New Design Tweaks
As I get caught up on blogging, I’ve made a bunch of minor changes here at the blog. First, I’ve revised the heading to make it a bit more readable. I’ve also taken Dennis Kennedy’s advice and “branded” this blog with my name. Finally, I’m adding a small footer to each post for a while to see how it works. I need to keep a few steps ahead of the RSS bandits.
From Matthew Homann’s [non]billable hour blog.
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San Francisco Drinks?
I’m going to be flying into San Francisco for a meeting this Friday. I’ll be free Thursday night if anyone wants to meet for a cocktail and conversation. Drop me a line at homann (at) gmail.com
Testing Blogjet
I’ve been using Blogjet for quite some time, but had a few issues with a recent release. Just testing the newest version with this post.
Postings will resume soon ...
Just five more days until the insanity ends. Here is a brief update:
- My daughter and I will join my wife in California this Sunday.
- Playing "Mr. Mom" for the past two weeks is pretty cool.
- Thank God for Diet Mountain Dew.
- The house is on the market. If you want to buy it, I'll offer a blog discount.
- LexThink will be amazing (but taking around 4 hours per day of my time to get the details straight).
- Packing is less than 20% done.
- Office work is more than 80% done.
- Sleep comes occasionally.
- Pulling my first "all-nighter" tomorrow. Don't believe me, e-mail me on Thursday at 3:00 am and see how long it takes me to answer.
- Did I already thank God for Diet Mountain Dew?
- The great news is that I now know that when I am under a tremendous amount of pressure, my hair just gets grayer -- it doesn't fall out (unless I pull it)!
Until Monday, resuming blog silence.
and Speaking of LegalMatch ...
Kirsten Osolind, on her fantastic re:invention blog weighs in with some smart steps companies can take to extinguish negative online publicity:
1. ACKNOWLEDGE RESPONSIBILITY RESPONSIBILY
Ifyour company has done wrong or had an issue, acknowledge theissue/wrong, take responsibility, and provide an overview of what youare doing to address it. Respond on the site where the negativepublicity occurred if possible and if warranted, on your companywebsite.2. GO TO THE MATTRESSES - BUT DON'T GO ALONE
If theonline criticism is unfounded/false/incorrect, utilize your networkFIRST. Solicit help from loyal customers and advisory boards - askingthem to post personal positive feedback, articulate your key messages,or provide enthusiastic endorsements to counter the negative claim. Askthem to question the person who made the unfounded online claims andsolicit more specific detail from the negative evangelist. You'll bebetter prepared to answer on behalf of your company.3. TRY PAID SEARCH
Paidsearch (paid inclusion, pay-per-click) can work to counter negativepublicity. You can articulate your key messages to your targetaudience, showcase customer endorsements, and push down the negativecomments.4. DO GOOD AND BE GOOD
Continue to offer goodcustomer service and good quality products. Over time, loyal andsatisfied customers will help douse the online flames and evangelizetruth over fiction.5. LITIGATE AS A LAST RESORT
As a lastresort (and we mean a LAST RESORT), companies can pursue litigation,contacting site owners directly or spam checking/reverse link look-ups.
I almost left that last one out. ;-)
LegalMatch Apologizes
Several weeks ago, I got a telephone call from Randy Wells,the LegalMatch CEO. Randy wanted to meetwith me in person, and (after I was certain the purpose of the meeting was notto serve me with summons) I suggested we meet during LegalTech New York. (Full Disclosure Time: LegalMatch picked up the tab for my trip toNYC. I did not agree to do anything in exchange for the trip, other than meet with Randy Wells.)
Randy and I had a nice conversation during dinner – most of whichwas “off the record” – and we discussed LegalMatch’s reputation problem. I told Randy that, though my blog has becomesort of a clearinghouse for LegalMatch comments pro and con, my only problem with hiscompany’s service was (and remained) the methods they used to entice lawyers tosubscribe to their LegalMatch service.
While Randy assured me that things were changing insideLegalMatch, I suggested to him, in true ClueTrainfashion, that he needed to open a dialog with all those who seem to really hatehis company, including the people who continue to leave unfavorable comments onthis blog.
Randy took my advice, and has sent me the following letterthat I post (unedited) in its entirety. Ifyou have comments, feel free to leave them to this post, because I knowLegalMatch is reading. Otherwise, callRandy directly. His telephone number is atthe end of the letter.
