Five ways lawyers can leverage a win or other successful outcome to get more clients

September 27, 2011 by
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Most lawyers go from case to case, client to client, never stopping to use the successful outcomes they create as marketing leverage for bringing in more clients. That’s because they’re thinking like a lawyer, not a rainmaker.

Instead of rushing from one case to the next, take a few minutes to think about how you can use the successful outcome (verdict, settlement, closing the deal, estate plan, etc.) to get the story told to the people who can bring you more business.

Here are five ways you could do that.

  1. Your client. The best time to talk to clients about referrals is right after a successful outcome. When you hand them a check, sign papers, or otherwise bring things to a climax, it’s prime time to ask for referrals, for a testimonial, or for other help.

    Ask consumer clients to refer you to their friends and family or to other professionals they know. Ask your business clients to introduce you to their vendors or distributors, to write about the case in their newsletter or blog, or submit an article to their local paper. (You can write the article for them).

    The favor you ask your client doesn’t have to be related to their case. They’re happy and willing to help, so ask them to distribute your new report, “like” your new blog post, or invite their friends to your upcoming seminar. And ask them to ask their friends to do the same.

  2. Your other clients and prospects. Write about your successful outcome in your blog and newsletter. Post it on your web site. Do a little bragging on social media channels. Take advantage of the win to let others see you doing what you do, helping others “just like them” achieve the same benefits they seek.
  3. Other parties/witnesses. Send a quick note to the other parties and/or their counsel, thanking them for their professionalism. Send a thank you note to experts and other witnesses, for a job well done. It’s not uncommon to see the losing side hiring the winning attorney or sending referrals or opposing counsel referring clients when they have a conflict. By the way, do the same thing when you lose a case or settle for less than hoped.
  4. Your colleagues. Tell other lawyers you know about your case. Send a letter, speak about it at Bar functions, write an article, point them to your blog post. Tell the story and share the legal nuances, give them tips about the judge or arbitrator or experts. Help them do better on their next case and they will appreciate you, reciprocate with good information on their next case, and send business your way when they have a conflict.
  5. The media. Find something newsworthy or otherwise interesting about the case, your clients or their company and issue a press release or write an article for publication in their trade journal or home town paper. The media are starved for good stories; don’t assume there’s no news value to preparing a living trust for your blue collar client. In the hands of a good writer, there’s always a story to be told.

Leverage means getting more results from the same effort. From now on, leverage your successful outcomes to get more publicity, more speaking engagements, more traffic to your web site, and more new clients.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Leverage, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Press release, Public Speaking, Publicity, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Are you branding your law firm? Here’s why you shouldn’t.

January 24, 2011 by
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When one of your clients has a friend or business contact who needs a lawyer, they’ll hand their friend your business card (we hope) and say, “Here, call my lawyer”.

Notice they don’t say, “Here, call my law firm.”

Your clients have a relationship with you, not your firm. Even if you are a partner, your brand is “you” and “you” is what you should be promoting.

If permitted, you should have your own web site or blog, your own social media accounts, your own domain name, and your own email account (you@yourdomain.com).

If all you do is promote and brand your firm, what happens if you leave the firm or the firm disbands?

Your brand is valuable. It should be protected, nurtured, and grown.

(Note, the above photo is a business card from lawyer James Rains, circa 1857. It says, “Will practice in any of the Courts, and attend promptly to the collection of claims.” It looks like he was a partner in the firm of “Kernan & Rains,” yet the card promotes Mr. Rains.)

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Filed Under: Business cards, Client relations, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Social media Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What do SEO and client relations for lawyers have in common?

December 20, 2010 by
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“I’m a busy lawyer. I don’t have a lot of time to write a newsletter or blog.”

Good. If you have time to write a lot, your clients and prospects might not read what you send them.

While frequency of contact is important, quality is far more important. Instead of writing low-quality weekly messages, you’ll do far more to strengthen your relationships and build your reputation by sending a high-quality missive once a month.

I am subscribed to hundreds of blogs and email newsletters. My email inbox and RSS feed reader are inundated. Several times a day I peruse these offerings. I spend most of that time skimming the headlines and deleting or archiving nearly every article. I may scroll through ten or twenty percent but I probably read no more than two percent. The ones I read (and, often save) are where the real value for me lies.

I stay subscribed to this multitude of newsletters and blogs because they give me a sense of what’s trending in my areas of interest. I also find articles I can share with my Twitter and Facebook companions. And, I do find articles worth reading. If I don’t have time to read them on the spot, I save them to read later. Many of the publications I follow publish several times per week; some of the bigger publications publish twenty or thirty articles per day.

