Prospects expect lawyers to understand their perspective. They expect lawyers to know and understand their problems or the goals they want to achieve. They expect lawyers to comprehend,  feel their pain, and be caring. They also expect lawyers to know what obstacles they face and what challenges they have to overcome.

But too often when lawyers work on their marketing copy, they address those issues from the lawyer’s perception. (more…)

One thing I have found over and over is that while solo professionals have a "target audience," too often that target audience is too broad, not really targeted or circumscribed. That is, it is not specific enough to get the clients and business they want. In this case, "smaller (narrower) is better."

1. The smaller your niche, the less competition you have.

2. The smaller your niche, the more you can demonstrate you know know, understand, have expertise and experience with it to make you the ideal one to solve their problem.

3. The smaller your niche, the less money you have to spend to reach your prospects, creating a greater return on your investment. (more…)

When you think of marketing your law practice, do you think primarily of external marketing techniques: ads, website, and speaking gigs, for example? If you do, you are making a big error that may cost you clients. Marketing is a two-pronged approach, focusing on not only outside your office but also inside it.

Once an individual is attracted to you, by whatever external means, they plan to call. The moment they dial your phone number or enter their problem and contact information in your e-mail, your marketing re-focuses to internal techniques. Things you need to consider to have the internal prong as effective as the external prong, for example: (more…)

In everything you do and in every transaction you have there is the possibility of having to address something you do not like being said or done. This means speaking to another about your desire to have them change something they are doing. In other words, you need to confront them.

Confronting has become a bad word. Most people tend to think of it as an aggressive tactic. It is as if you are going to attack someone to effect that change. As a result, most people are reluctant to address irritating and disagreeable situations until they become so angry, they explode all over the offender (creating an even larger mess) or they swallow their anger (giving themselves heart palpitations or an ulcer).

A more positive and useful definition of confronting is (more…)

Knowing how to interact with prospects and clients who are different can sometimes be hard. But knowing how to interact appropriately with those who have physical or mental challenges can be doubly hard. This is because we tend to feel bad and, perhaps, guilty because they have a disability and we don’t. Moreover, we want to avoid any unintentional cruelty to a person whom we perceive as already having experienced a "misfortune."

Our "feeling sorry" for them is not particularly helpful for either them or us. (more…)

As lawyers have repeatedly discovered via Gallup Polls, trust is a most important dimension in human relations. The public, prospects, and clients want to trust you. Why? Because trust can erase fear of ridicule, betrayal, and rejection. It sets the stage for rapport and confidentiality which are essential in addressing and meeting legal clients’ wants and needs.

Everything people want to accomplish is based on trust. But trust means their putting themselves emotionally in someone else’s hands. Specifically, it means risking beneficial and harmful consequences by being open and accepting. (more…)

While there are lots of ways for lawyers to create and enhance visibility and credibility for themselves and their practices, events are a particularly good way to do it. This is especially so if you follow these tried-and-true guidelines. Make the event

1. Public spirited
2. Addressing a problem about which many people are concerned
3. Free
4. Held in a Main Street location so passersby, the public, prospects, and clients can attend and benefit. (more…)

If you want to change your image of a "stereotypical lawyer" and create positive visibility and credibility, make yourself a  leader!

Are you a leader in your field and especially in your community? You need to be. One way to rid yourself of the stigma of being a "lawyer" and all the biases and misperceptions that go with it is to step out of your lawyer role and step into visible community activities.

But you may be saying, "leaders are born, not made." Au contraire. Research has shown that leaders are mostly those who rise to the demands of the situation and who have two important characteristics. One is good interpersonal skills, with emphasis on speaking and communication skills. The other is emphasis on community and identification with that community.

This suggests that even if you believe you were born "charisma-challenged," you can learn these skills and effectively apply them to be a leader. (more…)

How often do you think about the marketing outcomes you have desired but have never obtained? Perhaps you have created a website and expected prospects to be so impressed they will rush to your door. But it does not happen. Bummer! So how do you feel about it? Depressed? Angry? Confused? Frustrated? Dissatisfied?

When that happens, you probably run through a progression of emotions from sadness and loss to anger and self-pity. These are part of the universal experience of disappointment. Depending upon your marketing savvy, you may experience this infrequently or over and over again. If this becomes a pattern of habitual unrealistic thinking about how to reach, attract, recruit, convert, and retain your clients, you will find yourself grieving and resentful that somehow life is treating you and your practice "unfairly." (more…)

Oops! Sorry to have to tell you this but  Yellow Page ads are not law marketing. Ads are law advertising—nothing more. You pay for them so they hold very little credibility weight. They do not demonstrate that you care for your prospects. They do not provide useful information prospects can use. They do not show you as an authority and valued resource. Saying you are one and showing that you are are two totally different things. 

All ads can do is say, "Hey, here I am. I’m great and I do this." Big deal! Yes, they may make people who look at the Yellow pages aware of you (if they actually spot you), but what about the many others who do not look at the Yellow Pages? Besides, who is going to accept as the unvarnished truth what you say about yourself? (more…)