RJon Robins

Are client calls more important than client visits?

So, I was standing in a store recently trying to buy something.  The clerk was right in the middle of helping me when suddenly, without warning or an explanation, he decided to help another customer instead.  That’s right, he just left me standing there with money in-hand and gave his attention to  someone else.

The other customer happened to be calling on the store’s telephone, but should that have made a difference?  Maybe if it were 1907 instead of 2007 and telephones were a novel new invention with unpredictable and expensive service I’d understand.  But nowadays when even the homeless have cell phones, “Hold on a second, I just need to take this call” makes me want to shove the phone down the other person’s throat, or into some other orifice.

There is simply no excuse to impose on a customer or a client who is standing in front of you or sitting in your office, just because someone else is calling you on the phone.  Think about what that communicates to a prospect or a paying client.  Better yet, think about how impressed that same person will feel when you go out of your way to ask your secretary to hold all your calls, or make it a point to forward your calls to voicemail out of respect for the other person’s time.  And the bonus in this to you – besides the fact that you’ll close more sales calls and have happier clients, is that you’ll be more focused and productive during your sales calls and client meetings.

Expand Your Mind – Expand Your Practice

Regular readers of this blog know that I like to keep it pretty straight.  You don’t know who my favorite band is, my hobbies, or what I like to eat because none of that is relevant to helping you go out there and make more money.  Instead, I recognize that you have your own life full of friends and family with whom you’d probably prefer to spend free the time you have outside of the office, instead of reading all about my life.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’d suggest you read the free e-book, Ten Rainmaking Mistakes Made By Solo Practitioners & pay special attention to why I believe it’s generally a mistake to take clients to lunch as a Rainmaking Strategy.

But this video that a Rainmaking Client just forwarded to me is too cool not to share.  It will expand your mind and I challenge you to find some lessons from what you see and apply them to how you approach the marketing of your small law firm.  I know I have spotted a few already!

What in the world does Hugo Chavez have to do with your law firm?

Unless you’ve been going out of your way to avoid the news lately, you have probably seen that Venezuela has elected Socialist Hugo Chavez as President, and that he is going about the business of nationalizing all kinds of private property.

So what does this have to do with your law firm?  Well, it demonstrates that history really does repeat itself.  Ayn Rand wrote Atlas Shrugged back in 1957.  Anyone who has read it, knows pretty much exactly what’s ahead for the poor souls in Venezuela.

Similarly, there are all kinds of historical reference points for predicting what is going to happen in a law firm.  Do you know what they are for yours?  I encourage all my Rainmaking Clients – and everyone who reads my blog to study their history in order to be prepared to repeat only the best parts of it and avoid the rest!

Apple got great advice from counsel. . . really!

Everyone’s seen the new iphone, right?  It’s all over the news with a zillion features and a very nice design that builds on Apple’s runaway smash-hit, the ipod.

Well, what you may not have seen is the fact that Apple is being sued by Cisco over the use of the name iphone.  The Wall Street Jouranl recently reported that Cisco is claiming infringement of its intellectual property rights because in fact, it has been using the name iphone for a telephone device since 2001.

I have to assume that Apple has some pretty good IP counsel who no-doubt knew of Cisco’s prior use and the legal liability the name could create for Apple, no?  Well then why is the title of this post complimentary of Apple’s legal counsel?  Was I being sarcastic?  No, I was not! 

Think about it. . . Apple has a limited window of opportunity to capitalize on its ipod franchise.  And the risk of maybe being sued, and maybe not being able to settle, and maybe having to pay-out tens of millions of dollars, pales in comparison to the hundreds of millions of dollars of profit Apple stands to earn for shareholders by making the decision to go-ahead with the iphone.

This tells me that Apple’s IP counsel took the time to understand their client’s problem/opportunity in all three dimensions, as discussed in the How To Close Every Sales Call program.  Hey, I wonder if they might have heard my schtick on the subject!?!

Credit Cards & Hip Hop Videos

Ed Poll over at LawBizblog.com has an excellent analysis of the recent proposed rules in California about lawyers accepting credit cards.

Perhaps I am just being impatient but the real “guts” of the issue, in my opinion is addressed in his  8th comment: The Committee appropriately highlights the change in thinking since 1970
where the “use of credit cards for payment of legal fees was deemed
unprofessional.” However, the Committee fails to give full credit to
today’s realities. Most obligations today are paid by credit card; many
fewer are paid by check; and almost none are paid by cash, the only
form of legal tender
.

Sadly for all concerned (especially them) in the minds of many
lawyers, accepting credit cards still has a stigma attached to it which
has it’s roots in the felatious either-or-debate: Is the practice of
law a profession -or- a business.

The fact of the matter is that for a thousand years (literally) it
has been both. One simply cannot have a profitable law firm, without it
being highly professional and ethical. But you can have an ethical law
firm, at least for a little while, without it being very profitable.
And so lawyers with no formal business training get confused and allow
themselves to be distracted by red herrings like whether or not people
will think more or less of us if we adopt modern business practices and
accomodate clients’ bill paying preferences.

It reminds me alot of the hip-hop videos you see these days which
emphasize forum over substance to such a degree that in certain
circles, it doesn’t matter where or how the money is earned, as long as
you drive a fancy car and have fancy jewlery.

For a historical perspective, recall that it is was not too long ago
that many lawyers thought it unprofessional to send a fax, or to send
an e-mail, or to have a website, or to have a computer on one’s desk or
credenza, or to do your own typing, or to employ women as lawyers.

The mechanics of accepting payment by credit cards are exactly
analogous to accepting payment by check: The client instructs an
intermediary to transfer funds to the lawyer. End of story. The fact is
that banks screw this up on a regular basis but you don’t see anyone
crying about it being unprofessional to accept a check from a client.

If officials in the State Bar want to talk about what’s REALLY
unprofessional, howabout if they consider the negative images created
about our profession when we have thousands of lawyers on their hands
& knees grovelling to get clients to pay their bills-after-the fact
and having to swallow stories about “the check is in the mail”. . . or
the stress and strain it puts on an attorney-client relationship when
the lawyer becomes creditor to his/her own client, instead of giving
that role to Visa or Mastercard and so we can focus on being objective
advocates and advisors!

At least one credit card processing company has figured out a simple
way to address the only legitimate concern raised by the Bar: Will the
entire amount charged, be credited to the client’s ledger card in a
lawyer’s trust account?

For more information, check out www.howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com

Why NOT To Be Boring

Too many lawyers refuse to take a position on their websites and in other marketing materials too.  They think they are avoiding offending anyone, but in fact they end up just being boring.  Put another way, if you’re not speaking powerfully to someone, you’re likely boring everyone.

Should law firm marketing be done strictly for its entertainment value?  Of course not.  But if your marketing isn’t a true reflection of who you are, and if it’s not in alignment with your values and personality it will become a chore instead of a simple extension of yourself. 

Chores are hard to do and get neglected when things get busy which is why so many law firms have wild swings in cash flow as the pipeline runs dry and then the lawyers have to scramble to get more work, which is never the best time to look for new work because you end up accepting anything that comes along.  But when your marketing is just an extension of who you are you never forget to do it because it’s easy.  That’s not to say you can’t learn how to do it better, but it has to be honest.

Love it or hate it, if you have an opinion about any blogs, or websites I should see please let me know!