Marketing legal services Archives - Page 70 of 128

How to quote your fee and get more clients to say yes

December 16, 2015 by David M. Ward

Here’s an interesting tidbit about how to quote your fee.

According to an article on pricing strategies, researchers have found that “prices” that contained more syllables were perceived by consumers as drastically higher than their fewer-syllable counterparts. Their findings were published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology:

When these pricing structures were shown to subjects:

* $1,499.00
* $1,499
* $1499

… the top two prices seemed far higher to consumers than the third price. This effect occurs because of the way one would express the number verbally: â€œOne thousand four hundred and ninety-nine,â€ for the comma versions versus â€œfourteen ninety-nineâ€ for the unpunctuated version. This effect even occurs when the number is evaluated internally, or not spoken aloud.

I know that when I hear prices or fees quoted verbally in a commercial or presentation, I listen to how that fee sounds and think about whether there’s a better way to say it. “Two-hundred and ninety-nine dollars” sounds like a lot more than “two ninety nine”.

I do my best to use this in my marketing, but there was this one time when it caused a bit of confusion.

My secretary was on the phone with an attorney who wanted to know theÂ cost for a product we were offering. Per my counsel, she told him “one-ninety-five” based on a price of $195. Â Sure enough, a week later, we got a check in the mail in the amount of $1.95.

So be careful. Especially with lawyers.

The leastÂ you need to know about fees, billing, and collection

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship

How much time do you spend on income producing activities?

December 15, 2015 by David M. Ward

What percentage of your day is spent on income producing activities? Before you answer, I must point out that it’s not just work product or billable hours that produce income.

Income producing activities include time spent on personal development. Better skills, better habits, increased productivity, and the like, can do far more to increase your value to your clients than hard work or longer hours.

Take writing for example. Spending 30 minutes a day to improve your writing skills can make you a more effective advocate. ItÂ could bring you more victories, bigger settlements, and better deals.

Improved writing skills can also bring you more clients. Your articles, blog posts, newsletters, and other content can do a better job of demonstrating your knowledge, abilities, and experience. It can also give prospective clients and the people who refer them a better sense of who you are and what it would be like to work with you.

Becoming a better writer can also lead toÂ more effective seminars, videos, and presentations. More people will be persuaded by your message and more people will become your client.

You’ll also get faster at writing and be able to produce more content. More content means more traffic to your website and more readers for your articles, reports and books.

Obviously, marketing is also an income producing activity. Get better at networking, for example, and you can bring in more clients and better clients, andÂ open doors to other opportunities to build your practice.

Investing 30 minutes a day to improve your writing orÂ marketing skills may “cost” you $150 per day that you might earn from client work but, over time, your return on that investment could be huge.

Chaw on this for awhile before you answer, “How much time do you spend on income producing activities?”

And remember, the highest paid attorneys work hard for their clients but they also work hard on themselves.

Marketing is easier when you have a plan

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development, success, Writing

What’s the best way to market your legal services?

December 14, 2015 by David M. Ward

So, you want to know the best way to market your legal services? Read on, my friend, and all will be revealed.

But first, we need to talk about the two kinds of markets to whom you are marketing. The first is your “warm market”. This consists of people you know. Your clients, former clients, friends, business contacts, and other people who, to some degree, already know, like, and trust you.

Generally speaking, your warm market will hire you or recommend you without your having to “sell” them. They’re already sold on you.

They know what you do. They know your reputation. They’ve seen you in action or heard about your successes with clients they’ve referred to you in the past.

How do you market to your warm market? Basically, all you need to do is stay in touch with them. Keep your name and contact information in front of them, reminding them that you’re still in business and can still help them and the people they know.

Make sure they know about “what else” you do (your other services), and send them information about why they (or people they know) would need those services. Occasionally share some success stories about other clients you’ve helped.

The easiest way to stay in touch with your warm market isÂ email. Stay in their minds and their mailboxes until they’re ready to hire you (again) or send you referrals.

Email is also best because it is a personal communication and gives you maximum control over the process. But you can also keep your name in front of your warm market via advertising, speaking and networking at their events, writing for their trade journals and blogs, and other means.

Am I saying that all you have to do with your warm market is stay in touch with them?Â Yes. Pretty much.Â You don’t have to do muchÂ more, although doing more is usually a good idea.

Consider reaching out to your warm market and helping them in their business and personal lives. Build a relationship with them, especially the ones who bring you the most business.

There are other things you can do, but if all you do is stay in touch with your warm market, you will probably get the lion’s share of theirÂ business.

(Note, prospective clients are often not warm market. You’ll want to send them more information, share more stories, make special offers, and do other things to encourage them to hire you or take the next step. Again, the easiest way to do that is email.)

