LegalMatch doesn't get it.

I have posted here, here, and here about LegalMatch.  This e-mail just came from Randy Wells, a LegalMatch executive whose prior e-mail I posted here.  Randy says:

In response:

In the early days of the dot.com existence, much was expected from the net.  It has taken years to change habits of the American public.  We now have literally thousands of clients coming to us each and every week in search of a competent attorney who is willing to take some time with a client prior to physically seeing them.  I am sorry if our practice of helping people find attorneys is somehow offensive or deceptive to you. 

We are the dominant space on the net, and our major focus is on helping people, not the attorneys.  We know if we truly provide service to the general public, then our attorneys will be happy.  Most other "models" on the net try to "sell the attorney" on some "future promise" of direct referral clients. 

Our focus is on helping clients and giving them a choice of professionals.  True, in the beginning stages, we had trouble getting enough traffic to support the model.  I'm proud to say, that no longer is an issue.  We are not a referral service by any means.  Our attorneys, and our client's, names and contact information are kept confidential until the client chooses the attorney.  The client's choice of representation is based on the attorneys response to the perceived problem, and the attorney profile page (which outlines background reference checks, and personal mission statement).  This allows a level of scrutiny that some lawyers are not comfortable with.  We know that legalmatch is not for every attorney.  We applaud the attorneys that have recognized that the internet is here to stay, and that helping potential clients by a methodology of getting background checks and dialogue, is a meaningful service for the public.

Randy Wells, Vice President
Membership

Randy, I applaud your company's focus on "helping clients and giving them a choice of professionals," and I agree that the more a potential client knows about their lawyer, the better for all involved.  Oddly, neither of your e-mails has even touched upon my only complaint about your company -- your sales tactics. 

You apologize to me by saying, "I am sorry if our practice of helping people find attorneys is somehow offensive or deceptive to you."  I don't take issue with your business model at all -- instead, I take issue with your sales model.  It is your practice of "helping" attorneys find Legalmatch that is offensive and deceptive to me.   If you want to sell me something, tell me so.  You would be surprised just how interested I may be in a company with "thousands of clients coming ...  each and every week in search of a competent attorney who is willing to take some time with a client prior to physically seeing them." 

If you have a good product (and you seem to think that you do), don't be afraid to openly sell it.  Evangalize it.  Make me excited about buying it.  Your sales pitch left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't know if I'll ever use your product -- no matter how good it is.   Also, your claim that you "are not a referral service by any means," and that your service is different from, "Most other "models" on the net [that] try to "sell the attorney" on some "future promise" of direct referral clients," doesn't ring true when I look at these statements on your website:

The goal is to get you clients in your preferred specialty that you judge of high value, so that you work reasonable hours while maintaining or increasing your revenues.

If in your judgment we don't provide you enough clients to more than pay for your membership within your membership term, we'll extend it for free for up to 12 months until we do!

Therefore, we believe that we will have met our burden under this guarantee if you at least were engaged by enough clients via our service, by the end of your membership term, so that your expected revenues when and if collected, would more than cover the membership fee you paid.

The Value of Social Networking.

Saw this article today by David Maizenberg titled, "A Lawyer's Guide to Reed's Law and the Power of Networks." According to Maizenberg, "Reed's law simply states that the value of a social network (an open peer-to-peer information exchange) scales exponentially with the size of the network. Straightforward and intuitive, Reed's law explains why allowing people to interact and group-form freely benefits everyone, eventually." The author continues:

Why does all this matter to lawyers? Well, with all the various forums and groups everywhere beckoning for attention, some lawyers might be asking themselves: Is it a worthwhile use of my time to participate in volunteer, uncompensated knowledge sharing? Reed's Law suggests that the answer is yes. Of course, one still needs to be selective. Network peer groups with no real purpose, or groups with weak participation, or groups that simply become too large, may not necessarily return maximum value. Nevertheless, here's a good rule of thumb: don't be stingy. If a peer group or forum is interesting and useful enough for you to follow on a regular basis, then for the health of the group, as well as your own standing within it, you should probably contribute as well.

