You Become What You Think So Work At What You Think. “Experience has proved to me, time after time, the enormous value of arriving at a decision. It is the failure to arrive at a fixed purpose, the inability to stop going around and round in maddening circles, that drives men to nervous breakdowns and living hells. I find that fifty per cent of my worries vanishes once I arrive at a clear, definite decision; and another forty per cent usually vanishes once I start to carry out that decision. So, I banish about 90 per cent of my worries by taking these four steps: From, Dale Carnegie from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. I've got a list of books you might want to read, It's short, my list is 100 + in the last year alone. So if you have read any good books let me know and I'll reciprocate. Deal?
One of my friends runs a website called Philosopher's notes. It's worth checking out. Every day he sends out a summary paragraph about one of his favourite thinkers/books. I'd thought today's was very appropriate so I decided to post it here. I'll probably use Brian's stuff from time to time - it's that good! Thx Brian;-)
Wednesday 1 July 2009
Monday 29 June 2009
Email Security - Sending Secure Legal Documents Research from Origo, (The IFA equivalent to the SRA) showed that the majority of firms (87%) did not currently have secure email systems, with over half of respondents (58%) highlighting that they were waiting for an industry standard to be put in place. While this is the case, an alarming majority of respondents (94%) said they did use email to send personal, sensitive or confidential data. I'm just here to question things and maybe offer an answer sometimes. PS Having secure email is a pretty good USP too.
I just read about secure email and the
Independent Financial Advertiser market.
Now you won't get a lesson on IT Security from me.
And my question is this;
"If you send an email and someone intercepts it and then changes it and then it gets delivered, then who's to know?"
I've got an article from a Canadian law firm about this - if you want it email me.
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When your mail is addressed to the bank, investment company, business partners, it can attract attention of IT staff that perform mail server monitoring. And there is nothing that can prevent unscrupulous IT staff with access to the mail server to open and read that message. Other problem is that unauthorized personnel or hackers can have access to the mail server where physical access security and network security are weak.
Saturday 27 June 2009
Do People Open Your Emails?
If you are sending a newsletter by email or an invite to a seminar then maybe some people won't open your emails...first time round.
If you get unopened emails try a different subject headline...it won't upset those
that don't open the email by sending it twice because they never opened the first one.
Fact: Only 20-30% of your list will EVER open any
email you send them EVER....the first time.
Take the list of people who didn't open your first
email and send them the SAME mail again the
next day with a different headline.
Just a different headline. Takes about two minutes.
It's simple but powerful.
Re-mailing un-opens really works. And legal marketing is about what works.
Wednesday 24 June 2009
Do You Use Your Qualifications To Get People To Buy?
If a plumber from Reading can use his qualifications in such a fantastic way why can't you?
http://www.itsleaking.co.uk/qual.htm
A certifcate is no good in the cupboard at home. Get it out, display it and stick it on your website. Your qualifications are relevant. Most people don't have your qualifications and so they will be impressed by yours. It's an independent testimonial to your quality and something that helps deliver the preponderance of proof that you are the right choice for someone.
Monday 22 June 2009
Estate Agents Giving You Work
With the MD of an Estate Agents in Hampshire yesterday I looked at his Goals and Objectives lists on the wall. One of the goals was "Solicitors must communicate". His problem was that whereas he had to let clients know how sales were progressing, he was not told as frequently how the legal paperwork was progressing. All he wanted was a speedy and efficient way of being kept up to date.
How much work do you get referred to your legal practice by Estate Agents?
What are they looking for from you? Don't know? ASK!
Friday 19 June 2009
Midsummer - Make The Most Of The Next 6 Months
This weekend it's the longest day of the year. It's when the Druids do their Stonehenge stuff and some people start thinking about the nights closing in...but rather than the negative, focus on the positive. Where will you be in 6 month's time?
The only thing that will make a difference is the people you know, (or get to know) and what you learn.
Make the most of the time you have. Try 7 consecutive days without getting angry, shouting, or criticising. See if you can do it. And if you can't, start over again at day 1.
I'll send a small gift to anyone that can tell me honestly that they achieved 7 days in a row of being 100% positive.
PS to give yourself half a chance print the words 100% Positive on a piece of paper and put it on your fridge door. (It's the cupboard we visit the most).
