Corporations spend billions each year developing creative advertising and marketing campaigns to attract more clients.   They realize creativity is the key to standing out in a saturated marketplace.  So, how do they stand out?  The key is in creativity.  Making their product, marketing materials and physical space “unique” and different on multiple sensory levels.

The good news is you don’t have to spend billions to do this in your own law business.

And yet most lawyers are stuck looking the same as everyone else. Why?

Because most of us:

1. Are analytical/left-brain thinkers who have a hard time jumping into our right-brain/creative side (creativity really is hard for some people); and

2.  Assume everything must be “professional” to earn the respect of a prospect, leaving very little room for creativity and innovation.

Lawyer type of professional is a thing of the past. Today, people associate that old kind of “professional” image with a non-responsive, scary lawyer who takes their money and won’t return phone calls or the attorney who will bill for every email, phone call or correspondence that crosses her desk.

Being creatively professional, on the other hand, helps remove the defenses and stereotypes people have when hiring a lawyer and overcomes the presumption that you’re just like all the other lawyers in town.

With that said, here are the top three ways where a bit of creativity and right-brain thinking can go a long way in attracting clients to your law firm:

1.  Web copy:  If your web copy reads like a CV or a text book, time to hit the delete button and juice up your creative writing skills.  Use your website to tell the story of who you are, why you are different and why your area of law matters so much.  You can even get creative with your writing style! Throw in some bullet points, contractions and folksy language if that’s how you speak.  Use those creative juices to prove you aren’t the stuffy lawyer prospects expect you to be.

2.  Firm Story:  Your firm story (the story you relay to clients about why you practice law, how your business came to be and what makes you different from other lawyers) should be about true life events and epiphanies that are relevant to the person you are speaking with, not a biography of your most notable accomplishments and awards.  Here you’ll creatively use your experiences outside the law to connect to prospects on a much deeper and more meaningful level.  Did you grow up in foster care and now practice family law or estate planning as a result? Integrate that into your firm story!  Did you live through a bankruptcy and now practice business law to help other entrepreneurs avoid the same plight?  Include that too!  The more outside-the-box your story is, the more likely it will stick with your prospects and make an impact.

3.  Your office space:  If you haven’t watched my video on setting up your office space in a way that’s creative, outside the box and prime to attract more clients, do so now by clicking here. Your office says so much about you and plays a huge role in attracting the right type of clients to your firm.  Therefore, you’ll want to get the décor and ambiance just right so your first impression with a prospect won’t be the last.  You can do this even if you use a virtual office space.  Create a basket that you bring in before each client meeting that personalizes the space.

And as always, be sure to email alexis@lawbusinessrevolution.com with your success stories or questions on getting creative in the marketing of your law firm.  Creativity is the key to your client attraction strategy in 2010 so jump out of that left-brain thinking and get started!

I’ve talked a lot about systematizing your processes so you can set your client expectations and turn them into raving fans.  But it’s possible that I haven’t explained precisely why raving fans are the key to your business freedom.  Having raving fans isn’t simply an ego boost (though it does feel good), it makes a huge difference to your bottom line and ultimately the time you have to put into your business.

Here’s a few of the reasons you want raving fans:

1. They insist that all their friends and family use your services.  This saves you huge marketing time, energy and money.

2. They will butt into the conversations of a strangers asking for legal advice to say they must contact you, and only you, because of their incredible experience.  This kind of a referral makes engaging the client a piece of cake for you.

3. They become walking advertisements for months or even YEARS down the road-giving you a greater marketing ROI than any magazine ad or direct response marketing campaign could ever touch.  Plus, they are more likely to use more of your future services, which means more bottom line revenue for your business.

Today, it’s about high-concept, high-touch, relationship-based service.  It’s what’s bringing in the clients and keeps them so they stay, pay and refer.  And that means more happiness for you.

You already know times are tight and that means the same old, same old is simply not going to do it. People have lots of choices among lawyers and will not spend their hard earned money on just anyone.  Revamping your client service process to create a high-concept, high-touch experience without much additional expense will put you light years ahead of the competition struggling to figure out what this shift means-and how to operate under it in their business.

Think about this for a moment.

What do people think of when they think about lawyers?  Non-responsive, dodging phone calls and foot-dragging. They come into the relationship expecting to have to stay on your tail and call your office every couple days to check on their progress. They expect you to treat them poorly.  It’s sad, isn’t it?

Imagine their surprise then when your firm treats them completely differently. Now, you are proactively communicating with your clients. You’re still giving red-carpet treatment-even after you’ve won their business and cashed the check.

That is what creates a raving fan for life of your firm-not to mention, a raving fan who will call you whenever she needs a “trusted advisor” down the road.

