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Andrew McDermott

How to attract 53% more clients to your law firm

March 22, 2021 By Andrew McDermott Leave a Comment

Your law firm could increase revenue by 53 percent or more by selling both products and services to clients—attorneys billing hours by the day, selling legal products by night.

According to Mark Cohen, speaker on law firm innovation at LegalMosaic, “The traditional law firm economic model is predicated on high-intensity, high-priced labor as opposed to products, but nonetheless, this is something clients are increasingly demanding.”

Most firms haven’t embraced this model. but it’s a revenue model law firms can use to attract, earn, and win more high-quality clients consistently. Today I’m going to show you how this model can provide you with free advertising. 

Using products to attract more clients

The business model is simple, and it doesn’t require a whole lot of babysitting. It needs some upfront work to set things up, and a willingness to maintain the revenue model, so it continues to perform well for you. 

Here’s how this model works:

  1. You advertise on a specific platform. I’m recommending pay per click advertising (e.g., Google ads or Bing ads) to start. 
  2. You send customers to a specific landing page with an irresistible quid pro quo offer (i.e., trading education for an email address). 
  3. You offer the subscribers an irresistible, low-cost product to gauge interest levels and segment prospective clients.
  4. Clients subsidize your advertising; they pay you to promote your law firm. 

Here the ingredients you’ll need.

  • An irresistible offer
  • A strong value proposition
  • Money to advertise ($300 per mo. minimum)
  • An email service provider
  • A website or landing page (and all that comes with it)
  • Strong educational content
  • Social proof, credibility, and authority markers
  • Product risk-reversals (you’ll need to verify the legalities)

You must invest the time needed to get these details right. Shoddy website design, an unreliable email service provider, or weak educational content, will sabotage the results you receive. As the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out.

The product you offer depends on your goals

You’ll need to determine what your goals and objectives will be ahead of time. Are you merely looking for a way to generate more leads? Would you prefer to transition fully to products? Maybe you’re interested in creating a hybrid firm — 70 percent of the revenue comes from billables, 30 percent from products.

It’s entirely up to you.You must identify these goals ahead of time, so you aren’t distracted by offers that take you away from your goals and objectives. Which products should you sell? You can sell:

  • Books
  • Courses
  • Workshops
  • Seminars
  • Events
  • Initial consultations
  • Productized services 
  • Tools
  • Apps
  • Connections
  • Access

There’s more here, but I think you get the point. Using these resources, you can generate a significant amount of revenue for your law firm and attract new clients simultaneously. 

Let’s take a look at our fictitious firm, Goldsmith, Price & Cooper, to see how this strategy would work. Goldsmith, Price & Cooper specializes in business law. They’re particularly interested in startups and small businesses. They’ve noticed that prospective clients have some common misconceptions about incorporating in Nevada.

Their clients are worried about asset protection. They want to provide their clients with the help and support they need, but they also want to make sure their firm is profitable. They gather their ingredients together.

  • Two irresistible offers: (1.) An asset protection toolkit and (2.) They write a book on asset protection
  • A strong value proposition: Their firm offers battle-tested asset protection
  • Money to advertise: $2,500
  • An email service provider: Mailchimp
  • A website or landing page: (a.) A landing page for their asset protection toolkit and (b.) A sales page (with checkout via easy-to-use tools like Gumroad) to sell their book
  • Strong educational content: Thorough, informative content that exposes their need for help. 
  • Social proof, credibility, and authority markers: “As seen on” badges that highlight your firm’s expertise and recognition in the marketplace
  • Product risk-reversals: A 30 day, no questions asked refund policy for the book 

Next, Goldsmith, Price & Cooper arranges these ingredients in the right order. They set things up so prospective clients: 

  1. See their ad on Google or Bing
  2. Click on their ads
  3. Arrive on their landing page
  4. Enter their email address to receive the asset protection toolkit
  5. Views their irresistible offer and decides to purchase their asset protection book
  6. Are invited to set up an initial consultation with a partner (not an associate) at their firm

Using this structure, you can produce a consistent stream of high-quality clients who are eager and willing to invest the amount needed to receive your expertise. You create products that deliver a substantial amount of revenue for your firm, subsidizes your advertising (so it’s free), and generates leads — all at the same time.

Selling legal products boosts law firm profitability

Your law firm can increase revenue by 53 percent or more by selling both products and services to clients. As we’ve seen, the issue isn’t whether this strategy is viable; it’s about structure. 

Most firms haven’t embraced this model but it’s a revenue model law firms can use to outperform their traditional-minded competitors. Using the structure I’ve presented, your firm can generate a significant amount of revenue for your law firm and attract new clients simultaneously.
But it all depends on structure. Solve your prospective client’s problems, and you’ll find they’re eager to invest in the products and services they need to protect their interests.

