Law Business Revolution Blog » Living Outside the Box

How Lawyers Screw Themselves and Their Clients

Alexis — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:28:39 +0000

I’ve been having some very interesting conversations with well-known lawyers throughout our industry about the future – where we’re going and what lawyers need to do to be prepared.

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That’s the old, outdated model that will put you out of business.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

What DRIVES You?

Alexis — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:04:06 +0000

Every now and then, I like to move away from teaching about the legal marketing/ law practice aspects of running a small or solo law firm and dive into something that’s rarely talked about in the legal field…which is your mindset.

Because here’s the truth, I can give you all the legal marketing and practice management tips in the world, but if your head isn’t in the right place, you’ll find a way to sabotage your efforts.

Conversely, you can be the worst marketer or business person, but if you have the right mindset, you’ll eventually find success.

Today, I want to talk about DRIVE and how it relates to the success of your life/business right now.

Take a moment and consider the following:

1. What drives me?

2. What is my purpose for being a lawyer?

3. What is my purpose in life?

4. Am I happy?

5. Why did I go to law school?

6. Am I making a difference in the world?

These can be hard questions to look at….especially in times of economic hardship. You may feel driven on pure survival. And you may find yourself enduring gruesome hours and complete misery all in the name of making money.

You may even be compromising your time and sanity by taking legal work that you don’t WANT or LIKE to do-just to get by.

Ultimately though, these actions don’t lead to more money. They lead to burnout, bitterness, depression, addictions and in extreme cases, suicide (which is sadly on the rise for lawyers these days).

There comes a point at which if you’re going to succeed in the business of law….and in the business of life, you need to get very clear on what drives you, why you wanted to practice law in the first place and whether you are really living the life you want.

I recently had a call with Dan Pink, the New York Times best-selling author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, where we discussed this issue as it relates specifically to lawyers and the legal field.

What you may not know about Dan is that he’s got a JD from Yale. But, he never used his law degree to practice because he realized early on that his “drive” and motivation was not to be a lawyer.

Going to law school was, for him, just the next logical step for a bright kid with a top-notch college degree and a lack of clarity about what else to do.

And there’s many lawyers out there who went to law school for the same reason and are now incredibly unhappy in the actual practice of law…..not because they aren’t smart….but they aren’t aligned with that which drives them. (This may even be you.)

Dan also acknowledged there’s another group of lawyers….lawyers like me who went to law school with the DRIVE and purpose to really help people. If that’s you, you’re driven by the idea of making a real difference in the world and using the power of your law degree to some chief and definite aim.

And there’s many of us in this group who have lost sight of that drive. We take jobs in law firms that keep us stuck in the transactional rut or we get so desperate running a small or solo law firm that we take clients and cases that leave us miserable in practice.

If that’s you-I completely understand. I was there. It’s exactly what motivated me to leave the safety of my six-figure paycheck and set out to build my own law firm. And it’s also what motivated me to master the skills and create the systems I now teach in the Personal Family Lawyer Program.

I wanted to make a real difference in my client’s lives and I knew the old, broken business model just didn’t leave enough room for that. Not if I wanted to also enjoy my personal life.

Yes it was scary…..yes there were moments when I questioned my own sanity leaving the big check and investing hundreds of thousands of dollars reinventing the business model….but I had to get aligned with what drives me or face years of unhappiness and little quality time with my kids.

What I can tell you is that when I made the decision to get aligned with what was really important to me in life and my practice, the money, freedom and success ultimately followed.

So take a moment today and think about what drives you.

Why did you go to law school and are you living that desire? A great start is downloading the call I did with Dan Pink and force yourself to identify any disconnect in your own life. I’ll show you how to work through it in the weeks to come.

Why Did You Go to Law School?

5 Key Strategies in Setting Up Your Local Marketing Mastermind Collaborative

Alexis — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:55:44 +0000

So you’ve made the decision to start a local marketing mastermind collaborative with the goal of increasing leads and slashing marketing costs for your law firm. Great!

Now what?

Well for starters, you’ll need to invite a handful of key professionals in town that serve the same target market as you. As we discussed on my no-charge call last week , you’ll need to go outside the box (and probably way outside the list of people you already have in mind!) if you really want to maximize the referral potential that starting a collaborative can bring.

Then once you’ve gathered 4-12 key professionals with the goal of forming a local marketing mastermind collaborative, there are still 5 more key things you must do to ensure the group is set up properly, stays on track and moves forward month to month…rather than becoming a huge drain on your time.

