Marketing legal services Archives - Page 29 of 128

Do more of what’s working

October 22, 2020 by David M. Ward

Franklin Roosevelt said, “Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, do something else.”

Splendid advice.

Too often, we try to fix what’s not working. Too often, that’s not the best use of our time.

So, ask yourself, What’s working for me right now? What am I doing well?

And do more of it.

Because what’s working well will probably continue to do so. Because the more you do something, the better you get at it, and the better your results.

Look at your calendar and your “done” list. Look at the things you do each day to run your practice and put a star next to things you want to do more of.

Things that make money, improve your skills, and help you grow. Things that help you work more effectively and efficiently. Things that make what you do more gratifying.

Keep a list of these “keepers” in front of you, to remind yourself to do more of them–because what you focus on grows.

Where do you find the time to do more of what’s working? By eliminating or cutting down on things that aren’t.

Do more of what’s working, less of what isn’t.

How to get more referrals from your clients

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Productivity, success

Do you enjoy marketing?

October 21, 2020 by David M. Ward

For many lawyers, marketing is something they have to do, so they do it. But they don’t like it.

If you’re among them, imagine what it would be like if you loved marketing and didn’t have to force yourself to do it.

You’d do more of it, wouldn’t you? You’d get better at it. You’d be able to do it more quickly. And you’d get better results.

Sound like a plan?

Okay, a few thoughts on how to make marketing your jam.

First, it’s okay to start by not enjoying it. It’s probably best not to hate it with every fiber of your being but it’s okay if it’s not your favorite thing.

Give yourself time to try different strategies and methods, learn the ropes, and experiment.

Start small. Write one email, call one business contact, get your feet wet and see how it feels. Can you see yourself doing more of this or that? Good. Keep doing it and see if you really can.

What comes natural to you? If you like to write, do that. If you don’t like speaking or networking, don’t do those.

If you don’t like anything, or you have more money than time, delegate or hire an outside firm, or advertise. And don’t forget, “internal marketing” (great client relations leading to repeat business and referrals) is marketing and it’s okay to focus on that.

Take notes about what you did and how you felt while you did it. What worked, what didn’t, what did you enjoy, what did you want to put up against a wall and murder?

Finally, take comfort in knowing that you don’t have to do everything or be great at anything. You need to find one thing you don’t hate and do it regularly. Eventually, as you get better at it (and see better results), it may become your bff.

The Attorney Marketing Formula is a good place to start

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Marketing legal services

5-Minute Marketing

October 19, 2020 by David M. Ward

Most professional services marketing is done a few minutes at a time. We make a call, we write an email, we jot down notes for our next article.

Sure, we also spend hours writing articles, delivering presentations, and meeting prospective clients and referral sources, but in the aggregate, most of our marketing is done in small snippets of time.

Which means we could do a lot more of it.

Between appointments, meetings, court appearances, drafting documents and everything else we do, we have access to snippets of time we could use for marketing.

What could you accomplish by adding several 5-minute marketing activities to your day?

The key to doing that is to keep a running list of things you could do between appointments, in the car, or while you’re drinking your third cup of coffee.

Things that don’t require you to schedule time on your calendar or do a lot of heavy lifting. Things you can do in the moment.

You grab your list and call a former client and say hello. You open your notes app and choose a idea for your next blog post. You watch a video on a skill you want to improve or a subject you could write about in your newsletter.

You can build your practice 5-minutes at a time.

If you don’t know where to start, visit my blog. You’ll find lots of marketing ideas, many of which can be done in 5-minute increments.

And hey, since it only took you only a minute or two to read this, you’ve got time to do something else before your next appointment.

Marketing is simple when you know The Formula

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Patience

October 15, 2020 by David M. Ward

You didn’t sign up any new clients today. You didn’t settle any cases or close any deals. You didn’t deposit any money.

Bad day? Not necessarily.

Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”

What did you do to connect with clients or prospects today? How much content did you create? What did you do to get your name in front of bloggers, podcasters, editors or publishers?

How many professionals in your niche did you introduce yourself to? How many new contacts did you make on social? How many new subscribers signed up for your newsletter?

How many people did you call or write to? How much time did you spend improving your knowledge or skills? How many words did you write for you book?

Marketing is like farming. You have to sow the seeds, water them, nurture them, and wait for harvest time.

