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I came up with some simple strategies that help me stay in control of my email inbox.
- Create folders: Set up folders for messages based on the level of activity needed. Immediate action, waiting review, pending approval etc.
- Schedule: Set aside certain times of day to check your email, and other times to respond to emails.
- Unsubscribe: Take yourself off email lists that you no longer need or aren’t interested in. This will reduce your junk mail.
- Keep personal and work email accounts separate.
Another great way to keep your email organized is to use practice management software to link emails to case files and contacts with just a click.
When interviewing potential associates for your firm, ask questions that elicit the answers you’re looking for. An ABA Journal article, “Why Law Firm Interviewers Are Asking ‘Tell Me About a Time’ Questions“, talked about a NALP Bulletin that identified the behavioral characteristics of successful law firm associates. These characteristics were found to be the best indicators of future performance and behavior. The article summarized the 4 behavioral patterns law firms look for the most:
1) Decision-making and problem-solving skills: An interviewer might ask, “Tell me about a difficult decision you had to make.”
2) Motivation: An interviewer might ask, “Tell me about a time when you failed to meet expectations.”
3) Communication and interpersonal skills: An interviewer might ask, “Describe an unpopular decision you made and how you dealt with the aftermath.”
4) Planning and organization: An interviewer might ask “Tell me about a time when you were too busy and had to prioritize your tasks.”
The next time you conduct an interview, keep these characteristics in mind when framing your questions. Pay close attention to answers (and examples) to see if their past behavior would be appropriate at your firm. If you’re being interviewed, anticipate questions like these to help yourself prepare.
People looking for legal help on the Internet will become someone’s client. It’s important to optimize your firm’s website to grab online visitors before your competitors do. I’ve outlined below the 7 sins of legal websites, as well as how to turn these sins into virtues.
1) Thinking it’s all about you: People come to your site with problems, anxieties and the need to feel appreciated. Make visitors feel appreciated, safe and in control by providing relevant information that they’ll find valuable.
2) No clear call to action: Few legal websites give visitors a clear next step. What do you want people to do? Call you? Email you? Without a clear call to action visitors will be confused. Tell the visitor exactly what you want them to do, such as “Call Today!” with your phone number.
3) Not having a USP (Unique Selling Proposition): Your USP describes what your firm does and for whom, what your unique value is and what the key differences between you and your competition are. Your USP should be concise and catchy and strategically placed on your website to position your firm and drive the visitor to act.
4) Having an unprofessional site: The professionalism of your website is critical to its success and its ability to generate prospects. It is important to have a well organized site that revolves around the visitor’s goals and your goal of making that visitor a client of your firm. You should have a site that is simple, uncluttered, uses high-quality graphics and uses colors sparingly.
5) Your site doesn’t elicit trust: People come to your website with fears. They have a fear of contacting you, fear of getting overcharged, fear of selecting the wrong firm etc. The job of your website is to reduce fear and elicit trust. Build enough trust and they will be more likely to contact you and become your client.
6) Poor navigation: A new visitor’s commitment to your website is low. If they can’t find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, they are likely to leave. Review your navigation and make sure it is easy to understand, easily visible, relates to the needs of your clients.
7) Not search engine friendly: While your website is about providing a quality experience to your visitor, it’s important to make your site more likely to be found. First, make sure your site includes quality content – search engines love quality content this is written naturally, yet includes keywords that people are likely to use in order to find you. Next, make sure your site is crawlable by adding a set of links in the footer as a site map. Finally, use titles, tags and meta description tags on each page that reflect the contents of each page.
Larry Kohn, president of Kohn Communications, coined the term “the marketing mind” to describe the ability for lawyers to always think in terms of marketing. Most lawyers don’t have this skill at first, but since it’s an entrepreneurial concept, everyone can develop it.
Most lawyers feel they are too busy to market themselves on a daily basis, let alone to think about marketing all day long. The marketing mind concept challenges lawyers to notice marketing opportunities that are in front of them. For example, everyone associated with a particular case is a potential new client or source of referrals. If you constantly think in terms of marketing, no opportunity will go unnoticed or missed.
I challenge you to adopt the marketing mindset. Think in terms of marketing for one full day. You’ll be surprised how many previously overlooked opportunities you find.
No matter how well you do something, there is always room for improvement. As lawyers, we must take time to work on our practices, as well as in our practices. Even if everything seems to be working well, there is always room to make adjustments.
Pick one aspect of your practice to focus on at a time. In a recent blog post, Jay Fleischman made an excellent point by saying, “change needs to come in small bits and pieces”. It is not reasonable to think you can change your practice all at once. Take small steps in order to ensure your new plans will work for you, not against you.
Most law firms spend very little time worrying about branding. Many think that with a logo, letterhead, and business cards, they’ve completed their brand image. However, a brand is bigger than a few symbols. Your brand is your firm’s promise.
