I need to think about it. . .

September 24, 2020 by
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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

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Salesmanship

Does your marketing plan need a tune-up?

September 23, 2020 by
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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

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Gift cards for legal services

September 22, 2020 by
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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

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

Motivation follows action (not the other way around)

September 15, 2020 by
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YOU: I want to bring in more clients; I’ve made a list of 18 things I could do but I’m not motivated to do any of them. Do you have any advice?

ME: You’ve come to the right place, son. Pull up a chair and let me set you straight.

Now, the way I see it, you have 3 options:

Option 1: Make another list. Go find 18 more things you could do, and keep looking until you find something you want to do. There’s got to be something, right?

If not, go to option 2.

Option 2: Get out your checkbook. Pay someone to do something on your list for you, or babysit you and coach you while you do it.

If you don’t want to do that, you have option 3.

Option 3: Pick something on your list and do it anyway. Even though you don’t feel like it. Because research tells us that motivation follows action, not the other way around.

Pick something you hate the least, or pick something you hate the most so you can prove to yourself you were right, or pick something at random.

Just pick something, and start.

Do something, however small and insignificant, so you can say you started.

Because motivation follows action, not the other way around.

What will happen? Well, you might find it’s not as bad as you thought and decide to continue. You might find a way to make it easier or better. You might start to see some results, get excited, and say to yourself, “I wish I’d started this sooner.”

Or, you might hate it, in which case, you can choose something else and try that, or go back to option 1 or 2.

Those are your options. I hope this helps. I’ll put your bill in the mail.

How to create a simple marketing plan that works for you

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Marketing legal services

A simple way to create (a lot) more content

September 10, 2020 by
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A common reason offered by attorneys who haven’t started a blog or newsletter is that they won’t be able to keep it up. Either they don’t have the time, or they don’t think they’ll have enough to write about.

But. . .

You’ll never run out of ideas to write about. I promise.

Even if you practice in a very narrow niche, the law changes, the cases and clients change, the strategies change, the ideas change, and your readers change.

Besides, you aren’t confined to writing exclusively about the law, nor should you. (Get my Email Marketing Course and you’ll never run out ideas for your newsletter or blog.)

As for the amount of time it takes to write a new article or post, hear ye, hear ye, if you’re taking more than an hour, you’re doing something wrong.

And, you can save yourself a boatload of time if, when you sit down to write an article, you write two articles. Or five.

Here are some ways to do that:

  1. Instead of writing a 2500-word post, write a 300-word post. Save the rest for tomorrow or next week.
  2. Write different versions of the same article for each of your target markets or practice areas. Use the same basic information, change the examples, stories, and tips.
  3. Create a series. This week explain the problem, next week talk about the risks, the following week explain the law, after that present one of the solutions, and keep going: other options, other solutions, different client success stories, things that don’t work, mistakes to avoid in the future, resources, etc.
  4. Interview (by email) 5 other professionals or experts about the subject: What do you think, how do you handle this, what advice would you give to someone in this situation, etc. Add your comments at the end of each piece.
  5. Answers to FAQs. What do new clients and prospective clients usually want to know? Ten questions, ten answers, ten articles.

Life is good when you know what you’re going to write about six weeks in advance.

Get it here: Email Marketing for Attorneys

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Productivity

Is it a good idea?

September 9, 2020 by
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You want to try some new marketing ideas. How do you know if you’ve got a good one?

A bad idea tends to feel bad almost right from the start. You’re forcing yourself to do things you don’t want to do, and feel like you’re wasting time and/or spending money you shouldn’t spend.

A good marketing idea, on the other hand, tends to have these characteristics:

  • Offers services with strong market demand, giving people what they want, not necessarily what they need.
  • Has the potential to provide significant growth or profit. If successful, it could triple your revenue over the next year or two, for example.
  • Generates its own momentum. In the beginning, you’re supplying all the energy to get the idea off the ground. Eventually, you see things starting to happen seemingly on their own. People contact you, for example.
  • Is a good fit for you–your skills, experience, niche, network, and your style. It feels right, especially compared to other things you’ve tried.

The trick is to give the idea enough time and space to prove or disprove itself. You don’t want to hang on to a bad idea too long, but you don’t want to give up on a good idea too soon.

Knowing which is which is the hard part if all you do is look at the numbers. You have to learn to trust you gut.

Good ideas often reveal themselves when you’re in the middle of doing other things. So, make sure you try lots of things, and give them enough time to show you what they’ve got.

When you’re ready to take a quantum leap in your marketing, go here

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

If you don’t like marketing, do this instead

September 8, 2020 by
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If you’re the kind of attorney who says, “I didn’t go to law school to be a salesperson,” or who just doesn’t like marketing in any shape or form, I have a suggestion.

No, I’m not going to tell you you can stop doing it, or that you can outsource all of it. I’m going to tell you to change the way you think about it.

I’m guessing you don’t actually hate the idea of writing things or talking to people, or even how much time it takes or how much it costs.

What you don’t like is letting anyone see you do it.

Because they might think you need the work.

Thus, my suggestion.

Don’t use the word “marketing”.

Substitute the word “communicating,” because that’s really all you’re doing.

You communicate with clients and former clients, prospective clients and professional contacts, and other people in your warm market–sharing information and updating them about what’s going on with you.

You don’t have to “push” or promote; just stay in touch.

You also communicate in the “cold market,” via ads, social media posts, articles, interviews, networking, and presentations. You don’t know these people, yet, but you can communicate with them just the same.

Telling them something, offering them additional information, asking them to contact you if they questions.

