Law Firm Marketing

Law 2.0 - Oh please….

It seems as though there is a 2.0 slapped on everything these days.

The genesis of this phenomenon probably comes from the tech world where it is most commonly used to describe the interactivity on many websites.  At one time it was hip and trendy.  At one time it was actually “cool” to say that a website was very “web 2.0”.

That time is over.

In fact, one of the magazines that archeologists will one day point to as a symbol of the craze – Business 2.0 – actually shuttered its print edition last year.

This should have signaled the end of the era. 

Actually, it should have been over when NBC television bastardized 2.0 with their version of it – NBCU 2.0.  This was basically a slash and burn job that had them cutting costs and trying to put an evolutionary spin on it.  .

So now that I’m working with attorneys here at RainmakerLawyer.com I figured my first order of business should be to get everyone straightened out on this whole 2.0 thing.  I mean right off the bat, I’m hearing whispers about how this site is going to help advance the cause of Law 2.0.

God I hope not. 

There’s a more valuable area of focus for attorneys and technology.  In fact, it is something we should have been thinking about all along.

After 200,000 years we should have come up with something more advanced than version 2.0.

I think the Geico cavemen would tell us that we are probably at Fire “One Billion Point O”. 

As a final remembrance I leave you with the last of the 2.0 series of business re-definitions caused by the Internet.  And this is what attorneys should concerned about on the web:

Credibility 2.0

The Internet lends whole new levels of meaning to the adage: believe none of what you read and half of what you see.  The single largest concern about doing business on the Internet is the question of credibility. 

How do you know who you are dealing with? 

With the proliferation of cheap web development software, anyone can create and post a website within hours.  In no time at all anyone can have a website online claiming they are the world’s greatest in any field. 

The problem is how do you prove otherwise?

Have you ever searched for your name in Google?  You can bet your prospective clients will.  The Internet has become the ultimate research tool.  It isn’t uncommon for those who are dating to research each other on Internet search engines. 

Your credibility lies on the vast inter-connection of millions of computers around the world that we call the Internet.  When someone performs a search of your name on the Internet, what will they find? 

What if you’re looking to hire a new associate or intern? 

Don’t you perform an Internet search about all job applicants?  It’s a quick way to check up on someone.  Why give an interview to an undesirable?

So what will people find when they perform a search on you? 

Who are YOU online? 

Are you somebody that shares a name with an escaped convict from Alaska? 

Your online image is your new First Impression.  Make sure it says something about you!  Don’t let it be hijacked. 

You must control your online profile if you wish to ensure your Credibility 2.0.

Need More Clients? Just Ask!

If you get one from a client you can get ten or twenty from them.

It is the most effective form of marketing.

It is also the most efficient way to acquire a new client.

Yet most attorneys don’t do it.  In fact, most attorneys have some kind of hang up about doing it.  They have an unfair distain for the practice.

Have you figured out what we are referring to?

It is the most effective and underused strategy for getting more business.

We are talking about asking for referrals and using the three step process that could help you double your client base almost overnight.

Many people – and attorneys are no different – are reluctant to ask their clients to refer them to others.  The question is: “Why?”.

The answer probably lies deep within our subconscious.  When we were kids we were taught to be polite and not be too “pushy”.  This is one of those scripts that is running unconsciously in the back of our mind at all times.  Over and over again it is playing in the background:

“Don’t be too pushy.” “Don’t be too pushy.” “Don’t be too pushy.”

This is powerful stuff developed over years and years.  It was installed by people who had the most profound influence on us – our parents.

And it will absolutely kill you if you want to build a good size law firm.

You need to break through all of that subconscious programming.  Once you do, you can begin to ask for more referrals from your existing clients.

There is a secret about clients who provide you with referrals that will be worth a fortune to you. The client who refers once can and will refer many more people, many more times if you motivate them to do so. Once a client has referred someone to your firm, he/she used as a referral resource over and over again.

There have been numerous studies done that show that the average person has a circle of influence of about fifty people.  That’s fifty people who will take this person’s call and listen to what he has to say.  So every client who is happy with your firm should provide you with fifty opportunities to help someone else in a similar fashion. 

