Know thy enemy

October 30, 2017 by
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I’m like that teacher you hated who always gave homework. Today is no exception.

The bad news? This will be an ongoing project, something you need to do for the rest of your career.

The good news is that it’s not difficult and shouldn’t take up a lot of time. In fact, most of the assignment can be done by a virtual assistant and I won’t mark you down for cheating.

The assignment is to set up files for tracking the activities of your competition. Doing this will provide you with ideas for doing a better job of managing and marketing your services.

If you can identify firms or individual attorneys who regularly compete with you with ad dollars or at networking events, or elsewhere, start with them. Otherwise, pick someone (at random), in your building or at your networking events, who has the same practice areas you do.

Five or ten competitors is enough to start. Once you have identified them, look at their websites, do a search for their name(s), and see what you can find out:

  • What market(s) do they target?
  • Where do they advertise, network, speak, or publish?
  • What is their theme, message, or USP?
  • What kinds of content do they publish on their website(s) or blog(s)?
  • What do they offer prospects to drive traffic to their sites and/or get them to opt-in?
  • How and where do they use social media?
  • Which centers of influence (referral sources, endorsers, publishers, etc.) do they associate with?
  • What services do they offer? What don’t they offer?
  • Which keywords do they appear to target? Which do they seem to overlook?
  • What resources, talents, and connections do they have that you don’t have or are weaker in?
  • What are their weaknesses?
  • Who are their biggest competitors?
  • How do they manage their practice in terms of personnel, equipment, and workflows?

Read their content, save copies of their ads, and make lists of where they speak or write and about what topics.

Don’t obsess over this. Just observe and make notes.

Then, periodically review your notes and look for opportunities to improve your marketing and management based on what your competition is doing:

  • Identify new target markets or market segments
  • Identify categories of referral sources you don’t currently have in your arsenal
  • Look for ways to improve your marketing messages, content, website(s), and external content (e.g., guest posts, comments, social media posts)
  • Examine your strengths and weaknesses relative to the competition; find ways to make your strengths even stronger and eliminate or marginalize your weaknesses
  • Brainstorm ways to exploit your competition’s weaknesses and overcome their strengths
  • Look for ways to improve your workflows, tools, and resources

Keep an eye on your competition. You may learn something you can use.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

Lawyers as clients

October 18, 2017 by
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They say that lawyers make the worst clients in the same way that physicians make the worst patients. They know too much and have their own ways of doing things. They second guess everything and often don’t follow your advice. And when something goes wrong, guess who they blame?

It’s all ego, and if you’ve ever had a lawyer for a client, there’s a good chance you swore you would never do that again.

As someone who consults with lawyers, I feel your pain. So why do I continue to target them (you)?

  • Because there’s a huge need, given that so many lawyers aren’t good at marketing but realize they need to do it
  • Because lawyers have money and can afford to hire me and buy my stuff
  • Because marketing to lawyers is easier, more effective, and less expensive/time-consuming than it would be if I offered my products and services to everyone who wants to get more clients or customers and increase their income.

For those reasons and others, I suggest you consider targeting lawyers in your marketing.

Think about it:

  • Lawyers have stressful lives. According to Bar studies, they have a higher incidence of problems with drugs and alcohol. I don’t know if that means they are statistically more likely to get charged with DUI (et. al.), file for divorce, or break up with their partners, but if they do, they have the money to hire you and much more at stake if they don’t.
  • In tort matters, a lawyer’s loss-of-earning claim and disability claim tends to be bigger.
  • Lawyers buy real estate and invest and understand the need for legal advice and representation in matters outside their area of competence.
  • They have clients they can refer to you. And what a powerful referral it is when a lawyer can tell their clients that they have hired you themselves.
  • They know other lawyers they can introduce to you.
  • They are influential in their target markets and communities, which means they can open doors for you, endorse you, and otherwise help your practice grow.
  • Marketing is easier because when they need a lawyer, a lawyer usually prefers to hire someone like you who is not only a lawyer yourself but specializes in representing lawyers.
  • Marketing is more effective because you don’t have to network everywhere, write for everyone, or advertise to every type of prospective client, you can focus your efforts on attracting lawyers.
  • Marketing is also more effective because your marketing message can be tailored to your specific target market. Testimonials, endorsements, are reviews from other lawyers are more compelling.

If you handle “delicate” matters, e.g., criminal, bankruptcy, legal ethics violations, etc., lawyers probably don’t want the world to know they have hired you themselves. But that’s where having lawyers for clients is a decided advantage for you over having non-lawyers as clients.

