Wednesday 9 June 2010

Solicitors Must Test Prices Regularly

Not the most professional.

Not the best.

But a very important
video


Here it is...

http://screenr.com/hZp


PS If you continually test your prices
and have no problems with getting
premium prices for your services you don't
waste time watching this...but one of my clients
doubled his prices after doing this and has
had 12 record months...

Read more...

Marketing for Lawyers Isn't a Dirty Word

Some lawyers think that marketing is a dirty word.

They think it’s a bit distasteful. That we “don’t do things that way.”

Which is wrong. (And you know it ;-)

Because marketing can be a matter of life or death.

Think I’m overplaying it?

Consider the marketing that a charity like Save The Children engages in.

If they market well, they make more money. And they save lives.

If they get it wrong, fewer children are saved.

If you are marketing ethically

it is the right thing to do and profitable.

And that’s what you should be thinking when you market.

What are you doing that is good. How are you helping?

What problems are you solving?

And if you get great at marketing yourself wouldn’t it

be great to have lots more customers and be able to donate

a little bit to charity yourself?

What about getting involved in the free Wills scheme for over 50's?

http://www.icr.ac.uk/support_us/help_us_in_your_will/will_for_free/index.shtml

Remember probate comes from Wills...

If you know which charities your

clients support? (hint...hint...more reciprococity)

you're on to a win -win. So make it systematic to find out.

Remember the key psychology behind things like this?

http://www.greatlegalmarketing.co.uk/sitedata/Misc/Psychology-GreatLegalMarke.pdf

Read more...

Monday 7 June 2010

Help Estate Agents and They Will Help Your Solicitor Firm

June 7th - Help Estate Agents and They Will Help Your Solicitor Firm

There's a lot of noise about referral fees being paid out to Estate Agents.
And some agents will always go for the cash...i.e. who pays the most.
And that's ok for you if you are happy with it. (Until someone pays more than you).

Ultimately every business wants more leads. And what do you think would happen if you could help Estate Agents get more leads? Would they come to you?

Would they give you conveyancing leads? Would they be loyal?

So here are a couple of ideas for you to make Estate Agents loyal. (And I'm assuming you have a partner marketing plan that targets them and sets you up as "the estate agent's solicitor" for your area?)

1 Write a report on "How to sell your house for top dollare when getting divorced."
You can then co-brand this with the estate agent and share the marketing.

2 Write a report on "How to sell a house when the owner has passed away - your guide to Probate and Property." Ditto for the marketing.

3
Write 50 Top Tips for Estate Agents and send them to the Estate Agents that you want to start building a relationship with.

Of course the 50 Top Marketing Tips bit is easy.

You just use mine
(with permission that you must request) that I've already prepared for you...

Get them here

Read more...

Tuesday 1 June 2010

Guarantees Win Business for Law Firms.

One of the problems buyers have is choosing.

Because choosing a law firm means you might get the choice wrong.

And people are worried about making mistakes. That's natural.

Everything you can do to prevent someone making a mistake in choosing
you will help you get more clients. Testimonials (Social Proof), Referrals, (Trust)
Chambers/Lexcel (Authority) all help.

And so do guarantees. The bigger the guarantee the less risk there is for someone to get it wrong by choosing your solicitors firm.

So it's great to see one of the best marketed firms,
Bonnalack and Bishop


using a guarantee with commercial litigation. Tim Bishop, who runs the firm, is more entreprenuer than lawyer. He has taken a marketing-focussed approach to his firm. It's one you can swipe and deploy a number of ideas from.

What guarantees can you make to get more people to choose your law firm?

For more on guarantees and marketing law firms click here.

Read more...

Wednesday 26 May 2010

Testimonials and Referrals for Solicitors

Great Legal Marketers,

Do you collect testimonials and referrals for your law firm?

You know that your clients want great service.

Do you know if you give it to them?

I am going to assume you ask your legal clients about
your service. And that you do some kind of follow-up survey.
And maybe you actually do something with the results.

Let me ask you...

Is your client survey also a way of getting testimonials?

Because if you word it the right way you will
get them every time. And you will get testimonials that
say you are great, (for specific reasons).
When you get these testimonials people are
declaring they like you.

And they are on the way to becoming loyal.

Which means they are prime clients for getting law firm referrals for you.

And those that really enthuse...
you must dig deeper to get a case study from them.

Or maybe a video testimonial. This works with
business and private clients.

How you do your client follow-up does matter.
If you haven’t got a client survey in place that does this you
might want to get one.

