Quality Law Firm Marketing Means Quality of Life
Law firm marketing is usually not something that is given priority. This is precisely the reason lawyers fail at marketing. If you want to be certain that your time is well spent on any activity, you should always give your best effort. Marketing is no different.
How many times have you attended a networking even only to briefly shake the hands of people you know, have a drink and leave early?
How many times have you thought about posting something to your blog only to put it off because you were too tired and though you could get to it tomorrow?
When seeing something another lawyer implemented, have you ever thought to yourself: “That’s a great way to attract clients, I could do that.” Yet you failed to give it another thought…
All of these responses are perfectly normal. But that is the problem. Normal actions get normal results. And normal means average. And the average attorney is terrible at law firm marketing.
If you want to take control of your destiny you must become adept at attracting the right kind of client. This means you must become adept a law firm marketing.
When I say “adept” I mean you must approach it with urgency and purpose. In other words, you must have marketing intensity. Even if you only have twenty minutes per day to work on marketing, those must be twenty focused, powerful minutes.
Here are three examples of marketing intensity in action:
Blog Articles: Each blog article should be meaningful to the reader. Do not post an article just to say that you posted an article. Do not write something just to add more keywords to your website. You should provide so much valuable content in your blog articles that readers will be impressed with your depth of knowledge and advice.
Speaking Engagements: You should speak on topics that the audience will find interesting and informative. You should offer follow-up information to the audience. You should include a call to action to allow the audience to become a part of your email and newsletter lists.
Direct Mail: Do not just mail one letter, one time. All mailing should be conducted in three letter sequences (at minimum). Most people need to hear a message at least seven times before they are receptive to it. If you want to get through to your target audience, repetition is key.
This article should serve as motivation. If you are going to do some law firm marketing, you owe it to yourself to do it correctly. Put together an action plan that includes law firm marketing and then TAKE ACTION. Give it 100% and you will be surprised and amazed by the results.
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EmailWhen They Show Up, Bill ‘Em
Do you feel like you need to offer a free consultation?
Isn’t that part of law firm marketing 101?
No it is not. In fact, it is terrible law firm marketing.
Free advice is worth what you pay for it.
If you want to do anything for free, have an administrative assistant or an associate interview the prospective client to see if they qualify to work with you.
Yes. I know. Your competitors all offer free consultations. They all sit with clients for an hour at a time and listen to their tale of woe. They empathize and then, if they are lucky, the client signs up with them.
Did they teach that in law school? Was the class called; “How to be a doormat?”
The lawyers I work with do not give free consultations. They realize the value of their time and they demand clients respect it.
This is one of the easiest changes to make in your law firm yet it gives so many attorneys anguish. I am not sure why. Maybe it is insecurity or maybe it is fear of the competition.
If you do none of the other things I recommend on this website, at least start charging for consultations.
And so that you know that I remain congruent with my own advice: I charge $1,500 for a consultation. But that payment can be applied to any subsequent work we do together.
Few people waste my time. But you don’t have to be a law firm marketing expert to have people respect your time.
If you want people to respect you, you must respect yourself. That starts with respecting your most valuable resource, your time.
Attorney Marketing So Good The Competitors Can’t Keep Up
The title says everything you need to know.
If you truly want to dominate attorney marketing you must be a master at executing on a plan. I am talking about simultaneous execution not just doing one thing at a time.
Your marketing has two different goals.
First: You want to do everything possible to attract and retain clients. You should master the basics and then move on to the more advanced techniques. Executing these with precision is key.
Next: You should intimidate your competitors. You want them to think that it is impossible for them to keep up with you. You want them to think it is impossible to even try.
It is the second component that I am focusing on today. As an example, I will give you some of the marketing initiatives I execute on a monthly basis:
I write a daily blog post here on the Rainmaker Lawyer Blog. My first blog post was written over two years ago. I have taken a couple of days off, here and there, but overall I have been pounding the keyboard a few days each week for two years. That gives me a huge presence on the Internet.