Filed Under: Blog

Local SEO for lawyers: How to generate 2x more leads

March 16, 2021 By Andrew McDermott Leave a Comment

Your prospective client needs a lawyer. They enter the keywords “lawyers near me” in Google and your law firm appears. As they scan through the search results, they see your law firm, again and again. Most of the information they see demonstrates your ability to get things done for your clients. Slowly they begin to realize the truth. You’re something special. 

Imagine that you could achieve these results in your law firm. What would this do for your career, reputation, or firm? 

Local SEO is the key to Google search success

The majority of small to medium-sized law firms struggle with at least one of the following problems: 

  1. Firms aren’t receiving quality or quantity of leads they need
  2. Lawyers are struggling to close the leads they have
  3. Law firm margins are too small due to mistakes like discounts, write-downs, and write-offs
  4. Firms are undercut by low cost providers and industry disruptors like LegalZoom or RocketLawyer
  5. Their advertising costs are too high
  6. They’re attracting poor quality clients, which hurts realization and retention rates in the long term

Local search can help lawyers address these problems. Using local search, law firms can:

  • Increase the number of traffic-producing keywords that drive clients to their site  
  • Make credibility, authority, and prestige markers (e.g., awards, specialization, wins) more visible in Google
  • Increase the number of leads generated so they can raise their prices comfortably
  • Make competitors irrelevant or zone them out of Google’s search results
  • Decrease advertising costs by getting others to rave about your firm
  • Attract clients who will fight for your attention, spend more with your firm and pay higher fees

It’s simple, but it’s also incredibly effective. 

How lawyers can increase traffic, leads, and revenue via local SEO 

There are several low cost and no cost tactics lawyers can use to boost search results. Before we take a look at these tactics, I want to cover some general principles regarding marketing. These aren’t absolute rules. They’re simply important details to keep in mind. 

  1. Paid advertising produces results faster. Using services like Facebook or Google Ads means you’re able to generate traffic, leads, and revenue immediately. The nature of paid advertising and marketing means these paid services lack longevity. Results go away as soon as you stop paying. 
  2. Free advertising takes time. Free tactics like search engine optimization, review management, influencer marketing, etc. all require time to generate results organically. If results are rushed, they’re typically pretty lackluster. As a general rule, free advertising tactics perform well over the long term. It takes time to set up but lasts for a long time. 
  3. Combine free and paid advertising tactics for the best results. Combining free and paid advertising tactics produce exponential growth (think 2 + 2 = 42). Both of these tactics play off each other, boosting your firm’s reputed and presumed credibility. 
  4. Paid advertising can be free. Structure your offers the right way, and your paid advertising can be free. This can be accomplished in several ways, i.e., using paid ads to send prospective clients to a paid consultation page to gauge their interest. 

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the local search tactics you can use to generate 2x more leads. 

  • Consistently build a robust online review portfolio
  • Systematically build a strong publicity/mentions portfolio
  • Use newsjacking to promote your firm’s pro bono work
  • Pick a public fight against a worthy adversary
  • Write for notable publications
  • Speak at local events where your target audience is present
  • Use positive controversy to raise your firm’s profile
  • Local advertising via Google Ads 
  • Remarketing advertising to boost sign-ups from previous visitors
  • Become a career interviewee on radio and podcast shows
  • Create your own podcast
  • Syndicate your content to client-facing sources 
  • Become a career interviewer, interviewing people your clients want to hear from

Just one of these tactics can 2x your lead generation campaigns. Overlap these strategies, and the positive results grow exponentially. These local SEO strategies can be used to dominate Google’s local search results, many of these strategies, yes, even paid advertising, can be low/no cost tactics when they’re used effectively. 

Here’s the most significant reason your law firm should invest in local SEO: Most law firms aren’t using it well. If most firms are doing the same things poorly, no wonder it isn’t working all that well. But it can. 

Lawyers near me = your firm, everywhere

At least, that’s how it should be. When your prospective clients enter location-specific keywords in Google, they should see your firm everywhere. As they scan through Google’s search results, your firm and your accomplishments should appear consistently. 
It sounds like a pipedream, but it’s remarkably simple. If you want to learn more, our previous post will show you how to set your local SEO campaigns up for success. It also provides you with a closer, in-depth look at each of these strategies mentioned.

Filed Under: Blog

The legal billing checklist law firms can use to increase realization rates

March 12, 2021 By Andrew McDermott Leave a Comment

I didn’t get the outcome I wanted, so I’m not going to pay you.

