What Did You Sell Today?
I have a profitable little habit I want to share with you.
It’s a habit I picked up out of necessity. You know – the need to eat – the need to feed my kids.
Every day I make it my mission to sell something to someone.
I am in the business of helping lawyers make a great living and live a great life, which means I usually have to sell something to a lawyer.
Each day I must come to an agreement with someone to help them in exchange for legal tender.
Most days this is easy. People call on the phone with a problem, question, concern or need. Together we come to an agreement on whether or not I can help them. That’s selling.
Some days nobody calls. On those days I reach out to past clients, referral sources or influential people in the community. I ask them to introduce me to a lawyer (or lawyers) who may need my services. Sometimes I ask them to help me get in touch with people who put attorney conventions together or edit articles in law firm trade magazines. That is also selling.
Now you may be thinking that this doesn’t apply to you. After all, you are a lawyer. You are a professional. And professionals – particularly lawyers – don’t sell.
In spite of what some of folks will tell you, a sale is made every time you interact with a potential client or referral source. Either you sell them on why you should be their lawyer or they sell themselves on why you shouldn’t.
Think about that for a minute.
Every time you meet with a potential client, speak with a potential client on the phone, meet with a referral source, have lunch with another lawyer or talk to someone who could refer you business, you are selling.
If you make the sale, you’ll get the client. If not, the other person has sold himself on why you are NOT going to get his case or his referral.
Still think lawyers don’t sell?
Have you ever argued a case in front of a jury? Made an argument to a court or magistrate? Ever tried to get your wife to agree to go see that new action adventure flick? Ever try to get your kid to clean his room? Ever try to get your mother-in-law to go away, on vacation, for a lengthy period of time?
A sale is made in each of these examples.
You sell. I sell. Everyone sells. Every day.
You can choose to become adept at it. You can choose to make it a habit. You can choose to live well.
Or you can choose to bury your head in the sand and continue to believe that lawyers don’t sell and that selling is evil.
As for me, I have a couple of calls to make. I like helping people. The way I help people is by sharing my knowledge and expertise with them.
What did you sell today?
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EmailLawyer Gets Exactly What He Deserves
Every day people ask me if my business strategies will work in their practice area.
It doesn’t matter if they practice environmental law, personal injury law, criminal defense law or law relating to Native American Rights – everybody thinks their law practice is different. And they feel compelled to verify that the strategies I have developed over the years will work for them.
In this week’s Rainmaker Minute I’m going to give you a quick case study that will show you how applicable basic client acquisition strategy is and how you can use it to attract the clients you deserve.
A few months ago Steve Klitzner (a longtime client) came to me looking for a way to attract new clients to his tax practice. Steve handles IRS problem resolution.
What does that mean?
Well, think about people who have not paid their taxes for years and years. Now think about them waking up one day and deciding that they can’t take the feeling of impending doom any longer.
Who do they go see? They go see Steve.
A good portion of Steve’s business is developed as a result of referrals from accountants, bankruptcy attorneys and other lawyers. He does quite a bit of marketing and he is always looking for new ways to attract clients.
At one of our meetings Steve told me he was looking for a way to get more referrals from accountants. While he had booked speaking engagements to groups of accountants in the past, he had never been able to convert them into new business. With a speaking engagement to his State’s Association of CPAs coming up, he was looking for a way to make this event pay off.
Here is the exact strategy we developed and the results Steve received:
At the conclusion of his talk Steve offered all of the attendees a special report titled:
“EIGHT MISTAKES TAX PRACTITIONERS MAKE WHEN NEGOTIATING WITH THE IRS: Important Tips to Keep Your Client From Getting in MORE Hot Water”
About 40 CPA’s gave Steve their contact information and he sent them the report. They also receive his monthly newsletter on an ongoing basis.
In the three months since this event, he has received 8 referrals directly from accountants who got on his mailing list as a result of that strategy. If Steve’s average case value is $5,000 (and it’s not, it’s a lot more) he added an additional $40,000 to his billing as a result of that one strategy.
But that’s not the end of the story.
