Once at a conference an attorney complained to me that his clients saw lawyers as interchangeable commodities rather than vaunted experts. ”They think we all do the same thing,” he said, “and that one of us is the same as the next.”
I asked him what market he targeted.He listed eight or nine disparate areas in which he takes legal work.I asked him what he charges.The same as his competitors, he said.Hmm.
Why should I do business with you instead of any of the hundreds of other law firms in your area who do the same thing?Answer that question and you’ve got your competitive advantage.It has to be easy to understand and difficult for others to replicate.
If you don’t have a good answer then you are way behind.Put simply, you are not making as much money or having as much fun as you could be.
Your marketing strategy (target niche, unique advantage, pricing, and so on) will create your identity, your brand.If you don’t have a good brand then you’re forced to compete on price – which means you have to charge the same or less than the most of your competition.In fact by doing that you’ve established your brand as “I am the same value as all my competitors.We are interchangeable.”
Your mission, if you choose to accept it:This week, carve out 15 minutes of uninterrupted time with just you and a sheet of blank paper.Brainstorm and start to answer the question, “Why should I do business with you instead of any of the hundreds of other lawyers around here who do the same thing.”
The answer, by the way, is not “experience.”Everyone talks about experience. ”Experience” as a competitive advantage is overused, trite, and easy to replicate.
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David Zimbalist is a nationally recognized expert at marketing small law firms. Sign up for David’s Usable Law Firm Marketing Hints at
As someone who runs a marketing company it never occurred to me to charge my clients by the hour. A particular training session costs X. A specific web video project costs Y. Ghost writing three blog posts a week costs Z. Makes sense, right? I mean, who would hire me by the hour to coach them on putting a marketing steering process in place – I’d just take two hours to do so instead of one, and that would be completely contrary to what my clients want or need.
Hmmm…
You can see where this is going. We talk a lot these days about law firms trying alternative billing arrangements. What do you think – is hourly billing akin to bad marketing? What results have you had with alternative billing arrangements?
Over the weekend I read an insurance industry magazine (was your weekend as exciting??) and the article that caught my eye was titled “Create Solid Processes, Avoid Operating Like A Law Firm.”
The article warned that too many insurance practices are operating “like law firms,” with no systems or processes in place to manage new business marketing, client relationships, training, or employee attitudes. The insurance professionals are too busy “doing their jobs” to actually manage and run their firms like a business.
Yikes! OTHER INDUSTRIES hold us up as an example of how to blow it.
I spend a lot of time speaking about the importance of creating systems to manage new business marketing and client relationships (be glad you don’t live with me). One of the first things I go through with marketing clients is the idea of creating systems. Here’s a very high level view of the process that might be helpful:
1.Begin with the end. What is the goal? Distill this into something that is specific, realistic, and measurable.
2.What needs to be in place in order for the goal to happen?
3.What needs to be done in order for each of those things to be in place?
4.Who is responsible for each task?
5.What is the timeline for completion of each task?
In order to make this work I suggest having a Marketing Steering system in place (a system to manage the system, no less). Marketing Steering is another topic — happy to discuss further with anyone who’s interested.
David Zimbalist is a nationally recognized expert at marketing small law firms. Sign up for David’s Usable Law Firm Marketing Hints at
We’re rolling out four revamped marketing training sessions for small and medium law firms.Before I make the new versions of the sessions generally available, I’m asking fellow group members (attorneys at small law firms) to provide some structured feedback, in exchange for a hefty discount on the sessions.
**Email me if you’d be interested in a discounted fee in exchange for your feedback on one or more of the sessions (more price info a little further down).
**These will be one-on-one sessions, led by me.I expect to enroll no more than 5 firms for each session at the discounted rate.
The four sessions are:
Session 1 – Understanding Marketing and Setting Business Goals – The process begins with a marketing and financial evaluation of your business and where you want to be.You will create a timeline for improving your business.
Session 2 – Identify Your Ideal Clients – If your target client is “everybody,” then nobody will be your client.In this session we identify your ideal clients and what they want.
Session 3 – Develop Your Marketing Message – You need two versions.Version 1 is short and to the point.Version 2 is a full treatment that should be on all of your outbound client information.
Session 4 – Your Lead Generation and Follow Up System – We evaluate what you currently do to reach out to potential clients, gain their initial interest, and stay in touch with them, and make recommendations for you to improve.
