Solo Practice University®

‘Closing The Deal’ – The Lawyer’s Version

Rachel Rodgers — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:30:47 +0000

A-B-C.

A-Always,

B-Be,

C-Closing.

Always be closing,

always be closing.

- Alec Baldwin as Blake in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross (see a clip of this great scene here)

Focus on Closing

My first couple of months as a solo, I spent a lot of time talking to prospective clients. At that time I was offering free consultations. During these consultations I would give away the milk, which meant that very few potential clients were buying the cow. Even worse, I didn’t clearly express to my prospective clients what the cow was and why it was worth my fees to get it. I had no idea what the hell I was doing and was quite perturbed that many of these prospects weren’t becoming paying clients.

Unfortunately, how to sell is among the myriad of things that we lawyers need to know yet didn’t learn in law school. When I was just starting out, I didn’t understand how important the mantra, “always be closing” really was. After months of being disappointed at how few clients I had, I realized that closing clients needed to be my numero uno priority.

Now I have a method that keeps closing at the top of my mind at all times. You should try it:

Get a whiteboard and write down how much revenue you want to make this quarter. (Go ahead. I’ll wait). Under your goal number, write down how much you’ve made so far this quarter and subtract it from your goal number. The new total is how much you have left to make. Be sure to include the date every time you update the board – it adds a sense of urgency. Now every time you get paid, deduct the amount of revenue to date from your goal number. Here’s an example:

Goal for Q1: $20,000

Revenue to Date (2/2/12): $ 6,500

Need to Make: $ 13,500

By doing this you will have the exact number you need to make staring you in the face everyday. Its amazing how that number can keep you focused on acquiring clients so you can meet the bottom line. Remember, that

what gets measured, gets managed. – Peter Drucker

Selling Isn’t Icky

In addition to not knowing how to sell, we lawyers often feel uncomfortable selling. I’ve heard lots of lawyers and other service professionals say that selling makes them feel icky. They say, “I don’t want to force anyone to buy from me.” This position requires a re-frame. Thinking that you are forcing someone to buy from you is giving yourself too much credit. No one can force me to part with my money if I don’t I want to (except the IRS and an armed robber); likewise for your potential clients.

Instead, realize that you offer a valuable service and people need to know that your service is available and understand how it can help them. I can’t tell you how many emails and phone calls I have received from giddy prospects who are thrilled to discover my practice. If I wasn’t spending time sharing information about what I do, people I can help would never know I exist and therefore, never be able to benefit from my services. My point here is that people WANT to buy from you.

When you have a new prospect in front of you, do these three things with an eye towards either closing the sale or discovering that you and this prospect don’t belong together. (Either one is good. You don’t want to work for someone who isn’t a good fit for your practice anyway – it will only lead to headaches.)

1. Listen. Spend lots of time listening very carefully and asking open-ended questions. The more you listen to your potential client, the closer you’ll get to understanding what they truly want. When you know what they really want, you can express the reasons why your services are valuable to them. Additionally, knowing a lot about your potential client will help you to frame the conversation when it comes to discussing fees.

2. Educate. By being a good listener, you will make the potential client feel comfortable that you understand what they need. Then you can spend time educating the client about the particular legal issue their facing and how you can resolve it. Sharing a small portion of your knowledge will help the prospective client trust and believe in your expertise. It will help them understand their options and the true value that you can bring.

3. Close. Once you have spent some time listening to your clients wants and educating your client about the legal issue and the value that you bring, its time to close. Closing is pretty simple, just ask them if they would like to hire you. If they say no, you can move on. If they say yes, you can take the next steps to making them a client (collecting an intake form, sending an engagement agreement, accepting payment, etc.). If they say maybe, let them know you’ll follow up in a specific amount of time (2 days, one week, etc.). Then when you follow up, if they still don’t have a definitive answer give them a deadline by which to decide. When the deadline arrives, if they haven’t said yes, remove them from your sales process. Perpetual maybes can be an enormous time suck. Cut them off and move on.

Ideally, you should want exactly what your prospects want: the satisfaction of their desire or the resolution to their problem. – Josh Kaufman, The Personal MBA

Selling is only icky if you’re selling something you don’t believe in to someone who doesn’t need it. Your true goal is to deliver your services to clients who need them. So don’t make it hard for your potential clients to buy from you. Focus on closing for your benefit and theirs.

Written by Rachel Rodgers

You Only Fail if You Don’t Get Up Again.

Jack Whittington — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:51:03 +0000

A belated Happy New Year to all of you. Now that we’re a few weeks into 2012, hopefully you’ve all settled into a routine and you’re holding fast to those resolutions you set for yourselves. As a February Bar Exam taker with a full time job I find routine to be crucial. When I studied for the Bar last summer, routine seemed impossible due to a series of life altering events. However, reflecting back on it now – if I had been able to just carve out time each day in the midst of all the trial and trauma I might not be taking this thing for a second time. Now that I have a full time job it would be easy to make excuses once again as to why I don’t have time to nail down and study like I need to. However, if I am to meet my resolution, I need to adapt and overcome to achieve. After reading, researching, and speaking with colleagues and peers on approaching the Bar Exam for a second time, I’ve taken away some tips that I’d like to pass on to those of you similarly situated….(heh bar exam humor for ya)

Motivation

The easiest way to do something is to be motivated while doing it. What motivates you? My motivation is still and always has been to practice law. Moreover, my motivation is to prove to myself that I am capable of passing the Bar Exam. That motivation makes a little easier to study at night after working twelve hours. It makes me a little bit more adamant about carving out time each day to sit down and really make use of the time that I do have to study. Admittedly, during summer preparation I did waste a lot of time that could have been used to studying. Maybe a little extra time going over Evidence or Civil and Criminal Procedure was the difference between passing and failing. What if I had made studying more of a priority all the times that I chose to put off studying. This time around I don’t want to have to ask myself what if. With the proper motivation, it is said that a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. Again, I ask, what motivates you?

