Keeping it simple

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Look at your phone. How many apps do you have? Now, look at your hard drive and answer the same question.

If you’re like most people, you have many more apps and programs (and tools in your garage) than you use. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever use them, or if you used them once, use them again.

But we can’t help ourselves. We like new. New apps, new techniques, new ideas. Even if we never use them, and even if what we’re already using works just fine.

There’s nothing wrong with looking. I do it, too. But I don’t spend a lot of time on it because what’s new today is often gone tomorrow. I’ll wait until others have vetted the app or the process and recommended it. Then I’ll look. Maybe. I might be too busy using what I’ve already got and getting some work done.

Anyway, the point is that simple is better. A few apps. A few tools. A few techniques. If you’re not keeping it simple, the odds are you’re not getting things done.

Take marketing for example. If it’s not simple, the odds are you won’t do it. True or true?

According to the 80/20 rule, “a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually lead to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards”. Figure out which inputs (efforts, tools, apps, techniques) are producing most of your results and do those. Don’t worry about (most of) the rest.

For a SIMPLE marketing plan that really works, get this

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Doubling down on success

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Before you know it, you’ll be doing some planning for the new year. Setting some goals, writing out plans.

When you do, there’s something you should think about.

If you make a list of everything going on in your life, you’ll note that some things are great, some things are bad, and most things, perhaps 80-90%, are “okay”.

You might look at this way:

Bad: problems, weaknesses, issues, trouble, pain
Great: working well, profitable, easy, pleasurable
Okay: works most of the time, rarely needs attention, neither great nor terrible

Okay, you get the idea.

So, you sit down to set some goals and contemplate your future. Where do you begin?

Most people start by fixing problems. If you’ve got troubles that are causing you sleepless nights, and you can do something about them, that makes sense. Get those issues off your plate so you can think, and sleep.

But if have problems that aren’t causing you pain and loss, they are simply weak areas in your life, fixing them is probably not the best use of your time.

Instead, look for areas that promise the biggest opportunities for growth and happiness. You’ll find them on your list of  things that are already great.

Take what’s working and make them even better. As Thomas Edison put it, “There’s a way to do it better–find it.”

Let’s talk about your practice. What’s working well?

You’re getting lots of new clients every month. How can you get more? How can you get better clients and bigger cases?

Your cases are settling nicely. How can you settle them faster, for higher amounts and at lower expense?

Your employees work efficiently. How can you help be even better?

Your biggest opportunities for growth are in those areas where things are already working well. You’re doing it right. You’re successful. There’s always a way to do it better.

In blackjack, when you’ve got a ten or eleven, depending on the dealer’s up-card you don’t just play the hand and take the likely win. You double down and maximize your winnings. You don’t settle for good when you can have great.

Go through your list, find your good hands, and look for ways to make them better.

Want a simple marketing plan that really works? Get this

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How to get your first client (or your next client)

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An attorney who is starting his own practice wrote me asking how he could get his first client.

I’ve written before about the value of doing a S.W.O.T. analysis. “S” stands for “Strengths”; “W” means weaknesses; “O” is for “Opportunities”; “T” means “Threats”. You can read more about this here and here.

If you’re launching a new practice, or setting goals for growing and improving your existing practice, a S.W.O.T. analysis is a good place to start.

The attorney who wrote me didn’t tell me anything about his background or experience, or anything else, frankly, other than the fact that he doesn’t have an office. (I’d put the latter in the category of “Weaknesses”. Get thee some office space, my legal friend.)

Anyway, getting your first client. Or your next client. Start by assessing your “Opportunities” (and keep an eye on your “Strengths”).

Who do you know? Make a list of employers, your employers’ clients with whom you have a relationship, other lawyers, and business contacts. Include family and friends on your list.

Who do you know socially or from church? Do you have hobbies or something you do outside of work? If there are other people involved, put them on your list.

The point is that everyone you know, or have known in the past, may have legal work for you, or referrals. They may be able to introduce you to people who have work or referrals.

To get your first client, contact everyone you know and let them know what you do and what you want. Tell them how they can help you and ask them to do that. Ask them for referrals, ask them for introductions, and if they have experience in the business world, ask them for advice.

