Someone wrote to me and, as the lead up to his question, stated that the problem with a Third Wave practice (and especially working from home) is finding paying clients. The question was asked, how do you get paying clients thought front door?
You bet it is a problem, but what you should know is that it is a problem for any lawyer, anywhere, whether in a big firm or on their own. Law is, for lack of a better phrase, an eat what you kill kind of business. If you are with a big firm and if you do not make rain, you will not make partner. If you are a solo practitioner and you do not find clients you will starve. The difference with a Third Wave firm is that you do not have to kill more than you can eat. In a traditional law firm or office environment you have to kill first to feed the staff, the associates, the landlord and the overhead. Then once each of these have had their fill you get to eat the scraps left over. In a Third Wave environment your earnings primarily go home to you and your family. And, if you work from home your earnings do not have far to travel.
So how do you do it?
Let us say you have finally done it. You are out of law school or you have left the traditional practice of law or a large firm; you have established space or a room in your home to practice; you have set up the old computer and printer; you have hooked these up to your TV cable line; and, you have added a VoIP phone. Now what? Nobody is knocking at your front door. How do you get started with clients? After all, you are getting hungry.
1. FIND A MENTOR OR TWO. You need to first figure out what type of law you want to practice, or the type of people (or companies) you want to help. Cut from your thinking that you will take what comes in the door (metaphorically speaking). Keep in mind that you are by yourself. You have a limited amount of time. You cannot divert your attention to other areas. You need to concentrate on finding work in one area (maybe two at the most). To help you in this regard, you need to find some mentors, or attorneys that are doing what you want to do. These are lawyers that can help you with legal issues and questions when they come up (as opposed to telling you how to compete against them). Believe it or not, I have found over the years that established lawyers are generally very generous in helping out in this way. If you are just out of school and you want to practice probate, for example, then visit with probate lawyers, and attend meetings that they attend. Meet and greet is great. If you are already established, but going out on your own, it is all about colleagues. Ask them if you can count on them. Either way, mentors are about knowledge and direction. However, they are also about referrals. Conflicts come up. Mentors get too busy. They do not like a particular aspect of their practice base. Whatever the reason, if they are invested in you they will refer you cases and clients. They might retain you for court appointments or administrative hearings in your chosen field. This allows you to learn and make some hard earned money.
Finding A Mentor = The Cost of a Lunch or a Beer (Maybe).
2. POUND THE PAVEMENT. A little gas for your car. A little shoe leather. A little of your time. That is what is required. Some people want to make marketing sound more exotic than it actually is, but it is not. Some call it networking, but this is really more basic than that. You are running for the office of specialized attorney and you are out to meet those people who will vote for you with their referrals. In most states you cannot directly solicit clients you know to need your services except through certain prescribed means. However, you can make yourself known to those people that typically run into and refer these type of clients. It is okay to inform them you are an attorney, you are interested in a particular type of work or law, and you would appreciate any referrals as long as you do not pay them for the referrals. (And, do not even think about it because it is often illegal, you do not have the money, and you simply do not have to do it). Sticking with our probate example, you will want to drop in and meet funeral directors in your area as well as preachers, priests and rabbis that have to deal with these matters. You might want to know the management of nursing homes and hospice care facilities. You want to know the grief counselors. Bankers and Realtors run into these issues all of the time. (Did you know, for example, that failure to transfer property after a death through the probate courts is one of the number one reasons that real estate transactions do not close on time). You want to know personally the real estate attorneys in your area. You also want to know the personal injury attorneys. Many of these attorneys are too busy with their own practice areas and need a person which to refer these matters. You certainly want to know the staff at the probate courts because they do run into people all of the time that are looking for help and advice. Are they suppose to refer? Who cares. They do. Besides, in some administration of estate issues, for example, the Court has to appoint ad litems from time to time. That could be you. This task maybe the hardest thing you have to do, but the great thing about referral business is that after the pump is primed the cases and clients keep coming with just a little effort on your part. This is not necessarily so with soliciting clients directly. The advertising stops and the cases slow dramatically. You think this is not high tech enough for you? Well hold on because it is going to be.
Pounding The Pavement = The Cost of Gasoline And A Cheap Lunch (Maybe).
3. JOIN AFFINITY GROUPS. This might go hand in hand with Pound The Pavement, above, but you need to join and get involved in groups whose members refer the type of cases you want. This is different from your trade group or bar group that are doing what you want. Go to their lunches. Go to their continuing education events (even if you do not sign up and pay for them just go and hang out around the free beverages). Just mill around. I need consumer bankruptcy attorneys to refer me cases. I am a member of the consumer bankruptcy attorney groups in my area. If you are or want to be a real estate attorney, make sure that you join the Realtor associations, the builder associates, and the contractor associations in your area. Do not worry that every other real estate attorney and title company in the area also attends some of these meetings. You do not have to be obtuse, just be a regular person. You do not have to be pushy. Believe me, you sit at a table of strangers for lunch and they will ask you what you do. Make your presence known at each meeting. That will be more than most attorneys ever do. It has astonished me, for example, the number of attorneys that do not stick with it. They pay their affinity group due, but only occasionally attend. And, as you will see below, most of these other attorneys do not follow through or follow up. You need to be a regular a regular participant. You need to always follow through and follow up.
