Why you should create an “inner circle” for your clients

June 13, 2012 by
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An attorney liked my post about the magic of practicing law and asked how we can “capitalize on the mystery, the magic, and the utility of the work we lawyers do?”

In other words, how can we use this mystique about what lawyers do to bring in more clients?

Yesterday’s post provides one answer: eliminate the mystique. By educating prospects and clients about what you do, they see that what you do isn’t magic at all. It’s years of study, the scars of many battles, and hard work, harder than they ever imagined. By removing the veil of mystique surrounding what you do, clients are more likely to appreciate what you do.

For most attorneys this is the best way to capitalize on the mystery of practicing law. It’s easy to do and it works. And since most attorneys don’t do this, you can easily stand out when you do.

Another way to capitalize on the mystique is to add to it. Continue to educate prospects (blog readers, newsletter subscribers, etc.) about what you do but let it be known that you have a lot more that you share only with your clients. If your public information is good, anyone who is considering you for their attorney may tip the scale in your favor to get access to your best information.

Let it be known that your clients get “private” information, not just about your practice area, but on other topics: tax savings, consumer advice, strategies for improving credit, business building ideas, and so on, supplied by you and other professionals you know and work with.

But don’t stop with information. Promote the fact that your clients get other benefits as a member of your “inner circle”. They get discounts from local merchants you have negotiated with on their behalf, access to free seminars, gift certificates, and other benefits. You might have “client only” luncheons, picnics or retreats, or other activities exclusively for your clients.

And talk about those activities. Blog about them, show pictures from them, get quotes from your clients about how much they learned or how much they enjoyed bowling and pizza night.

When someone hires another attorney, they get the work done. When they hire you, they get to belong to a private club. Members of that club get far more than the basic services any attorney provides. They get specialized information, valuable benefits, and access to fun activities.

Yes, this takes more work. But it gives you something unique that you can use to build a culture of clients who would never think of hiring anyone else.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing Tagged With:

Why clients don’t appreciate their attorneys (and what to do about it)

June 12, 2012 by
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An attorney mentioned to me that clients often don’t appreciate what attorneys do for them. He said, “. . .[B]ecause they can’t see what we do or because they believe that it’s just templates and forms, [they think our] fees should be low and that we don’t really do much for our fees.”

We shouldn’t be surprised that clients feel this way. After all, we sell an intangible service, something you can’t look at or hold in your hands. We deal in ideas and paper and much of the hard work goes on in our brains.

And attorneys are expensive. When the client earns $30 an hour and you’re billing $300 an hour, or when you get $3,000.00 for “a few letters and phone calls,” you can see why they don’t appreciate what we do.

A detailed accounting of your work helps them see how much effort you put into their case or matter. But this can backfire if they don’t understand why you had to do what you did.

The solution is to teach your prospects and clients as much as possible about what you do. Educate them about the law and procedure. Teach them about their options, the risks and the contingencies. Show them the process and the paperwork.

The more they know, the more they will appreciate what you do for them.

Write articles and blog posts. Tell war stories that illustrate what can go wrong. Provide interviews, Q and A’s, and FAQ’s.

Record videos that walk them through the documents in a typical file or a pile of depo transcripts, tabbed and notated. Give them copies of the full opinions you quoted in your motion, highlighted and with your notes in the margins. Give them copies of everything that comes into, or out of your file.

And explain everything. What is obvious to you is not obvious to them. What you do every day is something they’ve never seen before.

Tell them why you choose A instead of B. Explain why you used to do C (which is what other attorneys do) and why you no longer do it that way.

Don’t hold back. Teach them enough so that they could do all of it, or parts of it, themselves. They won’t even want to try and they will begin to appreciate how hard you job really is.

They won’t understand everything and they don’t have to. They simply need to see that what you do is a lot more than they thought it was.

Educating prospects and clients is also one of your most potent marketing strategies.

When you teach people about what you do, and other attorneys don’t, you have an advantage. All of that information positions you as knowledgeable and experienced. It also positions you as generous. “If he gives away all of this information free, I can only imagine how much he does for his paying clients!”

Educate the market. Provide lots of information. Teach them what they need to know about their legal matter and about what you do. More often than not, they’ll choose you as their attorney and instead of questioning your fees they’ll thank their lucky stars you agreed to represent them.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Fees and Billing, Marketing legal services, Newsletters Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to get people talking about you and your law practice

May 15, 2012 by
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One of the best ways to help people understand what you do is to tell stories about the clients and cases you’ve handled in the past. All of your marketing documents and messages should be peppered with client stories for reasons I’ve written about before.

But if you want people to talk about you and remember you and send business to you, there’s one more story you need to tell: your story.