Thursday 18 June 2009
Action Is The Mark Of Genius
It's my grandfather's birthday today. 89 years old. I remember asking him when I was celebrating my 21 birthday what he did for his. He said D-Day. Omaha Beach. American Tank radio operator (normally he was a gunner but they didn't have enough radio operators so he swapped for the day). Lucky that. His tank got blown up and he survived. The other two didn't. Still Grandad recovered, went back to liberate Amsterdam and took part in the 1948 Olympics.......you couldn't accuse him of wasting his time.......
What's this got to do with legal marketing? I'll sum it up in one word. ACTION.
People that take action are winners. Because it doesn't matter how much you know or how many great ideas to market your Practice you have. Unless you take action you won't achieve anything.
Take action to make yourself a celebrity in your local area. Write for the paper. Go on the local radio station. Speak at the Chamber of Commerce. Just once a week if you take action and become a brand you will be more fulfilled, you'll make lots of friends and you'll attract more business. Remember...
A Goal Is A Dream With A Deadline. Just Do It.
Monday 15 June 2009
What's Wrong With Lawyers?
Ok could someone please tell me why a law firm won't do a deal to get new customers?
Is it because I am asking for a 50/50 split on the profit of each new customer I bring?
I'm willing to pay for all advertising costs. I wlll write the advert. I will pay for the advert to be designed. I will track all enquiries. I will test and refine the response system that the prospect goes into.
The only objection I have been given is that "advertising is not the sort of thing that we do at this firm." It's an objection - but not a good one.
If YOU ARE THE TYPE OF FIRM THAT WANTS TO DO A DEAL and you are in Reading, Berkshire and you have a pretty good private practice department get in touch.
And if you are in any other town and like the idea of this then let me know where you are because I might be able to do this in other towns.
Friday 12 June 2009
Perfect Preparation - Have You Got It?
I got a phone call today from BT.
(BT) Would you like to save £75 off my line rental?
(Me)Yes Please.
(BT) All you have to do is get a BT credit card and spend money and then you get money off your line rental.
(Me) How much do I have to spend to get £75 off?
(BT) I don't know, I'm just here to ask you some questions.
(Me) Same here. And if you don't know the answers to my questions then you are not going to get my business.
This is the shortened version. I quizzed the guy about his preparation. He had no information that was relevant. He was given no leeway. He had to stick to the script.
What has this got to do with legal marketing?
Let me ask you. Do you have a systematic way of answering questions and objections you get on the phone or face to face? Do you know how to raise objections and answer them to control the conversation when you are selling?
Do you have a piece of paper that you fill in when you make a call or receive a call so that you can analyse each time where you went wrong and what you did right?
Or do you just leave it to random and hope that you say the right things in the right tone of voice in the right sequence?
One of the main reasons for doing things systematically, recording results either negative or positive is so that you can share best practice. If you don't share results, ideas and experiences throughout your firm you are operating at less than 50% of your operational capability. Do whatever it takes to ensure you share.
You can start easily. Get a notice board up in a prominent place. Put your idea of the week up - something that has worked for you. And put your idea of the week up next week too. Keep on going. Pretty soon you will find other ideas going up on the board. When it's full, photocopy them and put them together as a manual of ideas that have worked for your firm.
Presto. Your marketing manual has begun to take shape.
Thursday 11 June 2009
What To Do When People Request A Price Reduction?
When people are going through hard times they might ask you to lower your prices. If you do it, they'll be shopping for lower prices after the recession so don't do it without one helluva fight. Because price shoppers aren't loyal and they don't know the value of your services, (have you demonstrated them?)
Make the the person asking for a price reduction is the decision maker. Go to see them face to face. Ask them if their customers are asking them for a reduction?
If you absolutely have to and want to reduce a price then make it a temporary reduction that helps them out while they are going through a rough patch. But make sure it's only for a few months and then you'll increase your price to them so that you can catch up with the lost income. That way it's temporary.
And remember abandoning those clients that are a pain, constantly ask for low fees and take up your time is the right thing to do anyway.
PS you have to spend £7,500 to get £75 off line rental :-(
Wednesday 10 June 2009
Have You Analysed Your Website?
Sometimes we don't challenge experts because we don't know enough.
Sometimes not knowing is great - because it means that you can ask things
someone who is in the thick of it wouldn't ask. Take websites. You have one.
Who runs it? Maybe it's your IT guy. Maybe an agency. Maybe a partner.
Have you ever wondered if it could do any better at bringing in leads?
There's a tool that I have used recently http://www.freewebsubmission.com which looks at your website and tells you how "good looking" it is to search engines.
