Relationship marketing Archives - Page 11 of 13 - The Attorney Marketing Center

The problem with social media and internet marketing

February 17, 2012 by David M. Ward

Technology has given us many more options for marketing our professional services. In the “old” days (i.e., thirty years ago), we networked with other professionals, did some public speaking and wrote the occasional article. Some of us took out ads in the yellow pages. Mostly, we relied on our clients to refer other clients.

Today, we have the Internet. The wonders of hi-tech. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Goggle+, LinkedIn, and, as of about ten minutes ago, Pinterest. And let’s not forget our blogs. And webinars. Landing pages, pay-per-click, and SEO. Mobile and local.

It’s enough to make your head spin.

How on earth can anyone be expected to keep up with all of this and, oh yeah, still have time to practice law. And have a life.

Many lawyers give up. “It’s too much to learn and too much to do and I don’t have time for any of it.”

Don’t be that guy.

I agree, it is too much to keep up with all of this and I write and teach marketing. And I no longer practice law. But while it’s too much to keep up with everything, this doesn’t mean you should keep up with nothing. The world has changed and it’s never going to go back to the way it was and all of us need to keep up or we will get left behind.

Choose one thing and do that. If that’s all you have time to do, fine. You’ll get better and it will get easier. Eventually, you can add something else to your marketing mix.

The big problem with social media/Internet marketing isn’t just that it’s complicated, ever-changing, and time consuming. The big problem is that for many, it can become a crutch. Hi-tech, no matter how adept we are at using it, can never replace the essence of marketing professional services: high-touch.

Press the flesh. Pick up the phone and talk to someone. Go have coffee. Without human interaction, marketing doesn’t “take”. You can get people to pay attention to your ad or your blog, Like or follow you, but that’s only the beginning. It’s up to you to reach out and create relationships. And you already know how to do that.

I got a lot of thank you’s from the free consultations I did a couple of weeks ago. One of those thank you’s stands out and will be remembered. It’s the hand-written note I got in the mail.

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Relationship marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Technology Tagged With: attorney-marketing-social-media, httpwww-attorneymarketing-com20120217the-problem-with-social-media-and-internet-marketing, marketing-and-social-media-problems, probems-of-social-media, problem-from-social-media-in-marketing, problem-internet-marketing, problem-social-media-marketing, problem-social-media-services, problem-with-social-media-marketing, problems-of-social-media-marketing, problems-of-social-media-on-marketing, problems-of-social-network-in-marketing, social-media-marketing-issues, social-media-marketing-problems, the-problem-in-internet-marketing, the-problem-of-online-marketing, the-problem-with-social-media, the-problem-with-social-media-is-social-media, the-problems-of-social-media, web-marketing-vs-social-media-marketing

How to get your clients to support your law practice

February 14, 2012 by David M. Ward

My wife and I are continuing to unclutter. Yesterday she brought our daughter’s Irish Dance costumes to her old school to see if they could use them.

The school today is much smaller than it was ten years ago when my daughter attended. My wife noticed that there isn’t room for the parents to congregate inside the school like we used to do. It looked like most parents dropped off their kids.

When the school was bigger, many parents stayed for the class. We spent time together–at the school, during competitions, and eventually, outside the school envirnonment–and we got to know each other and our families. The school became a social incubator and helped foster relationships that still exist today, five or ten years after our children attended.

When we were active at the school, there were competitions and shows and we parents contributed much time and effort building sets, working lights and music, and selling tickets to the shows to our friends and neighbors. Yes, we were supporting our children, but the amount of effort we contributed would not have been anywhere near the same had our social group of parents not been so strong.

Today, I’m sure they don’t get anywhere near the amount of parent involvement we had, simply because the parents don’t know each other as well. As a result, the smaller school is more likely to stay that way.

A business can leverage their customer base by creating a social environment where their customers can build strong ties among themselves and, therefore, also with that business. A law firm can do the same thing.

Most lawyers have a one-to-one private relationship with their clients. They don’t “cross pollinate” their clientÃ¨le. Because of privacy issues this is to be expected. Most clients don’t want anyone to know they’ve hired a bankruptcy or criminal defense lawyer. But not all practices are so constricted.

