Position Yourself for Marketing Greatness
Were you born to be a marketing rock star? When you were in law school, were you thinking “I can’t wait to market myself as a lawyer?”
Chances are no to both of those questions. Guess we could say that marketing is still one of the little dirty secrets to some lawyers when they realize that the best passage to career fulfillment, independence and financial security is to develop their own clients.
Whether or not someone requires a certain number of “marketing” hours from you a month or if you are expressly advised not to worry about getting your own clients, remember you read it here first: if you are in private practice, you are in business for yourself. You are your business, simply speaking.
Remember, rainmakers are not born, but rather trained. Not everyone has the charisma nor is as comfortable as Ed Rendell to work a room but devoting necessary time and energy to determining what activities will be effective for you is an important part of investing in your career.
Learning to promote your practice early on will help you make a lasting impression, develop long-lasting relationships and build a solid book of business. Craft your marketing style to ensure you get noticed and stay top of mind for clients, prospects and fellow attorneys.
Begin with a solid strategic marketing plan, take massive amounts of action over a prolonged period of time and always remember:
To be successful, consistently provide high quality legal work and superior service to clients and partners of the firm. Ask your clients and colleagues how you’re doing from time to time.
Clients always come first. Develop a helpful spirit towards them and remember, it’s not about you.
Take concrete steps to build long-lasting relationships. Give careful thought to how you can do that.
Develop a plan and follow through. The first step to promoting your practice is to write down your goals and objectives on paper. Create a business development plan that is tailored to fit your individual style – not your neighbor’s. Write down realistic steps you can take to support your overall goals.
For example, if your goal is to build a reputation as a maritime lawyer, you need to find ways to get in front of those individuals who are in a position to retain you for those services. Several useful marketing tactics may be: 1. Research local maritime professional associations and attend a meeting (before you join) to gain a sense of who attends and the substance of their programming. 2. Research media vehicles in which to author articles/blog posts, etc. to demonstrate your expertise in this special niche practice. 3. Get connected via social media with others associated with everything marine. See how this works?
Identify a goal
Develop specific action steps to support your achieving the goals.
In case no one has tipped you off, there is NO magic bullet for building a prosperous practice. Here’s the simple secret: Once you have identified your overall goal(s), developed specific action steps to support achieving your goals then you must (here it comes) devote consistent, persistent massive amount of action over a prolonged period of time to realize marketing success (i.e. clients). THAT’S the SECRET!
Are You Falling Down on Following Up?
Of all the marketing initiatives that are critical for lawyers to commit to, the most basic and seemingly obvious is the “sin” of omission – - the failure to follow up.
We have worked with lawyers who have spent innumerable hours and thousands of dollars chasing after new clients and prospects but have largely been unsuccessful in retentions because of a gap in their business development process: following up.
Do any of these example ring familiar:
• A very sociable corporate partner attended numerous networking events a month, engaged easily with others attending, handed out business cards, but rarely received calls or new clients as a result. Because of her frustration, she curtailed her networking activities and short-circuited this important business development action step.
• A New York labor and employment boutique law firm hosted an annual educational program which featured leaders in the field and attracted high level CFOs and HR professionals to the event. They received high marks on all aspects of the events but few, if any, calls from prospects. Members of the disappointed team deemed the effort a “failure” and asserted that seminars don’t “work” to get new clients.
• The managing partner of a Connecticut firm received a referral from a trusted client who was searching for new counsel in this attorney’s “sweet spot” of legal practice. The partner attended a prospective client interview in which he thoroughly espoused all the ways his firm could save this prospect’s firm significant amounts of money, given the specific legal issues at stake. Day after day, the managing partner didn’t receive a call or email to discuss retention and getting started. Why did this prospect waste his time was the only thought the frustrated managing partner ruminated upon.
While each of these examples highlight effective marketing initiatives (targeted networking; educational seminars; in-person client interviews), they all share the same flawed result: lack of follow up and planning.
A Follow-Up Re-Do
As part of the business development process, lawyers must recognize and integrate into their “SOP” (standard operating procedures), action steps that extend beyond “showing up.” By leaving out the planning and following up components, lawyers are short circuiting the process, leaving money on the table, and becoming more cynical that marketing actually “works”, however one defines that.
To examine the first example above, the more effective steps of action would have been:
• Request an event registration list so that the lawyer could have identified several targeted folks “of interest” to seek out and engage. It would be very effective to gather some background information (a quick Google search) about the target companies to make conversations more meaningful.
• With a little research in hand, the lawyer arrives to the networking event with a plan of who she plans to engage, who she intends to connect, and how she will spend the next several hours. This is work, not an opportunity to have a few free drinks and yuk it up with firm colleagues whom she sees every day.
• Practicing effective networking techniques, this sociable lawyer knows that it is essential to be more “interested” than “interesting”, so she exercises active listening techniques by asking open-ended questions of her networking partners to learn more about their businesses and challenges. From this, she receives a number of “high impact” business cards which she will use to follow up after the event.
The steps described above take very little investment of time, but will yield a very different experience which can lead directly to a new client retention or, at minimum, a new business connection for referrals.
Contrasting the legal profession with corporate America in developing new business, one only has to examine the models of each. Corporate America devotes billions of dollars every year to “sales and marketing”, to the process of cultivating and nurturing new prospect relationships leading to a “sale”. The typical sales process may involve innumerable “follow ups” before a sale is actually consummated.
The legal profession historically has played a reactive role wherein new clients (new sales) seek out the law firm to engage them. It is unwise in these ultra competitive times and a poor business model to continue this practice. If lawyers are the ones seeking new business or even additional work from existing clients, the obligation falls upon them to pursue it and continue to make contacts until they are directed otherwise. (Remember, studies show that it takes at least 7-10 “touches” to become top-of-mind with clients and prospects).
