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Law Society Gazette

Archive for June, 2012

Guide To Choosing A Legal Marketing Consultant

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

If you are considering hiring a legal marketing consultant to transform the marketing of your law firm, how do you know who is the best person for the job? I used to hire legal marketing consultants from time to time when I was in private practice, so I have put together this guide, based on my experience previously as a hirer of legal marketing consultants, and now as a provider of these services.

1. Experience

Have they been doing this for a few months or a few years? Obviously experience alone does not make it certain that they will be a fantastic legal marketing consultant, but the fact that they have been around a few years should give you some hope that they are doing something right.

When I started Samson Consulting in 2003 there were possibly two or three legal marketing consultants. Now there seem to be two or three more opening up every couple of months, although not all of them survive.

2. Results

Have they achieved results for other law firms, and are they prepared to let you talk to former or current clients to find out how they helped them? If you are at the stage of engaging a legal marketing consultant, they should be able to provide you with at least two referees for you to talk with to take away some of your fears or concerns.

3. Do They Offer A Guarantee?

I am a firm believer in guarantees for marketing any service business. I know, beyond any doubt, that I will add significant value to any firm I meet on a consultancy basis. How do I know? Well since 2003 I have met many fantastic clients and have always been able to add value to their marketing. This is why I always guarantee my services. If you do not think my legal marketing consultancy pays for itself many times over, you do not need to pay me.

I do not see many other consultancy firms prepared to offer this type of guarantee. Is there a reason they do not do this I wonder?

4. Do They Really Understand The Legal Sector?

Do they fully understand the challenges facing and the nuances of the legal services market place? Many consultants seem to have stumbled across the legal sector and decided it is a good sector to enter because they can charge higher fees to solicitors who do not understand the advice that they are buying.

I was a solicitor in private practice for 14 years before establishing Samson Consulting. I know what it is like to balance a full case load with a full marketing schedule; to hit profit costs targets whilst dealing with staff management issues. I understand the challenges that you face and will work with you to make marketing your practice as straightforward and as successful as possible.

5. Do They Have Testimonials

Are you able to view testimonials about their consultancy services? If they have been engaged as a legal marketing consultant on a number of occasions, they should have some good feedback about their services. Do they?

6. Do They Tie You To A Contract?

Are their consultancy services linked to a longer term contract? Do they try and force you to buy follow on services, or are they sufficiently confident that the first meeting will more than pay for itself and that you will choose to keep working with them?

I always choose the latter option. I only want clients to stay with me if they are receiving an excellent return on investment. You should keep working with your legal marketing consultant because you want to, not because you are forced to.

Find Out More About My Legal Marketing Services?

If you would like to find out more about how I can help you as a legal marketing consultant, please enter your details into the short form below to instantly receive my free brochure. This outlines the details of my Hidden Profits Discovery meeting (fully guaranteed of course):

We have never once regretted having Nick as our marketing consultant. He is just brilliant at thinking out of the box and making us do the same. We decided very early on that we just had to trust him because we are lawyers and not so good at selling things!

Nick is enthusiastic and extremely pro active which is infectious and makes us want to excel at attracting the clients we really want. He is now an integral and indispensable part of our team.

Julie Glynn, Partner, Glynns Solicitors Bristol & Bath

Author: Nick Jervis

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Posted in Legal Marketing Consultant | 1 Comment »

I Don’t Have The Time To Market My Law Firm

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

This is, without doubt the scariest comment I ever hear when I talk to solicitors about marketing. Often they say “I don’t have time to market my law firm” with a slight smirk on their face. I find this odd. Why smirk about the fact that you will be out of business within two years unless and until you get to grips with marketing your law firm?

Now this fact won’t impact my bank balance, I will still be working for savvy law firms who realise that the world has changed and mastering the science of marketing (not art) is essential to their success. So the only people who will suffer are the owners of the law firm and their staff.

The world really has changed. Sticking your head in the sand and saying you don’t have time to do marketing for your law firm is mindless and quite frankly bordering on negligence to those you have a responsibility for, whether that be staff or your family.

You mastered law, why should you not be able to do the same when it comes to marketing? Well you should be able to, and you can too. But you first have to find the time to market your law firm. Then you have to set that time in stone, and at the same time (preferably every day) sit down and learn more about marketing. Test new marketing methods, see what works for you and what does not work for you. You will soon realise that marketing can be learned just like the law, and when you start to master it, you will soon have all of the clients that you want and need.

If you still don’t think you have time, here are some ways to generate time so that you can market your practice:

  • Don’t read your emails first thing – check them only at 11am, 1.30pm and 4pm. That is more than enough.
  • If you have email alerts on your computer, turn them off instantly.
  • Close your office door for one or two hours at a time and put a sign on it “Do not enter unless the building is on fire”. Your staff will soon learn not to interrupt you (and it is in their best interests not to do so because you will still be in business in two years time
  • Take one day a month out of your office. Take no phone, email or electronic device. Read a marketing book, print out all of my marketing communications, join Marketing4Solicitors and read the monthly printed circular. Just get out of your office, away from the everyday noise and problems, and plan the growth of your practice. Opportunity abounds, just give yourself the chance of letting it knock on your door.
  • Take consistent action. Once you know what you should be doing, start doing it consistently, and don’t stop until you achieve success. Most solicitors stop far too soon. Marketing takes time to deliver consistently. Don’t give up on it.

I know that there is a bright future for your firm if you choose to take it. Please do.

Author: Nick Jervis

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Posted in No Time For Marketing A Law Firm | No Comments »

Does this sound like you when it comes to marketing your law firm?

