The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

Do you love your work?

August 22, 2023 by David M. Ward

For many lawyers, the answer is no. The thrill is gone and if they could, they’d do something else.

But what?

I don’t know. But I do know there’s an answer. Something you can do that allows you to use your skills and interests and pays you as much—or more. Something gratifying and “just right” for you.

Ready for some good news? You might be a lot closer than you think.

Before you decide to jump ship in search of work you love, what if you could stay where you are and simply stop doing work you hate?

Yes, it’s possible.

Start by making a list. What do you hate about your career or practice? Daily tasks, responsibilities, rules, people, costs, lack of time, lack of fun—everything. Don’t hold back. Get it all out of your head and onto paper.

Feels good to vent, doesn’t it? It’s practical, too, because acknowledging what you don’t want is the first step towards getting what you do want.

But first, another list. This should be a list of everything you like about your work.

Think about a typical day or week, see yourself doing what you do, and write down the things you’re good at and enjoy.

You might realize that there’s more good than you thought. More good than bad. And gain some perspective you didn’t have before.

You might appreciate the good things, the good people, the positive you do to help others. You might feel a lot better about everything and if so, that alone has made this exercise worthwhile.

But there are still bad things, right? What do you do about those?

Make another list. Think about the things that cause you pain, the things you’d like to eliminate or fix. And then, brainstorm possible solutions.

Start with the big things—your practice area(s), partners, clients, markets, and your marketing methods. Changing one of these could make a huge difference. It could provide you with the career and work you’ve previously thought missing.

Then, look at the other things you do. Your workflow and resources might need a refresh. What would you change about how you handle cases or create work product? What would you delegate or outsource if you could?

Pretend you have a magic wand and could eliminate or change anything. What would it be?

If you had more employees, or fewer? Bigger clients or more of them? Shorter hours, a simpler schedule, or a few new ways to bring in more business?

You might not have the complete solution, but you’ve got a place to start. And realize that you’re a lot closer to doing the work you love.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction

You or that other lawyer?

August 21, 2023 by David M. Ward

According to a Martindale survey of consumers who need an attorney, 50% said “they’d contact 2-4 attorneys before making a decision on hiring”.

I doubt it.

These are consumers, likely unsure of what to look for or ask and no doubt intimated by the process. I’m guessing they say they contact several attorneys because they don’t want to admit, even to themself, they choose the first attorney who looks good on paper.

The lesson? Make sure you look good on paper.

That means not relying on a directory listing, but fleshing out a website with enough information to persuade visitors to take the next step.

That means you need a website that’s not just about your services and practice areas but about you, your philosophies, your target market, and the results you have obtained for your clients. It means including testimonials, reviews, and success stories that provide third-party evidence of your capabilities, and attest to what it’s like having you as their attorney.

Because this is what clients want know.

It also means going beyond “telling” them what you know and do and “showing” them, by writing the kinds of articles and other content a successful attorney would write.

You can dazzle them with your knowledge and charm when they contact you, but you need to convince them to do that.

Make sure you look good on paper.

How to make the phone ring

Filed Under: Online Marketing

Want vs. Need

August 18, 2023 by David M. Ward

You want that cool task management app that does “everything”. But you don’t need it. You need a piece of paper and a pen. Or the free app that comes on your device.

You may want a lot of things you don’t need. If you can afford them and they give you a benefit, why not?

But ask yourself why you want it.

Will it make you more productive? Help you earn more? Save time? Give you a harmless way to distract yourself from long hours of work?

Is it fun? You’re entitled to have fun, you know.

It’s okay to buy things or do things you want but don’t need. You don’t need a reason.

And neither do your clients.

A client may need your basic service but want your deluxe package. Give it to them.

People want things they don’t need and their reasons are their reasons. They might want convenience, to feel safer, or feel more important.

If they want to give you more money, let them.

On the other hand, be prepared to give them what they need when they can’t afford what they want.

Make sure they get what they need, but if you really want to make them happy, give them what they want.

That goes for you, too.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Client relations, Marketing legal services

Help me help them

August 17, 2023 by David M. Ward

You never look better than when you’re helping others. I’m not talking about getting paid for your services, I’m talking about using your legal and business skills, your list of contacts, your creativity, your time, your money, and your reputation, to help people who need help.

It’s a good thing to do, and a good way to build your practice.

This might mean doing pro bono legal work, organizing a fundraiser, volunteering at a soup kitchen, or sponsoring (or playing in) a charitable golf tournament. You don’t have to be the organizer of the event. You can do a lot of good by participating in their events and otherwise supporting their cause.

Promote their organization or event in your newsletter, on your website, and on your social media channels. Interview the leaders and write articles about their work and their cause. Speak at their events, buy space in their publications, volunteer for their committees, and introduce them to people who are also willing to help.

There’s always something you can do and whatever you do will be noticed and appreciated.

Will it also be rewarded? Can you do well by doing good?

