The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

Reverse marketing

May 21, 2024 by David M. Ward

When I opened my practice, I looked at my skill set and experience, choose services to offer, and went looking for clients who needed those services.

That’s how most lawyers (and businesses) do it. It’s also why they struggle.

It’s much easier and more effective to do things in reverse.

What I should have done (and eventually did) is to first choose the clients and market I wanted to serve, and only then choose services to offer them. It’s more efficient that way and much more likely to be successful.

For one thing, you don’t have to hold yourself out to “everyone” and let “everyone” decide if what you do is right for them. Knowing what types of clients and markets you want to work with, you can (and should) tailor your marketing to the specific needs and wants of those clients and markets.

Do you want to work with small businesses and professionals, big businesses, or consumers? Which industry, market, or niche?

Do you want to work with clients who want premium service and will pay more to get it, or clients who want low cost, no frills services?

Do you want to work with clients who have lots of legal needs or clients with fewer but bigger matters?

Figure this out first and then figure out what to offer them and how to package and promote it.

You’ll have a lot less marketing overhead, a lot less competition, and a much higher “closing” ratio. You’ll also attract more word-of-mouth and referrals and build a much more lucrative practice.

Use your existing “best” clients and markets and create a profile. Based on that, create content for your website, blog, or social channels, and marketing documents and offers, with examples, stories, and industry-specific language that will resonate with the people in that market.

You’ll attract clients that are a good fit for you, and “weed out” clients who aren’t.

You’ll also attract more referral sources and opportunities (speaking, networking, writing, joint ventures) who see you as a good fit for them and/or their clients.

Market in reverse. Life will be good.

How to choose your ideal client and target market

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

3 steps to your next client

May 17, 2024 by David M. Ward

Any time you engage with a prospective new client, or an existing or former client about a new matter, there are 3 steps to follow.

First, you need to find out the PROBLEM—what happened and what they need or want. They tell you their situation and you ask questions to find out the details and the solution(s) they’re after.

Second, you explain the solutions you offer—your services, how they work, and how the client will be better off by hiring you (BENEFITS). At some point, you talk about fees, costs, the timetable, and other details they need to know. You also tell them (or remind them) about their risks if they delay or do nothing.

Third, you tell them what to do to get the solutions and benefits you provide (the “call to ACTION”), e.g., fill out a form, make an appointment, talk to someone, or sign the agreement and pay you, and you ask them to do that (or what they want to do).

All 3 steps can occur during your first meeting or conversation or over a period of time.

You may also need to provide additional information, answer more questions, respond to objections, talk to another stakeholder, do some research, and follow up multiple times, but ultimately, the path from prospect to client always includes these 3 steps.

Some steps will be easy, almost effortless. Some will take lots of work and time. But you can’t skip any step, so make yourself a checklist and use it. You’ll be glad you did.

Filed Under: Closing the sale

Why didn’t they hire me?

May 16, 2024 by David M. Ward

When a client doesn’t sign up, you need to find out why. Because it might not be too late to get them to change their mind, and because you need to know if there’s something you need to fix for the next client.

Was it something you said or did? Something you didn’t say or do? Did a competitor offer something better?

Clients say “no” for a variety of reasons:

They didn’t believe or trust you
Your presentation or initial meeting was lacking or a competitor’s was better
They think you charge too much (and didn’t think it was worth it)
They think you charge too little (and it made them question your experience or ability)
You don’t have (enough) good testimonials or reviews to suit them
The competition has a bigger staff or a better website; the client thought they were more successful or experienced and a safer choice
It might be the services you offer (or don’t) and how they you describe them.

And while it might be something external, e.g., they hired a lawyer they already knew or were referred to, you should assume there’s something you can improve.

How do you know?

Ask them. They may not be able to (or want to) tell you precisely why they didn’t sign up with you, but they might give you some clues.
Ask someone who knows them what they want or need and what might turn them off.
Ask someone who knows you for feedback about you and your practice.
Ask someone to sit in on your next client meeting and tell you what they see that could be improved.

