Monthly Archives: February 2010

Marketing yourself, generating revenue and increasing your value, part four

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Last week, an attorney asked me how important business cards really are to generating business.  My answer, without hesitation, is what business cards are the most important part of revenue generation.  A business card is something that lets others know what you do and how to contact you.  It’s a simplified version of a website – all of the pertinent information is there in your wallet.  Handing someone a business card is one of the simplest things you can do that will eventually generate business.  With this in mind, let’s start week number four of your marketing plan!

Monday: Take a look at your business cards.  Are they correct and up-to-date?  Do they have the best phone number and email address?  (You should have your cell phone number on all business cards.  Not only will this allow people to find you and hire you at any time, but it makes people feel important and that you care about them.  When people feel you care, they are more likely to trust and to hire you!) Make whatever changes you need to make to the cards to update them.  How many do you have?  If you have less than 200, put an order in with the human resources department for another box.   You should be handing out at least one business card per day.  (More when you attend an event or function.)  Once you’ve gone through your business cards, go through everyone else’s cards.  Get the stack of business cards you’ve gathered over the last weeks/months and enter them into your address book program.  If there are updates for your contacts, make the updates.

Tuesday: Go online and look for a CLE class or a seminar dealing with your practice area.  There are so many legal seminars and classes, you should be able to find something that interests you.  Sign up for the event.  (Make sure it’s far enough in advance that you’ll have your updated business cards handy!)   Take the rest of the hour to write another blog post.  The subject of the blog post can really be anything within your practice area.  The point of this post is to show off a little.  You want other attorneys and non-attorneys to see you as an expert in your field.

Wednesday: Start shopping your blog post around to legal blogs.  Remember all of those legal blogs you’ve been reading?  Email the bloggers and let them know that you have a blog post that will be of interest to their readers.  (Make sure you only pitch bloggers who have audiences that will want to read your post.)  Attach the post and thank them in advance for their time.  If you plan on sending to more than one blogger, be sure to let him/her know that you’re also sending to other blogs. (It’s considered bad form to pitch bloggers with the same article and not let them know that another blog may post the article, too.)  If (and when) a blogger picks up the article, write them an email to thank them.  Let them know that you’d be thrilled to write another post.  Make sure to let your HR department know that you wrote a blog post and send the link to the article.

Thursday: Take a few minutes to update all of your social media channels.  Linked In actually has a status update now (this is relatively new – it started about six months ago).  Update your status!  If you went to an event or are planning on going to an event – let the world know.  Did that blog post get picked up by a blog?  Post this (along with a link to the post) to your status.  Did you just win a motion or settle a case or get a new client?  Update your status!  Even though these things may not seem like much to you, they are interesting to others.  People like to do business with popular people, and the more you update your status bar, the more popular you appear!  Get on Facebook and do the same.  Write on a colleague’s wall or post some pictures from a legal seminar you recently attended.  If you have a Twitter account, get on and write a few tweets!

Friday: Book a lunch with a current client.  No ulterior motives, no favors to ask.  Simply make the appointment to have lunch to talk business with the client.  (We’ll talk more next week about what you’ll ask and say.)  Next, reach out to someone who isn’t a client but you wish would be a client.  Book a separate lunch with that person.

By the end of this week, you will have spent 20 hours working on your career this month.  This is quite an accomplishment, and your work will pay dividends.  Just keep going and make sure that you’re always thinking about your future.   If you have any questions or if you need career guidance, contact us.  We’re here for you!

Marketing yourself, generating revenue and increasing your value, part three

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Congratulations on working through the first two weeks!  You’ll be signing your first client in no time.  Just keep your eyes on the prize and keep networking.  Remember that this entire process is aimed at making sure you start generating revenue for the firm.  Once you establish yourself as a “rain maker,” you’ll be a highly-valued attorney who will be considered a crucial member of the team.

This week will delve a little bit deeper into some of your business relationships.  As is true every week, you want to make sure that you’re keeping up with people who respond to you.  If you’ve sent emails/made phone calls/left messages on Facebook or LinkedIn and folks have returned the favor, make sure that you contact them immediately.  No matter what type of law you practice, time is always of the essence.  If someone needs an attorney today and you don’t call them back, another attorney will!

Monday: Ask your marketing coordinator or HR team to allow you to update your bio on the firm’s website.  Make sure to include any articles you’ve written or cases you’ve published.  More importantly, though, include some legal experience you have that may resonate with the average client.  If you are a tax attorney, you may want to focus on some real life tax experience that shows you’re an expert.  (Before graduating from law school, I spent 5 years as a CPA at one of the largest accounting firms in Los Angeles.)  People enjoy real-world experience, and they’ll be much more likely to call someone they feel they know and trust.  To that end, make sure that you also include a picture with your biography.

Tuesday: Hopefully you attended the party or other social function that you RSVP’d to in the first week.  If not, make sure you’ve booked something for this week.  Do not feel overwhelmed by this event.  Be prepared to use your elevator pitch and hand out business cards left and right.  Talk to anyone and everyone at the event.  You have no idea what legal needs people may have, or who they may know.  Be polite and friendly and start making some connections.  Get as many business cards as you give away.  Be sure to follow up with all of your new connections within 24 hours of the event and add all of the information to your online address book.  Continue to book more events.  You should try to go to some breakfast or happy hour or seminar at least twice per month.

