Law Firm Marketing for Leaders: Can You Handle It?
It really is lonely at the top. It doesn’t matter if you are the knot tying champ in your Boy Scout Troop or the CEO of a FORTUNE 500 company. Being the best or being in charge means that people will be coming after you. Rest assured, it will happen. One of the inevitable byproducts of success is the big target that will be firmly affixed to your back.
Why?
Human nature.
Each of us is born with the capacity to feel emotion and, in early childhood, we develop and refine our use of these emotions and our response to the emotions displayed by others.
Insecurity, jealousy, anger and resentment are often byproducts of our view of the success of a rival.
Some people see your success and they feel all of these things. A few of the more narcissistic folks will actually act on these feelings. That’s when the fun really begins.
The more successful you are, the more intense the emotional reaction to your success will be. Expect it.
And if you think it won’t happen to you because you are a “Nice Person”, just do an Internet Search for Christopher Hitchens thoughts on Mother Teresa. If someone can hate a Saint that much, trust me, someone out there will take aim at you once you have achieved a modicum of success.
So what are you supposed to do with these HATERS?
When my clients come crying to me about people who are:
1). Complaining about them to the world
2). Sending them hate mail or posting hateful things about them on the Internet
3). Spreading false rumors about them (or even bringing some old but true indiscretions to light)
I encourage them to react as follows:
Embrace the Fame
Let’s face it, if someone is attacking you, no matter how awful the attack is, your message is reaching its audience. Losers do not get targeted by anyone. Somebody feels threatened by you. Somewhere you have struck a nerve. Go with it. Shout louder. Appear in more places. Write more articles. Use even stronger language.
Remember that your goal in marketing is not only to attract potential clients but also to REPEL non-clients. You only want to work with people who have a problem you can solve and are willing to pay top dollar for you to solve it.
Publicly Identify the Emotional Dysfunction
Never attack your adversary directly as this would only serve to elevate him to your status. Instead, attack his emotional dysfunction. Talk about the evil of the emotion and not about the specific individual who personifies that evil.
Hillary Clinton did this masterfully during impeachment proceedings against her husband. During a nationally televised interview that was watched by more than half of the population of the United States, she painted the vitriol toward President Clinton as a vast right wing conspiracy.
With one statement she polarized the voting public. You were either part of that conspiracy or you were a victim of it.
Use the Attacks to Embolden Your Own Mission
Now that you have an enemy, use it (remember the enemy is the ideal not the person) to advance your position.
Personal Injury Lawyers use Insurance Companies or Big Tobacco or greedy manufacturing companies looking to make money at the cost of worker safety. Criminal Lawyers use the ruthless state-run system that chews up victims of circumstance and makes them hardened criminals. Labor attorneys use the union as a socialist enterprise that wants to drive a wedge between the workers and their benevolent employer.
Find a way to fight the emotion without picking a fight with the individual. The last thing you want to do is create a sympathetic victim.
You may be wondering why I selected this forum to share this insight with you. I will admit that this is advanced messaging strategy and an unusual law firm marketing strategy and can easily be misinterpreted by the uninitiated. The reason I share this particular strategy with you today is because I want you to think about your future. I want you to mentally prepare for the success that is coming. As your law practice (your business) evolves, and you become more successful, you will also become a target. My goal is for you to expect it.
But that begs a critically important question about your future success:
Can you handle it?
Print
Email8 Words That Make All The Difference
“I’m sorry I have not been in touch.”
Those eight simple words are the best way to begin a communication campaign with your clients, past clients and potential referral sources.
I know you probably don’t receive as many referrals as you deserve. In most cases, this is a not a reflection of the quality of your work. It is a reflection of your lack of communication with the people most likely to give you referrals.
Your clients want to refer others to you. Unfortunately, they just don’t think about you all of the time.
The easy remedy to this situation is to remind them (frequently) that you are still here, still practicing law, and still providing the same fantastic service.
This is a tricky proposition.
You want to communicate with potential referral sources frequently but you do not want to be annoying.
