Earn the Privilege of Being Selective
Last week I selected 100 people from my list of Rainmaker Minute subscribers and I made them an irresistible offer.
You see, I’ve developed a new self paced coaching program and I need 10 new lawyers to test it each month. So last Thursday I sent an email to 100 people on my subscriber list and offered them the opportunity to be Pioneers in this program.
This means the lawyers selected will receive one video DVD, audio CD and workbook/transcript from me with three recommendations each month. As Pioneers they agree to evaluate the information and if appropriate, implement the recommendations in their law firm. They also agree to provide feedback.
These 10 lawyers get to participate in this new program for a fraction of what the investment will be in the future. (The people who get in this month are only paying $97).
Within 6 hours of sending the initial offering email, I received 17 applications (yes, I make people apply and I evaluate them before accepting them). Within 12 hours I had 22 applications and I am still receiving a few here and there.
But even with that virtual stampede to sign up for this great deal, there were still a few skeptics. And there is a lesson we can learn from a couple of them.
Two people who received the email offer said they would be interested if I sent them some references of people who had already been through the program. This proves two things:
1).These folks do not read carefully. The reason I am looking for “Pioneers” is because nobody has been through this program yet. That’s why I am taking 10 new people each month and adding them to the client roster. As I add new recommendations I am adjusting based upon the feedback of other clients.
As a way to compensate for a lack of track record in this program I do not require any commitment. If you want out, just say so and you do not need to pay for future months. Just send an email and you’re out. It’s easier and quicker than a Las Vegas Divorce.
2). These folks have a distorted sense of value. Think about all the things you spend $97 or more on with no guarantee of success:
- Dinner for two in a chain restaurant (without wine)
- A trip to the movies for a family of 4, with popcorn, soda and candy
- The gym membership you have not used in 6 months
- A Craftsman Drill at Sears
- A tie, on sale, at Saks
- Your cell phone bill without a data plan
- A box of crappy cigars
None of those things or any of the hundred other things you could “invest” your $97 in will have a significant return on investment.
The coaching program I offered to these lawyers will certainly have a return on investment. Quite a few people were astute enough to recognize this fact and they applied immediately.
Could I have done more to demonstrate the value of my service to the skeptics?
Absolutely.
I could have given them the names and phone numbers of my clients who graciously serve as volunteers for references. Some of these folks appear on my website with full name and law firm affiliation available for the world to see.
But in this case I chose not to “sell” anyone on working with me.
Why?
Because I have earned the right to be selective. Demand for my service is high. People see the value of working with me at $3,000 per month. Dozens of people see the value of being involved with me at $97. I like working with clients who recognize value.
So what does this mean for you and your law firm?
It means you should price your service fairly based upon the value you provide. It also means you should understand the demand for your service and not worry about the few people who do not recognize your value. They were not meant to be your clients…especially when dozens or even hundreds are out there waiting to work with you.
If you have an interest in this exclusive program, call me and I will interview you. If you are accepted, you will fill the next opening on my client roster. 888.692.5531.
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EmailHow to Look Like An Expert
A few days ago I met a talented corporate transactional lawyer. Let’s call him Steve (because that is his name). He is smart, personable and knowledgeable about his area of the law. He has a terrific reputation and a significant body of work. On paper this guy is one of the top transactional lawyers in the state.
Unfortunately, law is not practiced on paper. It is practiced in real life.
Steve showed up for his meeting with me in a golf shirt and tan pants. His cell phone was clipped to his belt and he had a goatee that looked like it had not been trimmed in at least six months. When we ate lunch he chewed with his mouth open, spoke with his mouth full and used the wrong fork.
During lunch Steve confessed that he meets with lots of potential clients that never end up hiring him.
Steve was meeting with me to see if I could help him turn his extensive knowledge into money in the bank. He was looking for some magic phrase or technique that would help him sign up more clients. Unfortunately, Steve does not know what his true problem is.
Steve’s problem is something many lawyers face. He just doesn’t look like an expert.
Steve has a problem with his personal brand. To a corporate CEO or General Counsel, Steve looks like a middle manager. He doesn’t look like a lawyer who specializes in sophisticated mergers. He looks like the guy who is dating their daughter and not the guy who will help them handle the Securities and Exchange Commission regulations.
To make things clear for Steve, I thought I would share some guidelines that I have developed to help my clients look like experts. Keep in mind that MOST lawyers will not follow these. That is because they are AVERAGE. If you want to be perceived as being average then you should ignore these as well.