I filter through a large quantity of articles looking for the few of high quality. Sometimes they come from the multitude. More often, they come from the handful of sources that consistently provide high quality material. They may not post frequently and not everything they post is golden, but the most useful material (for me) usually comes from the same sources. Those are the ones I look forward to and make sure I read.

So, if you write a newsletter or blog, you don’t have to write every day or three times a week or even weekly. Write when you can but make it worth reading. Your clients and prospects will appreciate it.

Apparently, uncle Google agrees. Carolyn Elefant writes that while in the past, quantity of keywords and links to a web site determined primacy in search engine ranking, Google has modified its algorithm to better reflect the quality of those keywords and links. You don’t need everyone linking to your site, so long as you have the right ones.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Client relations, Communication, Email, Productivity, Relationship marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Other ways lawyers may use social media (besides marketing)

October 26, 2010 by
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Lawyers are usually not early adopters. Although more and more lawyers are using social media for marketing, many others feel constricted by their employers’ policies (i.e., firms that insist the attorney promote the firm instead of themselves), by concerns about ethical issues, or, simply, by their natural tendency to “play it safe”.

Many attorneys who have no objection to using social media but are either overwhelmed by the myriad of choices or (believe they) just don’t have the time.

I see social media as nothing more than an electronic extension of the “real world”. It’s still just communication with people you know and people you want to know. We’ve been networking all our lives; why should networking online be any different?

True, the Internet provides reach and permanency that do not exist at a Chamber of Commerce dinner, although the presence of cameras on our phones tends to blur that distinction. But if we mind our P’s and Q’s (does anyone use that expression anymore?) it isn’t difficult to stay out of trouble. And let’s face it, it’s a lot easier and less time consuming to interact via your iPhone than it is to press the flesh, although, arguably, not as effective.

Whatever your viewpoint and experiences with social media, one thing we can all agree on is that it’s here to stay. Like any trend that changes the way people communicate, we ignore social media at our peril.

Social media is starting to be used as evidence, for example.

So, like it not, use it not, we all have to pay attention. Experts say, “lawyers already tuned into social media are not only on the right track, but will have a head start on the competition.”

How about you? How are you using social media in your law practice? Please add your comments below.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Relationship marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Social media marketing for attorneys

December 11, 2008 by
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This isn’t an attorney but he offers a cogent explanation of how social medial should fit into an attorney’s marketing mix. What’s that? You don’t have a mix? Oh my, you really should have a mix. . .

[mc src=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn1cspHx7DU” type=”youtube”/]

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Filed Under: Blogging, Networking, Online Marketing, Relationship marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The quickest way to bring in clients

June 4, 2008 by
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Q: How do I bring in quality clients fast? I think the best way to bring in a steady stream of [type of] clients is to find a good referral source. What should I do?

A: Referrals are the BEST source of quality clients, but they are usually not the FASTEST. It takes time to build relationships, earn trust, develop a reputation.

If you can compensate those sources (i.e., referral fees to other attorneys, if permissible), or work out other kinds of alliances (paid advertising, cross-promotions) where the source has a more immediate incentive for working with you, then you could get some quick business.

Of course your clients are the first place to look. They should be willing to refer, but they may not be able.

Generally speaking, nothing is faster than advertising (except publicity, but you have limited control with that). Cost is obviously an issue. You could try writing for targeted publications and speaking and networking at targeted events. You’ll get access to the right markets, at no cost, plus the unspoken endorsement of the meeting holder or publication, and if you get your message in front of the right people, you will get clients.

Remember that you are always marketing to at least two separate markets: prospective clients and prospective referral sources. One is not necessarily better than another, nor faster.

Q: How do I know if I’m targeting the right market?

A: A market is only as good as your ability to communicate with it. Do prospects have an organization you can join? Meetings you can speak at? Publications you can write for or advertise in? Can you find centers of influence in that market with whom you can network?

Most lawyers look at their services first and then look for people who need those services. Better is to find a market with a need, then look for ways you can satisfy that need.

Start with professionals and business contacts you already know. What markets do they serve? What unresolved needs do those markets have? Find the market first, then work backwards.

You’ll have greater success giving people what they WANT, which may or may not be what they NEED. Find out what people want and then look for ways to help them get it.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Networking, Publicity, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Referrals mean better clients, bigger income for lawyers

April 2, 2008 by
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Where did your clients first find out about you? Chances are it was one of the following:

  • They were referred to you
  • They saw an article you wrote or heard you speak
  • They met you at a networking event
  • They saw your ad
  • They saw an article about you or saw you on the news
  • They found your web site via a search engine

Whatever brought you clients in the past is probably something you should continue to do in the future.

Do it in more places, do it more often, do it better, and you should bring in more clients.

