Attorneys, managing partners, marketing partners, in-house marketing staff, legal professional development staff and administrators are welcome to call in and listen.

Please note: This panel is one of the ways we provide added value to the community we serve and value in advance to those who are not yet working with us. There is no payment to Kohn Communications for you to attend. However, to control the telephone expense of large numbers of attendees, we are using the services of FreeConferenceCalling.Com. Using this service, you will be charged by your telephone service provider for the normal cost of a one-hour call from your telephone to the 218 area code. If you want to know the cost of the call, please contact your provider.

PANEL MEMBERS:

Jonathan Fitzgarrald
Chief Marketing Officer
Greenberg Glusker

Heather L. Morse
Director of Marketing
BARGER & WOLEN LLP

Adam L. Stock
Director of Marketing and Business Development
Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP

Lawrence Kohn
Founder & President
Kohn Communications

EVENT & RSVP DETAILS:

Topic: Tech-Based Biz Dev Strategies
Date: Tuesday February 28, 2012
Time: 2:00 pm Pacific, 3:00 pm Mountain, 4:00 pm Central, 5:00 pm Eastern
Format: Audio conferencing only
Length: 60 minutes
Cost: Normal cost of a one-hour call from your telephone to the 218 area code. Please contact your provider.

RSVP Deadline: Feb 27

To register, please complete the information below and then check your email for the call-in number and passcode. We look forward to your joining us.

As you watch all your contacts accruing,
The value of each needs reviewing.
With your limited time,
It would be such a crime
To invest in those not worth pursuing.

Some people may be concerned that the word “target” is aggressive or predatory. However, we use it in our business merely as a generic term to describe a wide range of individuals who might be influenced or changed by your actions. Targets may include clients, prospects, referral sources, program chairs, publishers, editors, and other people who can help you in your business development effort. By using the word “target,” we avoid having to repeat all of these subcategories.

If you can locate highly qualified targets, then you will be well on your way to success. Of course, you still need to decide how to communicate the value that you offer. But it is much easier to sell to people once you know that they are the right people.

To stay in your comfort zone, we recommend that you always strive to find targets that meet the following two comfort criteria:

1. They should have the potential to lead to new business.
2. You should like them.

Focusing on meeting targets that satisfy these two criteria will increase your comfort with selling. When you are confident that your targets are likely to lead to new business, you will feel more justified in investing your time and money. And when you like your targets, the experience will be more enjoyable.

For more marketing tips, check out our book Selling in Your Comfort Zone.

Public relations can contribute to three important parts of your business development effort:

• Lead generation: You can use public relations to meet new people.
• Substantiation: When people hear about or experience you through a public relations effort, it substantiates your position in their minds.
• Follow-up: Meeting new people does you no good unless you follow up, and public relations gives you a variety of vehicles for doing that.

For more tips, check out our marketing seminar “Benefitting from Public Relations.”

Check out this unique $10.77 legal marketing tip.

One solo practioner shares what she learned about legal marketing and more in the year since she first hung her shingle.

Case closed. Now what? The end of your representation is when you give a free consultation, not just the beginning.

Expand you practice by marketing to colleagues.

Harness the marketing power of niche expertise.

Law Students

Four steps to networking with your adjunct professor.

Mailings closely tailored to specific recipients rank among the most effective, even if sent to only a small number of prospects. When you have something that will interest a segment of the people on your mailing list, mail to one person or a group of people—whoever might find your item useful. For example, if you are a tax specialist, a new development in divorce taxation would interest the family lawyers on your mailing list. A summary of a new case on international copyright issues might draw the attention of specialists in international trade, whose clients will benefit from the information.

When sending to an individual or a selected group, add a personal note: “Jane, this reminded me of our discussion last year about the Sukarnoputri case. The Supreme Court overruled it yesterday.” If you send something to several people who know each other, make each note different so they don’t compare notes and find you sent the same intimate message verbatim to everyone.

Rather than leave your published articles to dry up and crumble in obscurity on library shelves, turn them into effective mailings. If the publication owns the copyright, buy reprints. You can even send a technical article to lawyers in other fields, since one of your goals is to show off your expertise. They will at least give it a glance on its way to the recycle bin. But they will remember you better if you send them an article with information they can use, such as

• “Five Things That California Business Lawyers Must Know about Anti-trust”
• “Ten Tax-Saving Tips for Your Clients Faced with Divorce”

How Often?

