What do you if it's Monday morning, and your appointment book is empty? What if the phones are not ringing, the bills are mounting, and you need something to happen NOW? What can you do?
You've heard of "crisis planning" for Medicaid? Well, let's take a moment to look at "crisis planning" for your law firm. (But before we do, remember that any true practice-building marketing strategy takes time to work. Your best strategy is to invest in the long-term health of your practice with solid, well-planned marketing that can ensure you don't face these types of crises in the future!)
Here are my Top Five Tips to get your phone ringing and fill up your appointment book:
- Call your best referral sources and schedule a meeting. Take them out for lunch, play golf, meet for breakfast, or just drop by with a fresh supply of your printed newsletters ... but make a personal contact. Find out what's going on with them, how is their business going? Ask them what you can do to jump-start some business. Plan a joint marketing seminar? Schedule a special workshop for five of his top clients? The main thing is, make a personal contact and talk business.
- Contact your own clients. Yes, go back to your own client base. Send them an email, a post card, or a letter. Talk about some of the changes in the estate tax law, and some of the planning opportunities available right now. If you're an Essentials client, you already have plenty of material for these types of contacts. Some of your clients should be considering gifting strategies, family loans, or dynasty trusts. Contact them, let them know.
- Schedule a client workshop. You can always invite your own clients to a workshop, or to a workshop series. Make these small, intimate affairs that won't cost you a bundle. Serve coffee, tea and cookies. Target your topics to reach sectors of your client base -- whether you target women, business owners, seniors, or pre-retirees, make your topics relevant to your clients. And ask them to bring a friend.
- Offer workshops to allied professionals. Again, keep it small and intimate, but cast a wide net to allied professionals from CPAs to insurance professionals. Your goal is to make personal contacts with people who are in a position to send referrals.
- Targeted direct-mail. Good old direct-mail marketing, it's still the stand-by, still the work horse of marketing, and still the best bang-for-the-buck. Why? Because you can precisely target your message to match your audience. Would you like to talk to women in your market area, who own businesses with at least five employees and an annual revenue of at least $1 million? There's a list for that! And a message to touch their hearts. Would you prefer to reach pet owners with at least $50,000 annual income? There's a list for that, too. Determine your target market, and chances are there's a mailing list to reach them. Plan a workshop and get moving!
Tomorrow I'll discuss the ONE STRATEGY most likely to get your phone ringing .. and keep it ringing ... with quality referrals for your estate planning or elder law practice. Stay tuned.
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