Join Me in New York?
Don’t let the dog days of summer get you down.
July is the perfect time to make sure your cash flow heats up.
I’d like to help you make more money and have more fun doing it.
This summer I’m offering an opportunity to put your client attraction systems on overdrive.
I will be conducting two private business strategy sessions with attorneys from all over the world in New York City on July 24, 2012.
This is something I’ve never done before and it’s something I probably won’t do again in 2012.
This will be your only chance to work directly with me in New York this year and I’m limiting this opportunity to 20 people.
Details are below and this event is “first come first serve”. Once the 20 slots are filled, we will not be accepting any more attendee applications.
Don’t miss out. Call now to reserve your place.
Contact Kary Cheda today at (305) 692-5531 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to learn more.
Rainmaker LegalMax™ Summit
July 24, 2012
New York
Morning Session on Business Strategy
7:30AM
During this session we will discuss:
Expert Status: How to select a powerful market niche for your law firm and eliminate your competition.
Thought Leadership: Clients will beg you to work with them once you learn this powerful strategy.
Powerful Pricing: How to maximize fees and deliver value to your clients well beyond their expectations.
Unlocking Hidden Value: There is gold right in your current client database. Once you realize how to harvest it, you’ll be amazed at the results.
Developing Systems: Not enough hours in the day? Create systems to leverage your most valuable asset… your time.
Attendee Case Analysis: Each attendee will have an opportunity to have a 30 minute case analysis call with me prior to the event.
Your Investment for the morning session is only $299
Afternoon Session on Law Firm Marketing
2:00PM
During this session we will discuss:
The Five Things Your Website Marketing Guy Hopes You Never Learn: Internet marketing scams are abundant. How do you find a web developer you trust?
The Most Cost Effective Marketing Strategy for a Small Law Firm: Don’t have thousands to spend on TV? No problem. We’ll show you how to compete with the big boys.
The One Thing They Forgot to Teach You in Law School: This one thing is costing you thousands of dollars each year. You can fix it in five minutes.
Ethics and Law Firm Marketing: The truth is the best marketing strategy. How your story can be your competitive advantage.
The Ultimate Law Firm Marketing Plan: You will leave this session with a twelve step actionable plan for developing new business.
Your investment for the afternoon session is only: $299
Sign up for both sessions and save:
Sign up for both sessions at the discounted rate of $499 for the entire day plus I will provide you with my Rainmaker’s 30 Day Fast Start Marketing System - a $1,000 value - absolutely F-R-E-E.
Save one hundred dollars on the session plus you get a bonus gift worth $1,000 but only when you sign up for both sessions.
Contact Kary Cheda TODAY and register at (305) 692-5531or by email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Go One-On-One with The Rainmaker
Private Sessions Available
July 23, 2012 and July 25, 2012
While in New York I’ll make myself available to work with you and/or a group of attorneys from your firm.
These power sessions will be customized to meet your needs and they include two months of follow-up coaching.
During our time together we will analyze your specific firm’s current state, future goals and create a customized action plan specific for your law firm.
A strategic review will be sent to you prior to our meeting in order for me to learn about your firm. The time we spend together will be solid working time you will come away with a step-by-step action plan in order to help you achieve your desired goals.
Not everyone is eligible, you and I must speak to determine if a private session is right for you.
Contact Kary Cheda TODAY and register at (305) 692-5531or by email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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EmailDon’t Boil the Ocean
That line is a common expression used in consulting.
When we say “Don’t boil the ocean” we mean: “Only gather enough information necessary to solve the problem”.
This could also be translated into a simple concept: “Work as efficiently as possible.”
Unfortunately this is a phrase that most lawyers abhor.
In fact, for most lawyers, the compensation is rigged to make sure they boil the ocean. Hourly billing rewards time spent and not productivity. Hourly billing erodes trust. It puts the attorney’s goals at odds with the client’s goals. It devalues talent, skill and knowledge in favor of punching a time clock.
If you cannot think of an alternative to hourly billing you are not intelligent enough to be a licensed lawyer.
If you can think of an alternative to hourly billing and you choose not to offer it to your clients, you are unethical.
There are no other options.
Without Law Firm Marketing You Are Unemployed
I don’t convince lawyers of the need for law firm marketing anymore. A lawyer does not get a meeting with me unless he knows how important marketing is to his future. I make sure of that. My time is too valuable and my fees are too high to waste time with people who are “thinking about doing some marketing”.