How often should you send something to the people on your mailing list? Often enough that your prospects have you in mind during those unpredictable moments when they have a good case to refer but not so often as to provoke the reaction, “Not him again!”

For more tips, check out our article “A Mailing List to Market Your Practice.”

Do some reconnaissance to find out about what your competition offers. Information about your competitors is not always readily available. However, there are some ways of obtaining it. One method is to ask people you trust who have had interaction with your competitors. Perhaps you have clients and friends who have done business with your competitors.

You may be able to go to programs where your competitors are speaking. Or check out the promotional materials on their websites.

Make a Comparison

Once you acquire information about your competition, the next step is to make a comparison. The obvious way to compare your services is by how much you charge. But remember that value is comprised of many qualities of which money is only a part, so avoid falling into this trap. We have many clients who are the highest priced providers in their markets but who are still confident that they offer the best deal.

Even if you charge more than the competition, you still may provide benefits that make you the preferred provider. Think about the meaningful things that differentiate you from your competitors. Consider your positive personal traits, your systems for ensuring quality service, and all of the benefits that you offer.

Become Proud of the Fees You Charge

Ideally, you should develop your confidence to a level that you are proud to quote your fees. This may seem odd to you at first. After all, who is enthusiastic talking about fees? We know professionals who are actually embarrassed to quote their fees. They suspect that they might be overcharging their clients, or that the competition offers a better deal. However, once you become genuinely confident that you offer a superior deal to the competition, you will be proud of the fees you charge.

For more marketing tips, check out our book Selling in Your Comfort Zone.

Five essential steps to achieving flow in legal writing.

How to talk like a lawyer.

For clear and effective legal writing, go ahead and use the passive voice.

Ten editing techniques to improve your writing.

Law students

Escape the law-school textbook scam.

The solution is so simple: always try to negotiate a follow-up at the end of every meeting. Whether it’s a casual conversation or a formal pitch, afterward, look for a reason to stay in touch. Offer to do an analysis. Propose a low-cost service that will demonstrate who you are and what you do. If your prospect reveals a need that you don’t provide, make a referral and set up an introduction. If your prospect mentions his or her accountant, express an interest in meeting him or her. If your prospect expresses an appreciation for Ethiopian food, invite him or her to lunch.

If you can’t think of anything specific to offer, at minimum, negotiate a timeframe in which to follow-up on your pitch. Say, “I look forward to hearing from you, but I know you’re busy. If I don’t hear from you after a period of time, may I touch base with you?” Ask permission to check in. If your prospect is interested in working with you, he or she will say yes. Then figure out an appropriate timeline to make that call. By negotiating permission to follow up with a specific reason, you won’t feel awkward about touching base with your prospect at a later date.

The sales cycle can take many, many years, but if you’re skilled at following up, you’ll be able to stay connected with your prospect and ultimately make the sale.

For more tips, check out our marketing seminar “How to Pitch.”

Consider a newsletter. Even if a newsletter oriented to your specialty does not enthrall most lawyers in other fields, a reader who recognizes your name will invest thirty seconds to see what you have to say. That thirty seconds may be all you need. Turning other lawyers into specialists in your field is not your goal; rather, it’s to make them aware of developments in your field that might affect their practices, regardless of their specialties, and to remind them of your expertise in your area of practice.

The best newsletters strive to give value. It’s fine to announce that you gave a speech to the Accounting Society about business valuation, but your readers will be more impressed if you share some substantive highlights. For examples of ways to announce other activities that you may consider newsworthy, compare these:

Thomas P. Sawyer joined the Monterey County Bar Association.

Who cares?

Rebecca Thatcher was invited to speak to the San Luis Obispo County Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section on how to give better client service by better communication. She made these ten points …

Don’t overwhelm your readers. Keep your newsletter brief and clean. To do a visually pleasing job, consult a graphic-arts service. But keep them on a short leash, as they sometimes advocate more glitz than necessary. Although newsletters should look professional, too slick can cost too much and come off as trying too hard.

Brochures

Brochures have been largely replaced by websites as a way of enlightening prospects about your firm and its capabilities. Emailing a link to your website is almost as good as printing and sending a brochure. If you don’t have a website or want a brochure anyway, assume an audience of sophisticated skeptics who will not be impressed by the usual hype. Keep your message as factual as possible. As for format, my cautions about newsletters that are too amateurish or too glitzy also apply to brochures.

For more tips, check out our article “A Mailing List to Market Your Practice.”