Phoenix legal marketing event coming next week
On Thursday, May 6, I have the privilege of addressing the inaugural meeting of the Phoenix Legal Networking Group, a group of solo and small firm attorneys looking to effectively market their law firm and grow their business.
This brand new monthly meeting is specifically designed to help attorneys and their staff
in small law firms and solo practices discover how to effectively market and grow their business.
We will meet each month for 2 hours to enjoy networking with other attorneys at small law firms and participate in a 45 minute practice building workshop.
During the meeting I will be presenting the 7 Strategies to Recession Proof Your Law Firm. This presentation will explain why some attorneys are having their best year ever when others are struggling to even survive? I will be demonstrating:
- The secrets top Rainmakers are using in this economy
- Learn what's working now and what's not.
- The #1 thing you need to do right now that will fix your cash flow problems
- Why you need to market differently
- How to easily track all your marketing efforts
For $15 per person, you will receive a networking session at 4:00 and the “7 Strategies” presentation begins at 5:00 p.m. and wraps up at 6:00. The event will be held at the Country Inn and Suites on Scottsdale Road, approximately 15 minutes from downtown and the airport.
Recessions are an excellent time to ramp up your marketing efforts because it is counterintuitive. Most firms are pulling back, and your efforts will stand out because many of your competitors have reduced their presence.
You won’t find this kind of information and opportunity at this price anywhere. Make an investment in your firm’s future and join your fellow legal marketers for this invaluable presentation. The information shared and the networking opportunity can open doors for your firm that will allow you take your firm to the next level.
To register for this seminar, co-hosted by FindLaw, Attorney at Law Magazine and The Rainmaker Institute, click here.
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Are you looking for specific marketing strategies you can use in your law firm?
Then order the Rainmaker in a Box 5-DVD set!
Some of the information and strategies you will learn include:
- The 5 Immutable Secrets to Building a 7 Figure Law Practice
- Secrets of Building a Referral-based Law Practice for Busy Practitioners
- The Top 6 Most Powerful Online Marketing Strategies for Attorneys
- Action, Accountability and Next Steps
This program also includes a data DVD which includes all 4 PowerPoint slides for all 4 presentations. We recommend you print all these off and take notes on them as you watch the 4 intense DVDs.
To order this information-packed set click here.
Law firm marketing ideas flowed at Los Angeles Rainmaker Retreat
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Last weekend a group of attorneys eager to take their legal marketing strategies to the next level gathered in Los Angeles for our Rainmaker Retreat.
The interest and spirits were high and the ideas flowed hot and heavy during the discussion sessions. From the testimonials we received from the participants, the information was exactly what they needed and were looking for.
Listen to the words of those who were with us in Los Angles:
“I haven’t been this excited in a long time to go to work and implement the knowledge I received today. The Rainmaker Retreat has given me more tools in 2 days than I could have imagined.” - Leatrice Kitchell
“Fantastic seminar! The presentation materials and subject matter are all obviously top quality and incredibly valuable. I feel like I got the secret keys to the kingdom.” - Mark Peacock, Solo Practitioner
“I used to think the only way you became a Rainmaker was to become old, get lucky, or become a member of an old boys’ network. Stephen has taught me to think, plan and execute to become a Rainmaker.” - Amman Khan, Partner
“Amazing program. So much information. Fantastic job.” - Ed Susolik, Partner
As you can see, those who attend a Rainmaker Retreat are not only pleased with the information they receive, they are also eager to put it to use in their law firm marketing plans. If you haven’t attended one of our Rainmaker Retreats, here is our upcoming summer schedule:
- Scottsdale, AZ, May 21&22
- San Francisco, June 18 &19
- Las Vegas, July 16 & 17
- Los Angeles, July 30 &31
Your law firm marketing plans will benefit greatly from joining us at a Rainmaker Retreat. Just click on the location of your choice and register today.
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Unsure about attending a Rainmaker Retreat?
If you are still unsure about attending a Rainmaker Retreat, sign up for one of our complimentary teleseminars. These free one hour calls give you valuable law firm marketing and business tips that you can implement in your law practice right now. Don’t miss this opportunity to preview something that can revolutionize your law practice!
Good legal marketing needs a strong lead flow system
Previously I addressed how vital your law firm marketing system is to the success of your legal marketing plan. Your lead flow system is the next logical step in the systems you need to be successful. If your law firm marketing system is working well, it should be producing a large number of lead opportunities for you. What you do with those opportunities is nearly as important has generating the opportunities.