How to Look Like an Expert: A Guide for Steve
Shave. Lounge magicians, beatnik poets and high school kids have goatees. Just because you can grow a beard does not mean you should. Look at the CEOs in the Fortune 500. How many do you see with goatees? If you insist on having a goatee, trim it daily.
Lose the belt clip. You are not a Christmas tree with ornaments hanging from your appendages. You should not have a phone hanging from your belt. Put it in your pocket like the rest of the non-senior citizens. If it is too big to fit in your pocket, leave it in the car or buy a smaller phone.
Stop talking. Ask a question then shut up and listen for the answer. Experts impress people with the questions they ask even more than with the information they share.
Eat like a human. Do not chew with your mouth open or talk with your mouth full.
Dress better than the client. If the client is casual, you should have on a jacket and slacks. If the client is in a jacket and slacks, you should have on a suit and tie. If the client has on a suit and tie you should have on an impeccably pressed suit, designer tie and unique cuff links (and/or a pocket square). You always want to dress one level above the client. Psychologically it positions you as an expert.
These five tips are a great start toward improving your personal brand. Keep in mind that you have to dress and act like an expert in order to be treated like an expert.
In Marketing for Lawyers Free is Bad
Most attorneys think offering a free consultation is mandatory. Free consultations are no bargain. Not for the lawyer and not for the client. Here’s why:
A Free Consultation Immediately Positions You Poorly
People believe they get what they pay for. Affluent people and business owners keep this ideal present in their minds at all times. Most people have this permanently ingrained in their psyche. Charging nothing means you are worth nothing.
You Welcome Shoppers
There are a handful of people out there who would shop for a bargain in parachute repair. If you want to meet with all of these people, do not charge for a consultation. Free consultations welcome shoppers to your law firm. You can be certain that if you do not charge people for an initial consultation, people will meet with you just to get a number out of you.
You Devalue Your Time
What is your time worth? If you charge nothing it is worth nothing. Not to you and not to your client. It is that simple.
The Quality of Your Clients/Matters Decreases
If you want crappy matters, a free consultation is definitely the way to go. Money tends to be an indication of how seriously someone is taking an issue. If you are willing to spend $250 on something are you more likely to pay attention to the outcome?
You Take on Liability with No Upside
In a free consultation you will often dispense advice. When you do, you expose yourself to liability. If the person sitting across from you implements your advice and things go badly, they will find you. You do this with no compensation in return.
One of the arguments I hear all the time is: “It is customary in my practice area to offer free consultations. Everyone does it.” Following a majority does not always mean you are acting in your own best interest. In fact, it probably means you are doing what the average industry professional will do. Do you want to be average?
This decision should be easy. When someone comes to your office to discuss a legal matter, they should pay you something. That is one of the reasons you do what you do. This is a business as well as a profession. Treat it like a business.
What Lawyers Can Learn from Sarah Palin
Everyone who is interested in promoting a business or a brand can learn a great deal from Sarah Palin. Yes, you read that correctly. Sarah Palin is conducting a clinic on marketing and anyone who wants to grow a law firm should watch.
Why Watch Sarah Palin if you are Interested in Law Firm Marketing?
Politics aside, the management of the Sarah Palin Brand has been outstanding. Look through the news during the two years since the last Presidential election campaign. You would be hard pressed to find a week during the past 100 when Sarah Palin has not been in the headlines. Her nomination as a Vice Presidential candidate put her on the map but it is her own personal branding power that has kept her there.
A law firm can only benefit from the media if it is IN the media. Many attorneys choose not to take a high profile. They prefer to have more direct control over their marketing. That’s fine. But if you want to be in the media, you should go big. And Sarah Palin can provide you with a blue print to do just that.
Sarah Palin Teaches Law Firms to Handle Negative Attacks
Attorneys can take a page out of Palin’s book for handling adverse media conditions. Palin takes every negative article that is written about her and every negative TV piece produced about her and turns it around on the media. She paints her attacker as an overzealous partisan for the left wing. And this is EXACTALLY what her constituents (the right wing base) want to hear. So in the eyes of her core audience, she never looks bad. In fact, the more she is attacked, the better she looks.
Law Firms Can Learn about Message Delivery from Sarah Palin
Even if she has to write the message on her hand, Sarah Palin never waivers from her core message. She stays on track. And her supporters love her for it.
She knows what people want to hear and she gives them what they want. This works if you are looking to attract more of your core audience. She speaks with passion and comes off as believable. She shares much of her own personal story with her audience and they buy into it. She aggressively takes on her opponents and she galvanizes support from her base of adoring fans.
