Integrity Marketing

The Best Advice I Never Took

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq., President
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS  

Years ago, a partner of mine told me I was a fool to consider our estate planning clients as anything more than “one-time transactions.”

Fortunately, I didn’t take that advice.

Anyone who has attended Marketing Summits hosted by Integrity Marketing Solutions knows that Jennifer Campbell Goddard and I are huge fans of Harry Beckwith’s Selling the Invisible. It is one of the most insightful, practical books on marketing professional services. Bar none.

“In most professional services, you are not really selling expertise – because your expertise is assumed, and because your prospect cannot intellectually evaluate your expertise anyway. Instead, you are selling a relationship. And, in most cases, that is where you need the most work. If you’re selling a service, you’re selling a relationship.”  Selling the Invisible, page 42.

So, how do you view your clients? Are they “customers” or members of your “client family”?

When I opened my own practice, I resolved to make every new client a member of my “client family.” Not only was it the right thing to do (doesn’t everyone prefer a “relationship” with their professional advisors versus a “transaction”?), but it has blessed my practice many times over… 2,000 clients later.

Let me explain.

We have all heard that the most powerful referral is from an existing client, right? I mean isn’t that the conventional wisdom? When looking for a referral to a doctor, dentist or place of worship, we all ask the opinion of our trusted family members and friends, don’t we? So it is with your clients, especially if they are well-pleased with your “relationship.” Notice I didn’t say “services.”

Your relationship with a client is something that cannot be faked. In fact, I contend that the foundation of the relationship is fixed within the first 10 minutes of your initial consultation. It’s a matter of establishing expectations and then exceeding them.

One of the critical expectations is what happens after the signatures are dry on the estate planning legal documents. How do you stay in touch with your clients and how do you help keep their estate plans up-to-date? Do you have a protocol that is easily understood by your clients? Do you follow your protocol? Is the implementation and execution of your protocol automatic? Ours is.

Within the first 10 minutes of your initial consultation, each of our clients knows that they will be receiving our monthly estate planning newsletter. At their option, this newsletter arrives as a hardcopy, full-color newsletter or as an animated e-newsletter. Their call.

The purpose of the monthly newsletter is to stay connected and maintain top-of-mind awareness regarding their estate planning. [Note: Both newsletter formats “pull” readers to our website for further interaction, information, and free downloads.] When changes occur, as they inevitably do, then our clients come back to us for their estate planning updates. And, where do you think our clients refer their family members and friends needing estate planning work?

Then, every two years, in October of odd numbered years, we send an “Estate Review Letter” to our 2,000 client households. This letter reminds clients of their responsibility to maintain and fund (as needed) their estate plans. In addition, we apprise them of major changes in applicable state and federal laws, not to mention a list of common life events, that may impact their estate plans. This mailing includes a response tool and, like our monthly newsletter, “pulls” to our website for further interaction, information and free downloads.

Each month, as we review our revenues, we know that we have been blessed because more than half of our revenue comes from repeat services for members of our “client family” and the pre-qualified (and pre-sold) family members and friends they refer.

Not only do we have the peace of mind that comes with recurring revenue, but our clients have the peace of mind that they truly have made (and updated) estate plans that will protect everyone they love and everything they have.

For everything else… there’s MasterCard.

Teaching Point: As the old adage goes, clients don’t care how much you know, they want to know how much you care. So, I ask you again, how do you view your clients? Are they “customers” or members of your “client family”? If you want a turnkey system that will help you nurture “client family” relationships, then you need to check out The Essential Solution®. It’s a comprehensive marketing system, tested and proven effective in my own law practice. We are here to help when you are ready to have an ever more profitable and enjoyable estate planning and/or elder law practice.

Slow Downs in Business Aren't All Bad - Use the Time to Evaluate Your Marketing Plan

Posted by Roslyn Drotar
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS 

If you’re like a lot of estate planning attorneys I’ve talked with recently, you may be experiencing a slowdown in your practice lately.  Fewer clients are booking appointments this time of year because they are busy planning for the holidays, spending time with family and traveling.  They tend to add their estate planning goals onto their agenda for next year and make it their New Year’s resolution.  They’re off spending their money on Christmas, which is right around the corner.  This impacts your calendar and your revenue.

As their professional advisor you think about the consequences of something happening to them and how that would impact their family and friends.  If something tragic and unexpected were to happen to them, this could have a horrible affect on their estate.    

