How to be the top lawyer in your niche

November 19, 2024 by
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The top lawyers are different. Not necessarily smarter or more accomplished, they do things differently.

The key is their mindset about serving their clients better than any other lawyer could or would, and the reputation they develop as a result.

They make a commitment to their clients and to themself to be the best at every aspect of what they do. 

Because they do, their clients unfailingly turn to them whenever they need advice or help.  

It starts by letting their clients know that they (or someone on their behalf) will be available whenever they call with a question or to discuss a legal matter. 

They aren’t just willing to do it, they are eager to do it. 

Being the best also means being honest with their clients or prospects about what they can and can’t do for them. If they aren’t the best lawyer for the job, they don’t fake it, they tell the client. If the client insists that they handle the matter anyway, they say no, even if the client is happy to pay for it. 

They explain that the client doesn’t need what they’ve asked for, or that they’re not the best lawyer for the job, and suggest a different solution or refer them to another lawyer who can help them.

The best lawyers are also proactive. They rigorously stay in touch with their clients, even when they’re not actively engaged in legal work for them. They go out of their way to

  • Share useful ideas, information, and resources
  • Introduce them to prospective clients or customers for their business or practice
  • Invite them to sporting or entertainment events they know would appeal to them
  • Educate them about how their legal services work so that the client will be better able to recognize when they need help or advice and be better able to work with them
  • And they look for ways to spend time with them (off the clock) getting to know them, their families, their customers, and their advisors

It all boils down to this: the most successful lawyers don’t just provide good legal services for their clients, they build strong relationships with them. 

As a result, these lawyers never struggle to attract great clients or need to sell them anything. Clients seek them out, stay with them through thick and thin, and go out of their way to refer other clients. 

It feels good to be the best, and it pays well.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Image, success

Start before you’re ready

July 16, 2024 by
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It’s not new advice, but is it any good? If you don’t know how to swim, should you jump in the pool and flounder about, or should you take some lessons first or find someone to show you what to do (and stay by your side while you do it)? 

Jumping in the deep end without knowing how to swim or doing legal work you’ve never done without some help or preparation is ill-advised, but for many things you want or need to do, getting started is often the best way to do it.

If you’re procrastinating because you overwhelmed with everything you need to do, or you are a perfectionist and convinced that you shouldn’t start because you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re going to mess up, you don’t need to take a course or hire a consultant. You need to start. 

Before you’re ready. 

That’s how you get good at marketing.

Go to a networking meeting and talk to some people. Take out your first ad. Write an article or blog post. Record a video, even if you don’t have a script, a decent camera, or know anything about editing.

Do something. Anything. You might be terrible at it (or you might be a lot better than you expected), but in either case, you’ve started and are on your way.

You don’t need to have experience to get experience. You get experience by taking the first step.

So, when in doubt, start. Before you’re ready.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

Clients, not cases

June 13, 2024 by
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There’s a singer I like and I watch a lot of reaction videos of her. On one video, a reactor who is his himself a singer, instantly fell in love with her and not just because of her voice and performance. 

Among other traits, her humility impressed him. Even though she did her own version of a classic song, she showed respect for the original and the person who sang it.

“It’s not about her,” he said. “It’s about the song.” 

Which made me think about the practice of law. Most lawyers see a new client in terms of the legal work—the case, the problem, the risks, and the solution. They focus on the work. Instead, they should focus on the client.

Of course, the work is important. But the client is more important. They are a person (or an entity composed of people) who need us to comfort them and guide them, to make them feel good about what we’re doing for them, and thus, good about themselves.

We can build a relationship with the client, which allows us to do a better job for them. And the client may have other work for us, either now or in the future, and a lifetime of business or personal contacts they can introduce to us, and will because of that relationship.

Think clients, not cases.

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Filed Under: Client relations, success

You don’t have to be good if you do this

June 12, 2024 by
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We want to be good at our work, but it’s not a prerequisite. We all start somewhere and often that means starting badly. I sure did. Maybe you did, too.

We had to be good enough to do the work, but not necessarily “So good they can’t ignore you” as Cal Newport says. 

That’s the goal, but for most of us, not where we start.