You know that’s true. But in case you need a reminder, consider that, if nothing else, your clients and contacts will see or hear about your efforts and see you in a positive light. How do you tell them what you’re doing? By asking them to join you.

Also consider that supporting these good causes will allow you to meet a lot of influential people in your target market or community. People who can hire you, send you referrals, and introduce you to other professionals and industry leaders who can do the same.

Promoting a cause also gives you a great “excuse” to contact people you would like to know and enlist their support.

Of course, the primary reason you do any of this isn’t for marketing. It’s because it makes you feel good to help people who need help. But keep in mind that the more your practice grows, the more people you’ll be able to help.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Marketing legal services

Got a minute? Try this. . .

August 16, 2023 by David M. Ward

It’s easy to do and makes a lot of sense. A simple way to find things you need to do but often don’t.

All you do is create a list of small tasks you can do when you don’t have a lot of time, energy, or motivation. Add labels or tags so you can find these tasks when you have a few minutes between appointments, for example, or when you’re tired and don’t want to do anything cognitively demanding.

This isn’t primarily for regular routines or for tasks you schedule in advance. It’s for the things that tend to fall through the cracks.

When you have 5 or 10 minutes before your next appointment, call, or meeting, for example, you can jot down a few notes about an article you’re planning to write. In the afternoon, when you’re low on energy, you can read an article or watch a video for an upcoming project.

I’ll bet your task app, or list, is filled with tasks that qualify. Find them, tag them, and do them when you the opportunity presents itself.

Some people create tags for 5, 10, and 20 minutes. Or “energy” tags for “low, medium, and high”. Some people set up filters for combing time and energy, e.g., “10-minute low-energy” tasks or “5-minute tasks for the xyz project”.

One benefit to these kinds of lists or filters is that they allow you to more easily bundle tasks, e.g., errands, chores, admin, or involving other people, so you can get them done in one go.

Having lists of tasks you can knock off when you’re tired or busy feels good and might stimulate you to get other things done.

But I think one of the biggest benefits is that it allows you to create shorter lists devoted to your “most important” tasks each day, without the clutter or distraction of everything else you could do.,

Shorter lists of “must do” tasks allow you to focus and do them. After you do them, you can easily find other things to do.

Filed Under: Productivity

When price is the problem

August 15, 2023 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, we talked about what you can do to “close” more prospective clients. What to say to get them to see the need and make the commitment. But what can you do when they can’t afford your fees, or don’t want to spend the money, despite the fact that they know they need to?

The obvious answer is to offer a lower-cost service, which may not take care of everything they need but is better than doing nothing. They can get the rest of what they need later.

Attorney Gordon Firemark told me about another option he uses in his practice. When a client can’t afford his “done for you” fee, he offers them his (paid) “do-it-yourself” course that shows them, in this case, how to file a trademark application.

Do-it-yourself options like this are clearly good for the client, and when they are ready to take the next step, or have another legal matter, they don’t have to start from scratch to find an attorney.

Which means this is also good for the attorney.

It’s also a way for the attorney to differentiate themself from the “all-or-nothing” approach followed by most attorneys. And, depending on the service and the market, paid courses can provide an attorney with significant additional revenue.

But you don’t have to offer a paid course if that doesn’t work for you. You can create a free course, or a course with a very nominal price tag, and use that to help prospective clients instead of turning them away when they can’t afford you.

You can also use it as a marketing tool.

Having a course gives you the opportunity to show prospective clients how you can help them, and what it is might be like to work with you. They get to hear your “voice” and the quality and depth of your knowledge and experience.

As a result, many clients who avail themselves of your course will convince themselves that they need to sign up as a client and let you take care of everything for them.

But it doesn’t have to be a course at all. You can accomplish the same effect with a variety of different content, free or paid:

A video (or series)
Book or report
Checklist
Form with instructions
Seminar or webinar
Newsletter
Blog
Articles
Speaking events
“Ask me anything” events
Consultations

Free content almost always gets more people accessing it, but paid content might lead to more clients overall because prospects are more likely to read or watch the content they pay for, and more likely to value it (and you).

Free or paid, content can be an effective marketing tool, helping you build your list, generate leads, and get more prospective clients to see why they should choose you as their attorney.

Which is why I’m a big proponent of content marketing.

How to use free content to get more clients

Filed Under: Content creation Tagged With: content marketing

Don’t take “no” for an answer

August 14, 2023 by David M. Ward

What do you do when someone says they’re not ready to sign up, or they “need to think about it”?

In other words, “no”? No soup for you.

You told them their risks and their options. You laid out a plan. Answered their questions. If they still said no. Should you let them go?

No. Give it another shot. Because “no” often means “tell me more”. They may know they need to say yes, they may want to say yes, but they’re afraid and won’t commit.

