marketing strategies, speak or write about different topics

All of which means a new practice area might allow you to increase your income, reduce your expenses, and get more satisfaction in your practice. 

But then, there are the cons: 

  • The learning curve; remember what it was like starting your practice? You will have to do a lot of that all over again. Plus, continuing education, certification, risk management, ethical considerations, and other things you have to think about
  • You need new marketing materials, websites, strategies, testimonials, and new referral sources
  • You might need to find a new target market; you might lose referrals from lawyers who now see you now as direct competition 
  • You’re the new kid on the block; why should anyone choose you instead of a more established firm?
  • You might have to use marketing strategies you don’t want to use, e.g., advertising, social media, public speaking, internet marketing, blogging, writing 
  • Your new practice area might be saturated, dying, being crippled by ai, or more difficult than you anticipated. You might have to hire and supervise new staff, rent a bigger office, or otherwise increase your overhead 
  • It could create confusion in your market. They knew you as doing X, now you do Y? 
  • You need a lot of time to learn everything and do everything, new on top of everything you already do  

Bottom line, adding a new practice area might be perfect for you, bringing you additional income and professional satisfaction. Or, it might be a colossal mistake. 

If you’re considering doing this, test the idea first, in a different market, with a separate website and marketing strategies, and by speaking privately with a few existing clients to see if they would hire you. 

Until you know that this is something you could be successful doing and worth the effort, don’t do anything radical or announce anything across the board to your clients and contacts. When you’re ready to do it, however, announce it to everyone.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, success

Stop writing articles and blog posts 

February 17, 2026 by
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You know that articles and blog posts and other forms of content can attract prospective clients and repeat clients, and you know how to write them. But, unless I miss my guess, you don’t write them as often as you should. 

Because they take a lot of time. Planning, research, writing, editing, posting, reading and responding to comments—it’s a lot of work and you’re busy guy or gal.

So, don’t write them. Write an email instead. 

Emails are easy to write and don’t take a lot of time. And because it’s “just” an email, you don’t feel the pressure to write something worthy of publication, so you don’t resist writing it. 

Write an email to your prospect or client, or professional contact and tell them something you think they need to or want to know. Share a thought, ask a question, tell them something you recently learned or did or thought, and thought might interest them. 

So much easier than writing an article, isn’t it? No pressure. It’s just an email. A couple of hundred words and you can write it and get it out the door in ten or 15 minutes. 

Which is why you’ll do it. 

And guess what? The best part is that a short, informal email like this is often more effective than longer, formal articles and other content. 

Because your reader doesn’t have to set aside time to read them or take notes, so they read them more often They open their email, skim your article, think about you in a positive light, and go on with their day. 

What’s quick and easy for you to write is quick and easy for them to read. And they do.

Content marketing isn’t just about being a lawyer and showing how much you know. or do It’s at least as much about connecting with people and letting them know you’re still around and thinking about them. 

Yeah, staying in touch. 

If you want, you can convert your emails into longer content. I’ve published several volumes of books based on my blog posts and emails, and you can, too. 

Start with a daily or weekly, or even a monthly email to stay in touch with the people in your professional life. 

In fact, I challenge you to do that right now. Grab an idea, write a few paragraphs, and send it to someone. 

No planning or research, simple prose, edit spelling and punctuation, copy, paste and send. 

You can still publish blog posts and articles or other content. But if you resist doing that, don’t write them, write an email instead. 

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Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Content creation, Relationship marketing, Writing

How to plan your day in 5 Minutes or less

February 12, 2026 by
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Every morning, I spend a few minutes planning my day. It only takes 5 minutes because I (usually) do just three things: 

  1. I check my calendar to see if I have upcoming appointments for the day or the week. Is there anything I need to prepare? Is there anyone I need to notify? Is there anything I need to reschedule?
  2. I check my messages. Do I have any emails that require action? If it’s a one or two word reply, I usually do that on the spot. If something requires more thought or research, I forward those to my task app. The same goes for phone messages. Anything that isn’t actionable I delete, forward to a “read later” app, or leave it in my inbox and look at it on the weekend when I do my weekly planning and have more time.   
  3. I check my tasks. What have I planned to do today? Too much? Too little? Just right? Anything I need to adjust?