Okay, let’s talk about the cold market. These are people you don’t know.

Most attorneys spend too much time and energyÂ marketing to people in the cold market rather than focusing on their warm market. Remember, people in the cold market have to be found and they have to be sold. This is more difficult and expensive,Â especially since you are competing with all of the other attorneys who are trying to do the same thing.

There’s nothing wrong with advertising, blogging, social media, SEO, and other methods of attracting prospective clients. Especially if you handle divorce, litigation, criminal defense, personal injury, and other practice areas where “something has to happen” before peopleÂ even think about looking for an attorney.

But there’s a better way to attract cold market prospects. Much better, because when they do come to you, they really aren’t cold market at all.Â I’m talking about referrals.

Instead of spending all of your resources finding and wooing cold market prospects, invest in growing your network of lawyers, other professionals and other centers of influence in your niche market or community.

Help them get to know, like, and trust you. Then, when someone they know needs a lawyer who does what you do, you’ll be in line to get their referrals. Those clients won’t have to be sold because someone they respect and trust is vouching for you.

There. Now you know the best way to market your legal services. Class dismissed.

Expand your referral network of lawyers and other professionals with this

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing

Attorney marketing and making money from people who don’t hire you

December 11, 2015 by David M. Ward

I know, I know, you’re busy thinking about what you’re going to get your aunt for Christmas, but I’ve got a couple of things you might want to make time for this weekend.

The first is an interview I did with attorney Christopher Small for his podcast, The Art of Lawyering. We talked about the essential elements of attorney marketing, the keys to a good website, referrals, and of course, my story in all it’s sordid details.

Chris asked me some interesting questions. I hope you thinkÂ I gave equally interesting answers. You can download the mp3 or listen online on this page.

I also recorded a new video for my YouTube channel. The title is, How to Make Money From Clients Who DON’T Hire You. It’s about a simpleÂ wayÂ attorneys are earning more income in their practice. Simple, but probably not something you would have thought of. I know I hadn’t, until another attorney told me about it.

It’s also about how I was able to retire from practicing law. Yep, the truth is finally revealed.

Here’s the link to the video.

I’m going to do more YouTube videos, so make sure you subscribe to the channel and you’ll be notified whenever new videos are posted.

Peace!

Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: retirement

How to get good at marketing legal services

December 10, 2015 by David M. Ward

Getting good at any skill, including marketing, is by and large a process of learning and doing. The more you learn, the more knowledge you can call upon. The more you do, the more your decisions will be informed by your experiences and the more agile you will be in performing the activities.

You’ll get faster, make fewer mistakes, achieve better results, and eventually earn your boy scout badge.

But it’s not a matter of learning it once and then doing it. Once you do the activities and observe the results, you go back to learning.

You re-read what you read before, but get more out of it because of the context of having done the activities. You read (watch, listen to, etc.) more advanced materials and pick up nuances that would previously been over your head. You talk to experts and learn newÂ systems and methods you can incorporate into your mix.

And then you go back to doing.

Back and forth, learning and doing, learning and doing. Until you are good enough that others look to you as someone who knows what they’re doing.

And that’s where something else comes into play: teaching. When you are able to take your new skill and and help others develop that skill, that’s when you will learn the most.

And you can start doing that sooner than you think.

You may not know everything there is to know but you know more than others. If you want to get really good at marketing legal services, for example, find some lawyers and teach them what you know. Start a newsletter, blog, or Facebook group and invite them to join you.

Then, watch how much better you get at the skills you’re teaching, because the teacher always learns the most.

If you are go through one of my courses tonight to learn it so you can use it in your practice, you may miss things, at least the first time through. If you know you have to teach that course to other lawyers tomorrow, however, you’ll read more intently, take better notes, internalize the information, and be a step closer to mastery.

If you want to get good at any subject, learn it and do it and keep at itÂ until you can teach it.

Start learning about marketing legal servicesÂ with this

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development

3 ways to make networking less painful

December 9, 2015 by David M. Ward

You know that networking is a great way to build your practice or advance your career but you avoid doing it because it makes you uncomfortable. One reason you feel that way, no doubt, is because you feel compelled to perform.

You’re supposed to be calm, cool, and collected, but you’re not. You’re supposed to come home with a pocketful of business cards but you get tongue-tied and beat yourself up for not meeting your quota.

You’ve read the books about how to make a good impression, start a conversation and keep it going, but there’s too much to remember and you’re not sure you’re doing it right.

No wonder you hate networking. It’s like handling a jury trial the day after you’ve been sworn in.