We are Integrity Marketing would like to urge you not to do the same.  You see when we hear that times are slow and it’s better to wait until next year to make progress with your marketing, we think about how this will affect your business.  The consequences of how long it will take for you to get traction in your practice from the marketing efforts you put on hold.  It takes time to design your site, integrate in our social media and blogging, and get you ranking on Google.  If you start after the first of the year, you may not see results until late first quarter, or even the beginning of second quarter 2012. 

So I encourage you to take this time to sit down and evaluate your marketing plan.  We are in a recession and tough times call for focused marketing plans! Think about the things you want to see happen in your first quarter of 2012.  Think about what you need to do now and hit the ground running to get traction and get momentum going sooner rather than later.  Don’t sit back and accept the slow down because it’s that “time of year” or “we’re in a recession.”  The people most successful aren’t participating in the recession.  Get networking with your referral sources, help generate leads for yourself and drum up referrals.  If you listen to people in your industry, it’s the ones that are out there marketing and doing something different that are successful through this.  If you start now, you could see traction by first quarter 2012.  The people looking into doing their estate planning after the first of the year will most likely look online.  Will they find you?

While you certainly cannot control the economy or the slowdown that is typical this time of year, you can most definitely control what you do with it.  You’ve got to be out there interacting and building relationships.  Your website and online presence are part of that.  Referrals and relationships can help keep your practice alive during a recession so don’t wait!  Let us help you and we’ll work together to get you results from your marketing.  Let’s start working now for a fabulous 2012!  

 

That Which I Am Thankful For

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq., President
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS  

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.

It comes at the end of harvest here in Kansas. The fields lie bare. There is a quiet dignity about them, much like a life well-lived. The land has yielded its produce and now is at rest.

 

So it is with Thanksgiving day.

At our home, my parents and daughters all journey to join us as we reminisce, laugh, joke and feast. We feast on the wild turkey I have “harvested” from our family farm. We call our annual gathering a “little slice of Heaven.” A foretaste of our future eternity together.

In our family prayer, we especially remember those family members who are no longer with us, those in our military family who defend us, and those in need. We are thankful that we enjoy many freedoms not shared by the majority of folks inhabiting this celestial ball with us, through no fault of their own.

In the end, like those Kansas farm fields, we rest, reflect and give thanks for our many blessings.

May you and yours have a blessed Thanksgiving day.

Thankfulness

Posted by Roslyn Drotar, Strategic Planning
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

I absolutely love this time of year.  Family and fun with fabulous food!  I love the kids running around and getting to spend time with their cousins home from college.  The most important people in your life,  all gathered around the table.   Finishing the meal with a slice of pumpkin pie, a glass of cabernet and the black Friday ads (mapping out the shopping plans for the next day).  As we head into this short week, I want to share what I’m thankful for. 

• My husband.  I’m blessed to have an amazing husband and best friend for the past 14 years.  I couldn’t ask for a better father for my children.  What a fun journey this has been as our family grows and we build a home with the boys playing around us (sometimes breaking things along the way).  I’m also thankful for his job that helps put food on our table and provide for our children.  In these trying times, I don’t take that for granted.
• My boys.  When I think of them, and how much they mean to me, I get choked up.  They give purpose to my life.   I’m a better person because of them.  I never knew I could love so much.  Each one touches my heart in a unique and powerful way.  Since having them I am also thankful for coffee.  I didn’t drink it before I had children, but now it’s part of my regular routine in the morning.  I knew it was bad when my three year old pointed to Starbucks and said “You want your coffee mommy?”  That’s branding!
• The rest of my fabulous family.  I’m grateful for my mother, my sister and my brother, and my nieces and nephews.  My sister is my best friend and biggest support.  This is a beautiful friendship that I’ve been blessed with my whole life and I’m pretty sure there isn’t a better sister on this plant.  I’m thankful for my in-laws in Colorado too.  I know if I called any one of them, they would drop what they were doing and travel to California.  They are so full of love I can feel it from over 1,000 miles away!
• My friends.  Every girl needs them.  We shop till we drop, do coffee, mani-pedis, day spa, book club (code for wine club) and GNO (code word for Girls Night Out).  But the best times are when we just sit and talk.  In the everyday challenges of raising children, working, football practice, homework, laundry, travel, etc, it gets tough juggling it all and keeping it together.  They are my support system, and without them I would break.
• My life experiences.  This may sound corny but I’m thankful for them, good or bad.  If they’re good, I relish in them.  If not, I see them as an opportunity to learn and grow. 
• My career.  Working with the team at Integrity Marketing Solutions is hands down, one of the best I’ve had the privilege to work with.  This group is committed and kind.  They “get it” and work hard for the very best possible outcome in every situation.  They are 100% in all that they do.  The years prior to joining their team, I worked in the law firm, travelling around the nation getting to know some of the most successful estate planning attorneys and their staff.  The coaching and collaboration along the way has been priceless.  And I’ve become friends with people along the way that are very dear to me.  I’m thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given.

