When it Comes to Marketing Most Small Law Firms and Attorneys Don’t Get It
You’ve read about it on this website for a while now. But you still don’t believe it.
A law firm is a business.
And the key to business success is developing a set of systems and processes that will attract new clients.
Developing and deploying these systems is called marketing.
Aggressive marketing is the key to the success of a small law firm.
So this begs the question:
Why don’t most small law firms and solo attorneys focus on developing a marketing plan and building marketing systems that execute that plan automatically?
The answer may surprise you.
There are three main reasons why most attorneys don’t focus on marketing.
1.) They don’t truly recognize the need to deploy consistent, disciplined marketing. Attorneys are not required to study marketing in law school. In fact, a good deal of time and effort is put into what an attorney can’t say in his/her marketing. This helps condition new attorneys to avoid marketing as much as possible.
2.) Attorneys don’t know how to build a solid marketing machine. Traditional product businesses have a difficult time in developing and executing a solid marketing plan. The complexity of a professional services business – particularly a law firm – can greatly increase the degree of difficulty involved in marketing. Attorneys often choose to avoid this difficult and complex task. This is a huge mistake.
3.) Lawyers are not “wired” to develop marketing tools, systems and campaigns. Attorneys are typically analytical, logical, deductive thinkers. This is the exact opposite of the way most people (non-lawyers) make decisions. In order to market and sell your services to your clients, you have to be able to get inside their heads and speak to them in a language they understand. Attorneys have a difficult time doing that because of the way they are “wired”. The very thing that makes them good lawyers is what most often makes them terrible at building a marketing system.
Here’s how smart attorneys and smart small law firms overcome these challenges:
Successful attorneys realize that attracting clients requires as much effort and focus as servicing them. They make marketing a priority. They realize that “selling” themselves, their firm and their services to clients is not only necessary, it is essential to their success. In fact, successful attorneys take it beyond simply recognizing that marketing is important. They make attracting new clients the top priority of their firm. Once a law firm takes this mindset, everything else comes into focus.
Get this through your incredibly intelligent, thick head: If there are no clients, it doesn’t matter how good you are at drafting documents or arguing a case. You can be brilliant. You can be an expert. You can be the one source of expertise on a particular topic. But if you have no clients, it doesn’t matter.
Successful attorneys focus on sales and marketing.
Once you agree that marketing is important, you may find that you don’t have as much time to dedicate to it as is necessary. This is the reason successful attorneys build several different marketing systems that help them attract clients automatically. That’s correct. Automatically.
Once these systems are set up, they pull in qualified clients at a rapid pace. This allows the attorney to chose who he/she wants to work with. Good marketing systems eliminate desperation from the client attraction process. Once you attract potential clients who are a good fit for your firm, you can be selective.
Finally, smart attorneys look for assistance when it comes to building a marketing machine. You know the law. You are probably an expert in a specific area of the law.
And you probably don’t fix your own car or cut your own hair. So why would you try to figure out how to get the maximum number of clients possible – on your own? If you truly want to be able to pick and choose your clients, you need to work with a marketing expert.
A marketing expert can help you focus on your niche, command a fee premium and effortlessly draw new potential clients to your firm.
More and more attorneys are focusing on sales and marketing. This may have seemed like a competitive advantage at one time but now it is a point of entry into the market. If you hope to one day be financially independent, you need to focus on marketing.
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