Yet research conducted by the American Marketing Association indicates that the average satisfied client only tells an average of three people about his or her experience with a firm. 

So how do you get from three to fifty?

There is a simple three step process that any attorney can follow to get more referrals almost instantly.

The three steps are:

Ask

As we already discussed, you have to ask in order to receive.  Picking the right time to ask is key.  You want to ask when the client is full of good feeling. Always ask a client for a referral after presenting some great results or receiving a favorable decision or outcome.

Social events are also great opportunities to ask for referrals.  If you are kicking back and enjoying a relaxing lunch with a client, you can ease into the conversation by asking what his ideal client looks like.  Make sure to whip out a piece of paper or note pad and take careful notes as he describes his ideal client. 

Now just having this conversation might lead him to ask you what your ideal client looks like.  This is a great opportunity to ask for a referral.  If he doesn’t ask you about your ideal client at that point – just let the whole conversation drop. 

The next day, send him an email (or give him a call) to thank him for spending time with you and for being your client.  Then give him a referral to someone who you believe fits his profile of an ideal client – actually volunteer to set up a meeting between him and the other party.  At THAT point, give him a description of your ideal client.  Then ask if he knows anyone who fits that profile.

Receive and Report Back

This is the part of the process where many attorneys blow it.  When someone gives you a name and phone number of a potential client, you must call that person immediately.  As soon as the client says that it is “ok” you need to follow through on that lead. 

After you speak with the person who has been referred to you, it is imperative that you report back to the person who gave you that lead.  The report back tells the client that you appreciate the referral.  It also helps let the client who refers know that it is ok for him to follow-up with the other party.

Immediately calling the new potential client is critical and so is the follow-up call.  Although you will be tempted to skip this step, please don’t.  Make sure to include it in you referral strategy.
Reward

Once you receive the referral and that prospect becomes a new client, you need to reward the person who referred the business to you.  This is essential.  If you don’t do it, the client will definitely have a negative impression of you.

But the importance in rewarding a person who refers business to you goes well beyond avoiding negative word of mouth.  The value of rewarding a person who refers comes in the reinforcement of the positive behavior that referrer exhibited. 

There are many different types of referral rewards that have been effective for our clients over the years.  Some of the best rewards are gifts of food.  There are three reasons for this:

1.) Sending food is the equivalent of “breaking bread” with a client.  This has historical and psychological significance for most people.
2.) Food is often shared with others in the office.  This gives the person who receives the reward a chance to be a hero by giving a snack to the office staff.
3.) People do not feel guilty taking a gift of food.  If you sent cash, some folks would feel guilty or they might feel that the gift is inappropriate.

Steaks, fruit baskets, cookies and brownies are all great referral rewards to extend to clients who send business your way. 

Asking for referrals is by far the easiest way to double your client base quickly.  Make a list of ten clients you can contact today for referrals.  Then get on the phone and call them.  It will seem awkward at first but these are the easiest sales calls you will ever make.

What Price Would You Pay to Be Completely Free?

Imagine a world where you were completely free of any financial concern.  You would wake up every day and not have to worry about paying the mortgage or rent.  You wouldn’t have to worry about car payments.  You wouldn’t have to be concerned with those pesky credit card bills that multiply like rabbits in heat.

Suspend your disbelief for a minute and think about what it would feel like to have all of those worries taken away.

It is this feeling, it is this hope, and it is this dream that motivates most entrepreneurs to start a business.  An entrepreneur understands that the road ahead of him may be rocky at times.  But in spite of the knowledge that a challenging path lay ahead, this sense of freedom helps the entrepreneur press forward.  This feeling of a liberated destiny is so powerful that it propels the entrepreneur forward into the lion’s den of risk at breakneck speed.  Freedom looms on the horizon – full speed ahead.

Most attorneys focus on the law and not on the dream of freedom associated with building a law practice. The attorney spends years and years learning how to think critically.  They learn how to analyze problems and break them down into manageable parts.  Attorneys spend the early years of their career assessing risk and then they graduate to giving advice to clients on avoiding it.  They have a sense that something may be ahead but the picture is so uncertain that it is difficult for them to visualize a path toward freedom.

