We Have To Do Something:
I feel slightly sad writing this. I had a chat with a solicitor recently who has decided to go down a marketing path which involves a substantial investment and which he and I are both almost certain will lead to failure. Yes, he is entering it knowing that it has little prospects of success. For confidentiality reasons clearly I cannot go into detail about it, but in discussing this with him I kept asking why are you doing this. Ultimately, his response boiled down to five sad words:
"We have to do something!"
I am hearing this more. Solicitors are now accepting what I have been saying (ranting and screaming about to be fair) that doing what they have always done is no longer producing the results that it used to so they must do more. I know from the experience of working with hundreds of solicitors that the "doing what they have always done" largely involves one or two ways of winning new client instructions which have always worked and which involve little or no consistent marketing effort on their part. The trouble is, those days are now gone and gone for good.
I understand that you did not enter the legal profession to become an expert in marketing, but I promise you this as I have done many times before in my law firm marketing newsletter, unless you truly do become a master of marketing NOW, you will really struggle and make your law firm life much harder than it needs to be in the future. The answer to the question "We have to do something" is not to spend thousands of pounds throwing your money at another business and asking them to fix all of your problems, the answer is to really start to understand how you can best market your law firm, and then test new methods every single month and find out exactly what works best for you.
Testing new marketing methods regularly and finding out which ones work best for your law firm is the only way to really master the art of marketing your law firm…
I emphasise that point because it is the one that is constantly repeated to me by the law firms who have already realised that they need to understand marketing fully and so have become members of my Marketing4Solicitors scheme, which provides them with all of the tools and knowledge they need to become a master of law firm marketing. They say it is finally understanding that unlike the law, marketing is not a black and white art with a wrong and right answer. Once they understand that they have to keep trying different marketing methods and find out which ones work best for their firm, or for their specialist area of legal practice, then they see massive break throughs and start to win all of the new client instructions that they desire. This is their break through realisation, that you just keep trying marketing again and again and again until it works. And when it does work, wow does it feel good. When you test something that provides you with all of the work that you want and need and you have achieved that through your own endeavours, well I promise you that will feel as good as winnning any case or closing any file, because it means you have filled your new leads pipeline with more of the work you love to do.
I know that at the moment many law firms are struggling, and I realise that most of them are now saying "We have to do something", but let me promise you this, the answer is that unless you master the marketing of your law firm, you will forever be in the hands of someone else controlling your destiny and the success of your practice. Now whether you take the advice from me or any other law firm marketing consultant is not the point (except of course that like you believe you are the best solicitor I feel the same about my law firm marketing skills). The point is this: if you accept that this is the answer to the recurring question of having to do something, once you master the art of marketing your law firm you will achieve massive and more importantly, sustainable success. It might take time, it will take consistent effort (not thousands of hours, 30 minutes a day would be a great start), but it is completely within your grasp and your control, if you choose it to be so. I strongly advise you to do so and to do so right now, before it really is too late.
My Marketing Consultant Friend
I have a huge recurring argument with a marketing consultant friend of mine who I have to concede has a much higher profile than me, has written four or five marketing books and speaks frequently at business growth seminars. You see I am a firm believer in the "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. He believes it is better if you do everything for your clients and make them reliant on your services. That strikes me as completely wrong.
With my Marketing4Solicitors service I provide solicitors with all of the tools they need to learn how to fish for new clients for their law firm for years to come. I have spent years working with law firms, and I realised that when acting as a consultant many of my law firm clients became dependant on me doing or organising everything for them, yet whilst this fixes the problems in the short term, it does them absolutely no favours in the long term. Yes, it helps me in providing regular retainer income, but I know it is not right as the minute I stop working with them they go back to doing little or nothing. I entered the law to give clients the best service possible, and I set up my law firm marketing consultancy to do exactly the same thing. This is exactly why I started Marketing4Solicitors for you all. I can show you how to fish for new clients, and you can set up systems and processes to provide you with all of the clients that you need without being reliant on me to come in and do everything (and paying a nominal monthly sum of £50 for as long as you choose to stay a member). So it does not make me rich, but it feeds my soul a lot better than making a law firm rely on my marketing services. It also is building a great community of pioneer solicitors, ones who are trying new things, sharing their results and starting to secure their future in the legal services market.
If you realise that you have to do something, and the time is now, please complete the form below to receive a free sample of my Marketing4Solicitors ToolKit so that you can see if you think it is going to help you on your journey to securing the future of your law firm.
admin
Good man. These articles are a good compass at this point.