Posts tagged: Legal Marketing

When I was in high school, I took Latin for two years as my foreign language elective. “What a waste,” I thought, until a few weeks ago, when I took my family to Italy. The trip was actually a business trip to brainstorm with colleagues in Florence. Time away from my office to work on my business with extremely intelligent, successful lawyers is always beneficial. But I had no idea how much I would learn about business and sales just by walking the streets. Based on the questions my children asked, they too learned valuable lessons.

First, the canals in Venice were lined shop after shop with uniquely blown glass of jewelry, animals, tableware, and anything else imaginable. On each Florence corner, and between each corner, were gelato (ice cream) stores. The plazas in Rome were bordered by restaurants, shoulder to shoulder, each with virtually identical menus. Nothing stood out. How did any of them get business? Why were some packed while others were bare?

On our last night in Italy, we wanted a place to eat that was close and easy. We had already eaten 18 meals of pasta and had at least 12 gelato treats. We stopped at the first restaurant on the corner of the big plaza near our hotel to review its posted menu. An employee, specifically stationed in the street in front of the outdoor seating, walked over to us and immediately began to share that they have only the freshest ingredients and no microwave or freezer on the premises. He understood that his menu was like everyone else’s, but he focused on how their food was better. He then got personal and asked my son, “What would you want to eat if you were here? … We can do that.” Naturally my son was sold. After sitting down, I began listening and watching our salesman and noticed the following:

• He started with something small – “Would you like to sit and have a special drink” – without presuming a person was hungry for a full meal.
• He walked toward the table and said, “Table for four right here for you,” confidently, as if the sale had already been made.
• When asked by another prospective customer, “What is the best place after yours?” he replied, “You are already here, why would you want to keep walking only to find the second-best place?”
• They filled the tables closest to the walkway first, then behind, to provide social proof of those walking by that the restaurant was desirable.

Since gelato is an impulse buy or a “treat,” the menu was not as important. But since there was a gelato stand on just about every corner, I looked for what made one more attractive than another. For starters, the shops where you could see the gelato from the street through windows were eye-catchers, versus having to go into the shop. Second, a clearly visible sign that said gelato and pictures of gelato were helpful. Shops that only sold gelato and not other items (sandwiches, water, souvenirs) attracted more business. Thus, the takeaway points were:

• Be visible and use visuals;
• Specialize and don’t confuse the market by selling too many products.

Not all sales strategies I observed were effective. In fact, some were quite offensive. First, after we climbed next to the Spanish steps (the actual steps were under construction), a rose peddler approached and I said, “No, thank you,” then, “No, grazie.” He persisted and said, “It is a gift for you to give to Saint Mary (in the church at the top of the steps).” He handed me three roses as a “gift.” I turned away and he then pulled my arm and held out his hand for money. I reluctantly put in two Euros and he asked for more based on the value of three roses. Jennifer was not as considerate as I was: She took two roses from my hand, thrust them back at the guy and said, “Take your roses and leave us alone.” There was no way I was getting the third rose out of my daughter’s hands.

Similarly, while walking through a plaza toward a merry-go-round, a balloon artist handed my daughter a balloon and said, “This is for you.” Naturally, Katherine took it, said, “Thank you,” smiled real big, and began skipping. The balloonist looked to Jennifer for the money (who had none). Jennifer had to take the balloon out of Katherine’s hands, to a crumbling face, and ask her, “Do you want the balloon or the merry-go-round?” A good lesson for Katherine about choices and priority, but an ill-attempted sales strategy by the balloonist.

Two other lessons we picked up based on questions or observations from my son. First, in all three cities we visited, we saw panhandlers, many of whom presented as homeless. Then, on the plazas we enjoyed individuals showing off their talents (juggling, singing, magic, etc.) to earn money thrown into a pan or hat. Christopher asked, “Do only homeless people do tricks for money?” I replied, “No, honey, only the hungry.” That is a generalization, of course. The meaning behind my response was, “Those willing to put themselves out there to earn a living for their needs will do what it takes to earn money.” Satisfied with that response, when we stumbled upon the Roma Gay Pride celebration near the Colosseum, both children were dancing and really enjoying themselves. Christopher said without any hesitation, “Mommy, can I have a can so people can put money into it for our dancing?” I laughed and told him no, but the real lesson was that he was willing to unabashedly “entertain” and make money while I, on the other hand, was too embarrassed to let him. How many people engage in marketing strategies that work very well, but that you refuse to do based on your own limiting beliefs or pride?

The second lesson my son pointed out was at the Trevi Fountain. The legend is that if you throw a coin in the fountain, then you will return to Rome. My son aptly pointed out, “That is just a trick to get you to give them money.” True. Nonetheless, how many people throw the coin? It’s not about throwing the coin or not, it’s about the experience of throwing the coin. How can you be a fountain to your clients, where they are willing to throw coins just for the ongoing relationship or experience (e.g. maintenance plan)?  

When you are out of your office, pay attention to the sales strategies of other businesses. If you were in Rome, would you do as the Romans do? Can you incorporate any of the lessons in your own office?

