In today’s saturated and competitive legal market, it’s just not enough to be the very best at what you do, sitting behind your desk churning out work day in day out, to keep bringing in new business and to stay top of mind with clients, prospects and referrals.
Your competitors are likely doing more, and
I came across a terrific (and short article) in Attorney at Work by Tea Hoffmann on “Developing a What’s Next Mindset” that I passed along to the lawyers with whom I work because I like how it drives home the point that lawyers should always be thinking about the next step in trying to turn a prospect into a client. I also like how it drives home the point about how thinking strategically and carefully about the next steps in the sales cycle can lead to more business – a lawyer and his/her advisors must always be planting the seeds for how to engage with the prospect and how best to “pitch” the story of the firm and its services.
As the article notes, “typically it takes up to eight interactions, done over the course of six to 18 months, to convert a prospect to a client and only 20 percent of your prospects will become clients.” Now, this is a generalization of course, and it can take much longer or much shorter for a lead to become a client – but you get the point that the buyer journey to client is oftentimes quite long with mnay touchpoints along the way. The author also goes on to say that a what’s next mindset is great for lawyers because they tend to be deadline driven and laser focused – so this gives them motivation and the opportunity for goal setting.
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I recently returned from Atlanta where I attended and spoke at the 2019 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference, which is the annual industry gathering for legal marketing and business development professionals.
If your experience was like mine, you gained many new insights that you’re excited to implement at your firm, you made new valuable connections, reignited existing relationships, participated in online conversations at #LMA19 and spent time in the exhibit hall talking to service providers about their products and technologies.
I always try to attend the sessions that will enable me to obtain insights into what clients need and want, as well as anything that will help me gain an advantage over competitors, and with that in mind, I’d like to share a few key takeaways and insights from my LMA19 experience. This year, one of the major highlights for me was the general counsel panel. The speakers had so much to share and what they said was eye opening.
Here are some key takeaways from my latest JD Supra article on “What Clients Want and Need Today From Law Firms – Key Takeaways from the 2019 LMA Annual Conference.” Read the full article for much more from #LMA19.
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It can be really hard to get conference attendees to visit you at a trade show. There’s a lot of competition for starters. It can be somewhat overwhelming for attendees. And oftentimes, the exhibitors are very “me, me, me” focused instead of thinking about their target audience, which is quite captive at a large industry
I’m back from the 2019 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference in Atlanta where I presented a workshop and was a one of the LMA Facebook Live correspondents (you can watch the videos on the LMA International Facebook page), and I have so much to share and report back to y’all about (yes, I picked
The LMA Annual Conference is almost here and I can’t wait! I’m excited to learn new things, reunite with friends and to bring back new ideas to my firm. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can maximize my time away from the office (missing three full work days is stressful especially when you
It’s great to have a large number of connections on LinkedIn, but if the relationship never leaves the site, what’s the point? Create connections that matter, remember to always focus on the quality of the relationships – not the quantity!
Here are five tips on how to easily turn online connections into offline business:
I recently heard a very inspiring story about how a client referral came from a conversation that a lawyer had with the cleaning service employee who was assigned to his floor. They had grown somewhat friendly over the course of a year through casual conversations, and it turned out that the janitor’s brother had growing
It’s not always easy to develop a steady stream of strong content to engage with your clients, prospects and other target audiences, especially when there’s so much competition out there from other firms that are content powerhouses and so little time to capture the attention of your audience.
You also don’t want to be the firm that posts content just for the sake of posting content – you always want your articles and posts to be meaningful, targeted and client-focused – remember, always think quality over quantity. You can also use what you do have more efficiently to give you much more bang for your buck.
Your professional biography is one of the most important pieces of copy you’ll ever write about yourself. It’s your opportunity to showcase your work, capabilities, areas of expertise and what makes you stand out from your competitors.
Many in-house counsel cite lawyer bios as one of the most important sources of information regarding researching outside lawyers (yes, everyone is Googling you and your bio is usually the number one search result of your name). In addition, lawyer bios are among the most trafficked pages on law firm web sites.
Your bio can serve as an important business development tool if it is well-crafted. Yet within the legal industry, so many bios are still lackluster, outdated, not client-focused or just plain poorly written.
Given the power of bios, it has always baffled me that many lawyers do not update theirs at least several times a year or write them with a client focus. Any down time you have or right before a pitch or a speaking engagement are all great reasons to take a fresh look at your bio and them more engaging and client-focused. Now let’s get to work!
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