Wednesday: Write a blog post.  I know what you’re thinking – I have no idea what I’m doing and I don’t have a blog.  Don’t worry about those details right now.  Just sit down at your computer and start writing about what you know.  Look back at some of those legal blogs that you’ve been reading the last two weeks to figure out the format and length and get to work.  Write about what you know best – your area of practice.  Maybe there is new legislation pending, maybe there was a ground-breaking case recently decided, maybe you’d like to answer (once and for all) a series of questions that you’re asked all the time.  The topic doesn’t matter, as long as it shows off your knowledge.  Once you’re done with the blog post, have someone else (someone not in your area of practice) read and critique it.

Thursday: Get back  on your Linked In account and join at least one professional group.  After you’ve joined, start a discussion on that group or respond to a discussion initiated by someone else.  By beginning and participating in discussions, your peers will begin to recognize you as an expert in the field.  Take the rest of this hour to look at the blogs you started to read and make at least one comment on one of the blog posts.  Make sure that your name and a link to your website is visible on the post.

Friday: Start shopping your blog post.  Start looking at blogs where this content may be useful to readers.  Contact the blog managers and ask them if you can submit an article to be posted.  Many times, bloggers are thrilled to get some free content.   If your post is accepted, make sure to get credit (name and email address) and make sure that the article links to your firm’s website.   You should reach out to at least two different bloggers.  Realize, however, that you should only publish on one blog.  The blogger who contacts you first gets to publish the article!  This is the beginning of your work as a published legal author!

Another week of work behind you.  You should really feel good about everything you’ve accomplished.  Although it’s tough work, networking and building your reputation in the legal and non-legal community is worth every minute you can spare.  If you need assistance in this process, please contact us.  We’re happy to help!

Marketing yourself, generating revenue and increasing your value, part 2

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Marketing yourself is the most important thing you can do for your career in this uncertain legal climate.    Last week, we talked about setting aside only one hour per day to start marketing yourself and proving yourself to be someone who can generate revenue for the firm – something partners cannot resist.  This week, we continue in the quest to help you in your efforts to bring in deals and cases to grow (or begin to grow) your book of business.

Even though the below suggested exercises create a bit more work in an already stressed-out day, I urge you to take some time and really engage in this process.  Like everything in the law (and in life!), there are no guarantees.  I can’t tell you when or how you will bring your first new matter.  However, every attorney who has been successful in bringing in new business went through this process (or something similar).  Begin at the beginning and follow through.  This could be the most productive five hours of your week!

Before we begin with the schedule, please make sure that you responded to anyone who may have emailed you last week regarding your initial outreach.   This is crucial.  Answer emails and phone calls immediately.  Many times, if someone has a hot lead, it will go cold if you wait too long to respond.  Part of this marketing process is learning to stay connected with the “outside” world and not so focused on life in the law firm.  Remember, the folks outside of the firm are the most likely to have leads for new cases.

Monday:  Set up a Linked In account if you don’t already have one.  It’s very simple to do.  It will require some information about you, your practice, your experience, etc.  Please fill out the information completely.  The more information you include about yourself, the more people will be able to find you in case they need a lawyer.  After you’ve started the account, look around on the site and find some folks you know.  Make connections with them.  If you already have a Linked In account, take some time to review connections, add new connections, add to your bio, update your picture and join some groups.  Don’t overwhelm yourself, just spend an hour on this site.

Tuesday:  Set up an account on Avvo.com.  Avvo is a lawyer review site.  It’s becoming more and more popular as attorneys all over the country are joining.  Be sure to add a current picture and update your biography completely.  Look around the site and find some other lawyers you know.  Write a nice review for an attorney and send them an email asking them to do the same for you.  In most cases, they’ll be happy to reciprocate!

Wednesday:  Check back in on the blogs that you reviewed last Friday.  Make a comment on at least one blog post.  Make sure that the content is relevant and interesting.  The most important part of this process is to include your name and a link to your website.  If you own your own firm, link to the home page.  If you work at a firm, link to your bio page or a relevant page on the site. (If the blog post is about new patent filings in California, link to the page about new patent filings on your firm’s site.)  Typically, when you click on the “comment” button, you will be given very specific instructions about how to sign up and link to your site.

Thursday:  Write and rehearse your elevator pitch.  You’ve heard the phrase before, but probably never knew what it meant or how it could help.  An elevator pitch is a short, lay-person’s description of what you do.  (So short that it should be able to be said in the time you ride an elevator.)  Write out this pitch and practice it.  Make sure that you use terminology that is understandable to everyone.  Make it short and sweet with just enough description that the person listening will be able to remember who you are and what you do.   Take the next 30 minutes to get back on Linked In and write a couple of updates, accept any connections you may have and join another group.

Friday:  Hand out at least 10 business cards and practice your elevator pitch.  I know it sounds impossible, but just do it.  Don’t worry that the person seems an unlikely source of future referrals of work, or that he or she knows nothing about your area of the law.  Simply hand out the cards and speak with people about what you do.  (Please remember to be polite and ask what they do, as well!)  Give one to your waitress at lunch, hand one to the guy standing next to you in line at the grocery store, give out a couple at the gym.  This is really an exercise in getting yourself out there.  Talk to people.  Hand out your card and let them know that you are looking for new transactions, clients or cases.  You may be surprised at the results you get.

Take some time over the weekend to reflect on all of the work you’ve done.  Believe it or not, you’ve already put in at least 10 hours of time toward this new goal of bringing new business.  Congratulations!

If you have any questions or concerns about this process, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We’ve been successfully helping lawyers and law firms connect for years.  We’d be thrilled to help you, as well.