You need to talk to your clients

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You frequently hear me tell you to “think clients, not cases,” meaning you must consider the lifetime value of your clients and not just the fee from a single case or engagement. That $1500 fee for a first-time client could lead to $15,000 or $50,000 in fees over the lifetime of the client.

Even if a client never hires you again, cultivating a relationship with them can bring referrals, traffic to your website, sign-ups for your list, attendees at your seminars, and followers on social media, all of which will lead to new business.

Get it? Got it. Good.

So. . . stay in touch with your clients and former clients (an oxymoron).

How? Letters are great, but can get expensive. Email is great but may be overlooked. Send letters and emails but don’t ignore your number one tool for building and sustaining relationships: the phone.

You need to talk to your clients, bro. They need to hear your voice.

Yes, people still answer their phone. If they are away, leave a message. They’ll hear your voice and get an injection of your essence. Virtual you is almost as good as the real you.

Here’s my challenge to you: invest six minutes a day calling people. In six minutes, you could talk to one or two clients, or leave five or six messages.

Why 6 minutes? One hourly billing unit. If you bill $300/hr., you’re investing $50/day or $1100 per month (22 work days) to grow your practice. If that brings you one new client per month, will it be worth it? What if it brings two?

What do you say when you call? Did yo mama teach you nothing? Say hello. Ask them how they’re doing. Tell them you were going through your contact list, saw their name, and thought you’d give them a quick call.

Another? Okay, tell them you just posted a new article or blog post or video on your website and thought they might like to see it. Tell them where to find it and tell them to have a nice day.

Easy stuff. Even for a lawyer.

You want it even easier? You’re lazy? Okay, have someone who works for you make the call. Tell the client, “Mr. Jones [that’s you] asked me to give you a quick call to say hello and see how you’re doing.” It’s not your voice the client hears, but you by proxy will do.

Anyway, I can hear what you’re thinking. Yep. You’re thinking this won’t work. It’s ridiculous. Nobody will hire you again or send you referrals just because you called and said hello.

Fair enough. Try it for a week or two. It may not work for you. On the other hand, what if it does?

Marketing online for attorneys is a real thing

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How to do a screencast video

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After my last video about mindmaps, a subscriber asked for information on how to do a screencast. I’ve posted a new video that explains the tools I use and how easy it is to to create your own screencast video.

Here’s the link to the video on YouTube.

Let me know what you think.

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Why you should teach prospective clients to do it themselves

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Suppose you are a personal injury attorney. And suppose you write a report showing people how to handle their own property damage (no injury) insurance claim. You tell them what to do and how to do it.

You tell them not to admit fault, teach them how to measure and document their damages, give advice about what to do if it’s a total loss, and equip them to present and negotiate their claim.

You know, stuff you often do for clients and prospects without charge.

Show them how to do it themselves so they don’t ask you to do it for them. Of course you also tell them what to do if they do have injuries. You tell them what an attorney can do to help them maximize their claim and have peace of mind and how hiring an attorney usually pays for itself.

You distribute your report to your clients and prospects and to anyone else who wants a copy. You give it away on your website and hand it out when you’re networking. You contact other lawyers who don’t do personal injury and let them give the report to their clients and contacts.

What will happen? You’ll get a lot of people who are grateful to you for your sound advice. Some will be injured and call you. Some will hold onto your report and call you when they have an injury claim. And some will call you with questions about their property damage claim, even though you showed them what to do and assured them they could do it themselves.

That’s okay. Take their call. Encourage their call. Give them a few minutes of your time. Write a letter or make a call for them, without charge. It’s an investment in their future business.

Think “clients” not “cases”.

If you don’t handle personal injury, you can do something similar in your practice area. Teach people how to file their own simple divorce, quit claim their property to their spouse, or file a fictitious business statement.

Help people do things for themselves and when they have something they can’t do themselves, they’ll call you.

Want more referrals? Quickly? How about 30 Days?

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Marketing legal services: let other people do it for you

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You don’t want to blog or do a podcast but other people in your niche do. They need people to interview and people to write guest posts.

You, for example.

Find blogs and podcasts and video channels in your niche and introduce yourself to the head guy or gal. Compliment their work. Promote their content to your lists. Comment on their posts. Get on their Hangouts and contribute to the conversation.

Stay on their radar and eventually they will ask if they can interview you. In fact, once they know who you are, let them know that you are available and you’ll probably move to the front of their list.

By helping them, you help yourself. Your interviews and posts will get your name and contact information in front of people who need your services or who know someone who does. You’ll get more traffic to your website, more followers on social media, and more subscribers for your list. New clients will be next.

Remember, they need content and they can only create so much themselves. They need people like you to help them. As you help them, you help yourself.

The more you get your name out there, the more other bloggers and podcasters will seek you out. Marketing will get easier for you. Instead of doing one interview this month you’ll have three interviews this week.

Soon, your target market will see you “everywhere” and they will know that when they need a lawyer who does what you do, you are the one they want. Other professionals will see that you are in demand and choose you for their referrals.

Help others with their marketing and they will help you with yours.

Learn more about marketing legal services online, here

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Won’t you be my neighbor?

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My wife and I have lived in their house for over 20 years. We don’t know most of our neighbors, however, and we like it that way. We like our privacy and, we think, most of our neighbors do, too.

But what’s true for a home isn’t true for a business. At least it shouldn’t be. One of the easiest ways to get more referrals is to get to know your neighbors.

Most of the professionals and businesses near your office have local clients or customers. If you handle consumer or small business matters, they are a natural source of referrals for you, if not potential clients themselves.

Okay, you get this. What can you do to start getting some of that business?

You could mail something to them, and that’s better than nothing, but why not simply knock on their door?

Introduce yourself and ask for their card and perhaps a brochure. What’s your “excuse” for doing that? You don’t need one, but if you think you do you could tell them you were “in the building” (that’s true; you don’t have to tell them why you were in the building), you saw their name on the door or on the building directory and wanted to find out (more about) what they do.

Which is also true.

Give them your card, tell them to have a nice day, and you’re done.

When you get back to your office, send them a one or two sentence email that says, “Great to meet you”. If you feel bold, you might also say you’ll keep them in mind if you have a client or meet someone who might need their products or services. Do not ask them to do the same.

That’s enough for now. Actually, that’s quite a bit. You have a new contact who has a favorable impression of you.  You did comb your hair and wear a clean shirt, right? Great. You’ve opened new doors to endless possibilities.

To get referrals from lawyers and other professionals, use this

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Less thinking, more doing

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If you’re like me, and you are, you think too much. Not about everything, but about many things, especially things you’re not sure you want to do. For most lawyers, anything associated with marketing seems to fall into that category.

You know you need to update your website, for example, but the idea sounds daunting and unpleasant, so you don’t do it. You’d like to get more referrals from other lawyers but you think this will require doing things you won’t want to do (it doesn’t) so you procrastinate.

Thinking is an occupational hazard for smart people.

Lately, I’ve been noodling about starting a podcast. I’m watching videos, learning about equipment and process, reading blog posts, and imagining what it might be like.

Will I be any good at it? Will I get business from it? Is it too complicated, too expensive, or too time consuming?

And. . . most importantly. . . will I like it? Because if I don’t, I know I won’t stick with it.

Sound familiar?

Anyway, the only way to find out any of these things is to actually do it.

Less thinking, more doing.

But here’s the thing. Going from not doing a podcast to doing a podcast is a big leap. Maybe too big. Instead of making that leap, I might do a short audio message for you, or a YouTube video, and see how that goes.

No commitment to a weekly podcast, just a “one-off”. If I like it, I might do another. At that point, I’ll be a different person, have different knowledge, and can make better decisions about what to do next.

Whatever it is that you think you need to do, or think you want to do, try it. Do it once, or do it for a few weeks, and see what you think and how you feel.

Thinking, planning, and research are good things. But you won’t know for sure until you do it.

Get more referrals from lawyers

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How to get more clients with “The Puppy Dog Close”

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The Puppy Dog Close is a well-known concept in marketing and sales. Here’s the skinny:

You go into a pet store, just to look. The salesman sees you playing with the puppies in the window. You’re almost there, but the salesman can tell you’re not sure. So he says, “Why don’t you take one of these little fellas home for the weekend. No charge. If it doesn’t work out, bring him back on Monday.”

You bring the puppy home, give him a name and fall in love. There’s no way you’re bringing him back.

The salesman didn’t have to close you, you closed yourself.

You may recognize this approach when you go looking at new cars. The test drive is a form of The Puppy Dog Close.

Okay, so you don’t sell puppies or cars. How can you use this approach in your practice?

The odds are, you already do.

Think about it. Aren’t you giving people a “free sample” of your wisdom when you do a seminar or other presentation? When you write articles or blog posts or give away reports or videos, aren’t you showing people how you think and giving them a sense of what it might be like to work with you?

You also do it when you network. As people get to know you, they begin to like and trust you, and that leads to hiring you or sending you referrals.

If you offer free consultations, prospective clients get a chance to try you out and fall in love with you, or at least the benefits you offer. You help them gain clarity about their problems and the available solutions. You help them see a way out and a way forward and they like you for it. It’s hard for them to walk away from that.

You might want to take this up a notch. In addition to offering free consultations, you might offer a free entry-level service. Prepare a free simple Will, for example, as a gateway to doing a trust or other estate planning services. Give prospective divorce clients the first hour free, so they can see how much value you deliver.

Once a prospective client tries you for an hour, they’re probably not going to take you back to the lawyer store.

Crazy talk? I don’t know. How about giving this idea a try before you say it’s not for you. You might fall in love with this puppy.

To learn more about promoting trial, get The Formula

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Why I stopped collecting coins

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I was a coin collector as a kid. My grandfather got me started. I subscribed to Coin World, and read it every week. I belonged to The Kennedy Coin Club, where I where I met with other collectors to buy, sell, and trade.

I always had my Want/Have list in my wallet–a list of coins I needed to fill in gaps in my collection and duplicates I was willing to sell or trade.

I remember how much fun it was to go through my pocket change (or my father’s pockets) and find silver coins or rare coins from the past. Sometimes, I’d go to the bank and “buy” a bag of coins so I could go through it to find the one or two coins that were worthy of saving. I’d replace them in the bag and exchange it for a new one.

Collecting coins was a fun hobby. But eventually, there came a time when you could no longer find rare coins or silver coins in your change, and I stopped doing it. It wasn’t fun anymore.

You know what? That’s a good metric for everything in life. If it’s not fun, don’t do it.

If you don’t enjoy practicing law, do something about it. Change your practice area or your clients, get good at marketing, or go do something else.

I said as much in an interview I did yesterday for a podcast. “What’s one piece of advice you could share that we haven’t talked about,” I was asked at the end of the interview. “If it’s not fun, you’re not doing it right,” I said.

Of course it’s not all black or white. There’s lots of gray. You may not like networking, for example, but you love the results so you keep doing it. That’s actually a good way to look at it. Focus on what you like, not what you don’t like.

Don’t forget, everything is relative. Maybe you don’t like marketing, but you don’t like getting calls from bill collectors even less.

Find some aspect of what you’re doing that’s fun. Because otherwise, why do it?

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Sweaty men, heavy machines, pizza and beer

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They’re re-paving the streets outside my house. I love watching the men do their job. Sorry ladies, I didn’t see any women on the crew. Just a bunch of sweaty guys doing back-breaking work. I can almost smell the testosterone. Okay, maybe it’s hot asphalt and diesel fumes I smell, but you get the picture.

They use trucks and machines I’ve never seen before, to do a job I don’t fully understand. But I can tell that they do the job well. Everyone knows what to do and I am fascinated watching them. In fact, I could watch them all day.

As a kid, I loved watching the new construction in my neighborhood. The sounds of big trucks and bulldozers, nails being hammered, wood being sawed, trucks backing up and dumping fill dirt. This is the stuff of childhood, at least it was for me, which is interesting because I can barely change a light bulb.

I still love watching people do their jobs, and not just construction. I love to see them do what they do with precision and confidence, like they’ve done it so many times before.

Wouldn’t it be great if people loved watching lawyers do their job?