A small business practice, for example, has clients who can benefit from knowing each other. They can refer business, exchange ideas, and recommend vendors. If you hold a monthly event–a mixer, a breakfast or lunch, a seminar series–where your clients regularly come together, they would build a social network of their own. Your clients would benefit and as the organizer of these events, so would you.

When you have strong relationships with your clients, they are much more likely to remain your clients. No other lawyer will get their referrals. And if you need a favor–sending traffic to your web site, promoting your seminar, or distributing your new report–your clients will help. In fact, they’ll probably be more likely to do so because of the added accountability of the social network.

If there’s any way to build a social element into your practice, I suggest you give it a try. If this isn’t appropriate for your clients, you can do the next best thing–organize a breakfast or lunch or other regular social event for your referral sources and friends of the firm.

Strong relationships with your clients and referral sources help you strengthen and grow your practice. When they have strong relationships among themselves, your growth can be accelerated.

You don’t have to be the sponsor of that group, just the organizer. And the best part is you won’t have to listen to accordion music.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Relationship marketing Tagged With: attorney-marketing-new-parents, david-ward-attorney-marketing, getting-clients-in-a-law-practice, how-to-get-clients-for-law-practice, how-to-get-clients-for-your-law-practice, how-to-get-clients-in-law, how-to-get-clients-to-bring-guest, how-to-get-law-clients, how-to-get-more-clientele-as-a-criminal-defense-attorney, how-to-get-more-clients-attorney, how-to-get-more-clients-for-family-practice, how-to-get-more-clients-for-your-law-firm, letters-promoting-your-law-firm, marketing-to-parents-attorneys, promoting-your-law-practice

Don’t read this unless you want to quickly bring in a bunch of new clients

February 10, 2012 by David M. Ward

If you have a few minutes today, there’s a very good chance you can use this time to bring in more business. I’ve been preaching the value of this “technique” for many years because it is an incredibly effective way to put people in your waiting room.

I put “technique” in quotes because it’s not a technique so much as common sense. You don’t have to study or practice. You don’t need any special tools. There’s nothing to prepare. You can do it as soon as you finish reading this post.

One lawyer who did this eventually wrote to me to tell me he was getting so much new business, his secretary made him stop!

So what is this brilliantly simple way to bring in more business? Simply this: Call your clients and say hello.

Call your current clients and your former clients and tell them you are calling to say hello and see how they are doing.

That’s it.

The first thing that will happen is that your clients will be amazed and delighted that you thought enough of them to reach out and say hello (without the meter running). They will appreciate you even more than they already do.

Ask them about their family or their work or business. They will be even more impressed that you remembered something personal about them. Let them talk.

Don’t ask for anything or offer anything. Remember, you’re just calling to say hello.

Now what?

Well, your presence on the telephone will prompt your clients to think about legal issues or concerns they’ve had recently and they will ask for advice. Or, they will think about a friend from work or someone in the family with a legal issue and ask you if you can help them.

Before you know it you will be talking to people who want to hire you.

Of course, you will also be talking to people with issues you don’t handle. You will refer them to lawyers in those practice areas and score points with the client and the lawyers you refer them to.

Not everyone will have business for you today. In fact, most won’t. But in reminding them that you still help people solve legal problems, when they do need your services, or know someone who does, guess who they are going to call?

If you get voice mail, leave a message and tell them you’ll call again. Call them again in a few days at a different time.

Your clients know, like, and trust you. They hired you once and they will hire you again. They know people who need your services or who will need your services in the future, and they will be only too happy to send that business to you.

And you don’t even have to ask.

—

If you want to grow your practice even quicker, go buyÂ The Quantum Leap Â Marketing System for Attorneys. It will show you how to build a large (or larger) practice quicker than you ever thought possible.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing Tagged With: attorney-blogs-for-work-less, bring-in-a-bunch, legal-services-market, Marketing legal services, the-attorney-marketing-center, unless-you-want-to-read

How to get more clients with joint venture marketing

February 9, 2012 by David M. Ward

John Jantsch shared a great marketing idea today and he used attorneys as an example. The idea is to get together with other professionals and businesses who target the same market you do and create a content-filled blog as a resource for that target market.

So the small business attorney pairs up with an insurance broker, an expert in employee benefits, a CPA, and a marketing expert, all of whom contribute articles or blog posts speaking to the issues business owners want and need.