And if you don’t know how... cue music....

“Who you gonna call?”

B-O-Y-D B-U-T-L-E-R!

Read more...

Do you collect testimonials and referrals for your law firm?

You know that your clients want great service right?

Do you know if you give it to them?

I am going to assume you ask your legal clients about your service.

And that you do some kind of follow-up survey.

And maybe you actually do something with the results.

Let me ask you...

Is your client survey also a way of getting testimonials?

Because if you word it the right way you will get them every time.

And you will get testimonials that say you are great, (for specific reasons).

When you get these testimonials people are declaring they like you.

And they are on the way to becoming loyal.

Which means they are prime clients for getting referrals for you.

And those that really enthuse...dig deeper to get a case study from them.

Or maybe a video testimonial.

This works with business and private clients.

How you do your client follow-up does matter.

If you haven’t got a survey in place that does this you might want to get one.

And if you don’t know how... cue music....

“Who you gonna call?”

B-O-Y-D B-U-T-L-E-R!

Read more...

Tuesday 25 May 2010

People Pay Top Dollar for Legal Solutions

It is incredibly difficult to be a successful lawyer/owner/entrepreneur

and that's what most law firms are run by.

Sole practitioners - responsible for everything.

In reality these owners find it hard to know what to do. Because they
are in the thick of things on a daily basis.

This is no different from any industry where the owner is also a worker,
(except the onerous and unfair restraints put on solicitors by regulation).

Where law firms should focus is on providing solutions
and not just advice.

Advice is seen as expensive and ubiquitous.

People will pay any price for solutions.

Many law firms are members of my newsletter.

Some of them take the advice.

Som even act on it.

But if I were to provide the solution to your legal marketing problems and
do it for you...i.e. give you lots of willing buyers that would
pay the price you want...what would you pay me?

If you create a system that provides solutions profitably
and it is not reliant on time billed or geography
then you have something very valuable.

It is almost immune to any threats because it is so valuable to clients
and prospects will find you with good marketing.

The system is based on;

Find what people want = solutions to their problems.
Make sure there are enough of them = market.
Devise a way of delivering it = profitably.
Communicate it to them you have the solution = marketing.

Rinse and repeat with new solutions when you find out
more niches.

The beauty of this is that you also have something you can sell
when you retire or when you want to. Because it's similar to a franchise.

(See Gerber's E-Myth Revisited book).

The answer is always the same in business.

Great marketing gives you more money.
You can invest more in the solution.
You get more clients because of it.
Which you re-invest in marketing.

Apple Mac anyone?

Read more...

Thursday 20 May 2010

HIP, HIP Hooray?

In case you didn't know. Home Information Packs are no more.


CLG Secretary of State Eric Pickles said: “HIPs are history. This action will encourage sellers back into the market and help the market as a whole, and the economy recover."

That's Government PR.

Time for some PR in your local media?

I'm sure your local paper/radio station wants a solicitor's comment...

Can you provide it? Of course you can...

And what about the legal consequences for your Estate Agent
partners? Let them know the score...

After all, with a HIPs revolution, they may be looking to change
other aspects of their business...

Like where they send their conveyancing...;-)

Read more...

Wednesday 19 May 2010

Do You Continually Test Your Prices For Your Legal Services?




Read more...

Monday 17 May 2010

Mend Your Law Firm Marketing Bridges

Whenever I talk to a solicitor, listen in on calls or visit a law firm I find small inconsistencies or glaring problems which, if corrected, would lead to a lot more business.

In most cases, the owners or Partners simply leave the selling up to individuals.

They give them far too little coaching.

Your business has opportunities to do better.

When was the last time you tried to identify them and make changes to capitalise on them?

Let’s take phone calls. A lot of initial prospects phone a law firm.

They want to get a feel for the person they might consult with.

They might be asking for prices.

They might be comparing firms.

But I know 90% of owners don’t review how this phone call pans out.

How the solicitor puts the prospect into a liking-trusting-buying frame of mind.

Or not.

If you don’t have a systematic way of improving the way in which your prospects are converted on the phone then you have broken bridges to be built.

Try recording your calls and listening in. (I can arrange this for you)

Identify things that are said that work. And things that don’t.

The script you develop over time will be hugely valuable and powerful in getting you more business.

Go from converting 30% of leads to 80% at a higher rate?

Maybe.

And what would that mean for your business?

I've got a simple script that I have used in the past.

I use this to make sure I get what I want from a call...

If you want it let me know...

