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!