Law practice development tools: sports, museums, and hip hop

January 8, 2013 by
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I read a lot about marketing and productivity. That’s my field and I need to keep up. Most of what I read, however, is cumulative: things I know, things I already do and teach. There are occasional new twists on old ideas and changes in technology keep things fresh and interesting. But by and large, when you are an expert, unless you are doing original research, you already know what there is to know.

If you’ve been practicing for more than a few years, you may feel the same way about your area of expertise. Still, we read. There is always something new, something we can learn. But if we only read in our areas of expertise, eventually, we get stale.

I get some of my best ideas from reading about things that have nothing to do with marketing or the law. I read blogs and magazines and listen to radio. I talk to people in different fields. I pay attention to what’s going on in my neighborhood and in world politics. I’m not interested in sports but I know that Alabama just clobbered Notre Dame. I’ve never listened to Justin Bieber or One Direction but I know who they are.

I encourage you to read broadly, outside your field. Keep your eyes and ears open to what is going on around you, in sports and pop culture. Study history and economics. Listen to TED talks on science and psychology.

Alfred Whitehead, said, “Novel ideas are more apt to spring from an unusual assortment of knowledge – not necessarily from vast knowledge, but from a thorough conception of the methods and ideas of distinct lines of thought.”

The more diversity you have in your knowledge, the more ideas you will have and the more interesting you will be in conversation, in writing and speaking, and as a lawyer doing your job.

Would you like to earn more than you ever thought possible? Click here to find out how.

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Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Presentations, Public Speaking, Writing

Getting the words right in the opening of your next presentation

December 10, 2012 by
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How would you describe “Getting Things Done” to an audience of people who, it must be assumed, know nothing about the subject?

I’m doing a presentation this week to just such a group. I have no more than 45 minutes, so obviously, this will be an introduction. I hope to explain the basic ideas and get them interested in learning more. I’m going to use my blog post, “The Ten Commandments of Getting Things Done,” as the basis for my talk.

But where do I start? How do I quickly get their attention and show them why they should listen?

I was thinking about this as I was looking at my first slide, which has the title of David Allen’s book. It occurred to me that this is where I should begin.

The book’s title, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity,” does a great job of describing the subject, as well as the benefits. It tells you what the book is about and what’s in it for the reader. So in my opening, that’s what I’ll talk about.

It will go something like this. . .

“Have you ever been frustrated because you’re not getting things done? The days fly by and you realize how much you haven’t done that day or that week, and before you know it, it’s the new year and you realize that you haven’t made a dent in the goals you set last year. It is frustrating, isn’t it?

Then, someone tells you about this great system for getting your whole life organized and you try it, but it’s so complicated, you spend all your time organizing your stuff and even less time getting things done. Or maybe you learn the system and it works for you, but then you find that while you’re getting things done, you’re not getting the right things done.

‘Getting Things Done’ is a book that promises to change all that. It’s about ‘Productivity’–which means getting the RIGHT things done, the most important things done, in a way that’s ‘stress-free’. If you use the system in this book, you’ll start each day knowing what you need to do that day and you won’t worry about forgetting anything important. Take a deep breath and imagine what your life will be like when you have everything under control.

This evening, I’m going to show you some of the basic ideas behind this system. . .

I’ve explained the subject of the book and shown them the benefits. I think they’ll pay attention, don’t you?

The most important part of any presentation is the opening. That’s when you sell the audience (reader, judge, jury) on listening to what you are about to tell them. When you get the opening words right, the battle is half won. When you don’t, well, you better be loud or you better be funny because that audience is thinking about what they have to do that day and not listening to you.

Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and learn the art of stress-free client-getting and income-building

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Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Productivity, Public Speaking Tagged With: ,

4 tools for finding ideas and content for blogs, articles, and presentations

September 19, 2012 by
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How do I create content that will rank well and bring me traffic? What are my prospects searching for? What should I write about?

If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, help is on the way. I just discovered 4 tools for finding out what people are looking for (aka, what people want to read), generating ideas for content, or fleshing out content you’re already working on.

I know I’m going to be spending some time playing around with these. (After I’ve updated to iOS 6, of course).

Check out the post on this page for a description of these 4 tools.

I don’t spend much time on SEO. Frankly, the whole subject is daunting. But I do pay attention to writing content that people want to read and I am always looking for ideas. That’s why these tools are helpful.

If you have used these tools, or others like them, please let us know in the comments.