So how does an attorney leverage the training, skill and knowledge he has acquired and still embrace the entrepreneurial spirit that is necessary to build a practice that creates financial freedom?

There are three steps an attorney must take to make the transition from practitioner of law to entrepreneur. 

First:  Run Your Business Like a Business

You work in the field of law to make money.  You may have other motivation or a higher sense of purpose but job one is bringing home the bacon. If a business loses site of this fact they are destine for terrible consequences. 

In order to make sure you make a profit, you must choose your work and your clients carefully.  Good businesses select good clients.  This is critically important when it comes to developing a law firm (especially a solo or small practice).  Clients will command a good deal of your time and expertise and they should pay well to avail themselves of your resources. 

In an entrepreneurial business, like a law firm, cash is king.  Get paid in advance.  Put in place excellent cash management practices.  Complete monthly financial statements- even in the early days.  This is a habit that will serve you well as your firm grows.

Only spend money on things that can be measured.  Challenge yourself to find a return on investment from each outlay of cash, no matter how small.  Even some of the seemingly intangible expenses should contribute to your financial well-being.  If it doesn’t pay off, don’t invest in it. 

Second:  Spend 80% of Your Time (or more) Developing Business

If you truly desire financial freedom you must become an expert at business development.  You need to be able to find new clients and deepen your client relationships.  This is the single most important aspect of your business. If you have no clients, it does not matter if your are a great attorney.

It is no coincidence that the richest attorneys are the attorneys who are experts at business development.  They find a niche and then they dominate their market.  It is a simple idea but it takes savvy to pull it off.

No activity in a law firm has a higher value than business development.

Remember that any problem that you can write a check to solve, is not really a problem at all.

Third:  Hire the Best to Handle the Rest

If you are adept at originating client work and deepening relationships, you will be able to afford the best and the brightest lawyers to work with your clients.  Hire smart people. Compensate them well and get out of their way.

Create standards and practices that you team can follow.  Develop processes and procedures that work.  Teach these processes to the people that you hire.  Have everything documented so that there is little guesswork necessary. 

Set up foolproof systems to keep in touch with your clients.  Make sure that you never stop the communication process.  Every month you do not keep in touch with a client you run the risk of losing that client to someone else for their next matter.  If you lose touch with them for 10 months or more, you can expect to lose them forever.  Frequency of contact increases trust.

Not-So-Common-Sense

It might seem like following this process is commonsense.  It really isn’t.  Most attorneys hang a shingle on their wall, join the local chamber of commerce, and push their way into meeting new people they hope will become clients.  This works for a handful of people.  Then they live off of the referrals they receive from those clients for years and years – sometimes forever.  And some of those attorneys live a comfortable life. 

But those are the folks who have forgotten about the dream they once had.  They have forgotten about the dream of having no bills to pay and the freedom to come and go as they please. They have forgotten about the promise of a destiny they control.

The dream of freedom is closer than you think.  If you embrace and cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit in your law firm you will make more money while you pursue your goals in life. 

The question you must ask yourself is: 

“Am I willing to take the risk?”

Only Blog if You Can Handle More Clients

One of the questions I am asked most often by attorneys is:  “Should I have a Blog?”

The answer is a resounding and emphatic “YES”.

This is true even though many attorneys complain that their blog has not helped them develop new business.  They go on and on about how they post new content and they don’t see any improvement in their website traffic.  And they talk about how much time it takes to blog. 

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard:

“There is no payoff from blogging. It is too time-consuming. I have to think of something to write, actually write the content and then look it over and post it to the website. It sometimes takes me over an hour just to write one article. At my billing rate it is actually COSTING me money to blog!”

Sound familiar?

These folks also complain that the blogging software is challenging and they have trouble formatting the content and making it “look right”.

These complaints are absolutely true.

Unfortunately, the blog, the Internet or even the software are not to blame.

These issues – including the new business lead-generation issue- are cause by user error.  Blogging has proven to be a high-payoff activity for many attorneys.