Resources

Have you ever tried to complete a job without the right tools? You may still be able to get it done but often times it requires double the time and effort required. Bar preparation is no different. I am not paid by any commercial bar program nor do I advocate one over the other, but I do know this. You need the right tools to succeed and bar courses can provide you with them. Odds are you have probably marked up all your old books, done most of the questions in them and won’t take the time to go back through the notes and outlines thoroughly. Most of the things I read about taking the Bar Exam a second time all said the same thing. Approach the exam as if you were taking it for the first time (again). The logic is simple, if you only focus on the subjects that you did poorly on the first time, then odds are the subjects you neglected will suffer drastically. Make sure you have the right tools for the job.

Routine

As a sports enthusiast I tend to watch a lot documentaries on various world class athletes. One constant among them is that they all found a routine that worked for them and committed to it religiously. Bar Prep is no different. Perhaps the first time around you had the right formula for success but just didn’t follow it like you should have. Or maybe you were just studying in a way that wasn’t effective as you had previously thought. One of my favorite movie series, Rocky, is case on point for what I’m talking about. Remember in Rocky III when he lost the title to Mr. T’s character, Clubber Lang?

He lost because as his trainer, Mickey, stated he had gotten soft, didn’t train hard enough, and didn’t want it bad enough.

After losing, Rocky goes out and recruits his old nemesis, Apollo Creed, to help him train. Everything Apollo had Rocky do was completely different from the way that Rocky had always trained. Sometimes you have to change it up, but when you do, make sure you fully commit to it (remember Stallone whining that he couldn’t do it, that he was afraid to change?). Once Rocky made up his mind to commit to training the way Apollo wanted him to we got a typical montage of Rocky working up a sweat and doing work and I hate the spoil the movie for you, but guess what…he won!

Is it a little cheesy to draw a Rocky parallel to taking the Bar Exam a second time? Perhaps, but it illustrates the point I’m trying to make. Rocky lost because he didn’t train like he should have and he got popped in the mouth by an opponent that caught him off guard. With the right motivation (the eye of the tiger), the right resources, (Apollo Creed) and the right routine (speed and footwork over strength training) he was able to come back and knock it out the second time. Keep motivated, make sure you have the right resources, and commit to a routine whole heartedly. I can’t guarantee that you or I will pass the Bar by doing this, but I do know that I won’t be asking myself “what if” if I should fail again. Do everything you can to get it right this round.

Written by Jack Whittington

You Ask…I Answer. Should I Put My Picture on My Business Card?

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:30:32 +0000

Question: Susan, I can think of no better person to settle this debate than you. Recently, I was in a law practice course and it was suggested that solos put their pictures on their business cards –like real estate agents commonly do, and make them “glossy.” Some say this is sort of unprofessional –again, like something a real estate agent would do. I can see the benefit of it, especially after considering the rationale –the person may forget your face and this is a reminder, etc. and the glossy surface can’t be written over. However, I also think it is a bit cheesey –especially when people use outdated pictures, etc. I will say that when my card (which has a nice logo, etc) was placed next to a glossy one with a picture and what-not, mine looked plain….What is your take on this?

I believe the ultimate answer is very personal to the individual attorney. And the individual attorney has to consider who their audience is. Using face recognition is valid because if after meeting you, whether an event or a free consultation, if they go to your website to check you out where you DO have a picture they know they’ve landed on the right site. This alone can make it worthwhile given the number of website’s out there.

More importantly, the more they see your face the further it pushes the potential client down the road toward conversion to paying client which is the goal, right? The more touching points a client has with you, the more likely they are to connect with you, again, and again. And if this idea of putting a picture on your business card seems cheesy, think of this; You put your picture on your website, your Facebook page, your YouTube videos, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google +, possibly brochures. Why would not put your picture on this small square of paper to reinforce the connection once having actually met the potential client?

You also mention in the same paragraph that some are of the opinion that real estate agents do it and therefore it is unprofessional. Is it? Or maybe they know something lawyers don’t – visual recognition is a powerful tool. In the next breath you say you believe it to be ‘cheesy’. Is it cheesy? Or is it that historically lawyers have never done it so you question the validity of doing it? Given what’s happening in the legal profession today, it seems to me we should all be looking for ways to break away from the pack. Imagine you are at a networking event just having collected thirty cards. Which one is going to stand out to you when you review them later? (A little secret? I’m a visual person. When I scan the Facebook Timeline, LinkedIn and Twitter I’m looking for pictures of those I follow, not names. I forget names easily, but never faces. When someone changes their avatar I get thrown off. How many potential clients are like me?) The better question to ask is ‘does it help me more than hurt me to have a picture on my business card?’

Personally, if I was practicing today. I would consider it and not dismiss it out of hand simply because realtors (who are professionals) do it and realtors are sales people and lawyers don’t like the association with sales people. If you think it’s cheesy because people use outdated pictures, don’t use an outdated picture! But do use the same professional picture on all your advertising such as your web presences and brochures so clients and colleagues can continue to make the connection to you. The more often they connect, the closer you get to a new client.

What do you think? Do you use a picture on your business card already? How has it been received?

