In the 1950s, motivational speaker Earl Nightingale created The Strangest Secret audio program, which told the world, “We become what we think about.” It said our beliefs and internal dialogue, what we regularly think about and focus on, directly influence our decisions and behaviors, our attitudes and expectations, and in this way, literally shape our reality. 

I’ve seen evidence of this being true throughout my life. Haven’t you? 

So, a question for you. What do you think about your law practice and career? What do you see for your future?

Do you see your practice as a way to use your skills and knowledge to pay your bills, or do you see it as a way to earn a fortune? Do you see yourself continuing to do what you do now, or do you think about a different future? 

One lawyer enjoys being a sole practitioner and doesn’t want or expect that to change. Another lawyer sees a future as the senior partner in a big firm. One lawyer thinks about opening a bigger office and growing his or her income to multiple-six figures. Another lawyer sees opening many offices and earning tens of millions.  

Your practice could be a great way to earn a living or it could be a way to change the world.

What do you believe about your future? What do you think about? What do you want?

There is no right or wrong answer, of course. But what you think about is likely to be what you become, so choose wisely.

We become what we think about

You have a newsletter, blog, podcast, or video channel. You create content for subscribers and followers, clients and prospects, and business contacts, and show them what you do and thus how you can help them or people they know. 

And it works. It helps you build your practice. 

Content about legal problems and solutions is a simple and effective way to educate your target market, drive traffic to your website, build your email list or social media following, attract leads and inquiries for your services, and otherwise get more cases and clients. 

So, don’t stop doing it. 

But there’s another way to use content to build your practice. 

Besides “legal” content, you can also create content about subjects that interest your subscribers and followers:

1. Content about their industry, market, business, or local community, and/or 
2. Content that could interest “anyone”.

Content about their industry or market is pretty straightforward. If you target small business owners, for example, you can create content that shows them how to get more customers or clients, improve their marketing or advertising, lower their expenses, or increase their productivity. 

You can write this yourself, outsource it, or interview subject-matter experts or your clients. 

What about content that might interest anyone? Here are some ideas:

• Word-of-the day
• Interesting quotes
• Trivia
• On-this-day in history 
• Quizes
• Human interest stories
• Product recommendations

Just about anything, really. But it’s probably a good idea to stay away from politics, religion, and inappropriate humor. 

Either of these two types of “other” content gives your readers a break from your usual fare, which they might have stopped reading or watching if they haven’t recently had a legal issue. It might also make your content creation more enjoyable if you feel you’ve already said everything you need to say.

Of course, continue creating a preponderance of “legal” content, in the neighborhood of 80-90%, and a small percentage the other categories. You can also append “other” content to your regular legal content, adding a quote or interesting fact to the footer of your regular post.

But don’t be afraid to let go of legal-only content and do something different. 

You might be surprised so see that your “other” content gets more comments, more suggestions and ideas, and more re-posting and sharing; that engagement is far greater than you now get with your “regular” legal content. 

Would it be okay if your “other” content makes your numbers blow up?

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Don’t stop talking about the law

Hint: the strategy is in the title of this post. . .

When a prospective client reads your article, sees your post, or views your ad, when they see or hear your content or marketing message, what do you want them to do? 

Do you want them to call your office? Fill out a form? Go to your website? 

Do you want them to click something, download something, or send you something? 

What do you want them to do? 

Whatever it is, tell them, and make it simple. Because the simpler it is for them to do, the more likely it is that they will do it. 

Conversely, the more complicated it is, the more time it takes to do it, the less likely it is that they will. 

NB: Simplify the next step. 

You want them to take that step. You want them to move forward. You want to get past their fear or doubt, overcome inertia, and take action. 

The first step will lead to the next step. And the next. And eventually lead to your being hired. 

Many attorneys don’t simplify the next step. They often do the opposite and make it harder for the client to take that step.

Why? Because they are attorneys. They live in the details and fine print. They don’t like “simple” they like “complete”. 

You can be that attorney later. Right now, simplify the next step. 

Don’t give them a lengthy page to fill out. Don’t make them go through a lot of hoops. You don’t want them to hesitate or feel the need to get more information. You want them to call or click right now.  

You’ve told them enough. Show them what to do next. One specific, simple step.

Because the more who do, the more cases and clients you sign up. 

One last thought. 

Some attorneys don’t want to make it easy for prospects to take the next step because they don’t want to spend a lot of time talking to people who can’t or won’t hire them. They want to screen them and make sure the prospective client is a good fit. 

Me? I say talk to them. Talk to as many as possible, even if they aren’t a good fit. 

Because while they might not hire you today, if you treat them right, they might remember you and hire you tomorrow.

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A simple strategy for getting more cases and clients

Some clients are better (for you) than others. At a minimum, the best clients (for you) have a large quantity of legal needs and wants that align with the services and benefits you offer, and the ability and willingness to pay for them. 

Agreed? 

Can we also agree that it’s better to attract these clients, meaning they find you and hire you, rather than you having to find them and convince them to hire you?

Of course. 

So, how do you do that? 