But no matter what other marketing strategies you use, the cornerstone of your marketing efforts should be based on getting more referrals.

Referred clients are the best clients. As a general rule, they come to you pre-sold. You don’t have to convince them to hire you, to pay what you ask, or to follow your advice.

Referred clients tend to be better clients, too. They are less likely to complain and more likely to come back to you again and again. And, because they were themselves referred, they are far more likely to refer other clients to you.

Lawyers who get a lot of referrals tend to have the most profitable (and enjoyable) practices.

Use other marketing methods to bring clients to your attention if they suit your style and budget. But build your practice on a foundation of referrals.

Referrals from clients are the easiest to generate. But while clients may be the most willing to refer, there are usually limits as to how much–or how often–they CAN refer.

Non-client referral sources may have the ability to refer you a lot of business, but they may not (yet) be willing to do so.

You need strategies to deal with both situations.

For clients, the simplest strategy is simply to stay in touch. Clients who don’t have anyone to refer to you today may have referrals tomorrow. Your objective is to be "in their minds and their mailboxes" when that occurs.

For non-client referral sources–attorneys, other professionals, business owners, and so on–don’t count on merely letting them know what you do. You may get some referrals that way, but your best sources are likely to come only after you have built relationships with key centers of influence.

Building those relationships doesn’t necessarily depend on your ability to refer them business. Do it if you can, but if you can’t, you can either

  • Build a personal relationship, based on friendship and common interests, and/or
  • Help them professionally in other ways. For example, while you might not be able to refer them much business yourself, you can introduce them to some of your colleagues who might be able to refer them business.

Relationship marketing means helping others first, without demanding or expecting anything in return. It means finding out what prospective referral sources want and looking for ways to help them get it. Put aside what you want for now, and help others, FIRST. Try it and watch what happens.

Zig Ziglar said, "You can get anything you want in the world by helping enough people get what they want."

Shameless plug: The number one resource for lawyers who want to build a referral-based practice is my own, "Referral Magic" marketing course. More than 5,000 attorneys worldwide are using Referral Magic to get more clients and build a successful law practice. You can learn about The Referral Magic Marketing Program on this page.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Direct mail to lawyers, seeking referrals. Good or bad idea?

February 20, 2008 by
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I received a letter from a probate lawyer who is seeking referrals from large PI/Med Mal firms who need guidance in wrongful death and minors’ compromise cases. He and his partners had compiled a list of law firms and written a letter they intended to “mass mail”. The letter introduced the probate firm, described their capabilities, and requested referrals. He asked for my opinion of this strategy and letter.

I liked the idea of targeting specific kinds of cases from specific firms, (assuming they had reason to believe those firms didn’t have in-house capability to handle those matters), but I didn’t think their plan to mass mail letters would be effective.

One-shot mailings like this are unlikely to generate any business. About the only chance you have is to reach someone at precisely the time when he or she has a case they need help with and they don’t have anyone else to refer it to. While that could happen, it makes more sense to begin to build relationships with lawyers (anyone) who DON’T need your services at the moment and do what you can to be the one they think of when they do.

Marketing, especially referral marketing, is a process, not an event.

Here are some of my additional comments and suggestions:

** If you’re going to contact a cold list, you need to do something to get a response so that you can continue to stay in touch with them and win their trust, over time. I’d recommend offering to send a “Free Report” that educates them on the issues they need to be aware of so that (a) they can do a better job for their clients and (b) be better able to avoid malpractice. This will be a benefit to them and position you as an expert. You can also offer a free phone review of their case. If the list is short enough, you could SEND the report and make a second offer to get them to respond (so you can stay in touch). The second offer could be a second report, a checklist, a form, or anything else.

** I’d suggest that you find people you already KNOW who can refer you to the people on your list, OR to people who may know them, OR to people who may know people who know them. Then, you can contact these lawyers with the name of a mutual contact. Much more effective.

** I’d also consider working towards having a colleague (in this case., another med mal lawyer) write (sign off on) a letter in which they endorse your services to their fellow practitioners. They’ve used you, they recommend you, they trust you, etc. This is the strongest kind of letter you can send.

** Letters do a have a place, but, I’d prefer to see you call. You want to build relationships with these potential referral sources, and to do that, you need to talk to them.

Find a reason, and call. The reason could be because you want to interview them for an article, you’re doing a survey for your newsletter or blog, to invite them to your free seminar, to offer them a copy of your new report or a subscription to your newsletter. It could even be to simply introduce yourself and find out more about what they do.

You’ll hit it off with some of them and follow up with coffee or lunch. You only need a few good ones to start, then you can leverage those relationships to gain introductions and endorsements to others.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Communication, Marketing legal services, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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