I belong to the ABA's Solosez discussion group and can vouch for the truth in this statement. Solosez has over 1000 lawyer members from around the world. Nearly all practice alone or in a small-office setting. I have received an unbelievable amount of value from the list.

LegalMatch Part III

This LegalMatch thing has taken on a life of its own. Recall that I posted here and here about my experience with a LegalMatch marketer and the company's reply. Since then, Rick Klau and Carolyn Elefant have continued the discussion on their blogs.

I have never used LegalMatch so I can't vouch for their service. I'm sure they have dozens (hundreds, thousands?) of satisfied customers. My only complaint was that their sales pitch, which I felt was less than honest, offended me as a potential customer. Not the way to get the relationship off on the right foot.

The point I wanted to make in the original post is that you need to be very careful about first impressions when communicating with potential customers. Don't overpromise, don't pressure, don't brag, don't deceive, and don't talk down to your potential clients. Articulate the benefits of hiring you with humility, and let the prospects decide on their own timetable if you are the right attorney for them.

Interesting Stats on Women vs. Men Business Owners

I have made it a point to focus much of my marketing on women-owned businesses. For some of the reasons why, take a look at this study from the Center for Women's Business Research comparing woman-owned businesses to man-owned businesses with more than $1 Million in revenues:

Women are more likely than men to have been the founder of the business (73% to 60%) rather than have purchased, inherited or acquired in another way.

Women are less likely than men to use commercial loans or lines of credit (56% to 70%).

Women are less likely to have raised money from outside investors (4% to 11%).

Women were ahead of men in their adoption of the Internet and ecommerce as a business growth strategy (58% to 35%).

(From the Rhonda Report at The Planning Shop)

LegalMatch, Part II.

The other day, I titled a post, Why I'll Never Use LegalMatch. Today, I got this e-mail from Randy Wells at LegalMatch:

I read your commentary with interest. It is important to understand that we uphold our attorney relationships in the highest regard. Our "start up" days are over, and we are respected throughout the legal community. We never contact an attorney unless we have more clients coming to us for help, than we have attorneys in our system. This system has proven to be very sucessful for our members. We do not use "high pressure" sales people. In fact, close to half of our attorney allocation managers have their J.D. and many have been in practice.

Our process is simply to interview attorneys that have responded to our call to help clients. We don't quote pricing until we have a very clear understanding of the geographical area of practice, the preference within the specialty, and the years of experience. Quoting a fee schedule prior to understanding the needs of the attorney, and the practice of law they are involved in, would be akin to going to see a Doctor and asking he/she for a procedural price before even having an examination.

We are approaching this process responsibly, and reasonably, for the people who have asked us for help. Some Attorneys don't like to be interviewed and have their records scrutinized. The public trusts us, and we will not betray that trust. You can't "buy" your way into LegalMatch. We reject many attorney applications due to past disciplinary problems, but even more, due to NOT having a client flow that can support the Attorney practice. It sounds like you haven't reviewed the site thoroughly. Please go to www.legalmatch.com, and go into the Lawyer join section. Our company history, press releases, and testimonials should give a fairly clear picture.

My response: I wouldn't have posted at all, had the call from Legal Match been something like: "I"m Randy Wells from LegalMatch and I think you might be interested in joining our referral service because we regularly have potential clients in your area who may need a lawyer like you." However, to call me and not identify yourself as a salesperson, but instead masquerade as an attorney with a specific client in need of an attorney immediately is dishonest -- especially if you require me to join your service to get the referral.

I can't imagine having a client come into my office with an out-of-state problem (let's say it relates to her divorce in Montana) and I tell her I'll call a few Montana attorneys to see if they can help her. To each attorney, I leave a message on their voice mail saying, "I have a client in immediate need of your services in Montana, call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX." When they call, I tell them they need to pay me before I'll give them the client's name -- whether the client hires them or not. I could never imagine doing that, and I doubt that it would even be ethically permissable. That is my complaint. Your sales pitch immediately makes me want to not use your service. And if your sales pitch angers me enough to write a two posts about it, think about how much other business you must be losing from lawyers who feel the same way.

Don't learn from your competitors.