I recently saw a quote “Change your Life with an Attitude of Gratitude.” I’m going to make an effort to do that, and I challenge you to do the same.   Learning to appreciate the things in your life each and every day is bound to make life more fulfilling.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.  

 

Touch Points (aka Acupuncture for Relationships)

Posted by Roslyn Drotar, Strategic Planning
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Touch points are powerful, and need to be part of your marketing strategy.  MC Corp Consulting defines touch points as “All the physical and communication interactions (static, human and interactive) your audiences experience during their relationship with your company.”  It’s basically a territory where you and your potential clients interact.  Your newsletters, social media and blog posts are touch points for all of the people you connected with.  Think of touch points as acupuncture for your relationships.  A sharp reminder of who you are and what you can do to help your prospects, clients and referral sources.  

Your clients take a journey down a path of decisions on what they are going to do with their estate planning matters and the touch points you provide to them along that journey impact them.  At what point on that journey they make the final decision to retain you depends on the things that are going on in their life, and important to them.  Some say that it can take up to 7 (and some believe 11) touch points to get a reaction.  For them the journey they take, may take a long time, or something may suddenly jolt them into reacting.  But what is clear is that your presence must be visible along that path.  Your social media, blogging, newsletters and e-newsletters do that for you.  

One of the first touch points necessary in the journey is to create awareness in your prospects.  Help them realize they want, and need your services.  Then aligning yourself and positioning yourself so that you register on their radar.  From there you know what they need, how you can help them.  Once you attract them, engage them then convert them into clients.  However, after that it is important for you to stay top of mind and solidify the relationship and build loyalty.

When you think of our program The Essential Solution® think big!  It’s not just a website.  The integration of the other medias that go along with it are crucial.  The hard copy newsletter touches them, the e-newsletter touches them, the blogging is a touch point, and the blog posting that feeds to your social media is a touch point.  Sometimes it’s difficult to quantify the referrals and revenue generated from them, but you do get traction from it.  No question there.  The impressions that you make through your logo, the follow up calls, and the workshops you host are important, but the little things along their journey matter as well.  Touch points are key factors that help drive your clients, perspective clients and referral sources to your practice.  If you don’t have them in place, please contact James at  877-352-2021 x 0, to get this important process working for you and your practice.

 

Building Your Loyalty Loop

I am in Copenhagen, DK this week attending a worldwide conference on telecommunications -- with a laser focus on media marketing for small to medium size enterprises -- SMEs (pronounced SMEEZ). Why Copenhagen? Because, in this field, Europe is the trendsetter. Online marketing is much more robust in Europe than the U.S., and recent history shows that, as goes Europe so -- eventually -- goes the U.S. 

One of the most interesting concepts discussed this morning was the Loyalty Loop. If you are an estate planning or elder law attorney -- this concept is going to be very important to your future marketing efforts. Many attorneys don't think they need to engage in social media. Their websites are just information repositories -- they don't include social media in their integrated marketing efforts. What they don't understand is that clients are engaging with each other, and discussing products and services on social media.

The Loyalty Loop builds on a simple, proven concept: when clients refer, recommend or LIKE your firm ... they are bonding with your firm in a new, powerful manner. They actually become more loyal, and more likely to refer or recommend your firm again ... and again.

I'll be writing more about how to build your Loyalty Loop, but here is the take-away for today -- if you don't have an integrated social media strategy, get one. Call James now at 1-877-352-2021, ext. 0 and ask him about The Essential Solution. 

 

6 Steps to The Perfect Website

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq., President
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS 

Are you a “webmaster”?  I would define a webmaster as an “artist” for whom the internet is but a pallet.  Against that backdrop, our team of artists at Integrity Marketing Solutions has mastered the World Wide Web.

