After working through Jack’s marketing message we were ready to get into some of the more tactical marketing decisions.  The first step would be to create some marketing materials - we called them Client Attraction Tools.

Jack had decided to focus on divorce and family law.  So, we were going to create the following tools for his practice:

1. A divorce blog;
2. A “prospect kit” to send to prospective clients; and
3. An audio CD called The Alabama Guide to Divorce.

The prospect kit would, among other things, include the following items:

• the audio CD - this would be in interview format where he would address common questions that his prospects have;
• a booklet of client testimonials (which under his jurisdictional rules would have to be first submitted for review to the State Bar);
• his bio;
• a sheet on his value pricing model and why that is superior to an hourly billing model;
• an article he had written that was published in the local paper;
• an article he and I wrote on 9 Questions to Ask the Lawyer Before You Retain Him; and
• a personalized cover letter thanking for them for contacting the firm and inviting them to contact the office to schedule an appointment (if they had already scheduled the appointment, the letter would instead remind them of the appointment time).

On the blog (and other lead generation marketing efforts) prospective clients would be offered the Audio Guide for free.  When they request it, the entire prospect kit will be sent to them.

It would take us several weeks to put this together.  The most time consuming process would be gathering the testimonials.  Because Jack had not collected them on an ongoing basis, we would have to contact past clients to try to get at least a dozen or so to start with.  Others could be added later.  We created a script for his assistant to follow in calling past clients and requesting testimonials.  Jack was excited that he could now see some tangible progress in his marketing plan.

Once we completed his Client Attraction Tools, we would be ready to make the decisions on what strategies he would use to generate leads (besides the blog).

Coming Next: Lesson 4 - Lead Generation

Comments(2)

As I announced a couple of weeks ago, I recently made the switch to Mac when I replaced my Dell laptop with the metallic beauty of a MacBook Pro. The more I use it, the more impressed I become with it and with the Mac Operating System. It’s got some features that make me wonder how I’ve been computing without them.

With this post I begin a list of the REASONS I’M GLAD I SWITCHED TO MAC. Enjoy.

Reasons 1-10:

1. Parallels - The Mac lovers will not like me starting with this one. But, Parallels Desktop allows me to run Windows while also running the Mac platform, side by side. This has been very helpful as I’ve made the transition to the Mac. Additionally, there are a couple of programs that I just don’t see abandoning with the move (CaseMap being the primary one that comes to mind). With Parallels, I don’t have to.
2. Speed - This baby REALLY moves. The Mac OS loads so much faster than Windows that it is hard to believe. Applications run much faster as well. What is really strange is that when I run Windows on Parallels it loads faster on my Mac then it did when I was running it natively on a PC. Go figure. And, to top that, I can run a windows program on Windows running on Parallels, running on Mac OS, faster than the program ran on my Dell Latitude PC. That is crazy.
3. Spotlight - This is Macs built in search utility. It too is lightning quick. It displays results as fast as you can type. Literally. And, it not only searches or files and folders, it searches the contents of files. Very cool. And, did I mention it is really fast?
4. Pdf printing and viewing without Acrobat or Reader - I can read pdf files with the built in Preview application. And, every application that I’ve worked in so far, has a print to pdf option built into it on the Print dialog box.
5. Sweet Design - Yes, this is form and not function, but Apple just gets design like no other computer hardware or software manufacturer. If you work on your computer a lot like I do, it’s nice to enjoy the design - and it does turn heads (not that I’m into that kind of thing).
6. .Mac synchronization - This is a cool feature that I didn’t know about when I purchased the Mac. But, it is nifty. When you set up a .mac account, you can synchronize your bookmarks, calendar, address book, mail accounts and more. Then you can access them from any computer (including those running windows) over any browser. You also receive free disk space to upload files there that you or others you allow can access over the web.
7. Photo booth - Ok, I haven’t used this in my law office yet, but my kids and I have hada lot of fun with the digital effects you can use on your photographs. Witness the photo above of me and one of my girls taken with the built in camera.
8. Keynote - iWork includes the Keynote presentation software which produces stunning slide shows that make Power Point presentations look like a grade school child’s show and tell presentation.
9. Expose’ - This is a handy feature. I often have a half dozen or more applications running at the same time. Even with my dual monitor setup, this can make it difficult to easily find the window I want at a particular time. Expose’ allows me to access any open window with a single keystroke. So, I can hit one key and it will shrink all of the open windows to allow me to find the one I’m looking for. I can hit another key and it will hide all of the open windows and give me access to a clear desktop.
10. Stability - No blue screen of death. Enough said.

That’s the ten that come to mind right of way. I will supplement with others at another time. I do not own stock in Apple (though that might change soon!). But, if you are going to be getting a new computer anytime soon, there has never been a better time to switch to a Mac. I, for one, am very glad I did.

Comments(4)

I recently came across this article at lawyer, Patrick Lamb’s blog, In Search of Perfect Client Service.  In it, Patrick discusses  a Harry Beckwith interview that reviewed some of the nomenclature used to describe customer satisfaction (such as “customer loyalty” and “customer evangelists”).  Patrick settles on the term “raving fans” as the target at which we should be aiming.