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

Celebrating 2 Years Solo: Lessons from the Trenches

Rania S Combs — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:30:53 +0000

“On the eve of launching my solo practice, I had a knot in the pit of my stomach. I’d worked for a firm right out of law school, and then did freelance work for other attorneys, but I’d never been completely on my own. I never had to be a rainmaker. I never had to run a business. I always had other attorneys in my firm to bounce ideas off of. What if I couldn’t do it?”

Nevertheless, I pressed on. I sent out a letter to family and friends telling them I was open for business and ignored the nagging voice of doubt reminding me how humiliating it would be if my efforts failed. Some of you who are on the verge of hanging your own shingle might be having the same anxieties. For you, I offer a few of the lessons I have learned in the past two years.

Rome wasn’t built in a day

In the months before I launched my website, I purchased what I thought was a really good domain name: www.texaswillsandtrustslaw.com. Having decided to start a completely web-based practice, I understood the importance of having prospective clients find my website. I figured people who were looking for estate planning attorneys may use key words such as Texas Wills and Trusts to search for them. That should elevate the ranking of my site. Or so I hoped.

Delusional as it may have been, a part of me really expected being found online to be as simple as choosing a domain name. So a few days after my website became public, I ran a Google search for “Texas Wills and Trusts.” Surely, I’d be able to find my website using that phrase. I was wrong. Much to my dismay, my website was not on page 1 or even 10 for that matter. I gave up after page 26. Prospective clients would have given up long before that.

Discouraged, I called my brother. How would clients find me when my website was buried on the Internet? “Rania,” my brother said,

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, and nothing worth having ever was either.”

The truth is that building a practice, whether web-based or brick-and-mortar, takes a lot of time and hard work. It doesn’t happen overnight. There are no shortcuts. For me, the more I blogged and connected with other bloggers, the more traffic showed up on my website. The more articles I wrote and the more personality I injected into those articles, the longer prospective clients spent on my website.

It took time, but clients started knocking on my virtual door.

Business is often slow the first few months. Don’t get discouraged.

Virtual doesn’t have to be impersonal

Technology has influenced every aspect of our lives, including the way we communicate. Because so many of us are comfortable keeping in touch electronically, it’s easy to assume that people are content with less personal contact.

That was my assumption when I started my web-based law practice two years ago. So for the first couple of months, I didn’t engage in much offline communication with my clients. I figured that since I was operating a web-based practice and clients contacted me through my virtual law office, communicating electronically was expected.

That was a mistake.

Exchanging messages online is great for productivity, but is not very conducive to building a real relationship with clients. In order to do that, I needed to move communications offline as well.

Nowadays, the first thing I do when a new client contacts me is schedule an introductory phone call. The call serves a couple of purposes. First, it allows me to learn about his or her needs and determine whether those needs can be met in an online environment. And most importantly, it allows me to make a personal connection that I couldn’t make if I simply responded with an online note.

By taking the communication offline, I have been able to build real relationships with my clients, even though I have never met most of them in person. As a result, even after I’ve closed a case, I’ll hear back from them about major life events, such as the birth of a new child or grandchild, and also from the friends and family members they refer.

Don’t sell yourself short

During the first few months I was in solo practice, a couple engaged me to do their estate planning. After investing some time talking with these clients and discussing my fees, they said someone they knew referred another attorney who would prepare their estate planning documents for less. They wanted to work with me, but asked me to match the other attorney’s rate.

Their request took me by surprise, but I really wanted the work. So I agreed to reduce my rate. Rather than feeling happy that they had chosen me, however, the experience left me feeling resentful and frustrated for compromising on what I knew was a very reasonable fee quote.

“If someone hires you because of price, they’ll fire you because of price.”

Over the past two years, I’ve come to realize that there are always going to be attorneys who may offer their services at a lower rate. And if the lowest price is the most important factor for the client, they’ll likely be much happier choosing that option. But I think clients recognize that the lowest fee does not necessarily equate to the best value. It’s up to us to differentiate the value in our services.

Since going solo, I have been pleased with the amount of positive feedback I have received regarding the value of my services. In fact, a couple of months ago, a client sent me a check in excess of our agreed fee because she believed the value of the services she received exceeded the fee I quoted.

New solos are under a lot of financial pressure, so they’re often reluctant to turn away a paying client, no matter what the compromise. Try to resist the temptation. Do a lot of research. Understand the value of the services you provide. Before beginning any work on a client’s behalf, provide a fair quote based on his or her unique circumstances. But don’t sell yourself short.

Be open to constructive criticism

I spent months designing my website. It took me months because I didn’t know what I was doing. I knew nothing about WordPress or blogging. I didn’t know a widget from a plugin. But I didn’t have the budget to hire someone to do it for me. So I labored away until I finally had what I thought was a visually attractive website.

However, several months after I made my website public, I met an attorney who asked an interesting question: “If I were a prospective client and clicked on your website, would I immediately know how you can help me?” Tentatively, I answered, “I think so.”

So this attorney took the time to pull up my website after he got to his office and then called me after he’d seen it. I’ll spare you his point-by-point critique (it was very long), but the bottom line was that my website was not effective. While it looked nice, it was neither client-focused nor easy to navigate. To attract clients, it needed to be both. I was crushed.

Although the criticism was discouraging, I took it to heart. I made several of the changes he recommended and reaped the reward. Soon, the bounce rate on my website decreased and the time prospective clients spent on my site increased. With that came more clients.

It’s much easier to tell people what they want to hear. It takes a lot of courage and time to be bluntly honest and to back up that honesty with practical advice. But what a difference it can make! There are several colleagues and professionals around the country who I know will tell me the truth, no matter how discouraging it may initially be. I appreciate them. If someone is willing to offer that kind of feedback, don’t be offended. Accept it graciously.