How can I make such an audacious boast? Well, an article in the November/December issue of Practice Management Solutions (a supplement to the Journal of Financial Planning) confirms objectively what I knew subjectively. The article, titled 6 Steps To The Perfect Website is one of the best third party pieces I have seen on this subject.

Let’s review the 6 steps our financial planning counterparts recognize as website essentials:

Step 1: Define the Purpose

Here the key decision is whether you want you website to be a “digital brochure” or a “lead generator.” My response: Both! The purpose of my website (and, by the way, my new website is currently in “build-out,” so stay tuned for the upcoming unveiling) is to establish my credibility as a subject matter expert in estate planning… and to convert website visitors into appointments.

Step 2: Research Website Designs

It has been said that the highest form of flattery is imitation. Accordingly, check out the website designs of your peers. As they say, “Seeing Is Believing”: http://www.estateplanningpartners.com/Portfolio.php

Step 3: Develop Messaging

Make sure your website has content that has “key words” intentionally selected to drive traffic to your website. Our website design team at Integrity Marketing Solutions is masterful at this. Case in point: My website (designed and implemented in January of 2010, still dominates my market) lands on Google page one for “Estate Planning Attorney Overland Park Kansas.” Try it for yourself. Result: We are now booking appointments into January of 2012. Not bad, yes?

Step 4: Determine Functionality

Make sure you decide up front whether you want to have a blog and relevant calculators on your website. Recommendation: Include your blog AND an estate tax calculator on your website. Why? Not only will this enhance your credibility as a subject matter expert (i.e., Jennifer always teaches that “talkers are hawkers, but writers are experts”), but it will give visitors to your website additional reasons to like you.

Step 5: Choose Images

I am a firm believer that your website is an extension of your soul. Well, maybe not your soul, but at least your personality. As a result, for my current and especially for my new website, I selected pictures that reflect who I am, where I live and what is important to me. In my opinion, and that of our website design team, a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Check out the portfolio of website in “Step 2” above.

Step 6: Continue To Update Your Site

The only constant in life is change. Make sure your website stays “fresh.” You need to have fresh content in the form of blogs, articles, videos, calculators, newsletters and free downloads. My website has all of this. Is it any wonder that, as of this posting date, my http://www.martindale.com/Kyle-E-Krull/1009250-lawyer.htm “visibility ranking” is #3 in weekly profile views out of 1,498 attorneys in Overland Park, Kansas, and #742 out of 1,453, 233 attorneys worldwide.

Teaching Point:Your website is an essential part of your marketing system. This is not an area where you want to cut corners or work with an amateur. If you want to enjoy a steady stream of pre-qualified and motivated prospects on your calendar each month, then work with proven professionals when it comes to the design and maintenance of your website. In the end, without clients to serve, you really do not have a practice. Let us help you take your website and, with it, your practice to the next level with The Essential Solution®. It’s a comprehensive marketing system, tested and proven effective in my own law practice. We are here to help when you are ready to have an ever more profitable and enjoyable estate planning and/or elder law practice.

 

Your Marketing & Your Team

Posted by Roslyn Drotar, Strategic Planning
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Do you share your marketing goals with your team? If not, start!

Your marketing efforts begin with the first impression people get when they call your office. If the person answering the phone doesn’t know what your goals are, or how important that call is, they can botch efforts. Let’s face it; you’ve put money and a whole lot of time into your website, blogging and social media. When your leads call, what do they get? Someone who can answer their questions? Someone who can accommodate booking you an appointment right away? Compassion in their voice?

Many times these little things get overlooked. Your entire firm needs to be aware of your marketing plan. The receptionist needs to know when your workshop dates are. The person in charge of mail needs to know when the promotion materials will launch. Your assistant needs to know the name of the financial planner you’re collaborating with. If you don’t express your goals to your team, they will prioritize their goals their way (of course not to intentionally sabotage, but no communication of what’s important begs for this)!

Does your team know how crucial it is that you find the time in your day to blog and keep current with your social media? If not, they may just assume you’re having fun on Facebook and Twitter (which may be a little true)! Share with them it's importance and how crucial this is to your internet marketing success. Once expressed, you may find they help you and start supporting your posting to your blogs. Or, blocking out time on your calendar to make sure that it happens. And take it a step further. Once you’ve come up with your plan, present it to your team and ask them for their input. I bet they WOW you with some things to make your plan more efficient. Your team knows a whole lot about the way the office runs, so let them in.