If it isn’t working for you, you may want to examine your approach. There are ten keys to building a successful blog – a blog that attracts qualified traffic and helps convert that traffic into paying clients.

Here are the ten keys to attracting clients with a blog:

1.) Cover topics that are relevant to your clients - People will read articles – both on-line and in print - when they are relevant to them.  Your blog should allow you to enter the conversation that the client is already having with their friends, family and most importantly in their own mind. 

This is critically important. 

You must write for your reader and not for yourself.  They want content they find interesting and relevant.
 
2.) Post articles frequently – You have to post a few times each week.  That’s right.  Each week.  A blog is a communication tool.  It should help you build up trust with your client base.  Frequency of communication will help build trust.

3.) Grab attention right from the beginning – You must have powerful article titles and a strong opening paragraph for each article you write.  You need to pull the reader into the article. 

Too many attorneys write as though they are trying to build up to a crescendo with a compelling article.  This style is not going to work on a blog.  You are not making an argument to a jury. You are competing for attention.  You need to reach out and grab the reader right away.

4.) Write the way you speak – A blog is a discussion with your clients.  You should have a conversation on your blog the same way you would have it around the water cooler in your office.  Remember that you are trying to develop a relationship with your reader.  Speak in a natural voice and using common, plain, everyday language. 

5.) Educate the reader on the issue – Every article is an opportunity for you to enhance your credibility with your readers.  You can do this by educating your clients on a topic relevant to them.  Good old common sense, educational content is great for helping people realize how smart and qualified you really are.

6.) Include lists, interviews and links – People love to read and save “bite size” information.  Your readers will love lists, short interviews and links to more detailed information on important topics.  Keep in mind that if the readers are interested in a specific topic, you can’t wear it out.  Keep presenting important information on that subject but in new and unique ways.  Interviewing experts and providing links to other articles on an interesting topic is infinitely more valuable than providing new information on a topic that is of no interest.

Any time you can summarize some information or give people a “shortcut” they will save it or pass it along.  Do a “top ten” list every week.  Do a five question Q&A via email with an expert each week.  Do an “around the web” post every week that provides links to interesting information.  All of those things should be in addition to your regular writing and they will be greatly appreciated by your readers. 

7.) Have an opinion, damn it – You are an expert.  You get paid for your advice, your research and your opinion.  Make sure you include it in the articles you write for your blog. 

Taking a stand, even a controversial one, will increase your readership.  Sometimes you need to piss people off to get a reaction out of them.  Some reaction, any reaction, is better than no reaction. 

Many successful journalists polarize their readers.  That passion leads to discussion far beyond the typical water cooler talk.

8.) Make the content the star – Don’t talk about yourself.  The information you are sharing with your readers is really the most important part of your website.  Getting that information across in a way that helps it stick in the mind of the reader is the main objective.  Flattering oneself can only get in the way of this objective.  Don’t do it in an informational article.

9.) Give stuff away – Include extra content as an ethical bribe for something – an email address, a mailing address or going to a specific website.  Offering free reports or White Papers is a terrific way to get readers to give you some additional information about themselves.

10.) Promote your blog – It takes just as much work to convince someone to spend their time reading your free blog as it does to get them to pay for a magazine.  In fact, it may be more difficult to get them to read a blog on a regular basis.

Whenever you are speaking to a group or conducting a seminar always offer the audience some type of specific incentive to go to your blog.  Use a statement like: “The first fifteen people from this seminar to leave a comment on my blog will get a free copy of my e-book”.  This can help you pick up a couple dozen readers in a day. 

Blogging is well worth the time effort and aggravation.  It can help you build your list of prospects, and it definitely enhances your credibility. 

Look through this list of tips and test a few of them.  If you notice a positive reaction from your readers, implement a few more.  Building a solid base of readers is just like climbing a mountain.  It will take a while but when you get to the top you’ll be glad you made the trip.

Also review these items from the Frequently Asked Question section:

What is a Blog?

Why Should Every Attorney Have a Blog?

Time Management Sucks

It’s true.