You don’t have to be good on day one. Give yourself permission to be bad:

1) Forget the rules

Be yourself. Relax. Meet a few people, shake a few hands, and go home.

If you’re uncomfortable, don’t try to act like you’re not. In fact, tell people how you feel. Poke fun at yourself. Watch and listen and don’t worry about anything else.

No agenda, no goals, no pressure. Just go somewhere there are people you don’t know and be normal.

When the pressure is off and you can be yourself, you might actually enjoy yourself, or at least not hate the experience as much as you thought you would. From there, you can grow.

2) Get a wingman

If you’re attending an event for the first time and not looking forward to it, bring someone with you, someone who is outgoing and can help you. Someone who can talk you downÂ when you feel like calling it an early night.

If not, eventually some good soul will see you standing by yourself, come talk to you and take you under their wing. Hang out with them. Watch them introduce themselves to other people. Listen to how they start conversations.

They will introduce you to others. If they’re real good, those others will have something in common with you and you’ll be able to take it from there.

3) Start with easy

Your first time out, go to an event that is unlikely to have prospective clients or referral sources. That way, there’s nothing at stake and you can practice meeting people without fear of embarrassing yourself or blowing a great opportunity.

Go to a car show, for example, if you know something about cars, and talk to some of the vendors. Ask questions and have fun.

Allow yourself to be not very good at networkingÂ and you might just keep at it until you are.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking

Marketing legal services when you don’t want to

December 8, 2015 by David M. Ward

Real estate investor and business expert Barbara Corcoran said in an interviewÂ that chasing unfamiliar new markets is a fast track to failure.

“I’ve watched so many people much smarter than me loses much money as I’ve made. You know what they forgot? They forgot to invest in their own backyard-what they knew. They heard [another] market was phenomenal and off they went, and lost their shirts”.

When it comes to marketing and building your law practice, are you investing in your backyard? Are you doing what you know and understand? Or are you taking on initiatives you know nothing about?

Many attorneys are so inexperienced and timid about marketing that just about everything is unfamiliar. That’s how they get hoodwinked into writing big checks to companies that promise to deliver a steady stream of clients. That’s how they wind up getting poor results from marketing techniques they dabble with and abandon.

Most attorneys who are successful at marketing use only a handful of techniques to find and reach out to prospective clients and referral sources. Ultimately, you’ll probably find that this is true for you. But specific techniques, like getting a more effective website, networking, advertising, and the like, are less important than the strategies behind them, and this is what you have to get your head around first.

It does you little good to commission a new website if you haven’t first bought into the strategy of creating valuable content for people who are searching for it. Networking with other lawyers who might send you referrals is a waste of time if you aren’t committed to helping them.

When I consult with an attorney, I ask about what they are doing presently to market their practice. I want to know which techniques they are using but I’m really listening to find out if they embrace the strategies behind them. If they don’t, I know we have a lot of work to do.

To my dismay, I often find that the attorneys I’m speaking to haven’t accepted the need to do any marketing.

Yeah, that’s a problem.

If marketing is unfamiliar territory for you, before you take the plunge and possibly lose your shirt, you must examine your beliefs about marketing. If you believe you can build a successful practice without it, if your ego makes you say things like, “I shouldn’t have to do any of this,” you’re not going to get very good results no matter which strategies or techniques you use.

On the other hand, if you believe that marketing is essential and you are open to learning what to do and getting better at doing it, your attitude will make all the difference.

You can conquer unfamiliar territory by becoming familiar with it. But you won’t do that unless you want to.

New to marketing legal services? Start here

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development, success

Running a law practice like a restaurant

December 7, 2015 by David M. Ward

The restaurant business is an especially challenging business model. There is so much money at stake, and so many things that can go wrong, it’s no wonder that so many restaurants fail. And yet, when you get it right, a restaurant can be remarkably profitable.

Customers come back again and again, word-of-mouth brings more business, and before you know it, you’re hobnobbing with the culinary elite. Or something like that.

In a way, a law practice is like a restaurant. You’re in the service business. You have to get a lot of little details right. Your menu is similar if not identical to the menu offered by the lawyer next door. If you want your customers to come back, you have to please them. If there’s a problem, you have to fix it.

When a restaurant insists on being right, they often win the battle and lose the war. Charging an extra $1.50 for a slice of cheese on a burger, or being overly aggressive in pushing customers to order appetizers or dessert, may earn a higher profit on that customer’s visit but it may also be decidedly shortsighted.

When a customer comes into your establishment, as the owner of that restaurant your primary goal shouldn’t be to earn as much as possible from each transaction. Your primary goal is to make the customer want to return.

