This is a Guest Blog Post, compliments of Dr. Drew Stevens – a friend, colleague, consultant, speaker, expert media source, author of seven books including “Split Second Selling“, and President of Drew Stevens Consulting, offering free advice and guidance on Business Development & Sales on his blog.  By the way, if you’re not closing 50% – 70% of calls from potential clients, you might want to have a chat with Drew – that’s one of his specialties.

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There is a cliché that states for those that follow horoscopes that your moon is in….

Marketing your business works similarly. You need to create a gravitational pull – to you – so that you spend less time calling and handing out brochures. You need to invent magnetism so that clients gravitate to you.

One of the best methods for people to find out who you are is to announce your expertise to the world. Yes, let people find you. Think about this, when was the last time you ordered something from someone cold calling you? Meet any very wealthy cold calling stockbrokers or mortgage brokers recently?

My program in Split Second Marketing™ Building a Message that Clients Hear contains over 25 different marketing attraction techniques. Listed here is the top 7.

1. Speaking. One of the best methods to introduce your expertise is to tell others about what you do. Rotary’s, Kiwanis, Chambers of Commerce are constantly in need of experts. Contact these organizations or others to discuss content to enlighten their members. Participants are attracted by new and interesting content.
2. Writing Articles. There are more newspapers in circulation today then ever before. There is a multitude of newsletters, web sites, regional business magazines, and local newspapers starving for decent material. Articles need not be more than 500 to 1000 words. With good content and a solid byline your message can be in the hands of hundreds or thousands.
3. Website. The proliferation of the Internet allows others to discover your content and determine your value. Fees are inconsequential and the business world requires a website to denote your sincerity to clients.
4. Blogs. Similar to articles having a Blog serves two purposes 1) remaining in constant contact with current subscribers 2) enabling you to reach new clients at relatively no cost. The difference from articles is immediacy of availability and frequency of your content.
5. Lunch and Learns. These concise information sessions last no longer than 30 minutes during a corporate luncheon and feature your content. Benefits are a live audience, interested attendees and low cost of acquisition. The intent is not only delivery but possible business from attendees.
6. Booklets. Typically focused on one topic, these small content rich pieces feature your advice on one particular topic i.e. sales skills. Booklets can be used for potential clients as handouts or products to be sold at special events.
7. Products. When clients become enamored with your content your style and most importantly your results, they want you!!! Products such as CD’s, DVD’s, books, booklets, hooded sweatshirts, etc. make great passive income.

Refrain from the bromide tactics others use and begin to conduct yourself with poise, power and differentiation. The world today requires new methods of selling, new methods of marketing and more importantly, methods that are memorable. If you truly want to sell more, stop unearthing decision makers, let them search for you.

In a prior post (Potential Clients Fear The Phone?), I discussed the fear or mistrust potential clients have in contacting you and the simple way you can address that – and make your phone ring and your inbox fill-up by just adding a few words to your website or marketing material.

It’s only 93 words – but it can make all the difference in the world.

I featured a Personal Injury firm based in New Orleans in a recent case study (see Personal Injury Internet Marketing) and although I just finished the initial project, and owe you a final installment on that project, I want to show you how much of a difference 93 words makes.

I wanted to add these words early on in the process but the firms partners were a little hesitant.  After my initial work brought an average of a call a day, they agreed to add the 93 words.

Here is what I added:

Need Professional Help With Your Injury or Accident Legal Matter?

Then contact Gertler, Gertler, Vincent & Plotkin for your FREE Consultation at 504-581-6411.

• We really do welcome your call.
• We will gladly talk with you over the phone or in person, without charge.
• During the day, we’ll return your call promptly if we are not available when you call.
• We will not pressure you in any way.
• And if for some reason we can’t help you, we will put you in touch with another law firm in town… that’s our promise to you.

I added the 93 words on Friday evening, 6/11/10. On Monday, of 6/14/10, the firm had 6 calls in one day. One of which was from a family who had a relative slip and fall in a retail establishment and was rushed to the hospital for surgery to treat a traumatic brain injury.

That’s a 600% increase in calls – and one case that’s probably going to be extremely lucrative – the first full business day it was live.

Take a look at the home page of Gertler, Gertler, Vincent & Plotkin -  take a look at how I set it up.

It might be an idea for you to copy….no matter what your practice area is.

I have a client that opened his own practice in 2001.  He has focused on DUI and Criminal defense since he opened his doors and averaged just over $150,000 in revenue per year since he started.

In early 2009, we started working together with a focus on his Internet presence and setting up a referral system (that’s still a weakness in his marketing plan due to the time commitment – but he’s just hired additional staff to help).

