Search results for: elevator speech

Over the years I have met many a lawyer who wasn’t into marketing or sales. The reason: the firm will do it. Well, the firm can’t do it. Individual lawyers must, because clients continue to hire lawyers, not law firms.

In a recent article entitled “How to Make It Rain By Marketing Individual Lawyers,” on Law360 the authors, John Hellerman of Hellerman Baretz Communications and Steve Bell, with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, take on the idea that firm branding brings in clients. In fact, they point out the error of Howrey’s extensive advertising and branding of the “Howrey” institution rather than “selling its top products” (naming specific lawyers). They don’t say that branding the law firm doesn’t have a purpose for certain audiences or is a bad thing. Rather, it’s just that “lawyer-level marketing (and sales), … actually bring in clients.” You can read more about their institutional viewpoint and how today’s forces heighten “the need for attorneys to focus on individualized marketing efforts,…” in their article.

My thrust here is on their tips on building your personal brand. Here are a few of my favorites from their 10 suggestions:

  • Define what you do. Not with a standard elevator speech, but rather, what you offer and the need you fill that differentiates you from others. I would add that a good way to ascertain what makes your personal brand different is to ask clients and your key referral sources;
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals. As Hellerman and Bell state, “Referrals are the most effective marketing technique for lawyers,” and, in my experience, account for at least 70% of new business for law firms. Embarrassed to ask? Don’t be. Just tell them that you “are always looking for good clients like them”;
  • Speak to smaller groups. Rather than only look for opportunities to speak at a conference or convention of trade groups on a broad topic, look for opportunities to speak to smaller audiences in practice area specific settings; and
  • Tell stories about your successes. People like stories. More importantly, they like case studies that tell a “powerful story about how a specific lawyer helped a client brings that attorneys skills to life…”

The lesson in all this? Business development is up to you, not the firm.

 

When you respond to the question “What do you do?” don’t answer with “I’m am a lawyer” or “I practice law.” BOOOORRRing, not to mention a turnoff. If that is what you were thinking, it’s time to develop an elevator speech that is far more interesting. And I’ve addressed that topic in a couple of earlier posts: “What Message Does Your Elevator Speech Convey?” and “More Elevator Talk.”

But, what I want to specifically address today, is what to say after the conversation has moved beyond the introductory "elevator" phase. This is when some lawyers have a tendency to talk about their credentials, and what successes they’ve had. Nothing wrong with that, but HOW you get that message across makes a big difference. Rather than just recite your background, tell stories about the clients you have helped.  

This is what my friend Larry Smith and Richard Levick recommend in 365 Marketing Mediations: Daily Lessons for Marketing & Communications Professionals. Their advice:

“Make your points by telling stories. They explain how things get done. A marketing war story demonstrates value by showing what marketing can do.”

And a legal “war” story, can show what your legal expertise could do for the client. And getting the point across of how the client benefited, instead of how great your efforts were, will go over much better. After all it is about the client. It sure beats the heck out of a boring recitation of how good you are.

 As lawyers your stock in trade is the written word… in the eyes of the law. That is your training. However when it comes to marketing and business development it doesn’t always come so easily. We have to view the information from the point of view of the audience. When I do it I close my eyes and imagine that I am Jane Smith or John Doe and try to imagine what questions they would have when they read this information. Sometime it’s a big… HUH! 

Elevator Speech – Have you ever told an acquaintance what area of the law that you practice and they look at you like you are from another planet? Your elevator speech… in no more that 50 words (which is about 30 seconds) needs to RELATE to the life of the person you are talking to… answer the "what’s in it for me" question.

Websites – Are there people that go to your website and STILL don’t know what you do and didn’t see the articles posted or the button that takes them to your blog? It’s usually because we organized it by the information WE WANT them to know… not by the information THEY WANT to know. 

Clear communication is one of the most difficult challenges we humans have… just ask your significant other! Without it life is chaotic and business is impossible to develop.

 

Now that you’ve started to see who you want to be in 2011, it’s time to put it to action. I’m sure, as loyal readers, you’ve all been working hard on your elevator speeches. Let’s revisit that. Think about who you want to be, what you want your practice to be and what kind of client you wish to attract. Now tailor your elevator speech to those ideas. See the difference? Market to what you WANT, not what you HAVE.

On the same note: Start mentally rolling through your contact list to think about who can help bring you the clients you want in 2011. Make a list. Send them a personal New Year’s—not Christmas!—card (or gift) and start the conversation. There are only a few degrees of separation between you and your dream client. Connect the dots and see who can help you make it happen in 2011.