You don’t have to do it alone!

And that brings me to my last lesson: You don’t have to do it on your own. There are plenty of attorneys willing to help if you just ask.

The general public’s perception of lawyers may often be negative, but the attorneys I’ve encountered in the past two years have been incredibly generous with their time and knowledge. Before I started my practice, I talked to as many lawyers as possible about what it would take to build and grow a law firm. And I still do. There is so much more I can learn and improve upon, and I’m grateful for those who take the time to help.

So go ahead. Take the first step. Call a respected attorney in your area of practice and ask for help on an issue that has you stumped. Make connections with attorneys whose marketing acumen you admire or whose blogs you enjoy. Call a colleague in another jurisdiction with whom you’d like to collaborate.

Most likely, they’ll be flattered you called and happy to offer you advice. I know I always am. Every time someone calls me, I remember all the attorneys who have mentored and encouraged me in the past two years, and I’m happy to pay it forward. I hope that those I help will one day do the same for others.

Looking ahead

I’ve learned so much in the past two years, both personally and professionally. In some ways, it seems like I’ve been in solo practice for much longer. In other ways, I feel like I’m just getting started. I have accomplished things I never thought I could, and I can honestly say I’ve never worked harder. But the process of building my firm has been an incredibly rewarding experience.

As you start your own solo journey, I hope it will be the same for you.

Written by Rania S Combs

Making the Leap From BigLaw to Solo Practice

Suzanne Meehle — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:30:23 +0000

I’ve talked a lot on this blog about the differences between BigLaw and Solo. What I haven’t spent enough time on is what it took to make the transition from BigLaw to Solo.

How exactly did I make the leap?

First and foremost, I got fed up. Yes indeed. I had to hate being a cog in the BigLaw machine badly enough to give up what there is to love about BigLaw. Because, really, there IS a lot to love. I loved my co-workers, who were among the best and most talented attorneys I’ve ever known. I loved having a huge support staff. I loved having people nod in satisfaction when I told them what firm I worked for. I loved getting a regular, fat paycheck. And I seriously loved breaking down a few barriers: I was the first person from my law school that was hired into my old firm; and while I worked there we had more women associates and partners than at any other BigLaw firm in town I can think of. Not too shabby.

I really loathed what I didn’t like about BigLaw. I hated being measured by the number of hours I billed over the quality of my work. I dreaded having to collect on some pretty outrageous bills racked up by some of my clients who needed a little hand-holding. I despised feeling that what I contributed to the firm made little difference. And I hated being metaphorically thrown in the deep end of the pool without swim lessons – practicing a new areas of law by the seat of my pants and hoping I didn’t screw up so badly that a client or a partner would notice.

That last one – that doesn’t go away when you go solo. You are still flying by the seat of your pants, but at least you have control over the direction. You can control what clients you hire, what work you take on, what CLE you take, what treatises you buy and read, and what forms you use as a jumping-off point.

But I grew to hate my job at BigLaw more than I feared hanging a shingle. And boy howdy, was I ever afraid! It took me more than a year after I knew I didn’t belong at BigLaw to screw up the courage to leave.

Hanging a shingle meant, as a good friend put it, “saying ‘F*** you!’ to the cliff and jumping into an abyss.”

I talked to everyone who would listen about my growing dissatisfaction with BigLaw. I started reading about so-called “alternative” ways of practicing law, and eventually started taking classes at SPU. I saved my pennies and wished for the day that I could finally walk away from my job at BigLaw. I commiserated over lunch, on the phone and via email with a good friend about how much we wanted out of BigLaw.

And then it happened: the director of Human Resources walked into my office and handed me a self-assessment form in preparation for my annual review. In filling it out, I realized that my honest answer to most of the questions would get me fired from BigLaw:

How would you rate your performance? Pretty lackluster of late, because I hate coming to work in the morning.
How would you rate your legal abilities? Better than average, but I really don’t know since I’m the only lawyer in the firm who does what I do, even though I’ve only been here for three years.
What are your goals for next year? To not be here by the end of the year.
How would you rate your loyalty to the firm? See #3, above.

I absolutely could not be honest in my self-assessment and keep my job. I knew right then that I had to leave. Now. Right now!

On the drive home that night, I called my friend and soon-to-be business partner to schedule a lunch where we hatched our escape plans. We were giving notice the following week, and we would open our firm on the first day of the following month. We each thought we could attract a few of our existing clients to come with us, which would give us a much-needed push-off. We could operate on a shoestring budget. I threw together a rough sketch of a business plan and we hired a marketing firm to help us figure out that piece of the puzzle. We set up a professional limited liability company. We each borrowed start-up money from our respective families. We found a small office to rent. In short, we did a few things right and made a few mistakes.

We did OK borrowing the money, but we should not have spent it on a marketing firm. We did well starting with a business plan and a shoestring budget, but we should never have leased space right out of the gate. We attracted clients right away, and we were right that we could survive without BigLaw salaries and perks. We eschewed practice management software at our peril. We underestimated the need for a clear operating agreement. We overestimated the power of a good friendship to translate into a good business partnership. We learned. Eventually we broke up the firm and went our separate ways.

This time I did a few things differently. I started out in a home office for six months, and did not lease space until I had outgrown my existing space. I did my own marketing: I set up a website using WordPress so that I had control over the content and search engine optimization (“SEO”) that drives traffic to the site; I ordered business cards and letterhead on the cheap; and I networked my butt off. I immediately signed up to use Clio’s practice management system. I took every SPU class that seemed vaguely relevant to my practice. I paid off what I owed to my family for the loan to set up my first firm, and I now operate in the black. My business plan is a constantly-evolving, but I’m still on a shoestring budget.