David Young, in his Branding Blog, takes issue with the suggestion that small start-ups can learn the most from their competitiors by hanging out with them at the places they "schmooze," like industry trade shows. In this post, titled, "When you seek differentiation and innovation, don't expect to find it by sniffing around at your competitors," David writes:

Don't expect to find ideas for innovation or differentiation from people who are attempting to do the same thing as you. If you copy from them, are you differentiating? No. Are you likely to get fresh ideas? No. The best you can hope for is for some ideas on processes and practices that might make you more efficient. But, ideas to make you stand apart from your competition? Forget it. They won't be shared.

You'd be much better off seeking the convention of an entirely different industry that shares some characteristics with your own. If you're a chiropractor, look for a service industry that shares some characteristics with yours. How about a plumber's convention? We only call plumbers (and chiropractors) when we need them. Most of the time we need to see them right away. And the plumbers will be delighted to share information with you, because you are NOT a competitor.

Henry Ford did not get the idea for the assembly line from visiting with other automobile manufacturers. He visited a meat processing facility and witnessed an un-assembly line.

David's final piece of advice:

If you're a small, entrepreneurial business looking to differentiate yourself from the competition, focus on the ONE asset you have that NONE of your competitors have: YOU! Do YOUR best. Be the greatest YOU can be. And, make sure your customers know that you care about them. Let the butt-sniffing dogs have their meetings.

I think David's advice is right on. Model your practice on your competitors' if you want to work just like they do. If you want to grow and innovate, look outside of the legal profession to find out what others are doing well. Who is the most successful accountant in your town? What is the most popular restaurant? Who runs that little store you love to shop in? Take them to lunch. Learn from them. They will be willing to share their secrets of success with you and may even end up hiring you as their attorney.

Don't Sell Like This.

Yesterday, I received two after-hour voice mails that went something like this, "Hi, I'm Bill Johnson and I have some clients in your area in urgent need of a matrimonial lawyer.  Please give me a call as soon as you can at XXX-XXX-XXXX."  The number is not toll-free, but a long distance number on the west coast.  I'm not calling it this time, but I've fallen for this ruse before.  The caller is not an attorney seeking to refer a client, but rather LegalMatch, a for-pay lawyer referral company.  They don't have a client in "urgent need of my services," but want me to sign up for their costly service to have them send me prospects.  Many lawyers I've spoken to don't think highly of the company's claims.  I can't vouch for their services, but their deceitful telephone pitch really pisses me off.   If they are trying to sell me a product, tell me so. 

What is your purpose?

Tom Asacker has a wonderful post on his Rebel with a Cause weblog. Tom starts, as he almost always does, with a quote, this time from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, "The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." Tom writes about "branding" and "marketing" in his blog, but read the rest of his post and imagine he is talking about being the perfect lawyer:

The same is true of business and of work. Because after all, it's still life isn't it? And I'm talking about purpose . . . not mission. Not vision. Not money. Purpose. I keep coming back to this critical aspect of one's brand, because it seems to differentiate the best from the rest.

1. Useful - Is you business helpful? Is it enjoyable? Does it improve the lives of your customers and employees? Or are you simply filling the world with more noise and more stuff and lining your pockets in the process? If you're not sure, take a good, long look at the faces of your constituents. Are they smiling and serene? Do they feel good about themselves and their decisions in your presence? No? Then wake up! This is your big shot at making a difference in people's lives and in the world.

2. Honorable - Are you honest, straightforward, trustworthy? Do you play fair? And if not, whom do you think you're fooling? I'll tell you who. You're fooling your kids! You are not doing them a favor by providing for their financial security through your Machiavellian methods. That's simply more b.s. self-talk to make you feel good about yourself. What they need during these chaotic times is a role model to teach them what's truly important in life. So for their sake, get real!

3. Compassionate - If you think compassion is a wishy-washy concept in business, think again. Compassion is the deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. Isn't that the key to innovation? Developing a deep understanding of the problems people have with their present life situation and developing products, services and business models to eliminate those problems? Of course it is. The days of make and sell are SO over. Sense and respond is the new branding mantra.

Now, reread #2 and go home and play with your kids.

Thank you, John Porcaro

John knows why. Check out his blog.

Are you marketing to women?

