Integrity Marketing

Client Relationships Rule #2

Stop Selling

There are three fundamental rules of Client Relationships. The first one is Know Your Business (see post above). Rule #2 is STOP SELLING.

Now, I know you may think it odd that a marketing consultant advises you to stop selling. But, the truth is, you can't sell Peace of Mind. Your client develops Peace of Mind when dealing with you. There are three steps in that development process:

• Establish Trust -- Studies consistently show that clients want, above all else, an advisor whom they can trust. Establish trust with your clients by listening to and focusing on their needs, desires and concerns.
• Form Client-Centered Relationships -- Stop talking about yourself and the history of your firm and your prestigious legal education. Let the client talk about their needs, desires and concerns. Many attorneys handle the initial consultation something like this: "Hello, my name is Dave. I'm the managing partner of this firm and I have 22 years of legal experience. I'm a graduate of Prestigious University Law School and have published numerous articles in Prestigious Trade Journal magazine. In addition to my prestigious law degree, I also have several other prestigious designations. But, enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do you like best about me?" This is not a client-centered relationship!
• Meet Needs & Fulfill Dreams -- Stop explaining the usefulness of your service in terms of dollars and statistics. Listen to your clients' needs and dreams, and go about trying to fulfill them. If you are discussing complex litigation with a business owner, ask them how quickly they would like to get back to the business of their business. Let them share with you the pain this matter has caused -- the worry, the lost revenue, the lost sleep. If you are meeting with someone to discuss their estate planning needs, let the client explain how they wish to ensure all of their childrern are treated fairly, if not equally. Ask them about their wishes for end-of-life care. Ask about how they would like to remembered -- how their financial legacy could reflect the value of a lifetime's efforts. Let your clients share they needs -- and their dreams -- then make it your job to help meet needs and fulfill dreams.

Client Relationships Rule #1

Know Your Business

Knowing your business means more than having a thorough legal knowledge. When you know your business, you don't just know what you're selling you know what your clients are buying.

One of the main motivations for seeking legal counsel is fear, or perhaps a more accurate term for some clients would be Concern: whether for their business, themselves, their communities, and/or their families.  Realize, then, that while you may be selling legal services, it's Peace of Mind that your client is buying. When you understand that you are in the Peace of Mind Business, you've taken the first step toward building a lifetime relationship with your client.

One client whose practice focuses on insurance defense explained this very well. He said it's enough to convince case managers that his firm is skilled, or that they provide good value. "That case manager's job is on the line when he turns a case over to me. If we handle it well, he can be a hero. If we don't -- he could lose his job. I have to let him know I understand that. I have to convince him that I care about HIM. I have to let him know that I'm going to do my best to make sure he looks like a hero."

This same theory applies to other professional referral sources as well. They want the Peace of Mind of knowing they have referred their clients to the most appropriate attorney for their needs, that their clients will be well-served, and that their clients will APPRECIATE the referral. Each time advisors refer clients to you, they take risks -- they risk tarnishing a client relationship they have worked hard to establish and nurture. They risk losing business, losing the client, and losing referrals. Give them Peace of Mind and you will win their referrals.

Building LIfetime Relationships

Building a successful practice hinges on your ability to develop and nurture Lifetime Relationships -- with both clients and other referral sources within your Centers of Influence.

Too often attorneys allow their practices to become purely transactional. I once spoke to the managing partner of an estate planning firm who told me, "I have no need to communicate with my clients. Their plans are already done. I need to reach new clients."  This attorney was shortchanging both his clients and his practice. Estate planning is a lifetime process, not a one-time event. Accordingly, building your practice is a lifetime process as well.

The long-term success of your practice certainly is not hinged on any single event, referral source, client or marketing strategy. While reaching new clients (and referral sources) is a vital component of any marketing strategy, a sound plan also includes longer-term strategies that pay off over time. Your client base is one often-overlooked natural resource for the long-term growth of your practice.

Lifetime Relationships with your clients result in additional opportunities as events impact their lives and the lives of their loved ones; as they refer you as a trusted advisor to their friends and relatives; and as you work with the next generation for whom you helped preserve and protect an inheritance.

There are three basic rules for developing Lifetime Client Relationships:

1. Know Your Business
2. Stop Selling
3. Communicate

We'll look more closely at each of these over the rest of the week.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, please call us if you need help dealing with any of these in your practice. You can reach us toll-free at 1-877-850-7472.

