The Rainmaker Blog : Law Firm Marketing and Business Development : The Rainmaker Institute : Stephen Fairley : Professional Legal Marketing

This weekend I’m meeting with the Rainmaker Mastermind Group, an exclusive group of non-competing attorneys and law firm marketing experts who meet three times a year for an intense, all-day strategy session.

Here, attorneys have the opportunity to learn in the company of other top attorneys where to find the necessary resources, tap into creative ideas and apply the skills they need to transform their current practice.

There are 5 key benefits to being a member of the Rainmaker Mastermind Group:

1. Specialized Knowledge: No one person knows it all, which is one of the most common reasons people fall short of their goal or choose not to take chances. People believe they don't have the knowledge or required education to get where they want to be. The fact is, no successful individual has become successful because he knew everything. The most successful people are not the ones who know how to do everything, but the ones who know how to get people to assist them with what they don't know.  While it is your duty to be experts in your particular area of law, it is not possible for you to know everything there is to know about all aspects of the law or building a law practice. For instance, you may know little about law firm marketing, law firm websites, Law firm marketing plans and the like. But by being part of a mastermind group, you can leverage the knowledge and strengths of everyone around you to move forward more quickly toward your goals.

2. Definiteness of Purpose: Definiteness of purpose is a key to your success. If you do not know with absolute certainty what you want, you are not likely to reach the level of success that is possible. Mastermind groups offer knowledge, information, and direction.

Members will help you stay on track, call you out when you are not doing what you say you are going to do, and generally serve as the more rational voice inside you to keep your eye on the prize. However, you have to be clear on your own purpose if you expect to get the most out of the experience. The clearer you are about your purpose, the more success you will find.

3. Infinite Experience: An individual who is trying to develop a strategy to grow his or her law practice for the first time has a higher probability of failure because he or she has finite experience. You have only what you currently know to guide you. However, the mastermind group has infinite experience. It has years of combined experience, knowledge and insight from which you can draw to accelerate your learning curve. 

4. Group Energy: Many attorneys at small and solo law firms struggle without consistent interaction with their peers on a daily basis. They may work with clients and attend events a few times a month, but working in isolation can limit your growth. Having a mastermind group keeps you connected, helps you to see that your struggles are not unique, and that you can have outrageous success even if you stumble once in a while.

5. Higher Levels of Accountability: When you have a group of likeminded people committed to you and your goals, it is much more difficult to let things go than when you are working alone. Having others who are expecting you to achieve the goals you have set for yourself can often add that little extra bit of motivation you need to follow through. In addition, when you know that others feel accountable to you, there is a sense of responsibility you have to do what you say you are going to do. Accountability works both ways and it is one of the primary reasons why mastermind groups are so effective.

If you are interested in being considered for membership in the Rainmaker Mastermind Group, email me: Stephen@therainmakerinstitute.com.

 

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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.
 

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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.

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Law Firm Marketing MISTAKE 2:
TARGETING THE WRONG MARKET

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see among attorneys especially in small law firm marketing—targeting the wrong market. Identifying and targeting the right market for your services is the most important thing you can do marketing your law firm to ensure the success of your practice. If you don’t target the right market, nothing else you do will matter.

Let me give you an example.

As a law firm marketing consultant I was talking with a lawyer in Chicago and asking her about her target market. She said that her target market was small business owners who were too small to need in-house counsel or who couldn’t afford the high priced downtown lawyers. They needed someone who understood the legal issues small businesses face and who offered them a flexible payment plan.

I asked her, “Do you know how many small business owners there are here in Chicago?”

“No,” she replied.

I stated, “Recently, Crain’s Chicago business magazine reported there were over 300,000 small business owners here in Chicago.

“Now, I've never been very good at math, but for the sake of illustration, let's say that only 50 percent of those business owners needed or wanted your services, that’s a pretty large task trying to reach 150,000 prospects even once.”

Marketing research has shown that it takes seven “touches” before a prospective client becomes a client. The Law of 7 Touches is based on research that found it takes an average of 7 to 10 meaningful touches EVERY YEAR to move someone through the cycle from not knowing anything about you to being ready to buy from you.

This is just the average, not a guarantee, because in hypercompetitive markets, like legal services, it often takes many more touches than that. In addition, it also takes consistency.

There are also ways you can speed up this process and create multiple touches all at once by being highly-targeted in your marketing materials; using technology like law firm internet marketing, law firm websites and using mail delivered by the post office.

In general, only 3 percent to 5 percent of your target market is ready to buy at any given time. Therefore, it’s how you reach the other 95 percent to 97 percent that will make or break your business. You must consistently be in front of your prospects to be at the top of their minds when they are ready to buy.

Now that you know The Law of 7 Touches, you can better understand why it’s so vital to narrow your target market in your law firm marketing plan. Remember the story I told about the Chicago attorney who targeted small business? Well, according to The Law of 7 Touches, you multiply this lawyer’s 150,000 prospects by a factor of 7, maybe 10. That means she would need to produce 1 to 1.5 million meaningful touches every year. Considering both her time and money, there is no possible way a typical solo practitioner could do that and smart business owners who are also smart marketers won't even try.

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Do you want to know what will move you to the front page of Google faster than anything else? Join us on August 5^th for a 60 minute webinar led by Kevin O’Keefe, President and Founder of LexBlog 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...

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On Wednesday we discussed Mastermind Groups and what they are. This week John Bisnar shares with us the 5 major benefits that Mastermind Groups have in relation to Marketing for Lawyers.