Where do we start? What is it that allows us to survive long enough to become good? 

Being prolific. 

Handle enough small cases, draft enough simple documents, meet enough people, write enough articles, do enough presentations, run enough ads, post enough posts, and eventually, we not only pay our bills, we get good. 

So good, they can’t ignore us. 

How do we become prolific? By showing up every day, creating value for one or more clients and doing something to market our practice. 

That’s it. We don’t have to do anything special. We don’t have to land the big case or client.. We just have to show up and do the work, and the next day, do it again. 

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Filed Under: success

Guaranteed to fail

May 7, 2024 by
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Want to know how to succeed? Figure out how to fail and do the opposite. That’s the premise of a process called Inversion Thinking. And while it sounds simplistic, I think there’s a lot to say for it. 

Especially if you have too many options and can’t decide what to do or the best way to do it. 

For example, let’s say you have a goal to increase your firm’s revenue by 50% in the next six months, but you’re not sure how. You brainstorm ideas, strategies, workflow improvements, and search for new marketing methods, but you still don’t have a plan. With inversion thinking, you might ask yourself, “What would I do if I wanted to guarantee I would FAIL to achieve my goal?”

Ridiculous? Yes. And that’s the point. By identifying guaranteed ways to fail, you identify things to avoid and also things that you should specifically focus on (i.e., the opposite.)

So, you make a list of ways to guarantee you would fail to hit your revenue goal: 

  • Ignore former clients and prospects; they know where to find me if they need me
  • Immediately start as many new marketing projects as possible
  • Check social media constantly
  • Rely on “brand” advertising to build name recognition
  • Do everything myself (don’t delegate or outsource anything)
  • Do nothing myself (hire expensive consultants and have them do everything)
  • Make sure everything is perfect or don’t do it at all
  • Wing it; I’m smart, I don’t need a plan or schedule

And so on. 

Go a little crazy. Then, do the opposite: 

  • Prioritize staying in touch with former clients and prospects because they already know you, can provide repeat business and referrals, and there is no cost to find them
  • Focus on only one or two projects at a time
  • Limit social media to 20 minutes per day
  • Set up a schedule for working on these projects, put this on my calendar, and set up reminders
  • Progress is better than perfection; get started, make it better over time

You may not always know what to do to succeed, but you can usually figure out how to fail. Then, do the opposite. Or at least don’t do anything you know is guaranteed to fail.  

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Filed Under: success

Winning

April 10, 2024 by
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Okay, maybe you’re not the best lawyer in town. Other lawyers have better skills, more experience, a better track record, deeper pockets, more charisma, and better connections. They look better, smell better, and have a boatload of energy. 

How can you possibly beat them?

By working harder than they do? Maybe. But that gets old. 

You beat them not by outworking them, but by out-marketing them. 

That doesn’t mean your marketing has to be amazing. Just better. You do a few things well and do them more consistently and enthusiastically.

It means knowing your market—what they want and need—and committing to helping them get it. 

It means providing great “customer” service to all of your clients, and building strong relationships with your key clients and referral sources. 

It means making marketing your top priority. Something most attorneys are unwilling to do. 

They go through the motions. Or believe they only have to do good legal work and the growth of their practice will take care of itself. 

You know, the ones who say, “I didn’t go to law school to become a salesperson…”. Who don’t understand that the legal work is only one part of building a successful practice. Or think marketing of any kind is unprofessional and beneath them.

You can beat them. 

Because you understand that a law practice is a business, first, and job one is bringing in a steady stream of clients and keeping them happy. 

When you do that, you might not be the best lawyer in town, but you might be the wealthiest. 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

Study success

April 5, 2024 by
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Jim Rohn said, “If you want to become more successful, study success.”

How do you do that? By studying successful people. People who have accomplished what you want to accomplish. People who inspire you. People you would like to learn from and emulate. 

Lawyers who have done what you want to do. Entrepreneurs. Business leaders. Great speakers and writers and philosophers. 

You can find successful people in your city or on the Internet, in biographies and the pages of history, and even in fiction.

Read their books. And books about them. Listen to their presentations and interviews. Most of all, watch what they do because their actions will tell you more than their words.