Pricing & Discount Info
Each Marketing Strategy Session includes:
A 45-minute strategic coaching session (Value $275)
Post-session worksheets to work on the topic and implement the strategies,
plus unlimited email support for 30 days to ask questions (Value $1,460)
Total Value:At least $1,735
Regular fee:$379
DISCOUNTED FEE in exchange for providing structured feedback:$189
David Zimbalist is a nationally recognized expert at marketing small law firms.Sign up for David’s law firm marketing hints at
Being responsible for both selling high value legal services and performing those services is a tough balance.Many lawyers find themselves in a “feast or famine” world.Sound familiar?You work hard to get some new business, and then you spend all your time servicing those clients.When the projects finish…no more business.So you start over, scrambling to get clients, serving the clients, scrambling…
One of the secrets of successful attorneys is that they create marketing systems that keep them on track to consistently generate a stream of qualified leads.When I work with a marketing client this is one of the first things we address.
Here are 4 hints for attorneys to help develop your marketing system:
Set a regular time for marketing planning and activities.Marketing is an ongoing process that requires the same regular dedication as other areas of your business, like paying your bills.
Pick a target market.If your target market is “everybody,” then it’s really “nobody.”Who are your best clients?What attributes do they share?What do you enjoy doing?You can have more than one target niche, but for marketing purposes choose one to start with and focus your marketing efforts there.
Make your goals are discrete and understandable.“Get a bunch of new clients as soon as possible” is not a good goal.“Identify 3 referral sources and have a conversation with them by June 15” is better.Whenever I have a marketing client who needs help setting goals and staying on track to achieve them, we work on transforming large, fuzzy ideas into well defined goals, and then break those down into sharply focused steps.When a client goes two weeks without completing a particular step we look at why it remains undone and assess if it needs to be dropped or altered.
Make your tasks repeatable and measurable.This is the only way to create systems over time.Trying something once, deciding it didn’t work, and trying something different is a sucker’s game.For example, if you’re going to develop a referral network, set time each month to uncover and meet with three potential sources, as well as scheduled time to touch base with the sources you’ve already cultivated.
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David Zimbalist is a nationally recognized expert at marketing small law firms.Sign up for David’s law firm marketing hints at
This is not my story, but one I read. You’ll enjoy it:
I had a college professor who did engineering consulting. A brand new office tower in Boston had a serious problem—there was a brown stain coming through the drywall, (all of the drywall) no matter how much stain killer they used. In a forty story building, if you have to rip out all the drywall, this is a multi-million dollar disaster. They had exhausted all possibilities and were a day away from tearing out everything and taking a loss. They hired Henry in a last-ditch effort to solve the problem. He looked at the walls and said, “I think I can work out a solution, but it will cost you $45,000 if I succeed.” They instantly signed on, because if he succeeded, the project would be saved.
Henry asked for a pencil and paper and wrote the name of a common hardware store chemical and handed it to them. “Here, this will work.” And then he billed them $45,000. That’s quite an hourly wage. It’s also quite a bargain.
It takes work and imagination, but small and solo law firms with little budget for marketing can effectively compete for the attention of potential clients and referral sources. Any business that wants to create services and sell them must put some real thought into what marketing texts call the “marketing mix” or “the four P’s”: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. Each of these P’s is controllable by you.
Your goal is to make decisions about each that builds perceived value for clients in the target market you want to serve.
Product — What services do you want to offer? What services do you NOT want to offer (that’s usually the harder question). What services have your best clients wanted?
Price — Pricing effects how people see your quality. Do you want to be a low price, volume service (e.g. $195 divorces) or a high price, high quality, exclusive provider? How many clients will you need in order to break even and turn a profit?
Place (or Distribution) — Through what channels will you offer your services to clients? E.g. A network of small offices around the city, home visits to clients in the evenings, useful products / information available on the web.
Promotion — How will you get information about your service in front of potential clients and referral sources? E.g. pitching yourself to the press as an expert, leaving brochures in offices of referral sources, speaking in front of industry groups. The model is simple but requires time and thought. You don’t need to do everything at once, but you do need to carve out regular time to build your marketing plan and systems.
**FacesMedia offers marketing training sessions for small law firms. Email me if you’d like information. dzimbalist@facesmedia.com
Client video testimonials — if done properly, of course — pack a wallop like little else. Who wouldn’t want to have a website full of happy clients talking about their great experience working with you and your firm?
Recently I’ve heard from several small law firms who can’t seem to get their former clients — happy, satisfied clients — to give the firm a testimonial. Maybe you’re in the same boat.
Here’s a suggestion. It’s often more difficult to get someone to agree to record a video testimonial after the fact. But if you address it up front, they’re more likely to follow through with the commitment. For instance, early in the relationship if you pose a question like, “When we’re through working on Project X together, if you’re happy with the service you got from us, will you record a short video testimonial?”
Not everyone will say yes, but those who do tend to follow through with their commitment.