And I have my plan for the day.

If I feel like it, I often also do a quick tidy up, meaning emptying inboxes, filing notes in the appropriate project or folder. 

Anyway, that’s how I start my day. t’s only a few minutes, and I consider it time well spent.

It’s only a few minutes because:

  1. I choose the tasks and projects I plan to work on that day the night before. It’s the last thing I do before calling it a night, and allows me to relax and enjoy the evening.
  2. I do a weekly reset (plan, review) each weekend. 
  3. My calendar and task management apps are always with me and available in case something comes up or I run out of time, or I’m tired and need to change something. 

So, how about you? Do you make a daily plan? What do you include? How long does it take? 

Do you do it every day or just when you think of it?

I do it daily because it helps me start the day with clarity and focus. It’s worth it to me. But frankly, if it took more than a few minutes, I’m not sure I would do it consistently. 

I know that because of my many off-and-on-again efforts to do weekly planning. 

When a weekly review took 90 minutes, or even 30 minutes, I often found myself avoiding it. It wasn’t worth it.

Now? My weekly planning is just 15 minutes. For reasons I’ll talk about in another post. 

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Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity

The truth, the whole truth, and (almost) nothing but the truth

February 10, 2026 by
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You’re not good at everything. Sometimes you make mistakes. Sometimes you don’t do what you said you would do when you said you would do it. 

You’re a lawyer. And pretty good at disguising your flaws, because why would you talk about them? 

Why tell clients what you don’t do well or give them reasons to doubt you?

Because it might be the best thing you could do.

Transparency isn’t a common characteristic of most lawyers. We thrive on displaying strength and avoid revealing weakness. We say what must be said and avoid saying anything that doesn’t.  

Of course we protect ourselves with disclaimers and disclosures in our retainer agreements, authorizations, invoices, and other documents, lest we later be accused of failing to disclose something.

We hide the negative in the fine print. 

What if you shared some of that upfront? Better for clients to hear it from you instead of hearing it on social media or finding out after they’ve hired you. 

What if, instead of downplaying some things that can go wrong with a case, you talk about them openly? What if you tell stories about problems you’ve seen in your practice and point out that not everything has a happy ending?

What if you tell clients what you do and what you don’t do? Tell them what you offer and what’s not included. Tell them you don’t handle “everything” and when you will refer them to someone you know and recommend.

How refreshing to hear some unvarnished truth from an attorney. 

Transparency will let you differentiate yourself from most attorneys and give you a distinct marketing advantage by building trust and likeability.

You don’t have to walk around with a lie detector attached to your arm or take a truth serum before you meet with prospect clients. 

Just don’t bury everything in 6-point type. 

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Image, Marketing legal services

The brutal truth about marketing

February 5, 2026 by
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Many lawyers say they don’t have time for marketing, but the reality is, they “do” marketing every day. 

Because everything a lawyer does in his or her practice is marketing. 

The way you speak to a prospective client is marketing. Your words and how you say them make the client feel hopeful about their situation and confident about your ability to help them, and that’s the quintessence of marketing. 

The way you do your work is also marketing. You do it efficiently, expeditiously, and effectively, and show your clients and market why they should hire you and refer you.

It’s all marketing. 

From the way you greet a new client at their first appointment, to the way you describe the documents you ask them to sign, how you talk about your fees, the trinkets on your desktop, the clothes you wear—it’s all marketing. 

And you do it well, or you don’t. 

Take a look at your website the way a client might. Does it look clean and modern and inspire confidence in your practice? Does it provide answers to FAQs, explain the law and describe your services in enough detail that visitors understand what you do and convince them that you’re very good at what you do?

Marketing. 

How often do you stay in touch with clients and prospects? What do you say to them and send them? Do you share success stories, warn them about changes in the law, and strenuously tell them what to do to protect their business or family?

It’s all marketing. 

Some people look for you on social media to see what others say about you or ask you and how you respond. Do you say the right things? Do you “talk” too much or too little? What impression do you make? 