Sound familiar? Law firm McCarter & English sued their client to collect $2 million in legal fees from a client who lost at trial. It’s a scenario that’s replayed daily throughout the country. 

When it comes to legal billing, many firms are focused on a variety of details. What should be included in our billing template? Which billing increments should be used? Are write-downs necessary here? These questions are important but they’re not as important as the high-level details that dictate whether you’re paid for your hard work or not.  

Successful legal billing begins with consistent communication 

What does communication have to do with realization rates or getting paid? According to the Legal Trends report, 44 percent of law firms list a client’s inability to pay all at once as the most common reason for nonpayment. Firms also state that 31 percent of clients pay late even when they have the funds. 

Patrick Lamb, Partner at ElevateNext Law, shared his thoughts on this phenomenon.

“Firms increased their rates and clients responded by paying less. This finding reflects a fundamental disconnect between firms and their clients. Clients obviously do not believe they are getting fair value for the fees charged.  Increasing rates is not going to change that view: indeed, continued price increases will only exacerbate the problem.”

The real problem? Neither party wants to communicate. Clients are skeptical that communication will produce any meaningful change, so they ignore their firm’s invoice and pay what they want. Firms continue to increase their rates to reduce the overwhelming pressure they face. 

What pressure? 

  • Competition. Competing law firms are looking for a way to steal business. In times when demand is down for law firm services, firms begin fighting for a shrinking piece of the pie. 
  • Disloyalty. Partners choose to hoard their clients, matters and files in an attempt to control the amounts they’re able to bill. Some firms attempt to increase their rates in an attempt to compensate for partners with a significant amount of leverage. 
  • Poor utilization rates. Research shows attorneys bill for less than 30 percent of their workday, but they only collect on 20 percent of their time. 
  • Financial loss. Many firms increase their rates to compensate for losses due to poor realization, billable leakage, reconstructive billing and nonpayment. A consistent trend of discounts, write-downs and write-offs has taken its toll. 

Allison Shields, consultant at Legal Ease Consulting, reinforces my point about communication and explains why realization should be your firm’s focal point. 

“When lawyers write off or write down their fees — or when clients pay only a portion of the lawyer’s bill, aren’t both lawyer and client saying that the hourly fee really doesn’t mean anything, and that there is a particular (fixed) fee that is ‘fair’ for the work?”

How does communication solve this problem? Clients and firms are afraid to tell each other the truth. For example, firms are afraid they’ll lose profitable or marquee clients by stating they want more money. Clients are afraid they won’t receive help from anyone if they’re honest about the amount they’re willing or able to pay. 

Why law firms need a legal billing checklist

A legal billing checklist is a helpful way to boost realization rates. A checklist gives you the upfront time you need to identify the strategy, tactics, tools and resources needed to produce the outcomes you want, even if clients are unwilling to state their needs explicitly. Wait a minute, wasn’t this post about legal billing? Absolutely. 

A legal billing checklist helps your law firm: 

  • Identify (and reset) client expectations ahead of time
  • Provide you with the intel and leverage you need to keep clients happy and realization rates high
  • Troubleshoot billing and realization problems ahead of time 
  • Spot legal billing headaches and problems before they metastasize into delinquent payments

Solve these problems ahead of time, and you increase your realization rates naturally. Let’s take a look at the various items in this 16 point checklist. 