Here are three ways to do that:
1). Send out a weekly email newsletter. This is a cost effective way to stay in touch with people who could potentially send you business. Many lawyers are intimidated by the suggested frequency. They initially feel that weekly communication may be too much. I assure you it is not. As long as your email is interesting, your clients will welcome it. Use the phrase: “Sorry I have not been in touch” in the subject of your first email.
2). Remember birthdays. There are three elements that go into getting a great referral. A person must know you, like you and trust you before they refer business to you. Your clients trust you or they would not have worked with you in the first place. If you send them a card on their birthday you will deepen your relationship with them. This simple step of remembering and recognizing them on an important day in their life will go a long way toward building your relationship.
3). Host a client appreciation event. One of the first things eliminated from the budget during difficult economic times is the office holiday party. This is a mistake. You should host an event, at least once each year, to recognize your clients. This doesn’t have to happen during the holidays. It can be anytime. In fact, it is often best to have this event during a time when there are no other competing events to distract from its significance. A simple gathering of clients with light food and drink is a terrific way to build good will.
Referrals are the lifeblood of any law firm marketing plan. Last week I shot a DVD for my clients that outlined 15 ways to attract more referrals. Watching this video and then taking consistent action on just one of these ideas could double the size of their law firm.
Think about it: If each of your current clients referred you one new client, your practice would grow by 100%.
Implement the three strategies I outlined above immediately. They are wise investments of your time and money and they will help you grow your business rapidly.
How Law Firm Marketing Can Improve Your Revenue
If you are thinking about different ways to improve your law firm revenue there are three specific options you need to consider.
These options should result in a shift in your law firm marketing strategy.
They are:
- Sell Different Legal Services
- Sell Your Services to Someone Different
- Sell Your Legal Services Differently
Think about each of these options for a minute:
Sell Different Legal Services
I am not advocating that you shift from being a criminal defense lawyer to drafting wills. I am saying that you should consider pursuing some options that are either related to the field of law you enjoy or you decide where your talent lies and align your practice with your talent. So in the example above: If you like computers focus on computer related crime.
Sell Your Services to Someone Different
This is the argument for focusing on niche marketing with your law practice. Having one (or several) target markets and tailoring your marketing to those areas, is a good way to measure results. This will enable you to decide which market is right for your law firm.
Sell Your Legal Services Differently
This is the argument for marketing. And I’m not talking about billboards and bus stop benches. This is the argument for having an excellent follow up system and focusing on marketing to referral sources.
There is one important thing that you must keep in mind as you move forward with a law firm marketing plan: Nothing changes until you change. If you do the same things you have always done you will get the same results you have always gotten.
Law Firm Marketing Strategy: What’s Next?
The biggest difference between owning your own law firm and working for someone else is freedom.
This could mean the freedom to get rich or it could mean the freedom to go broke.
It could mean the freedom to live life on your own terms or it could mean the freedom to be under constant pressure from demanding clients.
Being in your own law firm, a law firm that you own and control means you call the shots. You choose which clients to accept and which to reject. You choose who else (if anyone) gets to work in your law firm. You choose what direction you want your law firm to take.
The part about choosing the direction of your firm is called strategy.
In business school they taught us many different ways to develop a law firm strategic plan. I’ve spent the better part of my career creating strategic plans for companies and law firms. Now I teach lawyers how to do that for themselves. And I can teach you how to boil your business strategy down to two words:
What’s Next?
That two word phrase is all you need to know if you want to develop a sound business strategy for your law firm.
Here’s how this sophisticated strategic planning session works:
First: Decide what you want your law firm to look like when you retire or die. (I say retire in case you want to stop working one day and I say die in case you never want to stop working – either way is fine.)
Next: Take a good, hard, realistic look at your law firm now. Then take a deep breath and promise yourself that you will get to the desired end result.
You now have a goal and you have a starting point.
After you have committed to getting to where you want to go, you need to create the map that will lead you there. So look at your law firm as it is today and ask yourself: “What’s next?”
You will be amazed at the power of this question. These two words keep you focused on the growth and development of your law firm.
The words “what’s next” are about moving forward. They are about not being satisfied with the status quo. They are about operating your law firm in a state of continuous improvement.
Over the course of the next few weeks you will see lots of commercials on television for New Year’s Resolutions. Unfortunately 99% of these resolutions will fall by the wayside before the end of the month of January.