Brand Qualities illustrate what your firm wants its brand to be known for. Think about specific qualities you want your prospective and current clients, staff, and partners to use to describe your practice. For example, if your firm represents larger corporations your qualities may include professionalism, experience, dependability, competence and authority. If you represent individuals in a high volume practice your qualities may include efficiency, friendless, fairness, timeliness and value.
By promoting your firm in a consistent and meaningful way, you establish your promise as well as an expectation of your services that helps build awareness, loyalty, and trust. I recently came across an article that listed the following reasons why branding can be easier and more impactful in a down economy.
- Less Competition: Fewer firms are paying for advertisements so yours will stand out.
- Show of Strength: The economy may be struggling but your firm is not.
- Training Opportunity: Train people to “live your brand.”
- Business Retention: Having a positive brand image helps to create customer loyalty.
To successfully establish your brand, all attorneys and staff must work together as faithful representatives of the brand. They must be consistent in how they present the brand to each other, as well as to clients. A brand is built over time as the firm integrates its brand strategy into everything it does. Put together a brand guide book that defines important characteristics of your firm including your promise, qualities, position, brand connections and brand story.
Value is the ratio of the benefits you provide to your clients, divided by the cost of your services. Whether you bill by the hour or by flat fees, your value must be clearly presented, and validated, to your clients in order for them to sing your praises.
Communicating value can be as simple as providing free, helpful content to your prospects and clients. Articles, white papers, teleconferences and webinars are some of the ways you can provide valuable content to people to help establish yourself as an expert.
When you communicate value, you put the needs of your clients first, something they will notice and appreciate. Clients want (and need) to feel as though they are getting their money’s worth from you. When you give clients complimentary resources and information that goes beyond the basics required of you, you’ll exceed their expectations and have a client for life.
A guest blog post by Gunter Enz:
We are in a tough economy, no doubt about that. Businesses across the board are doing what they can to generate profit, including lowering rates to stay above the red line and keep up with the competition. But how does this bargain-basement marketing relate to running a law practice?
There will always be law firms that stay successful due to that extra something, such as more effective marketing, and running their office like a well-oiled machine. However, offering rates that are far lower than your competitors is not only a bad way to generate the business you want, it is a good way to raise flags about your professional status and legal capabilities.
Just because it is a competitive economy, offering the lowest price doesn’t always win— especially when it comes to hiring a lawyer. When a client is faced with a significant life situation, such as being sued, arrested, needing to declare bankruptcy, or file for divorce, the quality and skill of an attorney is the most important factor—and quality comes with a price. If an attorney offers cut-rate services, a client is likely to think they will receive cut-rate treatment, and trust is already compromised from the start—if the attorney is even hired.
It has been said before, but it bears repeating: you get what you pay for. To attract big business and command the fee that you are worth, you must back the worth of your fee. You can always lower your price to fit your client’s needs, or the specific case at hand, but don’t run your practice as if you are on sale. Charge what you are worth, and establish a fee befitting to your skills and expertise. The quality of your business, and that of your client base, will reflect this.
Mr. Enz is the founder of LawInfo, a recognized nationwide leader within the legal community, providing public access to pre-qualified, pre-screened attorneys, and to free legal resources.
In the Himalayas it’s called the Death Zone – a point past which the air is too thin to sustain living tissue. Stay up there too long and your body begins to die. In law practice there’s a similar kind of danger – the Malpractice Zone. The ABA has done many studies and found that almost 20% of malpractice claims involved missed deadlines or administrative errors. If you’re working at the edge of control, sooner or later you’ll make a mistake – forget a phone call, miss a deadline, lose a document. Experienced climbers use expert gear to keep them out of the danger zone. Experienced attorneys do too, practice management software.
Most insurance carriers want you to use computerized docket control systems in order to cut the risk of malpractice. In the article “Docket Science,” the author states: “About two-thirds of surveyed insurance companies offered premium reductions for firms with automatic calendaring programs. The reductions ranged from about 2 percent to 10 percent.”
Most law offices intend to implement a centralized calendar, but don’t follow through. A computerized calendar system allows you to synchronize all calendars in the office, and input your desired reminder intervals – then get to work. Your daily calendar will generate reminders for events, deadlines and even your afternoon meeting. Watch your productivity increase.
The ABA published best-selling book, Selling In Your Comfort Zone, by Larry Kohn of Kohn Communications, gives detailed advice to lawyers on how they can best market their practices.
Mr. Kohn was recently interviewed by Beverly Loder about the book. She asked him numerous questions, including what obstacles lawyers are facing today that are different than when he first starting coaching them 20 years ago.
Kohn stated that 20 years ago, firms didn’t have marketing departments. Today you need to make your firm standout since everyone is concerned with marketing. As new marketing techniques are developed, such as the social networking sites and blogs, they create new challenges. These challenges must be overcome in order to reach target markets.
For more information on how to effectively sell in your comfort zone, visit Kohn Communications at kohncommunications.com
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This is my second visit to your blog. We are starting a brand new initiative in the same niche as ...
Hi, very informative article. I found you blog from Bing. Keep it up and I'll visit more often.