A couple of weeks ago I spoke at a law firm practice management event hosted by Brian Tannebaum, President of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. I consider Tannebaum a friend but he is also the Captain of the “Just be a good lawyer and business will come” crowd. He regularly eats phony marketing experts for lunch. He and his band of merry men on Twitter regularly crucify disbarred lawyers, part time lawyers and washed up lawyers who turn to offering marketing guidance as a way to pay their bills.
The fact that Tannebaum invited me, a law firm marketing expert, to speak to a group of professionals that he leads, respects, and values, is an indication of the competitive environment lawyers face.
The keynote speaker at this event was the legendary Roy Black. You could have heard a pin drop when he took to the podium to give his talk. All of the criminal lawyers in the room waited with bated breath for his wisdom. They were not disappointed but they were surprised. Black could have spent an hour discussing trial skills. Instead he urged the group of lawyers to discard their trial advocacy books and study marketing. He scolded the lawyers who hate selling, telling them they need to embrace it or they will go hungry. He spoke of focusing on the needs of the client and speaking to those needs as a way to grow a law practice.
The reaction was enthusiastic. The lawyers embraced Black’s call to action. In the two weeks that followed since that presentation, a little over one third of the audience has asked to receive my weekly law firm marketing briefing. Some of them will take action. Some of them will embrace law firm marketing as a way to make more money, attract higher quality clients, and live a better life as a result.
With a legend like Roy Black touting law firm marketing as a necessity and a respected, old school style lawyer like Brian Tannebaum introducing law firm marketing to his peers, you know the time has come to get on board.
You do not need to hire a consultant or coach to get law firm marketing right. You need to apply some commonsense and put a premium on relationships. Relationships with clients and referral sources are the key. Focusing on them is focusing on law firm marketing. Without that focus you will have no business. Without that focus you will be another unemployed lawyer in a profession that already has too many.
If you choose not to believe facts, then believe the most respected people in the business. Law firm marketing is more important than ever. Make it part of your future.
Return On Your Law Firm Marketing Investment
How do you evaluate law firm marketing investments?
How do you decide if you should sponsor an event, place an ad in a trade magazine or join a referral service?
The best way to make this decision is to look at the potential Return on Investment from each initiative.
There are three things to take into account when looking at Law Firm Marketing ROI. They are:
- Target Client and Referral Source Profile
- Lifetime Value of the Relationship
- Cost of Acquisition of a New Client
These are all complex ideas which must be covered in detail but here is a brief summary:
Target Client and Referral Source Profile
If you are targeting consumers (family law, criminal law, immigration) your approach to marketing will be different than a lawyer who is targeting companies as a client. Once you know who your ideal client is, it becomes easier to attract them with your marketing.
Referral sources are important to all lawyers and you must market to them as heavily as you would market to a prospective client. This marketing should be measured in exactly the same way as you measure direct-to-client marketing initiatives.
Lifetime Value of the Relationship
Once you have attracted and engaged a client or referral source, how much is that relationship worth to your law firm?
A client (or referral source) who brings you 10 matters each year for a value of $100,000 per year is worth far more than 100 clients who bring you one matter valued at $1,000 during your lifetime relationship with them. You can spend more to attract the client with 10 matters per year because you will receive a better return on your investment.
Knowing this lifetime value number is critical to determining how much to invest in marketing. High value targets can withstand significant investments.
Cost of Acquisition
What is it going to take to attract this client?
As stated above, you can spend more to attract better clients. But knowing what it is going to cost to do so is important. If you are targeting corporate clients, there is a good chance they already have a lawyer. It is much more difficult to unseat the incumbent in the relationship than it is to establish a business relationship with someone who has no lawyer.
Understanding client acquisition cost is important to determining your marketing budget.
We just touched on these important metrics. Give them some thought.
How will they impact your law firm marketing decisions?
Legal Marketing Expert Criteria From Dave Lorenzo
The other day I was introduced to someone as Dave Lorenzo Legal Marketing Expert. While I like the sound of the term Legal Marketing Expert associated with my name I am also aware that people are fast and loose when they throw around titles.
Since there is no regulating or governing body to create criteria for the status of legal marketing expert, I am going to do it.
Below are the official criteria for being an Approved Dave Lorenzo Legal Marketing Expert:
A legal marketing expert must focus full time on legal marketing. He/she cannot have another part time job (like selling Amway, Mary Kay Products or practicing law). The legal marketing expert must be totally focused and dedicated to legal marketing.