My challenge to you is to make new resolutions each and every single day of the upcoming year. That is the power of having a vision of your future. And that is the power of taking one step each day, no matter how small, to help you get closer to making that vision a reality.
I wish you much success and happiness in this New Year and beyond.
And I ask you now, as we enter 2011: What’s next?
Legal Marketing Strategy: Avoid People Who Don’t Get It
Sometimes legal marketing means weeding out the wrong people as much as it means attracting the right people.
There is one type of person I simply cannot stand. His name is Mr. Don T. Getit.
This guy calls your office and tells you how much his case is worth. He also tells you how to handle the case and why you should give him a discount or take it on contingency or offer a payment plan. If you accept him as a client, he will tell you how to practice law yet he will not comply with anything you ask him to do. Once the matter is over, he will have an outstanding balance with your law firm and when you try to collect, he will file a grievance against you.
This guy is bad news.
In my business this guy is a lawyer. He is spending his last dollar with me, hoping that I have a magical solution for his legal marketing issues. He has no money left over for a marketing budget…actually he cannot even pick up a lunch check…yet he wants me to work some kind of miracle for him.
Even after I teach him 10-15 FREE ways to increase referrals and attract more clients, he complains because he has to take time out of his day to implement them.
Then after he tries some of these methods one time, he complains that they do not work.
I have taken this kind of client. You have taken this kind of client. Sometimes they tell us a compelling story and we get suckered. Sometimes we want to make a little extra money so we lower our guard and take them in. And sometimes our ego gets the better of us and we think that they will change because they want to work with us.
Here is my advice to anyone in any business (especially lawyers) who starts to feel the slight pull of Mr. Don T. Getit on his shirtsleeve….avoid him like the plague.
Life is too short to spend with people who don’t get it.
In Legal Marketing It Is Wrong to Follow The Crowd
When it comes to legal marketing it is (almost) always a bad idea to follow the crowd.
What does this mean?
A personal injury lawyer sees his competition advertising on billboards and on the side of buses throughout the city. He believes this must be the correct way to advertise so he goes out and spends a fortune on the same forms of media his competitors use. The thought being: “If the other guy is doing it, it must work.”
In this example we have two attorneys wasting their money on ineffective advertising.
In reality, the most successful legal marketing strategies are the ones you hardly ever hear about (except here at RainmakerLawyer.com). They are the things few lawyers have thought of doing and even fewer people have taken the time to implement.
One of the mantras I repeat to my clients over and over again is: “If you want average results you should do what everyone else does. If you want exceptional results you must be exceptional.”
The next time you happen to see some form of advertising (like a billboard or a Yellow Pages Ad) and you wonder if it makes sense for your legal marketing, think twice.
Be bold and be different. Try things that nobody else is trying. You might just be surprised at the results.
Legal Marketing and The Slacker Season
This is the time of year when legal marketing can become very discouraging.
Why?
It is tough to get a return phone call from anyone. People are leaving work early so you can’t meet anyone for lunch. Next year’s budget is set but this year’s budget is spent so nobody wants to talk about legal services until after the calendar turns a page.
What are you supposed to do while everyone else is tired, bored and simply refuses to work until the Holiday Break is over?
Here are five things you can do during The Slacker Season to maintain your legal marketing momentum and your productivity.
Plan for the next 3 to 6 months. This time of year is the perfect time to take a few hours and map out your plan for the next three to six months. Shut off the phone. Close the office door and think about where you want to go and how you want to get there.
Set up appointments by sending a letter and following up with a phone call. This is the perfect opportunity to send out a brief letter that says “let’s catch up”. Notice I said a letter and not a card. Everyone is getting holiday cards this time of year. Send a letter on your letterhead to clients and referral sources. Then follow up with a phone call to set an appointment to meet them next month. Leave a voice mail if they don’t answer.
People will be happy to get a date on the calendar next month so they can get their year off to a great start. Send a letter and follow up with a phone call and you will be amazed at the number of appointments you can set.
Handle any tedious office tasks that you have been avoiding. If you have avoided reorganizing your files, now is the time to tackle that task. If you have ignored rearranging the office furniture, do it now. Anything administrative that you have been avoiding, you should handle during the next few days.