First, you should develop strategies for increasing the number of leads and tracking them. Legal marketing can do some of the heavy lifting for you on identifying lead prospects. But going from a possible lead to a genuine lead and prospect requires a well-designed system that includes follow through.
Second, you should develop a system for tracking all incoming leads and where the leads are in the sales pipeline. Once a lead comes in, someone has to be tasked with keeping track of the lead status so leads do not fall through the cracks. Lost leads are lost opportunities, and are akin to leaving money on the table. They also hurt your reputation with your referral sources if they supplied the referral and you didn’t follow through on the lead.
Here are some questions to ask as you think about your lead system:
- Who sorts the leads to rank them by priority?
- How do we prioritize leads?
- Who is responsible for assigning leads to members of the firm for follow up?
- Who maintains the follow-up system and holds the firm members accountable?
Converting possibilities and referrals into leads is one of the key conversion tasks of your firm. Generating referrals from your legal marketing strategy is the first step in building your business.
Converting those leads into clients, and ultimately referral sources, is how you grow your firm into what you envisioned when you began. Without a good lead flow system, the likelihood of you maximizing the possibilities of your marketing program is slim.
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Looking for more Rainmaker Institute Wisdom?
Then sign up for a complimentary Law Firm Marketing Strategy CD. It contains information that will enable you to Generate More and Better Referrals, Find New Clients Fast, and Fill Your Law Practice. The CD is free, so sign up now!
Put some Spring into your legal Marketing step
Spring is nature’s time of renewal. The grey of winter is gone, the snow has melted and the landscape burst forth in a frenzy of blooms, colors and new growth. Spring is also when many people move their exercise programs outside to take in the sights and sounds of the birds that have returned. It’s also a good time to give your law firm marketing strategies a shot of energy.
Legal marketing can kick into the next gear now that taxes are done, the winter is over, and spring break has passed with the family vacations. There is a window from now until summer where people tend to really buckle down at work ahead of the summer vacation season.
Spring is when the dead is pruned and cast away, and new growth is nurtured. If you have elements of your law firm marketing plan that need pruning, now is the time to do so. If you have staff who could use a little fertilizer boost in the form of training and motivation, invest in it. Growth doesn’t come from tired and worn out soil.
Now is a good time, if you haven’t done so already, to get your referral source visits scheduled, and make time work on the human side of your legal marketing plan. If you are a golfer, combine your passion for golf with a referral source. A few hours on the links relaxing and playing a game you both love is a great way to invest in a referral source.
There is an energy, a buzz, to spring. Let that energy infuse your office and staff and energize your efforts to build your practice to the level you dreamed of when you started. The dreary doldrums of winter are gone, and the dog days of summer are not yet upon us. This is the perfect time to seize the moment and join in with the renewal that nature is displaying. Review your law firm marketing plan and strategies and see where you need to prune, cultivate and fertilize. Then get growing!
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Are you looking for specific marketing strategies you can use in your law firm?
Then order the Rainmaker in a Box 5-DVD set!
Some of the information and strategies you will learn include:
- The 5 Immutable Secrets to Building a 7 Figure Law Practice
- Secrets of Building a Referral-based Law Practice for Busy Practitioners
- The Top 6 Most Powerful Online Marketing Strategies for Attorneys
- Action, Accountability and Next Steps
This program also includes a data DVD which includes all 4 PowerPoint slides for all 4 presentations. We recommend you print all these off and take notes on them as you watch the 4 intense DVDs.
To order this information-packed set click here.
Legal marketing ideas flowed at Las Vegas Rainmaker Retreat
The crowd at last weekend’s Rainmaker Retreat was revved up to turbo charge their law firm marketing plans and take their practice to the next level. Even though each Rainmaker Retreat is slightly different, customized to meet the needs of actual attendees, one thing remains the same—attorneys who attend the Rainmaker Retreat law firm marketing boot camp leave with over 62 proven tools they can immediately use to generate more and better referrals and increase their revenues!
The overwhelming majority of attorneys who attend are partners or owners of small law firms or are in solo practice. Many of whom wisely bring a staff member who can then help them implement their legal marketing plan. They are all highly-motivated individuals passionate about improving their legal marketing strategies.
One of the shifts many attorneys experience is the mindset of moving from having a practice to owning a business. Many attorneys initially have the belief that can be summed up as, “I'm an attorney who just happens to be in a practice. Law is a profession and therefore does not need to be marketed like other businesses.”
By the time they leave, these same attorneys have often experienced a mind shift towards, “I'm a business owner who just happens to practice law and while the application may be slightly different, the ‘rules of marketing’ apply to my business just like they do every other business.”