A legal marketing expert must be a student of marketing and must be able to demonstrate his/her willingness to learn and keep current in this field. This means the legal marketing expert should be enrolled in some form of on-going education program that keeps them up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in legal marketing.
A legal marketing expert must have focused on marketing exclusively for a minimum of five years. This five year rule stems from the theory that it requires 10,000 hours of practice to develop expertise in any particular field or discipline. If you work 40 hours per week exclusively on legal marketing and you work 50 weeks per year, you reach 10, 000 hours in five years.
A legal marketing expert must demonstrate knowledge of marketing outside the legal profession. This is important because there are many things that are transferable from business to legal marketing. All ethical, professional and legal guidelines must always be followed, of course. But having a broad base of knowledge is required of a legal marketing expert. This may be demonstrated by experience: Ten years of marketing experience in various industries is a good objective criterion. This should also be demonstrated by education. A masters degree in marketing, strategic communications, business administration or integrated marketing communications is also a good criterion.
The final requirement for a legal marketing expert is a demonstration of good moral character. This means that information proclaimed by the individual to be true should, in fact be true, and verifiable.
These are the five basic criteria for becoming an Approved Dave Lorenzo Legal Marketing Expert. I will accept applications and begin interviews immediately.
Four Things I Do Not Understand About Law Firm Marketing
Even though I make my living giving law firm marketing advice, there are some things about my clients I do not understand. And I am a big enough person to admit it. Here are four of these law firm marketing mysteries:
Why do some lawyers view marketing as evil?
Marketing cannot be evil. Marketing is a business process. It is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.
A business processed can be misused. It can be used unethically. It can be used unprofessionally. But ultimately, there are many, many lawyers who are great at effective, professional, ethical marketing.
To brand marketing itself as wrong, evil or improper is simply ignorant, narrow minded and foolish.
Unless of course you are doing so as part of your own marketing strategy….
Besides laziness and lack of imagination, why else do attorneys bill hourly?
There is no good answer to this question. Hourly billing is unethical in most cases. It ensures that the lawyer’s financial interest and the best interest of the client are divergent.
If a client wants a matter dragged on for a long time and they retain a lawyer for that purpose, then hourly billing may be an ethical option. Very few clients have that objective in mind when they retain a lawyer.
Just because something is an accepted practice does not make it right (Slavery was an accepted practice for a while in the United States. Honor killing is still an accepted practice in some parts of the world).
Your failure to at least present an alternative to hourly billing to a client is evidence of either a lack of creativity or laziness.
Why don’t litigators form partnerships with transactional attorneys more often?
There are only three ways to make money as an attorney. They are:
1). Get more clients
2). Get more matters from existing clients
3). Raise your fees
The best way to take advantage of all three of these is by developing a relationship with a client where you can work with them over the long term. Litigation is an ad hoc process. Once the matter at hand is disposed of, it is gone and in most cases, so is the relationship.
In a perfect world, every litigation practice would have a transactional component to it and vice versa. This would allow the firm to benefit from the depth of the relationship with both the client and any referral sources.
This is commonsense and not marketing genius. Litigators: go find a transactional lawyer you like and ask them to share office space with you.
Why would a lawyer hire an unsuccessful former lawyer or a part time lawyer to help with marketing?
Would you hire a butcher to cut your hair? Would you hire a hairdresser to do your root canal? Would you hire a dentist to perform open heart surgery on your grandmother? Would you hire a heart surgeon from the Cleveland Clinic to neuter your Golden Retriever?
The answers to these questions are an obvious and emphatic “NO”. Yet when I ask attorneys why they hire other attorneys to help them with their marketing, I get dumb looks and even dumber answers.
Let’s face it, 99% of the time when an attorney decides to become a “marketing guru” they are a failure (or an underachiever) in their own profession. After all, if they were great attorneys, why would they abandon that profession (or make it a part time job).
Honestly, if you need marketing help you don’t have to work with me. In fact, most of the time you cannot work directly with me.
But please, please, do not give your hard-earned money to a former lawyer who learned about marketing in a three day seminar. Or even worse, to someone who practices law part time and is a marketing guru part time.
If you need help with law firm marketing, hire a law firm marketing expert.
Target the Center of Influence with Law Firm Marketing
There is one law firm marketing strategy that is so simple and so powerful yet almost no attorney is using it.