Affinity Groups = Associate Membership Varies. Cost of a Typical Lunch is $15 to $25, and You Have to Eat Anyway (Only This Way It Is At Least Partially Tax Deductible).
4. FOLLOW UP AND FOLLOW THROUGH AND COLLECT INFORMATION. It sounds easy enough, but you would be surprised that most lawyers just do not do it. What good is meeting and greeting if you do not follow through. The opportunity presents itself all of the time. I finish a case in Court or finish a CLE lecture and someone will walk up to me and speak about a particular case with which they are dealing. I hand them my card and they say they will refer it to me when they get back to the office. They almost never do. Why? They are like us and they forget. Their intentions are right but they forget. They get distracted. They have too much on their plate. If they do not have a case for you but they run into your type of case, you need to push them gently. You need to follow up and follow through. You get their card. You get contact information. You get their fax number and their direct email address. (You make contact with them, it is okay to send them short notes and reminders). Afterward, you find out their birthday. Your job is to collect information. That will become more evident below. Again, most lawyers do not do this. If they promised you a case, you get them on the phone and follow up with them. If they are not available when you call you email them to remind them you are available. Even if they did not have a case to refer, you call them, email them, and write them reminding them that you are in the business, and telling them how much you enjoyed meeting them or seeing them again. You go to a Bar meeting or something like that, you run into your referral source or someone you have already met, you take names and remember to send them an email following up on something (anything) said at the encounter. I am not saying to be pushy or direct. It can become so routine that it takes no real effort at all, and you will find yourself remembered and well liked. This process does not require you to go an inch out of your way. It is just being courteous. This is the way successful Realtors, insurance agents, stock brokers, preachers and most other professionals do it, but it is amazing that lawyers believe it is above them to follow through and to follow up.
Follow Up and Follow Through = $0.00 or the Price of An Excel Spreadsheet.
5. DO NOT FORGET TO ASK YOUR CLIENT FOR REFERRALS. There is probably a right time and a bad time for this, but you would be surprised that law firms just assume that clients will remember to refer. It is not always true. It is nice to be asked. People with problems talk with other people with like problems. If you represent more institutional clients this is even better. If you represent a school district, ask the superintendent if you can use his name if you run into the super at the neighboring school districts. Ask your client if you can list your representation on your website and blog. More importantly remember to stay in contact with your clients when you are not representing them. How? Newsletters, email broadcasts, fax letters, birthday cards, or any number of ways. They are like everybody else, when you are not top of the mind, they will forget to refer. (As a side note, I once had a large consumer bankruptcy practice the Dallas, Texas area. Every month I would spend tens of thousands of dollars on advertising and telephone information lines to bring in clients. We would file a lot of bankruptcies. Yet, almost every month there was a firm in this metro area who filed as many or more cases than my firm and they spent no advertising dollars at all on this practice area. I scraped by. The founder of the other firm had a Mercedes and his own private plan. How did the other firm do it? It stayed in contact with its ever increasing client base, and it employed meet and greet very effectively. The money I spent on advertising it got to pocket to buy its own office building, its own plane, and luxury cars. Jealous? You are damn right I was and am).
Asking Clients for Referrals = $0.00, a Smile and a Good Word, and Maybe A Stamp or Two.
6. YOU NEED A BLOG. You might want a website, but you need a blog (oh, I already said that). A website is static. It is only a big business card of sorts. You need more than that. You need attention. You need to communicate. You need to collaborate. You need to promote a community of sorts in your geographic and practice area. You need to show your developing expertise. You need to be viewed as an expert in an area. You want to be a consumer bankruptcy attorney, for example, you need to have a consumer bankruptcy blog for your locality. My thought on the subject is that good websites are hard to come by. With the coding and HTML issues you cannot easily do it yourself. Most website templates are terrible and unattractive. This is important because if you hire someone to do your website they do not know anything about your practice area. You might or might not know much, but you know more than they do. Publishing on a traditional website is not easy. Websites are not easy to change or enhance. Most of them you see are rather dull. If someone else designs it for you a website can be expensive. Blogs on the other hand do not have to be completely thought out as to content at the beginning. You can build it piece by piece as you have the thought or idea in little bits of time. You can build categories over time. You do not need that comprehensive and strategic vision that a good website takes to design. You can easily change the layout. You can get a blog up and going for very little. Some are free, but I would advise you to purchase one that you can easily customize. I also advise you to choose your own URL and use domain mapping so that your blog is known by your URL. (In this way, if you change providers your URL will follow). You can have your email associated with your blog. TypePad is such a blog host. LivingDot is a cheaper domain hosting site that will help you domain map and provide email.
TypePad Blog = $149.95 a Year (and Possibly Cheaper).
