One of my guest posts for Solo Practice University discussed the upcoming mobile revolution. By 2015 it is anticipated that most users will access the Internet via mobile first. Is your site one of those that require people to squint and pinch?
Read the post here.
Referrals are the life-blood of any professional practice. A recent article from Entrepreneur discusses how you can put your customers to work for you. One of the best ways to get more referrals is the old-fashioned handwritten thank you note. It’s so rare these days that a simple note can definitely set you apart from the crowd.
What are ways you reward clients who refer you business?
I read an interesting article from the ABA’s Litigation News Section entitled Using Social Networking Sites to Connect to Clients, Lawyers and Others. What struck me about the article was about how online marketing really isn’t any different than other forms of marketing. As the article says, you get what you put into it. There some great observations from Kevin Quinley and Dan Kohane in the article.
Quinley likens marketing to planting seeds; some will fail, but some will grow, and persistence and dedication are vital to success. Kohane describes some lawyer marketing attempts as shooting off a flare that is bright, but fades and is forgotten. Both see online social networking as a valuable tool to increase visibility, but only if the litigator takes the time to use it and keep up with it. Quinley recommends at least five minutes a week to keep the content and tools timely and sharp. Kohane says he spends some time each day checking to keep his online effort current. Both said independently of the other that those who make a consistent effort project to others that they are the type of professional with whom others want to associate.
In my experience, many lawyers and other professionals set up Web sites, blogs, LinkedIn profiles, Twitter profiles and Facebook accounts without long-term game plan. In today’s crowded social media marketplace, business will not come just because you have have the technology. Consistency is more important than quantity when it comes to posts. You also must get engaged and interact with individuals in your target market. Spitting out information isn’t likely to get you far.
Whether it’s social media or using tools such as NotifyWorks, it’s critical to be patient, consistent and to consider your marketing and networking efforts a marathon rather than a sprint.
I am enjoying the opportunity to write posts as a guest columnist for Solo Practice University. Solo Practice University is the brainchild of Susan Cartier Liebel who built the site to educate solo practitioners and allow them to connect and network with one another. The courses are varied and include instructors that are at the top of their legal practice areas nationally.
My last post: The Art of the Elevator Pitch
For more information on this great resource for solo practitioners click: Solo Practice University
Do clients hire law firms or lawyers? It’s my opinion that clients generally hire lawyers and not law firms. Experience legal marketers like Tom Kane apparently agree. There may be exceptions where law firms have done such a terrific job of marketing the organization, but I’d argue those law firms are few and far between. It’s the individual lawyers who usually bring in the business.
So if it’s true that clients hire lawyers and not law firms, how can you make sure you’re not missing the boat when it comes to your individual marketing efforts? A good first step for any lawyer is to consider your own individual Web site. If you are the member of a law firm, large or small, chances are your personal presence, the means by which potential clients might reach you, is relegated to an “Attorneys” page removed from the home page of the site and populated by the other attorneys in your firm. For example, the Brick Gentry Law Firm site has elaborate bio pages, but to find my bio, and my field of legal practice, you will need to click-through at least two times after landing on the site’s home page. This of course presumes the prospective client knows they are looking for me. If prospects come to the site, the rain may fall within the firm, but not necessarily on my desk.
Conversely, at my legal blog (Rush on Business), there is little confusion as to who to contact for a prospective client’s business law needs. And, if you were to Google “Iowa Business Lawyer”, you would find my blog at or near the very top of the Google organic searches on Page 1. Lawyers without an individual web presence are very unlikely to achieve such results.
Further, I strongly believe lawyers need to have individual client retention plans. This can be achieved through newsletters, seminars, periodic check-ins or through programs such as NotifyWorks. Studies have shown that it costs about five times as much to obtain a new client than it does to get additional work from existing clients. Yet, I’d argue that most lawyers I know spend nearly all their time on trying to acquire new clients rather than enhancing and strengthening the relationships with clients they already have.
So, what do you think? Do clients hire law firms or lawyers? And if your answer is “lawyers”, what are you doing individually to increase the chances that rain will fall on your desk and that you’ll keep those clients for years to come?
There’s a great blog post on What About Paris? on client service and how litigators can help their clients improve even in the midst of litigation. The posts says there are opportunities for lawyers who are serious about service:
In many business litigations your firm has opportunities to isolate and bring to the client’s attention “areas for improvement” highlighted in litigation. Your trial lawyers make mental notes about how lawsuits either arise or are made complicated and expensive by conditions, procedures or documents which need corrective action at the client’s shop.
These defects usually lurk unnoticed in day-to-day business practices, often obvious to the client’s rank and file employees. It could be: a confusing employee handbook, a potentially faulty environmental storage practice, ambiguous language in a surety or insurance document, and even a culture or specific office location of the client which which seems ripe for workplace discrimination claims.
Fixing client problems in the middle of litigation is good business. It’s a terrific opportunity for litigators to cross-sell the business, employment and other lawyers in the firm to new clients. It may be a little dangerous though if the client is long-standing and the other lawyers in the firm have not caught the systemic problems that caused the litigation. In that instance, if the litigation lawyer is not the responsible lawyer for the client, I’d suggest the litigation lawyer talk with the responsible lawyer first before suggesting fixes on the systemic issues. You don’t want a partner surprised by a client who says, “Why didn’t you tell me …”
Overall, the post emphasizes that service isn’t a part-time thing, it’s an all the time thing. Look beyond the task at hand to see if you can deliver more for the client and let them know you are truly in their corner.