People are fascinated by lawyers. Yes, they criticize us and make jokes about us, but at the same time, they love to watch TV dramas and read novels featuring attorneys.

Of course we know that the real world of practicing law is not anything like that depicted on TV. By and large, what we do is boring.

Nevertheless, your clients and prospects and social media fans and followers believe you lead a fascinating life. They would love to peek behind the curtain to see what you do.

Don’t tell them. Remember, what you do is boring.

But who you are is not.

Tell them your story. What drives you? What gets you out of bed in the morning, ready to slay dragons and save princesses? Why do you do what you do?

Share your passion for your work and insights into who you are. What fascinated you when you were growing up? Who influenced you? What experiences made you the person you are today?

Share your feelings and beliefs, desires and dreams, and even your fears. Let people see that you are a real person, just like them.

Real stories, of course, have a dramatic arc. There is controversy, disagreement, hardship, struggle. Our hero (that’s you) wants something, but there are obstacles in the way. The dragon doesn’t roll over and die, you have to slay him.

Find the dramatic story of your life and tell it. It’s what makes you unique and memorable. It’s what will help you stand out in the crowd.

Your story will attract people and get them talking about you and sending you business. And hey, if your story is good enough, one day we might see it on TV.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Communication, Copywriting, Image, Marketing legal services, Public Speaking, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

How to be more persuasive in your writing and speaking

May 2, 2012 by
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When I was in law school I helped a friend with her divorce. I prepared the Petition (yes, under supervision) and served it.

In those days, even though there were no children or real property and the matter was uncontested, she had to appear in court. I went with her to the hearing in downtown Los Angeles and we waited in the hallway for the courtroom to open.

I’d never seen my friend so nervous. She had never been in a courtroom and was afraid she wouldn’t know what to say. I told her this was a very simple case, the judge would ask a few basic questions and everything would be over in a few minutes. I kept talking, trying to calm her down, but nothing seemed to work. She was visibly shaking and barely able to speak.

Finally, I said, “Oh, here comes the judge.” I was looking over her shoulder behind her. She turned to look. Coming towards us was a shabbily dressed old man with dirty, unruly hair and an unshaven face. It was not the judge of course but a homeless man and the sight of him shuffling down the hall made her laugh.

A good laugh was exactly what the doctor ordered. My friend was able to get through the hearing and soon, we were on our way home.

In the car, she thanked me for helping her and especially for helping her to calm down enough to get through the hearing. It meant a lot to her that I cared enough to do that. We are still very good friends today, more than thirty years later.

So, why did I tell you this story? I could have simply made the point that your clients want to know you care about them and really do appreciate the little things you say or do.

Telling you that story was a better way to make that point, don’t you think?

I talk a lot about using stories in your writing and presentations. You’ve often heard me say, “facts tell but stories sell” and I’ve explained why:

  • Stories have people in them and the reader or listener can relate to them and their experiences.
  • Stories have a dramatic theme; people want to know, “what happened next?”
  • Stories have verisimilitude; they “show” instead of “tell,” and are often more persuasive than a logical argument
  • Stories appeal to human emotion. When you make people feel something, you connect with them on a deeper level.
  • People remember stories long after the facts are forgotten.

As you read my story, I hope you were you able to see my friend and me in that hallway and you could relate to the experience of trying to comfort a nervous client. If you could, then my story did double duty–it made the point about showing clients you care and it showed you why you need to put more stories in your writing and presentations.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Presentations, Public Speaking, Salesmanship, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Success in legal marketing is yours for the asking

April 23, 2012 by
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Marketing your services is so much easier when other people help you. And help you they will. All you have to do is ask.

So ask.

Ask for referrals. Ask for introductions. Ask for advice from other attorneys. Ask your clients for information about your target market. Ask people to Like your Facebook page. Ask people to forward your newsletters and recommend your seminars. Ask clients what you can do to better to serve them and ask prospects how you can win their business.

Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find.

Often, attorneys have trouble asking for help for themselves. They have no problem asking a judge or jury for relief for their client but when it comes to asking people to help them, they get uncomfortable. Their ego gets in the way. They think it makes them look weak. But the opposite is true. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of confidence and strength.

And people want to help you. It makes them feel good to do it. It makes them feel appreciated and important. You flatter them when you ask.

Don’t you feel good doing favors for others? You know you do. You like being asked and you like being able to help. It feels good when someone says, “thank you”. So look at asking for help as an opportunity to make others feel good.