It seems like a good tool to give you the chance to challenge the person who runs your website. Becase if you analyse your site and you see it's not good looking enough ( I mean functional for the Google Robots rather than cosmetic) then you can now ask "What are you going to do about it."
Because a lot of Partners never really challenge the website guy. But they should.
It's a major marketing channel. And it has to work its butt off for you. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. Mainly for the status quo in legal marketing. Enjoy taking a few risks.
Tuesday 9 June 2009
How Much Do You Know About Your Performance? Is there any firm out there that knows its conversion rate for enquiries turning into a client? For every member of staff? And systematically measures this? And then uses the findings to improve everyone's performance by sharing best practise? And another thought just popped into my mind.
Because anyone can do that. If they want to.
Why don't non-competing firms set up a mastermind group for best practise in marketing? Because the bigger the crowd the more likely you are to come up with the right solution. And I don't just mean non-competing law firms. Because you want people outside law to give you ideas. That's where you'll get some real value.
What Is Marketing? I know which I'd rather work for. So, if you aren't dedicating at least 30 minutes a day to your own development of marketing/selling skills then you won't be a winner. You'll probably be a whiner. And if you say your boss doesn't give you 30 minutes a day, hello whiner. I'd just teach all lawyers to be good at marketing and selling if I owned a firm. And then I'd expect them to perform. If you can give McDonald's kids a handbook on what to do why not a lawyer handbook on how to sell and market a law firm........ah that gives me an idea...... PS thanks to those who signed up to my newsletter. Spam email accounts won't be receiving it - sorry. PPS tip for the day - read Seth Godin's Purple Cow. Yes I know it's a few years old now but it's still moos for me and many others. Read any good books lately? PPS Typos are my gift to you.
Everything that a legal firm does that is not operations is marketing.
It's not about one department or another. Or job title.
Anything that any internal or external clients sees, hears, thinks, feels, smells (yep some offices smell) touches and leaves an impression is marketing.
Some law firms don't want to do marketing.
Some don't know how.
Some know how but don't.
Some know how and do.
After all, if your firm does not do marketing very well, who is going to suffer?
That's right. You.
Monday 8 June 2009
Lawyers Doing So Well They Can Waste Money
If you go to Google.com and you type in "accident lawyer" you'll find a few firms that are using Google adwords. These are the classified adverts that you pay only when someone clicks. So far, so good. But if you are one of these firms you really want to know the conversion rate of the advert and not just how many clicks you get. I called one law firm today, (I'll tell you who if you mail me) to tell them that they can use something called dynamic numbers on their website which will enable them to tell not just who clicked on their Google ad, but also who and how many called.
The gentleman I talked to would not invest 30 seconds of his time on listening to the information. If he is paying £20 per click he could be getting a bill from Google for £100 a week without receiving any calls.
So why didn't he even want to know there could be a better way?
The answer is that many law firms lack diversity. And I am talking about diversity of being exposed to many different type of people, methods, cultures and systems. The more exposed to diversity you are the more willing you are to see things in a different light, and the more likely you are to come up with the right solution.
Embrace diversity. And if you are the chap from R********* all you had to do was say that you were fascinated by new ideas and you'd love to hear about something that could make massive efficiency gains, please put it in writing.
PS don't click on accident lawyer adverts on Google, it'll cost them an arm and a leg!!
Thursday 4 June 2009
Can You Sell A Subscription? If you do regular work for a client one way that you can create a model for payment is by creating a subscription to your services. You agree to look at the deal after 12 months to make sure you are not massively
Imagine you have a property client. For example, a University, that needs planning, landlord tenant contracts, eviction debt collecting etc. A whole gamut of wants that you can bundle into a service.
Now you do a contract for 12 months at £100,000. You estimate the work will be worth £200,000 in time, so the Uni saves £100,000. That's great for them.
undercharging.
And you agree both sides to look at negotiating up or down
based on value to both sides. You will get more efficient over time. And you get continuity revenue.
The Uni can budget. It also only means one bill a month rather than lots of small and irritating bills.
Gas companies do it. Magazines do it. People like subscriptions. And the bonus is you develop a system that is efficient.
Otherwise you lose money. That's a great incentive to you becoming hyper efficient. And that is how supermarkets compete. So take a leaf out of Tesco's book. Become hyper-efficient and sort out your own Clubcard locking your clients in.
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