As I mentioned, NOW is the time for you to be gearing up for the Fall Marketing season that begins in September and runs through November.

This will fill your practice.

Lawyers in our Personal Family Lawyer program are booking new appointments 8 weeks out. Yes, you read that right, 8 weeks and their prospects are thrilled to wait for them.

So, what do you need to do now to fill your practice this fall?

Here’s a list:

1. Line up speaking engagements, at least 6 this fall will fill your practice IF you are speaking intentionally with a strong call to action at the end of your talk.

   We provide presentations to reach divorce lawyers, families with young children, real estate investors and agents, and wealthy/elderly families to our lawyers — let us know if you would like us to help you with speaking to sell your services.

2. Get your marketing campaigns lined up so you are running at least one campaign a month — September is a great month for back to school, October is a great month for Halloween type promotions, and of course giving thanks in November.

   We provide custom marketing campaigns to our lawyers each month. Want to use ours instead of reinventing the wheel? Just hit reply and let us know.

3. Send out your weekly email newsletter and monthly newsletter by mail, stay at the top of the mind of your referral sources and prospects and your schedule will fill up.

   We can create all of this for you, so you can actually get it done and stay focused on serving your clients.

I’d love for you to hit it out of the park and fill your practice this Fall Marketing Season — start planning now and you will be on track to have your phone ringning with hungry prospects all fall long.

Alexis

PS – don’t forget, contact us a support@familywealthmatters.com if we can help you to get your marketing systems set up on auto-pilot so you can be the lawyer you love to be.

Related posts:

1. The Seasons of Marketing and Why They Matter to You
2. Law Firm Marketing Action Plan: How to Get More Referrals in 2010
3. Where clients come from: the birds + the bees of marketing

I’ve also heard a lot of lawyers say things like “it’s the summer” so I am not doing any marketing because no one shows up in the summer.

Or, I’ve also heard …

“Summer is so slow, no one is doing anything in the summer.”

Hm, that may be right for your colleagues, but for many people the world keeps on going throughout every season.

And if you keep your marketing consistent throughout the summer, it will pay off for you big time.

I like to break up the year into 3 marketing seasons -

• Fall Marketing Season (mid-Sept-mid-November)
• Spring Marketing Season (Feb-May)
• Summer Marketing Season (June-August)

When I was in practice I would plan my marketing for each season in the season before.

That means now would be the time to begin planning for the fall marketing season.

In next week’s law business revolution briefing memorandum I’ll share with you how you can plan for the fall marketing season so you stay booked with new business through the whole season and beyond.

Until then … keep building your business.

Alexis

PS — I’m excited to welcome our new Personal Family and Creative Business Lawyers — if you would like all of your marketing done for you so you have a steady stream of business every season, inquire as to when we will open membership again.

Related posts:

1. Plan Now for the Fall Marketing Season
2. 2 for the price of 1 ends today – save thousands!
3. Where clients come from: the birds + the bees of marketing

Today is your last day to join both the Personal Family Lawyer and Creative Business Lawyer programs for one low, low, low investment.

Join us here now:

http://www.PersonalFamilyLawyer.com/order

OR

http://www.CreativeBusinessLawyer.com/order

If you want to join later this week, you can, but you will pay $200 per month more to be a member of both of our programs.

Stay with us just one year and save $2,400 of your membership fees. Stay with us 10 years and that $200/mo savings translates into a $24,000 savings.

And if the program is a fit for you, you will want to stay 10 years because we have created systems and structures for reaching the clients you want to serve that you could not replicate on your own for any less than what we are providing them for.

Plus, they will provide you with a steady flow of clients that just keep on coming, which means you are able to have a sustainable, predictable, consistent source of new business, revenue and cash flow.

Imagine that for a moment, and then join us here now:

http://www.PersonalFamilyLawyer.com/order

OR

http://www.CreativeBusinessLawyer.com/order

If you want to join later this year, you may be able to or you may have to wait until next year (we are not sure when we will open the program again) and you will likely pay hundreds more per month for just one of our programs.

When you join now, you lock in your investment forever. It can never go up, but it can and will go down after you have been a member for a year.

When you join our program, we are confident you will stay in because again, you could not replicate the resources we give you on your own less expensively because of our economies of scale.

(see the results and experiences of a few of our lawyers here)

Marketing campaigns, presentations, and lead-generation resources for reaching families and small business owners, such as books, kits, training programs and more that you would invest tens upon tens of thousands to create on your own.

We give it all to you for one low investment that will only get lower the longer you are with us and the more lawyers we serve over time.

But, it starts with one month – join us now and you are under no commitment to stay for any length of time. (We only want you with us as long as the benefits greatly outweigh the costs of your membership not because we have forced you to stay with a penalty for leaving.)

So join us now here:

http://www.PersonalFamilyLawyer.com/order

OR

http://www.CreativeBusinessLawyer.com/order
And if you have any questions at all or you are not sure if this is right for you, ask us for support by emailing us at support(at)FamilyWealthMatters.com &  letting us know where you are feeling stuck or uncertain. We can help, but you have to ask.

I hope to see you lock in these savings and get on the road to predictable, consistent revenue you can count on using systems your clients will love.