Find out how to earn more than you ever thought possible. Download The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Presentations, Public Speaking, Social media marketing, Technology, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With:

Three goals for your next presentation

September 6, 2012 by
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I’m speaking tonight and I have three things I want to accomplish:

First, I want to INFORM.

That’s what the audience is paying for. But even if this were a free talk, the audience would still be “paying” with their time and I must give them their “monies” worth.

Second, I want to INSPIRE.

Facts and logic can only take you so far in persuading people to act. I want the audience to be motivated to follow through on my information and advice. I will do that by appealing to their emotions. I will tell them the BENEFITS of taking action and illustrate the benefits with appropriate STORIES.

Third, I want to PROMOTE THE NEXT STEP.

In this case, the next step is to attend the next event we’re conducting in this market. Your audience’s next step might be to sign up for a free consultation, fill out a form, or give you a check or credit card.

Information and inspiration set the stage for action, but not everyone will take the next step. Promoting the next step means giving them more reasons to act. This is done by providing additional information or incentives (i.e., special offers).

Promoting the next step is also accomplished through salesmanship. One thing I like to do at the end of a presentation is to invoke “social proof”. By asking for a show of hands of those who are committed to coming to the next event or who are signing up (or whatever the next step is) , not only will the people who reply in the affirmative be more likely to follow through, the undecideds will be more likely to cross over into the action column.

In marketing, or in the courtroom or boardroom, many lawyers rely on the weight and persuasiveness of their information to get the job done. Often, it’s not enough. You must also inspire your audience and promote the next step.

The ultimate goal isn’t to educate. It’s to get the check.

If you want to get more checks and bigger checks, pick up a copy of The Attorney Marketing Formula:

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Communication, Marketing legal services, Presentations, Public Speaking, Salesmanship Tagged With:

“Do you want the male version or the female version?”

August 2, 2012 by
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“Do you want the male version or the female version?” That’s something my wife and I say to each other fairly often.

It’s our way of describing how we want to hear “the story”. (What the heck were you thinking?)

We’ve discovered that when you’re telling a story, men want to know the bottom line first, then a few details. Women want to hear the beginning and middle of the story before they hear the end. They want to share the experience.

So if I get home from the market where I’d run into an old friend, I’m going to say something like, “Joe and Sue separated. I saw Joe at the market today. Pretty sad.”

My wife, on the other hand, might come home and say, “You’ll never guess what happened today. I was at the market in the bread aisle. Oh yeah, I got that sourdough you like. Anyway, I saw Sue and she looked terrible. Not a stitch of makeup. She looked like she just got out of bed. I asked her how she was doing and she said ‘not good’. She and Joe have been fighting for months. They went to counseling and really tried to work things out but Joe got fired and started drinking again. . .”

Male version. Female version.

I don’t know if there is any scientific basis for this. I could be dead wrong. Maybe it’s just that my wife and I are different.

The point is that people are different and you have to know who you are talking to. Some people want you to get to the point. Others want to hear the details.

If you’re not sure, just ask, “Do you want the male version or the female version?”

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Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Public Speaking, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to sell your legal services in 15 seconds or less

July 20, 2012 by
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You’re at a networking function and someone asks you what you do. “If you can’t tell me what you do in 15 seconds, I’m not buying.” So says Carmine Gallo, a communications consultant to some of the world’s biggest companies.

Gallo suggests that whether you’re pitching a product, service, investment, or idea, you should use a “message map” to create a visual display of your idea on a single page.

There are three steps:

Step One. Create a Twitter-friendly headline
Step Two. Support the headline with three key benefits.
Step three. Reinforce the three benefits with stories, statistics, and examples.

You can see this process in more detail, including a short video demonstration, in this post on Forbes.com.

I tried this for The Attorney Marketing Center:

Step One: Headline

The Attorney Marketing Center helps attorneys earn more and work less.

This is the single most important thing I want people to know about my company and blog. In fact, I use “Earn more. Work Less.” as a tag line on the blog.

Step Two: Three benefits

We do this by showing attorneys how to

  • Get more clients,
  • Increase their income, and
  • Get more done in less time

These are three benefits attorneys get when they read the blog, buy my products, or hire me to help them.

Step Three: Supporting points

If I want to elaborate in a presentation or in sales copy, these are some bullet points I would use to prompt me:

  • Get more clients (Referrals, online marketing, niche marketing)
  • Increase income (Better clients, higher fees, repeat business)
  • Get more done (Get organized, effectiveness (doing the right things), efficiency (doing things right)

Now you try it. Create a message map that can be used to tell people what you do in 15 seconds or less. Feel free to post it in the comments.