In the 12 months I’ve been helping him, his revenue has increased from just over $150,000 to….

$539,900.

And that’s just from DUI defense – that number doesn’t include criminal defense.

And when he implements a complete referral system, the numbers will be even more ridiculous.

This is not a client in New York City or some other huge metro area.  He practices in a sleepy, Midwestern town that is considered a mid-major city.

And he has not increased his revenue because local law enforcement has tripled DUI stops.

He is simply taking the business his competitors used to get.  Several have even complained that their business is down 30% – 50%.

If you want to make more money – dominate your practice area on the Internet and implement a solid referral system.

Interested in hearing a little more?

Although my client asked that I not use his name, he will answer your questions if you’d like. E-mail me at tom (at) the-attorneys-atm.com and I’ll give you his contact info.

The headline above was repeated over-and-over again by one the most successful Madison Avenue ad men ever.  I won’t bore you with his life story but I’d wager his efforts increased his clients revenue by tens of billions over the years.

He made this comment in response to the dreary,  mindless and repetitive ads Madison Avenue was, and still is, famous for.  Most ads did not, and still don’t, increase revenue.

I can make that same comment, with a slight twist, about many law firm websites.  Here it is:

You Cannot Bore People Into Calling

When a visitor hits a law firm website, what do they see?

Well, on 99% of law firm websites in the U.S., they see dreary, mindless and repetitive content.

This visitor to your website then clicks the back-button on their browser, never to return….right after they wipe the sleep out of their eyes and the drool off their chin.

Most content on law firm sites….stinks.

And when I get the chance to “suggest” to a potential client that their content needs a little work, I hear every excuse in the book as to why their content is fine – or that their client base is educated and expects a certain image.

Hogwash…..

Many of these law firms are sitting-pretty in the search engines.  They get thousands of visitors a month.  And revenue is down 30% – 50%.

Why?

You Cannot Bore People Into Calling

Give them content they can use.

Tell them how you can help.

Tell them a story.

Do anything – just change what you have on your website now.

Your bank account will thank you.

Need help with your content?  Call me at 859-816-3344.

I know that law firms get an incredible amount of marketing material mailed to their offices – and phone calls galore from sales reps pushing the next “big” idea that will help your online marketing efforts.

And most of the material and content of their sales pitch…is nothing more than jargon-filled drivel.

Well, if you’ve ever wondered where they get all of their useless jargon, I’ve discovered the source!

Go to the Web Economy Bullshit Generator – and have a good chuckle.

I just recently noticed a new feature added to the search results on Google…and it has me a little concerned.

This new feature doesn’t appear every time you do a search so it appears that Google is testing it.

Take a look and see what you think.

I spend a lot of time talking about getting new clients.  But the fact is, at least 50% of your revenue should be from past clients through new work – or the the referrals they send you.

In fact, after I’ve completed a client engagement, the next conversation I always have with the client is about how they are staying in contact with their past clients.  The answers I get are depressing.

Denny Hatch, with Target Marketing Mag tells a great story about this topic.  It was passed on to him by legendary direct marketer Bob Hemmings…and makes a handful-of great points about how important your past clients are.

The story goes like this.

More than half a century ago, Bob Hemming  worked for a jeweler in New York’s West 47th St. diamond district. There, merchants rent counters and window space in a kind of giant co-op.  Every evening, all the jewelers would dutifully take their diamonds out of the windows and showcases and lock them in the safe until the next morning.

All the jewelers, that is, except for Hemmings’s boss, who’d leave his diamonds out all night and put his customer list in the safe.

When asked his boss replied – “If I lose the diamonds, the insurance company will pay,”   “If I lose my customer list, I’m out of business.”

Your clients are just as important to you – today – as they were to Hemmings boss back in the early 1900’s.

So here are few gems that Denny passes along.

• The main business of business is acquiring customers and then doing your very best to continually delight them.
• Customers are the lifeblood of every business. If you don’t have customers, you don’t have a business.
• This truism holds in boom times and even better in bust times (like now).
• When a business is sold, the lion’s share of the price is for the customer base.
• Every new customer represents increase share of market.
• Once a new customer is in the fold, the next challenge is to increase “share of wallet”—make wonderful offers to that customer so more and more money is spent with you (and not with the competition).
• A basic rule of business: It costs five to 10 times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to sell services to an existing customer.

So, I ask you….what are you doing to keep in contact with your clients?

Price Shopping.  We do it when shopping for cars.  We do it when shopping for groceries.  Heck, we do it for almost everything we purchase or need.

And price shopping impacts your law practice as well.  Heck, you probably get calls weekly from someone wanting to know what you’ll charge – whether hourly or fixed fee, for your skills.