Steve then turned the report into an article and pitched it to several trade publications and industry newsletters. A prominent tax industry publication ran the article verbatim. That article landed Steve two additional speaking engagements and three additional referrals from CPAs.
This report, which took Steve two hours to create, will help him develop over $100,000 in new business this year…and this is just one of the marketing strategies he has in place.
Here’s the moral of the story:
Steve Klitzner is a successful IRS Problem Resolution Attorney because he takes action. I developed this strategy for him, but he put it into place and he got new clients as a result.
In the end, all of us get the business we deserve.
You just received the exact strategy Steve used to develop new business. It could work for you. But first you must take action.
Rest assured, whether or not you put this (or any other client acquisition strategy) into place, you are going to get the business you deserve.
If you come across a client with a tax issue send them to Steve. And you can find that special report he published on his website: http://www.floridataxsolvers.com
Your Fee Is Too Low
I was totally embarrassed when I heard that statement. I’ll admit it was the first time I had ever heard it after being in business of providing professional services for nearly 20 years.
Here’s the story:
A few years ago I was working with an attorney who had a solid book of business. The guy was doing just north of a half million dollars a year and it was coming from about 21 different clients.
He was a person of high integrity and he built his practice one relationship at a time. The big problem facing this forty-something attorney was that all the income was completely dependent upon him. He acquired the clients. He did the work and he answered every phone call.
And he was sick of working so hard.
My job was to help him figure out how to grow his law firm enough so that he could make the same (or more) money and not have to work so hard – while keeping his client relationships intact.
The solution we created transformed his business.
We decided to hire three new associates into his firm. Each one was assigned seven of the firm’s clients. They were each dedicated to taking care of their seven clients – no more and no less. Each associate received a base salary and a bonus based upon the growth of their relationships. So if one of their clients grew by $10,000 in any given year, the attorney who worked with that client received a $2,000 bonus.
This solution forced each of the attorneys to deepen their relationship with their clients and, in one year, they doubled the firm’s revenue.
At year end, when my client took me to lunch during the holidays, he uttered those magic words: “Your fee is too low”. He went on to say: “That one strategy – dedicating lawyers to a set number of clients and compensating them for deepening the relationship – has transformed my law firm”. As he finished uttering those words he slid an envelope across the table. In it was a sizable “bonus” for me.
Keep in mind that I did not perform any magic in my work with this client. All I did was get him to look at the situation from a different perspective.
Within 12 months, this lawyer went from running a one attorney practice that produced slightly over $500,000 in revenue to running a 4 lawyer law firm that produced $1.3 million.
Take a few minutes this week and look at your law firm from a different perspective. What could you be doing differently to make the practice of law easier for you and more valuable for your clients?
Ethics and Law Firm Marketing: Who Else is a Flawed Human Being?
Too many people pretend to be perfect in the eyes of others. Not only is that unrealistic it is also unethical.
In any profession, your ethics matter. You must be completely transparent.
Take a look at people who run for political office. As I write this (May 2011) Newt Gingrich has announced that he will be running for President of the United States. Before the announcement was made, people were already jumping all over him for his two failed marriages, the tales of adultery and womanizing from his past and the financial difficulties he and his companies have experienced.
Do these things make him unfit to be President of the United States? Maybe. We like our Presidents to cover up their flaws until their behavior gets the best of them while in office.
As the provider of professional services, as a lawyer, you will have an intimate relationship with your client. He must trust you implicitly. That’s why you have to be transparent when it comes to your flaws and your character.
Will this cost you some business? Maybe. But nobody will ever be able to call you inauthentic or a fraud. And you will be able to look yourself in the mirror and know that you have been honest with your clients.
A few weeks ago I saw an interview with Jerry Jones (the owner of the Dallas Cowboys) who currently has a personal net worth of about $1.1 Billion. He told the story of how, when he first purchased the team, he went up to the counter of a car rental agency and presented his maxed-out credit card which the clerk promptly cut up right in front of him.
Would you hesitate to invest in the Dallas Cowboys now because Jerry didn’t pay his credit card bills years ago? Should a person’s past financial or personal history keep you from working with them? How do you feel about Jerry knowing that he discusses his financial issues openly rather than covering them up?
