RJon Robins

Don’t be so fast to fire a “bad” employee

September 25, 2006 by RJon Robins

I know it sounds counter-intuitive NOT to fire a bad secretary, or any other bad employee for that matter. But if you ever hope to get control of your law firm – so you can finally have a life – you have to approach the problem in a deliberate and analytic way. You change one thing at a time. And if you’ve changed the secretary a couple of times already & the problem doesn’t improve, then the problem isn’t with the secretary so you look somewhere else! Most of the time the problem is in your systems, or lack thereof.

If there’s interest in this subject I’ll expound upon it.

My Lawyer “Wrote The Book” On This!

September 20, 2006 by RJon Robins

A lawyer recently what I thought about her idea of sending her elder law clients and their adult-children, home with a book about caring for one’s elderly parents. She said she pays around $11 per book and find that the children (who are often very influential in the decision-making-process) often refer to the book when asking follow-up questions after the Sales Call.

I suggested to her (and to you) that you you write your own book based on your own experiences with clients. You don’t have to rip-off anyone else’s material but if you find a book on a similar topic relevant to your practice area, and the basic structure works, you can use it as an outline and tell your own stories.

Use real-life examples of situations you have helped clients with.
Use real-life examples where you were not able to help clients because they came to you too late in order to illustate the point about thinking ahead.
Tell clients ahead of time all the things you wish they knew ahead of time before they come into your office.

And don’t be afraid to give clients enough info to help themselves if the problems they are bringing to you are simple enough. If you have a high-end practice, then those are probably not the kinds of problems you want to be working on anyway. And if you have a high-volume practice, the clients will hire you anyway, and with more confidence, when they appreciate just how much easier it is to pay you than try & do it theselves.

Send the book to the client or prospective client BEFORE they come to your office so that they are better informed, don’t waste your time or theirs asking basic questions you already addressed in the book, and already feel comfortable with you by the time they arrive at your office. Your Sales Calls will go much easier because rapport will have been established for you and conversion rates will improve dramatically. Plus, as an added bonus, your clients themselves will begin finding areas of work for you to help them with that you may not have discovered until much later in the process.

If you write a good book, or better-yet record the whole thing on CD for their convenience, you will soon also be able to increase your fees with little resistance.

Where to find 700 great new clients

September 13, 2006 by RJon Robins

As reported in the ABA Journal, an annual survey of corporate counsel contains leads for where a Proactive Rainmaker can find more than 700 great new clients. . .

It seems some 70 percent of corporate counsel surveyed—most from Fortune 1000 companies—were dissatisfied with their primary law firms. A little more than half of the corporate counsel reported they had replaced or demoted at least one of their primary law firms in the 18 months prior to the survey—largely without any more notice than a reduction in assignments.

The survey report, How Clients Hire, Fire and Spend: Landing the World’s Best Clients, attributed the decline to three key factors. The law firms:

Fail to keep up with clients’ changing needs.
Do not articulate the value they deliver.
Do not communicate well with clients.

The results show customer service in a corporate-client relationship is paramount, and it is “not just about returning phone calls,” says BTI president Michael B. Rynowecer. “The major components of client satisfaction are the ability to make legal expertise client-specific, to understand the client’s business, to go beyond what’s anticipated and to achieve the client’s goals.”

Does any of this sound familiar? It should be old-news to the Rainmakers who have listened to any of my programs, attended any of my teleseminars, or read some of my free weekly e-zine articles. PROBLEM SOLVING SELLING!

PROBLEM SOLVING SELLING!

Half of responding companies reported that they planned to try at least one new firm.

And that, says the President of BTI Consulting Group, the market research and management consulting firm that conducted the survey, “creates an opportunity for a new set of customer-driven, proactive, savvy, well-positioned, innovative law firms.”

If you are tempted to disregard this information because you think it doesn’t pertain to your small or even solo practice, you would be missing the point entirely!

Who to make sales calls on if you’re a family law atty. (advice applicable for non-family law attys too!)

September 12, 2006 by RJon Robins

A family law practitioner recently asked me “I don’t know what kind of sales calls are appropriate for potential divorce, custody, child support, termination of parental rights clients I might try without being
terminally tacky. I doubt any exist. I’d also risk soliciting business, which is unethical practice in [my state].”

After some back & forth I figured out that what she was really asking was “Who should I be making sales calls with?” not what kind of sales calls should you make.