Now, having transitioned from BigLaw dropout to successful solo, I am happy.

There is nothing wrong with working for a BigLaw firm. But if you are dissatisfied with your job at BigLaw, I have some advice: say “F*** you!” to that cliff and jump!

Written by Suzanne Meehle

The Referral Power of Positive Reviews on Yelp.

Douglas Greenberg — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:30:56 +0000

In his seminal guide on solo practice, Jay Foonberg predicted that the Internet would change everything about the way consumers shopped for goods and services. And in his opinion, the practice of law was no exception. Today, Foonberg’s vision seems to be materializing more each day. Consumers size up lawyers not just by their artwork and furniture but also by their online reviews at sites like Yelp.com. Indeed, for some potential clients, searching for an attorney may be just like searching for a restaurant: pick up an iPhone and start perusing reviews (perhaps with Siri as a guide.) In fact, Yelp is one of the three main ways that clients come to me (I’ll leave the other two to future posts).

When I first began my practice, I was ambivalent about having a presence on Yelp. On one hand, I knew it was a great (and low-cost) way to gain much-needed exposure. On the other, I feared it because it was entirely outside of my control. Review websites are great for obtaining information, but also largely unregulated. Despite some refinements over the years, users can go on them and say anything about anyone, anonymously, without fear of repercussions. This allows anyone with an internet connection and an agenda (including an unscrupulous competitor) to post a false or unfair reviews and manipulate ratings. And yet, true or untrue, strangers would potentially take those reviews and ratings at face value.

This frightening truth is part of the brave new world that modern lawyers and other business owners confront. Review websites are here to stay. As a result, your control over your reputation may not go much further than your ability to foster positive reviews and ratings on review sites like Yelp. Ultimately, I decided to embrace the inevitable. I encouraged a client to post a review on Yelp and he did. Since then, I have gotten a surprising amount of business from users searching on Yelp. As time has gone on, more reviews have been posted (all of them favorable, thankfully). And if anything, I would like to believe that the site has showcased my honesty and good customer service.

Yet, in reality I know that this view is simplistic. As others have attested, many reviewers are simply unfair and much of the Yelp game may be more about your likability and luck and the inevitable outcome of a legal matter than about your competence and skill. Some businesses have even sued Yelp for poor monitoring of their site. Since I began riding the wave of the modern Internet review site, I have learned a few basic tips that can help make Yelp and other websites a positive experience:

Encourage satisfied clients to post reviews. Personally, I do not believe there is anything unethical about doing this. Indeed, law practices have used testimonials for years in their advertising. Only here, the client is telling their own story, in their own words, which I personally feel is better.

Treat everyone with respect. Perhaps the most lasting influence Yelp will have on the legal industry is the way lawyers treat their clients. Gone are the days when an attorney could chew out a nuisance client and kick them to the curb. Such actions now risk damaging retaliation by way of nasty internet complaints. In my practice, frankly, I am so terrified that this might happen that I treat everyone quite politely and will bite my tongue no matter how unreasonable the person is being. Such is life in the new age. Every call or meeting is a potential review, so do your best to send the person home satisfied (or at very least not unsatisfied).

Lastly, it pays to engage clients who are having issues rather than avoiding them. At the veterinary hospital where my wife works, they have recently begun encouraging people to come to them before posting a Yelp review. The idea is to catch problem cases before they wind up on the Internet. Whether the strategy works remains to be seen, but the concept is important. By addressing the source of dissatisfaction as early as possible, you have the greatest opportunity to fix the problem. And, even if the problems are not fixable, there’s always the possibility that if unhappy clients at least have the opportunity to air their grievances to you, they will be less inclined to do so at home on their computer.

Are you considering using Yelp? What has been your experience on Yelp or other review sites?

Written by Douglas Greenberg

What is Marketing Anyway?

Susan Cartier Liebel — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:30:33 +0000

Last week someone I know sent me an e-mail and asked if I was following the hashtagged conversation #MPF12. I guess it was a marketing convention in Miami. I wasn’t following it; didn’t know about it. But the thrust of this lawyer’s concern was as he watched the tweets he was appalled as what he was reading…from lawyers! We good naturedly went back and forth about legal marketing but it reminded me of how misunderstood true marketing is by most. So I am resurrecting this post about marketing I wrote a few years ago which ultimately got highlighted by the ABA Journal Online. I certainly would like to know your thoughts, as always.

“If a young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person and that’s marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is — that’s advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is — that’s public relations.”S.H. Simmons

In the past week or so the great debate in the legal profession – legal marketing – has reared its head, again. And it has brought out the zealots on both sides. Within the profession legal marketing is a hot button issue like abortion, gay rights and stem cell research. There are extremists on each side of the debate and the majority who reside somewhere in the middle.

The problem is everyone talks about marketing as if they know what it really is. The reality is most don’t but they have strong opinions, nonetheless. While the above is illustrative and done with humor, here are some definitions which might help enlighten and provide you some intelligent dialogue when someone starts the ‘great debate’:

The Philosophy Marketing and the Marketing Concept.

The marketing concept is a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all business activities.

Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialized activity at all. It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise. Drucker.

This customer focused philosophy is known as the ‘marketing concept’. The marketing concept is a philosophy, not a system of marketing or an organizational structure. It is founded on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires. Barwell.

The achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition. Jobber.

Implementation of the marketing concept [in the 1990's] requires attention to three basic elements of the marketing concept. These are: Customer orientation; An organization to implement a customer orientation; Long-range customer and societal welfare. Cohen.