Reflect on what you learn. Ask yourself, why are they successful? What are their philosophies? What are (or were) their daily habits? What advice would they give you if you spent an hour with them?

Think about them often. When you have a problem, ask yourself what they would do about it. If you have an important decision to make, ask yourself what they would advise you to consider.

But don’t just read and think about them, write about them, in articles or in your journal, and talk about them and their philosophies in your presentations. Tell others their story and why you admire them.

If you want to be more successful, study success. And successful people.

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Personal development, success

Scaling up

April 1, 2024 by
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You’re doing okay. Making six-figures or multiple six-figures, but you want to hit seven- or eight-figures (or more). 

You can. And you can get there in less time and with less effort than it took to get where you are now. 

The hard work is at the beginning. 

In the beginning, you had to learn the law and the law biz. You learned how to bring in clients and keep them happy. You learned how to build a network, become a better speaker or writer, manage cash flow, find your niche, and find your stride.

You made mistakes and learned from them. You had successes and know what you like and are good at and what isn’t your cup of tea.

You went from raw and inexperienced to making a living as a professional. 

It was hard. You had no momentum. Now, you do. You have a base to build on and getting to the next level will be easier. 

But you’ll also have bigger challenges. More expenses, tougher competition, additional responsibilities. You have people to manage, offices to upgrade, and a lot more at stake. You have to let go of some people, jettison old habits. You have to become the kind of person who earns what you want to earn. 

And it will be hard. But it will also be easier.

It’s easier to go from six-figures to seven, seven to eight. Because you know more and can do more things, and do them better. And you have momentum and momentum compounds. 

You will continue to grow and reach new levels.

As long as you don’t mess up. 

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Filed Under: success

Why should I believe you? 

March 21, 2024 by
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You’re in the convincing business. People either believe you (and hire you, rule for you, agree with you, etc.) or they don’t. Your success depends on getting more people to believe you and your clients. 

You can always use logic and reasoning, and you should. But “telling” people and reasoning with them may not be enough. 

That’s why you should also share:

  1. PROOF: Copies of checks or documents, show them your awards, show them the statutes, let them hear eyewitness testimony, show them diagrams and photos of the scene, practice with them for depo or trial, show them your content, and offer free consultations so they can see for themself what you do and how good you are.
  2. STORIES: Sare the words and experiences of people (like them), by showing them testimonials and reviews and thank-you notes from clients, telling them success stories about cases you’ve handled, and stories about people who didn’t hire an attorney (or waited too long).

Logic and reasoning work. Proof and stories (usually) work better. 

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Filed Under: Closing the sale, Marketing legal services, success Tagged With:

Marketing quiz for attorneys

March 1, 2024 by
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Where’s the best place to invest $1000 in your law practice? 

  1. Lead generation and list building: Ads, mailers, SEO, etc.
  2. Hiring a part-time marketing assistant to help create content, do follow-ups, and assist with other marketing projects
  3. Name recognition, e.g., sponsoring a golf tournament or charity, public relations, signage, handouts 
  4. Starting a YouTube channel or podcast

What do you think? What will give you the most bang for your buck?

The answer is… “None of the above”. 

Yes, each of these might bring you new business. But if they do, you have to continue doing them. If they don’t, it’s not the end of the world. $1000 isn’t a lot of money. But the question was, “What’s the best place to invest $1000?” The answer: personal development.

Books, courses, training, coaching—to improve your skills and develop new ones.

Personal development provides an enormous ROI that can not only bring in business today, but for the rest of your career. It doesn’t just work, it compounds. You get smarter, develop better habits (and jettison bad ones), work more productively, become more attractive and referrable. 

Becoming a better writer or speaker will make you a better communicator. More people will understand your message and be persuaded to act on it. 

Learning the latest legal strategies and how to use them can help you win more cases and build your reputation. 

Mastering client relations—getting more people to like and trust you and want to work with you and tell others about you—these are marketing superpowers that can attract better clients, bigger cases, and more opportunities to meet influential people and become a part of their inner circle. 

Shall I go on?  

Clearly, the best investment you can make in your practice is an investment in yourself. 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success
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