Those steps are as follows:

1. Select a location – You’ll want to immediately choose a location where your group can meet for each “mastermind” session. While your office is an obvious (and doable) choice, you may also want to consider meeting at a restaurant for breakfast or lunch. Your group needs to eat anyway and this allows everyone to maximize their day and kill two birds with one stone.

2. Set up a system for reminding everyone in advance of meetings - Let’s face it…we’re all super busy and sending reminders are key to making sure everyone shows up to your meetings. Ideally, you’ll want to put a system in place so members of your collaborative receive at least one email and one phone call 24-48 hours in advance of each meeting.

3. Create a list-serv to keep in touch – You may want to set up a list serv where your group can talk openly about marketing ideas and other concerns, rather than playing email tag or having to wait until the next meeting to present ideas. Two great (and free) resources for this are Google groups or Yahoo groups .

4. Have an agenda for each meeting – Again, the people in your group are busy and so are you. There’s no time to flounder around trying to decide what you should, and should not cover each time you meet. Instead prepare an agenda in advance so the group can stay on task and move ahead with your marketing goals.

5. Leave time for open communication – While it’s critical to have an agenda and stick to it, you’ll also want to leave time in each meeting for the members to voice their questions, concerns and areas they’re struggling with. You’ll then work through these issues as a group and tweak your marketing strategy accordingly.

Finally, and most importantly, don’t get too attached to your first group of local marketing mastermind collaborative members! I’ve received quite a few emails from attorneys who are afraid to start a collaborative simply because someone else may not be a good fit or not hold up their end of the bargain.

Honestly, things like that will happen, but it’s no big deal! As I explained on my mastermind call and I’ll further teach at our virtual event , if you start with small campaigns, you’ll naturally learn who is… and who isn’t a good fit for the group. You can then make adjustments accordingly until you form a cohesive marketing collaborative that has the ability to tackle more advanced campaigns in the future.

The important thing is that you just get started! Pick your professionals, implement the five steps above and start moving ahead with your local marketing mastermind collaborative plans.

You’ll be thrilled with the results.

A little creativity = a lot more clients!

Alexis — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:26:03 +0000

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!

Want to Boost Business and Your Income Next Year? Say THANK YOU First

Alexis — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:35:02 +0000

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,

What Does Your Office Say About You?

Alexis — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:06:38 +0000

Do your prospects view you as “stuffy”, “slimy”, “cold” or “self-absorbed”?

While you’re probably thinking the answer to that question is a big HECK NO, the subliminal messages you’re sending by way of your office space may say otherwise.

Essentially, if your office space is littered with stuffy law books, grouchy faces and uncomfortable furniture, I can guarantee you are losing potential clients.

Why?

Because people want to see your human side, they want to know they are more than just a number to your firm and they want to feel like family.

And in most cases, a prospect will say YES on the spot to an attorney who makes them feel that way, even if their price is a bit higher than the guy down the street, because it’s so rare.

Fortunately, there is a whole lot you can do to revamp your office space so clients feel right at home upon walking through the door.

To show you what I mean, here’s a video clip of my personal office space which includes some really essential tips in creating a tranquil and home-like setting.

The video is only 7 minutes long and I encourage you to watch it in its entirety if you’re looking for simple and easy steps to immediately bring more paying clients into your firm.

www.personalfamilylawyer.com/officevideo

PS – your office doesn’t have to look just like my office to make people feel at home, just like your house doesn’t look like my house. But, give some thought to how you can take the elements I talk about in the video and adapt them to your personality and style. I’d love to hear what you come up with. Drop me an email back and let me know.

A little creativity = a lot more clients!

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

Alexis — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:09:30 +0000

The doom and gloom news about the economy has you convinced that the reason you are struggling is because of the downturn. And perhaps as a result, you’ve resigned yourself to less income, less profit, and less clients. Don’t do it. It’s not the economy.

Well, it may sort of be the economy (there ARE less clients who need your services, that’s true). There are plenty of people who need you, but today in order to attract them and get them to want to do business with you, you need to provide more.

You don’t need to provide more documents, or more time, or more knowledge. You need to provide more experience.

The people who can afford your services and will be happy to pay your fees are bombarded with marketing messages from lawyers who all look the same.

If you can stand out in the marketplace, you’ve accomplished half the battle.

And when they contact you and you give them a wow experience right away, you’ve accomplished the other half.

The wow experience begins with how your phone is answered.

Today, I want you to call your office (or have a friend do it while you are listening in) and talk to the person answering your phone.