1. Specialized Knowledge: No one person knows it all, which is one of the most common  reasons people fall short of their goal or choose not to take chances. People believe they don't have the knowledge or required education to get where they want to be. The fact is, no successful individual has become successful because he knew everything. The most successful people are not the ones who know how to do everything, but the ones who know how to get people to assist them with what they don't know.  While it is our duty to be experts in our particular area of law, it is not possible for us to know everything there is to know about all aspects of the law or building a law practice. For instance you may know little about law firm marketing, law firm websites, Law firm marketing plans and the like. But By being part of a mastermind group we can leverage the knowledge and strengths of everyone around us to move forward more quickly toward our goals.

2. Definiteness of Purpose: Definiteness of purpose is a key to your success. If you do not know with absolute certainty what you want, you are not likely to reach the level of success that is possible. Mastermind groups offer knowledge, information, and direction.

Members will help you stay on track, call you out when you are not doing what you say you are going to do, and generally serve as the more rational voice inside you to keep your eye on the prize. However, you have to be clear on your own purpose if you expect to get the most out of the experience. The clearer you are about your purpose, the more success you will find. This power should not be under-estimated.

3. Infinite Experience: An individual who is trying to develop a strategy to grow his or her law practice for the first time has a higher probability of failure because he or she has finite experience. You have only what you currently know to guide you. However, the mastermind group has infinite experience. It has years of combined experience, knowledge and insight from which you can draw to accelerate your learning curve. As Napoleon Hill said, "When a group of individual brains are coordinated and function in harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance becomes available to every individual brain in the group." I have experienced no greater shortcut to success than having access to infinite experience.

4.Group Energy: Many attorneys at small and solo law firms struggle without consistent interaction with their peers on a daily basis. They may work with clients and attend  events a few times a month, but working in isolation can limit your growth. Having a mastermind group keeps you connected, helps you to see that your struggles are not unique, and that you can have outrageous success even if you stumble once in a while.

5.Higher Levels of Accountability: When you have a group of likeminded people committed to you and your goals, it is much more difficult to let things go than when you are working alone. Having others who are expecting you to achieve the goals you have set for yourself can often add that little extra bit of motivation you need to follow through. In addition, when you know that others feel accountable to you, there is a sense of responsibility you have to do what you say you are going to do. Accountability works both ways and it is one of the primary reasons why mastermind groups are so effective.

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Action Step to Consider: If a Mastermind Group sounds like something you would be interested in please contact us by emailing Diane@theRainmakerInstitute.com or call 888-588-5891

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Law firm marketing is a struggle for most small law firms.

As an attorney in a small law firm or a solo practice, you cannot and should not try to do all your marketing by yourself. In any full blown legal marketing plan there are many moving parts, there is an expertise that must be applied to get the results you really want. Here are five keys to delegating when it comes to marketing for lawyers.

Key 1. Delegation is a learned skill. Attorneys must learn how to delegate certain parts of their law firm marketing plan, whether it's sending out letters, making follow up phone calls after a seminar, sending out your monthly newsletter, or building your law firm website. Your job as an attorney is to do two things: bring in new clients (be a Rainmaker) and bill them for your services (make money). Everything else is ancillary and should be delegated or outsourced.

Key 2. Delegation is not abdication. Delegating responsibility for a specific marketing project does not mean you completely abdicate responsibility. It doesn't mean you can't check in on the progress or hold people accountable for the results, I am not a proponent of abdicating responsibility for any major part of your law firm, especially one that makes you money like marketing.

Key 3. Trust is developed and must be mutual. In order to delegate your law firm's marketing plan you must have someone you can delegate to and you must trust them. You may not have anyone in your practice whom you trust enough to give the task of marketing your law firm. If not, then you have two choices, either hire someone or outsource your marketing to a law firm marketing consulting company that specializes in helping small law firms generate more referrals and find new clients fast, like The Rainmaker Institute, LLC.

However you decide to proceed you must realize that trust is developed over time and it must be mutual. You must believe the person entrusted with marketing has your best interests at heart and is competent. They must believe you will support their decisions and will not try to undermine their authority to make progress.

Key 4. Delegation is about control. Ultimately when an attorney says they can't delegate law firm marketing to someone else - I know it's about one thing -They have a need to control. To create a 7 figure law firm you must start to give up control. I have yet to meet a financially successful law firm where the partners micromanage everything. They have hired people they trust, they have trained them well, and they have implemented written systems to run the major parts of their law firm. If you're a "control freak," like a lot of partners, start with something small, like letting your web designer select the pictures on your new website, or hiring a professional copywriter to revise the copy for your law firm's brochure.  Hire great, competent people, train them, and then let them do their job.

Key 5. Your lack of ability to delegate is your biggest obstacle to success, both personally and financially. Please read this again. It is critical you understand that you will kill any chances of achieving true and lasting success if you are unwilling or unable to delegate important tasks to your key people or outsource them to trusted law firm marketing consultants. We have worked with over 6,000 lawyers and have seen great attorneys limit their financial success because they were not willing to give up control and focus on what they do best: serve their clients.

``I am extremely thankful I met Stephen Fairley and that I attended his Rainmaker Retreat.  I more than doubled my firm's annual revenue in the year since attending the Rainmaker Retreat and implementing Stephen's marketing program.  If you are willing to do the work, Stephen definitely has a proven method of driving new business into your firm.  I endorse his program, it clearly worked for me." --Gordon R. Levinson, Esq. (Levinson Law Group, Carlsbad, CA)

Come join us in Vegas next week for our 2 day marketing boot camp. We will teach you over 62 proven strategies to find more clients and generate massive amounts of referrals (even in this economy).  If your practice is hurting or you want to build a 7 figure law firm you definitely need to attend.  For more information or to sign-up go to: www.RainmakerRetreat.com or call 1-888-588-5891

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