If, like me, you read many many marketing and business books every year, you will see one form of marketing that time and time again is confirmed as the cheapest and most successful form of marketing. It is one that provides you with the biggest return on your investment, and also one of the cheapest forms of marketing available to you. However, I know from talking with thousands of solicitors that it is the one marketing tool that time and time again they fail to use. This failure costs them tens of thousands of pounds of lost fee income every year. Is it costing you lost income?
So what is this big secret? What method are you not using that you should be?
It is the dull, yet tried and tested method of communicating with existing clients on a regular basis.
I have heard all of the reasons why it can’t be done:
- It costs too much;
- We don’t know what to say to them;
- If we did know what to say we would not know how to say it; and
- We don’t have a database.
Let me take each of these points in turn so that you too can start to benefit from the hundreds of extra new instructions a year that my consultancy clients benefit from.
1. It costs too much.
Not anymore. Software is now so much cheaper than it first was and there is a huge amount of choice available. So this excuse is no longer valid.
2/3. We don’t know what to say or how to say it.
Short and sweet is the answer here. People do not want pages of legal advice, they want snippets of information. Whet their appetite, and invite them to contact you if they would like more information. One hour a month and you could be talking to all of your clients every single month. Do you think if you did this you might occasionally receive more instructions from your existing clients? I know you would.
4. We don’t have a database.
If you start today and you take on 10 new clients a month and add these to your email list, you will have over 100 by the end of the year. If you take on more clients than 10 a month and actively start looking for opportunities to build your mailing lists (referrers of work, accountants, promotion on your website) you will soon have thousands of subscribers.
Email newsletter software is so easy to use that within 30 minutes you could set up an account, import your clients’ name and email addresses (easily from a spread sheet) and send your first email. Would that not be a positive thing to do today?
Imagine sending an email every month to all of your clients. Even if it is only 100 people at the start, soon that 100 will be 1,000. Imagine making an offer of your services to 1,000 people. They say that a direct mail shot is a success if 2% of recipients respond. But you would be sending this to your own database, people who have already bought from you and like you. Even on a 1% return that would provide you with 10 enquiries, every month! Even more important, because you are prompting the contact, these clients are not on a "ring around" for the best price, they are only going to be talking to you, "their solicitor". Loyal clients and increased profits, now that is my kind of marketing!
If you are not convinced that you absolutely must talk to your clients on at least a monthly basis, just think about this: I know as you do that most of your competitors are not communicating with their clients. If you start to do so, do you think that you would do better or worse than your competitors? Do you think when Tesco Law or Insurance Law becomes reality that you will have a more loyal client base if they have heard from you regularly every month and continue to do so? We all know the answers, so why not take some action now to protect your fee income in the future.
You can start by using the software that I use to communicate with my clients on a regular basis. It really is the best software out there, is easy to use and set up, and most importantly is incredibly reasonably priced (from $20 a month – it is in dollars because Americans still make the best software – don’t let the dollars put you off). You can find out more and request a 1 dollar trial here: AWEBER TRIAL. It is easy to set up (I am not a total techy but I use it on my own without any help and there is excellent online "live support"). Really, what have you got to lose?
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Please call 0117 290 8555 to arrange a mutually convenient time for a telephone discussion, Email me or complete a Free Online Enquiry. There is no cost or obligation. We will have a chat about where you are and where you would like to be and I will suggest some things you can do to get there quickly.