Okay class, as you know, we’re having an essay exam today so take out a sheet of notebook paper and a pencil and write today’s date and your name in the upper right corner.

At the top of the page, write, “The best time for marketing”. That’s the subject for the exam. You have 30 minutes to write your essay. Are there any questions? Okay. Ready? Begin.

[Teacher: reading magazines, making shopping list, checking students to see who’s cheating. . .]

Time’s up. Pencils down. Please pass your paper to the front.

Okay, we have a few minutes left until next period so does anyone want to share a few thoughts about the subject of the exam? Yes, David?

[David]: Most people will say that marketing should be done all the time, that is, every day, and while that’s true, the question is about the BEST time for marketing. In my essay, I said that the best time is when things are going well in your business, when you are busy and really don’t need new clients or customers.

The reason is that there will come a time when business will drop off and that’s the worst time to ramp up your marketing because you’re under pressure to make payroll and you don’t have time to do the kinds of marketing that are likely to have a big, long-term payoff. It’s harder to say no to lower-quality clients when your rent is overdue.

Also, when you’re busy, the marketing you do is often more effective. Success breeds more success. When your phone is ringing and you’re constantly signing up new clients, you’re excited and confident, and those qualities attract even more clients.

Nobody wants to hire someone who is desperate, they want to hire someone who exudes success. When you’re busy, there’s a positive vibe in your office and clients pick up on it, signing up more quickly and with less resistance. That vibe also leads to more positive word-of-mouth and referrals.

When you’re busy, you have the resources to try out new marketing ideas. If they don’t work, you can absorb the loss. If they do work, you have some new arrows in your marketing quiver.

The bottom line is that when you need clients, you’re playing catch up and marketing is more difficult and less effective. When you’re busy, marketing is easier and you get better results.

So yeah, the best time for marketing is when you don’t need it, just like the best time for exercise is when you’re healthy and in shape.

[Teacher]: Uh. . . thank you David. Class dismissed.

Get on board the attorney marketing train

When I was a nine or ten-year-old punk, I went to a summer day camp. The guy who owned the camp picked us up in a yellow school bus and took us to parks to play games and do other outdoorsy things. Sometimes, he took us to do indoorsy things like bowling.

One day, I had a particularly good bowling outing but I had bowled ten frames and was done for the day. I didn’t want to be done, I wanted to keep bowling, so I got creative.

The camp owner’s five-year-old son was with us and he had not had a good game. C’mon, he was five. He could barely roll the ball all the way to the pins. His name was Scotty (and no, I don’t know how I remember that) and I asked Scotty to let me bowl a frame for him. “I promise I’ll get you a strike,” I said.

Scotty resisted my offer but finally relented. I’ll tell you what happened in a minute.

I thought about this story this morning as I was thinking about the election. Bowling promises and campaign promises? Why not?

Anyway, as lawyers, we would love to be able to promise results to our clients, but we can’t do it. Aside from the fact that it’s ethically verboten, and the fact that we lose all credibility when we can’t deliver on our promise, it’s bad marketing because most people won’t believe you.

Better to say you’ll try. Give it your best. Or point your finger at the camera and proclaim, “I’ll fight for you!”

Your marketing messages should demonstrate your prowess by showing what you have done for other clients and making the case for hiring you. But then edit them and back off on the chest pounding a bit and inject a dose of humility into the picture. Let people can see that you’re not just saying what you think they want to hear.

It’s called verisimilitude–the appearance of truth. Because sometimes, the truth sounds too good to be true.

Unfortunately, had I told Scotty that I would do my best to get him a strike, he probably would have turned me down. I had to promise a strike. But hey, we were kids and kids will say anything to get what they want. Just like politicians.

So, what happened? I bowled a strike. Scotty was happy, I was happy (relieved), and the other campers who had heard my boast were impressed.

But I wonder if there might have been a better lesson for us kids had I not rolled that strike. Perhaps we would have learned that we can’t always trust things that are promised to us or that we shouldn’t look to others to make us successful, we have to learn how to do it ourselves.

Nah, screw that. We were kids having fun and there’s nothing wrong with that. I promise.

Get this and you might get a lot more referrals

Retail car salespeople call them “laydowns” because they come into the showroom ready to buy. They don’t ask a lot of questions. They don’t haggle on price. They say yes to many of the “ups and extras”.

They show up, lay down, and make car dealers very happy. They’re happy, too because they get what they want and don’t have to fight to get it.

Lawyers love laydowns too. Clients who don’t shop around, “interview” you, or try to negotiate fees.

Admit it, that’s the kind of clients you want.

If you’re smart, most of your clients can be that way.

Interested?

The first thing you should do is to provide lots of information about you and your services so that prospective clients can do their homework before they contact you. On your website, in your presentations, in your handouts, explain what you do and why someone should hire you.

In addition, explain your terms. Spell out what you expect of your clients and what they can expect of you.

If clients see that you work on retainer only, for example, they’ll be much less likely to expect you to do the work before they have to pay.

Let this information weed out the hagglers, price shoppers, and trouble makers.

The second thing you should do is help prospective clients get to know, like, and trust you, again, before they talk to you. Invite them to sign up for your newsletter, for example, where you can build a relationship with them. When they’re ready to move forward, they’ll already know most of what they need to know and be all but ready to sign up.

The third thing you should do is to make referrals the foundation of your practice. Referred clients come to you pre-sold by the referral-giver, whether that’s one of your clients or another professional. Referred clients ask fewer questions and are less price sensitive. As a bonus, they are themselves more likely to refer.

If you do these three things, you’ll not only get more clients, most of those clients will be easier to sign up, easier to work with, and much more profitable.

There’s nothing better than referrals