I had a conversation with a client yesterday and he shared with me about three leads he got within a relatively short period of time that we are pretty confident came from ramping up his social media. Have you see the latest Socialnomics video? Share it with your team http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo&feature=fvst. I hadn’t noticed it has been updated yet again with even more powerful numbers. Spend a few minutes looking at it and share it with your team so they know how very important your website is. How important your interaction with Facebook and Linked In is. It may be hard for them to quantify without you pushing the importance of it. Do they know how strategically designed your SEO, newsletter, Enewletter and social media are? It's potentially up to them if that client lead that comes into the office via phone is converted into an actual revenue generating relationship. It can come down to how that initial contact is handled.

Your marketing plans success is a team effort. Communicate your plan to your team and make the most of your marketing and employee dollars. Reinforce a team approach (and for the record - IMS is privileged to be part of your team)!

MPS Success -- Practice Enhancement Retreat

I was privileged last week to attend the MPS Success Practice Enhancement Retreat in Syracuse, NY. If you are looking for a truly collegial, members-first support organization for your estate planning / elder law practice -- I strongly recommend checking out MPS.

I don't make a lot of recommendations on this blog, we work and cooperative with and support a great many organizations. But something truly unusual struck me about the MPS gathering last week, and I think it speaks volumes about the organization's commitment to members.

Day One -- Wednesday -- Dave Zumpano brought in an outside trainer to work with the members on active listening. Sound like a big ho-hum? Well, it was NOT!

Throughout the day, the group worked on learning to listen, reflect back, and slow down in their communications in order to truly define problems or needs -- before jumping in with solutions! Dave took a moment to help re-focus the group to think beyond applying these skills to the client-attorney relationship ... and to instead think about how they relate to their team members, and how they can use these skills to move their law practice from good to great.

Dave is helping estate and elder law attorneys, many of them in solo practice or in small boutique firms, learn how to think like entrepreneurs! He is showing members that success requires more than just top-notch legal skills -- success requires an entrepreneurial approach to the business of law.

Wow!

My most sincere thanks to Dave for the opportunity to participate in this retreat, and my kudos for the essential training that will help move member firms from good to great!

Follow The Leader

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq., President
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Everyone is gifted differently.

I have been around a while. The first estate plan I prepared was in January of 1985. You could say that I have seen more than a few changes in this practice area over the past quarter century.

One thing hasn’t changed, however. Most estate planning and elder law attorneys I have known are masterful at navigating the ins-and-outs of the law. Not only do they know the law, but they daily apply the law to very complex facts (and to even more complex personalities).
Attorneys practicing in this field must be both generalists and specialists.

Another thing hasn’t changed over the years. The key to having a more profitable and enjoyable estate planning and/or elder law practice is having a steady stream of pre-qualified and motivated prospects on your calendar each month. Period.

So, how does that happen? Here’s my formula:

1. You must provide excellent services to your clients.
2. You must market ethically and consistently to your prospective clients, your existing clients and your referral sources.
3. You must have a turnkey marketing system to market your services ethically and consistently to your prospective clients, your clients and your referral sources… so you can focus on providing excellent services to your clients.

Sure, you can try to market your own practice. But is that the best use of your time? Or, alternatively, perhaps you can hire someone to handle your marketing. Such a person is called an “employee.”

Employees are more than the hourly rate you pay them. In addition, you get to pay some or all of the following hidden costs of an employee: federal withholding taxes, unemployment insurance, worker’s
compensation insurance, retirement benefits and health insurance. By the way, over the past quarter century I have noticed that it is much easier (and more pleasant) to “hire” than it is to “fire.” Trust me.

Question: Will you (or that marketing person on your payroll) be able to design, implement and maintain the effective, cutting edge marketing system you need to generate that steady stream of pre-qualified and motivated prospects on your calendar each month?

Teaching Point: You are a gifted estate planning and/or elder law attorney. That is your unique gifting. Consequently, that is where you ought to spend your time and effort. Let our team of marketing experts at Integrity Marketing Solutions be your marketing department. In fact, let us
help you take your practice to the next level with The Essential Solution®. It’s a comprehensive marketing system, tested and proven effective in my own law practice. We are here to help when you are ready to have an ever more profitable and enjoyable estate planning and/or elder law practice.