Tackle the big project. This is the perfect time to write the white paper you have been putting off. This is an ideal time to develop your presentation to your Bar Association. This is the ideal time to get moving on any big marketing project you have been neglecting because you have been “too busy.” Simply put your head down and get to it.
Go on vacation. Let’s face it, if your clients are not burning up the phone lines because of the time of year, and you’ve gotten all of your administrative work done and you have prepared your marketing initiatives for the next 6 months, then there is only one thing left to do….take some time off. This is the perfect time of year to rest, relax and recharge your batteries. Do it now before you get busy.
The “Slacker Season” can (and should) be the most productive time of year for legal marketing. Use these next few weeks to your advantage. If you do, you will find that your law firm is well prepared and well equipped as the calendar page turns and business picks up.
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.
How Much Time Should Lawyers Spend Marketing?
One of the questions lawyers ask me most often is:
How much time should I spend on law firm marketing?
The answer depends upon any number of factors including your financial resources and available time but I can give you a broad sense for the breakdown in your allocation of your time.
There are three areas where attorneys spend their working time:
Practicing Law: This is what you went to law school to learn to do. This is everything you have trained and prepared for during your entire career.
Handling Administrative Tasks: These are the mundane yet necessary activities you get sucked into on a day-to-day basis. Activities like fixing the computer system, reviewing and verifying invoices, chasing down clients who don’t pay, fall into this category.
Business Owner Activities: Marketing and business strategy fit in here.
Most attorneys who own their law firms spend about 75% of their time practicing law, about 20% of their time handling administrative activities and about 5% of their time being a business owner. While this mix works for people who have an endless stream of business, I know of few attorneys who fall into that category.
A better mix for attorneys who are in a solo practice (or a small law firm) is: 60% practicing law, 10% administrative activity and 30% focus on the business ownership activities that require your attention.
Determining this mix is an imperfect process because each attorney has different goals for his/her law firm. For example: If you want to fully develop the value of your law firm as an asset that you can sell when you retire, the mix should be more like: 30% practicing law, 10% administrative activity and 60% business owner activities.
You action item from this article should be to determine what you want from your law firm. What do you want now? What do you want from it when you retire?
Those goals should dictate how you will spend your time as a law firm owner.
Law Firm Marketing Increases the Value of Your Practice
How Does This End For You?
Have you given any thought to what will happen when you decide to retire?
Even if you have a couple of decades before this becomes a reality, now is the time to think about THE END.
Why?
Because everything you do influences the value of your law firm. This is especially true of your law firm marketing.
Over time, you may accumulate some assets that your law firm will own. Some of these will appreciate and some will depreciate. But the most valuable assets you have are your client database and your business systems. Let’s take a brief look at each of those to see the value they provide.
Business Systems
Ideally, your law firm can (and does) run efficiently whether you are there or not. Everything from client intake to some of the basic services you provide should be automated and scripted so that they can be handled effectively and efficiently without you. On most cases, the input you provide should be limited to development of case strategy and marketing strategy. The execution of the day-to-day tactics (both operational and marketing) should be left to your team. (On cases where clients have specifically asked for you, a premium fee should be charged and you should work the case personally).
These systems not only make the office run smoothly, they also provide you with better quality of life. That is what the attorney who eventually purchases your law firm will pay for. This is a tremendous advantage.
Client Database
Included in your database of past and current clients is your database of referral sources. All of the people in this database are folks who know you, like you and trust you. And they are not shy about sharing your information with people who ask for it.
This is valuable because it provides an ongoing revenue stream for the future owner. In most cases, when an attorney starts a new law practice, they have to start from scratch. In the case of your law firm, someone taking over can simply continue to communicate with the client and referral database and they will enjoy the same stream of referrals you have, for years to come.
Realizing that these two areas provide the most value for your law firm is one thing. Doing something to create and increase value from these areas is something completely different. This involves work. That means:
1). Creating systems that make the day-to-day operation of your law firm foolproof and
2). Developing and nurturing your client/referral source database.
Law firm marketing does not just make things easy for you now; it helps you prepare for the future. You should be building equity so that your life’s work can provide you with a significant return when you are ready to sell.