When you turn down a case, do you make sure the client understands why and feels good about you even if you can’t help them? When you deliver bad news, do you do it with compassion and intelligence and help clients see that you did everything you could for them?  

When something goes wrong, when there’s a delay, when you don’t get the results you expected, how do you handle that? How do you explain what happened? How do you respond when a client is angry?

What do you say about the other party or their counsel? What do you tell clients about your personal life? When you speak with another professional, do you show interest in their business or personal life, or are you all-business-all-the-time? 

How about your staff? Are they friendly? Dedicated? Interesting? Do they treat clients with complete respect? Is it obvious that you hire good people, train them well and support them?

It makes a difference. Everything you do makes a difference. Everything you do is marketing.

And you’re doing it well or you aren’t. 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing

Do more hard things?

February 3, 2026 by
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It sounds like good advice, doesn’t it? Do hard things, take on bigger challenges, put in more hours—that’s how you get ahead today. That’s what the books and videos and blogs repeatedly tell us.

Doing hard things, they say, helps us improve our skills and strengths, increase our confidence and self-discipline, and as we take on greater challenges and achieve them, we gain motivation to continue to achieve even more.

Our efforts compound, and so do our results. The harder we work, the more value we create for ourselves and the people we serve, ultimately leading to greater success and happiness. 

But is it true? 

Should we train ourselves to make hard work our default? 

Not necessarily. 

Learning new things, improving our skills, and putting in more effort can all distract us from doing the things we’re already good at and easily do—the types of things we get paid to do every day. 

Doing hard things might actually make us less productive and lead to a lower standard of living.

It’s called hard work for a reason. 

Don’t discount the value of doing easy things. The kinds of things we’ve been doing for a long time and are good at.

If we’re good at speaking, for example, we usually find ways to do more presentations, and the more we do, the more effective we become at convincing people with our oratory skills. We get more new clients, we win more motions and hearings, and we settle more cases for higher amounts. Without breaking a sweat.

So, which is it? Should we do more hard things or continue doing things we find easy? 

Obviously, we need both. The better question is, “How much of each should we do?”

I don’t know the answer. I don’t have a formula or percentage. So here’s what I suggest.

As you plan your week, look at the list of tasks you need to do and make those your priority. Even if they are (relatively) easy. You need to do these to pay the bills.

But don’t ignore the hard things. You need to do these to learn more about yourself and what you could do, and to challenge yourself to do a bit more than you do now.

Do hard things, but make easy things your priority. 

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, success Tagged With:

Another type of content most lawyers don’t use (but should) 

January 29, 2026 by
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Most lawyers who create content for a blog or newsletter or podcast usually don’t  include “guest posts” or other contributions from other content creators, especially other lawyers. 

But they should for three good reasons. 

The most obvious reason is that it saves time. Every post created by someone else is a post you don’t have to create yourself. 

Yes, it does take time to work with others, to make sure they know their subject are and can write or speak intelligently about it, to make sure their content is appropriate for and of interest to your audience, and to possibly do some editing of the content they submit to you, but on balance, you’ll probably come out ahead because the other creator will do most of the heavy lifting. 

The second reason for accepting (or soliciting) contributions from others is that your clients and audience will enjoy hearing from experts in other fields, on subjects you can’t or usually don’t address. 

This content might take the form of 

  • Guest posts from lawyers in other specialties or other markets
  • Articles by business experts who sell to or advise your target market
  • Interviews of subject matter experts or business professionals who work in your field or local area
  • Reprints and reposts of previously published content on others’ blogs or channels
  • You reviewing and/or commenting on the business, practice, or content created by other professionals or business experts who sell to or advise your target market

Which leads to the third and most important reason for sharing content created by or about others: 

Each time you publish or re-publish an article or video, interview a professional or business expert, or share content created by other content creators in your market, you create the opportunity that said content creator will ask you to contribute content for them. 

They might post (or repost) your article, agree to interview you, or repost something by or about you for their newsletter, blog, or channel. 

And just like that, your name and services get exposure to a new audience, with the actual or implied endorsement of that attorney or business professional. 

That’s marketing gold. 

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Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services
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