OPEN LETTER FROM RANDY WELLS, CEO OF LEGALMATCH
To Our Colleagues in the Legal Community,
On behalf of LegalMatch,I would like to personally apologize for a number of overly aggressive salespractices conducted by the company in the past. After consulting with many individuals and groups within the legalcommunity and after a thorough review of our internal practices, it became clearthat LegalMatch was less than professional in its approach.
As a result, since taking over the position of CEO at LegalMatch,I have implemented a number of improvements to our marketing team and their practicesthat will immediately address and rectify these issues, including:
1) Anew training program with focus on best-in-class, professional marketing practices.
2) Anew improved compensation system that is no longer 100% commission based - reducingthe ‘sell-at-all-costs’ mentality.
3) Areorganization of the marketing team that will make it much morecustomer-centric and friendly.In addition, the company’s founder, DmitryShubov, understands that in order for the company to continueit’s phenomenal growth (53% 2004) that he must divest his majority stake in LegalMatch.
There are several negotiations in process.
Given Dmitry’s vast experience in the online legal category, LegalMatch will retain his services asan outside consultant.
This decision, along with our new programs and ongoing improvements,marks the end of one chapter in the company’s history, and the start of anexciting, new chapter in our continued growth. Our mission today is to build onthese renewed values and principles that aim squarely at serving the legalcommunity. Helping consumers find qualified attorneys and helping attorneysdevelop and focus a law practice is at the core of our company’s vision today.
Once again, I hope you will accept this apology and inviteeveryone to give LegalMatch another chance in the near future.
If you have any questions, please feel to email or call medirectly.
Sincerely,
Randy Wells
CEO of LegalMatch
415-946-0896
Where's the Banner
Thanks to an astute reader, I've just found out my "the [non]billable hour" title banner has gone missing. It must have left while I was in NYC. As soon as I find it, I'll put it back up again.
Should I Charge Legalmatch for Advertising on my Blog?
In my agreement with Law.com, I'm not supposed to sell any other advertising on my blog. It seems a reasonable demand since they are paying me millions of dollars each month to be part of their Blog Network. You see, I think I may be violating my contract because Randy Wells, who became LegalMatch CEO when his predecessor was indicted, left two comments to posts (here and here) on my blog today. It seems to me that when you read the comments -- and I encourage you to do so -- you are getting a thinly-veiled advertisement for the LegalMatch service. Now, as David at Ethical Esq. tireless points out, I'm all about making money, but I really don't want to ruin a good relationship with my friends at Law.com. It would be far better, in my opinion, for Randy to pony up the big bucks, call the American Lawyer Media advertising department, and buy the huge honkin' ad on the right side of my blog instead of posting comments to two posts from several weeks ago that very few people read in the first place.
As for the breach of contract issue, I think I'll leave Wells' comments for now, but if you do go to LegalMatch, be sure to tell them I sent you. Maybe they'll think of me as one of their affilliates and I can get a referral fee. Oh, and if you are wondering, I did try to leave an "ad" for the [non]billable hour on the LegalMatch Blog, but they don't have comments enabled.
Resolutions for Lawyers, Day 16
Think about the amount of time and resources you've spent preparing for the holidays. Now, devote that same amount of time to devising your firm's business strategy for 2005.
Thanks to Sean D'Souza for the tip.
Holiday Haiku
Though David Giacalone and I disagree on many things, I do want to thank him for sending me this holiday bit of haiku:
for Matt Homann at the [non]billable hourNew Year's Day
a lucky, lucky
light blue skyKobayashi Issa,translated by David G. Lanoue
Testing New Design
This is just a test. The new design will be complete tomorrow, along with a bunch of new posts and some really cool news. Thanks for your patience.
Help Wanted
The Anonymous Lawyer has one spot left in next year's summer associate class. As with all of AL's posts, make sure you read the comments. Hurry up and apply!
Customer Aftercare
One of the things we are working on at my firm is developing a systematic way to keep our clients happy and encourage them to recommend us to others they know. Ernest Nicastro writes about Customer Aftercare on the MarketingProfs.com web site (registration may be required). He suggests several ways to use direct mail as an effective customer retention tool. Here are the letters he suggests sending to clients with a time line as well:
"Thank You" letter: To be mailed the very day the sale is closed. Sure, this is something we all do—right? Well maybe all of us do it—but I know from experience that a number of those others don't!
Letter from "Mr./Ms. Big": To be mailed 10 days to 2 weeks after the account is opened. In a smaller company, it should come from the owner. In a larger company, a senior manager. This letter is a warm owner/senior management welcome and also informs the new customer that, ultimately, "the buck stops here." Sample wording. "If the product or products you've purchased, or anyone in my organization, fails to meet with your complete approval—now or in the future—I would like to know about it."