While you’re at it, ask them if they know where you can find an office space. Which reminds me, when you get an office, get in a suite or building with other lawyers. You can get work from them. That’s how I got clients when I opened my first office. Overflow, conflicts of interest, appearances.

What else?

Create a website. Add ten or twenty articles or posts that demonstrate your expertise. You need an an online presence so prospective clients and referral sources can find out what you do and how you can help them.

In fact, do this first. Then, when you contact everyone you know and tell them what you’re doing, you can send them to your website.

If you don’t know how to create a website that pulls in business, get my course, Make the Phone Ring, to learn what to include on your website and how to use it to get traffic, build a list, and get new clients.

Other opportunities? Look around you. Find some places to network or deliver a presentation. You’ve got the time. Don’t sit there organizing files, go meet some new people. Look for people you can help, and not just with legal issues. Send them business and introduce them to others who can help them. Build a relationship with them.

Every day, you need to build your email list. All of your marketing efforts from this point on should be designed to get more people to opt into your list. As your list grows, and as you stay in touch with them and remind them that you are available to help them solve legal problems, your list of clients will grow.

That’s enough for now. Do these things and you’ll have your first client. Or your next client.

Want more referrals? The 30 Day Referral Blitz shows you how.

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Marketing your legal services as if your life depended on it

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Many lawyers tell me they’re doing the best they can to bring in new business. But they’re not. Not even close.

How about you?

Be honest. Are you serious about marketing or is it something you do here and there? Do you do it every day or do you wait until you’re in a slump?

Okay, let’s play “what if”. C’mon, it’ll be fun.

What if you had to bring in ten new clients by the end of this month or. . . you would die? Literally. If you don’t have ten new clients signed up by the close of business at month’s end, terrorists will behead you.

For realz.

If this was true, what would you do? Would your attitude towards marketing your legal services be different? How much time would you spend on marketing? How much money?

The clock is ticking. What would you do?

What are you not doing that you would start doing immediately?

What would you do more? What would you improve?

Would you drain the kids’ college funds and run a bunch of ads, even if you’ve never advertised before? Would you get your ass out the door and get to some networking events? Would you personally call every former client you’ve ever had to see if they have any work or referrals?

If your life depended on it, what (exactly) would you do?

If you’ve ever told yourself you’re doing the best you can to bring in new clients, now you know the truth. If you’ve been honest with yourself, you know you could do more.

Now you have to make a decision. Business as usual, or something different? Your life might not depend on it, but your future sure does.

For a simple marketing plan that really works, get The Formula

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A simple legal marketing plan

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I like simple. Simple is easy to understand, easy to remember, and easy to do. So when it comes to writing a legal marketing plan, you guessed it, it should be simple.

Here’s that plan: “Two a day”.

Talk to two people a day who are in some way connected with your target market.

Examples:

  • Call a lawyer or other professional you don’t know and introduce yourself
  • Call a professional you haven’t spoken to in a long time and ask how they’re doing
  • Hand out your card to someone you meet in line for coffee
  • Call a former client, “just to say hello”
  • Invite a prospective client to coffee or lunch
  • Call a blogger in your niche and compliment something they wrote
  • Call someone who just got hired or promoted and congratulate them
  • Call new business owners and ask if they would like a free copy of your business report
  • Call the head of an organization and ask if they need a luncheon speaker

You get the idea.

The only rule is, you’ve got to call or speak to them in person. No email.

Why call? Because a professional practice is about the people. Not paper, not electrons. Flesh and blood people who can hire you or recommend you to others. Reach out and connect with enough people and you will never want for business.

If they’re not in, it’s okay to leave a voice mail message. Let them hear your voice, your sincerity, your lack of agenda.

Talk to two people a day. It should take you a minute or two, plus the time to decide who to call. If you don’t know who to call, call every one of your former clients. Or get a directory from a bar association, chamber of commerce, or business networking group and call through their membership list.

Two a day doesn’t sound like much but in the course of a year you’ll speak to more than 500 people.

At the end of each business day, before you go home, ask yourself, “Did I do my two today?” If you did, great. You’re working your plan. If you did not, pick up the phone and call someone.