Task/to-do Why it’s important
Client screening protocolsSome clients won’t be interested in paying for your services at any cost. These protocols identify and sort your ideal and dysfunctional clients. This simple step is taken for granted, but it’s an easy way to boost your firm’s realization rates.
Set billing point of contact(s)You’ll need to identify key decision-makers, influencers and promoters who can get things done in your client’s organization. 
Identify relationship buildersThe more you invest in a relationship with your clients (and key people in their organization), the easier it will be to address billing problems and improve your realization rates. 
Identify billing expectationsYour clients have a hidden set of fuzzy, implicit and unrealistic expectations. Identifying these expectations gives you the leverage you need to ensure they’re happy. Why do expectations matter? Missed expectations are the root of all unhappiness.  
Reset/update billing expectationsAn awareness of your client’s expectations provides you an opportunity to reset/update them (via your fee agreement), so they’re in-line with reality. This reset prevents the relationship from going sour due to financial misunderstandings. 
Create AFA matching protocolsIf you’re consistently discounting your fees, a fixed fee arrangement may help restore profitability in your firm. Client misbehavior is often an indication of an AFA mismatch. AFAs can be used creatively to boost client responsiveness, boost firm realization rates and increase profit per partner/employee. 
Set unexpected billing protocolsSending clients a large bill with an unexpected dollar amount is a surefire way to trigger a billing dispute. Unexpected billing protocols outline how you go about making the unexpected easier for clients to handle. 
Create a discount reduction planDiscounts erode law firm profits. The reason is simple. Clients want your services. They don’t want your bill. A discount reduction plan provides you with helpful tools you can use to increase realization rates across your firm. 
Add nonfinancial payment incentives If you’re looking for ways to motivate clients to pay on time, nonfinancial incentives (e.g., bonuses, events, workshops, connections, luncheons, favors, etc.) are a great place to start. These incentives provide you with the precious income your firm needs by addressing non-monetary wants. 
Set communication intervals How often should you communicate with your clients regarding their matter? Regarding your bill? (hint: a 5:1 positive/negative ratio is ideal) However, you’ll need to identify the communication interval that works best for your firm.  
Contemporaneous tracking toolsYour timesheets should be treated as inventory. Every line item is a unit of revenue for your firm. You’ll need to identify the time tracking tools that enable timekeepers in your firm to track their time as-it-happens. 
Verify timekeeper entries [daily]Are your timekeepers following best practices? Which timekeepers are tracking their time (billable and nonbillable) daily? Are their time entries descriptive and accurate? Are they adding time entries as-it-happens or at the end of the day? Accurate time tracking is crucial for a variety of reasons – it’s how most firms are paid, it helps firms measure their utilization rates
Outline billing confirmation/compliance Complying with your client’s billing guidelines is an easy way to ensure your invoices are paid fully and on time. Client billing guidelines can be hit or miss. 
This means you’ll need to supplement client billing guidelines with your own. You’ll want to track actions that are required or forbidden. You’ll also want to identify stop words that flag your invoices for review. 
Create billing follow-up systemsWhen are clients reminded about your invoice? How many reminders are sent? Are they sent via phone, email, text? You’ll want to outline the follow-up systems needed for your invoices. It’s also a good idea to identify the point of contact responsible for reaching out to each client. The attorney handling their account is ideal, but you’ll need to determine what’s best for you. 
Set client termination protocols When should you terminate your relationship with a client? How many payments can be missed? What are the conditions or criteria that need to be met before termination takes place? You’ll need to identify key dealbreakers ahead of time. 
Set collection activity protocolsWhen and how do you initiate collections activity? What specific steps should be taken? How do you notify your client? Determining the when and how of collections activity removes much of the emotion from your client relationships – especially if you provide clients with written, upfront communication.  

Wait a minute. This list of to-dos, they’re all focused on processes rather than legal billing! Why on earth would it be important for law firms to focus on their process rather than billing? 

A well-designed process prompts communication 

Communication is the common thread with each of these to-do items. Here’s why it’s important. Your prospects and clients expect your communication, billing and fee breakdowns to meet these four criteria.

  1. Financial alignment. Your clients want to see that your financial interests are aligned with theirs. It’s hard to maintain trust if your firm gets paid regardless of your client’s outcome. Alignment equals trust. 
  2. Transparency and communication. Surprising clients with a significant variance, relying on block billing and other dishonest practices create ambiguity, increasing distrust.
  3. Expectations calibration. Are clients looking for an hourly, fixed fee, or retainer arrangement? Do they have the upfront funds needed to pay for your services? You’ll need to calibrate your client’s expectations before.
  4. Value over price. When clients ask about price, they’re often actually asking about value. They’re often looking for a value breakdown, a demonstration of your firm’s exceptional ability. They want an answer to the question, “are you giving me more than I’m paying you?“

Using this checklist, your firm can troubleshoot billing and realization problems ahead of time, before they metastasize into excessive discounting, consistent write-downs or delinquent payments. Your profit and realization rates go up naturally as a result of the upfront preparation you’ve done in your firm.

Communication is the key to legal billing success

Standardizing a process holds your firm accountable to a specific and repeatable set of standards. These processes are important because most firms without them are in a race to the bottom. They increase their rates; clients respond by paying less — which only exacerbates the problem.

Focus on communication. Use a well-thought-out process to align your interests with those of your clients. Iterate consistently – focus your attention on overdelivering value. With a structured process and a clear set of guidelines to follow, your firm’s revenue and realization rates will climb naturally, no rebellious clients required.

Filed Under: Blog, Legal, Small Business

2 Hazardous Vanity KPIs Law Firms Should Avoid

March 5, 2021 By Andrew McDermott Leave a Comment

“What gets measured gets managed.” Remember that saying?

It was credited to Peter Drucker, legendary management consultant, educator, and author. It’s typically used to promote an emphasis on measurement. As if to say, measurement is a good thing. You should measure the things you want to improve.  

Just one problem. Drucker didn’t say it. VF Ridgway, noted academic, did. In the 1950s. And he was taken completely out of context.