Alexis

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2. Do You Start Every Month Over at Zero?
3. The Law Firm Entrepreneurial Map

In that time, our lawyers have been thriving more than ever.

You can read some of their stories here:
http://lawbusinessrevolution.com/resultsmatter

I’ve spent the past year retooling both programs, making them WAY MORE AFFORDABLE and accessible, and making it so we can help you even more.

And this could be the last time this year we open the programs.

Join us on Thursday to hear all about it:
http://lawbusinessrevolution.com/pflcall

I’ll be taking your questions live on the call so do try to be there live if at all possible.

The other reason you want to be there live, if you can, is because there is so much demand for these programs that we have already had lawyers ask us to hold their spot in the program for them without knowing any of the details.

We now have less than 30 slots available when we open the doors and this email is going out to thousands of lawyers.

So be on the call live. Register here:
http://lawbusinessrevolution.com/pflcall

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3. How Lawyers Screw Themselves and Their Clients

The next thing I knew she and her husband were literally raving about the experience they had with him.

They loved him so much that they immediately pulled out a piece of paper, scribbled all his information out and said call him.

Do your clients do that when they and their friends talk about legal stuff?

They will if you create an experience they can’t help but talk about.

What could you start (or stop) doing in your office to make it so your clients can’t help but tell all their friends and family about you?

Don’t worry if you can’t think of something. I’ll share some of my creativity with you in the next couple of weeks.

But if you do have anything, I’d love to hear about it. Leave me a comment.

PS – this was one of the major secrets to what allowed me to build my firm into a million dollar biz and work just 2 days a week in the office. It can totally happen for you too with some small shifts… stay tuned.

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2. It’s Not the Economy; It’s the Experience

One of our Creative Business Lawyers shared that his revenue is up 65% over last year!

So, what is he doing differently this year than last?

He has a system in place for making offers and getting to yes with the people who respond.

He has a recurring revenue membership model in place that his prospects can say yes to and he is more confident than he has ever been about what he offers.

And he didn’t reinvent the wheel himself trying to do it all alone out of stubborn willfulness.

He released his skepticism and decided to give it a try figuring he did not have much to lose when it came right down to it, but he sure had a lot to lose if he did not turn things around.

Fortunately, he did and now he is on the way to having the practice he has always wanted as a trusted advisor to his clients.

What about you? Is trying to figure it all out yourself keeping you stuck in the same old same old that really isn’t doing it?

Not to worry we have answers coming soon.

Related posts:

1. How Lawyers Screw Themselves and Their Clients
2. How to Be the Indispensable Advisor Your Clients Love
3. Do you get flowers from your clients?

Others told me to just suck it up – I was making a 6-figure paycheck from one of the most “prestigious” firms in town after all.

Everyday, I thank the Universe that I didn’t listen to those people (or my own mind) that said to give up my dream of making a difference in people’s lives, making a great living and trade it all in for security and prestige.

Instead, I hired a coach who helped me see how I could let go of what other people thought and step through my own fear to become the lawyer I had always wanted to be.

Within three short years, my life was completely different.

I had a steady stream of prospects calling and coming into the office, plenty of money coming in and clients who loved what our firm was doing for them.

I was serving people who cared about their families and their businesses. Deeply.

And I was doing it in a way I never could have imagined at the big law firm.

I was reminded of all this the other day when Martha Hartney, one of our Personal Family Lawyers posted on Facebook the following note:

“I’m so in the right business–a client put flower petals in a note to me!”

Yes, that’s what it’s about when you are practicing law in a way that feels great to you and your clients – you are regularly appreciated for what you do and you appreciate what you are doing in the world.

Why would you want to live life any other way? It’s why you went to law school, right?

Stephen O’Neill was in practice for more than 30 years when he tried out our Client Engagement System and after his first meeting using our model for his initial consultation, his clients spontaneously said “this is the best thing we’ve ever done.”

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You have to stop seeing yourself as a litigator or transactional lawyer.  Litigation leaves clients miserable and legal documents on their own are virtually worthless.

When my father-in-law died, after spending a few thousand dollars on a set of estate planning documents with his personal lawyer, I thought that lawyer must have committed malpractice because the documents didn’t work.

Why didn’t they work?

Because the lawyer completed the transaction (legal docs) for my father-in-law and never followed up with my father-in-law to make sure his assets were owned properly or that he’s legal documents stayed up to date with the changes in his life.

Divorce lawyers finalize their client’s divorces and never make sure their estate planning documents are updated.

Business lawyers put in place LLCs and S-Corporations and never make sure share certificates are issued, agreements are put in place with vendors or team members, or that the client has the right insurance in place.

Are we really helping our clients when we see them as a transaction, a case, or a matter?

No, we aren’t offering anything more than our clients would get if they went online.

So my question for you is what will you do when they realize they don’t need you?  Or has it already begun?

Please don’t tell me that you’ll deal with this by decreasing your costs and becoming a virtual law office providing unbundled legal services as seems to be the trend these days – that’s a recipe for failure unless you do it so that you are creating a killer experience for your clients that they cannot simply replicate by going online and doing it themselves.