How did I/we do? Mailed a week after the sale. It's a friendly letter explaining how important honest feedback is to you because it's the only way you can improve. Attached to the letter is a brief customer satisfaction survey and stamped return envelope. The feedback you receive from this survey will be of tremendous value to you in your ongoing marketing efforts. It will help you make more sales and generate increased profits
Happy anniversary: Sample opening: "It's been a year (__ years) since you opened your account (closed on your house, closed on your loan) with us. I just wanted to say Happy Anniversary and thanks again. We look forward to working with you for many more years to come."
At random, customer appreciation letter: Sample opening: "Do you ever get so caught up in the mundane, everyday responsibilities of your job that you sometimes overlook things? I know I do. And that's why I'm writing you." From that point you go on to tell your customer how much you value and appreciate them and their business. Don't do any selling in this letter. Helpful hint: Mail this letter right before you know your customer will be in contact with a large number of people—for example, right before Thanksgiving or before a trade convention or industry gathering. This way, you'll get maximum mileage from the positive word of mouth that this letter creates.
"How are we doing?/How have we done?" survey cover letter: You should regularly survey your customers, at least once a year. Just the act of sending out the survey sends a message about how important they are to you. But the greatest benefit to you and your business is the feedback you'll get on how you can improve. So, word your cover letter in such a way that it will encourage response. Sample copy: "At ABC Widgets, we're committed to offering you the affordable high-performance widgets backed up by a level of service that sets the standard for the industry. Your feedback is of tremendous help to us in measuring how well we're meeting that commitment." The survey, whether or not they return it to you, is one more indication that they are important to you.
Birthday cards: It used to be that if you visited any Petco store, you'd find forms to fill out with your pet's name, address and birthday. Complete one, and during the month of your pet's birthday Petco would send your Fido or Mr. Whiskers a birthday card and an invitation to come to the store and get a 10% discount. Shouldn't we treat our human customers with similar care and thoughtfulness? I think you know the answer.
Hand-written "Congratulations" cards: Whenever you or your assistant read or hear about awards, appointments, promotions and other forms of recognition earned by your clients—or their children—acknowledge this with a letter or card. This is a small thing to do, but it is greatly appreciated (and will pay big dividends).
Thanksgiving letter: What better time to show our thanks and appreciation to our customers than right before a national holiday dedicated to being thankful and appreciative? One client I sent my Thanksgiving letter to liked it so much that he insisted on paying me for it so that he could adapt it and send it out to his employees and customers. (For a copy of this letter, send me an email to enicastro@positiveresponse.com with Thanksgiving Letter in the subject line.) As Thanksgiving is traditionally the start to the holiday season, another benefit to this letter is that you can work in your holiday greetings and best wishes for the season. This way, you'll be among the very first to do so and your sentiments won't get lost in the deluge of Christmas cards and Season's Greetings that will come pouring in later.
This is fantastic advice for any service provider. If you implement these ideas into your practice, you will be certain to be in the front of your client's minds whenever they have a legal issue, or when someone they know is looking for a lawyer.
LegalMatch Revisited (Again)
I've kind of watched with amazement at the number of comments my posts concerning LegalMatch have generated. Today, I received a comment to two of my posts from Lance Burton, "Director of Attorney Relation Services and Continuing Advanced Education" at LegalMatch. His comment, "For an informed response to the many comments listed here with respect to LegalMatch please review the items at the following site." The site is the LegalMatch Blog and I encourage readers to take a look.
In the response, Mr. Burton first addresses my major complaint about LegalMatch, saying:
The major issue in the blogs and in other chatter concerning LegalMatch is a complaint that we use deceptive and hard sales tactics to get attorneys to the phone. I’ll be the first to say, we do whatever we can to get a minute with an attorneys to talk with us about the clients we have attracted to our website. (Underlined emphasis mine).
and then he takes a shot at some of the people who have been leaving the comments in my blog posts:
The former employees that seem bent on making LegalMatch look like the bad guys in the 'blogs' and who continue to pop off about being exploited, or complaining that LegalMatch didn’t do this or didn’t do that, professing to hold special insights into how LegalMatch works, generally fall into two categories. First, there is the occasional contractors we hired who fooled us for awhile by pretending to understand the LegalMatch mission and to have the client’s interest at heart, but didn't. We ultimately recognized the pretenders in this group whose only real interest was in lining their own pockets. They thought LegalMatch was just another Internet dot com that would yield loads of money for them to rip off. The second group of sales contractors we had to weed out were those individual who came to us as “labor fakers.” These individuals, who we asked to work hard in the interest of building LegalMatch goodwill so as to benefit our clients and member attorneys, misunderstood the work ethic necessary to keep a start up moving to solvency. Who could predict that these individuals were just too lazy and short sighted to recognize the opportunity put before them. They apparently thought they would never have to ever work hard again. Shame on them. I personally apologize to anyone who may have encountered these aberations.
