Legal Marketing | Attorney Marketing | Marketing For Lawyers

There are four relationships that are of critical importance to attorney marketing. Each of them are critical in their own right, but when you look at them together you realize that these four relationships impact every aspect of your working life.

These four relationships are:

• Your relationship with Time
• Your relationship with Money
• Your relationship with Clients
• Your relationship with Yourself

This video (which has implications beyond attorney marketing) provides some detail.

There are two important points to consider in your relationship with time:

1). Time is a perishable commodity. You will never get back the hour you wasted.
2). You must respect it. The minute you become careless with your time, you become careless with your money and your interpersonal relationships.

The two points to consider about money:

1). Focus on value and not on cost. Something that provides a return is more valuable than any price tag.
2). Eliminate guilt about money. Do not feel bad about spending money. That is why you make it. Money is a means to an end.

A couple of points about client relationships:

1). You must set expectations for client interaction. You cannot get angry with a client for inaction if they did not know you wanted them to take action.
2). You must be willing to hold your clients accountable. The customer is not always right.

Finally, a couple of points about your relationship with yourself:

1). You provide a great deal of value yet you probably do not charge a fee commensurate with that value. Make sure you know how much value you provide to your clients.
2). Have confidence in your ability. If you do not believe in yourself nobody else will believe in you. Be confident and be bold.

Most lawyers forget to ask themselves a key question when working with a client. This question has implications beyond law firm marketing but it is a critical component of any law firm marketing strategy. Lawyers should constantly ask themselves: "What's next for my relationship with this client?"

This video will help you bring this into focus.

The majority of lawyers in private practice today only think about the matter directly in front of them. They only focus on resolving a specific issue. Once the issue concludes, the relationship with the client is often drawn to a close as well. The attorney makes the assumption the client will not have a need for this particular service for a long time, if ever. While that premise may be true, the thinking that leads to this conclusion is flawed.

The most valuable asset an attorney can ever obtain is the trust of a client. Once you have that trust, it can work for your law firm for years. Although the client will probably not need you for that specific service in the future, he may need you for something else. Your job is to figure out what that something else is and provide him with it.

If you are unwilling or unable to provide the next legal service for your client, you should at least maintain the relationship for the referral value it can provide. Every client you work with knows a minimum of 250 other people. If you keep in regular contact with them and you teach them how to refer to you, you can harvest 3 to 5 referrals per year from each of your clients.

The key to making this strategy work is to continue to invest in your relationships with your clients. Provide them with valuable information. Communicate with them regularly. Show them you appreciate their support and friendship.

In many cases, asking: "What's next?" will lead to immediate follow on work. When it doesn't it should, at least, lead to a great relationship that is beneficial for the client and the lawyer.

What does legal marketing have to do with a barbershop? About a month ago I told some friends the story of how I switched barbershops after three years. The story has an important lesson for anyone interested in legal marketing.

The moral of this story is: If you want your legal marketing to be effective, it has to be about the needs of the client. If you make your legal marketing about you, it will not only be ineffective, it will drive clients away.

Law firm marketing is not just about finding new clients. A big focus of successful attorneys is on deepening relationships with existing clients. This is a critical component of any law firm marketing plan that must not be overlooked.

If you think about some of the rewarding relationships you have developed over the years, I'm sure you'll find they all have a few things in common. I have outlined five of those qualities and highlighted them in this video.

The five qualities of great client relationships are:

Understanding

You listen for what is behind the words. Find out what the true problems are and get to the root cause. Help the client fix the problem and not just the symptoms of the problem.

Inner Circle

You don't want to be "just another lawyer". You want to be a trusted advisor. To achieve this status you have to be bold when giving advice. Don't just state the obvious. Occasionally, you'll need to do more than you and the client originally expected.

Note: Very few people who charge by the hour ever achieve this status. The client just doesn't see them at that level. People who bill by the hour are usually viewed as employees, not as advisors.

Expertise

You must be different than everyone else. People must know you for something. A market niche is helpful in this differentiation process. The client must perceive you as an expert.

Sustained Relationship

You need to be around after the original work is done. Many attorneys focus on completing the initial assignment and then they move on. Your goal in getting the initial assignment is to develop the relationship.

This is true even in the consumer practices. Someone who has just been through a divorce will eventually need help with other legal matters. If you are that person's first call, you will be able to refer them to a colleague - who may just have a reciprocal referral for you some day.

External Orientation

It's not about you. In the client's eyes it never was. It was about solving the client's problem or improving the client's condition. Always put the client first.

Relationship development is law firm marketing. Some of the best work you can do from a marketing perspective is with people who already know you, like you and trust you.