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Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Public Speaking, Salesmanship, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

You got into Harvard Law School? That’s funny!

July 13, 2012 by
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In the movie, “Legally Blonde,” Reese Witherspoon plays Elle Wood, a beautiful blonde who is dumped by her snobbish fiancé because he feels her lack of intelligence will hurt his career plans. Not ready to be dismissed so easily, Elle applies to and is accepted at Harvard Law, where she meets up with her ex- in the hallway on the first day of class.

He is surprised to see her and reminds her that their relationships is over. When he realizes she’s not visiting, she is a student, he is incredulous. “You got into Harvard Law?!”

Whereupon, Witherspoon delivers a line that still has me chuckling more than ten years after I first heard it: “What? Like it’s hard?”

Now if you don’t find that funny, you either don’t have a sense of humor or you went to Harvard. Wait, that’s redundant.

What? You’re still not laughing? You must be a tax lawyer.

Okay, I do have a point: We all need to laugh more. It’s good for our health and good for our business.

People like people who make them laugh. They like people who are fun to be around. They like people who smile and enjoy life.

Yes, what we do is often terribly serious. But not everything and not all the time.

I’m not suggesting you learn to tell jokes. Actually, that’s not a bad idea. I’d love to take a stand up comedy class. People always tell me I’m funny. I remind them that looks aren’t everything.

Hello, is this on?!

Anyway, we all need to lighten up and have some fun. Even when times are tough. Especially when times are tough.

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Filed Under: Communication, Just for fun, Personal development, Public Speaking Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Take inventory of your marketing to save time, save money, and improve results

July 11, 2012 by
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Taking inventory of your marketing can help you gain clarity about where you are and make it easier to get to where you want to go.

Here’s how to do it:

Pick a period of time in the past. Six or 12 months will do. Write down how many new clients you took in during that period, who they are, and the amount of income those clients have or will generate for you.

So far, so good.

Next, look at the names of each of those new clients and write down where they came from. You need to know whether they were referrals (including self-referrals, aka repeat clients), or they came from some other source.

You can break this down any way that makes sense for your practice, but I suggest something like the following:

  1. Referrals from clients (including self-referrals)
  2. Referrals from professionals, others; networking
  3. Online (Blogging, SEO, social media, webinars, articles, etc.)
  4. Paid advertising (PPC, direct mail, display, radio, directory, ezine, banners, self-hosted seminars, etc.; if you do a lot of adverting, you should break this up into different categories)
  5. Other (Public speaking, publicity, writing (i.e., trade pubs), etc.)

Okay, now you know where the business is coming from. What now?

Here are my thoughts on how you can use this information:

  • Most of your clients should come from referrals. If they don’t, ask yourself why and what you can do about it
  • If you’re not getting business from some of your marketing activities, or they are too expensive relative to the business they bring you, consider eliminating those activities.  For example, if blogging and social media take up a lot of your time but you’re not getting the clients from it, why do it? Use that time for something that is producing.
  • There will be some cross-over or ambiguities. For example, blogging may not be producing a lot of traffic, inquiries, and new clients for you but it still has value as authoritative content you can show to prospects who come to you via referrals, or to add value for your clients.
  • If something is working for you, do more of it. You can find more time for networking, for example, by reducing or eliminating some or all of the time you spend on (whatever is not working). If advertising in trade publications regularly brings in new clients, increase your media buys in trade publications.
  • Before you cut anything, consider the “back end”. For example, you may be breaking even on advertising (or even losing money) but if you are able to get referrals from the new clients that are produced by that advertising, you’re still earning a profit.
  • If you aren’t in the habit of recording where your clients come from, you need to start. Instruct whoever answers the phone to ask everyone, “Where did you hear about us?” and add a line to your new client intake form.
  • Track these numbers going forward so that you can periodically take inventory and see where you are.

A friend of mine says, “You have to inspect what you expect”. He also says, “You have to slow down to speed up.” Take his advice. Once or twice a year, shut off the phones and email and take inventory. It will help you save time, save money, and improve your results.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Blogging, Increase your income, Law office management, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Networking, Productivity, Public Speaking, Referrals, Social media marketing, Time Management Tagged With: , , ,

Three Tips For Your Next Speaking Gig

June 28, 2012 by
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At breakfast this morning I reminded myself that I did not yet have a topic for today’s blog post. When that happens, I usually dig through my backlog of ideas (saved in Evernote) and unread articles and blog posts (saved in Instapaper). Instead, this morning I began with a title.

