Profiting With Public Relations

Keeping Prospects Warm: Reasons To Get In Touch With Them

Filling your pipeline with prospects is only half the battle, the other half requires staying in touch without being obtrusive. This is where businesses lose hundreds and thousands of dollars each year, because they fail to follow up in a consistent manner. Common excuses given by attorneys range from: how can I be more efficient  in my relationship building activities to I don't know how to do this.
Staying in contact is something that I cover extensively in session two of "How To Grow Your Law Practice On A Shoestring Budget" teleseminar.
Here are some items  that I have  found very helpful in staying in the prospect's radar, for example inviting them to events, such as:

• networking events
• sporting events
• non-profit charity events
• social events such as wine tasting, fashion shows etc.

To find out more how you can not only stay in touch and maintain that contact with prospects contact me at pmahli@suncommunicationsgroup.com for a consultation.

 

Tidbit: Tips For Nuturing Your Relationship With Your Marketing Firm

Even when law firms find "marketing/public relations" agency or consultant of their dreams. Like any other client relationship, both parties MUST work together and  keep the working relationship healthy, whole, with both quantifiable and non quantifiable deliverables. Below is a checklist to review when working with a consultant/agency:

• Set realistic expectations up-front for goals and deliverables.
• Meet with ALL the team responsible for your account.
• Be open share ideas and thoughts with pr/marketing folks.
• Providing ongoing feedback-both positive and negative.
• Meet regularly to discuss results and modify strategy.
• Celebrate the successes, It builds teamwork.
• Should you need to end the business relationship, act quickly but be certain to honour contractual agreements so that the firm's reputation remains solid.

How Complicated Is Your Business Development Plan?

Regardless of how limited your marketing dollars or experience may be, you’re more likely to succeed if you have a plan. Best of all, the plan need not be complicated.
 
Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, published by Free Press in 1989, says to "begin with the end in mind." Simply put, it is like going to London without knowing how you are going to get there, where you are going to stay or what you are going to do and see. In fact, most of us are just not that adventurous and can't imagine taking off to some foreign location without some sort of plan.

Of course, some think that formulating a plan in your head is good enough. Wrong. You don't see the holes, gaps and pitfalls. Getting it out of your head and onto paper is not as overwhelming as you may perceive it to be.

Here’s a checklist:

1.    Take inventory: Assess your strengths and weaknesses as far as deciding what marketing you want to implement. For example, if you don’t like writing and don’t have the patience to write but you’re gregarious and enjoy speaking, then giving seminars and presentations might be more appropriate for you. You may want to assign the task of writing articles to someone else in your firm or get external help.

2.    Are you clear on your target market? This is one area in which I strongly advise clients—especially those from small firms and with their own practice—to consider taking the time and getting clear on. Knowing your client market WILL save you time, money and frustration. It will also SAVE your limited marketing dollars because you will be clear on how these prospects are likely to to be reached, what events they attend, what their reading habits are, etc., thereby making it easier for you to implement your marketing. Understand that you won't be able to rush through the client profiling process. The information you gather during this process will be the foundation for many significant decisions. Infact the ideal client market is one of the most popular sections of our tele-class "How to Grow Your Law Practice On A Shoestring Budget."

3.    Know yourself and your work habits and patterns. Monitor them for a week, and determine how much time you spend with clients, how much time you network, and when you do this. Knowing this will help make your networking and marketing endeavors work better for you. For example, if you are a morning person, then by all means attend breakfast-related networking events; on the other hand, if you prefer the evening, then schedule a couple of events in the evening. This will be different for everybody, but knowing your rhythms will make all your business development activities more effective.

4.    If you don’t have a Web site and are in a financial bind, consider getting a blog up. It is relatively easy and inexpensive. Make certain that you include your bio as well as information that clearly demonstrates how your practice can benefit prospects. Case studies and testimonials are effective ways of doing this.

Finally, it’s important to understand that there really is nothing new in marketing. Regardless of which marketing tactics you choose, the key to the success of your marketing is consistency and making adjustments when the need arises. More is not necessarily better; doing a few things right is not only considerably cheaper but far more effective. Looking for the latest marketing gimmick is a sure way to fail and demonstrates a lack of thoughtfulness. It’s about knowing your strengths and weaknesses and asking for help.

Taking Stock in Slower Economic Times

    Slow economic times are blessings in disguise, as these particular periods provide ample opportunity to revisit the law firm business plans and modify them accordingly. Below are a couple of suggestions to get you started:

Action Steps:

• Take stock of what worked and what didn't. Create two lists.
• List action items in order of the easiest to improve to the most difficult.
• Name areas of your practice which you need help with.  Is it systems? Time management or improving a current marketing tactic such as speaking. Let's face it, when you're giving presentations you want to be invited back, rather than re-inventing the wheel. Do you know which strategies to implement?