So many lawyers are trying to compete with online companies providing “buy them as you need them” document preparation services.  But unbundled legal services, deep discounts and doing nothing but turning out reams of paper do nothing to build relationships with your clients.

It’s a one shot deal at best and doesn’t provide an ongoing revenue stream for your business.  That’s a recipe for misery and a Going Out Of Business sign (as many law businesses, even large ones, are learning).

As I learned in building my own practice to more than $1 million in revenue, the best way to keep your clients coming to you (and referring their friends and family) are to follow these 5 tips:

1.    Give away the legal documents for free. Yes, free. You’re not selling the paper – you’re selling the client YOU, your energy, your counsel, your advice.  Clients call lawyers because they need help. They want you to take care of them, to love them, to make it easy for them.  The documents are merely the by-product of the relationship.

2.    Give away free legal documents on your website to generate leads you can then build a relationship with and convert into lifetime counseling clients. As an example, we do this at http://www.KidsProtectionPlan.com where we let people name guardians for their kids for free because we know that many of those people will need a fully counseled estate plan once we develop a relationship with them.

3.    Narrow your niche.  Stop trying to serve everyone who calls or walks in your door.  It devalues your service and who you are.  Decide who you love to serve and who you do your best work for and build your business around deeply serving these most perfect clients.

4.    Create a billing structure that encourages your clients to communicate with you without fear of the cost. Most of the time, clients don’t want to talk to you because they know they’ll get a big fat bill at the end of the month.  This can keep them from telling you about significant changes in their lives or businesses.

5.    Learn to love your clients again.  Stop seeing them as cases, transactions, and matters and return to the reason you went to law school.  Connect at a heart level, whether you do it virtually or in-person.  In this new economy, it’s the only path to your success.

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3. Love, Sweet Love for Lawyers

I’ll be interviewing several of them who I believe have the answers for you as part of a telesummit I’m hosting in September.

In the meantime, I want to make sure you don’t have to wait to see how you may be putting yourself and your clients at risk so you can do something about it now.

If you are still seeing yourself as a transactional lawyer or a litigator, you are likely screwing yourself and your clients.

You are neither of these things and it’s time to stop thinking of yourself in this way.

If you see yourself as a litigator, every case that comes in is ripe for litigation.  That is NOT what is best for your clients.

In some cases, litigation may be appropriate, but in my experience litigation almost always means that even if someone wins, they lose.

If you see yourself as a transactional lawyer, you probably don’t have any sort of a real relationship with your clients. They are a transaction, a matter, a one and done.

That’s the old, outdated model that will put you out of business.

It incentives conflict escalation and a constant focus on the next new retainer.

It’s time for lawyers to begin seeing their clients not as cases or transactions or matters, but as people with a lifetime of issues they need resolved.

It’s time for you to become the trusted advisor for your clients – the person they turn to for objective guidance about hard decisions in their lives and businesses.

To do this, you need to start seeing yourself differently and help your clients do the same.

When you successfully make this transition from transactional lawyer/litigator to counselor, you will stop leaving money on the table and start knowing  you are really making a difference for your clients.

Isn’t that what you really want?

It’s certainly what your clients want and it’s only a  matter of time before they no longer need you.

Are you ready to really do it?  More to come soon.

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1. How to Be the Indispensable Advisor Your Clients Love
2. If you need more clients…
3. A little creativity = a lot more clients!

In the beginning of your business, you are pretty much entirely focused on revenue because you are already spending as little as you possibly can.

Once you’ve got revenue going, you’ll start to notice that your expenses slowly start to creep up.

And it might feel like for every dollar of revenue you bring in, you add another two dollars of expenses.

That is not a winning proposition.

So, today I’m going to share with you three sure-fire ways to increase your revenue without adding any more overhead.

Way #1: Engage More Prospects

One of your biggest expenses is very likely to be marketing.  You are either spending a lot of money on it or a lot of time on it or both.  If you are marketing and not engaging at least 75% of the prospects calling your office, you are losing a whole lot of profit because getting your phone to ring is where all the cost is.

You’ll increase your revenue without increasing overhead if you just start hearing yes from more prospects.

Way #2:  Offer More (Expensive) Services to Your Clients

You can add more revenue to your office without adding any additional overhead by offering those clients who do say yes additional complementary services.

I did this with the Kids Protection Plan  – adding a more comprehensive form of planning for parents with minor children at home added $1,000 to my fees.

And then I found other services I could provide that my clients wanted and were happy to pay me for.

Once I figured this out, I was collecting an additional $1,000-$3,000 on each engagement with no additional overhead.

Way #3:  Get More Referrals

Every time one of my clients sent me a client, I was increasing my revenue without adding any overhead.

So, I built systems into my office that resulted in more referrals.

I always made sure my clients knew how valuable referrals were to me because I worked that into my client engagement process.  I developed a system in which I could comfortably ask for the referral without feeling strange.  And I was always publicly thankful for all referrals – whether they turned into clients or not – by acknowledging the referrer with thanks in my monthly newsletter.

Try one or all three of these and let me know how much additional revenue you make without increasing your overhead.

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