Think about it. Your lawyer-clients have a built-in excuse for “knowing” you. You’re a colleague. They don’t have to tell anyone they hired you themselves, and they know you are constrained by law not to let that particular cat out of the bag.

How to choose your ideal client and target market

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Specializing

Eighty percent of success is showing up

October 11, 2017 by
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Woody Allen famously said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” Being where you need to be when you need to be there.

In the context of marketing legal services, that means showing up when someone needs your help. But how do you do that?

You don’t know when someone will be in a collision, want to file for divorce, or start a business. You don’t know when someone is unhappy with their current attorney and is looking for a replacement.

And if you don’t know, you can’t show up. Or maybe you can.

You can create search engine optimized content so that when someone needs a lawyer and goes looking, they can find you.

You can write articles and run ads in publications and on websites where your target market is likely to see them.

You can educate your clients about who would make a good client for you and the best way to refer them and let them keep their eyes and ears open for you. You can do the same thing with professionals and other referral sources.

These strategies will help you get your name and message in front of prospective clients when they need your help. But there’s another strategy you should consider.

You should get your name and message in front of prospective clients before they need you.

You do that through a newsletter, a blog, a podcast, or a video channel. You build a list of subscribers and you stay in touch with them, sharing your knowledge and showing them how you can help them. As you do that, they see your passion and commitment to their niche or local market. They get to know, like, and trust you, and when they need your services (or know someone who does), you’ll be right there, ready to help.

Many lawyers do marketing sporadically. When you understand the value of building a list of prospective clients and you “bake” marketing into your daily method of operation, when you are never not marketing, you are never without clients.

Start or improve your marketing with this

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Newsletters Tagged With:

How to get more positive reviews

October 6, 2017 by
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You obviously know that positive reviews and testimonials are some of your most powerful marketing assets. If you’re not actively soliciting and using these in your practice, you’re missing the boat.

If you’re on the boat and you want to get more (and better) reviews, I’m going to show you how.

STEP ONE

Gather up a handful of your best reviews and testimonials. (If you’re lacking in this department, I’ll show you what to do.)

STEP TWO

Take three or four of your best reviews and send them to all new clients, along with a letter that says something like this:

“My practice depends on keeping our clients not just satisfied but delighted. That’s what I’m working to achieve. Enclosed are a few reviews I’ve received from clients that show me that I’m doing things right.

I’m proud of reviews like these and I will do my best to provide you with the same high level of service and satisfaction as expressed by these clients. That’s my promise to you.

At the end of the case, if you feel I’ve delivered on that promise, I hope you will also leave me a great review.”

STEP THREE

At the end of the case, when you survey your clients, include a letter reminding them of your promise and your hope that if they believed you delivered on that promise, they would be inclined to leave you a good review.

Enclose a few additional positive reviews and give them a link to your review profile or a page where you’d like them to post their review.

And that’s it. This should bring you more reviews and better reviews, because you planted the idea that reviews are normal, expected, and appreciated, gave them examples of great reviews, and at the end of the case, reminded them to leave one.

Now, what do you do if you don’t have great reviews to show your clients?

That’s simple. Write them yourself.

Write the reviews you’d like to receive from your clients. Include all the accolades you’d love to see, and more importantly, prospective clients need to see to convince themselves that you’re the one.

Send these to new clients as examples of good reviews.

Tell them you wrote the reviews yourself because although you have positive reviews (if you do), they are brief and you hope that by sending these examples to your new clients, when the time comes, they will find it easier to write a more detailed review.

Tell them you promise to work hard and keep them happy and that if you deliver on that promise, you hope they will feel compelled to write a review of that caliber.

Live up to that standard and it won’t be long before you’ll have some amazing real reviews to show your clients.

Make your website great again

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

The secret to my success

October 5, 2017 by
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Want to know the secret to my success? The secret is simple. I do a few things well.

That’s it. A few things. The “precious few” in 80/20 parlance, that deliver the majority of my results.

I run three businesses. In each business, there are only a few things I focus on to keep the wheels turning. Well, actually, one business is nearly 100% passive income and requires almost none of my time anymore. The other two businesses are flexible enough that I can work at them when (and if) I choose. So for me, at this stage of my life, my precious few are “writing, learning, and marketing.”

How about you?

If you run a law practice, your precious few probably include, “marketing, management, personal development, and work product”. Am I right?

[Sidebar: Don’t be one of those lawyers who foolishly boasts that they don’t do any marketing. Everything you do is marketing.