And for consumer based practices like bankruptcy and divorce, I would imagine the number of price shoppers they talk to on a yearly basis is staggering.

So how do you handle these type of PC’s.  Do you end the conversation as politely and quickly as possible.  Do you end the conversation quickly with a somewhat sharp tongue (I know several attorneys that do this)?

Or do you spend precious minutes trying to sell the PC on the value of your services?

Whatever method you use now, I’d like to introduce a way for you to take control of the conversation from the outset and  greatly increase the likelihood of securing the price shopper as a new client.

The next time one of these individuals calls, as soon as you know you have a price shopper on the line, politely interrupt and say this:

“What have you done so far?”

What you’ll get, or rather hear, is a moment of silence.  The caller really won’t know what you mean.  After 3 seconds of silence or a stuttering “uh” or “um” – you immediately ask this:

“I’m sorry, I meant who have you talked to so far?”

The rest of the conversation goes like so (with some observations thrown in):

Them: Well, I’ve talked to a couple of attorneys so far.
You: And how did that go?  What do they want to charge?
Them: Well one attorney wanted a $1,000 retainer and $175 an hour to handle my divorce (they always quote the lowest).
You: Wow, that’s pretty good. He must be new to have fees that low.  Do you know how many years he’s been handling divorce.
Them: No, he didn’t say.
You: Well, the average here in the city for a good divorce attorney is a $1,500 retainer and $250 an hour.  I’m guessing he’s only been out of law school for a couple of years – tops. Can I make a suggestion?
Them: Sure.
You: You know, your wife is certainly not going to hire an inexperienced attorney – and if you hire an inexperienced attorney, her attorney is going to clean his clock.  Does that makes sense? (Introducing a potential nasty outcome makes is so easy for them to understand)
Them: Yes.
You: Do you have a minute?
Them: Yes.
You: Tell me about what’s going on.

So, in less than 15 seconds, this attorney has turned the typical call from a price shopper 180 degrees. He took control of the conversation and increased the chance of converting this caller into a client.

How?  He turned into a salesperson.  And like or not, you are the salesperson for your practice.  And in this economy, many of you have to grab as many clients as you can.

So, to turn a price shopper into a client, you:

1. Take control of the conversation;
2. Introduce pain or hurt into the equation (i.e. what might happen if they go with the lowest fees);
3. Get them to open up (they then have an emotional tie with you);
   

It’s a very simple, pain-free way to sell your services to price shoppers….or for any other PC as well.

Occasionally, I’ll take on a law firm as a client that has no website at all.  It’s usually a referral from a past client.  Don’t care much for it though because I’m not really a web design guy.

Just over six months ago, I started working with one of these clients.  And they spent three months fretting over the design – which is 2 months and 29 days more than they should have.

The colors had to be just so.  The layout was modified 13 times. And they canned a majority of the content I suggested for the site.

All of this because the law firm wanted to portray a certain “Image.”

My recommendations went unheeded – and what the client has now as a web site….sucks.

It’s an image heavy site, slow to load and content that’s centered on the law firm….instead of content highlighting what the firm can do for the potential client.

Their brand-new website – sitting near the top of the search engines for search terms related to the practice – will be lucky to generate $10,000 a year in revenue.  That’s chicken-feed.

This firm, like many others, has a presence or reputation in the community – or think they do.  And worrying about this “reputation” will cost this firm – and others like it – a boatload of money.

For what it’s worth, here’s my advice to those that are considering spending money on marketing their practice in 2009.

Do not worry about your image.  Do not judge your marketing efforts on what your spouse, friends or colleagues think of it.

If it can bring in 10 times the number of clients you had the prior year – and it’s okay with the bar – listen to whatever pro you’re working with – and run with it.

Ultimately, you have to decide whether you want to portray an “image”…..or if you want cold, hard cash.

The choice is yours.

Are you or your law firm  spending money with Google or Yahoo on their Pay Per Click ad campaigns?

If so, have I got a treat for you.

Brad Callen, an Internet Marketing software developer based in Indiana, has come up with a very cool tool to help attorneys who are spending money on Google Adwords or Yahoo PPC.

This piece of software is a Firefox plugin (another reason to dump Internet Explorer) that will tell you what keywords your competitors are bidding on….and what they are paying.  With this info you’ll be able to know what keywords to target, which ones you might wish to stay away from because of the cost, and much, much more.

All you have to do is go here – http://www.ppcwebspy.com – register and he’ll let you in.  Due it as soon as possible because if I know Brad, he’s likely to be charging for this piece of software very soon.

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