I also write a blog post on a different topic each and every day over at Legal Marketing For Lawyers. This content is supplemented with video but there is still a good deal of content up there.
We record a video every weekday and post it on The Rainmaker Lawyer YouTube Page. Over 1 million people have viewed my videos.
I update my Facebook page at least once each day and I include on of my videos up there.
On a weekly basis, I attend a local networking group meeting in Miami. This happens to be one of the top groups of its kind in the world (as measured by dollars of business developed). I have a leadership role in that group.
I also write and distribute a weekly newsletter via email each week. This is called the Rainmaker Minute and it is sent each week on Wednesday precisely at 12PM.
On a monthly basis I write and distribute a printed newsletter to clients and VIPs. This newsletter is my way of keeping people updated even if they do not have on line access to the things I publish.
Keep in mind that this is just a portion of my marketing activity. It does not include some of the secret stuff that I don’t want my competitors finding out about. It also doesn’t include some of the experimental stuff I have not perfected yet.
What does this mean for you, an attorney marketing his services to the world?
It is illustrative of the amount of marketing that a sole practitioner (I have one employee, an assistant) can accomplish while still running a functioning practice (I have a marketing firm with more than 100 active client engagements).
The bottom line on all of this is that attorney marketing can be a competitive advantage on many levels. If you were doing all of this, or even half of it, how many more clients would you have right now?
Legal Marketing is a Responsibility and Not a Luxury
Too many lawyers think of marketing as something that can be done with time left over at the end of the day/week/month. Or they think of it as something that can be done when all the pending matters with pressing deadlines are handled and there is nothing else to do.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Marketing is the most essential part of your law practice.
Why?
Because nothing happens until a client hires you.
Like it or not, you must know how to attract, engage and retain clients. And that is the very definition of marketing for lawyers.
You can be amazing in a courtroom. You can be a fantastic negotiator. You can draft the best documents, motions and pleadings but if you cannot attract clients you are sunk.
This makes marketing a responsibility…your responsibility.
Where is your next client going to come from? What kind of matter will he bring you? How much will you make this month?
If you cannot answer these questions, you are not living up to your marketing responsibility. Good marketing will help you provide definite answers to those questions each and every month.
End the uncertainty. Learn how to develop a marketing plan and how to follow a winning marketing strategy.
Embrace it and it will help you live the lifestyle you deserve.
Marketing for Lawyers Is All About Execution
Good ideas area dime-a-dozen. I literally trip over a good idea at least once each day. But the good idea is worthless if it is not implemented.
Over the past few years many people have asked me about the value of working with a coach who helps with marketing for lawyers. There are a number of factors that contribute to that value. One of the most powerful of these factors is accountability for marketing execution.
You see, it does not matter if I ask my clients if they have implemented the ideas we develop for them. The mere fact that I COULD ask and the fact that I MIGHT be disappointed if they tell me they did not execute, is often enough of an incentive for them to put forth that extra effort.
Some of my clients say that I provide a helpful kick in the rear end. In reality, I provide the POSSIBILITY of a kick in the rear end and that is all it takes to keep people motivated.
Who is kicking you in the rear end to make sure you implement your marketing plan?
What You Don’t Know About Law Firm Marketing
Your clients come to you looking for advice. When they walk in your office they are usually facing a serious situation full of potentially adverse consequences. They sit in front of you and they complain. They moan and groan about how they got into this mess and about how unfair it is and about how they just need a little help working their way through this situation.
Of course these clients are minimizing the potential exposure of their situation. They need help and they know it. But many of them will still shop around. They will still look for a bargain. (As a side note: These are the same people who would shop for a bargain from a brain surgeon or parachute manufacturer.) And this is partially due to their pathological condition that prevents them from naturally comprehending the concept of a price/value relationship.
But part of the blame lies with you. You enable these dysfunctional psycho-clients. You do this every time you reduce your fee. You do this when you rationalize, during your own personal moments of delusional behavior, that taking a client at a reduced fee is better than letting them walk away.
What you should be doing instead of reducing your fee is helping your clients understand the value of working with you.
