Coffee is for Closers

How many lawyers subscribe to law firm marketing services expecting clients to show up with wallets open?
One of the interesting things we hear from clients is that even though they're getting plenty of leads through their network subscription, they're not getting much actual business because other lawyers are beating them to the punch or "stealing their leads".

To Compete Against other Law Firms you Have to be able to Close

It's no different from other types of advertising in any other industry. Clients are not going to show up with wallets open asking for your help (well, ok, not ALL of them will). They're going to shop around, talk to different attorneys, consider their budget, feel out lawyers personalities, qualifications, etc.
If you're not making an effort to sell yourself, and show a potential client that you're their best option, another lawyer will.
Here's an interesting blog about selling your services to clients through a "consultative approach". Aside from all the "rainmaker" comments, it's a good read.
Not all lawyers are good at selling, but making an effort to, at the very least, talk to potential clients about their problem and offer some typical solutions used in previous cases is an easy way to develop some trust with your leads.

Meow meow

Treat Internet Traffic Like Foot Traffic

If I were to walk into your office and say, "I think I have a medical malpractice case", what would you do? Ok, you'd call animal control (or pass out because you think a dog is talking to you). But if it were a real live person, surely you would take the time to ask the right questions and explain how your firm could provide the services they would need to get compensated, yes?

Internet Traffic is no Different

It seems as though some lawyers still haven't come to the realization that the inquiries they receieve from interent traffic are actual people with actual questions or problems. I say this because after talking to a few of them, they seem to think that traffic coming from their website, or blog, or other online marketing efforts is all worthless.

Because of this mentality, these attorneys fail to act accordingly to close business. Perhaps because the medium of communication is new and different, there is not the same connection that's made when a potential client walks into their office.

In order to make your online marketing spend work for you, you have to service every lead. Read this post on converting leads now for an excellent breakdown of how to maximize the business you get from internet traffic.

Ruf ruf

Sniff Out Every Lead

When someone throws me a bone, I take it every time. If you're paying a lead generation company to deliver you prospective clients, you should do the same right? 

I overheard a conversation in the Experthub office today regarding a consumer email concerning our service. "Jon" had found a few lawyers near him and elected to contact both of them regarding an immigration problem.

Attorney 2 (I'm working backwards on purpose) sent "Jon" an email with a quick overview of his firm, as well as a brief, personalized paragraph responding to his inquiry. Nothing too time consuming, just a quick 20 second response.

Attorney 1 (The first attorney to contact the lead) elected to send a completely generic email with absolutely nothing about the original inquiry. This email included the phrase "Call Me Now!" at the bottom. When "Jon" called, he was greeted by a secretary who insisted he couldn't speak with the attorney unless "Jon" gave her his credit card number for the $25 phone consultation fee. 

Instead of giving up his credit card  number, he waited for a response from Attorney 2. He soon got it, called, and hired Attorney 2 to help with his Immigration problem.

Now, both of these immigration lawyers have similar subscriptions, and pay about the same amount. They're getting the same number of leads, roughly the same number of profile visits, etc. So essentially, they should be getting the same amount of new business from their marketing spend. Which do you think is spending their money more wisely?

Now, I could be getting ahead of myself; maybe there is good money in phone consultation fees, but somehow I doubt it. Or it could be he has so much business that he doesn't need/want anymore cases. Then why pay for marketing services?

In a business where one or two cases can be the difference between profitable marketing spend or money thrown away, why wouldn't you spend at least a few minutes to ensure that each lead is serviced? It seems a waste to spend the money to get through all the steps of online marketing (traffic generation, lawyer impression, profile click, inquiry, completed lead) just to fumble a good lead at the last moment when it's in your lap.

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something. This is somewhat out of my area of expertise. Any lawyers reading? Want to fill me in?

At least Jon got what he was looking for.

Ruf ruf