Lots of marketing-related activities can lead to that outcome, but in my book, here are the top four (in reverse order):

The fourth best way to attract your best clients is currently referred to as “content marketing”. It means showing your work—demonstrating your knowledge and abilities and successes, along with a taste of your style and personality, where prospective clients will see it. 

You do that through a newsletter or blog, videos or a podcast, websites, articles, live presentations or workshops, and the list goes on. 

And yes, this also includes advertising, and other paid media.

You have lots of options, and many of them are an effective way to bring in business. But for attracting your best clients, there’s something better. 

The third-best way is to meet and talk to prospective clients. 

Networking, lunches, and coffees, for example, let you speak with potential clients, learn about them and what they need or want, so you can give them personalized advice or suggestions about what they need and how you can help them. Of course, it also gives them the opportunity to get to know you and sell themselves on hiring you. 

Call these informal, free consultations. You can also do them formally, of course. 

Onto the second-best way to attract your best clients: referrals.

Referrals from people who have already hired you and were happy with your services, and referrals from other professionals and centers of influence whose clients or customers or business contacts have hired you and been happy with your work. They’ve seen you deliver, or heard from people they trust that you’re good at what you do.

Referrals are about as good as it gets when it comes to attracting the right clients. But there’s something even better and it’s number one on our list.

It also happens to be the easiest on this list.

Number one on the list of ways to attract your best clients is staying in touch with your former clients. 

They hired you once; they will almost certainly hire you again. But you may need to remind them you’re still in business and still available to help them, and that they might still need your services.

Easy to do. 

Stay in touch with everyone who has ever hired you, or referred clients to you, and you will be almost certain to get more repeat business and referrals. 

You don’t have to go looking for it. Just stay in their minds and mailboxes and be there when they call. 

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How to attract your best clients 

There are two types of prospective clients in the world: those who know they need an attorney and those who don’t. I encourage you to focus on the former. 

Focus all of your marketing efforts, your conversations, your networking, your content creation, your advertising dollars on people who already understand the need for an attorney and want to know why they should choose you. 

When you do, you’ll get more new clients with less effort and expense. 

Your “closing ratio” will be much higher. You’ll spend less on traffic and leads. You’ll sign up new clients more quickly and easily. 

And those clients will lead you to other clients like themselves. 

Focus on people who have hired attorneys in the past. They are more likely to see the need for and value of hiring an attorney than someone who has never done that before. 

Some people already know they need an attorney and will pay for their services. Some don’t and aren’t. Do yourself a favor and focus on prospective clients who have hired attorneys in the past or associate with people who do. 

Stop trying to convince people that hiring an attorney is their best (or only) option or that attorneys are worth the fees they charge. 

Look at your marketing message. Does it speak to prospective clients who already know the value of hiring an attorney, or does it try to educate and convince them? Does it focus more on the benefits an attorney can deliver, or does it show them why you are the best choice for the job?

In an ever-changing legal landscape, you’ll always want to educate your target market about the issues they need to know about. But don’t spend a lot of time convincing them they need legal representation. 

Focus your marketing on those who already know that and ignore (or tolerate) everyone else.

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Focus your marketing on THESE people; ignore everyone else 

Marketing legal services can be complicated and take a lot of time and expense, which is why many attorneys say they don’t like it, do it inconsistently, or don’t do it at all. On the other hand, marketing can be relatively simple and not require a lot of time or expense.

Marketing can be easy.

How? Three words: “Deep, not wide”. 

Going “deep” means building upon your existing relationships, skills, and knowledge to grow your practice instead of going “wide” in search of something new and better.

Your existing relationships, the people who already know, like, and trust you, your clients and business contacts, will lead you to people they know, through introductions and referrals. You’ll get new clients and discover new opportunities. That process will continue and compound, providing you with a steady stream of business and your practice will continue to grow.

The same is true for your existing niche or target market and your successful ads and marketing strategies. Your articles and blog posts will continue to bring you traffic and inquires, your reputation, testimonials, and success stories will continue to persuade prospective clients and the people who refer them that you can deliver the results your clients need and want. 

What you already have that’s working for you is all you need to take your practice to the next level.

You can speed things up if you want by building new relationships, acquiring additional knowledge, and trying new ideas, and you may do that at some point. 

Or you may not.

You can stick to your knitting and continue doing more of what’s working, or you can go wide. 

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My best marketing advice. In three words.

In the past year, my wife and I wanted to do some upgrades to our house and searched for contractors to get estimates. To my surprise, many contractors didn’t offer free estimates. They asked for a fee of $50 or $80 or more to provide an estimate, which they would credit back to us if we decided to hire them. 

On principle, we rejected these contractors and called others who did things the old-fashioned way, coming out to look at the job and giving us an estimate.   

I’m sure the “new age” contractors would say they no longer provide free estimates because of the expense of advertising and hiring salespeople and the like, and that statistically, since most customers who get bids don’t hire them, charging a small fee for an estimate helps defray some of their expenses. 

And weed out people who are “just looking” and not committed to getting the work done. 

