We’ve all heard a hundred different jokes that start out with “There are 2 types of _________ in the world.” But I will be serious with you when I say that getting clients for your legal practice is something you shouldn’t joke about. Clients determine if your legal practice thrives or perishes.
There’s a grain of truth to those jokes, though: there are, indeed, 2 kinds of lawyers. One group seem to have it easy and just has clients coming to them in droves, and another group seem to have trouble even finding clients they can try to convince to acquire their services. Is it possible for you to join the ranks of the second group?
It’s not going to be an easy task, but there is a system you can try following:
Short-Term marketing. If you really need clients soon and fast, then you’re going to have to focus on what I call ‘short-term’ methods. You may have a lot of clients for the moment, but keep in mind that they only have the short-term in mind. For instance, you may need to advertise, whether on TV, radio, newspaper, or internet, or your firm may need to engage in lawyer SEO. You can establish your company name for the long-term through advertising, but getting clients to call you right now is what you’re after. You may or may not want to hire someone to help you with this, as it can often be money well spent, since an experienced advertising agency can help ensure that you get good success from your ads and also that you don’t overpay on the ads themselves. Short-term marketing is, in a way, the less important of the two types of marketing, but it is often necessary.
Relationship-Builidng and Value Creation. Here is where the difference between the two groups of attorneys can be found. The lawyers who have already established long-term relationships and created great value would no longer need to conduct any of those short-term marketing strategies. Let me explain a little. Whatever your specialization as an attorney is, you will always come into contact with other professionals who have connections with potential clients. These points of contacts will be turned by the smart lawyers into strong relationships until the professionals start referring clients to them. Everybody is aware of this strategy, but only a handful knows how to go about it. Then there is creating value. Naturally you would want to keep your clients with you so you’d do your best to create value for them; but you can also do the same for your potential clients. The internet makes this task much easier since the flow of information from you to your potential clients is virtually unlimited. Once these potential clients find themselves in need of legal services, you’d be the first they’d go to.
This is nothing earth-shattering, but you’ll be surprised at how even the experienced lawyers need some reminding about these things from time to time. Your plan for getting clients should include both long-term and short-term strategies for it to be successful. The short-term always seems pressing, but if you ever want to have a constant stream of clients, you absolutely must focus on building long-term relationships and value.