Law Firm Marketing

Remove the Pain for Financial Gain - Part 1

This article is part of an article series on How to Get Clients as a Lawyer. 

The Series Is titled: Remove the Pain for Financial Gain

Here are links to all the articles in the series:

Remove the Pain for Financial Gain:  Part 1:  Introduction
Remove the Pain for Financial Gain:  Part 2:  The Process
Remove the Pain for Financial Gain:  Part 3:  The Interview
Remove the Pain for Financial Gain:  Part 4:  The Diagnosis
Remove the Pain for Financial Gain:  Part 5:  The Agitation
Remove the Pain for Financial Gain:  Part 6:  The Prescription
Remove the Pain for Financial Gain:  Wrap-up

Part 1:  The Introduction

What business are you in?

Many attorneys don’t understand the answer to this question.

It’s not that they don’t understand the words as they are written.  They literally do not understand the reason that they are in business.

They think it is about interpreting the law for their clients.  Or they may think their job is about completing a transaction.  Or defending a position.  Or even making money.

All of those things are part of a larger picture.

When an attorney gets up in the morning he has one purpose and one purpose only.

Attorneys get paid to help their clients relieve or prevent pain.

That’s it.

I understand that you may not immediately agree with this assertion.  So let’s walk through some typical scenarios.

A criminal defense attorney has a client who is charged with a crime.  Going to prison would certainly be painful for the client.

An intellectual property attorney is hired by XYZ Company to prevent ABC Company from infringing on its intellectual property.  XYZ has pain because they believe that someone is stealing from them and ABC has pain because they are now being accused of theft.

John and Jane Smith are purchasing a home from Sally and Sam Jones.  Both the Jones family and the Smith family hire a real estate attorney to draw up and review the contract because they don’t want the pain of losing money or being a victim of fraud.

What about some of the less obvious disciplines within the law?

It really is difficult to find a case or situation that is not about pain relief or pain prevention.

Divorce = Pain Relief
Adoption = Pain Prevention
Personal Injury = Pain Relief
Employment Law = Pain Relief and Pain Prevention
Appellate Law = Pain Relief
Tax Law = Pain Relief and Pain Prevention

Ultimately a law practice is a pain relief or pain prevention business.  That’s why your clients come to you.  That is your purpose. 

Once you understand that your purpose in life is to help people with their pain, “selling” your services takes on a whole new meaning. 

We will talk more about that in Part 2 of Remove the Pain for Financial Gain.

Why Aren’t You Rich?  Do Something!

Making money should be second nature for you.  You’re smart.  You rely on facts and proof to help you make decisions.  You are one of the best attorneys in your area of expertise.  And you provide your clients with excellent council. 

So why aren’t you rich?

Unfortunately, all of the characteristics I described above are not prerequisites for building a successful practice. 

Don’t get me wrong…they are necessary for maintaining a successful practice.  But for growing a law business – that’s what private practice is – a business - you need one particular quality that is more common among successful entrepreneurs than it is among your attorney brethren.

The answer is simple yet it will probably eat you up inside when you read it.

Most attorneys are not rich because they do not have a bias for action.

Whenever I introduce this concept to a client, it is immediately greeted with skepticism.  After all, you certainly represent your clients vigorously.  And I am certain that you can think of some occasions when you were a little too aggressive in pursuing your client’s interest. 

So how could I possibly say that attorneys wallow in mediocrity because they fail to take action? 

I will walk you though my answer but I need you to promise me something before we get to that…I need you to promise that you will read this article, think about it and then read it once a week for the next four weeks.  I want you to do this even if you don’t agree with my premise right away. 

Print it out (there is a cute little icon on the bottom of the screen that will format it for you) and read it a few times. 

It’s important that you do this because it will take a while to sink in.  The concept is something that has probably not been beaten into you so it may take a few repetitions to get through.

Everyone has new ideas.  Some of them are good, a few are great and a few stink.

Everyday we pass judgment on these ideas based upon our past experience or based upon what we “think we know”. 

In reality, there are no bad ideas.  There are only untested ideas.  When we pass judgment on an idea before we try it out, we are eliminating all possibility for success. 

The best entrepreneurs don’t do that.  Neither do the best attorneys.  They test every idea.  No matter how silly they may seem at the time.  They at least “float” every proposal by some folks they trust to test the craziness of it. 

Taking action – doing something – is critical to building a big practice, quickly.  Since we are all a bunch of rational thinkers, here are the five reasons that having a bias for action is one of the most critical characteristics of a successful attorney:

It’s simple physics

Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.  Objects at rest tend to stay at rest.  If you get a good idea and you fail to act on it, you will be less likely to act on your next good idea. 

If you always jump into action when you have an idea, you will be more likely to profit from a good idea when it arises. 

Doing something is always better than doing nothing – even if that something is the wrong thing.

You might be thinking:  “The more action I take the more mistakes I will make”.

That is absolutely true.  If you take action you will make mistakes.  But you can counteract those mistakes by taking CORRECTIVE action immediately. 

Success rarely follows a straight line.  More often than not the path toward a successful outcome is full of detours, wrong turns and course corrections.  The key is to keep your eyes (and your mind) open and understand what is happening as a result of your action.

Action Stimulates Thinking and Makes You Smarter

If you have a bias for action you are probably going to become good at thinking on your feet.  You will get practice at diagnosing problems and issues quickly and you will hone your deductive reasoning skills.  This happens because you learn make course corrections on a regular basis. 

This will sharpen you cognitive skills.  Take action…review the results…adjust your approach…take more action.

Action Gets Noticed

As a society we have become accustom to people doing nothing.  We have gotten used to a lack of follow-up.  We expect that our calls will not be returned until we have left three or four messages.  We know that we will have to reach out to several people before we find someone who can help us with even the most mundane task.

People who take action get noticed. 

If you promised something to a client – and you fulfill that promise – you will move to the short list of action-oriented people in that person’s mind.  Unfortunately, it is a pretty rare occasion when people actually follow through.

You Will Feel Better

Doing something makes us feel better.  Whenever we make a mistake – and we admit to ourselves that we have made a mistake – we want to feel better.  Taking some kind of action, no matter how small, helps to “balance the ledger” in our mind.

Taking some kind of action will always help you feel as though you have some control over the situation.  It is the beginning of an internal healing process. 

We’ve all said something stupid and hurtful to someone we care about.  The last time that happened to you, when did you begin to feel better about your relationship with that person?  Chances are good that you felt better the next time you had a meaningful, positive conversation with that person.  The time between when you said the stupid thing and when you had a good conversation may have been painful.  You could have shortened that pain by “clearing the air” sooner. 

The same concept is true of taking action in asking for more business.  The next time you are in front of a client, ask him if he has any other matters that need legal attention.  Ask him if he knows other people who need legal assistance.  If you don’t ask you will never know…and it will make you feel better.

There is an old cliché that says “action speaks louder than words”.  In the case of business development, taking action today will lead to a trip to the bank tomorrow.  The more action you take the more chances you are giving yourself to succeed.  You deserve that opportunity. 

What are the last three great business development ideas you had?  Why not do something…anything…to make those ideas happen?

Do it now.

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.

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