Click Here to Refer this Post to a Friend

Strangi Affirmed

The Fifth Circuit last week upheld the Tax Court's decision in Estate of Strangi v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo 2003-145 (2003), commonly referred to as "Strangi II."

Here is a link to the court's opinion (in Adobe Acrobat):
Estate of Strangi v. Commissioner, No. 03-60992 (5th Cir. July 15, 2005):

For commentary by Jonathan Blattmachr:
Stone v. Strangi: Don't Get Too Excited — Section 2036 Is Still There for FLPs
and
Avoiding the Strangi II Legacy for Old and New Partnerships
(with Prof. Mitchell Gans)

Colorado Practice Alert

Colorado Practitioner's Alert
Court of Appeals Defines Testamentary Capacity

While decedent in this case may not have had contractual capacity, the Court found a distinction between contractual and testamentary capacity, ruling that decedent did possess testamentary capacity.

From the opinion:

... it is sufficient that a testator comprehend the “kind and character of his [or her] property” or understand, generally, the nature and extent of the property to be bequeathed.

Link to the published opinion: http://www.cobar.org/opinions/opinion.cfm?OpinionID=5200

Also from the opinion:

This case involved a contested probate of a will. Decedent was avowed schizophrenic. Contestants filed objections, claiming decedent did not have capacity to execute a will. In addition, they claimed that the will was the product of undue influence.

A hearing was held on the petition for formal probate. Contestants presented, inter alia, expert witness testimony from the physician who treated decedent for schizophrenia. While this physician testified that decedent suffered from auditory hallucinations, the physician was unable to connect them with execution of decedent's will and, moreover, saw decedent for only a few minutes on three occasions during the eighteen months prior to the signing of the will. The probate court accordingly discounted his testimony.

Instead, the probate court credited the testimony of the attorney who prepared the will, because it found him to be the only individual with personal knowledge of decedent’s testamentary capacity when the will was executed. The attorney testified that he met with decedent on four separate occasions, including one visit to decedent’s home. He testified that although decedent’s mother transported decedent to and from the attorney’s office, she was present neither during his conversations with decedent nor during the actual execution of the will, but remained in the office waiting area.

After considering all the evidence, the probate court found that contestants did not prove by a preponderance of the evidence that decedent was not of sound mind when he executed his will. Accordingly, it granted the petition to admit the will to formal probate and to appoint decedent’s sister as the personal representative of the estate in unsupervised administration.

Law Firm Business Killer #10 - No Strategy

Lack of Strategic Vision

The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. -- John Henry Jones

Too few law firms have a strategic vision for their future. Too few lawyers have a strategic vision for their practice, or for their careers. The consequence is that the firm -- or practice -- never achieves its development potential. Like a swimmer who cannot see the shoreline, the practice flounders, seldom moving forward.

Strategic Planning precedes Marketing Planning. (In fact, a Strategic Marketing Plan is designed to achieve the goals of the Strategic Plan.) Strategic Vision precedes Strategic Planning. The Strategic Plan is designed to achieve the goals of the Vision.

In our coaching program, we take clients through a process of  self-discovery to help them define and articulate their Vision. One of the first steps is Visualization -- trying to visualize the ideal practice -- in terms of the type of work, the clientele, location, daily routine, revenue, and time demands. There is no single Ideal Practice. Your vision is (thankfully) different from mine. My job is not to help you achieve my Ideal Practice -- but YOURS!

But there is more to developing a Strategic Vision than merely visualizing the ideal. Defining and articulating your Vision is frequently more difficult -- and enlightening -- than you might think ... especially if you are in partnership or association with several colleagues! Here is a list of questions to help you get started:

• Why are we in business?
  What is our mission? What are our Driving Forces? (It is given that one reason you are in business is to earn a living. Ask yourselves why you are in this business, why you are in business together, why you are in business HERE.)
• What business are we in?
  What are we selling? What are our clients buying? (Please don't say peace of mind. Too easy. Think harder.)
• Where are we now?
  Perform a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Analysis
• Where do we want to be?
  Define your goals and objectives.
  Perform a GAP Analysis -- Analyze the difference between where you are, and where you want to be -- what are the barriers or challenges you must overcome?
• How can we get there?
  What tactics must we employ? What are our resources?
• How will we define SUCCESS?
  Define your benchmarks, then implement systems to track, report and adjust your progress.

Pro-Estate Tax Group Targeting Wyden

Estate Planning Practice Alert.

A policy group, United for a Fair Economy, is firing back at the powerful estate tax repeal lobby.  See their Estate Tax Action Center Here.