Running aÂ law practice is no different.

Even if you predominately have one-time clients who never need your services again, you should bend over backwards to please them because each one-time client can send you referrals. And they will, if you treat them right.

Opening a law office requires only a fraction of the capital investment required by a restaurant. Your investment comes later. Each time you give your clients more value, you are investing in their return and referrals.

I hear tales of lawyers arguing with their clients over a $100 billing issue. That’s silly. Let them win, even if they are wrong, even if they are taking advantage of you. In most cases, your investment will pay off.

No, don’t be a sucker. If a client fights you over everything and is making you and your staff miserable, you have to draw the line.

Tell them to try the restaurant down the street.

How to handle billing issues like a pro

Filed Under: Client relations, Fees and Billing, Law office management, Marketing legal services, success

How to make rain at holiday parties

December 3, 2015 by David M. Ward

I got an email from an attorney friend and subscriber who is hosting a holiday party for 80 clients, referral sources, and prospective clients. He asked me for ideas about how to get more business out of the event, “either at the event itself or soon thereafter”.

He’s a sharp cookie and an astute marketer. He buys all my stuff. Yeah, he’s that smart.

Anyway, his question is a good one. What can you do to leverage the event to build your practice? What might you say to the guests? Do you hand out anything? Announce anything? Invite them to see or do something?

The answer is no. Don’t do any of those things. Just be a good host.

You don’t want to be “that guy” who turns a festive gathering into a sales pitch. You don’t want people to question your motives for inviting them toÂ a party.

Be a good host. Enjoy the event and make sure your guests do, too.

As host, your job is to introduce your guests to each other. Say something nice about each one and make sure the other person knows what they do. This will stimulate conversations among your guests, which is always a good thing, especially if they talk about you and how you’ve helped them. Your guests may make some new friends. They may also get some business from those new friends.

And you get the credit for introducing them, you yenta, you.

By the way, you should do this at parties where you aren’t the host. At networking events, too. Be a matchmaker. Introduce people to other people.

After yourÂ party, send everyone a note thanking them for coming. Tell them you enjoyed seeing them again (or meeting them) and you’d love to get together with them sometime soon.

No agenda. No offers. Just friends.

Later, when you meet with them or talk to them again, look for ways you can help them in their business or personal life. If you have something going on–an event, a special offer, news–go ahead and share it. But keep the focus on them.

When these people see your name on caller ID, or see your email or letter, you want them to smile and eagerly take your call or read your letter. You want them to think fondly of you and be glad to know you. You don’t want them to lump you in with everyone else who is pitching something.

They already know what you do. Stay in touch with them, help them, and when they need your services or know someone who does, they won’t call anyone else.

Learn how to grow your practice and income: The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Relationship marketing Tagged With: holiday parties

Tell clients why you’re worth more than other lawyers

November 24, 2015 by David M. Ward

You’re not the cheapest lawyer in town. That’s good. You don’t want clients who want the cheapest lawyer in town, you want clients who understand that they get what they pay for and who are willing to pay more to get more.

Have you explained this to your clients and prospects? If not, you should.

On your website, in your marketing materials, when you are speaking to a prospective client, tell them that you’re not lowest guy or gal in town. Tell them you cost more than other lawyers and then tell them why you are worth it.

First, tell them why low-cost legal fees aren’t always what they seem. Tell them that some lawyers hold down costs by

Using lower paid staff to do much of the work, increasing the chances of errors or poor results
Advertising only part of the work the client will need, when they often need more
Billing separately for costs and other things that drive up the overall cost
Cutting corners in terms of customer service

Of course you’ll also mention that most lawyer who charge lower fees do so because they have less experience.

Then tell them why you are the better choice:

You have more experience (years practicing, number of clients, prestige clients)
Your staff has been with you for X years and are smart, efficient, and your clients love them
You get better results (verdicts, settlements, notable wins, endorsements, testimonials, awards)
You are top dog (you teach CLE, Judge Pro Tem, arbitrator, mediator, articles by you, articles about you, books you’ve written, speaking)
You specialize (so you are better at what you do, and more efficient)
You specialize in your client types (so you know their business, their issues, their problems, etc.)
You offer something others don’t (your unique selling proposition)
You offer flat fees or other alternatives to hourly billing, so your clients know in advance what they will pay

Also tell them what you do to keep your expenses down: you aren’t on Rodeo Drive, you don’t advertise, you have systems in place that allow you to do yourÂ work more quickly and efficiently, and so on.

If you want clients who willingly pay higher fees, tell clients why you’re worth more than other lawyers.

How to write a bill clients WANT to pay

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Communication, Fees and Billing, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship