What you write isn’t as important as how you write it

September 1, 2015 by
Share

How do you write an original article or blog post? After all, hundreds or thousands of attorneys (and others) are writing about the same things. They talk about the same laws, the same legal system, the same problems and solutions.

The good news is that what you write isn’t nearly as important as how you write it.

Prospective clients don’t read your content because they want to learn the ins and outs of your practice area. They don’t really want to learn about the law, they want to learn about you.

Do they understand you? Do they relate to you? Do they like and trust you?

So, while content is important, style and personality are more so.

Don’t be concerned with delivering the definitive word on your subject. Write something that will make prospective clients see you as someone they would like to work with.

How?

By putting yourself in your writing.

Tell them about clients you’ve helped–what you did, why you did it that way, and what happened. Talk about how you feel about the issues and about your clients. Give them not just the facts, but your advice.

Don’t hold back, either. Give them the unvarnished truth. Write with passion. Open up your heart and your mind and share what’s inside, and let people see who you are.

And that’s the best news, because there’s only one you.

If you give the same raw material to 100 attorneys and ask them to write an article about that material, most of the articles will be very similar. A few will be unique and show readers why they should choose them as their lawyer.

Only a few because most lawyers don’t understand (or are unwilling to accept) the fundamental truth that clients don’t hire your knowledge or your experience, they hire you.

Marketing online for attorneys made simple

Share
Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing

Sell more legal services with better reviews and testimonials

August 28, 2015 by
Share

I got another five star review on one of my Kindle books (on network marketing). It was a great review:

“Probably the most valuable book on network marketing I have ever read. . . and that is saying a lot. If you are in direct sales or network marketing, you will find great benefit in this book. Buy it! Now.”

Nice, huh?

Yes. And very much appreciated. But as good as it is, it could have been better.

When a prospective buyer reads a positive review like this, they will want to know “why?” Why is it so good? How is it different? What will I learn? What will this help me to do? What has it helped you  to do?

They want specifics.

The same goes for reviews of your legal services.

When a client posts a positive review about you online, or sends you a testimonial, encourage them to provide details. If they say you treated them well, ask them to give an example. If they talk about the great job you did on their case, ask them to explain what they mean.

Did you get them a bigger settlement than they expected? Did you close the case quickly? Did you do something extra for them?

Were you nice to their kids? Did you regularly keep them informed about the progress of their case? If they had questions, did you answer them thoroughly? If you weren’t in when they called, did you call them back within 48 hours?

Specifics.

Specifics help prospective clients see the benefits of hiring you. They also make the review more believable.

Reviews that recommend you and your services will bring you more clients. Especially when those reviews explain why they are recommending you.

Want more referrals from other lawyers? Behold. . .

Share
Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

Use your outside interests to build your law practice

August 27, 2015 by
Share

There’s a novelist who blogs about my favorite writing tool, Scrivener. I read one of his posts this morning and noticed one of his novels in his sidebar. I thought, “With all the novelists reading his posts, I’ll bet he’s selling more books.”

Because a lot of novelists use Scrivener, and because a lot of novelists like to discover new authors.

You can use your outside interests to do the same thing, that is, to get more people finding you and learning about your legal services.

Right now, I’m watching a lot of videos and reading blogs about the voice to text tool, Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I know that a lot of lawyers use DNS, or are interested in doing so. If I started a youtube channel on “Voice Dictation for Lawyers,” I’ll bet I could build a list of subscribers who would also be interested in my products and services.

You might be interested in classic films or travel or Apple products. Many of your prospective clients share your interest. They may not want to hear about legal matters right now, but they would love to read about your mutual interest.

If you write a blog, participate in online forums, start a group on social media, or post videos on a channel related to your interest, people will find you. Most won’t need your services right now, but some will. Over time, as you continue to post information or ideas or resources, more and more people will find you and tell their friends about your videos or posts.

As your blog or channel grows, you will also build your law practice.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

Share
Filed Under: Blogging, List building, Marketing legal services, Social media marketing, Web traffic

Free advertising for your legal services

August 26, 2015 by
Share

Great news! I just scored you 50 free 30-second radio spots on a top-rated drive time radio show! You don’t have to pay a dime. (Not really.)

You can run a commercial for your law practice and bring in lots of new clients. It doesn’t matter what kind of practice you have, or if you’ve never advertised and can’t imagine doing so, this is free advertising, so say thank you and use it! (I’m just playin, but I have a point.)

There’s just one catch. (My fantasy, my rules.) You have to write the commercial yourself. (Horrors!)

The point of this exercise is to help you better understand what you offer your clients, and why they should hire you. Work with me, k?

I’ll help you get started. Here are some guidelines for creating your commercial:

1) CALL TO ACTION

Start with what you want the listener to do. Call your office to make an appointment? Call to ask questions? Call to request your free report? Go to your website to download your free report? Sign up for your seminar? A combination of the above? Something else?

Start with the end in mind. Writing your commercial will be easier because you know what you want to accomplish.

2) HEADLINE

What’s the first thing the actor who reads the spot (or you, if you record this yourself) will say to listeners to get their attention? Will they/you promise a benefit? Ask a question? Make a provocative statement?

Your headline is the most important part of your commercial, so make it great. If you don’t get the listener’s attention and make them want to listen, the rest of your ad won’t matter.

3) COPY

You only have 30 seconds, and yet that’s plenty of time to tell listeners what you want them to know about you and your services, about your report, or about something else that causes them to take action.

Will you tell a story about one of your recent clients? Will you talk about recent or pending changes in the law that will affect them? Will you warm them about something, or promise to help them get something they want and need?

A classic ad formula:

  1. State the problem. What is the listener facing, or what might happen in the future?
  2. Agitate the problem. What will happen if they ignore it, etc. How bad could it get?
  3. Present the solution. Your offer, your services, your report, your seminar, etc.
  4. State the benefits of this solution. What will they learn, gain, stop, prevent, etc?
  5. Tell them what to do to get the solution and benefits. This is your call to action.

Make notes about what to include in your ad. Then, start typing or recording, and don’t stop until you run out of things to say. Pretend you’re talking to a roomful of prospective clients. What do you want to tell them?

Now what? Now, throw this away. You’re not a copy writer and I didn’t score you any free advertising.

Okay, don’t throw it away. Hang onto it, so that when you decide you do want to advertise, you’ll have a place to start, or something to give to the copy writer you hire. You can also use your notes as fodder for creating other marketing documents.

That’s all for today. Fantasy over. Get back to work.

Share
Filed Under: Advertising, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Writing

What should I have my virtual assistant do for me?

August 21, 2015 by
Share

I got an e-mail from attorney who uses a virtual assistant “to write and edit letters to prospective clients”. He asked me what else he could have her do.

Great question.

To answer it, I’ll share a (slightly edited) email I received in response to a post I did about justifying the cost of hiring outside assistants:

I have a full-time VA in the Philippines. She costs me about $75 per WEEK (full time). I gladly pay this even though I often don’t have 40 hours’ worth of stuff for her to do. I don’t let her handle much for my law practice. Her English grammar is a bit off sometimes, but she updates websites, edits video, does show notes for my podcast, handles blog posting, social media promotion of my stuff, etc. She’s been invaluable in getting my courses and info products created and published. This frees up some time for marketing, client service, and for ME… I get to have dinner with my kids almost every night.

Letting go of control is my big challenge, but I’m working on it, and Managing a VA is a skill set that needs to be developed, too… the time/distance and cultural differences require some finesse… But I’m glad to have Joanna on my team. I encourage everyone to find a VA to help out with things.

So, here’s what I would do.

Make a list of every task that is performed in your practice, by you or anyone on your behalf. Write down everything, from opening the mail, opening and closing files, meeting with clients, writing articles, and everything in between.

Then, look at that list and put a check mark next to every task that can only be done by YOU.

You probably do a lot of things that someone else could do. They may not do it as well, but as long as they can do it at an acceptable level, you should let them do it.

Make sure break down the tasks that only you can do into sub-tasks that others can do.  You may be the one who conducts the trial, but you can have others assemble documents and write (the first draft) of motions.

Now, what about the tasks that nobody is doing? What could you have a VA or employee do to help you with marketing, for example? That depends on your objectives and what you’re willing to do to accomplish them.

If you want to do Facebook advertising, you can have an assistant find keywords, create the ad graphics and copy (or co-ordinate with freelancers), and manage the campaigns.

If you have my new course on getting referrals from lawyers, you would have your assistant find other lawyers that you can contact to discuss referrals and joint ventures. The VA can compile details about what they do, make the initial contact on your behalf, and follow-up with those who respond affirmatively.

Do only those things that only you can do and delegate everything else. But first you have to figure out what needs to be done.

Get more referrals from other lawyers: click here

Share
Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: , , ,

Marketing online is easier than you think

August 18, 2015 by
Share

I have a blog but I am not a blogger.

There’s nothing wrong with blogging, it’s just not what I do.

Bloggers focus on engaging their visitors and social media connections. They encourage visitors to leave comments and to visit their social media pages, and they spend time reading those comments and responding to them.

I don’t. In fact, I don’t get many comments. Lawyers are busy. I am, too. If I got lots of comments, I’d probably turn off the comment function on my blog.

Yes, I have a blog. But that doesn’t make me a blogger. Bloggers have lots of guest posts, interviews, videos, graphics, and links to other sites. I don’t. These aren’t important to me.

I’m not a blogger. I write emails to my subscribers, share information, teach and train, and tell stories. I communicate with my subscribers, provide value, and sell my products and services.

I do post most of my emails on my blog, however. This brings search engine traffic. I have more than 1000 posts now, all serving to attract visitors who are looking for marketing and productivity ideas and solutions.

I also get traffic from social media, as visitors share my content with their connections. (I don’t do much with social media myself.)

The content on my blog does something else for me. It shows visitors that I know what I’m doing and how I can help them. I don’t have to work hard to convince them to buy my products or services. The content does most of the convincing for me.

Having an email list means that when I launch a new product, as I just did, I send an email to my list and get a crush of orders.

I don’t spend a lot of time on marketing, either. Once I have an idea for an email/post, I write the first draft (usually) in five minutes. In thirty minutes (usually), it’s done and sent and posted on the blog.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to know that you can do what I do. You can build your practice by building an email list and posting content on your website (blog).

You can build a list of prospective clients and referrals sources and stay in touch with the people on that list, and use your emails as content for a blog.

If you’re still on the fence, take my “today” challenge. Write a short email today explaining what you do for your clients. A few paragraphs is all you need.

Here, I’ll help you: “I help people get/keep/avoid __________. I do that by ____________”.

Pretty easy, huh?

Now, email it to someone. And post it on your website.

Guess what? You’re not a blogger, either. But you’re doing what I do.

Marketing online is easier than you think. If you want to know where to start, or where to get ideas to write about, I’ve laid all that out for you in Make the Phone Ring.

Share
Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Web traffic

Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals–New Referral Marketing Course Launches

August 17, 2015 by
Share

Do you remember the last time a lawyer sent you a referral? How would you like to have that happen every day?

My new marketing course, Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals: How to Get More Referrals From Lawyers and Other Professionals shows you how to get more referrals from the lawyers you know, and how to get more lawyers to become a new referral source for you.

Of course lawyers are potentially one of your best sources of referrals.

Sure, your clients may be willing to send you referrals. If they don’t know anyone who needs your services right now, however, there’s not much they can do. But lawyers talk to people with legal issues every day of the week. Unless those lawyers handle “everything,” they can’t help everyone.

They can either turn those people away or refer them to other lawyers. Like you.

In fact, many lawyers have the ability to send you a steady stream of referrals, month after month, year after year. If you have a systematic method of showing them how you can help their clients and prospects and business contacts. . .

YOU WILL GET MORE REFERRALS

But it gets better. Not only will you get more referrals from other lawyers, the clients they send you are often better clients than you typically get through other means such as the Internet or advertising.

They’re better because they are pre-screened by the referring lawyer. The lawyer knows if the client is a good match for you and if they can afford to hire you. They can also “sell” the client on you and your abilities, making it less likely that the client will “shop around” and more likely that they will hire you.

The referring lawyer can also provide you with pertinent information about the client and their situation, making it easier for you to relate to those clients and do a better job of showing them how you can help them. As a result, referred clients tend to sign up more quickly and with less effort on your part.

And referred clients are themselves more likely to provide referrals.

Lawyers get referrals from a lot of sources—clients, prospective clients, business contacts, friends, business owners, and other professionals—but one of the best sources of high quality cases or clients are referrals from other lawyers.

In Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals you’ll learn

  • Why some lawyers almost always get more referrals—and how to become one of them
  • The SIMPLEST way to get more referrals from other lawyers (without asking for referrals)
  • A proven system for increasing referrals by up to 1,000%
  • What to say to lawyers who “owe” you referrals
  • How to get referrals from your competition
  • How to use incentives and “referral devices” to get even more referrals
  • How to set up simple joint ventures with other lawyers. Don’t wait for referrals to happen, MAKE them happen
  • What to do about referral fees
  • The ultimate, long term, best way to get other lawyers to send you MOST or ALL of their referrals
  • What to do when you don’t have referrals to send them (i.e., when you can’t reciprocate)
  • How to get referrals as a new lawyer or when starting a new practice
  • A 7-step process for getting all the new referral sources you could ever want

One of the best things about this course is that it allows you to “automate” your referral program with a “referral letter” that does most of the work for you. It’s not as simple as mass mailing letters to other lawyers, but it’s close.

Have you ever had a lawyer tell you they sent you a referral, but you don’t know what he’s talking about because you never heard from the client? Your referral letter will make sure that doesn’t happen.

Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals is the ultimate referral-getting system for any lawyer. It comes with scripts and step-by step instructions and everything else you need to start getting more referrals immediately.

GET MORE REFERRALS IN 15 MINUTES A DAY

You may be wondering if this system will take up a lot of your time.

Nope.

You can get everything set up in a few hours, and then spend as little as 15 minutes a day “working” the system. And you can delegate some or all of the daily activities if you want.

The course comes with a Bonus Quick Start Guide to help you get your referral program set up and working. Then, you can use the system over and over again, to get more referrals from the lawyers you know and to get more lawyers and other professionals on your “team”.

No matter how many referrals you now get in your practice, you are about to learn how to get more. Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals comes in pdf format and is available for immediate download. You can use PayPal or a credit card.

Lawyer to Lawyer Referrals is only $79 $59 for a limited time. Click here to order.

Share
Filed Under: Marketing legal services, News, Referral sources, Referrals

You can expect what you inspect

August 13, 2015 by
Share

In marketing legal services, you need to know your numbers. You need to know where prospects and new clients and website traffic are coming from so you can do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t.

Knowing your numbers allows you to cut expenses (time, money) and increase profits.

For starters, ask your new clients how they heard about you. If they found you through a search engine, ask which one, and which keywords they used. If they saw one of your articles or blog posts or videos, on your site or elsewhere, ask them to identify it. If someone shared one of your blog posts or social media posts, which one?

Do the same for prospects who call to ask questions or schedule a consultation.

If the client or prospect was referred to you, you need to know the source of the referral. Was it a client? Another lawyer or other professional?

Who was it? What did they say about you?

You need to know so you can thank the referral source, even if the referral doesn’t become a client. When you show people that you appreciate what they have done, they are more likely to do it again.

What you recognize, grows.

Of course you also want to know which of your referral sources deserves more of your thanks and your attention. You may know 100 lawyers, but if four or five are sending you more referrals (or better referrals) than the rest, you’ll want to send your referrals to them.

When someone calls your office, they should routinely be asked where they heard about you. Your intake form should ask this question.

Because you need to know.

You can track referrals and other metrics with a simple text document, a spread sheet, or on a legal pad.

Once a month, examine your global numbers, i.e., how much new business (traffic, opt-ins, etc.) you got for the month, and from what sources. If one of your articles is drawing lots of traffic to your site, you need to know this so you can write more articles like it. If you’re getting more business from referrals and less business from social media, knowing this will help you know where to invest your time.

In addition, once a month, look at your numbers for each individual source of business–each ad, your blog, speaking, individual referral sources, etc.

Know your numbers, because you can expect what you inspect.

Share
Filed Under: Law office management, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Referral sources, Referrals

Why you shouldn’t worry about legalzoom (and why you should)

August 12, 2015 by
Share

The legal landscape is changing. More people are using Legalzoom, paralegals, and pre-paid legal plans, and it’s making a lot of lawyers nervous.

They shouldn’t be. Instead of fearing these would-be competitors, they should celebrate them.

These companies are doing lawyers a great service. They are expanding the marketplace of consumers of legal services. Many of their clients have never availed themselves of legal assistance before. As more of them start doing that, there are more opportunities for lawyers to show them the benefits of hiring them instead.

But many lawyers need to step up their game.

They need to learn how to use technology, and incorporate it into all aspects of their practice. They need to put marketing much higher on their list of priorities. The world is changing and they need to change with it.

Speaking of tech and marketing, I have a message for the “gentleman lawyers” of the world. The ones with an established client base who no longer work hard to build or maintain it. The ones who take two hour lunches and don’t listen to anyone with “new ideas”.

They’re living on borrowed time. Legalzoom may not be a threat to them, but the next generation of tech-savvy, hungry young lawyers certainly are.

What about everyone else? Well, if legalzoom and the like are a threat to you because they offer the same services you offer, you’re also living on borrowed time.

What can you do?

How do you compete with their massive advertising dollars and technological systems?

You don’t.

Don’t do what they do. Don’t offer what they offer.

Offer different services. Offer more specialized and complex services, to more sophisticated and higher-paying clients. Offer more personalized service and greater value.

If you rely on basic estate planning as the core of your practice, for example, move towards higher end services, for higher income clients. If basic business formation is a primary source of your income, you need to re-focus on more complex work for bigger clients.

If you offer a commodity service, you’re going to have a rough go of it. The competition will eat your lunch.

But there’s no competition at the top of the service/price pyramid. The competition is at the bottom 80% of that pyramid, where most lawyers (mistakenly) compete.

Don’t fear legalzoom, celibrate them. Don’t compete with legalzoom, and don’t let them compete with you.

How to differentiate yourself. Click here

Share
Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success, Technology Tagged With: , , ,

Email marketing done wrong

August 10, 2015 by
Share

I got an email this morning, from a guy in Russia. The subject, “Let’s do business”. The message:

I’m running a digital marketing agency focusing on local businesses that need help getting leads using PPC and Facebook ads.

One of the niches we’re definitely interested in are attorneys and you seem like an expert on this topic.

I’m not sure what kind of marketing services you provide to your clients but it would be good to have a quick talk and and see if we can bring more value to your customers by working together on some projects.

I won’t want to bore you with excessive details. . . get back to me if you’re interested in general. . .

You don’t know what kind of services I offer? Why not? You want to work with me on some projects? Yeah, I think I’ll pass. But I’ll use your email as an example of email marketing done wrong, thank you.

I don’t want to talk to this guy. I don’t know him and he obviously doesn’t know me. But even if he said something brilliant and I wanted to learn more, it’s waay too soon to talk.

So no thanks. Delete. Bye.

What could he have done differently?

For starters, how about personalizing the email? Show me you’ve actually read something I wrote or at least know what kinds of services I offer.

Then. . . let’s see. . .

How about mentioning the name of someone I know who referred you to me? That would get my attention.

Or how about mentioning the name of someone in my field you’re working with whose name would impress me and show me you’ve got some credentials?

How about friending me on social media, first? Like and share my posts, engage me, talk to me about something we have in common. When you email me, then, you can mention that we’re connected and remind me that we already have a “relationship” before you take the next step.

How about offering me something I might be interested in? A free report, a tip sheet, a checklist, a video, for example, that shows me how to make more money, save time, get more leads, or something else that interests me, related to what you do?

How about offering me a free trial of your product or service, so I can see if it’s something I want to use or recommend to my clients?

How about at least giving me your website, so I can learn something about you and how you can help me?

Get my attention, first. Show me you have something beneficial to offer to me or my clients. Earn my trust, before asking me to talk.

Attorneys can use cold emails in their marketing. But don’t just blast them out and hope for the best. Don’t “spray and pray”. Learn something about the prospective client or referral source, meet them where they are, take them by the hand and walk them towards where you want them to go.

They’ll come, but at their pace, not yours.

Marketing online? Here’s what you need

Share
Filed Under: Closing the sale, Email, List building, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship, Social media
« Previous Page
Next Page »