Their most recent volley was a series of ads aimed at Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, highlighting the need to "Keep the Fairest Tax of All." 50 influential Oregonians signed their names to newspaper ads appearing in four papers across the state, urging Sen. Wyden to preserve the estate tax.

See the ad: http://www.faireconomy.org/estatetax/oregon print ads.pdf

The group calls for "responsible reform," which includes raising the exemption to $2 million for individuals, $4 million for married couples, and implementing a progressive tax rate.  The group adds that "cutting taxes for multi-millionaires and billionaires during a time of war is un-American and has never been done in U.S. history. Some people are holding bake sales to buy Kevlar vest for their kids in Iraq, but the US House is working to ensure that heiress Paris Hilton gets every dime of her inheritance. "

Estate Planners -- you may want to read more!

#9 Law Firm Business Killer -- Poor Time Management

Poor Time Management

If time is the lawyer's stock in trade, then it is not surprising to learn that poor time management is one of the Top Ten Law Firm Business Killers.

Here is the most common dilemma: Managing the balance between working IN the practice, and working ON the practice.  In our coaching program, we refer to these two types of activities as

• REAPING -- working IN the practice, which includes drafting documents, meeting with clients -- all of those activities that would normally be considered "billable."
• SOWING -- working ON the practice, which includes personal marketing, personal networking, public speaking -- all those activities related to client acquisition.

We have already addressed the importance of striking and maintaining this balance (see Law Firm Business Killer #7).

But today we want to address a different type of time management dilemma: Getting the LEGAL WORK done, particularly the labor-intensive work like drafting documents. Many of the popular "time management experts" fail to address the unique problems of a law practice. Admonitions to focus only on what you do best, and delegate the rest may sound good. But they are somewhat unrealistic in the attorney's world where you have to create what you sell -- in other words, it's not enough for you to consult with a client and offer problem-solving strategies (whether we're talking litigation or estate planning). You must be prepared to implement those strategies -- and implementation requires much more than faxing an order to a brokerage firm, or selling a pre-manufactured widget. No, as an attorney, you must now go back to your office and file motions, prepare briefs, conduct depositions, draft documents, etc. While delegation is a key time-management strategy, the truth is you cannot simply walk from one client meeting to the next and generate revenue with simple pre-made solutions.

Solving the time management problem is not easy. There are formulas we can apply to help you determine whether it's time to add staff, purchase technology, or consider outsourcing. But the success rate of those types of formulas relies on accurate data, which for most firms is a huge hurdle. If you are working too many hours for too little profit, you have a definite time management problem. Here are the steps to help solve it:

1. Get a good PAPER scheduler or journal.
2. Log your activities in this PAPER journal for at least one month.
   This will be easier if you use a code system, such as:
   CMF = Client Meeting Free
   CMB = Client Meeting Billable
   Lunch
   BTC = Billable Telephone Call
   FTC - Free Telephone Call
   Admin = Administrative  Duties (meetings, etc.)
   Case Work = Billable  case management, such as drafting documents
   Marketing = client lunch, public speaking, golf with clients, etc.
3. TALLY your total hours worked, AND the hours spent on each "type" of activity at the end of the month.
4. COMPARE your Tally to these business metrics:
   Revenue Billed & Collected
   Number of New Cases Initiated
   Profit (Revenue Minus Expenses)
5. ASK yourself whether these numbers make sense. What is your effective hourly rate? Is your time being spent on the most PROFITABLE tasks, or merely the most labor-intensive? Are you charging appropriate fees? How do your ratios compare to other similarly-situated firms?

If you need assistance in this process, please give us a call. We have experience working with firms on time management issues, and we have access to profit and expense benchmarks for firms of all sizes.

Trust Funding Instructions

Download Trust Funding Instructions for Your Clients --

After last week's discussions about the ABA's new book, "The Funding of Living Trusts," (which you can order from our blog now), many clients asked where they could find a brief, one-page article outlining the basics of trust funding for their clients.

We offer a one-page hand-out outlining the basics of trust funding. The file is available for purchase and download in either MS Word format or Adobe Acrobat. Choose MS Word if you want to edit, format and add your own personal information. Choose Adobe Acrobat, plus the personalization option, if you want us to format and personalize for you. Either way, the file is yours to print on an as-needed basis for clients, prospects, or as part of a workshop presentation. The $35 one-user license is limited to print reproduction as a hand-out, and does not give the user permission to post to a website or insert in a mass-produced mailing (such as a firm newsletter). If you need content for these purposes, please call us for licensing fees.

Click here to review and order this file online.