Sarah Plain Knows her Audience
If you know your audience you will always be successful at message delivery. Sarah Palin is an expert at this. She delivers the perfect message at the perfect time to the perfect audience. That is why many of the Republican politicians who have been on the national stage for a decade or longer are now awash in her wake. Other politicians try to be everything to everyone. Sarah Palin does not. She knows that engaging her core audience will get the job done so she focuses on them.
Your law firm should follow the same strategy. Do not try to focus on everyone. Do not try to dominate every legal field with your marketing. Pick one narrow area and aggressively market in that niche. If you do, you will dominate.
When you stop and think about it, no matter what your opinion of Sarah Palin as a person or what you think of her as a politician, you and your law firm can certainly learn a great deal about marketing from her. She is a master at managing message, market and media. And if you are not careful, you might wake up and find someone like Sarah Palin aggressively pursuing your potential clients.
The Truth About Self Promotion and Lawyer Marketing
Are you a good lawyer?
You can be the best lawyer since Clarence Darrow but if nobody knows who you are and if nobody knows what you know, you will starve.
The only way to be certain that people will know who you are and what you know is to tell them.
Yeah, sure, you can take some pro bono work; do a good job, and hope that somebody notices. You can also go to work in a big firm and slave away for a decade or so and hope to have the freedom to select your clients one day.
Or you can be smart.
You can work on stuff other people are afraid of, do a good job, and tell everyone about it.
Here are some simple truths about working as a lawyer today:
Truth 1: Working in a big firm is the equivalent of slave labor. If you take a job in a big firm you will go unrecognized and under rewarded.
Truth 2: Working for someone else is ok as long as you get the full breadth of experience you need to be successful. This means you have to be free to make decisions on cases. You have to be free to select the cases you will work on. You have to learn by getting bloodied in the real world.
Truth 3: Marketing is essential to building relationships and relationships are essential to long term success. You must promote yourself. You must put your talent on display every chance you get. Sometimes you will look like a jackass. But more often than not, you will get noticed.
Truth 4: If you do not define yourself and your law practice, somebody else will. People will occasionally talk about you. If you do not dictate the terms of the conversation, you will not be happy with the reputation you develop.
Why have I chosen this day and this time to put these seemingly unrelated thoughts together? This is exactly the conversation I had with a highly successful lawyer this morning. They were thoughts formulated over a 30 year career.
I asked one question:
Given your success and experience, what would you tell a lawyer graduating from a top law school today?
I find it interesting that Lawyer Marketing and self promotion were top of mind when a successful lawyer provides career advice. There are a lot of soggy old lawyers who will not like that. After all, if you just be a good lawyer business will come…right?
The Easy Way to Select a Niche Market For Your Law Firm
Much of my work focuses on helping lawyers position themselves. Our goal is to make them stand out from the crowd. This is no easy task as lawyers do everything possible to look, sound and act just like other lawyers.
I want lawyers to be perceived by their clients as experts in a specific, focused area of law. This is a powerful and highly effective strategy for those who choose to employ it.
Why is this so effective?
Well, for too many reasons to enumerate here but it starts with the fact that an expert can always command a fee premium and an expert is always in demand. Think about the Heart Surgeon at The Cleveland Clinic and your Family Doctor. Who makes more money? Who is in such demand that people from all over the world fly in to see him for his opinion?
Quite frankly, I do not want to sell you too hard on this strategy because it is a huge competitive advantage for the lawyers I work with. But I am willing to give you a step-by-step process you can use to develop your own specialized, niche market focused, law firm marketing plan.
These six factors are the keys to developing a law firm that will allow you to call the shots. If you get these things correct, you can effectively set your fees at will and select your clients as you see fit.
Factor 1: Who You Work With
Marketing to everyone is the kiss of death for a lawyer. Marketing to everyone in a specific, focused area of practice is slow but still certain death. Marketing to everyone in very specific, focused aspect of the law in a specific focused practice area is the key to success.
Example:
Criminal Defense Attorney – Not specific enough
Criminal Defense Attorney with Expertise in Handling DUI Cases – Better
Criminal Defense Attorney with Expertise in Handling DUI Cases and a History of Getting Great Results for Repeat Offenders – Best
Second Example:
Intellectual Property Attorney – Not specific enough
Intellectual Property Attorney Focused on Licensing of Business Methods – Better
Intellectual Property Attorney Focused on Licensing of Business Methods for Service Businesses – Best
Factor 2: What You Do
You must have an approach the client perceives as unique. The experience of working with you must be different than the experience of working with every other lawyer who does what you do. There is something that makes your law firm different and special. You need to highlight that in your marketing.