The site or blog will get search engine traffic, attracting prospects who will learn about the individuals who write the posts and the services they offer.

Jantsch provides recommendations for WordPress plug-ins that will help you organize and run the blog. Here’s another post I saw today that recommendsÂ 15 plug-ins for multi-author blogs.

But what if you’re not up to the task of organizing and running this little venture just now? Is there anything else you can do to utilize this idea?

Yes there is and thanks for asking.

You can organize a one timeÂ collaborationÂ where you and other profoessionals contribute articles, posts, reports, audios, or other content. You can put that on a web site that won’t necessarily attract a lot of search engine traffic because the site wouldn’t be regularly updated, but it would be a tremendous resource for each of the contributors who send traffic to the site.

You can put the content on a cd or dvd or in an ebook and use it as a reward for opt-ins to your regular web site. Or as a gift to people who attend your seminar, webinar, or teleconference. Or as a giveaway to your clients and contacts, encouraging them to send copies to their friends and contacts.

You can also organize a live event in your local market, with half a dozen speakers, each of whom invites guests.

The value of a collaborate marketing effort like this is that each of the participants is repsonsible for creating only their article or report, but each of you benefits from the content of the others. In addition, with each of you sending visitors to the site or otherwise distributing the content, each of you will get the tacit recommendation of the other professionals, as well as exposure to their clients and prospects.

If even a simplified version of this idea seems like too much work to take on right now, find one other professional or business owner who targets your market and do something together.

Send an en email to each other’s lists, offering a free consultation or a free report. Do a guest post for each other’s blog or newsletter. Invite each other to attend a networking group you belong to and introduce each other to centers of influence you know.

Cooperative marketing is effective because it instantly exposes you to a large group of prospective clients, all of whom have the implied or explicit recommendation of a professional they know, like, and trust. It’s a great idea no matter how you go about it.

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: how-to-get-friends-to-to-help-market, how-to-get-more-clients-as-an-accountant, how-to-get-your-friends-to-support-you-on-a-venture, httpwww-attorneymarketing-com20120209how-to-get-more-clients-with-joint-venture-marketing, ideas-for-joint-lawyer-accountant-seminars, ideas-for-joint-seminars-between-lawyers-and-accountants, john-jantsch-joint-ventures, joint-venture-marketing, joint-venture-marketing-ideas, joint-ventures, law-for-accountants-seminar, lawyer-accountant-seminars, letter-for-j-oint-venture, letter-of-a-jpoint-venture-to-customers, letter-of-joint-venture, letter-of-joint-venture-recommendation-to-customers, letters-for-joint-venture, more-clients-joint-venture, sample-letters-on-how-to-market-your-insurance-broking-business-to-accountants, the-small-business-attorney

Networking 101: What Do I Do After I’ve Made a New Contact?

February 1, 2012 by David M. Ward

An attorney emailed and asked:

“Last week, I met a man who is the head of the [an influential association]. Good contact. I sent him an email saying nice to meet you, he responded likewise and hopes to see me around. Now what?”

Great question. What do you do after you meet someone? How do you develop a relationship that will bear fruit?

Of course there isn’t a simple answer. Each situation is as different as the individuals involved. And while every nascent networking relationship has the potential to grow and develop, it’s possible that it won’t. The chemistry isn’t there, the timing isn’t right or one of the parties simply isn’t amenable to taking the relationship to a higher level.

So you meet a lot of people, try a lot of things, and see what works. Most relationships probably won’t pan, out but that’s okay. You only need a few good ones.

When you meet a new contact, here’s what to do next:

First, never leave anything to the other party. Always take the initiative to move things forward. You invite them, you call them, you ask them. The reason we give people our business cards when we meet them, isn’t so they have our contact information, it’s to get theirs.

So you’ve done that. You took the lead and emailed “nice to meet you”. That’s good. He replied. Even better. The door is open to future contact and there is now a chance that he will remember you.

Second, when we meet new people, during those uncomfortable first few minutes where we exchange small talk, we are searching for “commonalities”. When we find them (a school, a mutual friend, a shared interest in golf, for example) we are united in that common interest and we have something we can talk about. When you find something in common with your new contact, however banal, you can use that to continue the conversation at a later time.