LivingDot = $10.95 a Month x 12 Months = $131.40 a Year.
7. EMAIL MARKETING APPLICATION. This is were meeting, greeting and collecting information comes in handy. After you have made the contacts and created the blog and promoted the blog among your contacts, you need to stay top of the mind with those who will refer. Statistics vary, but generally all agree it takes multiple contacts before somebody will refer a case to you. Your networking only takes care of the first contact. A program like Zookoda is such an application. And, it is generally FREE. Zookoda is an email marketing application designed specifically for bloggers. Zookoda enables you to send a daily, weekly or monthly summary of your latest blog posts directly your referral source. This allows you to turn each post into a referral reminding utility and former client contact device. Keep your post relevant to your practice area, but make sure that you use Zookoda, or some similar application, to get the information out to those you meet and need.
Zookoda Email Application = $0.00.
8. BROADCAST FAXING. There are limitations to broadcast faxing, but if you have an existing relationship with a person, company or client, you are able to do so legally, and you should. You do not know what type of communications are read by your referral source, so you need to use all cheap and low cost alternatives that are available. I am not saying to wear out your welcome. You do not need to buy lists and fax to people with whom you do not even have an acquaintance. Your referral sources need to be provided the option of opting out of future faxing, but if you are conservative in your faxing, and provide them relevant information they will not do so. Fax important and pressing information. Maybe an important decision was handed down your potential referral sources might like to know about. Maybe your firm achieves some milestone. For example, maybe the cost of living adjustment period is approaching, which will allow those making more money to qualify for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and your CPA referral sources need to now about it, or the state bar is placing restrictions on living trust promotions and your investment banker referral sources need to know. You need to shoot for one fax broadcast a month. Maybe more if there is truly breaking news. And, remember that your fax needs to clearly remind the reader who you are and area in which you practice, and how you can help them and they you. Put on the fax that you are accepting referrals. Just make sure the email contains other useful information. You can build these broadcast fax lists and send them cost effectively through online services such as EFax.
EFax Broadcast Fax = (6 Cents a Page x 200 Pages = $12) x 12 Months = $144.00 a Year.
10. DIRECT MAIL. Yes, now I am getting old school. You can throw some snail mail into the mix. Just do not over spend or over do it. Again, do not buy mailing lists and send junk mail to those you do not know. What I am talking about is mailing your referral sources two or three times a year. The Thanksgiving-Christmas-New Year season is easy, but it a crowded market. Do it a couple more times other than this holiday season. It does not have to be fancy, but fancy is not too difficult anymore with Adobe products and an eye for style. And, here is the thing, you do not even have to leave your desktop to get it done. The Postal Service can do it for you over USPS.Com. There are any number of Internet based printing and mail houses you can find by just Googling as well. So you can send something that is decidedly non-tech in a manner that is hi-tech. Unfortunately, it is probably one of the most expensive thing you will do.
USPS Online Letters = (56 cents Per Letter x 200 Letters = $112.00) x 3 Per Year = $336.00 Per Year.
10. I AM BEGINNING TO BELIEVE YOU NEED BASECAMP. I am beginning to believe you need Basecamp or some similar online service. Basecamp is a smart, easy and generally cheap way to collaborate on cases. It is generally helpful for groups of attorneys or staff in different locations to collaborate on a case. It allow for file sharing, to do lists, message boards, and time tracking. If you work by yourself you might be convinced that it is not worth the costs no matter how cheap it is. I am beginning to think from my past experience that this is short sighted for a couple of reasons. Basecamp allows your virtual at home law firm to become transparent. Not only can your clients and your referral source for each case get online to see what you are doing, it can be easily programed to send them copies of everything you are doing by email by just making a note, uploading a document or calendaring something. It allows them to communicate with you in a chat room fashion. But, here is what I have learned in the past. The best time to get referrals and to encourage referrals is when you are handling a current case. The best marketing tool is to send your referral source and client everything that is going on in the case. You need to send them every pleading. Every single one of these contacts is a marketing tool. The referrals source might not be overly interested in what you are doing, but he, she or it likes to know you are doing something. Besides, you would be surprised how many times the client referred to you will communicate back to your referral source or call them to ask a question about you. When this happens your referral source will be more than able to tell them you are on the job. Copying and mailing is costly and time consuming, and so you avoid it. Emailing is easier but it takes some effort. With Basecamp you just upload the document or make the note or calendar an event and it will notify the referral source and the client (and/or your staff or other attorneys on the case). So it is effortless and that is what a carpet community Third Waver needs. Again, however, what has impressed me in the past is when I send a copy of written discovery or initial disclosures to the referral source, for example, this spurs another referral. Or, in the past, when I send bankruptcy pleading to the client and then I get a referral. You should have no pleading without your logo or logotype on it and your basic information.
Basecamp = $49 Per Month for Up to 35 Active Cases x 12 Months = $588.00 Per Year.
Employ these ten little things systematically. Make them a part of your daily routine. And, before long, I really do not think you will not have too much trouble retaining new paying clients.
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