Do the work and give it time.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

On-boarding new clients

October 12, 2020 by David M. Ward

Remember your first day of school? You were scared, you didn’t know anybody, and you didn’t know what was going to happen or what was expected of you.

You may have wanted to go home.

To some extent, your new clients feel the same way. They’re nervous about their case, they don’t know you, and they don’t know what’s going to happen.

Part of your job is to alleviate their fears and doubts and make them feel good about their decision to hire you.

You want them to understand what’s about to happen, what to expect from you, and what you expect from them. You want to equip them to work with you, to help you achieve a good outcome for them.

And you want to set the stage for repeat business and referrals.

You need an on-boarding checklist that spells out what you will do, and when, with links to forms, emails, and lists of things you need to do or tell the new client.

Things like:

Introduce yourself, your staff, and your partners
Learn about their family, their employees, their other advisers
Inquire about other possible legal issues
Provide information about their case–the law, the procedure, the timetable, and the process you follow
Answer their FAQs
Orient them to the tools and processes you use to communicate with your clients (and ask them which apps or methods they prefer)
Give them a “tour” of your office and/or a virtual tour of your website and the resources available to them
Educate them about “what else” you do, ie., other services, practice areas
Provide reports, referral cards, etc., they can hand out
Provide exemplars of positive reviews you’ve received and links to sites where they can leave one if they’re happy with your work
Give them homework, to get them involved in the process
Send a thank you note, a welcome gift, and add their birthday to your card list

Your checklist should encompass what you will say and do at their first appointment and thereafter.

Your clients are your most valuable asset. A checklist can ensure you continue to invest in them.

How to create “referral devices” that bring in new business

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Marketing legal services Tagged With: New client onboarding

What’s the best marketing strategy?

October 8, 2020 by David M. Ward

A busy sole practitioner asks, “Of all the possible marketing [strategies]. . . how would you rank them in order of effectiveness or “bang for the buck”?

If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I’m going to put referrals at the top of the list. If I could only do one thing, that’s what I’d do.

That’s what I did to build my practice. That’s what I recommend for every lawyer.

You should also know my second recommendation: email.

Stay in touch with clients and prospects and professional contacts via email. Do it consistently and it will bring you new business, repeat business and. . . referrals.

My third recommendation: write a book. It’s one of the best marketing tools for a professional.

Fourth, advertising. Done right, there’s almost nothing that will allow you to scale faster.

After that? It depends. Ask yourself questions like these:

What’s working for me now? What’s worked in the past?
Where does my target market hang out? What do they read? Who do they follow?
What am I good at? What do I enjoy? Speaking, networking, writing?
How much time can I dedicate to marketing?
How much money am I prepared to invest?
What could I outsource?

He asked about direct mail. Depends on your target market. It can be extremely profitable (like advertising) but you have to get a lot of things right.

He asked whether adding additional content to an already decent website makes sense? It might. How much traffic are you getting now? Are you dominating organic search for your keywords? If you’re doing well, you might work on increasing opt-ins and conversions.

So yeah, it depends.

Look at your numbers and look at what your gut is telling you.

Don’t do something merely because it’s worked for someone else or it looks like it could be profitable. Don’t force yourself to do something you don’t want to do.

Choose something that feels good to you when you think about it and focus on that.

This can help you sort things out

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

How to make marketing a habit

September 30, 2020 by David M. Ward

A lawyer wrote and said the things he’s learned from me “really work and I see results in a very short time.”

That’s good.

He mentioned his email newsletter and said, “unfortunately, it is not yet a habit.”

I told him to commit to writing once a week and put it on his calendar.

Simple. But does it solve his problem?

Note, he didn’t say he doesn’t have time or he’s not a good writer or he doesn’t know what to write about. Those are different problems, with different solutions.

As for habits, there are countless books, articles, videos, and courses that explain the psychology and present strategies and much of it is useful.

But no strategy works if you don’t use it.

And keep using it.

Which means making it a habit, which leads us back to where we started.

My advice?

You either want to write a weekly newsletter (or create any other habit) or you don’t.

If you don’t want to do it, you won’t do it. You’ll never start or you’ll start and stop. Or force yourself to do it, be miserable, and then stop.

If you want to do it, however, you’ll do it, and you won’t have to depend on strategies or tricks or willpower.

Much better, yes?

