August 23rd - Big Win For Reading Firm - What Did They Do?

Boyd,

I hope that you are having a good holiday.
Just to let you know that we have been
awarded the work.

There were originally 65 applicants
at the first stage.

It went down to 14 applicants at the second stage
and at the interview stage there were 4.

Thanks for your help.

Rachel.

FIELD SEYMOUR PARKES SOLICITORS

They prepared, they thought about what the
client wanted, they presented well.

They got the business - (six figures).

Do you want to know what we went through to make the
presentation that helped win?

August 19th - Make All Your Calls "Great Calls"
click this link to hear a short message from me...

Find out how you can get my checklist for free.

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August 09 - Celebrity Solicitor Status Is Yours For Free

I once did some work with a commercial lawyer.

I asked him if he ever wrote articles or gave speaking engagements.

He said to me that

"he'd been asked to do an
article for the Chamber of Commerce
but he didn't have the time".

He didn't have the time or inclination to
demonstrate his expertise to 7000 business people!

Which is a real shame because most law firms would
benefit greatly by getting in front of that many business
owners for free.

And even if the law firm benefits and you aren't a Partner,
(what an excuse that is for not doing things)
you should still do it for your own personal development.

The moral of the story is,
"Stop watching TV that doesn't pay or educate or
make you laugh.

Write articles and give seminars instead.

Grab celebrity status for yourself in the local media.

It will make you better at presenting, writing and thinking.

You will enjoy it and meet new people.

You will make more money.

And certainly your family will think you are cool."

All you have to do is get lots of articles published and
be a reliable, informed expert in your own field and
help editors/producers/presenters fill their media
products with your good self.

Love him or loathe him, where do you go
if you've got a story to sell to the News Of The World.

Yep...Max Clifford. Being a celebrity PR has
made him more than £10 MILLION.

And in our celebrity-fuelled society,
it really is who knows you that counts.

Type your name into Google - what are the results?

Because that's what your next client is going to do
before he speaks to you.

And if you don't exist, do something about it fast.

If you want more info on this here it is....

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A Little Piece Of Free Marketing Lawyers Want To Try.

Having a conversation about new technology on the Law Gazette blog,

(you'll find it here) I thought about what new
products could help solicitors market themselves better.

One of those things is www.jingproject.com -
it's a tool that you can use to record screencasts.

That's a way of recording a video of what you
show on your screen and adding audio, i.e.
commentary to it, via a microphone.

Basically you highlight the area on the screen,
talk in a microphone, send the finished file by
clicking once and you have a passable presentation
that is so much more useful than an email.

Great for selling to companies.

Here's the sort of quick 5 minute screencast
I do instead of writing long emails

I haven't even up graded to the $15 version -
so there's no excuse.

Try it - you might like it. Let me know how you get on.

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Do You Innovate Enough?

Would you have thought that a handheld fan that dispenses mosquito repellent would be a hit product?

Innovation is important. When you get a headstart on a product that people want you attack a "blue ocean". Rather than swimming with sharks, cutting up an existing "red ocean" and trying to win marketshare, you get a clear run.

Is there a blue ocean for you? What can you tap into among your prospective customers that they are crying out for? Is there another industry that does something you can adapt? Gift vouchers, subscriptions, Will-While-U-Wait, buy one get one free, late night opening, can any of these be applied?

Skype video calls, twitter, text messaging, voice broadcasting - can these help you?

Think about how you can swipe and deploy things so you can get better at marketing your law firm.

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Can You Spot Opportunities Everywhere?

An independent school in Oxfordshire had to stop staff using the swimming pool
this summer because a health and safety consultant said
they were not legally covered in case of accident.

How many schools are there that are not covered
in this way in the private sector?

Would a disclaimer help? I am not a solicitor :-]
but I do fill in a disclaimer to use an open water
lake to go swimming - so maybe rather than
taking away a perk a disclaimer would do?

Nice idea for an article for private schools?
Or a video? How's that private school email
list coming along....Problems are everywhere and so
are your opportunities to solve them...

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If You Make It Difficult They Won't Come

Take a look at this law firm that spends money on advertising and then puts barriers in the way of prospects...

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From Nowhere To Google Champion in 4 Months

I congratulated one of the people I work with today.

Because they have taken their law firm from nowhere on Google to be a champion Google player in just 4 months.

So I sent him this "you are good but how good a law firm website are you" note.

Why am I telling you this?

Because all you have to do is;

put more relevant and regular content on your site,
get a few quality inbound links and
shoot some quick and informative legal marketing videos like this
or law firm videos like this.

That will really help you get more business from internet searchers.

And you can write the 9 bullet point script for your 2 minute video
in 10 minutes. Email me for the most effective way to structure your legal marketing video.

Then you shoot it in 10 minutes.

PS. You'll never know unless you try.

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A Quick Thought For The Day

“If it isn't your job to do it, perhaps it is your opportunity.” Napoleon Hill.

When you talk to Lawyers you sometimes hear fee-earners say that "it's not worth me making the effort because even if things did improve it's not me that will earn out of it."