Factor 3: When Your Clients Need Help
Timing is a critical component of establishing a niche marketing plan for your law firm. You must be present in the mind of the prospective client when he needs help. If this factor does not exist, you will not be successful no matter what you try.
Example:
A divorce attorney focuses his practice exclusively on working with doctors and dentists. He partners with financial planning professionals and delivers seminars on the importance of having a prenuptial agreement before entering into a marriage. Each month he sources between 6 and 10 new prenups with this marketing strategy. Who do you think these people call when they need a divorce attorney? By focusing on prenuptial agreements this lawyer has his name in front of the doc when the marriage falls apart. His timing is perfect.
Factor 4: Where You Can Find Them
Your ideal clients have to be easy to find and they must be easy to communicate with. Targeting undercover CIA agents is not a good idea. You need to be able to source your target clientele in at least five different ways (with dozens of sub variations).
This requires research and it requires creativity.
Factor 5: Why They Should Work With You Now
This factor has two components to it. It involves selecting you, and making a call to you now. This means you must have a compelling message with a direct, powerful call to action. You must be tastefully forceful at convincing the client to get out of his comfortable chair, put down his remote and walk a mile through a snow storm to come work with you.
That is an exaggeration but it demonstrates the kind of effort it takes to get someone to make a move…now.
Factor 6: How To Reach Out To Them
This is about using a message delivery device (also known as media). If you want your prospective client to move, you need to reach them with the right message delivered in precisely the right way with the right media.
These six factors are literally the keys to the castle for lawyers. If you want to build a law firm that is truly special, a law firm that will allow you to take control of client attraction, this is how to do it.
If you want more details on how to structure your marketing to build this kind of law firm, call my office for an appointment today. 888.692.5531
Some Thoughts On The Giants of Law Firm Marketing
I speak with dozens of lawyers every day. During the course of a month I probably meet (either virtually or in person) over 100 new lawyers. At least 70% of them have had experience, as a consumer, with one of the big law firm marketing service providers.
Without fail, in all cases, this experience has been negative.
I am talking about one of the two big law firm marketing groups out there. One of them is the opposite of East and the other has a funny spelling of the combination of a car and a shampoo.
I’m not sure why most small firms and solos have negative experiences with these companies but I am willing to wager it is systemic. I’m also willing to bet that the leadership of these behemoths do not know how badly damaged their brands are at the grass roots level.
I’d like to tell them and see if they have an interest in changing.
That’s why I am launching a campaign to get in touch with Senior Executives of both companies. I will first speak with them off the record and see what their reaction is to some of the comments I’ve heard from their clients. But I would also like to interview them for my experts and authors interview series. I would like to understand what their vision is for their company and I’d like to hear their perception of the current state of the legal industry.
These folks may not be interested in speaking with me. They may not care about solo and small practice law firms. We’ll see.
I’ll keep you posted.
First Class vs. No Class – What Kind of Law Firm Are You Running?
This past week I had to fly from Miami to New York to attend a funeral. Things happened pretty quickly so I really didn’t have time to plan my travel. I left South Florida on a Thursday evening and returned the following day. I wanted the most convenient airline in terms of schedule and airport. That meant flying into White Plains, NY and flying out of JFK.
On my trip up to New York I was forced to fly on Jet Blue. That was the only airline that met my schedule and arrival location constraints. On the way home I flew American Airlines. I had a little more flexibility on the return and there were some distinct advantages to this choice. Money was not a consideration in this situation. I needed to be in New York at a certain time and I needed to maintain my schedule prior to leaving.
The experience on each airline could not have been more different. The crew and the equipment were great on both legs of the trip. This is not about them. Both companies did a fine job. Unfortunately, it was the bigger picture – the airlines’ strategy that caused my experience to be significantly different.
On my trip up to New York I was on a small plane in the middle of the cabin. There is only one class of service on Jet Blue (you can pay $15 more for a bigger seat but those were all gone). I sat next to a lady who snapped her gum for two hours and twenty five minutes. There was a dog under the seat behind me which kept barking. The guy across the aisle was wearing a jogging suit and smelled like he had not bathed in a week. An elderly gentleman in front of me fought with the flight attendant over his second carry-on bag not fitting in the overhead bin, which resulted in a delay as they checked it. His first bag was placed four rows behind me. This created a problem when it was time to deplane as he insisted on pushing his way past me and six other people to get his bag before we got off. There was no power port for my laptop and no room to fit it between the seatback in front of me and my legs. I could not work and I could not sleep (barking dog).