Follow these 3 steps to help them make the right decision:

Isolate. Put on your litigator’s hat, repeat what they’ve told you (their objection or reason for wanting to wait). “So what you’re saying is. . .” (It’s a big decision, a lot of money, you’re not sure this is right for you, etc.) Get them to acknowledge that these are the reasons they want to think about it, etc., and there aren’t any other reasons.
Validate. “I understand how you feel; many of my clients told me the same thing when they first came to see me. . .”
Differentiate. Show them why the benefits outweigh the risks or that this is the best time (and why). Tell them again why they need to do this. You might phrase it in terms of what your other clients (who initially hesitated) realized, e.g., “. . .and then they found out/realized. . .”

And “close” again. “So, shall we get this going?”

If they still say no, you might say, “Before you make your final decision.. .” and tell them a new fact or statistic or client story. Yes, they’ve already made their final decision, but you don’t have to accept it.

Reject their rejection. And close again.

More: The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Closing the sale

Writing practice helps your law practice

August 11, 2023 by David M. Ward

I don’t have anything planned to write today, so I’m going to do an experiment. I’m going to write whatever comes into my mind, to prove that in a pinch, I can write something cogent and useful.

I ordinarily have an idea set aside about what I want to write the following day. Nothing elaborate, just a few notes or bullet points. Yesterday, all I had was a one-sentence quote from author Ryan Holiday about deciding what you want to get out of something you’re about to read before you read it. That one sentence was enough to get me started and it turned into 300 publishable words.

A simple writing prompt, in this case that quotation, can be enough to start with because it taps into the subconscious mind, which is filled with information, memories, ideas, questions, and answers we’ve stored. We think about them or remember them and spit them out onto the page.

Sometimes, more often than you might think, this is all we need to write a workable first draft.

But it takes practice. Writing every day strengthens your writing muscles and makes you a better (and faster) writer.

And that makes you better at everything else you do in your practice.

To develop your writing skills, I suggest you schedule time for daily writing practice. Even 15 minutes helps. You can write about anything. Or nothing. Jot down something you saw or heard or thought about or want to know.

And do it again tomorrow.

Sometimes, you’ll turn a good phrase and want to share it. Sometimes, you’ll write something you want to bury in the backyard. It’s all good. It’s just practice.

Eventually, with enough practice, you’ll be able to quickly write a decent first draft. Even when you have no idea what to write about.

Like (I hope) I did today.

Filed Under: Writing

What do you plan to do with this information?

August 10, 2023 by David M. Ward

Best-selling author Ryan Holiday said, “When intelligent people read, they ask themselves a simple question: What do I plan to do with this information?”

That’s the reason we read, isn’t it? Yes, we also read for entertainment and to learn about subjects that interest us, but the primary reason we consume content is because we want to do something with the information.

We have projects to complete and goals to achieve. We want to grow our business and improve our life and we use the information we gather to help us get better results.

Holiday seems to suggest that deciding what to do with the information is best done before we read it, or at least while we’re doing it. We get more out of it that way because we see the information in the context of our work or an important area of our life.

So, when you buy a book or bookmark an article or video, think about what you want to get out of it. What do you hope to learn? To which project or area of your life do you think it will apply?

By considering this in advance, when you read the material, you’re more likely to pick up on things you might have missed, and ask yourself more probative questions that can improve your understanding and use of the material.

Then, when you read the material, take notes and put those notes in your own words. Don’t merely record the facts or ideas, write down what you think about those facts or ideas and how you can use them.

Do you agree with the author? See a better way? Think of additional ideas?

Add tags or labels to your notes to make them easier to find. Add links to your other notes to make them more useful.

And decide if the information is good enough to read more than once.

Finally, if you realize that the material isn’t what you hoped it would be, don’t hesitate to skim the remainder or close the book and find something else to read.

Because information is only as good at what you can do with it.

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, Writing

Successful bastards

August 9, 2023 by David M. Ward

Some lawyers are good at their work but severally lacking in people skills. They may be self-centered, short-tempered, or rude. They yell a lot. And always seem to focus on the negative.

Humbug.

Or maybe they just don’t have much of a personality. They’re all business. They rarely smile or say anything lighthearted or uplifting. Maybe there’s a good person inside their rough exterior but most people don’t get to see it.

And yet they are successful lawyers. What’s their secret?

Buffers.

They surround themselves with employees and partners and business contacts who have the people skills they lack. An assistant who is nice to the clients and makes them feel good about their case. A partner who is good in front of a crowd or a camera or a jury.

They’re charming. And good with people.

In an ad agency, they’d be account executives. Wooing prospects and taking the clients to lunch. In a law firm, they are the rainmakers and trial lawyers.

And there’s a place for both.

The point? Don’t try to be something you’re not.

If you’re better with the books than the folks, if you’re as exciting as drapery or as bad as Leroy Brown, let someone else on the team be the face and personality of the firm and keep the clients happy.

Even if you’re good with people, if someone else on the team is better, let them do the job. Or at least be around when there are clients in the house.

On the other hand, if you’re all warm and fuzzy and clients don’t always take you seriously, make sure to introduce them to your partner who channels Perry Mason.

Know thyself. And get ye some buffers.

Filed Under: Client relations