For a slightly more robust, but still simple legal marketing plan, get this

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Holiday planning for lawyers

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The holidays will soon be upon us. What’s your plan? What will you do to market your services and set things up for a good start to the new year?

What’s that? You don’t have a plan? Thank you for being honest. Grab a piece of paper and write at the top, “My plan for the holidays and beyond”.

First item on the list: “Come up with some ideas”.

Now you have a plan! Not a great plan but way better than no plan. At least you know what you need to do.

Time to put on your thinking cap and visit Uncle Google or Aunt Bing. Do a search for ideas related to the holidays, Christmas cards, year end planning, holiday parties, gift giving, and the like. You’ll come up with a bunch of ideas, most of which you will hate or can’t use, but you might get one or two that work.

Put them on your list.

Now you’re cooking.

What’s that? You want me to suggest something?

Okay. Here’s an idea for you. It’s simple, but very powerful.

Whether or not you plan to send Christmas cards (or some other politically correct variation), write a “year end letter” to your clients. Tell them how much you appreciate them. Tell them how much it means to you to be able to serve them. Say thank you.

Review your practice for the preceding year. Mention important cases or milestones. Mention changes and growth. If there were problems, talk about how you overcame them.

Then, talk about the future. If you have news to announce (an office move, new hire, new practice area, etc.), share this or hint at it if you’re not ready to go public. Tell them how this will positively affect them.

Add a personal comment or two, something about your kids or grand kids, or about something else you do that you are proud of. Give your clients a glimpse into your personal life.

(A glimpse. I’m not saying you need to invite them to the house for dinner.)

At the end, encourage them to contact you with any legal question or issue. You may not handle that type of issue but you know other attorneys you can recommend.

Why write this letter? Because it’s important to say thank you to your clients. You can’t do that enough. When you share your accomplishments for the year and plans for the future, you’re not just saying thank you, you’re showing them what your relationship with them means to you. They matter. You wouldn’t be where you are today without them. They’re not just names in a file folder and billing ledger.

The holidays are a time for giving thanks and this is an effective and memorable way to do that.

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Finding the sweet spot in marketing legal services

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If we draw a diagram of the marketing legal services universe we would see three sectors. The first sector is comprised of lawyers who do very little marketing or no marketing. This includes the ones who proclaim that they are professionals, not sales people, and “shouldn’t have to” do any marketing.

Of course every lawyer does marketing, whether they know it or not. Remember, marketing includes all of the little things we do to make our client’s experience with us a net positive. But the lawyers in this sector don’t do much more to build their practice.

The next sector, the smallest of the three, are those attorneys who understand the importance of marketing and who do it big. They study marketing, they have staff, they have a budget, and they are put a lot of energy into growing their practice.

The third sector, and the largest, is where everyone else resides.

If you’re in the first sector, be warned. You’re playing with fire. A practice that isn’t growing is dying, and if you’re not making a conscious effort to market your services, it is only a matter of time before you’re in trouble.

If you’re in the second sector, congratulations. The rest of us admire you. But that doesn’t mean we all want to do what you do. We know that marketing is vital to our success, and we do it, but most of us don’t do it with the same intensity you do.

Are you surprised that I include myself in this sector? When I was practicing, I got good at marketing because I wanted to eat and pay my bills, not because I loved marketing or was driven to build the biggest practice in town. I had other things I wanted to do in my life outside of my legal career, and I did them.

You can build a successful career without being “all in” with respect to marketing. In fact, if you are passionate about what you do as a lawyer and you’re good at your work, you don’t have to do a lot of marketing.

But you have to do some.

Find a few things you enjoy doing and have time to do, and do them. Don’t worry about everything else.

Need a marketing plan? Get this.

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A little less planning, a little more action

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How much planning is enough? Less than you think.

You don’t need to plan out the entire case. There are two many variables. You need a plan to get it started. Your experience and instincts will take you the rest of the way.

You don’t need to plan all of your marketing. You need to know what you want to accomplish and a few ideas that might help you get there. Your results (or lack thereof) will guide you towards next steps.

You don’t need to plan your entire career–when you will retire, and how. It’s impossible to know how much you will need or calculate specific rates of return. Start putting something away and periodically take inventory.