Let me ask you. What do you earn by being able to walk? What do you earn by being able to read? What do you earn by learning a new skill?

I've got a t-shirt that is a reminder not to fall into the "it's not my job" trap.

It goes..."the more you read, the more you learn, the further you go, the more you'll earn." And I don't just mean big bucks when it comes to earning.

Earning means respect. It means that you get knowledge you can help others with.
It means you can quench (temporarily) a raging thirst for new ideas.

Everyone you meet is a teacher. Drink in their knowledge. And pass it on.

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Write To All Your Clients Who Have Wills

I saw that Certainty, the central wills registration service, is helping with some legal marketing ideas to existing clients. They do this by providing suggested letters to send out to the list of clients you have. I don't know too much about the service but what I do like is this;

Take the first 50 clients in your Wills list.
Write to them saying you want to register their Will with Certainty.
Ask them if there is any update they want.
And crucially, ask them if they want a LPA or anything else from you.

AND

CAN THEY REFER YOU TO A FAMILY MEMBER WITH THE SPECIAL OFFER?

And when you have done the first 50, try the next 50 making changes to the letter according to results from the first. It's affordable, it's doable, and it's profitable. An easy way for any solicitor to make a lot more money. And you don't need a legal marketing consultant to show you how to post a letter - do you?

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Republic Day In France.

14th Of July 1789 - The storming of the Bastille and the subsequent Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was the third event of this opening stage of the revolution.

I always try some revolting on 14th of July.

What revolution are you going to start today?

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What's Going On In Your Prospects' Minds?

If a few thousand teachers around the country get this newsletter from their union then you can bet a few hundred schools might be open to a call from their lawyers.

Ideas are all around you. Just close your eyes and picture yourself as a headteacher of a school. The Head of Upper School comes in and asks you if there is any asbestos in the school because some of the teachers have been asking about the risk.

As the headteacher you were expecting this. You have a statement and policy ready. You mention you are going to be making it part of the staff briefing tomorrow morning.

Your document has been prepared by your lawyer. As has the letter for the parents of pupils.
Everyone is reassured. Everyone praises you for quick action. You've solved a problem.

News of problems is everywhere. Open your eyes, (or close them if it helps you to think) and see how you can use this news to get you what you want.

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A One Liner That Can Change Your Actions

"It's more important to be resourceful than it is to have resources."

Yes, it's in red print for a reason.
Red is a powerful colour.
It is a colour of action.

And action is the key message.

Do not procrastinate because you don't have the money for marketing.

Find a way to do it without paying upfront.

Do not worry about being perfect. No one will know you are perfect.
Because you'll never get anything done for people to see.

Don't use the words "if only". Substitute them with "I wonder how".

If you make a mistake. It's not you that didn't get it right. Say "it" wasn't quite right.

Every time you do something well, buy yourself something.
(I buy books or sea bass). You'll feel pretty good.

When it doesn't go right, buy something anyway.

Pretty soon you'll be feeling good all the time...and when your attitude is positive you are 99% certain to succeed in whatever you do.

See what that one-liner has done to me already!

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Do You Do Personal Injury Work?

I was browsing the Yellow Pages, (all 13 pages of lawyers not the whole book)
and I saw this advert for a solicitors which made me think. (It's low resolution to load fast).

Why doesn't every personal injury lawyer put what compensation might be worth in their advert, website and brochures? Unless you know it's worth claiming you might not do it... so make it easy for someone to choose from the menu.

And also I really like the testimonials and trackable phone number they use. Two things you should be using all the time. Want to have your Yellow Pages lawyer advert looked at by an expert? You know where to send it.

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Children Of School Age? - Use The School Run To Market!

Joe Reevy, owner of Words4Business, told me a great idea today for legal marketing. So I'm pinching it to give to you ;-)

He said one of his clients has put a sign on his car that publicises his family law team. When the car is used on the school run it gets in front of 500 parents. Many of whom want a family law firm! And on Saturday's the family car is parked at Sainsbury's for a couple of hours during peak shopping periods. Easy hey?

Just use a trackable phone number on the magnetic panel you put on the car and you've got free leads coming in to your law firm. Why not supply all your staff with magnetic posters for their cars? You can have a team bonus for leads brought in each month. You can even get free magnetic panels from Vistaprint. Email me for a promotion that should give you them free!

And check out Joe's website because he makes doing newsletters really easy so that you can keep your herd intact and get more business at a fraction of the cost of other marketing. He's usually got a special deal for my visitors/newsletter friends you just have to ask. (The secret codeword is "free").

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No Cost Personal Injury Referrals

You know what might be a good idea.

Go to all your local accident repair centres.

Speak to the manager.

Explain you are a local lawyer that represents people involved in
car accidents.

Tell him you'd love to offer his customers a free appraisal.

Get him to hand over your audio CD about personal injury and
motor accidents to every customer that comes in.

Thank him profusely when he sends you clients by sponsoring
his kids football team strip with his company name on it.

10 accident repair centres
50 customers a week
500 prospects a week for you
2000 prospects a month
24,000 prospects a year

500 new cases for you

Want to do it? And do more things like this?

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