PS I write for The Negotiator Magazine and here's a page

you might want to look at - it has a list of questions you should know

the answer to http://www.greatlegalmarketing.co.uk/sitedata/Misc/neg-3.jpg

To make it bigger you should be able to click it.

Read more...

Wednesday 12 May 2010

See how Family-Law Dominate Google

Here's that marketing video I promised you.

Andrew Woolley probably wants to keep it secret.

http://screenr.com/ADC (shh...don't tell him).

Read more...

What's Your Answer To "Why Should I Use You?"

I've prepared a little video about

how you can find your....

_______________

Uniqueness
_______________

And answer the propect's question

"Why Should I Buy From You?"

You probably have Tim Bishop
of bishopslaw.com to thank for this.

You see he tried to watch the original
video I did and told me it sucked! He was right!

So I redid it without the awful music.

Click this link for the new video


I learnt three things from his email...

It's ok to try something and for it not to work.

and...I'm building a community where people
can tell me I'm wrong.

And...I noticed Tim's emails contain
a PS with a cross-selling line...something
I am passionate about.

Because I get lots of "out of office" bounces from
members of GLM. And not one has had
a cross-selling PS.

And here endeth today's lesson ;-)

Read more...

Tuesday 11 May 2010

Satisfied or Loyal Legal Clients - Whaddya Got?

One of my clients has 100% satisfaction as his

objective.

I've told him it's not good enough.

Why?

Because satisfaction is a given. But it's loyalty that counts.

What's the difference?

Well...my wife may be satisfied...but I prefer her to be loyal...
(Geddit?)

So what's the sign that your clients are loyal?

A referral is the signal that your client is loyal.

If the client is paying you, great.

But it is not full loyalty until they begin referring clients to you.

The test for loyalty is;

Will the client do business with you again, and will the client refer others to you?

If loyalty = getting referrals

doesn’t it make sense to encourage them?

PS you can also swipe and deploy this - click on it

http://www.greatlegalmarketing.co.uk/di/247916

Read more...

Thursday 6 May 2010

Elder Law or Legal Services for Young Seniors?

I call them Young Seniors – baby boomers now in their 60’s.

They aren’t ready for classic “retirement”.


They aren’t expecting to live on reduced income.


They aren’t waiting to die.


In fact many of them are looking at remaining active through their hobbies, starting a new business (not tied to a desk or commute), and looking to live between two or three locations.


You won’t get far by calling your services “Services for the Elderly”.


Because they don’t consider themselves elderly.


Young Seniors is a better term.


So perhaps look at your services and give them a make-over.


You provide the legal advice on Equity Release schemes.


And a financial adviser provides the products. But you retain the client as your client. After all, they are more likely to trust a solicitor than a financial adviser.


And why not go to all the financial advisers you trust and ask them to let you market Wills and Trusts to their clients and you market their Financial Services to your clients?


Maybe you could do a short talk with them at the golf club, tennis club, sailing club and all the other places that wealthy “Young Seniors” hang out.


PS When I joined Reading Football Club (I’m the portkabin to Premier League kid) the first thing I did was start up the Young Royals. Note that I didn’t call it Junior Royals. Kids want to be older. Seniors want to be younger.

Read more...

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Killer Articles Are Just a Checklist Away.

I'm going to take a look at what


Great Legal Marketing members

do well over a few newsletters.



Because as far as I know you are

well ahead of the curve on legal marketing.



First up is a new member, Data Protection And IP Lawyer Pritchetts Law.



I like the way she writes this article with a good biography,

good sub-headings (for people like

me that scan the page) and

a good top ten list.



Here's the article link.



http://www.legalrss.co.uk/pritchettslaw/threat-of-500k-data-protection-fines-from-6-april-2010-stephanie-pritchett-releases-top-10-data-protection-compliance-tips




Pritchetts Law is run by Stephanie

Pritchett.



Too often I see boring articles, written

in leaglease that you can't send out

to a client base or as a press release.



Remember it's about leveraging all your

marketing to get the maximum return.



Here's my expert guide to article writing - click here



Which means anything you write or record

should be able to go out to at least 5 different

channels...e.g. local paper/radio/client base/

chamber of commerce/partners.



Next up...



Andrew Woolley's http://www.family-lawfirm.co.uk

and how they get business nationwide...



And if you see any great examples out there

please let me know.



PS

If you don't have a Data Protection

and Privacy lawyer but your clients

want this service...get in touch with Stephanie.

(hint...a way for you to make more money without

doing the work).

Read more...