It sucks money from your pocket and it sucks all the positive energy right out of your body.

Trying to manage time is stupid. 

Don’t do it. 

In fact, you can’t do it. 

It is impossible.

Go to classes. 

Get an electronic phone/mp3 player/address book/calendar and type your appointments into it religiously.

Buy a watch with an alarm.

Hire an assistant. 

Learn to multitask.

It won’t help.

There’s one thing you can do that will help you become more productive.

That “thing” is to take responsibility for the choices you make in your daily actions.

Unless you are in prison or in the military, you control what you do and when you do it.  Outside forces may influence those decisions but ultimately you make them. They are your decisions. You decide whether or not to go to that meeting.  You decide to go see a movie instead of writing the report that is due to the client.  You decide if you should answer the phone or let it go to voicemail.  These are all choices that you have made – and continue to make – over and over and over.

Once you decide to take responsibility for the decisions you make with your time, you obligate yourself to spend it in a more productive way.

Many people avoid taking responsibility for these decisions precisely for this reason.  It is far easier to blame the client for calling at an inopportune time.  It is easier to blame your partner for the amount of email he sends you.  It is easier to blame the court clerk for the filing deadline.

In reality, you control the actions you take and when you take them.

Action management or activity management is worth studying.  You will achieve a phenomenal return on your investment from working with someone who will help you organize the workflow in your office. Using a system that will help you prioritize and organize your activities is incredibly valuable.

Trying to manage time is not only foolish, it is impossible. 

Manage your activity and you control your destiny.

Speak Like a Human and Get More Business

The conversation began just like the dialogue I’ve had many times with attorneys in just about every area of specialization.  The attorney sitting across the desk from me began:

“I’m really smart.  Graduated top of my class.  I clerked for Judge Smith.  I interned at Smarty, Smarter and Billem and I was in Super Lawyers for my specialization in my state. In my current role, I help NGOs mitigate risk, terminate unproductive agreements and negotiate adequate consideration in transactions where we relinquish certain protected rights.”

As I scratch my head, he continues:

“I just don’t understand why I have such a hard time finding clients.”

This conversation takes place a few times each month.  Sometimes it happens on the phone and sometimes it happens in person.  Sometimes the attorney is a “high potential” in a big firm who just can’t originate new business and sometimes he is an attorney in a solo practice who wants to make more money.

The problem is that these smart attorneys don’t know what the real problem is.

Here is the reality:  Our friend in the example is smart.  He is probably a good lawyer. But he forgot how to communicate like a normal person.

People want to work with folks they know, like and trust.  They don’t want to work with an all-knowing computer.  Communicating with a client is an interaction between two human beings.  People have to like you before they will decide to work with you.  It is the way of the world. 

I know that you’ve heard that people want to work with the best.  And you may have heard that they don’t care if the person is likable.  You’ve heard that they want a pit bull for a lawyer.  This may be true for an isolated case or in a specific incident.  But for the long term, if you are going for the big prize of Client Lifetime Value, you need to be likeable and that starts with good communication. 

Here are a couple of things to think about when you are meeting with a potential client for the first time:

Imagine that the client is your mom, dad, sister or brother.  How would you treat them?  What would be the level of respect you would show them?  How intently would you listen before you spoke? What questions would you ask them? How would you ask those questions?

If you begin to THINK like this you will find yourself ACTING differently.  Even your body language will be different.

Remember that although this may by your 1000th Real Estate closing or your 156th divorce, it may be your client’s first.  They are confused, afraid and concerned about moving forward with the rest of their life after this transaction. 

You have to keep those kinds of things in mind as you communicate with your clients.  It is your job, but it is their life.  Don’t ever forget that.  Even in a corporate setting, someone may be betting their career on you. 

Yes, they want to know that you’ve done this before.  Yes, they want to hear about how you have helped other folks in similar situations.  But they want to hear it within the context of their situation.  That’s what is important.

Finally, if you have to use words that your 14 year old nice or nephew would need to look up in a dictionary, you will not be successful.  Your primary responsibility is to give your client good advice.  If they don’t understand you, you can’t advise them effectively.