Clients have three basic choices when selecting a lawyer.
Choice 1: Work with a cheap, crappy lawyer. This will generally produce crappy results. Clients know this but some of them legitimately have no money and they are forced to go this route.
Choice 2: Work with a lawyer who does everything right but has only average knowledge and experience and charges exactly what everyone else charges.
Choice 3: Work with the elite lawyer who does everything right, has invested in educating himself in several nuances of specific areas of the law, has taken on challenging cases and has developed relationships that allow him to achieve results not possible for about 97 percent of the legal population.
Most clients will select Choice 2 because they do not understand the difference between the lawyers in Choice 2 and Choice 3. And when they select the lawyer in Choice 2 they will try and get him for the price they would pay the lawyer in Choice 1. Because in their mind, all lawyers are the same.
And this is what YOU don’t know. This is not your fault.
But it is your responsibility to help the client see the difference between making Choice 2 and Choice 3. It is your obligation to educate the client on the severity of the issue he faces. It is incumbent upon you to make it clear to the client that his situation will only get worse if he doesn’t act now. Help him realize what he doesn’t know and help him understand the VALUE in selecting you to resolve the issue.
The challenge comes in learning how to do this. They don’t teach this in Law School. It is part art and part science.
This is one of the foundational strategies my clients discover when they work with me. To the lawyers I work with, demonstrating value is as basic and as natural as breathing.
When I work with these lawyers and they discover the technique for demonstrating value, it is like someone has turned on a light in a pitch black room. It is as if they were cave men in the Stone Age and I just gave them a book of matches.
They need fewer clients to make the same money or they take on the same amount of clients and make more money.
So this brings us to decision time.
You can choose to remain in the dark and battle your clients on fee issues or you can give me a call and take care of this situation. You deserve to be paid appropriately. You are worth it.
Isn’t it time you took your practice to the next level?
With Legal Marketing You Cannot Worry About Hurt Feelings
Being successful often means making people angry. Let’s face it, there are a lot of people out there who are miserable and they are content to live with their misery. Trying to help them is not only futile; it is exasperating. I am sure you have come across some of these people as you work to build your law firm.
Clients who arrive in my office seeking assistance have two specific issues. In some cases they are earning less money than they would like. In other cases, the money is fine but they are not happy with the way they are earning the money. (They are working too hard. They are dealing with difficult clients. They practice in an area of the law they hate…the list is varied).
When I prescribe a remedy I am always met with resistance. I have been doing this long enough to know that I need to sell my solutions to my clients. For as much as they want to get better, the things I ask them to do are so different, so out of the norm, so disruptive to the status quo, that I am immediately met with shock and resistance.
Most of this resistance is set in the mind of OTHER PEOPLE.
It seems these attorneys, most of whom went to school to learn how to be advocates in an adversarial process, are suddenly concerned about what OTHER PEOPLE think.
Shocking, I know.
Here are the three objections I hear most often when I introduce my solutions to a new client.
Other People Will Reject Me
This refers to your peers. Most attorneys are very concerned with what their peers will think. That is why hourly billing is so pervasive. At some point, maybe one hundred years ago, a group of attorneys decided they wanted to get paid they way plumbers, car mechanics, and factory workers are compensated.
And you go right along with it. Why? Because if you do not, you will not look like OTHER PEOPLE.
I also see this in your decisions about strategy. I introduce a new concept. Something that positions you as different compared to everyone else. And you resist it specifically because nobody else is doing it….
That is the point!
You need to be different. Being different gives people an opportunity to make a decision based upon something other than price. Being different helps set you apart.
I will Annoy Other People
This one comes up when I talk about frequency of communication. Frequency builds trust. I advise my clients to communicate with their clients and prospective clients on a weekly basis. When I first introduce this concept, your head spins around and you tell me how much this will annoy OTHER PEOPLE.
In reality, the people it annoys will not be good clients for you. The people you want as your client will welcome the frequent communication.
I also hear this about the length of the copy we write. Sometimes it is a web page, sometimes it is a letter, sometimes it is a newsletter. The attorneys who work with me always say that OTHER PEOPLE will not read long copy.