There are always things you can improve:

Your presentation or “pitch”. Is it persuasive? Believable? Does it touch on the right points and make the client feel like they are in good hands? Could you improve the opening or closing? Is it too short or too long, too much about you and not enough about the client?
Your website and marketing documents. Are they consistent with the image and professionalism the client wants and expects? Are they thorough? Persuasive? Do they inspire confidence?
How are clients greeted by you and your staff? How long are they are kept waiting? Are you and your staff friendly and genuine? Do you smile, make eye contact, shake hands, offer them a beverage?
How do you describe your services? Do you explain the benefits or just the features? Do you explain enough or assume they already know?
Do you have enough testimonials? Positive reviews? Bona Fides?
What do you send to prospective clients before the first meeting? How is your follow-up after the appointment?
And much more

Anything, large or small, could be the reason a client doesn’t hire you. Keep your eyes and ears open. And when you find something that could be improved, improve it.

You might be just one or two adjustments away from a significant increase in sign ups.

Because clients are people and people are weird.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Closing the sale

Can you rely solely on repeat business and referrals?

May 15, 2024 by David M. Ward

Yes, you can; many lawyers do.

They have a client base that trusts them and have enough legal work to keep them busy, and they have friends and business contacts they can and do refer.

Nice, isn’t it?

They don’t advertise, network, blog, do presentations, or do any other marketing. They can if they want to, and sometimes they do, but the growth of their practice doesn’t depend on anything other than doing good work for their clients and serving them well.

It takes awhile to get to that point, so if you’re a new lawyer or don’t yet have a big enough practice to generate a steady stream of business, you’ll need to do other things until you get there. I did that when I started practicing. It was hard and took a good five years, but it was worth it.

Hold on. It’s easy to screw up.

Clients and their businesses die, you mess up and they leave, the economy throws you under the bus, laws change, competition steals the show, overhead can eat you alive, and other factors can change everything.

So, never take anything or anyone for granted. Assume the best, but be prepared for the worst:

Continually strengthen your relationships with clients, prospects, and business contacts.
Ask for testimonials, reviews, introductions, and referrals, because they may not think to provide them if you don’t.
Create a website that tells people what you do and how you can help them and let it do most of the selling for you.
Build a list and stay in touch with everyone.

Finally, continually look for new ways to bring in business and increase your profits, because you never know what the future has in store.

How to talk to clients about referrals

Filed Under: Referrals, Relationship marketing

The 80/20 of attorney marketing

May 14, 2024 by David M. Ward

How’s your marketing? Let me guess—some things you do work better than others, some don’t work at all, some strategies you enjoy, some you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole.

The Pareto Principle, aka The 80/20 Rule, can help.

The idea is to examine all of your options, do more of what works, and eliminate or do less of everything else.

The Pareto Principle says that in any endeavor, “a minority of inputs or actions tens to yield the majority of outputs or results” and that minority is often around 20%. If you use 10 marketing strategies in your practice, you’re likely to find that just 2 of those strategies bring you most of your new clients, repeat business, leads, referrals, etc.

And if it’s not 20%, it’s probably close to it.

It’s not just the strategies you use, however. For referrals, you might find that 20% of your referral sources, whether clients or professional contacts, provide you with 80% of your total referrals. Knowing that allows you to give those referral sources more attention and increase your referrals.

If you use paid advertising, you might find that 80% of your leads or inquires come from just 20% of your keywords or publications. You can significantly improve your results by spending more dollars on your best performing publications or keywords and less on the rest.

The actual numbers aren’t critical. What’s important is that you examine your activities and your results, focus your time and dollars on the “precious few” activities that deliver the majority of your results, and ignore or do less of the “trivial many” that don’t.

So, you have to look at your numbers. But don’t be ruled by them.

If you’re good at something, speaking or writing for example, and you enjoy doing those things, do more of them, even if they don’t (yet) deliver big results.

Why? Because the most important and valuable part of marketing isn’t the specifics of what you do, or how you do them, it’s that you do something.

Anything that qualifies as marketing is good. Especially in a profession where resistance to marketing is so pronounced.

Doing any marketing is the “20% that delivers 80% of your results”.

Because it will lead to new ideas, relationships, and opportunities that would otherwise never materialize.