Here’s the quote again, in context.

“What gets measured gets managed — even when it’s pointless to measure and manage it, and even if it harms the purpose of the organization to do so.”

Most modern law firms love data. That love can become a slippery slope though, and often law firms swing from one extreme to the other. Either firms choose to ignore their KPIs and metrics altogether, or they obsess over a multitude of KPIs, giving themselves mental indigestion. 

Here’s the obvious question. What makes a KPI bad?

  • Too broad. Focusing on broad or generic metrics like sales and revenue without the appropriate amount of clarity, context, and disclosure.
  • Too narrow. Assessing the health of your entire law firm by measuring a single practice area or task (i.e., drafting real estate agreements).
  • Easy to manipulate. Our cognitive bias means we’re more likely to manipulate the KPIs we have direct control over. If your KPI is the number of new client meetings, you’re far more likely to inflate or manipulate that figure to meet your numbers.
  • KPI stragglers. Metrics that won’t be reflected in the business for several days, weeks or months aren’t immediately useful because they don’t provide you with the clarity you need to make important decisions now.

What sort of hazardous, vanity metrics are law firms focused on?

Hazardous metric #1: Sales

It’s common for law firms to focus their attention on rainmaking. Rainmakers receive a significant amount of benefits and rewards if they’re able to bring in business. If a law firm is struggling to make money, sales solves everything, right?

Wrong. Law firms can’t outgrow losses. Take a look at your law firm’s revenues for the last three years. Check that against your profit for the last three years. Are they in proportion to each other? Do they match? If they do, your law firm is doing fine.

What if they don’t? Your law firm may be in trouble. Is your earnings growth one third to half of the new business your rainmakers brought in? This kind of growth is dangerous. 

As firm rates continue to increase, realization rates decrease. Discounts, write-downs and write-offs increase proportionally. If you’re making lots of sales, but your discounts, write-downs and write-offs continue unchecked you have a problem.

You can’t outgrow losses. A recession, the loss of a major client, any sort of unexpected event is likely to put your firm into the red. As sales increase, your profits should increase as well.

Hazardous metric #2: Realization rates

Your realization rate tracks the difference between the amount you bill and the amount that’s paid to you, by your client. It’s an incredibly important metric to track. If you’re looking to build a successful law firm you must track your realization rate.

Here’s the problem. Measuring your realization rate is hazardous when it prevents you from focusing your attention on a KPI that’s far more important. Your total billables. It’s very common for firms to rely on reconstructive time entries. This is a dangerous practice which could cost you 50 to 70 percent of your income.

Tracking our time as-it-happens is the most reliable (and most profitable) method. The longer you wait, the more billable leakage you experience.

  • You lose 10 percent of your billable time if you record your time the day of, once a day.
  • You lose 25 percent if you wait 24 hours to record your time.
  • You lose 50 to 70 percent if you wait one week.

It’s common for attorneys to reconstruct their timesheets at or around 30 days. If you’re focused on your realization rates but you’re still relying on reconstructive timekeeping, you’re losing an astronomical amount of money.

It’s common for attorneys to focus on realization while choosing to ignore contemporaneous (as-it-happens) timekeeping. Your realization rate isn’t a metric you should avoid. It is a metric you should avoid obsessing over.

Most law firms choose to either ignore their KPIs and metrics altogether or they obsess over the wrong set of KPIs, giving themselves mental indigestion. Focus your time and attention on the details that matter and you’ll have the canary in the coal mine you need to grow your law firm.

Filed Under: Blog

7 tips for your firm’s website to attract clients

February 25, 2021 By Andrew McDermott Leave a Comment

Your firm considers the pros and cons when taking on a new client. The same can be said for your clients when they’re choosing which law firm to use. Your clients all need the same ingredients to make their decision. When your website provides these ingredients, clients proceed to the next step. When they’re missing, clients raise objections or they walk away. This is, for the most part, universal. 

Your clients use this unspoken decision-making process to determine whether your firm is a good fit for them (or not). Work with them and you’ll attract the kind of high-quality clients your firm deserves. Ignore these ingredients and you’ll repel them. Let’s take a look at these ingredients. 

Ingredient #1: Target clients precisely

Your client isn’t everyone with money. If you’re a savvy attorney, you’re targeting clients who meet three simple criteria. 

  1. They want your services.
  2. They’re able to pay for your services. 
  3. They’re willing to pay for your services. 

Simple, right? 

Any client who fails to meet these criteria should be disqualified (i.e., removed from consideration as a possible client). Finding answers to these questions requires research – sitting down with clients, surveying clients, running split tests, etc.