Planning is good, but too often it is an impediment. Either we procrastinate because we haven’t yet perfected the plan, or we miss opportunities because they aren’t consistent with the plan. Detailed plans never foster creativity, they stifle it.

We accomplish more by taking action. It’s simple. The more we do, the more we accomplish. Yes, more action also leads to more failure but we learn from those failures. Those experiences help us make adjustments and grow. They help us improve future results.

Plan just enough to get the project started. Then do the thing until you get some results. Review those results and make a new plan.

Plan. Do. Review.

For a simple marketing plan that really works, get this

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The single most important question in legal marketing

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Knock Knock.

Who’s there?

New clients.

New clients who?

New clients aren’t going to hire you unless you give them a good answer to this question.

It’s the single most important question in legal marketing. Unfortunately, most attorneys don’t have a very good answer.

Here’s the question:

“Why should a prospective client hire you instead of any other attorney or firm?”

Inadequate (but typical) answers include:

“We’re good at what we do”

“We work hard for our clients”

“We provide excellent ‘customer service'”

“We’ve won millions of dollars for our clients”

“I’ve been endorsed by XYZ”

“I get top ratings from ABC”

These are bad answers because your competitors can (and do) say the same things.

Your answer to this question must show people how you are different, not the same. It must give people a reason or reasons to consciously choose you, because they can see how they will benefit if they do.

Let’s take the first one, “We’re good at what we do,” and see if we can improve on it. Why are you good at what you do? What do you do differently or better? In what ways do you do your work that other attorneys don’t?

Answer these questions and you might be on to something. If you do something other attorneys don’t do, this differentiates you. If you dramatize that difference with examples and details, prospective clients could well see why you are the better choice.

Yes, the gentleman in the back with the $4,000 suit. You have a question?

“People hire our firm because of me. I’m what makes us different. Why do I need anything else?”

Actually, that’s a great question. If you’ve worked hard to build a stellar reputation and strong relationships with important clients and referral sources, you may not need anything else.

For now.

One day, you may stumble. Your reputation may be sullied. Your relationships may go south. Or, someone else will come along and show your clients something better.

Have we not all seen high flying firms who have faded in popularity? Big name lawyers who have lost their big name clients and had to downsize, or fold?

You can’t rely on your good looks forever.

Yes, build your reputation and your relationships. But just to be on the safe side, think about how you might answer the question. Because some day, you may have to.

Find your uniqueness. Differentiate yourself. Get this.

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Slaying the perfectionism dragon

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A short article on the Entrepreneur.com website caught my attention. In “Start Before You’re Ready, Really,” the author urges us to launch our new business, project or idea before we are, or it is ready.

You can set up a quick Facebook page instead of a website, or a simple (ugly) web page just to get something “out there”. Run the idea up the digital flagpole and see who salutes it.

The author started her new business with just one strategic alliance partner (referral source), who sent her enough business to help her get her business off the ground. Had she waited until she had ten or twelve referral sources, she may still be waiting.

No matter what you do, you can improve it later. Even if you do wait before you launch, there will always be things to improve. So why wait?

Get something out there now and fix or improve it later.

I salute this idea. Hard as it is to show your ideas before they are fully formed, edited, vetted, and groomed, you must. If you wait, you’ll never be ready. In your lifetime, you will produce only a fraction of what you could.

I’ve done this many times. I’ve put up terrible web pages. Announced businesses and books when they were merely ideas. Advertised courses before I was finished writing them.

Some of my best stuff came because I put it out for the world to see before I was ready. Turns out, they were closer to being ready than I had thought. What’s a few typos among friends?

There’s nothing like a deadline to get you crackin’. Once you announce or launch or publish, you’ve got a deadline. You’re committed. You’ve got to finish it, or fix it, and you do.

The alternative is to pay homage to your perfectionism and wait until everything is right. That’s how so many people die with their music in them.

The most important part of any project is getting started. Whatever it is you want to do, do it. Give yourself permission to do it badly. You can fix it later. You can make it better. Or you can cancel it start something else.

There is greatness in you. Slay the dragon and let your ideas soar.

For a simple marketing plan that really works, get this

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