This is particularly true for CEOs and their country club buddies.  The only difference between them and mom and pop is that mom and pop will admit when they don’t understand something.  Most CEOs will smile, nod and go along with you in the meeting room – and then have you removed from the case as soon as you walk out of the office.

You must be liked before you can be trusted.  The process of winning someone over begins with good communication.

So mitigate the big words and cease and desist with the legal jargon and you’ll make more money.

With Clients - No Sex on the First Date

Remember back in the days when you were young, dumb and running around like an alley cat in heat? 

Remember how you only had one thing on your mind?

You were boy crazy, girl crazy or basically just sex crazy.  Remember when that was the only thing you could think about?

And if you say it wasn’t, you’re either kidding yourself or hormonally challenged.

Just thinking back to those days can make your heart beat a little faster.

That feeling still exists with many people and if it doesn’t exist for you I’ll tell you how you can revive it and use it to build your law practice.

No.  I’m not talking about using sex as bait to get people into your office. 

I’m talking about the way many attorneys treat their new clients.

They rush to close the deal and they rush to bill the client as many hours as possible on the first engagement.  Unfortunately, these eager attorneys attempt to maximize the immediate dollars at the expense of what could be a wildly profitable lifetime relationship.

The key to building a successful practice is to keep the big picture in focus while looking to maximize profit.  You are in a dating relationship with your client and you should not be looking for the immediate gratification of the one night stand.

Here are four ways to grow the relationship and help clients feel that you are with them for the long term:

First, discuss the client’s desired outcome before discussing your fee. 

It is natural – almost instinctive – to want to talk about your fee early in the client interaction. After all, you want to find out if the client can afford you.  You need to make sure that you are not wasting your time with them.  Remember the old expression; “Time is money”.

This is partially true. Ultimately, if you have positioned yourself properly, your prospective client will understand that you are not the cheapest attorney on the block.  If you have done your homework, you will also know exactly who is sitting in front of you.  Hopefully, this will calm your greed hormones and allow you to take your time and build the relationship.

Rushing into a money discussion is the equivalent to introducing yourself to a new date and then asking if you can have sex right now, in the back seat of your dad’s car.  It didn’t work then and it won’t work now….and if it did, well, it only led to trouble. 

You need to show the client that you care about their issue.  You need to demonstrate the ability to meet their needs (solve their problem).  And you need to make sure the client understands and believes that you will stick with them if/when things get tough.  Once you have discussed the client’s issue in this manner, you have earned the right to talk about money.

Next, you should stay in contact with your clients between issues.

If you only speak with your clients when they need your services, you will probably miss out on several opportunities to be of assistance. 

Just like a “booty call” in the middle of the night, an opportunistic relationship is doomed. The relationship ends when the client finds an attorney that can meet his/her needs all the time.

Third, remember to patronize the client’s business if possible and appropriate.

Loyalty is a two way street.  If you currently have a need for the goods or services that a client sells, you should, when possible and practical, buy from your clients.  Do this even if it is only once in a while. 

Clients like to see that you have an interest in some type of reciprocal relationship even if a monogamous relationship is not possible. It does not matter if you are going to make far more money from them than they will ever make from you.  The client only wants to know that you have made an effort to use their services when possible and practical.

In business just like in life, it is often the thought that counts.  While monogamy is the preference in relationships, and it goes a long way in business, a single provider relationship is often not possible.  Using your client’s services, at least on occasion, is a great way to show them that you value the relationship you have with them.

Finally, ask your clients about their goals beyond your work together.  

Go out of your way to help them achieve these goals when possible.  Once you get to know your clients and understand their needs, you can offer other services – outside of your practice – on a referral basis. 

Many attorneys have referral relationships with CPAs and financial services professionals.  Some attorneys get into real estate development or other ventures.  They follow the needs expressed by their clients.  They cultivate relationships and work to provide services or referrals for their clients’ benefit.

No matter how you look at it, practice growth comes down to one fundamental point:  Putting the client relationship first is the key to long-term growth and sustainability.