Ask the questions a prospect would ask before making an appointment.

You are likely to be SHOCKED at what you hear.

If you get a sinking feeling in your stomach just reading this or hear that little voice in your head telling you “nah, you don’t need to do that” it’s a good sign that you are avoiding a serious problem because you don’t want to deal with it.

Or, you don’t have anyone answering your phone other than you.

So, here’s what you should do right away.

1.Get someone to answer your phone. This can be a virtual someone and does not have to be an employee.

2. Train your new greeter to answer every phone call with a smile and the following script:

“Welcome to the law firm of {insert name}, this is {insert name}, how can I assist you?”

Now, you are creating a wow experience from the very first time a prospect comes into contact with you.

Next week, I’ll be back with another simple way you can create a wow experience for your prospects and clients that will shift the global down economy into your own personal boon economy by making you so different from everyone else that you become unshoppable!

Step Out of the Box (and Your Practice Area) and Make a Difference

Alexis — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:55:58 +0000

Michael Jackson had a slew of lawyers around him at all times.

Some lawyers handled his business matters, one allegedly drafted a will in 2002, some lawyers worked on his criminal “dream team” during the molestation case, while others took care of his civil matters that surfaced almost daily as he feel deeper into debt.

Yet, as of this writing, it appears no one bothered to step out their traditional “lawyer” box to put all the pieces together and make sure his kids and money were truly protected should something happen to him.

And even if a Will does turn up, what’s important for you to know about all of this is that this happens every single day. Parents die unexpectedly or find themselves unable to care for their kids and there is no documentation to ensure the children end up in the care of people the parents’ would have wanted and that their money gets handled in the way the parents would want.

Every time it happens, it’s an absolutely unnecessary tragedy and this is a great wake up call for all of us as lawyers to understand that we are there to guide our clients holistically, regardless of what they’ve contacted us for.

No matter what type of law you practice – criminal defense, bankruptcy, divorce, employment, business – if you have clients who have children and assets (which of course you do), you need to take a minute and say, “Hey, this is going to seem kind of off topic, but I ask this of all my clients because it’s so often overlooked, have you named legal guardians for your kids, in writing? If not, I can help you with that.”

THAT is how a five minute conversation will make you someone’s lawyer for life. That is how you make sure your client is truly taken care of–and THAT is how you change the world.

I don’t care if you refer them to a local estate planning attorney you have a relationship with, a Personal Family Lawyer or send them to our free site, http://www.kidsprotectionplan.com, but you need to do something instead of letting your clients try to figure out things on their own.

It’s time for us to stop letting families fall through the cracks because our industry has become so specialized. Take a minute and explain to your clients that whether they have $1 or $10 million dollars, as long as they have a child, they need legal planning to protect their family.

If nothing else, you’ll sleep better at night knowing you tried.

PS. Make sure you check out GASSPO as your surfing the web this holiday weekend. It’s a member-only site that has incredible business growth and personal development strategies, resources, opportunities and support from peers, mentors and experts (which happens to include yours truly!) I have arranged a special $100 discount off the GASPPO membership fee just for my personal contacts. If you choose to become a GASPPO member, you must use this coupon code link with the code affgasspo to get the special discount. The discount is valid for 7 DAYS ONLY and will no longer be available after July 7th. Enjoy!

Whether You Like It or Not Doesn’t Matter

Alexis — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:18:23 +0000

I left my job at one of the best law firms in the country because I was disillusioned by what I now know to be the broken business model of law practice. (Back then, I thought there was just something wrong with me.)

The clients came in, form documents were shelled out with a wham bam, thank you ma’am and I never heard from these people again (probably because they were afraid of my hourly fees and avoided calling me at all costs!)

Vowing to change that broken business model and really do something that would make a difference with my law degree and my life, I opened my own firm.

As I spent thousands of dollars on marketing for my new practice, I quickly realized I was wasting my money because I didn’t know how to engage the clients that were making it in to meet with me.

Ultimately, after a huge amount of trial and error, I created a system that resulted in a near 100% engagement rate for me (which has now been tried and tested by HUNDREDS of lawyers, many of whom maintain a 100% engagement rate since using it!)

This system is the Client Engagement System as you all know-and I really don’t need anything special to convince people that it works! The results speak for themselves.

I held a recent call to share my system with lawyers and after giving out boatloads of content on that call, I offered the Client Engagement System at a special sale price with a whole bunch of bonuses, including an implementation program, one-on-one time with me, and a de-briefing session. Many, many smart lawyers decided to make the investment.