In reality people will read whatever you put in front of them as long as it is interesting. It is only when it is boring that length is a problem.
Other People Will Say Bad Things About Me
This is the one that makes me laugh the hardest. OTHER PEOPLE say bad things about everyone. There are people out there who said bad things about Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and Gandhi.
So what? Let them say bad things.
In fact, when people begin to speak of you with vitriol, you know you are reaching new heights of success. Look at Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin … the list goes on and on. The more you polarize, the more your message will resonate with your core audience.
Here is the bottom line:
You are an expert in a specific area of the law. There is a limited segment of the population who qualify to work with you. If you are using the right message and it is directed at the right people and delivered in the right way it will resonate with them.
In trying to please everybody you end up working with nobody.
Isn’t it time you decided to focus on creating the kind of firm that allows you to live the lifestyle you deserve?
Stop worrying about OTHER PEOPLE and focus on THE RIGHT PEOPLE, the folks who are your ideal clients. The only votes that matter are the ones people cast with their wallet.
If you are ready to use the right message, find the right client, and systematize your law firm, give me a call. OTHER PEOPLE will hate you for it, but you will sleep better at night if you do.
Welcome Adversity
How do you know how strong you really are?
This is an odd question, I know, but the answer is incredibly valuable.
I work with many lawyers who are tough people. They are ruthless negotiators. They are aggressive defenders of the United States Constitution. They are tenacious advocates for their clients. They will race you to the courthouse, kick your ass in the parking lot, crush you in front of the judge and take your kid’s favorite toy just to make sure you think twice about coming back. When fear goes to sleep at night, it looks under the bed for these lawyers.
But the minute these incredibly tough people face some small sense of adversity within their law practice or their lives, everything comes unglued.
Take the case of a guy we will call Bill. He is a pit bull litigator who works with wealthy clients in Palm Beach County, Florida. He eats other attorneys for breakfast and lunch and takes on public officials for dinner. Bill is intense, high strung and determined to win everything from a pie eating contest to cases before the Florida Supreme Court.
Yet a couple of months ago Bill’s entire law practice fell apart. He began missing deadlines. The attorneys who work for him stopped send out monthly invoices to their clients. Some of them had forgotten to keep track of exactly what work they were doing (which makes billing even more difficult). The phone went to voicemail at all hours of the day and the mail piled up on the reception desk. In short, Bill’s law firm was a shambles.
What was the cause of this mess?
Bill’s administrative assistant quit about 90 days ago. Even though Bill can destroy an adversary in the courtroom he is no match for adversity in his law firm. In talking to people who know him, I learned that this has been Bill’s downfall throughout his entire career. The administrative assistant quits and he falls behind for six months. He goes through a nasty divorce and it takes him two years to recover. His car is stolen and he loses a month of valuable work time trying to figure out what to do. The slightest amount of adversity in this man’s life brings everything to a screeching halt.
While this is certainly an extreme example it provides us with an important lesson. As a law firm owner, you are a business owner. The hallmark of a successful business owner is not how he handles himself and his business when things run smoothly; it is how he handles the fifteen catastrophes he faces before he has his lunch.
Things happen. Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes lots of bad things happen at the same time. You have to be able to deal with it.
What is the secret to handling adversity?
There are two key components to handling adversity.
The first component is attitude. You must accept the fact that things will go wrong in business and in life. You can plot, plan and pray all you want but stuff is going to happen. Your job is to deal with it, learn from it, and prevent it from happening again in the future (if possible). Accept this reality and take care of the situation as quickly and as effectively as possible. Then put it behind you.
The second component is a support system. Even tough guys have people they turn to when things get crappy. You need people in your life who will listen to you, offer you a reality check and sometimes just be a shoulder to cry upon. The only substitute for this is a nervous breakdown.
What can you do right now?
The action items for you on this topic are simple.
First: Identify the people in your work and in your life who are strong. Find people who have been through tough situations and survived or even thrived afterward. Treasure your relationships with these folks because they are the people you call upon in tough times.