So now that you know WHY client service systems (aka the automated process of how things are handled after a client says yes and gives you a check) is so important, I invite you to learn HOW to set up a client service system that works by joining me for a preview call on Thursday, November 19^th at 3 EST / 12 pm PST during which I’ll lay out my Client Service System and what you can learn from it.

I’ll be sending you the registration link on Monday, so be sure to block this date on your calendar and we’ll discuss this in more detail next week!

PS. Here’s an example of what happens when you create raving fans. They send you unsolicited testimonials like this one:

“This past Monday, the day after I listened to the CDs over the weekend, I had a couple of client meetings that resulted in $3k of additional revenue b/c I asked 4 “$1,000 questions” and got yes answers on 3 of them.  So the system paid for itself the day I started using some of the ideas – Pretty cool!”

-Pete Sisson – Boise, Idaho

As we all know, the legal industry was hit particularly hard by the economy. Over 12,000 lawyers and legal staff members lost their jobs, entire firms have shut down and small and solo attorneys are working harder than ever to get new business in the door.

You may be wondering, ‘Is my practice next?” “How long will this last?” “Can I afford to ride out the storm?”

Here’s the good news about the economic shakedown:

I don’t want you to believe a word I’m saying here. I want you to test it out in your own business. I know it works because it’s what turned my law firm into a million dollar business within three years and has my Personal Family Lawyers and private coaching clients doubling and even tripling their income right now by making a few fundamental shifts in the way they do business.

And the really good news is that it doesn’t have to take a whole of time, effort or money to make this shift in your business. But, the return on your investment will be phenomenal.

So what does high concept/high touch look like in your law firm?

Essentially it means creating a WOW experience that appeals to all of your prospect’s or client’s senses, not just their minds.

There’s a new business model emerging as a result and if you are prepared to embrace what client’s really want . . . high concept / high touch and interaction, you will completely differentiate yourself in the marketplace and your business will thrive.

Try some of these out in your practice:

Continue reading Alexis’ guest article on Lawyerist.com……

The holidays are a great time for lawyers to forge a very special bond with prospects, referrals sources and current clients simply by saying THANK YOU and showing gratitude for their loyalty to your firm.

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “GREAT! I’ll just send a quick email to everyone on my list saying Happy Thanksgiving and call it a day”….but I’m going to challenge you to take things up a notch and really get personal this year.

Before you do anything, I want you to really experience the energy of gratitude.  Close your eyes for a moment and bring into your body the immense gratitude you feel for all of the clients who hired you and paid your fees this year.  Let yourself really feel how thankful you are for the food they put on your table, the car payments they made, and everything you were able to enjoy as a result of their choice to work with you over all the other lawyers they could have picked.

From that place of gratitude, come up with a way to uniquely express your thanks.

If you are feeling stuck, here are some of my best suggestions:

* Send a personal email to your clients, referral sources and even your leads and prospects.  From your heart, share how you have been able to make a difference in the world and feel great about what you do thanks to the clients who chose to work with you.  Let people into your life on an emotional level.  If you have an email broadcast service, you can do this automated.  Just make sure it has the capacity to personalize the message with the receiver’s name.  If you don’t have an email broadcast service or a database of client emails, put this on your list of must haves for 2010.

* Send out a voice broadcast.  If you’re not familiar with these, they’re similar to the robocalls you get during election time and I know that sounds weird, but clients really seem to love them! I know quite a few attorneys having great success with this during the holidays and their easy to set up.  I’d set it so it only calls during the day and leaves a message on the voice mail. Also, make sure to listen to it after it’s recorded and that you sound happy and upbeat.

* Drop a card in the mail. Thanksgiving is a great time to send holiday cards so they don’t get lost in the holiday card mess.  For extra impact, write a personal note that speaks specifically to the person you are writing to. At least do this for your best clients and referral sources.

The bottom line is you need to do SOMETHING to express your gratitude this holiday season.  Remember, in this new economy, the little extras go a long way, so take a moment and do something that’s good for your soul and your business.

And to you I say THANK YOU so much for being you and being willing to step outside of the old, outdated way of doing things and into a new vision of what it means to be a lawyer and run a business.

It is my absolute pleasure to serve you and I am so grateful to be able to do it,

The new world of Web 2.0 has made things a bit like the Wild Wild West in terms of law firm marketing.  Everything’s new, there’s no guidelines and quite frankly, it can be a bit scary at times.  I understand.  I was once boggled by the myriad of opportunities too.

But, you must take the time to understand your options.

In today’s world, with more choices than ever, your law firm will never have a steady stream of prospects calling if you are not marketing.  And let’s be honest, marketing can be extremely time consuming, has a steep learning curve and typically requires a lot of expensive trial and error.

Fortunately, once you figure it out, business (and life) becomes much easier.  And when you have the one-two punch of attracting the right prospects and engaging over 80% of the ones that call your office, now you’ve got a real business. [ed note: if you aren't engaging over 80% of the prospects who call your office, you are wasting a whole lot of your time & most of the money you spend on your marketing.]