Difference Faces of Follow Up
Though follow up can take many different approaches, the overall non-negotiable component involves any action step which provokes the other party (existing client, prospect, etc.) to want to continue contact with you. You are focused on cultivating and nurturing a relationships which will ultimately be mutually beneficial and add value.
A few examples of effective follow up include:
• Brief thank you emails following an event (networking, educational programs, or entertainment).
• Handwritten notes of congratulations for personal or business accomplishments.
• Links to a relevant news article in which your contact would benefit.
• Personal visits to a client’s work site to deliver a work product.
• Invitations to social events, professional organization programs, or business workshops.
The more lawyers engage in marketing initiatives, the most important task to remember is to plan appropriately before taking any action what the follow-up steps will be, who will take them, and in what time frame. Treat this component of the business development process as you would a client obligation and coordinate your calendar with all parties involved. It is in this step that the revenue will be found, the meaningful business relationships will be established and robust practices will be built.
8 Steps to a Prosperous Small Firm Practice
The year is young and possibilities abound to make 2012 your most prosperous year ever. Having worked with many law firms and hundreds of lawyers over two decades, we have witnessed some common threads of what makes a prosperous firm as compared to those who sputter along, often in despair of not reaching their professional (or worse, financial) goals.
There are many effective business development and marketing steps lawyers can take to have a successful practice, regardless of the size of your firm. Considering the fact that lawyers in smaller firms presumably have fewer resources to bring into play, below are a few solid ideas that will help.
The reality is that financing a marketing program does not need to be a deterrent in small law firm marketing provided that laser-focused strategic marketing planning is in place. You can bootstrap a law practice similar to the way an entrepreneur bootstraps any other start-up. The real key is bringing focus and clarity to your marketing goals followed by precision execution over and again.
1. Quality Work is the Cost of Admission, At All Times. With all the competition biting at your heels, delivering the highest quality work product all the times is a non-negotiable requirement to build a formidable reputation and referrals from clients and other attorneys. Don’t shy away from taking CLEs in complimentary areas of law to broaden your knowledge base to serve clients better.
2. Focus on Your Natural Network. Each of us has a network of people we know, like, and trust (to varying degrees). Leverage this network in all ways possible. Get and stay in touch with everyone — your friends, relatives, business associates, and professional contacts –past and present. Let them know that what you are up to, how you provide value to your clients, and effectively articulate that you actively seek referrals.
Ideally, you want to strengthen the network you presently have and focus on aggressively expanding it to include a broad range of individuals who can ultimately refer business to you. It has never been easier (and more economical) than it is today to convert your network to an active sales force for your practice with all the technological tools (e-blasts; social media updates; blogs, etc.) available to maintain contact with a mass email distribution list.
3. Become the “Go-To” Resource for your Clients. Educate clients to send any legal work your way whether or not you ultimately handle it for them. With your growing network, you are more than happy to make a referral but want to condition your contacts to think of you first. Turn your clients into fans by not charging for incidentals, short phone calls or quick emails.
4. Get and Stay in Touch with Target Audiences. It cannot be overstated the value of building “top-of-mind” awareness among your key target audiences – - existing clients, referral sources, and qualified prospects. There are many ways to accomplish this but one very effective way is to create an online e-communications program. Aligning with the axiom that it takes 7-10 “touches” per year to build top-of-mind awareness, sending out a regular, periodic e-blast on topics of interest to your constituents can be a very effective way to stay in front of them. This is an art, not a science and requires a strategic approach which can pay impressive dividends.
5. Seize All Opportunities for Free Media. Every day, there are news items appearing across all media platforms that fall into your area of expertise. Familiarize yourself with those reporters who write on topics about which you have (or are developing) an expertise and reach out to offer expert commentary on these topics. A news story without a quote is not a true news story. To go further, email a press release every month to the local editors and reporters who cover relevant stories. Given the present publishing industry, reporters have fewer resources than ever and are delighted to develop reliable news sources. Become one to them and watch how your reputation grows for no out-of-pocket expenditure.
6. Write, Write, and Write Even More. A very effective way to get in front of your target market is to pitch articles to publications (including blogs) that target your niche. Trade magazines are always looking for good content, and they include a byline with your name and contact information. Publishing has never been easier and opportunities more available given all the venues, particularly online. The key is to find the targeted publications that your clients and targets are reading, and be there consistently.
While this business development initiative may not produce immediate results (although it been known to), it will have a cumulative effect if prospective clients continue to see your name and information. One of the inherent values of publishing is the “re-purposing” value of investing your time once to write the article then placing it in a variety of media venues, using the published article as a marketing tool to send about to clients and other key influencers, and including the published article on your website.
7. Speak Engagements. There are hundreds of trade associations in every market niche. Many have local chapters while others sponsor an annual event. One of the highest impact initiatives you can take is to speak in front of an audience full of qualified prospects, those in need of your services. Compile an impressive press kit and send it along with a letter offering to speak at upcoming meetings and events. Increase the promotional value by including not only your current bio with headshot but article reprints which demonstrate your expertise in the respective area. It doesn’t get much better than this to cultivate contacts with prospects.
8. Follow Up, Execute, Repeat. None of the high impact and economical marketing tactics outlined above will “work” to grow your practice if there is not consistent, persistent follow up and execution. As I repeatedly emphasize to clients, it is better to execute consistently on a few strategic initiatives than to over commit and fall short in the execution. Evaluate your time management skills, assess your delegation skills, and schedule “conferences” with yourself to ensure deadlines and commitments are met, just like you do with client work. In the long term, what is more important than investing in your own practice? Keep that in your sights and a prosperous 2012 will be yours.
