Thinking out of the (gift) box

August 1, 2022 by
Share

You want to show your clients some love. Give them something extra, to reward them for being loyal to your firm and motivate them to stick around. You want them to see that you’re not like other lawyers who quid pro quo everything, you’re generous and looking out for them.

At least you should. Because it’s good for business.

Does that mean sending them gifts? Giving them free services? Discounts?

Not something you want to do?

No problem. You don’t have to give away the store to show clients your amazingness. You can give away someone else’s store.

Crazy? Not crazy.

Talk to a business owner or (non-competitive) professional you know who has products or services your clients might want or need (and that you recommend). Ask said business owner or professional if they will provide a special offer of some kind to your clients.

Could be a discount. A free service. A free consultation. Even information that solves a problem or helps your clients make better decisions.

You tell your clients you negotiated this deal for them.

Your clients get a nice deal.

The business or professional gets their wares in front of your clients, along with your recommendation. They may buy something or refer someone, or sign up for the business owner’s list and buy something down the road.

Your clients love you and think you’re handsome and want to tell everyone about you.

Not too shabby.

Oh, one more thing. The business owner or professional may see the wisdom of this arrangement and ask if you have something they can offer to their clients or customers.

Which means some of their clients or customers get to find out all about your greatness and become one of your happy clients.

Working with other lawyers can be very profitable

Share
Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing Tagged With:

Strategic alliances, masterminds, and workout partners

January 17, 2022 by
Share

Strategic alliance is a ten-dollar word for a simple idea: teaming up with one or more individuals for your mutual benefit. These other folks might be lawyers, business owners, or others who are influential in your niche or local market, or folks who are successful in completely different fields.

The purpose: to help each other achieve your individual goals.

You might team up with another lawyer who targets the same market you do and become workout partners, or form a mastermind group of four or five other folks with complementary skills and resources. Each of you might contribute your specific skills, e.g., editing, graphics, copywriting, videography, etc., or contribute ideas, feedback, and encouragement to other members of the group.

Strategic alliances are often marketing-focused, with each member of the group agreeing to promote the content and services of the other members.

But there are no rules besides the ones you agree to. You might use an alliance or group to

  • share ideas and resources
  • critique content
  • make introductions and referrals
  • promote each other’s services
  • share each other’s content, links, pages
  • celebrate each other’s wins
  • help each other through difficult situations
  • hold each other accountable

What do you need and want? What do they need and want? How can you help each other?

Set up a regular meeting schedule and some rules for attendance and contribution.

Some members will drop out. Replace them with others. You may go through quite a few before you find a core group that sticks.

Whatever happens, you’ll learn a lot about yourself and how others see you, about your target market, and what others are doing to build their practice or business that you can adapt to building yours.

Other people know people you don’t know and how to do things you don’t know how to do. You do, too.

Combine forces, leverage each other’s talents and resources, and help each other grow.

Share
Filed Under: success Tagged With: , ,

It’s like referrals but without the sweaty palms

June 11, 2020 by
Share

Do you know any attorneys who could send you referrals but don’t? How about accountants, financial planners, insurance or real estate brokers?

You could ask them for referrals but. . . it makes you nervous. Okay, forget about that (for now). There’s something else you can do.

You can talk to them about a marketing alliance, where both of you benefit.

It’s a simple way for two parties to increase the reach of their marketing, reduce their costs, or both.

The result: more clients. Probably better clients, because the client finds out about you from a trusted source, just like a referral.

A simple example:

You send an email to your list and recommend the other professional’s services, webinar, or free report. They do the same for you.

Another simple example:

You interview said professional for your newsletter or blog, podcast or video channel, mention their special offer or book, and provide a link thereto. They do the same for you.

Another simple example:

You invite the other professional to write a guest post for your blog or newsletter; yep, you do the same thing for theirs.

Can you see how simple this is? And how it could bring in a lot of new clients?

Start with professionals you know who have a practice that’s a good fit for yours.

But don’t stop there. There are thousands more where they came from.

You can learn how to find them (and exactly what to say) in my Lawyer-to-Lawyer Referrals course. Details here

Share
Filed Under: Referral sources, Referrals Tagged With: ,

Put this in your pipe and smoke it

June 26, 2017 by
Share

Suppose I am a notary who works near you. I call you and offer to provide my services to your clients for a few hours each week, at no cost to you or your clients.

Interested?

You can promote this as an added benefit to your clients. You can put “free notary services” in your advertising and on your website and attract more prospective clients.

And it won’t cost you a dime.

I’m willing to do it because it lets me introduce my services to lots of new clients.

Do we have a deal?

Okay, you like the idea but you’re not getting calls from notaries offering this.

Well, you could ask someone in your office to take the class and become a notary, or you could do it yourself. That’s good, but how about thinking bigger?

How about picking up the phone and calling some notaries, to see if they like the idea of getting some free exposure. Why is this better than doing it yourself?

Because some of their notary clients will need legal services.

And there you are.

Many real estate agents are notaries, and open to a bit of creative marketing. Or you might partner up with a real estate attorney who has a notary in the office (assuming you don’t compete with them). Accountants, escrow officers, mortgage brokers, and banks also have notaries.

If free notary services doesn’t work for your practice, find something that does.

Make a list of the types of professionals and small businesses that target the same clients you target. Contact them and see if they have a free or discounted service you could offer to your clients. Or a free consultation. Or free information.

Then, see if you can do the same for their clients.

Are you picking up what I’m laying down?

More ways to work smarter

Share
Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

The simplest way to increase your income

August 5, 2016 by
Share

You have a target market, don’t you? Or are you still offering your services to “anybody” with a legal matter you are equipped to handle? If it’s the latter, we need to talk.

But not now.

Now I’m going to assume that you have read my stuff and you are on board about targeting specific markets and ideal clients in those markets, and you do that. I’m also going to assume that you’re ready to expand into a new target market.

You currently target health care professionals for your estate planning services, for example, and you’re thinking about also targeting financial professionals.

Great. But there’s something else you should do first.

First, you should find ways to offer additional services to your existing market. It’s easier, quicker, cheaper, and more profitable than going into a new market. Sell more services to people who already know and trust you before you market to strangers.

Make sense?

What additional services could you offer to your existing market? What else do you do that they haven’t yet “bought”?

If your market needs and wants something you don’t do, offer them someone else’s services. Work out strategic alliances with other lawyers and service providers to offer their services to your market. In return, they agree to offer your services to their market.

Leverage your existing relationships and reputation. It is the simplest way to increase your income.

Earn more, work less: click here

Share
Filed Under: Increase your income Tagged With: ,