I like that term (popularized by the Ken Blanchard book of the same name) as well.  But, I tend to have this discussion in terms of Client Delight (which is the subject of the recent series of Articles I have written to my e-zine subscribers - you can sign up for free in the sidebar!).  What are you doing to make sure your clients are delighted with your service?

The money quote from Patrick’s post: “resist the temptation to set the ‘client happiness’ meter low.  Instead, challenge yourself to find ways to raise the bar higher each day.”

Comments(0)

The Law Practice Today recently featured this article titled The Virtual Assistant: Every Lawyer Needs One.  I encourage you to read the article.  I also encourage you to  consider whether you would benefit from hiring a virtual assistant.  I have two of them, and I can tell you that my productivity has skyrocketed since adding them to my team.  I will be featuring more articles on this subject and on outsourcing in general.  It is a terrific way for a solo or small firm lawyer to get some leverage in their practice without bringing on another full time staff member.

Comments(1)

Susan Carter Liebel writes one of my favorite Solo Lawyer blogs - Build a Solo Practice.  She recently included my practice area blog - the Alabama Family Law Blog, in her article on Blogs that Bring Business.

The blogs to which she links are instructive examples.  But, as instructive is the article that accompanies them.  It is a nice primer on how to have a profitable blog.

Susan, this is my public statement of gratitude for including me in your terrific article.  Thank you.

Comments(0)

Jack and I met for our next marketing session. Having formed the vision of his firm last week, we were ready to do some important strategic thinking about his marketing plan. Over a cup of Chocolate Biscotti Iced Coffee we began to talk about the three big strategic issues that he needed to address before we were ready to get into specific marketing tactics for him to use to build his law practice.

Here are the questions I asked him:

1. Define your market - In which practice area would he focus? What was his target market? Who was his ideal client?
2. Define your positioning strategy - How would he differentiate himself from his competitors? How would he establish himself as an expert in his chosen practice area?
3. Define your marketing message - What message would he convey to the market to attract prospects and convince them that they should buy his services over any other options available to them?

When I left Mostly Muffins, Jack was still working through these questions. He e-mailed me the next day for some more help on his marketing message. We exchanged e-mail a few times until we honed his message. With that foundational work done, we were ready to get into more tactical considerations.

Coming Next: Lesson 3 - Creating Compelling Client Attraction Tools

Comments(1)

I recently came across this article that relates how a marketer took a website to #1 on Google for their targeted key words.  The article is a bit on the “techy” side.  But, it does offer some solid tactics for great search engine results.  His plan:

1. Know what keywords you want to target
2. Optimize each page for the search engines
3. Have a linking strategy that includes: (a) direct requests for links, (b) directory submissions, (c) article marketing, and press releases.

Those basic three steps will provide a solid foundation for your own search engine optimization strategy.  I would offer a couple of precautions.  First, I don’t recommend that you offer to pay other websites to link to you.  In fact, I rarely will directly solicit other sites for links at all.  I do link to certain target sites.  I comment on them.  I attempt to create relationships with them.  And, often they naturally will link back to me.  Of course, it’s also important to have a “link worthy” site.

Also, a lot of the work necessary to get these kind of links (for example directory submissions and article marketing) involve tedious tasks that lawyers should not spend their own time doing.  Instead, use a staff member, virtual assistant or outsource service provider to do this type of work for you.

Comments(0)

Carolyn Elefant has posted another interesting article to her My Shingle blog in which she discusses what she calls the Three Year Guidepost.   After commenting that her experience seems to indicate that most solo practices seem to soar at the three year mark, she suggests that the reason may be that three years is the amount of time it takes the new solo practitioner to reap the benefits of the relationships they begin to build once they launch their solo practice.

The lesson, as she points out, is clear.  Don’t wait to start building those relationships once you launch your practice.  Get them in place now and shorten that time frame.  Of course, there are other things you can do to accelerate your success in practice, but her emphasis on relationship building is solid, practical advice that is too often ignored by lawyers who fail to proactively and systematically cultivate relationships.

Comments(0)

The title of this post is the lesson in Seth Godin’s recent post titled Expectations.  You should check it out.  Good stuff.

And, it’s directly applicable to solo and small firm lawyers.  Customary marketing advice informs us to exceed expectations.  Identifying and managing the expectations of your clients and prospects should be a normal part of your client intake systems.  Is it?

Comments(0)

For a couple of years I have heard the siren songs of the Mac aficionados telling me how much I was missing by stubbornly refusing to leave the comfortable, widely accepted Windows platform.  They promised me that I would not regret making “The Switch.”  Grant Griffiths’ Home Office Lawyer Blog, Ben Stevens’ Mac Lawyer blog, and others were effusive in their praise of Macs.  Surely the Mac OS could not be THAT much better than Windows.

Then my trusty Dell laptop died and it was time to get a new computer.  Did I dare take the plunge?  Well, I am typing this blog post on my new MacBook Pro, and I have to say it is SLICK.  I’ve only had it a week, but so far my only regret was that I didn’t switch earlier (they told me I would say that).  There is still the matter of case management that I haven’t completely resolved - do I go with a Mac program like Daylite or Easytime, or do I continue to use Time Matters running on Parallels?  That is still to be determined.

In any event, I will save the gushing until I have had it long enough to give it an objective review.  But, in the immediate afterglow of “The Switch” I have to admit that it seems they were right.

Comments(0)