Black Pearl: One of the easiest ways to connect with old friends, colleagues and clients is via LinkedIn. It’s also a great way to see how you’re connected to the clients you need to get in front of. But how? www.imonlinkedinnowwhat.com by Jason Alba is a great blog (and book) that can give you tips and tricks to making the most of the site. Take a look and start connecting!
 

Being realistic, not all marketing and business development efforts will be great success stories. For every fantastic client landed there will always be one that chose your competition and for every great article sent to a colleague there will be one or two that slipped through the cracks. The key is to always be aware of those highs and lows and learn from them. The better you are about keeping track of your efforts, the more helpful that information will become as you grow and evolve your plans and initiatives. So how to do it? Here are five words to help you …

Time.

No matter how busy you may be, you must make time to (at the very least) jot down notes about your marketing initiatives. Two ideas: 1. Keep a notebook or small padfolio specifically for marketing purposes—that way you can quickly jot down notes post-meeting/speech/pitch/event for later reference. 2. Open a file in your computer and keep a running list of all marketing initiatives. You can do the same note taking—only digitally, on your PDA or laptop—and then transfer it all at a later date to your one main file.

Details.

One of the only ways you’ll be able to reap the benefits of keeping track of your efforts is if you take note of the details. Write down names and dates, important topics discussed, what materials you presented, what the reaction was, etc… Later, when you have a bit of distance from the situation or event, it will give you all the information you need to see where you succeeded or failed in that particular endeavor.

Honesty.

Another key to real take-away is to be honest. If you had a bad day or a weak presentation, write it down. The same for a stellar showing. If you nailed your elevator speech on a moment’s notice, stop and write down what you said. You have to be honest about what you did to truly make use of it later.

Evaluation.

Once you’ve accumulated a year’s worth of this kind of information (or less if you’re so inclined), set aside time to delve into the information and make sense of it. Look back at each and every success and failure and try to understand exactly where you went wrong…or right! Try to see where you lost that potential client, what handout made the most impact at your presentation, where your speech lost your audience, or even which blog posts drew the most views (or comments).

The final step? Application.

Apply the lessons learned to future initiatives and see the results. That doesn’t have to mean reworking your entire plan. It could mean something as simple as removing a line or two from your bio or rethinking your pitching style. It’s also a great way to weed out initiatives that don’t feel comfortable. If you’re clearly excelling in one particular area, it may be time to place your focus there, rather than spread yourself thin. Whatever the outcome, looking back and celebrating your successes—and your failures—is a fantastic lesson and a great start to a new marketing and business development year.

Black Pearl: Here is what Cordell Parvin did when he was impatient for results, “I evaluated each of my efforts and decided which ones were not effective [and] I tried harder”. Click here to see the full article: “If You Haven’t Seen Results from Your Client Development Efforts, Think About This.”

 

This week begins the mad rush that takes hold just before the end of the year. But between the holiday parties and family dinners there’s still work to do. In fact, the marketing and business development planning that you do in the next few weeks can set the tone for 2011 and beyond. That’s why starting next week we’ll abandon our usual poll-bases posts to focus on what, when and how to get ready for the coming year—from a marketing and business development perspective. A few things we’ll cover?

• Evolving—or creating—your marketing plan
• Perfecting your elevator speech
• Evaluating and tweaking the initiatives that you started in 2010
• Rethinking your memberships
• Evaluating and reworking your blog
• Setting goals for social media
• Setting marketing and business development goals for 2011

So have a wonderful holiday and come back next Tuesday. We’ve got work to do!

 

You may be able to explain your points of differentiation, but that won’t help you in a short exchange! Have your “commercial” ready and opportunity will find you.

This week we asked: Do you have an elevator speech?

1. Yes – 45%

2. No – 55%

My Thoughts:  Only 45% of you said yes. So what makes a great elevator speech and how do you go about preparing yours?

  1. Be clear and concise. Stay away from industry specific language or intricate explanations-when you only have a minute it’s a waste of your time.
  2. Use powerful and exciting language. If you’re not excited about what you do, why should anyone else be?
  3. Give them a visual. Have a great story that illustrates what you do? Tell it! Giving people a visual to remember will help them be clear about your work when you walk away.
  4. Have more than one. Not everyone can be approached in the same way. Your elevator speech for the CEO of a company you’re trying to land as a client will be drastically different than the one you use on friends and family who want a better idea of what you do.
  5. Let it evolve. Think of your elevator speech as a draft. Try it out, see what works and tweak it.
  6. Practice, practice, practice. The only way to perfect your speech is to try it out. Test it out on everyone… your secretary, your partners, your significant other. Ask them for their input, they may have suggestions you haven’t thought of.