    My partner in crime Allison C. Shields of Legal Ease Consulting  and I put together a tele-class, "How To Grow Your Law Practice On A Shoe-String Budget".  Consider buying the home study version and working at your own pace. The class provides a foundation for understanding and implementing a marketing plan. Here's what past participants have said:

"I have really enjoyed listening to both of you. I have learned a lot from both of you, and it has caused me to do a lot of thinking about my clients and my practice. Candidly, the class exceeded my expectations about receiving information to "put it all together" to market my practice. Thank you both for putting together and presenting a great class.”
-Mark R. Callender, Esq., Baton Rouge, Louisiana

"The materials were excellent. I would definitely recommend it to other attorneys. I'm already using some of the tactics I learned, particularly: focusing on two or three people at networking events, the two and fifteen minute rules, and the ‘big rock/little rock’ concept. My expectations of the teleseminar were more than met."
-Brian Mittman, Esq., White Plains, New York

Seminar Marketing For Law Firms

Holding seminars on a newsworthy topic tied to your practice
is a very effective way to generate prospects for law firms.
They provide law firms, a myriad of business development
opportunities ranging from, the opportunity to showcase their
expertise to a room full of potential clients, to re-connecting
with old clients. Done well, they are informative, educational and
unobtrusive. Most importantly they help move prospects along the
sales funnel.

Purely from a strategy perspective, seminars in addition to other
public relations activities, such as getting published, writing,
speaking and taking on leadership roles provides law firms,
another platform to build their credentials in the prospects
hearts and minds.

To find out how we can help email me at
pmahli@suncommunicationgroup.com or visit The Sun Communication Group.

Next week a checklist for putting seminars together.

Tidbit: 10 Reasons For Retaining Loyal Clients

Too often small professional service firms are focusing on growing their businesses and often neglect their current customers. Here are some pointers that will grow your businesses through leveraging:

•    Gather feedback. Through telephone call, lunch or a more formal method such as surveys.
•    Thank clients for referrals. Send handwritten notes.
•    In your regular newsletters offer tips and how to’s .
•    Hold client appreciation days such a cocktail party, seminar or visit to an interesting local
•    Feature a client of the month in your marketing communications materials. Everybody loves to be recognized and acknowledged.
•    Launch a blog – focusing on issues effecting your client or industry.
•    Be innovative – think of ways of improving client relationships.
•    Form a client advisory board and ask for feedback on a new service that your organization maybe planning.
•    Return client calls within 24 hours or sooner!
•    Ask for feedback to improve your services

To find out  how we can help you. Email me.

Non-Billables Contribution to Your Legal Practice's Bottom Line (Part Two)

Attorneys will inevitably have to broaden their skill sets beyond practicing law. Firms should have tailored networking plans, become sources for the press, write articles in publications geared toward their target markets and speak at seminars and industry-related events.

Experienced marketing professionals can help educate, train and guide the key players who will be building the firm’s relationships and boosting business development.

    Having the right structure in place will help the firm measure the effectiveness of its marketing plan. One of the most successful approaches to marketing is the use of practice groups, highlighted by Patrick McKenna and David Maister in their book First Among Equals. For any firm, practice groups are the most successful way to structure marketing. Each group has a specific target audience, and a specific set of skills and techniques.

    The following are fundamental to the success of a marketing plan:

    1. Identify and prioritize the firm’s objectives. All the firm’s efforts must be focused on what will do the most good, saving time, money and resources rather than practicing random acts of marketing and business development.
    2. Create a position statement, outlining benefits that the practice groups offer their target markets. Clarity will eliminate any mixed messages sent to prospects.
    3. Outline how results will be measured.
    4. Incorporate marketing strategies, indicating where and how the firm’s prospects get their information.
    Once you have a strategic plan in place, (the big picture) then you need to evaluate your marketing model. This is a good indicator as to how likely you are to meet your objectives.

    Take a long look at all your marketing tactics; what may have worked very well in the past may no longer work at this stage of growth. Understand the difference between advertising and public relations. Name recognition does not automatically mean a good reputation. Reputation has to be tied with the value of the services the firm is known for.

    Lead generation systems must run smoothly. If not, take steps to make them work cohesively and effectively together.

    Tweak your weakest public relations tactics (speaking, writing, networking, etc.) Allocate deadlines to help get tasks performed, especially if evaluation periods are looming. Leverage your marketing so that everything is working in sync. To find out  how you can effectively leverage all your marketing check out our home study version of teleseminar: "How To Grow Your Law Practice On A Shoe String Budget".

    Finally, it’s important to understand there really is nothing new in marketing. Regardless of which marketing tactics you choose, the key to the success of your marketing is consistency and making adjustments when the need arises. More is not necessarily better; doing a few things right is not only considerably cheaper but far more effective. Looking for the latest marketing gimmick is sure way to fail and demonstrates a lack of thoughtfulness. It’s about knowing your strengths and weaknesses and asking for help.

Non-Billables Contribution to Your Legal Practice's Bottom Line

Many lawyers enjoy practicing law much more than they enjoy running and building a business. Considering their training, it's no surprise that lawyers don't want to do any business planning.