There are many strategies that can help you start, and starting is the most important part. I encourage you to do that. You might find you like it after all.

Try lots of things. And variations. If you don’t want to write a weekly newsletter, write one every other week. Or don’t write a newsletter the way others write newsletters, share your thoughts in a few paragraphs and call it a day.

Give things a reasonable tryout. If they don’t make the cut, bench them and try something else.

The good news is you only need one. You can build a massively successful practice with just one marketing strategy.

Don’t listen to all the goo-roos who say otherwise. Just listen to yourself.

How to build a successful email newsletter

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Newsletters Tagged With: habits

I need to think about it. . .

September 24, 2020 by David M. Ward

Ever have a prospective client tell you they’re not ready to sign up, they need “to think about it”? How do you respond?

Do you say something like, “No problem. Let me know if you have any additional questions”?

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s great posture. Don’t chase. Make them come to you.

But there’s something else you can do instead. You could find out what it is they want to think about and “handle” it.

The fact is, they’re not going to think about it. That’s just an excuse.

They need to talk to someone (and get their permission or buy-in), they don’t have the money (and may need to “find” it), they’re not convinced they need to hire an attorney (yet), or they’re not convinced they should hire YOU.

They came to you with a problem. There’s something stopping them from getting the help they need and probably want.

With a little probing, you may be able to find out what’s stopping them, address it, and get them to sign up.

Because if you let them walk, you have to assume they won’t be back.

They’ll talk themselves out of it, or get overruled. Or they’ll see a “better deal” offered by another attorney and grab it.

Take a minute to find out what they need to think about.

“Is it the fee?” Because that’s often it.

“Are you thinking you have more time?” Because they often tell themselves they do, hoping the problem will go away or they’ll find another solution.

“You told me you wanted/needed X; has that changed?” Remind them why they need your help.

But DON’T ask, “Do you need to clear this with your [spouse/boss/partner]?” because that’s something you should have clarified at the time they made the appointment. That other person should be seated next to them.

Your job is to help people. You can’t do that unless they sign up.

So, help them do that.

For lawyers: The Quantum Leap Marketing System

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Salesmanship

Does your marketing plan need a tune-up?

September 23, 2020 by David M. Ward

Repeat clients and referrals are your most profitable clients. Your marketing plan should include strategies for:

Retention (keeping clients happy, getting more of them to stick with you, and what to do to get them back if they leave)
Repeat business (getting existing/former clients to hire you again and/or more often)
Up-selling (getting more clients to “buy” your bigger packages/services)
Cross-selling (getting clients and prospects to buy your other services (yours and your partner’s)
Referrals (getting more clients, prospects, and professional contacts to refer new clients, and getting them to do it more often)

This is where you should focus most of your time and resources.

To a lesser extent, your plan should also include strategies for getting more prospective clients into your pipeline:

Traffic (getting more people to visit your web site/blog)
Opt-ins (getting more visitors to sign up for your newsletter, etc.)
Leads (getting more prospects to call or write or fill out a form
Conversions (getting more prospects to take the next step, i.e., ask questions, make an appointment, sign up)
Other (e.g., strategies for getting positive reviews and testimonials)

There are lots of things you can do to get more clients and increase your income.

How many of these are in your marketing plan?

If you don’t have a marketing plan, start here

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Gift cards for legal services

September 22, 2020 by David M. Ward

Your clients can buy them for friends and relatives. Employers can buy them for employees. Business owners can give them to customers and prospects. Charities can offer them as a prize in their next raffle.

I’m talking about gift cards for your services, in specific monetary denominations or that cover the entire fee for designated services.

Or. . . for free consultations.

“Happy Birthday, Sis–use this to get your will prepared, on me”.

“I heard you want to start a business. Here’s $2500 in legal services from our good friends at The Smart Law Firm”.

“That’s a good question; I know a great lawyer you should talk to. With this card, you can get a 30-minute free consultation.”

And so on.

You can give them away yourself, perhaps in a drawing for everyone who signs up for your next event, or to thank your loyal clients.

You can promote them on your website, in your newsletter, and on social. You get to talk about your services and reinforce the idea that people trust and value you so much they hire you to help others.

You can use pre-paid credit cards, or a simple letter of authorization, and have this done in time for the holidays.

More marketing strategies than you will ever need

Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: free consultations, gift cards