If this sounds like an unfamiliar concept, then maybe it is time to jump out of the backseat of your parent’s car, take a cold shower and start thinking about a long-term commitment.

Turn Your Website Into a Lead Generation Machine

In the past month, how many new clients found you through your website?

How about in the past year?

Your attorney website should be one of the best ways for you to source new business.  It should be one of the ways people find out who you are and what you have to offer.  But it should also be much, much more than that.  Your attorney website should be one of the most effective tools you have to sift, sort and screen potential clients.  It should help you weed out the people who can’t pay, won’t pay or don’t pay. 

A client who finds your firm through your attorney website should be ready willing and able to make a commitment to pay a premium for your services. 

There are three ways to make sure that your attorney website is working hard to position you properly.

A good website does three things for an attorney:

1.) It educates the client on the attorney’s area of specialization.

2.) It helps build the attorney’s credibility in the eyes of the prospective client.

3.) It captures the prospective client’s contact information.

These three things are critically important.  They must be built into the structure of the site itself.

As most bar associations will tell you, hiring an attorney is an important decision.  It is also a decision that most of your clients will not take lightly.  And you don’t want them to take it lightly.  You want them to do as much research as possible.

Provide Educational Content

When you provide educational material on your website you help your client realize exactly how serious his situation is.  This helps him understand that he will need a highly skilled professional to help him. 

For example:

Bankruptcy Attorneys should provide information on their website about the complexity of bankruptcy law.  They should cite several complex cases that demonstrate the need for an expert to help guide them through the maze of filings.  Keep in mind that clients don’t know what they don’t know.  You need to help them understand the depth of the law in your field.

Divorce Attorneys should help clients realize just how complicated a divorce can be from a legal prospective.  The emotional toll will be enormous, and most clients expect to face that challenge.  The challenge they will not anticipate and the challenge you should educate them on, is the implication of a poorly structured settlement.  Help them see the things that they have no way of knowing.  Help them understand that there is more to a divorce than fighting it out and signing some paperwork.

Corporate Attorneys should discuss the implications of not forming proper corporate entities or of not protecting the “corporate veil” or of poorly structured contracts.

There are endless topics that you can and should explore for your prospective clients.  Help them get to a point where they can make an educated decision.

Build Credibility

Having a law degree and listing your graduation date on your website is not enough.  Providing a list of credentials is not enough.  Posting a resume with significant accomplishments listed in chronological order is not enough. You need to demonstrate to your prospective client why you are the best choice for him.  Your website must make a compelling case for hiring you and ignoring all the alternative choices in your field.

You must make this case on your website just as you would make a case to a jury in a courtroom.  You need to lay out the facts and weave them into a compelling story.  The story should be interesting and it should highlight the client as the hero. 

That’s right. 

The client is the hero of the story.  He saved the day by taking action.  He chose YOU as the attorney.

Capture Client Contact Information

This is the area where 95% of all attorney websites fall short.  They have no built-in follow-up mechanism.  Your website is only as good as the leads it generates for you.  If you don’t have a way of knowing who is visiting your site, you can’t follow-up with them. 

It is a cold, hard business fact that people do not take action unless they are prompted to do so.  In the case of a law practice, that prompt should come in the form of a follow-up email directly from you asking if you can answer any questions.  If your website does not give you that opportunity, you are going to miss out on a good deal of potential business.

Your website should be one of the most profitable investments you make in your law practice.  It should pay dividends for you day-in and day-out. 

Do a quick audit of your web presence and see if it meets the three criteria we discussed.  If it doesn’t, there is a good chance your next million-dollar client will be walking into the office of your competitor instead of sitting down in front of you.

Don’t Practice - Play To Win

If you want to make a real living as an attorney you need to stop practicing. 

You read that correctly.

Practice does not make perfect.  Practice makes you poor.

Wake up. 

You don’t have a “firm”. 
You don’t have a “practice”. 
You have a business. 

You have a full-blown, pay the bills, make you rich, give-you-the-lifestyle-you-deserve business. 

The sooner you embrace that reality, the sooner you stop killing yourself and start making some real money.

Page 39 of 39 pages « First  <  37 38 39