If you haven’t ever attended a Rainmaker Retreat, I encourage you to add one of our upcoming Rainmaker Retreats into your schedule. I guarantee it will be the best 2 days you have ever spent learning how to grow your law business! In addition to our upcoming retreat this weekend in Las Angeles, our current schedule of Rainmaker Retreats includes:
- Scottsdale, AZ, May 21&22
- San Francisco, June 18 &19
- Las Vegas, July 16 & 17
- Los Angeles, July 30 &31
If you are still unsure about attending, read the words of some of the attorneys who attended the recent Las Vegas Rainmaker Retreat.
“The program was fast paced, loaded with content and, unlike many seminars, commanded constant and undivided attention. I now feel I have specific steps to take besides waiting for the phone to ring.”
- Michael Hickman, Partner
“This course exceeded my expectations, doubly exceeded my cynicism, and made me feel I was wasting big bucks taking a restroom break.”
- William Bachrach, Partner
“Worth every minute and every dollar. A new world for business development.”
- Joseph George, Jr., Partner
Come and find out for yourself how the Rainmaker Retreat can change your legal marketing in ways you could not imagine. The time and money you invest will be recouped far more quickly than you can imagine.
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Complimentary Rainmaker Retreat Preview DVD is Available
We would like to send you a DVD of your colleagues (and even your competitors) describing their experiences at the 2 day Rainmaker Retreat. Yes, we know you are skeptical (we wouldn't have it any other way). So instead of us telling you how these 2 days will transform your business, we will let our clients do the telling.
Click here to order your complimentary DVD right now.
Successful legal marketing requires good market research
Market research is one of those tasks that many people think they only have to do when they launch their law firm and are writing their law firm marketing plan. But the most successful legal marketers are regularly performing market research to determine what the market looks like and what changes have occurred since their last review of the market.
There are two types of market research – primary and secondary. Primary is focused on your firm, your practice areas, and your target market(s). Primary is generally more expensive than secondary research, but the results are more tailored to your firm. If you can afford primary research, it is a good option.
Secondary research is generally less expensive and not as focused on you and your firm, but more focused on the industry. The good news about secondary research is that there is an abundance of information available.
That is also the bad news. You will spend part of your research time sorting the wheat from the chaff when you are performing secondary research.
Some good sources of secondary research are:
- Studies from Bar associations
- White papers from conferences on your particular area of expertise
- Marketing trend studies from legal trade groups
- News release on your subject area
- Reports from research firms that conduct primary research
Many of these sources can be accessed via the internet, at little or no cost to you. Start with the organizations where you hold a membership such as your local and state bar association, the American Bar Association, any specialty groups you belong to such as the American Bankruptcy Institute etc.
These groups will have a great deal of information available on their websites that will allow you to create and update your law firm marketing plan with the latest legal marketing strategies with reports from the front lines. You will still need to sift the data to find that which is most useful to you, but you can benefit from research that someone else has paid for as you craft your legal marketing plan.
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Practice Made Perfect For Lawyers: 10 Principles for Marketing Your Legal Services
This comprehensive law firm marketing training manual is specifically designed for attorneys who desire to achieve a higher return on investment from all their legal marketing efforts by applying Stephen's unique High Impact Legal Marketing System to the challenges faced by solo and small law firms.
The set includes: An audio CD that provides you with an overview of the '10 Principles for Marketing Your Legal Services', a CD with ideas on how to maximize your results, a 130+ page Law Firm Marketing Manual, and a Data CD that contains customizable templates and forms to help you create a legal marketing budget and strategic development plan. Just a few of the tools you will discover in this highly practical legal marketing manual include:
* Over 50 specific law firm marketing strategies
* Why advertising doesn't work for most small law firms
* Strategies for achieving maximum results from all of your online legal marketing efforts
* How to retain your best clients.
Successful law firm marketing requires measurement and training
Earlier, I posted some information from Richard Strauch, COO at The Rainmaker Institute about creating a strong law firm marketing plan. This post continues that discussion with some thoughts on measuring the effectiveness of your legal marketing strategies. There is an old business maxim that applies here – what gets measured gets done.
First, develop reports for tracking effectiveness of marketing efforts. When you are starting out, take the time to determine what you want to know. What kind of information do you need to give effective feedback and measurement of your legal marketing strategies? When you are developing your reports, don’t just look at what data you think you will generate. Instead, design your system and your reports to generate the data you want.
Second, create metrics for quantifying ROI of all major marketing initiatives. This may sound complicated, but it really isn’t. What you want to do is create a system of measurement that allows you to track the Return on Investment, or bang for your buck, on all of your major initiatives. If an imitative costs $10,000 per year, and yields $50,000 in new business, you have a 500% ROI. But you have to be able to track both the costs and the new business that flows from that initiative.