From the Marketing Teacher

Another popular definition is:

Marketing consists of the strategies and tactics used to identify, create and maintain satisfying relationships with customers that result in value for both the customer and the marketer.

Therefore, it is fairly obvious that true marketing is all about the customer or (in the legal profession) the client and client-orientation is the cornerstone to client satisfaction which results in profitability (hopefully) for the lawyer. If done correctly it is positioned as a 100%/100% win for client and lawyer.

To say in any way shape or form that lawyers, new or old, should not market, shows a lack of understanding about what marketing is. It is my experience that those who claim lawyers ‘shouldn’t market…it’s not dignified’ are not really talking about marketing at all. We all market in everything we do intentionally or not. What they are talking about, in my opinion, is less the actual concept or philosophy of marketing and more the manner in which a marketing plan is ‘executed’.

Strategies and Tactics

Strategies are best explained as the direction the marketing effort takes over some period of time while tactics are actionable steps or decisions made in order to follow the strategies established.

And this is at the heart of the great debate.

When one lawyer says, “that type of marketing drags down the profession” they are passing judgment less on the marketing philosophy and more on the ‘tactics’ they find distasteful. But is it to the benefit or taste of that lawyer’s potential client? If the goal is ‘customer orientation’ and ‘an organization to implement a customer orientation; long-range customer and societal welfare’ we have to look through the eyes of the client.

Strategies and tactics that would appeal to me or make me feel repelled or ashamed in many ways are irrelevant unless I’m the client purported to be served. Is it geared towards the needs of the client and societal welfare and does it reach them in the manner they need to be reached? In order for the service provider to achieve these goals that’s what matters.

If your client is an urban immigrant who takes the bus and speaks poor English, distrusting of lawyers for a myriad of reasons and your goal is to reach and educate that consumer on legal services they require, what is the best strategy devised and the best tactics to implement to get the message across to help them? It clearly isn’t bar association lunches, public speaking engagements at the chamber or high-profile articles in a national law journal (unless you have also developed a secondary strategy to cultivate professional referrals or some other goal.)

In this regard, the legal profession is no different. If you, my potential client, don’t know I exist, how I can help you? If the lawyer can’t overcome identified barriers for a successful client/attorney relationship through relevant ‘tactics’ how can a potential client decide to utilize the lawyer’s services and by extension, how will the client’s legal needs be met?

I’m a purist. I believe in the marketing philosophy. I believe all solos, especially, need to understand why ‘marketing’ is not a dirty word in the legal profession. As stated above, “it is not a specialized activity at all.” It includes among other activities networking, social media, public speaking, educational seminars, pro bono work, joining bar associations, traditional advertising, appropriate pricing and packaging of legal services. It is not a ‘thing’…it is a philosophy.

Let’s take it a step further. Not every solo can nor wants to utilize every strategy or tactic. Not every activity is suitable for every lawyer’s personality or professional mission nor can every strategy or tactic achieve the goal of reaching the client they seek to serve. And many lawyers simply don’t know how to assess their skill sets appropriately, nor do they know how to cost-effectively and efficiently reach the clients they want to serve. If the message can’t be delivered, both the legal provider and the public are harmed.

Do some lawyers choose marketing strategies and tactics which make me cringe? Absolutely. But I am also not their targeted client. If their behavior is egregious, I’ll leave it to those who govern the profession to take proper action. If those governors overstep their bounds, I leave it to the lawyers to sue to protect their rights and in doing so protect all our rights.

So, before people disparage those who would teach lawyers to create a client-driven solo-practice and the strategies and tactics necessary to reach their client base, remember, everything you do is marketing whether intentional or not. If I were starting out today, I would seek the help of someone who is knowledgeable to devise a marketing strategy to reach my clients while I created a client-centered practice.

It would be executed in a manner which reflects my ethics and morality and taste and be within the professional guidelines governing such activities. But I would be out there marketing my ability to serve clients with legal needs. And so should you.

Written by Susan Cartier Liebel

A Solo (A)Broad – Annie Tunheim

Annie Tunheim — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:30:40 +0000

Right around the time my third son was born, I started my own law practice. You see, I had long known I didn’t want to go the traditional attorney route; the one year I spent at a small downtown firm was miserable enough to instill a lifelong aversion to law firm employment. It may be my undergraduate degree in Psychology that rooted itself firmly in my being, but I just craved connections with others, and the ability to practice law the way I wanted to—without being ‘spoken to’ for being too friendly with the support staff (if God forbid I didn’t maintain an appearance of being above them!—yes, it was that type of firm).

While contemplating career options, I felt the ever-present work-life balance conflict; I tend to err heavily on wanting to be available for my family. You know the old saying about how on your deathbed you’ll never wish that you had spent more time at the office…I didn’t want to miss out on simple things like reading with my son during the first 15 minutes of each kindergarten school day, and I really do enjoy making homemade muffins for the class on my kids’ assigned snack days.

That being said, I am absolutely not cut out to be a fully stay-at-home mom, and we couldn’t afford it on my husband’s teacher salary, regardless. Surely there would be a way that I could have the best of both worlds and not completely waste this piece of paper I studied three long years to earn, allowing me to rightfully practice law?

After I narrowly escaped the grasp of the torturous law firm, I began working part-time handling legal matters for a brewery, managing their compliance with federal and state regulations, drafting and amending contracts with distributors, and getting them up to speed on intellectual property issues, among other things. Long gone were my days of business suits and pantyhose; I gleefully wore jeans and flip-flops to work, and just as you’d guess, the kind of people that work at a brewery are vibrant and engaging. At this company, there no issues with hierarchy; the guys that work on the bottling line are just as important as the head of marketing.