Prior to leaving, I stood in front of the gate for 45 minutes. All of the seats in the gate area were taken and Jet Blue doesn’t have an airline lounge. Even the bar area in the terminal (which resembled the Cantina in Star Wars) was full. I did my best to make phone calls while dodging screaming kids and tourists on their way home.
Generally, this leg of the trip was an uncomfortable experience I have no desire to repeat.
On my flight back to Miami I flew in First Class on a 767. I got to the airport early but the terminal was crowded. I breezed by everyone on line and went right to the first class check in counter. After three minutes, I was on my way to security. A special line for first class passengers had nobody on it and I was through the screening process in less than five minutes.
During the 90 minutes prior to boarding, I worked on my laptop at a desk in the Admiral’s Club while I sipped an adult beverage.
On board the plane, I powered up my laptop with the power port at my seat and worked during the two hours of the three hour flight. During the other hour I ate a decent meal and had a great conversation with the attorney sitting next to me.
The second experience was clearly different than the first.
My question to you is:
What kind of law firm do you want? Do you want to build the bargain basement of law firms – offering competent service to low class clients? Or do you want to offer luxury service to clients who will pay more for a better experience? I assure you there are more than enough of both kinds of clients out there.
Your law firm marketing will determine which clients you attract. You have a choice. Are you first class or no class?
In Legal Marketing You Can’t Fake Class
This past weekend I was driving along a major highway in Miami and I saw a billboard with the big fat face of a local attorney holding a traffic ticket in his hand. This was definitely a candidate for the legal marketing hall of shame. The headline on the billboard read:
“Don’t Pay That Ticket!”
This is the same guy who sends out ridiculous flyers in the mail to people who get traffic tickets. He looks like a total goofball.
I am wondering if this is what this guy had in mind when he went to law school. Did he say to himself:
“When I graduate with all of this knowledge I want to go out and make myself look like an ass to get some people in to my law firm?”
This is the kind of legal marketing that makes lawyers look bad and makes people think I am the Dean of Clown College.
When it comes to legal marketing you need to ask yourself one question:
“If my mother sees this ad/article/direct mail piece/speech would she be proud to admit I was her son (daughter)?”
If you hesitate at all when you answer, you should not use that legal marketing vehicle.
Attorney Marketing Creed: Do No Harm
Your goal in marketing as an attorney should be to attract better quality clients as well as a greater number of clients. Your focus is on both quality and quantity.
If attracting the ideal client means you have to become some kind of circus sideshow, you should probably rethink your career choice.
The lawyers we see on bus stop benches or billboard with cute phone numbers (you know what I’m talking about, they spell CASH or PAIN) are a joke. They harm the legal profession and they harm those of us who make our living trying to help LEGITIMATE attorneys build a law firm.
Your law firm is a business but it is also a profession. Attorney marketing should be designed to build relationships with clients. The sleazy, cheesy, pursuit of fast cash from people who are often in a difficult situation is deplorable.
In the medical community, the creed of DO NO HARM governs at all times. As a combative measure to the onslaught of bad attorney marketing that exists, I tell friends who need a lawyer to follow the same practice as if they were selecting a medical specialist.
First: They should ask their family physician for a referral. In the case of a lawyer, they should ask a lawyer they trust for a referral. The lawyer who handled their real estate closing knows a criminal attorney. The attorney they use for their business transactions knows a divorce lawyer. The lawyer who prepared their will knows someone who can help with a tax matter…and so on…
Next: The client should check licensing body for disciplinary action. Every state has a governing body that regulates the conduct of lawyers. In Florida we have The Florida Bar. The Bar’s website has a member search area which allows clients to check the disciplinary history of any lawyer in the state. It also allows the attorney to complete a profile. As an attorney, you should fill in complete profile information and encourage prospective clients to check your credentials at the site.
Third: Interview them. I tell friends to ask the tough questions of their prospective attorney (not about the matter at hand but about the attorney’s experience and background). Would you let a surgeon cut into you without meeting them first? Only in an emergency. The same should hold true for a lawyer.
Finally: The attorney should provide references and contact information from past clients. All attorneys should have at least three references they can provide to prospective clients. Even attorneys in highly secretive and confidential practices should be able to point to three people, somewhere on the planet, who will vouch for them.
Smart clients will not hire an attorney base upon a billboard or a bus stop bench. An attorney who is good at marketing would never allow his firm to place that kind of advertising. DO NO HARM also holds true to when it refers to your profession.