I have really enjoyed reading Michele Miller's Wonderbranding weblog. In this post, Michele points to a Consumer Electronics Association report with these alarming statistics:

Nearly three-quarters of women surveyed by the industry group complained about being ignored, patronized or offended by sales people when shopping for electronics.

Forty percent of the women said they were treated better when accompanied by a man.

More than half said advertisements for electronics were confusing -- though half the men surveyed felt the same way.

A meager 1 percent of women surveyed thought manufacturers had them in mind when creating products.

Michele has this to say:

Note to consumer electronics executives.... have you looked at your numbers lately, beyond the bottom line? Are you creating a memorable experience for your most profitable customer, not to mention building a relationship with her?

I have spent the last several months "auditing" my legal practice. One area I have focused on is how women view me and the services I provide, as I am trying to better serve woman-owned small businesses. I have spoken with many women I know in this process and each woman has had similar experiences with lawyers as the women surveyed above had with electronics salespersons.

I challenge you to do a similar audit of your practice. The following questions are in no way an exhaustive list, but think about: Is your office woman-friendly? How do women feel when greeted on the telephone? Do you have woman-themed magazines in your waiting room? The last law office I visited had the following magazines: Car and Driver, Golf Magazine, and Sports Illustrated. Is there a place to play (or at least a place with books or other kid-friendly activities) for children who accompany a parent for a meeting? Can you name the two biggest civic organizations in your community whose membership is primarily made up of women? Have you spoken to these groups? Who are the three most influential women in your community, and do you know them? Do you send bills and correspondence to, "Mr. and Mrs. John Doe," instead of including the wife's name? Does your office sponsor charities women support? How does your firm entertain clients? Do you do more than the traditional golf outing or handing out tickets to sports events?

I would love to hear from the women (and men) in the blogosphere with comments. What other questions should I be asking myself in my law office audit? How can women be served better by male and female lawyers? What can we as lawyers do to make sure our profession doesn't marginalize women like the consumer electronics industry apparently has?

Hello.

Great tip from Frank Kautz on MyShingle.com:

Does your secretary answer the phone, "Law Office?" When is the last time you heard a major restaurant answer the phone "restaurant" or a hotel answer the phone "hotel?" Not a chance. They understand the value of name recognition or branding. So why do you let your employees answer the phone with "Law Office?" Your name is one of your biggest assets, don't waste it.

Promoting for Pennies

"Promoting for Pennies" is the title of this article at Entrepreneur.com. Lots of great ideas here. My favorites:

7. Stickers: They're not just for preschoolers. When Rosenberg launched her tax consulting business and Web site, she bought 100 red heart stickers that said, "We love referrals." "We plastered them on everything that went out of our office, and business poured in," recalls Rosenberg. "Simply telling people we wanted referrals made a big difference." Cost: $7.50 for 100 stickers.

10. Occasion cards: Send birthday cards, Thanksgiving cards, congratulations cards—they're great ways to let customers know you care. Cost: about $1.50 per card, plus postage.

11. Employees: Empower employees to solve customers' problems and motivate them to bring customers back. Ratner says, "I make each employee sign a piece of paper stating, 'I understand that my number-one job, no matter what I was hired for, is to make the customer come back.' This lets my employees know that we're serious about customer service."

18. Referral bonuses: Inspire customers to act as your sales force by giving them an incentive to bring you new customers. This may include a discount off their next service or a small gift or credit on their account. Be sure to ask new customers where they heard about your business so you know when a customer has made a referral. Cost: a few dollars.

These are all great ideas you can use to market your firm.

Come back Larry.

Larry Bodine is the author of the Professional Marketing Blog. His tag line is, "News, opinions and insights into professional marketing." I look at the site every day because Larry posts some interesting things -- mainly about marketing large law firms. The problem is Larry hasn't posted at all since January 28th. Does this mean he has had no opinions or insights since then? In his last post, Larry writes:

I've gotten calls from reporters who phone me up and say they saw my blog. They found me by doing a Google search, and the next thing I know they're interviewing me for quotes in their story. If you're a professional looking for more attention from the press, start writing a blog.

I would change that last line to, "keep writing a blog."

Now, I don't mean to be critical of Larry -- I just want him to get back to blogging because I like to read his stuff. Is that so selfish?