I’ve been there. Many of us have. And with the tough economic times of the past three years, many of us made bad investments in Real Estate that resulted in business decisions to sell the property for less than it was worth. Doctors, Lawyers, Bankers – all have made bad financial decisions. Does that make them unqualified to be a doctor, a lawyer or a banker?
Is it fair to judge these people based upon their past decisions? I think it depends upon how you come upon that information. Is it disclosed by the person involved or was it concealed?
My life is the perfect example.
My rich background includes: A failed marriage, financial problems, being fired by clients and companies, having public (and often messy) disagreements with past partners and dealing with people in my life who were convicted of a crime.
What does this say about me? Does it say I picked the wrong people to marry, be friendly with, invest with, and work with/for? Maybe. Have I learned from those mistakes? Absolutely. Will I make them again? Hopefully not. In my mind, those mistakes say that I am human. And as a human being, I handle adversity.
Do I brag to others that I have had these experiences? Absolutely not. But I do not run and hide from them either.
Keep that in mind as you work through the crisis-du-jour in your own life.
People make bad decisions – with their finances, with their relationships, with their choices of employment. Everyone stumbles.
My message to you is this: If you are struggling with one (or several) of these issues now, realize that you are not alone and this is not the end of the world. You will get beyond this difficult time in your life and you will be stronger for having gone through it
You cannot control how people will judge you. But you can learn from your past and move on. Be upfront and disclose this information. Then go about your business.
Ultimately you will be judged by the grace with which you handle these issues. Be transparent and do not judge others too harshly. Treat them as you would like to be treated and do not worry about the things you cannot control.
Listen To The People Who Vote With Their Wallets
The title of this article has been one of the rules I have lived by since my business career began.
This rule, simply stated, means to ignore the opinion of EVERYONE other than people who pay for your service.
Why?
Three reasons:
Most people are not qualified to evaluate you.
We only truly value things we invest in. That investment can be financial and/or emotional. Unless someone has invested in you or your services, they cannot give you an opinion of the value you provide.
Many of us receive opinions from detached observers. And while these people may be able to point out some areas for growth and development, they cannot speak about your services from the perspective of an actual interactive experience.
Do yourself a favor, if you want advice about the service you provide and the value the client receives, ask a client.
Everyone else is part of the problem.
If I had a dollar for every time I saw a lawyer receive bad business advice from another lawyer, I would have a pile of money the size of Mount Everest. Lawyers are the worst people to ask about strategy or marketing. The majority of lawyers believe you can ignore these business disciplines and live happily ever after. A select few lawyers believe marketing and business success can be found exclusively on line or in social media.
Remember this: Most lawyers in private practice struggle with their finances or they struggle with work/life balance or they struggle with both.
Ignore advice from other lawyers, even those you believe to be successful. If you want to know how to improve the quality of your service or your marketing message, ask your clients.
Your success benefits you.
Most people do not want to see you succeed.
I know. This is not the feel-good-happy-town account of the world you will get from many self help folks. But it is human nature. Several studies by leading institutions of higher learning have proven that seeing other people in pain actually helps most humans cope with the trials and tribulations of their own life. Sad but true. For additional proof, look at news reports and television ratings of reality TV.
If someone else has a subconscious interest in your lack of success, why would you want to take advice from them?
Your clients want you to succeed on their matters. They will give you valuable feedback. Listen to them.
At this point, you’re probably wondering why I am telling you to ignore business advice from everyone except your clients. After all, I give business advice to lawyers. Shouldn’t you listen to me?
This is precisely the thing that makes me different from everyone else who does what I do – especially other lawyers-turned-marketing-gurus.
I have developed systems, processes and practices based upon the opinions of lawyers just like you. I didn’t concoct these ideas in my basement after reading a marketing manual designed for carpet cleaners.
When I work with an attorney one-on-one, I interview current clients and past clients. I then develop the business strategy based upon the real world research. Having done this over one hundred times in the past three years, I have developed a good understanding for the perspective of the client.