Unfortunately, they don’t. People expect lawyers to do what they see depicted on TV. The reality, of course, is very different.

Nobody wants to see you dictate a letter or prepare someone for a deposition. Nobody wants to watch you read case law, stroke your beard, and look at the ceiling while you think about the issues in a case.

But alas, all is not lost. You can show people what you do and you can make it interesting. You can do that by telling work-related stories. The good news is that those stories don’t need to be exciting. They also don’t need to be very long. A sentence or two, a few paragraphs, are all you need to show people what you do for your clients.

But here’s the thing. Don’t talk about issues or statutes, pleadings or agreements. Talk about people.

No matter what kind of practice you have, your work helps to solve problems for or deliver benefits to people.

Talk about the people you represent and their business or their family. Talk about why they contacted you and what you did for them. But mostly, talk about them.

For example:

“Yesterday, I was hired to review a lease on a new property for my client, Charlie Booker. His company makes beer-infused pizza, and business has been great. He’s growing so fast, he needed a bigger facility. He wanted me to negotiate the lease on the new property and make sure there weren’t any ‘gotchas’.

Charlie started the company just two years ago in his garage. Just him and his wife. His two kids helped out after school, putting together the boxes for the pizzas and passing out fliers in the neighborhood. Today, Charile employs 40 people who are passionate about making the best tasting beer-flavored pizza known to humanity. I’ve eaten a lot of pizza in my lifetime, and I’ve had a few beers, too, and I’ve got to tell you, there’s nothing like Charlie’s Beerizza. Go to his website and see what they do and where you can get some Beerizza. Tell him I sent you.”

In other words, talk about the client, not yourself.

You did the lease. Fine. I’m sure you did a good job. But nobody cares. Leases are boring (to most people), so mention what you did, but tell stories about the people for whom you did it.

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Another example of email done wrong

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I got an email yesterday that said “Hey David, I just came across your LinkedIn profile and decided to reach out.”

Alrighty, but he didn’t send the email to the email address I have with LinkedIn. Lying in the first sentence? I don’t know, but we’re not off to a good start.

Oh, and addressing me by first name instead of waiting for permission? Manners, please.

He introduced himself: “I’m with [company]–we connect entrepreneurs like you with the marketing talent that can grow your business.”

A sales pitch already? That didn’t take long. And, did he even read my profile or go to my website? If he had, he might have noticed that I’m in the marketing game myself.

Onward.

“I hope you don’t mind the cold outreach, but I thought you’d be interested and decided to go for it. Here is the link” and he provided a link to his website.

Interested in what? He didn’t say. He didn’t give me a reason to click the link.

I wouldn’t necessarily mind a cold email, but not done this way. How about earning my trust, first? How about giving me a reason to pay attention? How about a little finesse?

He closed the email and “signed” it with his first name as the CTO of his company. Again, he thinks we’re on a first name basis. And, you want me to trust you but you haven’t told me your full name.

Sup wit dat?

More bad vibes: There’s an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email, which means he went ahead and subscribed me to his list without my permission. A one-time cold email is something I can live with. A subscription without permission and you’re going straight to Internet jail (spam).

Look, it’s okay to send email to people you don’t know. But don’t lie to them or pitch them right out of the box. Say something that lets them know you are a real person who wants to introduce themselves and that you are someone who might be worth knowing.

The recipient knows you’ve got an agenda of some sort. Everyone does. Put it in your back pocket for now and take the time to turn a cold name and email into a warm prospect.

As a lawyer, you might think that you would never send a cold email to someone you don’t know, particularly someone you would like to have as a client. I wouldn’t contact consumers unless I had been invited to do so, but you can contact professionals you’d like to know. You could also contact potential business clients, if you do it right.

Start by showing them you know something about them and what they do and that you’re not sending spam to the masses. Compliment them on something you like, tell them how you are similar in your interests or your work, or ask them a question.

Your motto: “friends first”.

Then, offer something they might find valuable and relevant. A blog post, video, report, or something else that’s free and easy to access. Don’t make them go to your website to see if you have anything interesting, tell me what it is, how it would benefit them, and where to get it.

But maybe you should save that for your next email.

For more on email marketing, get Make the Phone Ring

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