Actually, not the whole title. I wrote down, “Three Tips for. . .” and went back to my eggs.

My subconscious mind came to the rescue. It reminded me that earlier this week, I had given a luncheon presentation. There must be three things I could share about public speaking.

The first one was easy. It was something I didn’t do but will do the next time. The other two I nailed.

So here are my three tips:

Tip number one: Meet the audience before you begin.

Had I done this, I would have learned that one of the guests was an attorney. I could have tailored my remarks to him. I might have engaged him with a question or two. Another guest was a real estate agent. I could have incorporated her background in one of the examples I used in my talk.

It’s usually not possible to meet everyone but meet as many as you can. I knew I was addressing business owners and professionals, but had I met some of them in advance, I would have been able to provide more relevant context (examples, stories) and generally deliver a better talk.

Tip number two: Don’t depend on A/V.

There was no projector available at this location, so I could not use slides. No problem. I knew my talk and could deliver it without any visual aids. In my opinion, this makes for a better presentation because the audience focuses on you instead of the screen.

Use slides if you have to. Avoid them if you can. No matter what, you need to know your subject well enough so that you can deliver it when there is no projector, no electricity, or the bulb burns out.

Tip number three: Have some friendly faces in the audience.

A speaker is only as good as his audience. We draw our energy from the people in the room. If you are addressing a group of dullards, people who don’t smile, don’t laugh at your jokes, and don’t respond when you ask for a show of hands, I don’t care how good you are, your talk will suffer.

My wife was with me. I can always count on her. One of my business partners was in the front row and he has good energy. When I looked at him leaning forward in his seat and smiling at me, it not only helped me, it helped the others in the room who took their cues from him. I had him “keep score” every time one of my “jokes” got a laugh and this added to the fun.

So those are three tips gleaned from this week’s presentation. Okay, I just thought of one more. If you’re doing a lunch presentation, start off by asking for a show of hands: “Did anyone order a salad?” Apologize and tell them you asked the restaurant to leave out the tomatoes. “They’re way too easy to throw at the speaker.”

Make people laugh and they will like you and your presentation. Even if you don’t have any slides.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Public Speaking Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Rule of 3 in Writing, Speaking, and Productivity

June 15, 2012 by
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Last week I did a training for a group of business partners. I created a series of slides and each one began with, “3 Things. . .”, “3 Ways. . .”, or “3 Reasons. . .”. I did it that way because it’s an effective way to convey information in writing and public speaking.

3 things are easy to follow and easy to remember.

If I gave you 142 tips for writing better blog posts, you would read or listen to the first few, perhaps nine or ten, and then you would begin to tune out. It’s too much information to process, absorb, or remember. Yes, you can go back later, but you may never do so. You can handle 3 tips, however, and later, I can give you more.

There’s too much information coming at us today. To protect ourselves, we have learned to tune out most of it. If you want to get someone’s attention and deliver an effective message, if you want them to act on your message, put that message in a smaller package.

The same is true of our task and project lists.

If your list has too many things on it, it’s overwhelming. You look at that list and wonder how you can possibly make a dent in it, let alone finish everything. It’s daunting and depressing.

In addition, when you have too many projects and tasks, there is a tendency to choose the easiest or most urgent ones, instead of the most important.

I have long lists of tasks and projects, but I don’t let them overwhelm me. I use The Rule of 3 to help me sort out the most important things and keep those in front of me until they are done. The rest, I keep out of sight until it’s time to go back and get some more.

To adopt the Rule of 3 to your tasks and project lists, choose (no more than)

  • 3 tasks for the day.
  • 3 outcomes for the week.
  • 3 goals for the year.

I’ve written before about the concept of MITs (most important tasks). Every day, I choose one to three MITs for that day. If I get those done, I can go back for more, but if I only get those done, I know I have had a productive day. I also wrote about how I use MITs in my Evernote for Lawyers eBook.

The 80/20 rule (Pareto Principle) says that in most situations 80% of results (income, clients, happiness, etc.) come from 20% of causes (efforts, clients, tasks, etc.) That means that most things aren’t important and can be safely eliminated.

Focus on the few things that are important and valuable and likely to advance you towards your most important objectives. Don’t worry about anything else.

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Filed Under: Communication, Personal development, Productivity, Public Speaking, Time Management, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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