So, did you discover any commonalities with your new contact? Did you discuss anything that you can use to continue the conversation? If not, in your next communication, find a reason to ask him a question. Ask if he knows someone you know or what he thinks about an idea that is important to his industry. Share an article you think he may like and ask for his thoughts.

Third, and most important, networking isn’t about you getting something from the other person, at least not initially. In the beginning, networking is the search for people with problems you can help solve or objectives you can help meet. I am not necessarily referring to your legal services.

What does the other person want? Where is his pain? What is on his mind? You need to find out so you can help.

You might have information that can help. You might introduce him to someone. Or give him a referral.

You get what you want by first helping other people get what they want. The more you give, the more (eventually) you will get.

So, if you don’t know what this individual wants, find out. Ask him–“how can I help you with. . .?” Or ask people who know him or his organization what might be needed. Or do some research.

Once you know what someone wants, look for ways to help him get it. If you can’t help them yourself, turn to your existing network of clients and contacts and find someone who can. If your contacts can’t help, they may know someone who can.

Your role is to position yourself as the “go to” person when people need something. You connect people with problems with people who have solutions. In doing so, you help both people and you also help yourself.

Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Networking, Relationship marketing, Thank you letters Tagged With: attorney-thank-you-letter, attorney-thank-you-letter-from-client, marketing-letters-attorney-to-businesses, netwoeking-thank-a-nee-contact, networking-101-for-lawyers, networking-made-contact-now-what, networking-what-to-do-after-youre-in-contact-with-someone, networking-what-to-do-once-you-get-a-contact, sample-thank-you-letter-to-an-attorney, services-relationship-marketing-help-with-my-exam, thank-you-letter-to-attorney-from-client, thank-you-letter-to-attorneys-from-businesses, thank-you-letter-to-atty, thank-you-letter-to-new-client, thank-you-letters-to-clients, thank-you-notes-for-new-clients, thanking-letter-for-the-new-project-to-client, what-should-a-person-do-after-networking, what-to-do-after-networking, what-to-do-after-you-get-a-new-contact

Why I use plain text emails instead of HTML

January 17, 2012 by David M. Ward

Many people use HTML emails with images and colorful templates and headers and footers. Their newsletters look like an actual newsletter or magazine. Very professional.

Most of the top marketers, however, use plain text. I do too.

Why? Because plain text emails get a better response.

Email is (or should be) a personal communication. From me, to you. Like I fired up gmail and sent you a personal email.

Even if it’s a newsletter.

For five years, I wrote The Attorney Marketing Letter, a paid subscription eight-page newsletter mailed in a number ten envelope. It was printed on letterhead with the name and address at the top. The paragraphs were indented and the margins were “right-ragged,” not justified. I used Courrier for the font. Each letter began with a salutation, “Dear _____,”.

Just like a real letter.

Today, I try to simulate the affect of a real letter by using all text emails. I don’t use HTML because I don’t want slick and professional. It looks nice but I don’t care about that, I care about communicating with my subscribers and I care about response.

People don’t want slick. They get enough magazines. Their mailboxes are filled with junk mail. If your newsletter looks like it was produced by a graphic artist and a team of copy writers, it is mentally lumped in with all the other commercial messages that flood their mailbox and is deleted with the rest of the junk mail or skimmed and then deleted.

People like getting real letters from real people, and they read them. There’s nothing more important.

You may have great content in your newsletter but you can’t build a relationship with (or sell something to) subscribers who don’t read it.

There’s another reason why plain text emails are important: smart phones. More and more people check email on the little screen in their pocket. They can sometimes read it if its HTML; they can always read it when its plain text.

“But plain text is ugly!”

“Maybe so, but the money it produces is beautiful.”

Filed Under: Blogging, Copywriting, Newsletters, Relationship marketing, Writing Tagged With: 2012-emails, create-professional-plain-text-email, emails-and-html-2012, emails-plain-text-or-html-2012, how-many-people-still-get-text-only-emails, how-many-people-use-plain-text-email-in-2012, is-it-professional-to-use-plain-text-emails, plain-text-email, plain-text-lawyer, should-i-use-html-or-plain-text-emails, should-you-use-plain-text-in-professional-email, simulate-plain-text-email, simulate-plain-text-email-with-html, use-images-instead-of-plain-text-email, use-of-plain-text-email-in-2012, why-text-instead-of-email, why-use-html-instead-of-text, why-use-plain-text, why-use-plain-text-email-instead-of-html, why-use-plain-text-over-html

How to get more clients from cases you don’t handle

December 8, 2011 by David M. Ward

I’m sure you read the story about the blogger in a defamation case who got hit with a $2.5 million judgment because, the judge said, she is not a journalist and was not protected by the state’s shield laws.