Now, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to ask someone for help today and let me know what happens. It will make me feel good to know that my advice worked for you. So will you do me that favor? Thank you, I appreciate your help.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

The key to failure in marketing legal services

February 15, 2012 by
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Bill Cosby was once asked if he would share the key to his success. He famously said, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

And yet that’s exactly what most people do.

They take middle of the road positions on issues because they don’t want to offend anybody. They write articles or blog posts directed to everyone, instead of addressing the specifics of their niche market. Or they don’t target a niche market at all because they don’t want to exclude any potential business.

Because this is what most people do, most people get mediocre results. Successful people don’t try to please everyone. In fact, they may do their best to antagonize a large segment of the population.

Name a successful political pundit on the right. How about Rush Limbaugh? Now, how about on the left? Let’s go with Chris Matthews. What do they have in common, besides being financially successful?

Both have millions of fans and. . . both have millions who hate them.

Instead of being on the right and the left, suppose they were centrists. Do you think they would be as successful?

The savviest politicians and political commentators know, the better you are at turning OFF those who aren’t your audience, the better you’ll be at turning ON those who are.

And it’s the same in marketing.

It’s all about passion. If you have it, and if you can get people fired up about something, either for OR against, you’ll be more likely to stand out from the crowd. Yes, there will people who are turned off by what you say or do, but guess what? They probably weren’t going to hire you anyway.

I’d much rather have a list of 100 people who love what I do and tell everyone about me, than 10,000 people who might not remember subscribing to my list. Those 100 fans will bring others who will do the same.

Don’t try to please everyone. Dr. Huxtable says it’s a prescription for failure.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Marketing legal services, success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to get your clients to support your law practice

February 14, 2012 by
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My wife and I are continuing to unclutter. Yesterday she brought our daughter’s Irish Dance costumes to her old school to see if they could use them.

The school today is much smaller than it was ten years ago when my daughter attended. My wife noticed that there isn’t room for the parents to congregate inside the school like we used to do. It looked like most parents dropped off their kids.

When the school was bigger, many parents stayed for the class. We spent time together–at the school, during competitions, and eventually, outside the school envirnonment–and we got to know each other and our families. The school became a social incubator and helped foster relationships that still exist today, five or ten years after our children attended.

When we were active at the school, there were competitions and shows and we parents contributed much time and effort building sets, working lights and music, and selling tickets to the shows to our friends and neighbors. Yes, we were supporting our children, but the amount of effort we contributed would not have been anywhere near the same had our social group of parents not been so strong.

Today, I’m sure they don’t get anywhere near the amount of parent involvement we had, simply because the parents don’t know each other as well. As a result, the smaller school is more likely to stay that way.

A business can leverage their customer base by creating a social environment where their customers can build strong ties among themselves and, therefore, also with that business. A law firm can do the same thing.

Most lawyers have a one-to-one private relationship with their clients. They don’t “cross pollinate” their clientèle. Because of privacy issues this is to be expected. Most clients don’t want anyone to know they’ve hired a bankruptcy or criminal defense lawyer. But not all practices are so constricted.

A small business practice, for example, has clients who can benefit from knowing each other. They can refer business, exchange ideas, and recommend vendors. If you hold a monthly event–a mixer, a breakfast or lunch, a seminar series–where your clients regularly come together, they would build a social network of their own. Your clients would benefit and as the organizer of these events, so would you.

When you have strong relationships with your clients, they are much more likely to remain your clients. No other lawyer will get their referrals. And if you need a favor–sending traffic to your web site, promoting your seminar, or distributing your new report–your clients will help. In fact, they’ll probably be more likely to do so because of the added accountability of the social network.

If there’s any way to build a social element into your practice, I suggest you give it a try. If this isn’t appropriate for your clients, you can do the next best thing–organize a breakfast or lunch or other regular social event for your referral sources and friends of the firm.

Strong relationships with your clients and referral sources help you strengthen and grow your practice. When they have strong relationships among themselves, your growth can be accelerated.

You don’t have to be the sponsor of that group, just the organizer. And the best part is you won’t have to listen to accordion music.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Don’t read this unless you want to quickly bring in a bunch of new clients

February 10, 2012 by
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If you have a few minutes today, there’s a very good chance you can use this time to bring in more business. I’ve been preaching the value of this “technique” for many years because it is an incredibly effective way to put people in your waiting room.

I put “technique” in quotes because it’s not a technique so much as common sense. You don’t have to study or practice. You don’t need any special tools. There’s nothing to prepare. You can do it as soon as you finish reading this post.

One lawyer who did this eventually wrote to me to tell me he was getting so much new business, his secretary made him stop!

So what is this brilliantly simple way to bring in more business? Simply this: Call your clients and say hello.

Call your current clients and your former clients and tell them you are calling to say hello and see how they are doing.