Every time you speak to a client you’re showing them why they should remain your client and refer their friends. Every time you give someone your card or mention your website you’re inviting them to learn more about you do. Every time you talk to a prospective client or fellow professional you’re showing them why they should do business with you. It’s all marketing. All of it.

Okay, back on the record.]

Let’s start with “areas of focus”. You run a law practice, you have a personal life. That’s two. You might also do charitable work, be active in your church, or have a hobby or outside interest that’s important to you.

What are your precious few areas of focus?

Next, for each area of focus, think about the precious few things you focus on (or need to).

For your practice, what are the precious few things you do for marketing?

You may focus on a few types of clients, niche markets, or practice areas. Your strategies might include client referrals, professional referrals, and driving traffic to your website. If you advertise, your precious few might include a group of niche publications, keywords, or offers that deliver the majority of your results. You might create content, build a social media following, or speak or network in the “real world”.

What are they? What are precious few in your marketing?

For work product, you might derive most of your income from a certain type of case or client or a certain type of work. What are your precious few?

For management, you might focus on new client intake procedures (although that’s also marketing), billing, and document management. You might focus on hiring the best people, training, or building culture. What are your precious few?

For personal development, you might work on building a new habit, improving a particular skill, or acquiring a certain type of knowledge. What do you focus on? What are your precious few?

In the end, success comes from doing a few simple things. It can’t be any other way. You can’t do 100 things and expect to do them all well. You can’t focus on 100 things you can only focus on a few.

I built my practice with referrals. It was one of my precious few.

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Personal development, success Tagged With: , ,

What breed of dog does your client own?

October 4, 2017 by
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What’s the name of the last client you spoke to? How well do you know them?

Are they married? What’s their spouse’s name?

Do they have kids? How old are they?

What part of town do they live in? Do they play any sports? Do you know the name of their accountant, tax preparer, and insurance agent? How about the name of their dog?

I know it’s difficult to build a personal relationship with all of your clients but how about some of them?

Or are you the type who does the work and that’s the end of it?

No communication, no relationship, nothing from you. If they contact you again, fine. Otherwise, you don’t have time for them.

Please say that’s not true. Please say you make an effort to get to know at least some of your clients and that you make it a habit to stay in touch with all of them.

If you don’t, it’s not too late to start. Reach out at least one client this week and have a conversation with them. Take a few minutes to find out something about their personal life. Write it down so you’ll remember it. Verify their email address so you can stay in touch.

Every client you do this with represents potential growth for your practice. Even if they never hire you again, they can send referrals, introduce you to other professionals, share your content, promote your events, and send traffic to your website. Oh yeah, they can also write a positive review about you, including how much they appreciate that you stay in touch with them after the work was done.

Before you spend another hour attending a networking event and talking to strangers, how about networking with the people who already know, like, and trust you?

Start here

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Marketing legal services

Live, from your office. . .

October 2, 2017 by
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The other day I recommended not relying solely on live presentations but to record them so they can go to work for you 24/7.

It’s leverage. Do it once, use it over and over again.

But don’t stop doing live presentations.

I don’t just mean “live and in person”. I mean live online. Podcasts, hangouts, chats, webinars, and so on, that are presented in real time. There’s magic in something done live.

When you promote a recorded video, it’s harder to create a sense of urgency. You can say, “This will only be available until. . .” but you then lose the ability to get eyeballs on an ongoing basis. If you leave it up all the time, many people say, “I’ll catch it later,” but we all know that later often never comes.

When you do it live, however, you can promote it as a special event because it is special. You can say, or more likely imply “Never before and never again,” has this been done, creating an even bigger sense of urgency.

When it’s live, you can say, “Join me” or “Ask me anything” and thus provide more value and build a closer relationship with your followers. Or you can promote it by saying you’re presenting some new or timely information that shouldn’t be missed.

One of the biggest draws of a live event is that nobody knows what will happen. What will be said, what will be asked, what information will be shared for the first time? And let’s face it, one reason people watch live events is that they know it could be a train wreck and they want to see that.

One way to make your live events have more train-wreck potential is to have someone else speak with you. If you have a co-presenter, a panel discussion, you interview someone or have someone interview you, the likelihood of something noteworthy or cringeworthy happening is even greater. (You’ll also get the other speakers’ followers to tune in.)

Do some live events and watch your subscriber numbers and engagement soar. Of course, you should also record these events so you can use them again or make them available 24/7. But you might not want to mention that you’re recording it when you promote it for the first time.

Let your website do the heavy lifting: Marketing online for attorneys

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Filed Under: Blogging, Leverage, List building, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Presentations, Seminars and webinars

If I could save time in a bottle

September 29, 2017 by
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If I could save time in a bottle. . . I’d sell it. I mean, who wouldn’t want to buy more time? More time with your family. More time for hobbies or worthy causes, more time get more work done.