Do something you enjoy. Eventually, the numbers will come.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: 80/20 principle, pareto principle

When a prospective client still won’t commit…

May 13, 2024 by David M. Ward

Usually, prospective clients let you know they’re ready to hire you or tell you why they aren’t. But sometimes, they can’t decide what to do. You can help them by getting them to focus on what’s at stake.

The simplest way to do that is to (a) summarize what they told you they need or want, (b) what you told them about your solutions and benefits, and (c) the risks of waiting or doing nothing. Follow this with something like, “This (your services) seems to be your best option right now. What do you think?”

When they aren’t ready to say yes, you want them to tell you what they’re thinking (questions, objections, fears) so you can respond and try again.

If you have done that but they are still dragging their feet, ask, “Are you just in the information gathering stage right now, or are you serious about (fixing this problem, starting a business, getting this taken care of, etc.?”)

If they’re “just looking” let them tell you that. Hearing themself say this might help them realize they might not get what they want and tell you to get started.

If they’re serious about solving their problem but still won’t commit, get them to focus on what’s at stake by pointing out what you’re hearing. “It seems like you’re not sure what you want to do” or “It seems like you’re not ready to do this right now” and ask a question that reminds them what is a take:

“Are you okay with not taking care of this until next year?”
“Are you willing to accept the risk of X getting bigger/worse?”
“If you wait, it may cost you a lot more (because). Is that okay with you?”

If they want the benefits you offer, understand the risks of saying no or waiting, but still aren’t willing to commit, let them go. Tomorrow, they may think about what you’ve told them and the fact that you didn’t push them, their fear of loss may kick in and they’ll call you back.

And if they don’t, you can spend your time talking to prospective clients who are ready to go.

Filed Under: Closing the sale

The problem with lists

May 10, 2024 by David M. Ward

Everyone uses lists to record information and convey that information to others in a way that’s easy to follow. We use lists in our work, for research, opening and closing files, and every step in between.

We give our clients lists of things to do, and things to avoid, and lists of the steps we will take with their case, and they like knowing what to expect.

We also use lists in our marketing, so we can do things quickly and efficiently, in the right order, without having to think about what to do each time. And because our readers like posts that contain lists, we use lists in our content marketing.

When a business lawyer publishes a post that promises, “21 ways to use the law to increase your bottom line,” for example, this usually attracts prospective clients in their market. “There’s got to be at least one or two of those ways I can use,” they think, and they read (scan) the post to find out.

List posts work, and you should use them liberally in your content marketing.

Okay, so what’s the problem?

The problem is that because list-posts work and are easy to write, everyone writes them. Lawyers, consumer and business writers, bloggers, consultants, et al., know that list posts are popular (by looking at their statistics), and so they write lots of them.

Therefore, while you should use lists in your content, you shouldn’t rely on them exclusively.

Use your knowledge and experience and credibility as a lawyer to write more thoughtful, in-depth content, the kind only a lawyer of your experience and standing can provide.

Clients prefer to read and hire experts. A thoughtful piece by an attorney who practices in the area they need help with is more valuable to them than a simple list by a blogger.

So, you need both.

Write simple list-posts to get traffic and opens, and authoritative posts to “sell” readers on following and hiring you.

Filed Under: Content creation, Online Marketing, Writing

Retelling

May 9, 2024 by David M. Ward

You post content on your blog or newsletter or on social. But you don’t have enough of it.

I’ve previously talked about re-writing your old content—updating the law, explaining what’s happened since you last wrote about the subject, adding a new example, “changing your mind” about the subject, and otherwise updating or refreshing what you wrote before.

It’s an easy way to get new content to write about.

But there are times when the well is dry and you need new material. New information, examples, or stories.

No problem. Someone else has what you need.

I’m not suggesting you reach out and find some guest posts, although that is an excellent way to get some fresh material (and some traffic from the guest-poster’s followers when he or she mentions it).

I’m suggesting something simpler. Find something someone else wrote and re-write or re-tell it.

If you read a story about a lawyer who won an important case, for example, you can write about that. It’s their case, their story, but even if you weren’t involved, you can write about it.