Always focus on the goal: what do you want to come from the pitch? You want to pique their curiosity; you want them to hand over their card and ask for a call; and you want to feel comfortable picking up the phone and making that call. Keep that in mind while writing, practicing and putting it to use. Remember to have a great hook, be clear but specific and always confident. Though it may seem uncomfortable at first, the more you use and develop your elevator speech, the more second nature it will become… and the more results you’ll start to see!

Similarly, it’s always good to be prepared– a point my colleague Robert Sattin of TAGLaw makes well:

Never go to a conference or a social event or a business meeting without knowing what you want to talk about, ‘dead air’ is not conducive to marketing. It could be a recent case or world news or something else that is somehow connected to your professional life, but find a way to start and lead a conversation with someone you will meet.”

Black Pearl: Here’s an interesting LinkedIn thread on different takes on the elevator speech. Good tips and some good humor…

*Special Friday Post

Some people (though I would venture to guess there are very few) are born to network. They can talk, and more importantly connect, with just about anyone who steps into their path. For the rest of us it takes a little work. A few weeks ago my staff and I began discussing “elevator speeches”—those 30-second pitches you should have at the ready when opportunity presents itself. Earlier this week we were similarly intrigued by a Today Show segment entitled “How To Schmooze.” Though it may not be directed at lawyers, it’s a great introduction on connecting and networking for those who think they’re too shy to do it well. Take a look at the clip below (If you’re having trouble viewing it, it’s also available here) …and keep your eye out for our upcoming posts on “Elevator Speeches.” And, as always, feel free to leave your best networking (or schmoozing!) tip in the comments section. Enjoy! 

In addition to the three mentioned last time there are seven other mistakes that Daniel Barnett covers in his free eBook “Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Lawyers Make…and What You Should Be Doing Instead.” I agree with all of them, but want to particularly call my readers attention to the next three, and leave the remainder for your reading.

Mistake #4 – Forgetting to talk to your clients…
This should probably be listed as Mistake #1 since talking with your clients and seeking feedback is so important. As Barnett says “feedback is not an optional extra.” Some lawyers false assumptions include:

  • “Clients know all about my services”
  • ‘If they have a question, they’ll call me”
  • “They understand I’m busy” (and don’t mind my not responding quickly)

Bullfeathers! Staying in touch with clients is critical and should be done constantly. How? By encouraging lawyers to seek feedback, proactively checking in every four weeks about their matter, keeping them abreast of the budget, and by using an “external team for general surveys of the firm’s performance…for transparency.”

Mistake #5 – Reaching for the lowest common denominator…
Barnett is talking about the dangers associated with competing on price, or as he puts it, getting “carried away in a scrabble for the bottom.” It’s a loser. Rather compete by offering more value, upgrading your service or “upselling” so you can actually charge more, and by improving your services.

Mistake #6 – Staying glued to your desk…
Truly a terrible business development mistake. As I’ve often said myself, we’re in the personal service business. “People buy people” so get off your duff, and get out and about. If you don’t have your elevator speech perfected, and are afraid of tripping over your tongue, try having lunch with clients and referral sources with whom you feel comfortable. You have to eat anyway, so utilize the time effectively (even if it takes time away from the almighty billable hour). So, “Never Eat Alone,” and remember to listen 80% of the time, and talk only 20%.

As I suggested, check out Barnett’s other mistakes:

#7 – Ignoring social media…
#8 – Advertising just because everyone else does…
#9 – Using legalese and jargon…
#10 – Selling, not sharing…(nor educating to show expertise).

This is a free eBook worth reading to avoid all too common mistakes lawyers can make.
 

Every lawyer is different from every other lawyer, just as every case is different in some way. Too many clients or potential clients don’t know that. In fact, many think lawyers are pretty much all alike.

Thus, it is very important that when it comes to marketing that you set yourself apart from the crowd. To do this, you need to identify those characteristics, talents, processes, experiences, etc. that are uniquely you, and make sure that you let your existing clients, referral sources, and prospects know what those are, and why they are important.

Thanks to my friend Trey Ryder for his article in his recent newsletter that suggests several ideas that a lawyer can consider to identify their individual traits in three primary areas, to wit:

  • Qualifications
  • Experience and successes
  • How they provide legal services

Take a look at Trey’s "only" statements (i.e., I am the only lawyer/law firm that….etc.) and see if they help you uncover your distinctiveness, and then make sure your marketing efforts – i.e., written materials, elevator speech, biography, business development pitch, etc., reflect that uniqueness.