Tuesday, June 26th, 2012

Josie is a sole practitioner. Two years ago she felt frustrated and worried. Whilst she thought she was quite good at marketing, she was not generating enough clients nor enough of the types of clients she really wanted. Consequently, she had to undertake some types of legal work she would prefer not to do. This was not why she had started her own law firm and she was scared it would always be like this. She wanted to be able to carry out the legal work she loved to do because she knew that she then provided a much better and more complete service. She was happier and so were her clients when this happened.

In looking for a solution she came across my website and signed up for my free marketing guide. She kept hearing about Marketing4Solicitors and that this could change the way she viewed marketing, that it would provider her with all of the tools and information she needed to change her marketing for the better, but she could not believe that it could achieve all of this for only £50 a month. She was sceptical. However, when she received an email to try Marketing4Solicitors free for one month she decided to give it a go. After all, there was no contractual tie in and she could cancel before the end of the thirty day trial simply by emailing info@samsonconsulting.co.uk. She fully expected to be taking this action, but she never did.

Josie tried Marketing4Solicitors and has never looked back. Two years later Josie is still a member but her day to day legal practice has changed beyond recognition. She now has as many of the types of clients that she really enjoys helping as she needs. Of course there are still occasionally marketing challenges and set backs, this is the real world after all. However, when these happen, Josie now knows that she can refer back to me for help and guidance, and she often does. This is all part of the service.

Josie is based on a real solicitor, in fact many of them, who are and have been members of Marketing4Solicitors for over two years now. If what happened to Josie resonates with you at all, I know without a doubt that I can help you. So please take advantage of the free one month trial, and let me show you how I can help you to attract more of the clients that you want and need to have the successful practice that made you want to set up on your own in the first place.

Click to read more and to view the free trial offer:>>

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Posted in Law Firm Marketing (General) | No Comments »

Marketing Ideas For Solicitors

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

Nick Jervis, Providing Proven Marketing Ideas For Solicitors

If you are a firm of solicitors looking for marketing ideas to bring you in as many new client instructions as you want or need, I assure you that you have just arrived in the right place.

I have been providing solicitors with marketing ideas since I established my marketing consultancy for solicitors in 2003, this after a 14 year legal career. I practiced in a High Street law firm for the first eight years of my legal career whilst also undertaking my Legal Executive qualifications. From year two in private practice I decided to specialise in personal injury claims. However, because the firm I worked for did not have enough work of this type to keep me busy, they asked me to come up with my own marketing ideas to generate my case load. I jumped at the chance, always having been a fan of marketing, and within a few months I had generated my own personal injury case load. My marketing ideas proved so successful that I then recruited a trainee legal executive to work under me and I provided her with her caseload too from my own marketing ideas and initiatives.

Next, I was asked to take over the marketing for the entire firm, covering the broad spectrum of legal services, from family law to moving home, commercial leases to partnership disputes. I quickly realised that not only did I seem to have the knack for marketing, I was enjoying it far more than the legal work I was undertaking. However, I was only in year three of an eight year period of qualifying as a solicitor.

From time to time I would ask a marketing consultant to come and visit me to see if they could provide me with any new marketing ideas. Sadly, this rarely provided me with any new ideas but it did convince me that I must set up my own marketing consultancy for solicitors in the future as these consultants added nothing to the process (but did produce a hefty dent in the firm’s cheque book).

The firm and my department went from strength to strength on the back of my marketing ideas. When I qualified as a solicitor in 1999 we decided to move west to Bristol from Reading as we had a young family and wanted to be closer to grandparents. After two and a half years with a much larger firm (not for me in terms of client service offering but an excellent exercise in increasing my profile within the legal profession – giving nationwide talks and writing a book about Claims Against Uninsured Drivers (still available on Amazon)), then one year with a niche practice in a business development role, I established my marketing consultancy.

How does all of this information help you? Well, I have now condensed all of my marketing ideas into one powerful 17 page guide which shows you exactly how to market your solicitors practice. What’s more, because I believe that you will need proof of my expertise before you are even likely to consider engaging my marketing services, this guide is completely free of charge for you. All you need to do to obtain my 8 most successful marketing ideas for solicitors is to enter your details into the short form below, and I will instantly send it to you.

Author: Nick Jervis

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Posted in Marketing Ideas | No Comments »

Internet Newsletter For Lawyers

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Nick Jervis, Writes An Internet Newsletter For Lawyers

Looking For Content For Your Legal Newsletters? CLICK HERE:>>

Are you making the most of the internet for your law firm? Do you want to find out how to attract more visitors to your law firm website and turn more of these visitors into new clients? I can provide you with practical, immediately implementable tools, tactics and processes to follow to ensure that you make the most of the internet for your law firm.

Newsletters For Lawyers

I provide free newsletter for lawyers providing you with tips about how to use the internet to attract both free and paid visitors to your website. I explain the important processes and systems you must have in place on your website to make the most of these visitors (and without which you will not attract all of the new clients you want or need). I show you in detail the changes you need to make behind the scenes to your website code to ensure that you are making the most of all of the opportunities that the internet presents for lawyers so that you can explain exactly what action you need your website developer to take.

Make More Use Of The Internet

Most lawyers are not making the best use of the internet and I am on a mission to ensure that you are not one of them. Please enter your details below to start receiving my newsletters which will show you how to make the best use of the internet and all other marketing activities for lawyers.

P.S. No nonsense warning: I provide effective, practical marketing advice that allows you to take action instantly. I do not provide generic, fluffy advice as so many others do. If you really want to understand how to make the best use of the internet, please join me by adding your details to the form above.

Author: Nick Jervis

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Posted in Newsletters, Website Marketing For Solicitors | No Comments »

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