I can definitely understand the desire to outsource a substantial part of your lead flow.  Who wouldn’t want someone else to handle what is for many of you the most difficult part of your business – getting the phone to ring?

In response, companies have sprung up that claim they will get your phone to ring by leveraging the power of the internet. Not all companies are the same though.  Here’s what you should look for when you are engaging any outside legal marketing company to help with your marketing:
1.  Pay for results only.

Pay-for-results or (pay-per-performance) means you only pay if you get results.  But, not all results are the same.

Beware of the companies promising to get your website to the top of the google or other search engines. That’s not necessarily the results you want or care about.  Sure, they can get you to the top of google for certain keywords, but are those the keywords your prospects are searching for?  What about all the other searches?  And, what happens when people get to your website?  Is your website primed to convert looky-loos into your clients?  If your site is like most lawyer sites I’ve seen, no.

If you are not prepared to make the time and money investment in building a website that converts (we can cover that another day), you may want to look for a company that is going to deliver you qualified contacts.

2.  No long-term contracts.

Look for a provider that doesn’t require you to sign a long-term contract.  If it’s pay-for-results or pay-per-performance, why require a long-term contract?  Either you are getting the contacts or you aren’t.

3.  Screening that benefits you and not the provider.

I’ve heard a rumor that some pay-for-performance companies screen the inquiries and cherry pick the best cases for themselves or their buddies. I understand this is most common in the personal injury arena and can’t confirm it, but watch out for it if you are 1 of 5 or 6 attorneys getting contacts in a specific area.  Look for a company that delivers you ALL of the contacts that come in for your specified area without room for discretion about which of the contacts you get and which you don’t get.

If you use these guidelines before you choose a company to outsource your marketing to, you’ll have very little, if any, risk.

And, while you know I’m a big fan of outsourcing so you can be the lawyer you’ve always wanted to be, don’t rely on outsourced marketing as your only source of leads.  Make pay-per-performance online marketing part of your mix, but be sure you’ve got your own internal systems for becoming THE go to lawyer in your local community as well.

Have you ever read one of my past articles on generating income and thought, “That all sounds nice and good Alexis…but there’s just no way I can [insert opportunity] because I’m not an estate planning attorney?”

If so, you’re not alone!

In fact, I received an email this week from one of our subscribers just like that.  Here is a reprint of the email in part:

Hi Alexis,

Thank you for your consideration.

First, let me get one thing out of the way before I address this subscriber’s specific question-ALL businesses are at their core the same.

Every business owners is in the business of marketing the service that business provides.

So, yes, even though you are a litigator, you can rustle up a speaking engagement and get clients into your office that translate into revenue …fast.

Let’s take a look at how.

As more people lose their jobs, entrepreneurs are taking it as a sign to branch out and start their own businesses.  In fact, small business startup rates are higher than ever-especially when it comes to online ventures.

This subscriber could be putting together a presentation (and even charge for it!) that teaches businesses owners and corporations what they MUST know to avoid being sued and/or what to do if they are sued to keep their legal fees as low as possible.

This presentation could be advertised online nationally or locally in your community.

I guarantee if you market it right, you’d get a great turnout.  How do I know?  Because I’ve created a tele-conference series for business owners who want to put a great foundation beneath their business and over 20 business owners have paid $397 to participate.

Business owners want and need this information.  When you provide it to them, guess who they are going to call when they find themselves in hot water? YOU!  And, how many of the business owners you will be hot water right when you talk to them?  A few.

These potential clients are now be educated on why they need your services and why you are the best person to serve them.

Can you see how this is applicable to every practice area?

The personal injury lawyer can be speaking to accident victims – what to know before settling your accident case with the insurance company. The divorce lawyer – what to know before you file for divorce so you keep as much money as possible and don’t screw up your kids.  The employment lawyer – what every business owner must know to keep from losing tens of thousands of dollars to employees. The business litigation lawyer – what every business owner must know about disputes to keep legal costs down.

These are very basic, simple examples, but here’s what you can see …

Experts hold seminars. Experts get referrals, and the experts get immediate income.You are qualified to be holding seminars, giving presentations and sharing your knowledge because you are an expert in your practice area!

Now it’s just a matter of getting creative, finding the right audience and getting in front of them-which is really a crash course in direct response  marketing 101 (taught through our Law Business Secrets Success Coaching Club) – and has nothing to do with estate planning.

And while I can’t reveal every single detail about securing and converting these speaking engagements into immediate income (that’s a perk for Personal Family Lawyers and Law Business Secrets Success Coaching Club members only!), with a little bit of research and “outside the box” thinking-you too can generate additional income through speaking engagements no matter what type of law you practice!