    Yet, study after study has shown that those with formalized plans -- for business or life -- are more likely to succeed than those without such plans. Yet business planning need not be complicated. Andrea Combs, staff reporter of the Wall Street Journal, June 3rd, 2007,in an article entitled, “Starting a Business? Don’t Do This,” pointed out that only 44 percent of small businesses with more than one employee survive after the first four years. The article points out that one of the biggest mistakes contributing to this statistic is the lack of a detailed marketing plan and the failure to seek advice from seasoned professionals.

    Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People published by Free Press in 1989, says to "begin with the end in mind." Simply put, it is like going to London without knowing how you are going to get there, where you are going to stay or what you are going to do and see. In fact, most of us are just not that adventurous and can't imagine taking off to some foreign location without some sort of plan.

Of course, some think that formulating a plan in your head is good enough. Wrong. You don't see the holes, gaps and pitfalls. Getting it out of your head and onto paper is not as overwhelming as you may perceive it to be.

    Not all strategic marketing plans are about growth. Objectives can range from focusing on building and developing relationships with your current client base, to solidifying your referral networks, to making sure infrastructure exists to support growth.

    It’s almost certain that any legal-marketing plan will fail without proper support from all managing partners and without the right structure.

    Managing partners need to understand the importance of marketing and must be able to explain why marketing is crucial to the growth of the firm. Non billable marketing contributes to the firm’s bottom line and helps measure compensation for everyone, including the office administration support staff and marketing professionals.

Part two will be posted tomorrow.

Skills Needed By Lawyers Working In A Global Market.

    As national borders disappear, the ability for global exchange of goods, services and information is creating boundless opportunities and challenges for the legal industry in the U.S.  Law firms, regardless of size continue to expand across borders, collaborate with foreign counsel and form global mergers. New technologies such as websites, blogs, social networking sites, listservs and email have made it easier to develop a global client base.

    While the opportunities to do business abroad may be increasing the traditional view held by many law firms is that only large law firms have foreign clients. A recent online survey conducted by Walker Clark, LLC, demonstrated otherwise. The results from the survey indicated that firms with LESS than 20 attorneys have foreign clients.

    In a recent two day conference on International Corporate Social Responsibility, held in New York City, Elizabeth Wall, an attorney and GC  who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic stated that in today's  24/7 fast paced global community, ALL attorneys need to develop global characteristics.

Here is a condensed version of those characteristics:

1. Take charge in a crisis.

2. Have another language in your marketing arsenal, or at a very basic learn a few practical expressions in the client's mother tongue.

3. Show an interest in current affairs domestic and international.

4. Network consistently, not just online networking, but breaking bread with important alliances of clients.

5. Political adroitness and diplomacy.

6. Cultural awareness, take a course in foreign customs and behaviour.

7. Communication, Communication, Communication at all levels.

8. Be knowledgeable of issues that may impact the client, for example corporate social responsibility.

9. Know the client's strategic vision.

10. Be unfailingly polite to EVERYONE when in client's office.

    On review, many of these traits, apply equally to attorneys who conduct business domestically. What really stuck out in Elizabeth's presentation was her point that a combination of soft and hard skill set was no longer a luxury but a necessity to survive in a global marketplace.

8 Ways to Improve your Legal Practice in an Economic Downturn.

    The last couple of months has seen increasing focus and coverage on the state of the American economy. According to economists, the economy is in a far worse state than originally anticipated; which in turn has led to the current administration working fast and furiously, putting together an economic stimulus package.

    Understandably, there is a lot of talk about doom and gloom. A popular topic of discussion in business circles is  how to keep your businesses growing in slow times.  For example, should business owners, spend more on advertising, blogging, attending trade shows etc. Or should they review current marketing plans.

    To be candid, all of these lead generation methods have their advantages, but, there are other actions attorneys can take, in their  legal practice, that are more likely to produce more bang for your buck when things are slow.

Here are some areas to review in your legal practice:

1. How frequently do you reach out to your professional networks? How well do you maintain your extended networks?

2. Harvard Business School research found that a 5% increase in customer loyalty can lead to 40% to 90% increases in the lifetime value of that customer relationship. You need to earn your customer's loyalty. What are you doing to improve your client systems?

3. Are you perceived as the expert in your niche? If not, what concrete actions steps are you taking? Do you know where to begin to start building your expert status?

4. Review your strategic plans. Slow times are a great time to review your plans and see if you are still on track.

5. Are you taking opportunities of collaborating with strategic partners and authoring articles for local papers and trade journals. If so, how  are you leveraging them?

6. Are the systems in your legal practice operating efficiently like a well oiled machinery? If not, what area needs improvement? Your marketing? Public Relations? Managing clients? Are you still searching for a systems that WORKS for you?

7. Is the press calling to quote you?  When was the last time a reporter called you?

8. Do prospects get to see and hear you up close and personal. How often and where are you speaking?

    Reviewing all these different areas of your law practice, and discovering where weaknesses lie are far more  likely to be  productive and dollar cost effective, instead of trying new marketing strategies and hoping they will work.

     Allison C. Shields of Legal Ease Consulting  and I will be giving an 8 part teleseminar  How to Grow Your Law Practice on a Shoe String Budget discussing all these areas in considerable detail. To take advantage of the early bird offer please register at: How to Grow Your Legal Practice on a Shoe String Budget.