Interesting story. Important subject.

You read the story but did you make any money with it?

Attorneys can easily leverage a story like this to get more media attention, more traffic to their web site, more prospects, more referral sources, and more clients. And I’m not talking about the attorneys who handled the case itself, I’m talking about you.

Interested? Here’s all you have to do.

First, write a two or three page report summarizing defamation laws in your jurisdiction. You don’t have to practice in this area to do this, Uncle Google will help you, or you can ask an attorney friend who does (and tell him about this idea so he can do it, too).

In your report, mention the case about the blogger. Offer your opinion. Include a few citations, maybe a few resources.

Now, go back to Uncle Google and ask him to give you a list of bloggers in your target market(s) who are in your state or province.

Next, contact these bloggers (a personal email will do) and tell them you wrote a report for bloggers about how they can protect themselves against lawsuits like the one in the news. Offer to send it to them, free of charge. Tell them they are welcome to send it other bloggers they know and care about. (If you know the blogger, you could just send them the report in your first email).

In one day, you can get your report into the hands of dozens of people who every day write and influence the people you are targeting for your services. You have provided value to the blogger on a personal level, and asked nothing in return.

Where can this lead? Interviews, hosted webinars for their readers, guest posts, referrals, introductions, you name it.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t practice tort law. If you do, that’s an added benefit, but the point of this effort isn’t to show these bloggers you can help them in this particular area of the law, it’s to meet them.

Now, what else could you do with your report? Here are a few ideas:

Send it to local media with a cover letter letting them know you are available for interviews.
Call or email your clients and contacts: Who do you know in (your area) who writes a blog? Tell them you have a report that can help them.
Offer it through social media; post a video on youtube, opining on the story and linking to your report; offer it via forums, chat groups, listserves, and other areas where bloggers and people who know bloggers congregate.
Contact local blogger groups, business groups (anyone who has a blog), and offer a lunch talk.
Write about it on your blog or in your newsletter.
Take out ads and offer the report, as a “public service”.
Send it to lawyers in your practice area in states or provinces where you don’t practice. Tell them what you’re doing with the report in your area, invite them to do the same in theirs. (If you have to ask how this could help you, forget about this idea.)
Do a presentation at your bar group’s next function on how you used a news story to market your services.

You get the idea.

Oh, and you don’t need a news story to do this, you can write about anything that affects people in your target market or they people who influence them.

It’s about providing value in a leveraged way. It’s simple and it works. And if your report goes viral, it could help you take a quantum leap in the growth of your practice.

Filed Under: Advertising, Blogging, Increase your income, Leverage, List building, Marketing legal services, Networking, News, Online Marketing, Publicity, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Social media marketing Tagged With: attorney-marketing-blog, attorney-marketing-letter, attorney-marketing-letter-to-clients, bring-more-cases-in, clients, get-cases, how-an-atorney-can-get-clients, how-to-collect-more-and-more-cases, how-to-get-cases, how-to-get-cases-from-clients, how-to-get-more-cases, how-to-get-more-cases-by-a-lawyer, how-to-get-more-cases-for, im-a-lawyer-how-do-i-get-more-clients, lawyer-get-more-clients, legal-services-marketing, linkedin-app-icon, marketing-for-lawyers-who-hate-marketing, marketingtoolsforlawyers, sitewww-attorneymarketing-com-business-insurance

Attorney Marketing 101: The psychology of referrals

October 19, 2011 by David M. Ward

There are two kinds of referral sources: those who can refer and those who will.

If you’ve done a good job for your clients, most are probably willing to give you referrals. That doesn’t mean they will. If they don’t know people who need your services, they can’t refer them.

Others — professionals, business owners, centers of influence — who are able to refer you a lot of business, often don’t.

Understanding why people do or do not give referrals can help you get more of them.

