Have you been told that to market your estate planning law firm, you should take someone to lunch five days a week and twice on Tuesdays?
I can save you some aggravation, restore your dignity and help you avoid a fried chicken heart attack.
About 15 years ago, we tried that exact same strategy in Kyle’s law firm. We hustled financial planners, investment advisers, insurance professionals and accountants for new business. We took candy to their offices during the holidays and we interrupted our work days taking them to lunches, breakfasts and coffees.
See, we believed the guys who told us that estate planning marketing was all about meeting with financial advisors, CPAs and insurance professionals. That if we could just find synergy at these meetings, they would become our revenue Holy Grail … sending us an ever-growing stream of pre-qualified and pre-sold referrals. We would never have to worry about marketing again.
I mean, that is what they tell you, right?
But what really happened?
We spent a lot of time and money on those lunches. And we both gained about 20 lbs. We also got a lot of financial professionals calling Kyle for free advice, asking him to pick up half (or more) of the bill for their seminar marketing, and demanding a tit-for-tat referral reciprocity that Kyle simply could not give them.
We even got some business out of it. But it did not last because those referral sources were always looking for a better deal. Some of them wanted to control the relationship, dictate the legal strategy, or low-ball the fees. And at the end of day, they could always find a younger, less experienced, hungrier lawyer to take care of their clients for less.
It was a never-ending struggle to find and cultivate new referral relationships.
It was expensive. And it ate up all of our time. And made us feel terrible.
Kyle did not go to law school to live like that; to let someone else control his career, his clients, and even his financial security.
Then we asked ourselves one question: What would happen if Kyle stopped pandering to financial advisors and used digital marketing to reach new clients directly, clients who wanted to work with him and who value a personal attorney relationship?
First, we changed our mindset and committed to take extreme ownership for our own success. Then, we learned everything we could about attracting clients online so we could focus on what actually works without wasting time and money. Finally, we re-designed the entire client experience — retooling client intake and adopting a sales process that feels better and more authentic for Kyle, and meets the needs and expectations of his new clients.
And, he stopped hustling for new referral relationships. Kyle was able to keep his best referral relationships and give them — and their clients — even better service. New clients who find him on the internet are motivated and ready to take action. They love working with Kyle (click here to see his nearly 300 five-star reviews on Avvo) and his premium fees are now in line with the premium service and client experience he delivers.
Read Kyle’s story on our website.
If you want to learn more about how to REALLY change your outcome in 2019, join me for a 45-minute webinar where I reveal the exact five-step strategy that we use with clients to finally break free from the tyranny of referral and seminar marketing.
Watch now. And when you are ready, book a call to see whether we can help you, too.