Victoria L. Collier, Co-Founder, Lawyers with Purpose, LLC, www.LawyersWithPurpose.com; Certified Elder Law Attorney through the National Elder Law Foundation; Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; Founder and Managing Attorney of The Elder & Disability Law Firm of Victoria L. Collier, PC, www.ElderLawGeorgia.com; Co-Founder of Veterans Advocates Group of America; Entrepreneur; Author; and nationally renowned Presenter.

Creating a marketing budget is an important piece of your marketing plan. The goal is to create a realistic plan of action to help improve revenue, and determining your spending is an important part of that process. 

Without a budget, you can overspend – or fail to spend enough – on your marketing.  There are three steps to creating a marketing budget:

1. Organize your financial information
2. Determine where to spend your marketing dollars
3. Set up reports and make adjustments 

Let's dig into each step to spell out what is involved.

STEP #1 – ORGANIZE YOUR FINANCIAL INFORMATION

You have to understand your finances first.  You need to know how much money your company makes on a monthly basis and the variations that might exist.  This step will take time, but it’s important, because you cannot create a realistic budget based on estimated numbers. 

This is why in CCI we push so hard for a monthly goal with the Revenue Focuser tool.  Although income can vary significantly throughout the year, you must organize the information based on reliable revenue.

Reliable revenue is the minimum amount of money your company makes each month.  For example, if you range from 5k to 7k per month, any amount over 5k cannot and should not be added to the budget because it is not reliable.

Now you need to take that reliable revenue number and subtract your monthly expenses.  This is your rent, office supplies, keeping the lights on, payroll, and any other overhead. A realistic budget will focus on income that exceeds the expenses, not the total revenue that comes in.  This is your disposable income.  When you have determined the amount of disposable income, you will need to decide where that money will go.  Marketing is only one area you need to consider, of course.  You also need to put some of this money aside for unexpected costs and future growth.

Divide up that disposable income based on the goals of your firm.  So, for example, if your immediate goal is to get more prospects in the door, you would put your money into the marketing budget. You will want to put off hiring until your client base is bigger.

If your goal is to hire someone to increase your bandwidth, then put more of your disposable income into growth and set aside less for your marketing budget.

If you don’t have disposable income, your marketing budget is 0.  You need to hit the RMS to fill your pipeline, which is a different conversation.  Eighty percent of your time needs to be out eyeball to eyeball, developing relationships. 

These are the main considerations when you’re deciding what you will consistently be putting toward your marketing, so this is what you’ll need to nail down. 

STEP #2 – DETERMINE WHERE YOU WANT TO SPEND MARKETING FUNDS

After you know the amount available to spend on marketing, the next part of creating a solid budget is to organize how you’ll be spending that money.  Three main factors contribute to how to spend marketing funds: (1) the size of your budget; (2) your past experience; and (3) where you can reach your target market.

Let’s start with (1), the size of the budget.  If you have a small budget, you’ll want to start with small print ads, online ads, social media and email advertising to bring in new clients.  A larger budget would include radio or television ads to hit a wider range.  So be responsible with the size of your budget.

Then (2), past experience – what has or hasn’t worked for you in the past?  If you noticed that promoting your workshop with newsletter and small print ads brings in leads, then do it again and again.  Keep that in your budget.  Even if you have the means for more expensive alternatives, continue to commit to the things that work.

Finally (3), decide where you can reach your target market.  Start this process by writing down a description of who your target market is.  For most of us, it’s the baby boomers and sandwich generation.  And think about which media they use.  For baby boomers, it’s more than likely a locally circulated paper.  But for the sandwich generation, what websites do they frequent, and how can you be relevant on the social media they use?  Write down where they are and this is where you should be advertising. 

If you are testing something new – a good rule of thumb is to start with a smaller budget and test the waters before making a larger financial commitment.  After you determine if it will work, you can add more funds into that new marketing channel or opportunity. 

STEP #3 – REVIEW YOUR TRACKING AND REPORTING!  WEEKLY! AND ADJUST!

The final step is to analyze the data.  Look at what’s working and what’s not working.  From there you should make adjustments to improve revenue.  Anything with marketing needs to be tied to generating revenue.  If it doesn’t generate revenue, remove it altogether and try something new.

Knowing this information, and looking at your reporting weekly during your marketing meeting, is the most important part of maintaining your marketing budget and plan. 

You must looking at past performance and know with certainty whether revenue has increased, decreased or stayed the same.  You should be able to tie each of your marketing dollars and efforts to what you’re tracking and reporting.  Make adjustments for things along the way.  Increase your budget on the things that are working.  Pull the plug on the things that are not working.

Having a marketing budget is not enough.  You have to be able to take action based on your reporting.

Your budget helps you avoid overspending on your marketing and holds you accountable for taking advantage of opportunities and cutting off the things that aren’t working so you can put the money someplace else.  That helps you find the best solutions to meet your business goals. 

If you want to learn more about Lawyers With Purpose join us February 3rd – 5th in Charlotte, NC, for our Practice With Purpose Program.  You don't want to miss this event about Asset Protection, Medicaid & so much more to build your estate and elder law practice.  

Roslyn Drotar – Coaching, Consulting & Implementation – Lawyers With Purpose