So why do people provide referrals?Â Your clients are willing to send referrals for several reasons:

First, your clients want to help their friends and colleagues to the benefit of your services. They can save their friends the time they might have spent looking for an attorney, and help them avoid the risk of getting an incompetent one or getting overcharged. Their friends appreciate this help; your client’s status is elevated. Being able to help their friends makes them feel important.

Second, when their friend retains you and is also satisfied with your work, it validates your referring client’s decision to hire you in the first place. Any doubts they may have had about their experience with you are removed.

The third reason your clients are willing to give you referrals is that they want to help you. However, clients don’t always know that you want their referrals. You need to tell them. Or, they understand that you want referrals but they just don’t think about it. You need to remind them.

If you’re not getting referrals from your clients, or you’re not getting as many as you would like, there are only two reasons: either you don’t deserve them or you’re not asking for them.

Now, how about non-clients, professionals, business owners, centers of influence–why might they give you referrals?

For some, it is the expectation of quid pro quo. They give you referrals and you give them referrals, or so they hope.

Others will refer their clients and contacts to you for the same reason your clients do: to help their clients avoid the risk and effort of finding an attorney on their own. In helping their clients this way, they add value to their relationships and their status is also elevated. And yes, some also feel good about helping you, too.

When a professional is able to refer business but is unwilling to do so, it may be because they don’t yet know, like, and trust you. It takes time for your relationship to develop. Eventually, they may turn out to be a big source of new business.

Many prospective referral sources don’t send you business because they don’t have it to give. They have a relationship with another attorney to whom they refer and they don’t have enough referrals for both of you. Unless their regular attorney has a conflict of interest, is unavailable, or doesn’t handle a given matter, your prospective referral source may be willing to refer, but not able.

In time, that may change. When the other attorney retires, dies or screws up, you could be next in line.

If you’re dealing with a prospective referral source who cannot reciprocate, there are other ways they can help you. By the same token, there are other ways you can help them when you can’t reciprocate.

Some people who can give referrals simply won’t. They may see it as risky–what if you screw up and make them look bad? Others just can’t be bothered.

Don’t dwell on the reasons why people won’t refer. If some clients won’t do it, it doesn’t matter; most will.Â With non-client referral sources, the numbers are reversed. Most won’t refer and this doesn’t matter. You only need a few who do.

Filed Under: Client relations, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: are-psychology-clients-overcharged, attorney-marketing-101-the-psychology, attorney-referrals-to-doctor-friends-conflict-of-interest, can-a-psychologist-receive-referrals-from-a-lawyer, can-i-maketing-a-service-and-refere-to-an-attorney, clients-willing-to-give-referrals, clipart-freud, do-attorneys-refer-business, facebook-twiter-linkedin, freud, freud-clipart, legal-marketing-david-ward, psychologists-clipart, psychology-101-book-freud, psychology-101-freud, psychology-of-marketing, psychology-of-referrals, referrals-lawyers-marketing, why-dont-clients-have-referrals, why-people-give-referrals

Attorneys: Will you be sending holiday greeting cards again this year? (Read this before you do)

October 3, 2011 by David M. Ward

‘Tis the season. . .

Yep, the holidays are right around the corner. Will you be sending cards this year?

If you are, this excellent 13-step holiday greeting card guide for law firms will help you create a plan and a timetable.

You don’t want to wait until the last minute. Not with so many decisions to make. Remember last year? You spent way too much time looking through catalogs to find just the right card (mustn’t offend anyone) and then spent way too much money because you didn’t want your clients to think you couldn’t afford a nicer card. . .

I’d like to propose an alternative to this annual ritual of pain.

Don’t misunderstand me, I do recommend communicating with your clients and professional contacts and the holidays are an especially good time to do that. Communication is the sine qua non of relationship building, after all. What I don’t recommend is sending the same commercial greeting cards everyone else sends.

Why? Because a mass market, commercial greeting card that your client reads for three seconds before placing on the fireplace mantle sends an unwritten message:

We’re sending this to you because it is expected of us and we didn’t want to take a chance that you would notice if we didn’t. We couldn’t be bothered to put any thought into it, so we spent some money instead. We want to remind you that we still exist and we hope you will remember us if you need an attorney or know someone who does.”

Commercial holiday cards, the same cards sent by every insurance agent and dentist, are nothing more than advertising, and everyone knows it.