Next: Adjust your attitude. Convince yourself that you can handle adversity. Think back to some of the worst times in your life and think about how you have moved on from them and become a better person because you faced them. Remind yourself that you have the willpower and resources to handle anything life throws at you.
Once you are fortified with your army of supporters and your defiant attitude you can welcome adversity into your business and your life. Once it gets there, kick its ass so it thinks twice about coming back.
A Tale of Two Lawyers
On a beautiful late spring afternoon, twenty-five years ago, two young men graduated from the same law school. They were very much alike, these two young men. Both had been better than average students, both loved the law and both clerked for prominent judges while in law school. Both of these young men were filled with hope for the bright future that lie ahead of them in their career as lawyers.
Recently, these men attended their law school’s 25th reunion.
They were still very much alike. Both were happily married. Both had three children. And both, it turned out, had gone into private practice in the suburbs of a big city.
But there was a difference. One of the men was billing a low hourly rate, doing tedious, repetitive work and barely making enough to pay his bills. The other was the Managing Partner of his own boutique law firm, earning great money and taking only the clients and cases that intrigued him.
What Made The Difference?
Have you ever wondered, as I have, what makes this kind of difference in people’s lives? It isn’t a native intelligence or talent or dedication. It isn’t that one person wants success and the other doesn’t. It is one little thing that clearly separates those who live an average life from those who live lives of freedom and independence.
That one little thing is confidence.
It’s confidence in the ability to attract new clients. It’s confidence in the ability to handle he work effectively and efficiently. It’s confidence in commanding a fee premium because you have significant expertise that client’s want, need and will pay for.
Most people don’t have this confidence. But they should.
The reason they don’t have this confidence is because of human nature. If twenty people say you’re great and one person says you stink, which person do we remember? We remember the one person who provided the negative feedback. Always. It’s the way we are all wired.
How do successful people get past this?
The successful attorney has developed a system for getting past this negative feedback. The attorney who controls his own destiny has developed a way to block out the negative feedback and focus solely on the positive so his confidence will soar.
The successful attorney has learned that negative feedback (I am talking about unconstructive, personal attacks) is more about the person GIVING the feedback than about you, the intended target. That’s right, it’s about them.
With a little practice and a little self training you can break through the confidence barrier that is preventing you from experiencing the success you deserve. I have recorded a five minute video that demonstrates three techniques to help you break through this mental barrier. These are the same techniques world class athletes use to enhance their performance.
These are also the same techniques I use to help my clients quote higher fees, take on only quality clients and ignore the negative people who are out there trying to bring them down.
Here’s the video:
Enjoy the video and enjoy the success that comes from being confident in your tremendous ability!
Marketing for Attorneys: Powerful Positioning Techniques
A few days ago I posted a video about legal marketing and positioning on my other blog. It was intended to be a reminder that you control the perception you clients have of you. When I think about marketing for attorneys the first thing I think about is positioning. Simply put, positioning is the perception the client has of you.
Here are a few ways to position yourself in the mind of your clients:
Never Take Walk-ins
Think about the kind of person that just shows up somewhere and expects you to see him. Is this going to be a high value client? Is this someone who respects your time? Even barbershops require an appointment (well, the good ones do). Taking walk-ins makes you look desperate.
Charge a Consultation Fee
Do not let people waste your time. People respect what they pay for. People will assign the value to your time that you assign to it. You need to tell them what your time is worth. If the client hires you after the consultation, you can credit the consultation fee toward the engagement investment.
Never Negotiate the Cost of Your Services
Your work costs what you say it costs. You must have integrity in your fee structure. People haggle at an auction. They can have a good attorney or they can have a bad attorney. The decision is theirs. Why should you accommodate them by charging what lesser attorneys charge? Are you going to represent them less zealously if they pay less? Never negotiate fees.
These are just three ways to influence the perception your client has of you. You should structure your marketing so that even the smallest items positively influence the client’s perception. This is what marketing for attorneys is all about.