You can tell the same story in your own words. Describe what they did and what you think about it. Do you agree with their strategy? Think they could have done better? Have a thought about what that case means for your practice or your clients’ industry?

Agree, disagree, offer another example—anything will do. Because you’re merely using their story to tell your own.

You don’t have to spend extra time searching for stories or posts to re-tell. Keep reading what you usually read (or listen to) and use that.

Try that now. Open a bar journal and read something that interests you. Write a few bullet points about the article and use this to tell your readers what happened and what you think about it.

The odds are your story will take very little time to write.

And, as long as other lawyers (professionals, business owners, consultants, etc.) continue writing articles and blog posts about things that are valuable for or interesting to the people in your target market, you’ll never run out of things to write about.

Your readers will be impressed by your ability to continually share interesting new content. They’ll wonder how you do it.

Your secret is safe with me.

Filed Under: Content creation

How to deal with an unhappy client

May 8, 2024 by David M. Ward

Your client is upset. Angry, frustrated, accusing you of (something). What should you do?

Well, was it your fault? Did you mess up? Fail to tell them something? Charge more than they expected?

If it was your fault, let them vent, tell you how they feel and what it will cost them, and what they want you to do.

Hear them out. Don’t rush them. Let them say what they want to say.

When they’re done, take the blame, explain what happened, apologize, and do whatever it takes to fix the problem.

The only thing worse than having an unhappy client is having an unhappy client who leaves and tells everyone they know about their dissatisfaction with you.

So, fall on your sword and make them happy.

The good news is that unhappy clients often become happy, lifelong clients when the attorney apologizes, takes responsibility, and remedies the situation. Maybe they feel guilty for being unreasonable or they’ve simply had time to calm down.

But what if it wasn’t your fault? What if the client was upset about something in their business or personal life and took it out on you? They had a fight with their spouse, lost a bunch of money in the market or a business deal, or they had a flat tire and got grease on their new suit.

What do you do when it’s not your fault? You let them vent and you listen. Show them you care about them. Offer to help.

Treat them the way you would want to be treated if your roles were reversed.

If you do, if you let them blow off steam and tell you what’s on their mind, the odds are they’ll realize that the problem wasn’t your fault, they’ll appreciate you for listening, and realize that they’re the one who needs to apologize.

An unhappy client is an opportunity—to fix the problem if you were at fault or to be a friend if you weren’t.

Filed Under: Client relations

Guaranteed to fail

May 7, 2024 by David M. Ward

Want to know how to succeed? Figure out how to fail and do the opposite. That’s the premise of a process called Inversion Thinking. And while it sounds simplistic, I think there’s a lot to say for it.

Especially if you have too many options and can’t decide what to do or the best way to do it.

For example, let’s say you have a goal to increase your firm’s revenue by 50% in the next six months, but you’re not sure how. You brainstorm ideas, strategies, workflow improvements, and search for new marketing methods, but you still don’t have a plan. With inversion thinking, you might ask yourself, “What would I do if I wanted to guarantee I would FAIL to achieve my goal?”

Ridiculous? Yes. And that’s the point. By identifying guaranteed ways to fail, you identify things to avoid and also things that you should specifically focus on (i.e., the opposite.)

So, you make a list of ways to guarantee you would fail to hit your revenue goal:

Ignore former clients and prospects; they know where to find me if they need me
Immediately start as many new marketing projects as possible
Check social media constantly
Rely on “brand” advertising to build name recognition
Do everything myself (don’t delegate or outsource anything)
Do nothing myself (hire expensive consultants and have them do everything)
Make sure everything is perfect or don’t do it at all
Wing it; I’m smart, I don’t need a plan or schedule

And so on.

Go a little crazy. Then, do the opposite:

Prioritize staying in touch with former clients and prospects because they already know you, can provide repeat business and referrals, and there is no cost to find them
Focus on only one or two projects at a time
Limit social media to 20 minutes per day
Set up a schedule for working on these projects, put this on my calendar, and set up reminders
Progress is better than perfection; get started, make it better over time

You may not always know what to do to succeed, but you can usually figure out how to fail. Then, do the opposite. Or at least don’t do anything you know is guaranteed to fail.

Filed Under: success