It has been five years since I left the law firm, and I’m still employed by the brewery. I don’t bring in a 6-figure salary like my friend at the big-name law firm downtown does, but in terms of quality of life, I have it made.

You may be wondering where my law practice comes in. I started Tunheim Law LLC three and a half years ago, as a side dish to my part-time job at the brewery. I enjoyed the intellectual property work I had done, and I wanted to work with other small business owners who may be daunted by the thought (or price) of hiring a big name firm to handle their intellectual property needs.

I began making a presence on some small business forums and slowly built a client base, conducting the vast majority of my business after my children were tucked into bed each night. My office is my laptop on our living room couch; while I do keep client files, my firm is almost entirely paperless. No need for a conference room–my clients are spread out all over the country; in fact, to date I have only met one in person! Having only email contact with clients forces you to create a trusting relationship with words that may be much easier to achieve in person; not everyone is suited to relating to others in this way. It’s funny; despite the distance between myself and my clients, I feel close to them–I have seen pictures of their children and am truly excited to help bolster the brands they are working to create.

Especially in the beginning, there were periods where I wasn’t doing much business, but it was okay because this was my side dish; any money I brought in was a bonus to our family, and it felt safe to have this on the side while I had my regular paycheck coming in.

There are certainly moments—on days where I have brought in freshly baked goods for one son’s class, led a reading group for another son’s class, put in 5 hours of work at the brewery, picked up the three boys from school and played until my husband came home, helped with homework, made dinner, and then kissed my boys goodnight only to have another whole job looming over me—where I feel like a crazy person. Like any mother, I’m busy and balancing twelve plates in the air can be exhausting.

I am now teetering on the edge of a new journey; two, in fact. As of Christmas Day, 2011, my solo practice law firm as aside dish became a main course. You may be wondering why I would ever give up my terrific position at the brewery; what, am I moving across the world or something? Why, yes, as a matter of fact—my husband, three sons, and I are spending a year in Australia while my art teacher husband participates in a teacher exchange program.

The opportunity to move to an entirely different part of our planet would be nearly impossible if I worked at a traditional firm; instead, I will practice law as I have been doing for the past three and a half years, but instead of sitting on my living room couch I will be on my balcony a block and a half from the beach in Wollongong, New South Wales. Despite the time difference, I should actually be more available to my clients because I will finally be able to focus solely on my practice.

I’m nervous about giving up my steady income, but of course the potential to earn a better living through my practice is there and I feel more confident knowing that I have already built a solid client base than if I was just now launching a solo practice. My clients are used to me advocating for them from afar; I’ll now be just a bit farther. On the rare occasion where a phone call is necessary, Skype is a great option.

I highly doubt I’ll ever bring in a six-figure salary, but there’s more to life than making six figures. My days spent with my children during these years where they actually express excitement that I can chaperone on a school field trip are invaluable and undoubtedly short-lived, and I know that this upcoming year in Australia will be a fabulous family adventure, the struggles along with the highlights.

Follow me on our family blog at The Adventures of Annie & Her Boys as we make this leap, and I’ll update again on this blog as I adjust to my main course solo practice.

Have tips on practicing from afar, or want to wish me good luck? Have you traveled to Australia and know of a must-see/do location? I’m all ears. Please talk with me in the comments below!

Written by Annie Tunheim

Did a Groupon Really Work for a Solo Lawyer?

Debra Bruce — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:30:11 +0000

Last year St. Louis attorney Craig S. Redler garnered a lot more attention than he really wanted when he offered a discount coupon for a will and power of attorney through daily deal promoter Groupon. Groupon sends its members targeted advertising of daily virtual vouchers entitling the purchasers to products and services from local businesses at deep discounts through group purchasing. If a large enough group commits to purchase the coupon, the deal is on. Thus, the name Groupon. The company was founded in 2008 and its business took off so rapidly that it now has hundreds of copycat competitors. Some of the other big players in the daily deal market include Living Social, Google Offers and Amazon with its Gold Box Deals and Woot.

A Virtual Ethics Exam

Groupon grabbed headlines when it went public in 2011. Its CEO was interviewed on 60 Minutes even as I was writing this post. What focused the legal blog spotlight on Redler, however, was the question of whether advertising through Groupon could constitute fee splitting in violation of Rule 5.4(a) of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and most state ethics rules. These daily deal sites make their money by taking a cut of the proceeds from the sale of the discount voucher (which voucher is later redeemed for goods or services), rather than charge the participating business a fee up front.

Redler duly sought clearance from the Missouri Bar Association before proceeding with the Groupon deal. Since then, South Carolina and North Carolina have announced ethics committee opinions authorizing daily deal voucher programs for legal services, with certain caveats. Stephanie Kimbro did a nice job of summarizing those caveats in her Virtual Law Practice blog. The WhichDraft.com blog helpfully includes the South Carolina ethics rules in its commentary on the issue. Amber Hollister, the deputy general counsel for the Oregon State Bar discussed the question in the Oregon State Bar Bulletin with regard to ethics rules in Oregon.

Is It Worth It?

What most solo lawyers want to know before trying to decipher their state’s ethics rules on this rather complicated issue is, “Does it work? Is it worth it?” I asked Craig Redler whether, from the vantage point of one year later, he would do it all again. “Probably not,” he admitted, but not because of the clients. And not because of Groupon. He just wouldn’t want to experience all the brouhaha from the legal community again. Besides the flurry of activity from new clients, Redler’s office was inundated with about 150 phone calls and emails from lawyers wanting to know how it worked. On top of that, some of the online commentary was not very charitable towards him. (Lawyers, please don’t contact him as a result of this post. He doesn’t have time for responding.)