Third, take the time to train your staff. We have said it before that the best-laid plans are useless if they are not executed well. Training your staff allows two beneficial things to happen. First, you get the data you want. Second, it frees up your time so that you can focus on the tasks that have the highest value within your law firm. You don’t want the high-dollar billing staff doing things that should be handled by junior staff or clerical staff. That is an inefficient use of your human resources.
There are a number of ways to measure your data, but you first have to decide what you want to know. Once you have that answered, you can design a measurement system that will give you the data on your law firm marketing activities that you desire.
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Looking for more Rainmaker Institute Wisdom?
Then sign up for a complimentary Law Firm Marketing Strategy CD. It contains information that will enable you to Generate More and Better Referrals, Find New Clients Fast, and Fill Your Law Practice. The CD is free, so sign up now!
"Mastering" Legal Marketing requires dedication, practice, and keeping your eye on the ball
Today is the opening round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. There are a number of similarities between those who are successful at law firm marketing and those who are successful at winning one of the most prestigious events in golf.
First, anyone who wants to be successful at golf, legal marketing, or any pursuit has to have an intense dedication to their craft. Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer are maybe the most famous winners of the green jacket, and they all were single-minded in their pursuit of excellence.
They relentlessly pursued perfection in the physical and mental aspects of the game. Legal marketers would be wise to take notice of that and devote their focus to being the best possible marketers possible. Invest in training and study and hone your skills as you work toward your goals.
Second, like golfers, legal marketers have to deal with distractions. This is the mental part of the game that is so difficult. There are rarely perfect conditions in golf, and the same applies to law firm marketing. There will always be something that is pressing for your attention that can take your eyes off of the ball.
Learning to tune those things out and focus on the task at hand is one of the most difficult aspects of golf and legal marketing. Those other things may be good things, but they are not where your time and energy need to be devoted.
Lastly, remember that you are competing against some of the best in the world at what they do. The Masters attracts the greatest golfers in the world who are competing at the highest level. In the legal marketing world, you are going up against some highly-skilled professionals who are masters of their craft. But the advantage doesn’t always go to the most skilled. Sometimes it goes to those who are the most determined.
Enjoy the Masters this weekend and appreciate the hard work and dedication that you are witnessing. Take those lessons back to your firm and apply them to your law firm marketing strategies. You may not win a green jacket, but you will reach your goals.
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Complimentary Rainmaker Retreat Preview DVD is Available
We would like to send you a DVD of your colleagues (and even your competitors) describing their experiences at the 2 day Rainmaker Retreat. Yes, we know you are skeptical (we wouldn't have it any other way). So instead of us telling you how these 2 days will transform your business, we will let our clients do the telling.
Click here to order your complimentary DVD right now.
Focus your legal marketing on your core competency
One of the keys you need to understand in order to be successful with your legal practice and law firm marketing plan is to clearly recognize your core competency. Many attorneys waste far too much of their precious time, energy, and potential profits by trying to be everything to everybody as a way of expanding their practice.
If they looked at the real cost to their law firm in terms of lost time, wasted efforts, poor productivity, and decreased revenues perhaps they would be more open to staying close to their core competency.
I have found this can happen on two different levels: firm-wide and personally.
I have seen law firms try to be all things to all people, and dilute their brand. You have heard me preach the value creating a niche for your business. Being a firm that does everything – criminal defense, family law, estate planning, business law etc – makes it difficult for your referral sources to know your ideal target market. It also makes it difficult for you to effectively market your firm.
I have also seen successful attorneys who are excellent at estate planning and business law try their hand at litigation with disastrous results. Knowing your limits as well as your strengths is key to having a successful law practice.
What I am saying is if you're not good at business development and marketing, don’t let your firm suffer because of your pride or unwillingness to invest the necessary money to outsource that critical component.
Here are a few other examples that I've found a lot of attorneys try to do by themselves that they would be better off delegating or outsourcing:
- Developing their own website or learning how to build one from scratch
- Asking for help when it comes to developing and implementing marketing plans.
- Trying to keep track of their finances using QuickBooks instead of using an accountant.
I'm not saying you should outsource your entire company, but unless you have specific experience in certain areas, you will not be able to represent yourself and your firm in the best possible light without the help of other experienced professionals.
Focusing on your core competency means doing what you do best and asking for help with the rest. Law firm marketing is one of those areas. If you don’t have the time or expertise, find an experienced legal marketer and let him or her guide you through the process.