That’s it.

The first thing that will happen is that your clients will be amazed and delighted that you thought enough of them to reach out and say hello (without the meter running). They will appreciate you even more than they already do.

Ask them about their family or their work or business. They will be even more impressed that you remembered something personal about them. Let them talk.

Don’t ask for anything or offer anything. Remember, you’re just calling to say hello.

Now what?

Well, your presence on the telephone will prompt your clients to think about legal issues or concerns they’ve had recently and they will ask for advice. Or, they will think about a friend from work or someone in the family with a legal issue and ask you if you can help them.

Before you know it you will be talking to people who want to hire you.

Of course, you will also be talking to people with issues you don’t handle. You will refer them to lawyers in those practice areas and score points with the client and the lawyers you refer them to.

Not everyone will have business for you today. In fact, most won’t. But in reminding them that you still help people solve legal problems, when they do need your services, or know someone who does, guess who they are going to call?

If you get voice mail, leave a message and tell them you’ll call again. Call them again in a few days at a different time.

Your clients know, like, and trust you. They hired you once and they will hire you again. They know people who need your services or who will need your services in the future, and they will be only too happy to send that business to you.

And you don’t even have to ask.

—

If you want to grow your practice even quicker, go buy The Quantum Leap  Marketing System for Attorneys. It will show you how to build a large (or larger) practice quicker than you ever thought possible.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Dear Attorney: Would You Hire You?

January 31, 2012 by
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I’ve been conducting free consultations with attorneys who want to earn more and/or work less. I’m pretty quick at getting to the heart of the matter, but since we have just a few minutes together, I’ve asked each attorney to answer a few questions before we speak. One of those questions is, “What are your strengths?”

Most of the attorneys say pretty much the same thing. They’re good at what they do, they provide good service, and their clients seem to like them.

Good stuff. But is it true?

How do you know you provide good service? How do you know your clients like you? This is your perception, after all, and let’s face it, you are just a little biased.

Do you ever ask your clients for feedback, through surveys, questionnaires, or interviews?

Do you ever have a “mystery shopper” sit in your waiting room and watch the way clients are greeted? Does your staff greet them with a smile and make them feel welcome? Are they offered something to drink? How long do they have to wait?

Have you ever listened in on phone conversations between your staff and your clients? Have you ever recorded yourself speaking with clients and listened to the conversation?

No matter how well you’re doing you can always do better. But you have to put some energy into it. Start by looking at what your firm does through the eyes of your clients. Take inventory of what you do and how well you do it.

Your clients like you but that’s not enough. You want them to love you, to be so enamored with the way you treat them that they are not only willing to refer clients to you, they go out of their way to look for people they can refer.

Commit to making superlative service a fundamental part of your firm’s culture. Conduct meetings, trainings and weekend retreats with your staff, focused on improving client relations. Recognize and reward your employees who treat clients right.

If you regularly receive referrals, testimonial letters and thank you notes from your clients, that’s good. But don’t settle for good when you can be great.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management Tagged With: , , ,

How to create a more successful law practice

January 13, 2012 by
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I read another thoughtful post by Leo Babauta on the Zen Habits blog about the subject of practice. No, he wasn’t writing about a law practice, but I thought his message of “practicing” to effect improvement applied as much to a law practice as to anything else. Plus, I like the play on words.

We are what we repeatedly do. We are the sum of our habits. If we want to change who we are, we have to change what we do.

Change begins with awareness. If you didn’t say “thank you” to the new client who just hired you (you’d be surprised at how many attorneys don’t), reading this sentence made you aware that you didn’t and also aware of how important it is. (Your mother will tell you, it’s one of the most important things you can do.) If you usually say thank you, but for some reason didn’t do it last time, there is room for improvement. The standard of excellence isn’t saying thank you most of the time, but every time.

Now that you are aware, make a decision to change. Then, practice your new habit. With something as simple as saying thank you, you might only need to be reminded. Write it down on your intake sheet, use a post it note, put it on your calendar, whatever you need to do to remember to always say thank you.

Also be aware of what happens when you get it right. Watch your new client’s face as you look him in the eye, shake his hand, and sincerely tell him how much you appreciate having him as a client. Tell him you’ll take good care of him. Let the handshake linger a few seconds longer. Give him your full attention. Say thank you, and mean it. You’ll see some of the tension leave his face as he comes to realize that you really do care.

Your law practice is a collection of habits. What you (and your staff) regularly do and how well you do it defines you, distinguishes you from other lawyers, and plays a big role in determining your success. There are big habits and many small ones and they all matter.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Image, Marketing legal services, Personal development, success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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