Yet, one lawyer sent me a quite interesting email afterwards.

This lawyer compared my marketing to that of an infomercial. She suggested I would sell much more of my system if I, and I quote:

“REALLY look at both how you are marketing this and to whom your marketing is directed, give us credit for being a bit more sophisticated than the average consumer of Sham-wows or Magic Bullets, and make a straight-out pitch at a set price, without all of the manufactured chatty crap? Frankly, I was mightily tempted to hang up less than fifteen minutes into the call, since there was so much unneeded repetition, exposition, and bald pitchman quality. I wanted to scream, “GET TO THE POINT!! STOP WASTING MY TIME!!!!’”

She didn’t hang up fifteen minutes in the call. Here’s what I love most about this email … she not only stayed on the entire call, but she invested in the system. Would she have invested anyway if I had sent a simple email that said here’s how much the system is and why you should get it? Maybe she would have, but I can guarantee most of the others who invested wouldn’t have.

I market the way I do because it works. And while I’m personally a big fan of the infomercial, whether I like my marketing or not doesn’t matter. All that matters is whether it works.

I believe in my product so much that I feel I have a moral obligation to do everything I ethically can to get it into your hands because I know when I do, it will change your life.

I know many, many, many people (especially in our industry) who have great products and services that can really help people. But, because they are not willing to do everything ethical necessary to market their product, drawing the line at what they consider to be “professional”, they are doing a disservice to the people who will never be aware of what they have to offer.

If you truly believe in what you offer, as I do, you will step outside of your comfort zone and utilize marketing that you may not like, but that works. And I can assure you that as you use it and as it works, you’ll start to really love it.

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About the Law Business Revolution

The Law Business Revolution is a legal marketing and training organization focused on helping attorneys attract quality clients, start and manage productive law firms, systematize their businesses and ultimately help lawyers attain more time and greater resources than ever before.

Training through the Law Business Revolution includes (but is not limited to), private and group coaching led by professionals that surpassed the 7-figure mark in their own firms and businesses, client engagement strategies, client attraction strategies, educational, relationship-based marketing techniques designed to get results, lead generation training, campaigns for consumers, referrals and prospects and systematizing a firm to run on autopilot.

Licensed attorneys are welcome to download over $22,500 of free practice building resources courtesy of the Law Business Revolution at http://www.lawbusinessrevolution.com .

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Law Practice Managment Debate: Is 2 Days a Week Really Possible?

Alexis — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:19:40 +0000

In today’s Law Business Secrets newsletter, I’m answering a question that was posted on our Dream Law Business commmunity site. If you are not already a member, join here:
www.DreamLawBusiness.ning.com

Q: I have read your story and I am curious about how you are able to only go into the office two days a week. Does that mean that you only interview potential clients two days a week? or do you have staff members that interview potential clients on your behalf? And if so, are the staff members non-lawyers? — Sharita Blacknell

A: Sharita, this is a great question, one I get often.

I did several things to be able to cut down my schedule so I was only in my office 2 days/week.

The first major thing was changing my mindset.

I used to think I had to be in my office all the time! If I wasn’t there, the work wouldn’t get done, balls would be dropped, clients wouldn’t be served.

That thought kept me tethered to my desk.

So, step 1 was to let go of that idea and realize that, in fact, I had a very competent team around me and if I let go a little bit and let them do their job and make mistakes they’d figure out how to get it all done.

And, they did. When I was there all the time, it was just easier to ask me questions.

So, step 2 was to stop going into my office unless clients were coming in to meet with me.

Then, step 3 was to block my time so that our Client Services Director ONLY scheduled client meetings on one of two days. In my case, Thursdays and Saturdays or Thursdays
and Fridays, depending on my family needs.

(BTW, meeting clients on Saturdays is a great differentiator, especially if you serve families).

The only time I would meet with a client on a non-office day was in a true emergency situation.

So now, I was only going into my office two days a week.

If I wasn’t there, my team had to figure things out.

Sure, they made some mistakes. But, they learned from each one and became a well-oiled machine.

They never would have if I hadn’t gotten out of the way!

Love the questions, keep em coming!

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About the Law Business Revolution

The Law Business Revolution is a law firm marketing and training organization focused on helping attorneys attract quality clients, start and grow productive law firms, systematize their businesses and ultimately help lawyers attain more time and greater resources than ever before.

Licensed attorneys are welcome to download over $22,500 of free practice building resources courtesy of the Law Business Revolution at http://www.lawbusinessrevolution.com .