How much would like to buy?

Unfortunately, I can’t sell you any time. But I can show you how to get it for yourself.

The first way to get more time is to steal it. Steal it from what you’re currently doing by taking on fewer tasks and projects or fewer cases and clients, and focusing on a smaller number of more valuable matters. Delegate less valuable work to others.

The second way to get more time is to get your work done more quickly. You can do that by improving your skills and knowledge, learning new skills and methods, using better tools, and developing better habits and workflows. Delegating work to others will also help.

The third way to get more time is to specialize in your practice areas and in the clients you target. This will allow you to charge higher fees and attract more clients (and better clients) who prefer attorneys who specialize.

The fourth way to steal time is through marketing, which will allow you to bring in bigger cases and clients, and allow you to hire more help.

Even better, instead of “one and done” marketing activities, do things that can bring in new business with little or no additional effort. Instead of only doing live presentations or seminars, for example, record them so they can go to work for you 24/7. Instead of networking to find clients, network to find more referral sources.

All of these will give you more time and more income. I know, because this is what I did to build my practice when I was struggling.

Work on fewer more valuable things, become more efficient, specialize, and get better at marketing. That’s how I was able to earn more and work less, and that’s how you can, too.

How I did it: the formula

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Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services, Productivity, Specializing

What’s your shtick?

September 28, 2017 by
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I just downloaded an app that provides a collection of “sleep sounds,” that is, recordings you can listen to when you want to rest or fall asleep. There are many of these types of apps available. I’ve tried more than a few.

But this one is different.

It’s the only app I know of that doesn’t come with all of the audios in the initial download. You choose the ones you want and download them separately. Any sound you don’t like can easily be deleted.

I like this because it means I don’t have to fill up my phone with gigabytes of sounds I’ll probably never use. I can choose a few I like and forget the rest.

Most of the app’s reviewers agree. Choice is good. Smaller downloads are good.

But some disagree. They hate having to download each audio one at a time. “It takes too long!” they moan.

So yeah, you can’t please everyone. And you know what? You shouldn’t try.

Suppose the app developer listened to the cries of the customers who don’t like the “choose your own” feature? They would wind up with an app like all the others that use an “all or nothing” approach. They would find it difficult to stand out from their competition. And the would alienate those of us who like being able to choose.

“Choose the ones you want” is this companies shtick. Their thing. Their Unique Selling Proposition. And it works. They knowingly give up trying to please the “I want it all” crowd and from a marketing perspective, this is the right thing to do.

And guess what? Lawyers should do the same thing.

Stop trying to please everyone. Stop offering “all things to all people”. Be different. Carve out a niche. Choose a segment of the market and show the folks why you’re their guy or gal. Promote your differences to prospective clients who like those differences. And let go of everyone else.

Need help choosing your shtick? Here it is

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With:

Give your practice a little push

September 13, 2017 by
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If you’re doing things right, your practice grows primarily by attracting new clients, that is, clients find you, you don’t find them.

They find you online, respond to an ad, someone refers them, or they’ve hired you before and come back when they need you again.

Clients show up and are “pulled” into your legal machine, with very little effort on your part. Once there, you deliver high-quality services (and high-quality service) to keep them happy and ensure they return and refer, and generally speaking, they do.

Sure, you have to do maintenance, making sure your systems are working well, your content is fresh, and you have sufficient resources to do your job. But other than that, you don’t have to do much else to keep your practice running and profitable.

On the other hand, you can’t rely on this dynamic forever. You can’t expect to always be able to attract clients and pull them in, you must also do some pushing.

Clients die or no longer need you. Businesses fold or get bought out. People move away. Clients can no longer afford you or find another attorney who charges less. No matter how well you do your job, there will always be attrition and you need to do something affirmative to keep your funnel (and your bank account) full.

And let’s not ignore the fact that there is a continual wave of competition. New lawyers, better-financed lawyers, and more aggressive lawyers eager to eat your lunch.

Bottom line: you can’t rely on pulling in new business, you have to do some pushing.

Pushing means reaching out to prospective clients and referral sources and centers of influence in your niche market or community. It means trying new strategies, networking with different people, and creating new types of content.

Pushing means expanding on what’s working and eliminating or changing what isn’t. It means continually upgrading your client base, replacing good clients with even better clients. It means never getting complacent and assuming that what was will always be.

The world changes. Make sure you keep up with it.

Give your practice a little push with this

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services
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