How does your website fit in? Your website lays out the information that gets clients to qualify or disqualify themselves (i.e., real estate is our only practice area).

Ingredient #2: Amplify your client’s problems

Your clients have problems. Many of them prefer to ignore these problems, to put them off until completely necessary. When they finally arrive on your doorstep, these clients expect you to create miracles on their behalf. Sometimes you can, and sometimes you can’t.

When it comes to your client’s problems, your website should do several things well. 

  • Explain their problem fully. 
  • Grab their attention immediately (i.e., 90% of fathers lose custody of their kids when they make this mistake)
  • Outline the emotional weight, suffering and loss associated with their problem. 
  • Amplify the consequences of the problem (denial, for most clients, is a self-protective measure that needs to be addressed)
  • State the outcomes clearly if they do something vs. do nothing. 

Here’s why this is crucial. 

  • Problems create stress and anxiety
  • Hiring you gives them a solution and begins to relieve that stress and anxiety

You’ll want to lead with your client’s biggest problems. The problem/solution paradigm isn’t the only method, but it is one that gets clients to see their problems as you do; a serious issue that requires their immediate attention. 

Ingredient #3: Make the solution easy 

Do you provide cognitive fluency? Not sure what that is? You’re in good company. Cognitive fluency is defined as: 

“Cognitive fluency is the ease with which we process information to generate an understanding of what that information means. This ease or difficulty refers not only to the experience of a task or instruction itself, but the feeling people associate with that task.” 

Here’s what this means. 

Easy:

Three blind mice,
Three blind mice
See how they run. See how they run!
They all ran after
The farmer’s wife,
She cut off their tails
With a carving knife,
Did you ever see
Such a sight in your life
As three blind mice?

Hard:

A trio of sightless rodents, A trio of sightless rodents,
Observe how they perambulate, Observe how they perambulate;
They all pursued the agriculturalist’s spouse,
Who severed their caudal appendages with a carving utensil.
Have you previously observed such a phenomenon in your existence
As a trio of sightless rodents? 

See what I mean? 

The “easy” version of our three blind mice story worked well because it increased cognitive fluency. It made the story easy to read, so it took less effort, mental energy and processing power. This applies to visual, written and auditory content. 

Communicating with simplicity, clarity and preciseness means your website is easier to process. 

Ingredient #4: Answer client objections 

It’s common for firms to run from their client’s objections. Questions like “How much does this cost” or “What’s your hourly rate” seem to be avoided by firms until it’s absolutely necessary. Many firms do their very best to avoid client objections until they’re able to get them in for an in-person meeting. They hope they’ll be able to “close” them anyway. 

Most of the time, these clients move on, preferring to work with a firm that faces their objections head-on. 

Why does this happen? 

Objections are the inevitable part of business development and marketing that gets worse if you run. We all make objections to protect ourselves. Objections keep us safe. They protect us from making a mistake (and the embarrassment that follows). When we decide anything, we do our best to justify that decision in our heads. Objections are part of the justification process. We want to be sure we’re making the right choice. Your clients are no different. 

Your clients may have objections about your trustworthiness, pricing or the timing of the engagement. They may be disinterested but unwilling to tell you. But these objections, whatever the case, need to be addressed fully. Contrary to popular belief, objections aren’t the enemy. 

Ingredient #5: Monitor online reviews to borrow trust

Reviews answer the question of trustworthiness. Online reviews from both happy and unhappy clients paint an accurate picture of the relative trustworthiness of your firm. These reviews have a significant impact on your firm’s sales and revenue. Take a review like this: 

Read Colleen C.‘s review of Morton Rubin on Yelp

Amazing.

Northwestern University’s Spiegel Research Center analyzed 57,000 reviews from anonymous consumers and 65,000 reviews from verified buyers of more than 13,500 unique products in diverse categories. Their findings mentioned reviews could increase conversion rates by 270%! Imagine that!

A 270% lift in the number of clients signing up with your law firm. 

Ingredient #6: Remove buyer’s remorse with risk reversal

Josh Kaufman, author of the book, The Personal MBA, describes a risk reversal this way: 

“Risk Reversal is a strategy that transfers some (or all) of the risk of a transaction from the buyer to the seller. The seller agrees to make things right in advance if the purchaser doesn’t end up satisfied. Risk Reversal is a great way to eliminate some Barriers to Purchase.

This strategy may feel uncomfortable to the seller as well, because no one wants to lose. The difference is that a seller can spread that risk among many customers. The customer can’t do the same.

By eliminating the risk of purchase, you’ll close more sales and eventually make more money than what you’ll lose if some customers take advantage of your generosity.”