It’s not marketing (okay, it is), but it’s also communicating, something you’re good at.

So, if the word marketing leaves a bad taste in your mouth, take a bite out of the word communicating.

All you have to do is decide with whom you will you communicate, what you will say, and how you will get your message to them.

I suggest you start with your warm market, and use email. You can learn everything you need to know, here.

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Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Uncategorized

When was the last time you took inventory?

September 3, 2020 by
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Of all the things you do, in your practice and personal life, some things contribute more value than others. By taking inventory of everything you do, you can identify your most valuable activities, so you can do more of them.

You’ll have the time to do that, of course, by curtailing activities that contribute little or no value.

Taking inventory starts with choosing an area of your life where you’d like to be more productive or successful. Let’s say that’s your practice.

The first step is to write a list of everything you do in that area–all of your tasks, projects, habits, and routines. For your practice, include the different kinds of client work you do, all of the admin, and all of your marketing.

Add a number to each activity on your list. If there are 50 activities, number them 1-50, so you can identify each one separately.

Next, make a second list. Write down all of your successes in this area of your life. In this case, your practice.

These successes might include things like winning one or more big cases, getting a lot of traffic from a profile of you that appeared in a prominent publication, meeting a well-connected professional who helped you get a spot on a speaking panel, a successful ad campaign, or things you did to reduce your overhead without hurting your bottom line.

These could be one-time wins or things that bring you ongoing benefits.

When your “success” list is done, go through it again and next to each item, add the number of each “activity” (on your first list) that contributed to it.

For example, you might connect “reading blogs in your target market’s industry” and “writing articles for your target market’s publications” with the positive result of being introduced to a major center of influence in your client’s niche, which led to several new clients.

By connecting activities with results, you can see where the things you’re doing are working.

Whatever is left–activities you can’t connect to significant results–should either be eliminated, minimized, systematized, or delegated.

Finally, look at your success list and identify things you didn’t connect with an activity. Ask yourself what you could do to make results like these happen more often.

For example, maybe you met someone accidentally who hired you for a lot of legal work. Ask, “What can I do to meet their colleagues or counterparts?”

When you take the time to link your activities with your results, you’ll be able to see where you should spend more time and resources, and what you should do less of, or not at all.

How to meet and get referrals from other professionals

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Productivity

The ultimate marketing metric

August 28, 2020 by
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You want more new clients. You focus on traffic, visits, clicks, friends, follows, likes, comments, and subscribers. In an online world, these are the metrics that count.

You focus on growing your list because you know that the bigger it gets, the more new clients (and repeat business) you’ll get. You create more content for the same reason.

Or, maybe you keep things simple. You note the number of calls or email inquires or leads you got from prospective clients this week, how many make an appointment, and how many signed up.

If you are an experienced networker, you record the number of prospective referral sources you met this week, or how many phone calls or online chats you booked.

It’s all good. These numbers are valuable. They give you a way to track your time and your dollars. They let you make better decisions and improve your results.

I’d like to suggest another metric, however. Something else to look for and add to your spreadsheet.

At the end of each day or week, record the number of opportunities you found for helping people.

Brian Tracy said, “Successful people are always look for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are asking, ‘What’s in it for me?'”

Corny? Impractical? Imprecise?

Maybe. Or maybe it’s the answer to everything.

It keeps you focused on speaking to people with legal problems you can solve. How many did you find and talk to this week?

It keeps you focused on prospective referral sources–professionals, business owners, bloggers, and others who need your referrals, your introductions, or your knowledge to share with their readers or listeners.

More than this, more than counting their numbers, when you focus on finding people you can help, it changes the way you think about marketing.

And, continually asking yourself, “What can I do for them?” instead of “What’s in it for me?” will also change what others think about you.

Which means instead of needing to look for clients and opportunities, you’ll begin to attract them.

Which is the ultimate measure of marketing success.

If you’re ready to take a quantum leap in your marketing, go here

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

How to loosen your marketing sphincter

August 27, 2020 by
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Many attorneys are uptight about marketing. So they put forth a token effort and see poor results, or they don’t do it all.

If you’re in there somewhere, this is for you. Marketing can become your best friend if you let it.

Start by letting go of bad memories–ads that bombed, speeches that flopped, networking that left you cold. Let go of all the time you wasted and the money you flushed down the drain.

Also let go of negative feelings you may have about about marketing making you uncomfortable. It doesn’t have to. And it won’t, once you realize that marketing is merely a conversation you have with people you know or people who have expressed interest in what you can do for them.

Marketing doesn’t mean shoving anything down anyone’s throat. Marketing is answering questions, something we both know you’re good at. It’s sharing information, something you no doubt you have plenty of. It’s providing examples about other people you helped, and letting their stories persuade people that you can help them, too.

You like helping people, right? Marketing lets you do more of that. It helps the people who read or listen to your words to better understand their situation and find their way to a better outcome. Without this, their pain might continue, or they might choose the wrong attorney, making things worse.

You don’t have be great at marketing to be effective. In fact, a little clumsiness can be a good thing. People don’t want “slick,” they want “real” and down to earth.

You don’t have to do all kinds of marketing. You can focus on what you like and what you’re good at.

I like writing. I like doing interviews. I like advertising. I really like email. So, that’s what I do.

How about you?

You have a lot of options. Find one that feels good and start there.

If you’re not sure, I suggest starting with your website or blog. Post some information about the law, about your services, and what you can do for someone who visits your site and needs your help.

You know, the kinds of information you already share with people who ask what you do.

My course, Make the Phone Ring, shows you what to do.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing
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