Ten Secrets of Business

Via The Nub is this post with the "10 Secrets of Business" from Stuart Craner and Des Dearlove:

1. Money is a by-product: purpose and values come first.

2. Culture is the differentiator: it's what makes you unique.

3. The customer comes first - and co-creating value with the customer brings an edge.

4. Talk the walk: communicate, communicate and then communicate some more.

5. Rules stifle: values are more important.

6. Distill it down: so the message is clear.

7. Kill complacency, don't let it kill you - and evolution is better than revolution.

8. Lead by example: credibility is important.

9. Best beats first: originality is not always enough.

10. Keep it simple - because business is fundamentally simple.

Sounds about right.

21 Ways to Bring in the Business

Good article here titled "21 Ways to Bring in the Business" from Entrepreneur.com.

Be who you appear to be.

Thanks to Tom Asaker for this post from his weblog about a BearingPoint, Inc. study of the state of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the financial services industry.

From the study:

Among the survey findings is that fewer than a quarter of the executives interviewed said their customers promote their financial institution enthusiastically to family and friends. After spending more than $20 billion in 2002 alone on CRM systems to help them get closer to customers, financial institutions still yearn for the brand loyalty and rich relationships enjoyed by carmakers and clothiers. Why do people not feel as attached to the place they entrust with their money as they do to the vehicle in the garage or the jeans in the closet? The answer is not that CRM technology has failed. CRM has put powerful tools in the hands of the enterprise—new processes, integrated systems and rich stores of information—that improve service and take out costs. The problem, rather, is that these huge investments have focused not on building a bond with the customer and enhancing the customer experience, but on deploying technology to manage the customer relationship.

The study advocates a focus on "CEM" or Customer Experience Management, and gives three keys to implementing it in the financial services industry:

Adopt the customer’s perspective. By putting themselves in their customers’ shoes, financial services executives will avoid mistaking customer inertia for loyalty and forbearance for acceptance. They can then identify more easily what their institutions must do to win and keep customers and to inject more enthusiasm into their relationships.
Create mutual value. For many firms, customer strategy has long hinged on maximizing marketing effectiveness to increase sales. Financial services companies need to commit to creating value for customers at each point of interaction, rather than merely to operational excellence or fiduciary duty.
Guarantee transparency and trust. Financial services providers must build a comprehensive picture of customers that matches the picture customers have of themselves, and then organize their business and technology architectures to match. Only then can they reward customers for the totality of their relationships, provide a consistent and integrated experience across multiple points of contact, and infuse much needed transparency into relationships that many customers currently suspect are one-sided.

Some great stuff here. Registration necessary to read the study.

Naming my new firm.

After several months of thinking about naming my new firm (see posts here, here, and here), I have finally settled on a name: Silver Lake Law Group (Silver Lake is my town's large lake). Still working out the details on corporate organization (LLC vs. LLP vs. PC), but should have the new identity ready for a formal unveiling in about three weeks. In the meantime, keep an eye on Eric Heel's efforts to rename his firm Clock Tower Law Group.

I'm Back.

I know, you probably didn't miss me. I just finished a long weekend as a faculty member for a mediation seminar at Washington University Law School in St. Louis, where I serve as an adjunct professor. To take the seminar, participants had to have prior mediation experience, and I think I learned as much (or more) from them as they did from me.

Though I participated as a coach for the multiple mediation sessions, and contributed throughout the program, my primary segment of the program was entitled "Marketing Your Mediation Practice" and had to be given at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday because in Missouri, "marketing" does not qualify for CLE credit. However, if I would have titled it "How to Ethically Market Your Mediation Practice," it would have qualified. How silly.

Branding done right.

I just finished a nice conversation with Chan Stroman at Landlord Counsel, LLC. She incorporates a great blog in her firm website. Check it out.

Yoga and the Law Firm

In this post in her Wonderbranding weblog, Michelle Miller says that, "Today's women are looking inward for balance, strength, and focus." She points to the explosion in yoga programs at fitness centers thoughout the country, and asks:

So... women are not only connecting with each other but are looking for personal ways to enhance their lives. What does your business or service do for these women that would serve a similiar need?

Good question.