A seemingly logical argument. But the reality is that we called (and hired) contractors who advertised free estimates. We didn’t call or hire ones who didn’t.  

I’m sure many customers would say the same thing. 

Now, attorneys. 

Some offer free consultations (and estimates) and some don’t. It depends on their practice area and market. And legal services have different metrics than contractors, so I’m not going to tell you to do one thing or the other. 

but I will tell you to think about it. 

Whatever you’ve always done, you might consider making some changes. After all, success in marketing boils down to having more conversations with more prospective clients and you might want to find ways to do more of that.

A different business model might might give you a competitive advantage. It might bring you more clients, decrease your overhead, and increase your (net) income. 

On the other hand, it might not. 

Attorneys argue that if they provide free consultations, they give prospective clients their legal opinion, and they are entitled to be paid for that. 

That’s true. But you know the answer to that. 

Give prospective clients enough information and advice to help them see that they have a problem and that you have the solution, but not so much information and advice that they don’t need to hire you. 

The probem with free consultations

When my accountant completed my tax returns last year, he sent them to me for my signature, along with his bill. Everything looked good, except for one thing. His fee was a lot higher than it was the previous year, and that was higher than the year before that. 

And it was a big increase. Almost shockingly so. 

What did I do? 

I paid it. 

I thought about making a stink, even finding another CPA, or at least telling him I wasn’t happy about the increase and asking him why. But I’ve been with him for decades; he does good work and I trust him and I’m pretty sure he saves me more than his fee. And, let’s face it, inflation has been bi-otch for the last several years. 

So I said nothing. 

But the increase still rattled my bones.

So, if you’re thinking about increasing your fees anytime soon, I have some advice. 

First, don’t agonize about it; do what you have to do. Clients understand that the price of everything goes up and that things tend to cost more this year than last. But don’t just send your clients a higher bill—give them a heads up. 

Tell them in advance that your fees are going up and tell them why.

Mention inflation or other factors. If it’s been a while since the last time you increased your fees, mention that, too. And don’t wait so long next time because the longer you wait, the bigger the increase, and the more shock and awe your clients might feel.

Also, do what you can to take care of your most loyal clients. The ones who have been with you for a long time. Consider delaying the increase for them and tell them that. “As one of our most valued clients, we’re keeping your rate the same for the next 3 months,” for example. 

I would have appreciated getting a note from my accountant along those lines. 

In short, show your clients you don’t take them for granted. Put yourself in their shoes and do what you would like them to do if your roles were reversed.

They might be shocked at the size of your next bill, but if you’ve done things right, they’ll pay it. 

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How to increase your legal fees

What’s the best way to build a successful law practice? Great minds may differ but I say it is to build stronger relationships with your existing clients and professional contacts. When you do that, 

• You get more repeat business and referrals
• You get bigger cases and better clients
• You get more introductions to key people in your market
• You get more testimonials and endorsements
• You get invited to speak at prestigious events and and build your reputation
• More people share your content, opt-in to your newsletter, and talk about you on social media

Marketing is easier. Growth happens more quickly. You spend less time and money building your practice. 

Building a successful practice is a byproduct of those relationships. 

Building stronger relationships starts with paying attention. Showing your clients and contacts that you’re interested in them and care about them personally, beyond your relationship as attorney and client or fellow professionals. And this is not difficult to do. 

In his newsletter, James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, put it this way:

“One easy way to show you care about others is to ask them questions about their life.

What are they excited about? 

What are they working on?

What are they hoping for?

Simply asking the question and listening thoughtfully is an act of generosity. You’re giving them the gift of attention.”

You’re an attorney. Asking questions is your thing. 

And so is listening.

I suggest you also take notes. When someone tells you what they’re working on, shares a problem or desire, put that information in a file and the next time you speak with them or write to them, ask for an update about what they told you. 

Building relationships can take time and effort but it’s easy to get started. Just ask questions and pay attention. 

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What are you working on? 

If you’re not getting enough leads or inquiries from prospective clients about your services, if you’re not booking enough appointments for consultations, there might be a very simple reason. It might be because you’ve already told them everything (they think) they need to know. 

Information is good. Educational marketing is highly recommended. But if you put too much information in your marketing materials and answer too many questions before a prospective client speaks to you, you might be shooting yourself in the foot.

In marketing, your job isn’t to tell people everything. It’s telling them enough to get their attention and prompt them to want to know more. You do that not by giving them more information but by withholding it.

Each question you answer in your article or email or ad risks making prospective clients less likely to contact you. 

And that might be why you’re not getting all the leads you want. 

But this doesn’t mean doing what a lot of attorneys do, giving no information. You can’t expect client inquiries if your marketing materials provide little more than a list of practice areas or services. 

You need to strike a balance. 

Give enough information—about the law, about what you do and how you help your clients—to intrigue prospective clients and motivate them to contact you about their specific situation. 

Don’t tell them everything in advance. But don’t tell them nothing.

Make them curious enough to visit your website, download your report, sign up for your seminar or newsletter, or make an appointment. 

Make them curious enough to take the next step. 

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You talk too much