But don’t take my word for it.
Call a few of your own clients. Ask them some pointed questions about their perception of the experience and value you provided them.
You may be surprised at what you find out.
Remember, the only votes that count come from people who vote with their wallet.
Ignore the Blowhards. Trust Yourself
I’m not sure why you came to this website.
Maybe you are here because you want more clients for your law firm. Maybe you are here because you are looking to hire someone to help you with law firm marketing. Maybe you are here just because you did a random Google Search and found it.
In any event, there are a few things I think you should know about law firm marketing before you read any further:
1: You can do it yourself.
You do not need to hire someone to help you with law firm marketing. You can go out and develop relationships on your own and those relationships will eventually lead to clients. Do not hire a law firm marketing expert until you try to do it yourself.
2: First be a good lawyer.
If you are a crappy lawyer you may still be able to attract clients but you will be doing the public a great deal of harm. If you suck as a lawyer, do not focus on marketing. Focus on finding a new career – preferably one that you do not suck at.
3. Embrace the True Definition of Marketing.
Marketing is relationship development. Sometimes this happens in a one-to-one setting. Sometimes it happens in a one-to-many setting.
Placing an ad on a billboard is a form of marketing just as a FREE consultation is a form of marketing.
Blogging is a form of marketing. There’s a lot of bullshit on blogs. Some people really believe the bullshit they write. That doesn’t mean it is true. It just means the author of the blog thinks it is true. Judge for yourself.
4. Do not fear the language.
In order for people to develop a relationship with you they must first know you exist. Marketing professionals have developed jargon to describe the process of relationship development. Just like someone must be an acquaintance before he becomes a friend, someone must be a prospect (prospective client) before he becomes a client.
If you want someone to “buy” (believe) your idea you must “sell” it to them (convince them).
Just words. Don’t get crazed.
5. If it smells like Bullshit, avoid it.
There are lots of unethical marketing practitioners in the world today just like there are lots of unethical lawyers. In many cases you need to get close enough to notice the stink of their bullshit. Do your homework. Ask for references before you hire one of them (from either profession). Do not rely on their words. Talk to the people who have paid for their service.
Do not judge one person because of the actions of another. If you have 10 bad experiences with lawyers does that mean that EVERY lawyer will be equally bad? No. The same is true of people who provide law firm marketing advice. You must do your homework and make sure you are working with someone who has your interests at heart.
Final Thought
Pompous assholes exist in every profession.
Use your head and do your homework (I might have mentioned that already). If you want legal marketing help, have conversations with several law firm marketing experts before you make a decision. There are a handful of true experts out there but they are hard to hire…mainly because they are busy. Just like lawyers…
Choices We Make
I provide guidance, systems and ideas to lawyers.
I don’t teach lawyers how to get rich quick.
Don’t get me wrong, some of the lawyers I work with improve their income substantially. But that’s not the reason my clients engage me.
My clients hire me to help them improve their income and get home for dinner, on time, every night.
These lawyers are not “get rich quick” kind of people. Most of them love the law. They enjoy what they do. But they also love spending time with family and living life.
Make a great living and live a great life is not just my firm’s slogan. It is what everyone who invests in my services wants – a great living and a great life.
You chose the law as your profession. That doesn’t mean you chose to sacrifice your life serving it.
We all make choices in life but that doesn’t mean you have to give up a great income to spend time with your family. And it doesn’t mean you have to spend eighty hours a week in the office to make an above average living.
But you do have to make some choices. You have to get your priorities in order.
You must choose the right clients. You must choose the rules under which you will operate your law firm. You must choose the advice you take and the advice you discard.
And you must choose to have thick skin. Because lots of people will be jealous if you have success at making a great living and living a great life.
I’m not a lawyer but I choose to work with lawyers. Why? Because I am good at helping people make tough choices. Lawyers trying to build a law firm and have a family life face some of the toughest choices in the business world.
I’m not going to help you get rich quick but I am going to help you feel good about the choices you make.
Most of the time doing the right thing is easy. It’s figuring out what the right thing is, that’s hard.