To be fair, this is much more difficult in the legal industry but it can be done. This can be done in a variety of ways: 

  • Promises: Our clients have 24/7 access to an associate who’s working on your case
  • Warranties: 10 years 100,000 mile warranty
  • Guarantees: We’ll return your call within 30 min. or we’ll pay you $500
  • Free consultation: We’ll provide you with a free consultation if you’re able to…

Ingredient #7: Show clients you’re the only firm for them

A strong value proposition meets four distinct criteria in your client’s mind:

  1. I want what this law firm is offering
  2. I can’t get this specific offering (or combination of offerings) anywhere else 
  3. I’m able to understand their message
  4. I truly believe you and your law firm are trustworthy.

If your value proposition doesn’t meet all four criteria, you don’t have a strong value proposition. It takes a significant amount of time to come up with something truly unique. The good news is this: a strong value proposition is created; it’s not inherent. 

Here are some examples in other industries:

  • M&Ms: Melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
  • Dominos Pizza: You get a fresh, hot pizza in 30 minutes or it’s free. 
  • FedEx: When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight

These are classic examples. These businesses drew a line in the sand; they decided to stand for something significant. Something that meets all four of the criteria I’ve laid out above. 

Your website needs the right ingredients 

These ingredients provide clients with data, know-how and relief they need to choose your firm confidently. Provide clients with the resources they need, and it’s easy for them to say yes. Ignore these details and you inadvertently repel clients, pushing them away from your firm. 

Create a website and business that provides these ingredients consistently, and you’ll find saying “Yes” becomes a habit for your prospects and clients. 

Filed Under: Blog

How to generate a never-ending supply of clients with the Local SEO traffic pump

April 14, 2020 By Andrew McDermott Leave a Comment

Local SEO traffic supply pump

According to the Age of the Client, a LexisNexis report, 75 percent of lawyers see attracting clients as a significant challenge. What’s worse, 6 out of 10 lawyers see retaining clients as a challenge. 

What if it wasn’t?

What if you were able to generate a never-ending supply of leads and clients for your law firm? Would you be as concerned for the future, especially in our current climate? I’m going to show you how to do just that today by creating digital tripwires.

What’s a Local SEO traffic-pump, and how can it help you? 

It’s a referral system that drives a consistent stream of prospective clients to your website. These clients come from local sources (digital and offline) that are willing and able to make referrals on your behalf.

How this referral system helps you: 

  • It minimizes business development costs 
  • Attracts clients who are able and willing to invest in your services
  • Provides your law firm with steady channel partners you can rely on to grow your firm
  • Reduces per lead costs consistently over time
  • Increases return on ad spend (ROAS) costs 

This is the secret weapon elite firms use to grow. 

It’s quid pro quo relationships at scale; you’re able to attract, develop, and nurture a significant number of profitable relationships for your firm over time. 

Here’s a condensed view that explains how it works. 

Step #1: Choose a practice area

The Pareto distribution (80/20 rule) applies here. You’ll want to choose the practice areas that perform best for your law firm. If the vast majority of your work comes from real estate clientele, you’ll want to take note of that. If you’re looking to transition from one practice area to another, focus your attention there. 

You must specialize first. 

During this selection process, you’ll want to identify your value proposition, ideal price ranges, alternative fee arrangements, etc. In addition to the details above, you’ll also want to collect crucial information, including: 

  • Value proposition
  • Firm history
  • Attorney accomplishments
  • Contact information
  • Answers to client objections 
  • Social proof, credibility, and prestige markers
  • Risk reversals 
  • Irresistible offers
  • Promises and assurances (e.g., calls returned within 24 hours)

This is the information prospects look for before they decide to request a meeting. It’s a preliminary step that sets the tone for future actions. 

Step #2: Create a list of local sources 

Let’s say you’re a business and commercial lawyer based in Chicago. You’ll want to create a list of local sources that specifically focus on the Chicagoland area. 

Here’s a sample list.

  • City Club of Chicago, a speaker or group of speakers, addresses a forum of 1,540 members.
  • Tenchnori is a startup focused club dedicated to educating would-be entrepreneurs.
  • Tech Cocktail a classic showcase and mixer that hosts more than 15,000 attendees.
  • American Club Association, is an invite-only club that emphasizes networking and mutually beneficial relationships.
  • Vistage International Inc. is an exclusive, mastermind club with two-stage interviews and big-ticket rates. 
  • Chicago Latino Network a 50,000 subscriber group that’s focused on events and expert panels.
  • Executives’ Club Of Chicago is a corporate and individual membership club with more than 1,500 C-suite and senior executives.
  • Chicago Network is an invite-only club for women that’s focused on influential women in a variety of markets. 
  • Committee of 200 is another invite-only club for female entrepreneurs. 
  • Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce – networking that’s available to any Chicagoland business. 
  • Meetup and Career groups in Chicago, a category page that’s focused on smaller, more informal groups. 
  • Small business groups in Chicago
  • Eventbrite networking groups and upcoming events. 
  • Avvo Q&A Answer questions on Avvo, and you raise your digital profile 
  • World Business Chicago, an economic development group and business development hub. 