I applaud LegalMatch for doing this. I'd love to see the dialog continued on the LegalMatch blog, instead of mine. However, the LegalMatch Blog doesn't have comments enabled. Oh well.
What is your Innovation Budget?
I've recently subscribed to Report 103, a weekly e-mail newsletter from jpb.com, an innovation company. I found this great idea in their October 12, 2004 edition:
Give everyone in a medium to large company an innovation budget. Each person's budget would be based on their position in the company. Regular staff might get 2000 Euro/year; middle managers 5000; senior managers 10,000; and so on). Innovation budgets are to be used exclusively for developing ideas.
If an idea results in an RoI (return on idea), the idea owner receives an increased innovation budget based on a percentage of the RoI. Thus, innovative people get an ever larger pool with which to innovate.
Moreover, staff can form teams with each person contributing a part of their innovation budget towards implementing an idea. If the result is a positive RoI, each contributor receives an innovation budget increase based on the percentage of their budgetary contribution.
Finally, people can buy and sell ideas with their innovation budgets. If you have a great idea which you do not or cannot implement, you can sell the idea to a colleague who is interested in implementing it. The colleague then transfers part of her innovation budget to you.
Alternatively, if you have a great idea, but insufficient budget to implement it, you can sell stakes in your idea to colleagues.
Over time, the company's most innovative people will amass substantial innovation budgets. These people can then become idea investors, providing innovation-budget-equity based investments in employees' ideas; particularly big ideas which an individual employee would not have the budget to implement.
The beauty of the system is that it allows people to grow based upon their innovative strengths. People who are strong on creativity and ideas but weak on implementation, can sell their ideas in order to amass an increasing innovation budget.
People who are stronger on implementation, on the other hand, can buy ideas or co-operate on ideas in order to amass increasing innovation budgets.
Only those people who want nothing to do with innovation will see their budgets stagnate. But such people are usually rather boring. So we need not worry about them, need we?
Still trying to figure out how this can work in a law firm environment. Maybe my Innovation Assistant could help.
Help Wanted - Innovation Assistant
I need help. Since I started reading blogs (and writing this one), I've been bombarded on a daily basis with hundreds of incredible ideas from the coolest people on the planet. While I've been doing my best to share them with you while implementing some into my practice, I've found that the demands of my actual job are cutting into my time to innovate and think about new things.
Therefore, I've decided I need to hire an Innovation Assistant -- a combination personal assistant, brainstorming partner, and project manager -- to help me get some amazing and innovative projects off of my "to do someday" list and into the real world.
So here is the deal: I want anyone who is interested to write me an e-mail describing what you think an Innovation Assistant should do -- and then telling me why you should get the job. I'll pay the ideal candidate well, and they will be able to work virtually from home 10-20 hours per week.
LegalMatch, Compared
I haven't posted about LegalMatch for several months, though my LegalMatch posts continue to draw comments weekly. In a comment to my initial "Why I'll Never use Legal Match" post, reader Maury gives an unbelievably complete summary of all of the legal referral sites out there, along with his "grades" for visibility and cost.
Maury appears to work for a lawyer referral service himself, but the information seems pretty reliable. If you are looking for a comprehensive comparison of most (if not all) of the legal referral web sites out there (and Maury covers over 100 of them!), scroll down through the comments to the LegalMatch post. Thanks Maury!
Focus with PowerPoint
I don't use a lot or Powerpoint in my day to day practice, but I still get a tremendous amount of great ideas from Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullets weblog. A recent favorite post of mine is this one, where Cliff says:
Often a PowerPoint presentation can become so packed with bullet points, charts and graphics that we lose our sense of clarity, direction and focus.But you can find your way back to your goals by mapping your content to the 6 primary signposts that underlie every effective communication experience: who, what, where, when, why and how.
It may sound basic, but that's the point. No matter how elaborate, detailed, complex and involved your story is, you have to clearly answer these 6 basic questions, or else you'll lose your audience, and your own understanding.
What great advice. Take a look at the post for a visual example using these signposts in a Powerpoint presentation.