Look, you know these people and you do appreciate them, and they you. You helped them through a tough time or you helped them achieve something important. You met their family or their employees. You really do care about them as individuals, but your holiday card says they are just names on a mailing list.

So, what do I advise instead?

A letter. Send a personal letter to your clients that says what you really want to say.

Tell them what you would tell them if you were sitting with them in person.

Tell them that you appreciate knowing them and you are proud that you have been able to help them. Share news about what happened this year in your practice and personal life and your thoughts about next year. Share a story about a remarkable case, a client who opened a new business, or a new hire in your firm.

Write about the economy and offer solace and advice. Write about books that changed your thinking, and quotes that inspired you. And, because it’s a personal letter, you can write about your kids, your hobbies, or your vacation. Whatever you write about, make sure you tell your clients how grateful you are to know them and have them as clients.

When your clients receive these annual missives, they will read every word. They will tell their friends and families about their attorney’s letter. And because they know you didn’t have to do it, they will call you and send you emails thanking you for taking the time to write a personal message.

My wife and I have friends who send out a family newsletter every year. It’s written by the husband and reads like a newspaper, with headlines, photos with captions, and “news” stories. Very funny news stories. Humor is not easy to pull off, but my friend does it like a pro. My wife and I read it cover to cover, laughing all the way. Our friends moved to the Midwest a few years ago, so we don’t see them much (they visited recently) but their newsletter keeps us informed about what’s going on in their lives and makes us feel like we are still a part of it.

Send your clients and others you care about a year-end personal letter. If not a complete letter, at least add a note inside the card. If you really want to make an impact, add aÂ personal, hand written P.S., something that lets your client know you know who they are.

You don’t need much, just something personal. “Tell Michael I wished him good luck in his soccer tournament!” will be appreciated and long remembered, and so will you.

Filed Under: Communication, Law office management, Relationship marketing Tagged With: attorney, attorney-christmas-cards, attorney-holiday-cards, christmas cards, christmas-cards-law-firm, clients, greeting-cards, holiday cards, holiday-cards-for-attorney, holiday-cards-lawyer-marketing, holiday-greeting-card, holiday-greeting-slogand, law-firm-christmas-marketing, law-firms-decide-not-to-send-holiday-cards, seasons-greetings-cards, sending-same-christmas-cards-as-last-year, what-should-i-write-on-an-attorneys-birthday-card, who-sends-greeting-cards, Writing, xmas cards

Farming for law firms: getting a higher yield from your client relationships

September 28, 2011 by David M. Ward

To be productive, a farm needs acres and acres of land. Rich top soil, Â seeds planted a few inches under the surface, within reach of the sun’s rays, regular water, and the loving care of the farmer. The farmer knows that each seed can yield only so much, so he plants lots of them. More seeds, bigger harvest.

A farm is “an inch deep and a mile wide.” Unfortunately, so are many law firms. They plant a lot of seeds, going wide instead of deep, collecting fees and moving from new client to new client. But while a seed planted in the Earth can only yield so much, clients can yield far more than the fees they initially pay.

Each client can also:

Hire you again
Hire you for other services
Provide referrals
Introduce you to prospects, referral sources
Promote you via social media
Send traffic to your web site
Recommend your newsletter, ezine, blog
Distribute information by and about you
Invite their colleagues to your seminars
Provide information to you about their industry and/or key people
Give you testimonials and endorsements
Provide feedback about your marketing

The big money in a law practice is not the initial harvest, the fees earned on front end. The big money is earned on the back end. You may earn $10,000 from a client today, but $100,000 over their lifetime.

To bring in his big crop, the farmer must nurture his seedlings. So must you nurture your clients. Communicate with them. Appreciate them. Acknowledge them. Give to them. Build strong relationships with your clients and they will bear much fruit and continue to blossom for many seasons.

A farm is an inch deep and a mile wide; a law firm should be an inch wide and a mile deep.

Filed Under: Client relations, Increase your income, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing Tagged With: attorney-marketing-farming, ciftcilik, economy, farm-land, farm-plants, farmer, farmer-and-land, farmerlandpictures, farming, farming-land, farmingland, farmland, higher-yield, imagesoffarming, italian-farming, Leverage, picture-of-a-farm, pictureofafarm, sun-rays-farm, your-work-going-fill-large-part-your-life