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Looking for more proven tactics from The Rainmaker Institute?
Then subscribe to our FREE monthly e-newsletter. One click of your mouse will take you to our site where you can see the current issue and subscribe to our complimentary monthly e-newsletter that will be delivered to your inbox. Each issue is chock-full of legal marketing information you can put to use right away. I think you will find the information in every newsletter something you will want to share with your staff to maximize the effectiveness of your legal marketing plan.
Marketing For Lawyers - Mistakes Attorneys Make--and How to Avoid Them, Mistake #5
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MARKETING MISTAKE 5:
NOT TESTING AND RETESTING YOUR LAW FIRM MARKETING EFFORTS
Not testing your marketing efforts is like going through an entire jury trial but neglecting to hear the verdict. Here's a great little litmus test to apply to your lawyer marketing efforts:
If you can't measure it, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.
I recommend you try to measure your every marketing effort and if you can't measure it, you probably shouldn’t be doing it because you can never be sure about your results other than basing them on a feeling or your intuition.
In marketing for attorneys - Every marketing effort you make should have at least one to two things you are testing. For example:
Let's say you own an accounting firm and you want to do some direct mailings. You decide as part of your marketing plan to send out 1000 postcards to prospects on your mailing list to invite them to contact you.
Develop two postcards with two different headlines:
• Postcard 1 says: “Every year most small business owners overpay 22% on their federal taxes due to errors made by their accountant. Call today for your FREE report on 10 common mistakes accountants make that cost you money.”
• Postcard 2 says: “Last year the IRS conducted audits on 425,729 small businesses that cost the average owner 276 hours of their time and $9, 223 in legal and accounting fees. Call today to receive your free 75 question checklist and how to audit-proof your business in 5 easy
steps.”
• Then divide your mailing list into two groups of 500 each and track the results by putting a different code word on the bottom of each group of postcards. When prospects contact you to receive their free report ask them for the code word to track which headline produces better results.
You can use a similar strategy for many different marketing tactics. For example, if you're offering a discount for your product in a newspaper ad—try offering a percent off the retail price for two months, then try offering a specific dollar amount off for two months and track the results. Or if you use email and law firm Internet marketing strategies, create two different landing pages on your law firm websites with two different offers and see which one “pulls in” more prospects to your email list.
Always look for ways you can test your efforts, but don’t introduce too many variables at once because if you're trying to measure three or more variables you can never be sure which one is responsible for the results.
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Step your law firm marketing strategy into high gear. Register for your private consultation today. A Private Consultation is just the beginning to what could be one of the best decisions you have ever made for your practices and yourself! Here are 3 ways to register for your Private Consultation:
- Call 888-588-5891
- Email Diane, Director of Client Relations at Diane@TheRainmakerInstitute.com
- Click here to purchase online.
When you register by email or online someone will contact you within 24 hours to set up your appointment.
Marketing For Lawyers - Mistakes Attorneys Make--and How to Avoid Them, Mistake #1
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In having coached more than 6,000 attorneys in small and solo law firms over the years, I’ve discovered that in law firm marketing they share many commonalities. One of these is their realization that marketing for lawyers is challenging; it is time-consuming, budget-draining and often lacking in results.
And the reasons why attorneys find marketing their practices so challenging are best summed up in the 10 major marketing mistakes that attorneys make when creating their law firm marketing plan. We will be introducing each mistake in upcoming posts.
Law Firm Marketing MISTAKE 1:
BELIEVING “IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME”
One of the most common mistakes attorneys make in their law firm marketing plan is their believing “If you build it, they will come.” It’s the false belief that all you need to do to grow your practice is to tell friends and family about it, or to place a Yellow Pages ad, and people will be lining up outside your door.
This is simply not true.
To be successful in business, you need to take an active role in that business. Top rainmaker attorneys do not risk their chances of success by depending on someone else to spoon feed clients to them. They actively seek new clients. They seek to control their destiny rather than placing their financial future in another’s hands.
It takes more than courage and money to make a new business succeed; marketing your law firm takes creating and daily implementing a law firm marketing plan of action.
The next several blogs will discuss marketing for attorneys and the actions that will truly bring success.
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Why every single law firm should have a blog... In this economy, it’s critical to stand apart from others in the industry. Join us for this 60 minute webinar on August 5th, led by Kevin O’Keefe, President and Founder of LexBlog. Attorneys across the country have integrated blogging into their practice with great results. Spend 60 minutes with us and learn how blogging will really make a difference in your practice. Click here to learn How to attend this Session and Receive Your Digital Audio Clip...