It is a strategy that is requires a little creativity, a little commonsense and a lot of persistence.
I call it the center of influence strategy and it can make the difference between having a good law firm and having a great law firm.
This is how it works:
For Lawyers who Target Consumers (Criminal Law, Family Law, Trust and Estates Law, etc.):
Every community has people who are well respected and influence the decisions of a great many people. Individuals in roles such as members of the clergy, individuals who run community centers, people who occupy positions of authority, media personalities, etc. These are the people we are targeting with this strategy.
For Lawyers Who Target Businesses:
We are targeting decision-makers. Most often I recommend we target the top person in the company (the CEO or owner).
There are three elements to this strategy:
Element One: The Introduction
Every two weeks you write this person a letter. In that letter you highlight the issues that the community/industry is facing and you discuss how you can help prevent bad things from happening to good people. Your call to action in the letter is to ask the reader to contact you for an educational briefing on the particular problem you are good at solving. It is important to note that you are not soliciting business. You are asking for an opportunity to present information that will help them understand and prevent the problem themselves.
A good example comes from criminal law. Criminal defense attorneys conduct this presentation with members of the clergy. The topic is: ‘How to Keep the Children in Our Community Safe’. The presentation is about preventing kids from joining gangs and committing crime by enrolling them in after school activities.
Element Two: The Presentation
This portion of the strategy can be an in-person talk or a webinar that is delivered to the influential individual. It contains statistics and data that highlight the problem. It also appeals to the individual to help solve the problem.
Element Three: The Offer
This is the call to action. You now ask the influencer to invite you in to speak to his/her group. You can offer to speak frequently (monthly, quarterly, annually). You give a talk on how to prevent the bad things you see in your law practice.
After these talks you continue to stay in touch with the influencer and you remain available to speak as often as he would like you to do so.
You will be amazed at how many referrals you can source with this strategy. If you do it right, this strategy will position you as a person who cares about the community/industry and is willing to do something to give back.
In reality, it is always in giving that we receive the most.
Great Legal Marketing and Accessibility Are Not Compatible
Many lawyers pride themselves on being available 24 hours a day, seven days per week for clients and prospective clients to call them.
If you are one of those lawyers, this is your wake-up call.
Being available all the time is not perceived as excellent service. It is perceived as a desperate attempt to get any client possible. In the case of existing clients, it is perceived as doing anything and everything possible to keep the clients you have.
Think about it from the client’s perspective:
If you are good, one of the best, in your area of practice, you should be busy, very busy. If I call your office and your assistant says:
“Mr. Smith has client meetings all day today. Can I schedule an appointment to have him return the call tomorrow?” How does that position you?
Think of it this way: You call the heart surgeon to ask a question about your medication and his assistant says:
“Hold on, he’s right here” and she hands him the phone. What if he answered the phone himself?
A great surgeon spends his time with patients and in surgery. If he has time to a take unscheduled calls he must not be busy. Not busy means not good.
If you want to be accessible and if you want to capture the client at their time of greatest need, have SOMEONE answer the phone 24 hours a day but always schedule a return call from the attorney or from the expert (you).
I know, I know, the criminal attorneys who read this are shaking their heads. They are saying it is their business to answer those calls in the middle of the night. Maybe. But think about the kind of client placing that call to you. If that person is your ideal client, then fine, take the call. But think about the kind of practice you will have if that is the intake process for the majority of your clients.
If you must handle those clients, have a junior attorney field the call and handle the bond hearing. Then you take the case from that point forward. The best attorney only gets up in the middle of the night for a select few clients.
The bottom line on accessibility: The best person in any field is also the busiest and also has total command of his schedule.
Are you the best? Would you like to be perceived as the best?
If so, give some thought to how you manage access to your law firm’s most valuable asset, you.
If Marketing for Lawyers was Easy Everyone Would Do It
There is a dirty little secret that most people who work on marketing for lawyers keep from their clients. They keep this secret because once they reveal it, 95% of the attorney population won’t hire them.
Before I tell you WHAT the secret is, let me tell you why it is important to me that you know it:
I only want to work with the best lawyers. I only want to work with people who take their law firms from GOOD to GREAT. I only want to work with ethical people who improve the client’s condition. I am hoping that if I share this secret with you, the best lawyers will act on it and the complacent masses will continue to toil away, content with living a shallow life of unfulfilled potential.
