This book is not formatted well, it looks unprofessional, and there are grammatical errors throughout the book. But it contains some good ideas on how to get clients.
In Secrets of Attorney Marketing Law School Dares Not Teach by Richard Jacobs (2013), published by Speakeasy Marketing, Inc. Jacobs appears to have read Dan Kennedy’s No. B.S. marketing books and applied that information to marketing legal services for attorneys in solo practice and small law firms. Jacobs owns Speakeasy Marketing and has been marketing legal services for a few years. Initially, he owned one of the busiest DUI referral websites.
Here are a few of the tips. Be nice, friendly, and professional in each client encounter from the first phone call throughout the case to the last closing letter to each client if you hope the client will remember you and provide a referral should a friend need a lawyer in your practice area. Also, this can help minimize receiving unpleasant online client reviews. Use some telephone scripts and do not answer the telephone, “Law Offices, ” always say your name. Author a book in your practice area so that if a prospect calls, you can send the book, some client testimonials, and a letter to the prospect, before the first appointment. Track all marketing to find out which marketing dollars are working and which marketing needs to be modified or stopped as unproductive. Never be the lowest priced attorney in your area. Your website should educate clients about your practice area. Send lumpy mail, marketing letters that contain something extra, like an hour glass, so that your letters to prospective clients are opened.
The book contains more marketing tips but you will need to purchase the book to get them.
Rating: $$$$ out of five stars. There are many good marketing tips in here. Some are common sense and many are covered in marketing books written by lawyers but there is some information here that is not covered in the attorney-authored marketing books that many lawyers will find useful.
Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser
Disclosure: You can purchase the book on Amazon by clicking on the link below. We may receive a small commission from your purchase that will not increase your purchase price. I purchased this book with my own money and did not receive anything in exchange for this review by the book's author or publisher. Comments are welcome. Thank you.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Sunday, June 19, 2016
The E Myth Attorney by Michael Gerber::Quick Book Review and Summary
The premise of The E-Myth Attorney is that lawyers are trained in law, but not in how to run a small business. If lawyers want their law firms to function better, they need to work “on” their law firms, and not "in" them. Thus, this book is geared primarily at lawyers who are running large law firms with associates, paralegals, administrative assistants, and other staff members, but they still work as a practicing lawyer. The advice given is that this lawyer should implement changes that allow the lawyer to stop being a legal technician and instead focus on having a role as a legal-manager entrepreneur.
In The E-Myth Attorney, Why Most Legal Practices Don’t Work and What to Do About It, by Michael Gerber, Robert Armstrong, J.D. and Sanford M. Fisch, J.D., (2010), John Wiley & Sons, the authors have written a book that tells us why we should run our law practices as businesses but not much specific information is given on how we should implement this advice if we are starting from the ground floor up and have no staff. Instead, we are given advice such as, “Build your business plan with business language and not practice language.”
If you are interested in building a law firm as an enterprise, these pdf worksheets have helped some to clarify how to do that. Go to northfieldenterprisecenter.com/wp-content/uploads/The-E-myth-WorkBook2.pdf
Also, more worksheets are available if you are willing to give up an email address at go.emyth.com/e-myth-mastery-worksheets
Primarily, this book is geared at getting lawyers to join a coaching program. But there is some information that is useful even if you have no interest in joining the coaching program. If you will be hiring staff, Gerber advises creating systems to get things done that can be replicated with efficiency. Gerber suggests systems for developing leads, answering the phone, greeting clients, setting up the conference room, corresponding with clients, etc. Every function should be documented and turned into a system so that if an employee leaves, a new employee can walk in, read the manual and know what to do and how to do it.
Another good point made is that the cost of attracting a new client is 5 to 12 times greater than maintaining a current client, so if a law practice can keep old clients happy who continue to pay for services, it will likely be more profitable than a law firm that has constant client turnover. Also, by having systems in place that constantly monitor marketing activity, client conversion, deadlines, and financial information, a lawyer can make better decisions.
The book also includes some tips that are useful even if you don’t have a large firm and have no interest in building a large firm, since after all, law is a business. But these are buried in a bunch of other information.
Rating $$$$ out of 5. For some lawyers, this information will help them.
Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser
Disclosure: You can purchase the book by clicking on the link below which will take you to Amazon. The first link is for the hardcover book. The second link is for audible and Kindle. We may receive a small commission from your purchase that will not increase your purchase price. I purchased this book with my own money and did not receive anything in exchange for this review by the book's author or publisher. Comments are welcome. Thank you.
In The E-Myth Attorney, Why Most Legal Practices Don’t Work and What to Do About It, by Michael Gerber, Robert Armstrong, J.D. and Sanford M. Fisch, J.D., (2010), John Wiley & Sons, the authors have written a book that tells us why we should run our law practices as businesses but not much specific information is given on how we should implement this advice if we are starting from the ground floor up and have no staff. Instead, we are given advice such as, “Build your business plan with business language and not practice language.”
If you are interested in building a law firm as an enterprise, these pdf worksheets have helped some to clarify how to do that. Go to northfieldenterprisecenter.com/wp-content/uploads/The-E-myth-WorkBook2.pdf
Also, more worksheets are available if you are willing to give up an email address at go.emyth.com/e-myth-mastery-worksheets
Primarily, this book is geared at getting lawyers to join a coaching program. But there is some information that is useful even if you have no interest in joining the coaching program. If you will be hiring staff, Gerber advises creating systems to get things done that can be replicated with efficiency. Gerber suggests systems for developing leads, answering the phone, greeting clients, setting up the conference room, corresponding with clients, etc. Every function should be documented and turned into a system so that if an employee leaves, a new employee can walk in, read the manual and know what to do and how to do it.
Another good point made is that the cost of attracting a new client is 5 to 12 times greater than maintaining a current client, so if a law practice can keep old clients happy who continue to pay for services, it will likely be more profitable than a law firm that has constant client turnover. Also, by having systems in place that constantly monitor marketing activity, client conversion, deadlines, and financial information, a lawyer can make better decisions.
The book also includes some tips that are useful even if you don’t have a large firm and have no interest in building a large firm, since after all, law is a business. But these are buried in a bunch of other information.
Rating $$$$ out of 5. For some lawyers, this information will help them.
Copyright @ 2016 Christine Esser
Disclosure: You can purchase the book by clicking on the link below which will take you to Amazon. The first link is for the hardcover book. The second link is for audible and Kindle. We may receive a small commission from your purchase that will not increase your purchase price. I purchased this book with my own money and did not receive anything in exchange for this review by the book's author or publisher. Comments are welcome. Thank you.
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