The kind of sales calls that you should be making as a family law attorney are those which focus on identifying, analyzing and helping people to solve their problems. And the people with whom you could/should be conducting these Sales Calls include accountants, estate planners, family therapists, religious leaders in the community, real estate agents etc. All of these professionals have problems/opportunities you may be in a position to help them solve whenever they encounter a person who needs to find a divorce attorney, etc.

Do You Get Referrals From Those To Whom You Refer Business?

September 8, 2006 by RJon Robins

Tom Kane at Legal Marketing Blog, inspired by Bruce Allen, addresses this question in “Do You Get Referrals From Those To Whom You Refer Business?” As Bruce Allen had noted in his own post, “no need to keep watering dirt if grass just refuses to grow.”

I have a somewhat different perspective (big surprise, huh?)

In my own legal practice and now with my Rainmaking clients, I teach them “Problem Solving Selling”.

In brief, that means we focus on identifying and solving the problems of our clients, prospects and potential referral sources. We find this to be a highly rewarding way to market a small law firm, both personally and professionally.

As such, how many referrals someone has sent my way does not figure into the equation. If they are the best fit for the problem I am helping someone to deal with, they get to be part of my team.

Of course, all things being equal, the person who has referred business to me has the advantage. However, in all of the solutions I have come-up with for my clients. And in the thousands more solutions all of my Rainmaking clients have come up with for their own clients, I’ve never found the proverbial “all things are equal” to objectively exist.

There is always a difference that makes one professional a better choice for the referral (unique experience, price, proximity, personality, etc.) As such, I come back full-circle to my original point about not allowing the “referral ledger” (nice term)to cloud my judgment or affect my actions when it comes to who will be the best fit for a particular client’s needs.

Anyway, that’s my $0.02.

NOTE: I need to acknowledge that the first two sentences above come straight from Dan Hull’s What About Clients? blog. Try as I might, I just couldn’t figure-out a way to set-up the sequence better than Dan did ~ Thanks Dan!

Questions Every Lawyer In A Small Firm Should Know The Answers To

September 8, 2006 by RJon Robins

Recently I was interviewed by Nathan Burke of LawFirmBlogging.com. He asked me some great questions that elicited answers I think every lawyer in a small firm should know the answers to.

Below are Nathan’s questions. Out of respect to him, I’ve included a link to his site at the bottom of this post where you can read the answers. . .

LawFirmBlogging: I’ve listened to your audio programs and know that you opened your own firm right after law school. Are you still actively practicing law?

LawFirmBlogging: You say that law schools do not adequately teach law firm management and marketing skills. Why do you think that is the case?

LawFirmBlogging: So, how did you learn the right techniques?

LawFirmBlogging: One of the biggest gripes I have with marketing books and speakers is that they will often try to make their material very generic; kind of a one-size-fits all approach. In doing so, they never give specific, useful techniques that can be employed right away.

With that said, are there certain practice areas that are better suited for the skills you teach?

LawFirmBlogging: On your website and printed materials, your tagline says “Helping small law firms make a lot more money.” What’s your definition of “small” and “a lot”?

LawFirmBlogging: I’ve read the articles from your free ezine, and there seem to be some common problems that many new solos face. What do you see as the most common, yet solvable issue facing the new attorney?

LawFirmBlogging: This site being lawfirmblogging.com, it’s pretty obvious that I’m a believer when it comes to using the internet and blogs for legal marketing purposes. What’s your position on legal blogs and web sites?

LawFirmBlogging: Marketing a solo practice differs from marketing a firm. In many cases a solo attorney does not have the budget, time, and resources to dedicate to traditional marketing activities. Or at least that’s the perception. So how can a solo make the most of their marketing time?

LawFirmBlogging: I’ve listened to several of your audio programs while driving, and must admit that it made me feel a little sense of accomplishment to learn while stuck in traffic rather than just swearing under my breath at the driver in front of me. Having an audio CD is a nice alternative, but I was wondering why you decided to make CDs rather than just books.

LawFirmBlogging: Rather than just harping on legal marketing questions, I’ve got to finish this interview with something a little bit off topic:

Apparently you really dislike traveling. In fact, on your bio it says:

After living out of a suitcase for several years, Robins now lives and works on Miami Beach where he enjoys boating and scrap metal sculpting instead of travel. Why do you dislike travel so much, and how did you get into scrap metal sculpting?

Click HERE to link to the full interview with answers.

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