The Secret
Marketing for lawyers requires a great deal of effort. There is no easy way to find and engage hundreds of clients. There is no magic formula for success. You can’t go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning with a waiting room full of clients.
Well, let me rephrase that: There is a formula. It goes like this:
Go to sleep. Wake up. Work your ass off. Go to sleep. Repeat for several months. Wake up with a lobby full of clients.
I know this is not what others are telling you. I know there are people out there who promise you the magic beans that will help you grow your law firm while you sleep. Unfortunately, it is just not true.
The Reason this is Good News
This is good news for 5% of the attorney population. It is good news for the people who get it. It is good news for the people who want to put in the work. Here’s why:
If you consistently work on marketing over a sustained period of time you will get results. Clients will be drawn to you. You will achieve a significant return on the investment of your time.
If you consistently work on marketing over a sustained period of time you will create a significant barrier to entry for your competition. Catching up will be difficult for them. They will not want to put in the time and effort you put in. Or they may focus on the wrong things. Or they may be a step behind. All you need to do is innovate faster than they can copy you.
If you consistently work smart on marketing you will have your choice of clients. Attorney marketing systems deliver qualified clients to your doorstep. You simply need to select the right clients for your law practice.
If you consistently work on marketing you may be able to change your lifestyle. Once you realize that developing marketing systems is the key to law firm success, a whole new world will be open to you.
But first you have to do the work.
At this point, I have either completely lost you, in which case you are only still reading because you are cynical, or you are intrigued (or at least a little interested in marketing for lawyers) and want to learn more. If you want to learn more, visit the website below.
Marketing for lawyers can be your key to making a great living and living a great life!
This is the website to visit: http://milliondollarlawyersecrets.com/
How My Barbershop Lost a Client: A Marketing Lesson for Lawyers
I have been going to the same barber shop for about 4 years. Since this is a luxury shop (they do haircuts, shaves, massages and spa treatments for men) and they offer a good experience (they serve beer, wine and tasty snacks) I never had a problem paying a little more for a haircut.
During the three years of my patronage of this shop I would go in for a haircut about once a month. About a year ago my barber left to work somewhere else. When this happened the owner of the shop called me personally and asked me to stay with the shop and try out the new barber they brought it. I was impressed by this proactive gesture so I gave the new guy a try. I am glad I did. He is a good guy who loves sports and has an interest in the same teams I follow.
After a few visits, this gentleman suggested that I come for a haircut every two weeks. I wear my hair very short and waiting four weeks to get it cut can make my hair look unruly. The barber talked with the owner of the shop and they agreed that every two weeks I would get a haircut I would pay half of what I paid for the monthly visit. This meant I was going to pay the same amount each month for more visits. I was thrilled.
Last month the shop was sold.
The new owners sent out an email announcement stating that buying this shop was “fulfilling their lifelong dream of business ownership”. The announcement was all about them. It didn’t thank the customers. It didn’t give us any introductory incentive to come in and meet the new owners. In fact, it didn’t mention anything at all about the clientele.
I went in for my first haircut and the new owner immediately tried to up-sell me into getting a manicure. I’m not the manicure kind of guy but there was no irresistible offer (coupon to try it for free, etc.). It was just suggested that I try it because the manicurist was really good. Again – about them, not the client.
After fending off the hard sell I met with the guy who actually cuts my hair. It was then that he dropped a bombshell on me. No longer could we do the two visits per month at the agreed upon price. A haircut was a haircut. Full price must be paid every visit. When I raised the issue with the new owner I was told the same thing. A haircut is a haircut. Same shop. Different experience. Bad feeling.
So what does this have to do with marketing for lawyers?
Attorneys often treat their clients the same way.
The marketing only focuses on what the lawyer has to offer. It doesn’t take into consideration the client’s needs or wants. The attorney doesn’t give the client any incentive to make a decision. He simply says: “This is what you need to do”. And the surprises that come with hourly billing (just like the surprise of my haircut price doubling) are killers of good client relationships.
Now I need to go look for a new barber. This is a minor inconvenience for me and about a $1,000 per year loss for the barber shop.
Think about the experience the client has when he interacts with your firm. Could you spend more time talking about his needs? Could you give him an incentive to do more legal work with you? Is there a better billing option you could have provided that would have made him feel less “ambushed”?
Marketing for lawyers is all about relationship building. Put the relationship first and offer a great experience. If you do your income will never receive a haircut.
