September 29th - Halifax Legal Target Great Legal Marketing Owner

Sounds a bit sinister? Well I guess it could be.

Because when I opened my inbox this morning
someone from Halifax was trying to sell me a Will.

And do you know what?
I've wanted to get one for the last 5 years...
so now maybe the time is right.

Some of the lessons to be learnt from their approach
are; communicate, an offer, that's clear and beneficial,
make it personalised and....let's see if they continue to market it -
because the sequence is everything...

Would I use their service?

Would their email and website suck me into and make me buy?

Click to see the video o see what I think.

Read more...

September 24 - 3 Million Wills Written

Oh yes. He's gone and done it.
Partnered up with a great organisation.
That will do his company no end of good.
And it didn't cost him a penny.

And not only has he done it with Oxfam but he's
also got the BMA and Breast Cancer Care.

Access to 3 million people and 500 transactions a month.

There are probably other law firms out there doing the same thing.

I hope so.

Alan is one of the people who gets the
Great Legal Marketing email newsletters.

But I bet he's also someone that does something with them.

Do you?

Alan gave me permission to let everyone know about this deal.

I wanted to ask his permission because he's got a system
that is very valuable.

And it can easily be copied.

In fact, the idea of marketing partners is very old.

The only way it has remained a secret is because of the knowing-doing gap.

You know you should do it.
But you don't do it.

And there are always so many reasons, (excuses) not to.

Aren't there?

Don't say I didn't mention partner marketing for
solicitors to you...it's been here all along.

Remember "if it's not your job, then maybe it's your opportunity?"

And Alan, if you're reading this,
buy yourself a present. A DVD,
a nice restaurant meal, oh..and happy birthday.

Read more...

September 23 - Video presentations for lawyers made easy

Making best use of time, (slaying the time vampires)
is paramount for all of us.

There are lots of technologies coming out that
are free and simple to use that help us in the cause.

They can also be highly effective.

Whether it's video conferencing rather
than travelling hundreds of miles, or
doing something once so that it can
be used again and again.

Take screen casting, where you record what's
on your screen and then send the video to your
prospect or client.

You can use a service such as screenr.com
which automatically tweets (Twitter) your
stuff for public viewing or not, the choice is yours.

The other technology is www.jingproject.com.

It's a great way of producing short powerpoint
with narration videos for your website or for
giving updates of key points by video rather than letter or call.

It could even be used as a video newsletter ;-)

See my marketing videos for solicitors using Screenr

Read more...

September 18th - Personal Testimonials For Solicitors via Linkedin

I am a regular contributor to the Law Gazette blog forum.

And this week there are a few things I mentioned.
One is a comment about Linkedin.

One good thing about Linkedin is that people
type in your name on the internet and discover more
about you via your Linkedin page.

You are being Googled .

Marketing is really about who knows you so it
makes sense to take advantage of Linkedin.

Of course I don't mention everything on the
Law Gazette blogs.

Hell, I'd have no reason to do this legal marketing website if I did.

One of the great things about Linkedin is
that it makes it incredibly easy for solicitors
to get personal testimonials.

If you are on Linkedin and you don't have 5 testimonials
take this challenge.

Ask one person a day, starting today,
to give you a testimonial.

If you want more ideas on testimonials for solicitors go here

(if you want a short email course worth £487 on how to
get testimonials for solicitors then email me today

Make sure that your title is search engine friendly
in Linkedin i.e. that when your name appears on
Google when someone types in your name,
the right title appears in search results.

E.g. Landlord Law Expert rather than just Solicitor.

Read more...

September 14th - People Buy When From Solicitors They Are Ready...

I've been trying a little marketing testing with a solicitor
in the South West.

It involves putting an advert in a local newspaper in Reading,
directing calls through to his Bristol practice and offering Wills by post.

It's looking promising. One of the key elements
though is the way the calls are handled,

(I listen to the calls as they are recorded) and the

follow up marketing sequence that the solicitor has in place.

I expect most solicitors don't have a follow up marketing
sequence for prospects.

And you are probably asking what it is.

It's simply a way of solving the problem
that most prospects only buy when they are ready.

And that's not when you want them to.

The stages of pre-contemplation, contemplation, liking,
trusting, learning, communicating and deciding over a
period of days, weeks and months before they part with their cash.

And if you don't have something that takes them
through this process then you are likely to end
up with a lot less business.

So make sure you have a marketing sequence
in place for your prospects.

And if you don't have one, get in touch and I can help you.

By the way, if you want to run the advert in your
local paper, let me know.

I'll even include a trackable phone number
so you can judge the results for yourself.

Read more...

September 1st - Co-operation or Competition for Law firms?

"Why should I bust a gut, I'm not a legal partner
so I ain't gonna earn more out of doing this!"

That's something you hear in all firms. It made me think of the "up or out" system within law firms.

If you are good enough you make partner
and share in the success. If not, you're part of the "rest".

At least that's how it seems to many people that work as lawyers.

If there's a them and us culture in your firm it means that people are not co-operating. It's more likely that they are competing.

Many people assume wrongly that competition
brings out the best in people.

And the Darwinian "survival of the fittest" is often
used as a scientific justification of this type of approach.

But does competition really help your law firm internally?

When someone wins - someone loses.

And 99% of people have been taught they
if they are not winners they are losers.

And if you lose how does it affect you and your staff?

If the answer is negatively then you are duty bound to find an alternative.

And that is co-operation.

Co-peration is win/win.

It's coaching staff so that you can transfer knowledge,
it's finding best practise and disseminating it, it's scheduling work
so that everyone gets interesting things to work on.

It's not having favourites, it's saying someone
is different not better, it's helping not hindering.

Think about how Amazon allows co-operation between
store owners and buyers.

Or how Linux allows programmers to co-operate on open source software.

Or how Betfair lets punters bet against each other.

There's an old football saying that there is no i in team.

So if you aren't referring internally, working with business
as partners or simply taking the time to help each
other then you are probably over-competing.

Try a bit of un-learning.

Try a bit more co-operation in your law firm.

Put on your next management meeting the words...

How Can We Co-operate More In Our Firm
And Externally With Partners To Make Our Business Win Win?

And make sure you invite all staff to contribute with
their ideas as to how you can market your solicitors firm better.


PS It is not the case that Darwin coined the term "survival of the fittest".

When you think about it his theories demonstrated that by co-operating
in distinct niches animals had the best chance of surviving.

was the exploitation of these niches that was observed.

What niches can you law firm thrive in?

Read more...

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.

Read more...

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....

Read more...

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.

Read more...

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.

Read more...

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...

Read more...

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...

Read more...

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.

Read more...

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.

Read more...

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?

Read more...