I wondered whether Redler could even break even financially by offering a will and power of attorney for only $99 in the Groupon deal. He ususally charges $750 for his will package. I asked whether he did it as a loss leader, and whether it ultimately paid off. “I didn’t even think in terms of ‘loss leader’ when I decided to do a Groupon deal,” he confessed. “I love Groupons and wanted to be part of it. I use them personally.”

So did Redler lose money on the deal? Or did he just gin out a no frills “Mom and Pop will” as efficiently as he could? “I sent each client an extensive questionnaire. I did a quality job for each client and gave them hours of my time. It’s impossible for me to do a plan in less than 3.5 to 4 hours,” affirms Redler. Most of his Groupon clients determined that they needed a more complex plan, some including trusts or other instruments . Avoiding a bait and switch program and keeping it ethical, Redler gave a full $750 credit to the clients who upgraded. Redler says he still made money on the Groupon experiment. It just wasn’t as profitable as his other work.

Clients As Good As Any

Some businesses have found that daily deal vouchers bring in the wrong kind of clients: the type who just want dirt cheap deals and won’t be repeat customers at full price, or folks with attitude. Redler, however, said “The people who came in were as good as any I work with.” Many of them said they had intended to get their wills drawn up for months or years, and the Groupon spurred them to finally take action.

If you’re just getting a new law practice going and you have unfilled hours on your hands, you might not have much to lose by doing a daily deals voucher program. Even $99 is more than $0. For a seasoned lawyer, however, there needs to be more pay off. The sudden throng of new clients puts pressure on the ability to service existing full pay clients, and could harm long term business relationships, if not handled well.

Fortunately for Redler, time has confirmed the wisdom of his experiment. In the past year some of the discount clients have engaged him again for additional legal services at full fee. Some of them have referred new clients to him. Even though he didn’t actually lose money, the “loss leader” did lead to additional business for Redler.

The Key: Caring & Quality Service

After viewing how Redler handled the questions of potential clients on the Groupon site, and after exploring his client philosophy in conversation, I think I know why Redler had a good experience with his Groupon clients. He offered the kind of service (will preparation) that responsible people seek. He treated his new clients with respect and concern for their welfare. He gave them all the service of a full-paying client. It sounds to me like he took care of his clients, and they returned the favor.

Before you race off to try a daily deal discount voucher program for your law practice, stay tuned for my next blog post. It contains my thoughts on what kind of legal work might be suited for a discount voucher deal, and what to watch out for. If you have already tried something like this or know an attorney who has, please share the results in the comments below.

Written by Debra Bruce

Best Advice I Received as a Lawyer: Don’t Forget to Take the Time to Think

Rush Nigut — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:30:36 +0000

We are very fortunate to be bringing on board a new member to our family of columnists, Rush Nigut. Rush is a recognized authority in the area of business law who also happens to really have a handle on the importance of utilizing technology in practice. From his unique perspective as a business lawyer, he is going to be writing a monthly column called ‘Business Law and Tech’. Of course, he’ll add his experiences as a long time practitioner to showcase implementation and how technology, when used properly, improves the overall effectiveness of your practice and benefits your clients, too.

Best Advice I Received as a Lawyer: Don’t Forget to Take the Time to Think.

I was fortunate as a young lawyer to work with a terrific mentor when I started in the practice of law who taught me the importance of regular “think” sessions. He owns a small three-lawyer firm in Des Moines, yet represents a stable of clients that would make most in BIG LAW envious. Many of these clients weren’t big clients when he started representing them. But by studying and truly analyzing his clients’ issues, he was able to position himself and more importantly his clients for opportunities. Most lawyers I know hope for the big client or case. Instead, he has the uncanny ability to often turn the small client into a big client.

The result is a career that I joke Walter Mitty couldn’t have dreamed up. Some of his highlights include winning multi-million dollar verdicts, representing international corporations, chairing six different presidential campaigns in Iowa, owning a championship professional basketball team and even watching his horse run in the Kentucky Derby. If asked about the keys to his success, he could easily say he was blessed with a gift for public speaking, loves his work or perhaps has been lucky. But I’ve always felt he had a much more profound reason for his success. He takes the time to think.

Lawyers, particularly solo lawyers, have a lot on their mind. Solo lawyers must develop a client base, somehow get the work done and then run the business too. With these demands, it’s hard not to have a myopic viewpoint and focus only on the task that lies directly ahead.

But it’s critical to take time to think. It isn’t a waste of time. In our fast-paced professional practices where moving from client to client is the norm, our thoughts can easily become scattered and unfocused. Focused, uninterrupted time spent thinking can help lawyers immeasurably. Think about the practice of law and how it’s changing. And definitely don’t forget about where your clients’ industries are headed and how you can best position your clients to take advantage of opportunities.

So schedule time each day or week to think about and focus on the future. Start with setting aside an hour or two each week. Keep notes of your ideas and in my experience it works best to use the same journal or notebook to record your thoughts. During each week, make notes of things that come to your mind as well as the challenges and problems you run into.

One of the best things to remember is that just because something has been done a particular way, or because no one else does it that way, doesn’t mean you can’t do it your way. Be innovative and resourceful. Think of ways to come up with better, more productive solutions, both for your law practice and your clients. If you do, I have a feeling you’ll find your practice rewarding, not just from a monetary perspective, but also a personal perspective. It’s the best advice I ever received in the practice of law and it’s made a big difference for me.

Written by Rush Nigut