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but I think you get the idea.

Step #3: Select prominent keywords

Next, you’ll want to select an appropriate list of keywords. You can use SEO keyword research tools like: 

  • Answer the Public
  • Google Keyword Planner
  • Wordstream 
  • Ubersuggest 
  • Soovle 

You’ll want to build a list of general and location-specific, educational, transactional, and navigational keywords that are appropriate for your law firm, for example: 

Education keywords

  • Independent contractor law
  • Suing clients for non-payment
  • Dividing business assets
  • Divorce business assets 

Transactional keywords

  • Small business attorney
  • Small business attorney Chicagoland
  • Small business attorney Chicago
  • Small business attorney near me

Navigational keywords

  • [Your name] law firm
  • [Yourdomain] law firm
  • Go [Yourdomain] lawyer
  • Contact [Yourdomain] lawyer

The keywords you choose should be oriented around you, your firm, and your practice areas. If it’s directly related to any of these categories, you’ll want to add it to the list.

Step #4: Setup local tripwires

Head over to Google.com/Alerts then enter in these keywords. You’ll want to enter your keyword phrase in quotes like this: 

” Small business attorney Chicagoland”

If you’re monitoring keywords on a specific site you’ll want to structure your keywords like this: 

” Small business attorney Chicagoland” AND site:domain.com

You can also use Follow that Page if you’d like to monitor the content on a particular website. For example, you can use Law.com to curate content. If Law.com writes about legal challenges for small businesses, you can discuss that content with the local sites on your list.

Write it, deliver a speech, create a video, etc. 

Next, you’ll want to create content along with a content upgrade. A content upgrade is an additional piece of education that’s designed to draw prospective clients to your site. If you’re a business attorney writing about employee contract law, for example, you can provide small businesses with a content upgrade in the form of an employee law checklist for small businesses. 

Here’s where the tripwires are created. 

You’re going to use GaryVee’s content pyramid to scale this content and maximize the amount of value you receive from this piece of content. What’s a content pyramid? 

GaryVee explains: “The ultimate goal of creating this presentation on my content model is to show you how my team took one of my keynotes, repurposed it into 30+ pieces of content, and then successfully distributed all of that content, resulting in over 35,000,000 total views.”

Here are the slides from his presentation. 

The GaryVee Content Model from Gary Vaynerchuk

GaryVee has a massive following on his social media accounts. 

What if you don’t? 

That’s an easy fix; just reach out to the list of sources you’ve collected above and syndicate the content for each source. This means you:

  • Give them an unlisted link for your YouTube video 
  • Give them a list of 5 to 10 tweets, that they can send out on their Twitter profile. 
  • Do the same thing for each of your local sources, for each of their social media accounts. 
  • If they’re on a social media platform, you create a micro version of your content for them to share regularly, promoting your business indefinitely
  • Once you’ve shared content with Local Source A, immediately ask Local Source B if they’d like to syndicate your content. You share your content with 10x more sources, but you only create it once!
  • Make sure the majority of your content leads back to your law firm website in some way. 

Whenever you see content on a large, popular site that relates to the keywords in your list, you create better content for your local sources that they can share with their entrepreneurs. 

How do you multiply your content? 

  • If you host an event, make a speech, or run a workshop – record it. 
  • Take that recording and turn it into an mp3.
  • Transcribe your recordings and turn them into a blog post or ebook. 
  • Pull 5 to 10 quotes from that blog post then turn them into tweets, status updates, Instagram posts, etc. 

Do this, and you’ll be seen everywhere in your local community. With 10 hours of work per month, you can ensure that your business will be seen everywhere in your local community. 

This is the power of the local SEO traffic pump. 

Local SEO can be incredibly profitable for your law firm

But it all depends on your referral system. 

The right referral system drives a steady stream of prospective clients to your website. These high-value clients come from local sources (digital and offline) that are willing and able to refer your business to their audience. Provide them with the kind of value they’re looking for, and you’ll find their audience becomes yours. 

Do this, and you join an elite group.

As we’ve seen, 75 percent of lawyers see attracting clients as a significant challenge. With the right referral system, you’ll have everything you need to attract a never-ending supply of leads and clients. 

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Filed Under: Blog

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