Image via Wikipedia
Marketing expert Drew McLellan has a good blog post on why you cannot ignore Google+ for your business. Like Drew points out, I was one of those who initially resisted Google+ because it would be yet another social network to maintain. However, in the short time I’ve been active on Google+, I’ve found it to be easy to use and more beneficial since there is not nearly as much information clutter (so far).
With the changes in the way Google is changing its search, Drew appropriately asks,
Who do you think will get a higher search result – a business with or without Google+ content?
Law firm social media consultant Adrian Dayton shared the opposite view just a few months ago when he wrote a post that lawyers could ignore Google+. Of course a lot has changed in three months so I wonder if he would share the same view now?
I like this post from Kevin O’Keefe on whether lawyers should use Google+ in response to Dayton’s post. Kevin points out a couple of key things. First, the early non-lawyer adopters of these social networks are generally innovators and influencers in their industries. It’s good for lawyers to network with these types of people. Second, who cares if lots of lawyers aren’t using Google+? My experience tells me it isn’t bad to be one of the innovators yourself. Besides would you rather be one of a few lawyers at the party or one of many? Quit getting hung up on whether other lawyers are doing it. There’s likely even more opportunity for you if they’re not.
In reviewing commercial lease terms with a client this week she asked me what she needed to do if she wanted to renew her lease before the end of the lease term. I explained the lease provisions which required written notice to the Landlord 120 days in advance of the lease expiration. She expressed the hope that she would not forget to renew the lease. She’s a new doctor but hopes to have a thriving medical practice by the end of the lease term. The last thing she wants to worry about are lease terms.
And that’s exactly why we created NotifyWorks. Clients forget. They’re busy. They don’t pay attention to deadlines. But that creates opportunity. Most lawyers don’t notify their clients of deadlines like lease renewals. All I need to do is set up a notification from the NotifyWorks library (I am guessing it may take me about a minute) and I’ll be able to automatically notify the client before the notice period that she needs to renew her lease. I’ll probably set up a couple of dates in advance so she has plenty of notice and ask her to contact me in the event there is anything we need to address in the renewal period.
I know the client will appreciate it and it won’t take nearly any time out of day to do this, especially given that my assistant will actually enter the notifications for me. With NotifyWorks it’s not hard to show clients that you care!
Legal management consultant John Olmstead has an insightful blog post on Obtaining Additional Work from Existing Clients. There are definitely some great lessons in the post about how law firms need to make their existing clients aware of all the services they provide, including who provides it in the firm and how well they provide it. Many law firms neglect to cross-sell their services and lose out on potential business from clients.
But the number one thing that struck me from his post is that it takes FIVE TIMES as much dollars and time investment to secure a new client than it does to get more business from existing clients. FIVE TIMES!
In almost every law firm it appears as though the majority of the marketing dollars and time investment are directed towards securing new clients. Isn’t it time to pay closer attention to your existing clients?
I read a great blog post from Susan Cartier Liebel of Solo Practice University asking Will 2012 Be the Year of the Legal Entrepreneur? The post discusses the fact that by 2019 it is estimated that 40% of Americans will be self-employed. But lawyers already exceed that amount at approximately 50%. So if the self-employed lawyer numbers increase at the same rate as the general public, nearly 70% of lawyers will be self-employed within the next seven years!
Susan says it’s time to ask yourself lawyers: Are you an entrepreneur?
The post discusses many traits of entrepreneurs but one notion really stands out according to Susan:
However, another “type” of intelligence is even more important to the outcome of an entrepreneurial venture. Some blend of critical analytical thinking, creativity, and practical implementation of ideas, which psychologists often refer to as “successful intelligence” can also predict outcomes such as business growth rate. Entrepreneurs with higher levels of successful intelligence are likely to be better positioned to navigate the environment they are in — an environment often characterized by urgency, uncertainty, insufficient resources and rapid change.
I believe many lawyers have the “successful intelligence” to become an entrepreneur. Which is good because I also believe lawyers will be forced to become entrepreneurial in their thinking or risk extinction. We face challenges like never before. In an age where millions of would be clients have chosen document filing companies like LegalZoom to complete and file legal documents, it is incumbent upon lawyers that we think past the traditional ways of delivering and marketing legal services. Often, that means automation and use of technologies, but it’s more than that. It’s using automation and technologies along with your personal touch and judgment that delivers value to a client in ways that make you more valuable to them than ever before. Clients don’t need a machine that just spits out more documents at a low cost. What they pay for is our judgment, experience and knowledge. But if you can’t get and retain clients, all that judgment, experience and knowledge will go for not.
A great example of this entrepreneurial thinking is demonstrated by lawyer Jason Stone of the Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines. (Read here for a post on Jason and his firm’s Startup Launchpad). His law firm has looked beyond the traditional way of delivering corporate legal services to start up businesses. It’s one of our Iowa’s largest law firms, yet they have recognized the need to become entrepreneurial.
So what ways can you be more entrepreneurial this year to improve your practice?
