Then there’s the alternative. If you have a book you say, “All right, no problem Mr. Potential, just so you know I have a book I’ve written on this particular subject. It will give you a lot more information about what you’re facing. It’s free. There is no obligation. If you don’t mind, let me know your address. I’ll have my secretary send it to you in the mail.”

You add, “If I don’t hear from you again, no problem. This will help you, regardless, to make the right decision.” You FedEx that sucker, along with testimonials and a letter from you. They get it the next day. It’s not going to be magic, but it will make an impression on this person. The potential says, “Wow, this person wrote a book. Now, they’re less likely to be seduced and run away. They’re more likely to come in or call you back, and retain you.

A second scenario has the same outcome. You’re on the phone and the person sounds good. They make an appointment to come to your place. However, a lot of people are no shows. Why are they no shows? Who knows? Another attorney gets them. The wife says, “Don’t do this.” They get cold feet. They have no money. Again, who knows? You do the same thing. FedEx them a package with the book and all that. It will lessen the likelihood that they are no shows.

In a third scenario, the client talks to you on the phone and you have him coming into the office. Most attorneys tell me, “Well, if I can get them in the office, I can close them.” Well, you don’t close 100%. So for the ones you don’t close, hand them the book, testimonials and letter when they are ready to leave. Why? Once they walk out your door, they’re going to be seduced by the siren of a million things. This makes them more likely to return.

This book goes everywhere in your whole practice. It helps your sales funnel; goes on your website; and helps with SEO. I recommend you take pictures holding it. Also, display it. That shows your authority. It can be used in any other marketing you can do. It’s just a great, very powerful, no-brainer thing you should do; I believe.

Interviewer: Are most of your clients eager to create a book?

Richard: Yes, I have to tell them why. Most of them are doing it. There are a few that don’t think it’s going to work or are just not comfortable with it. However, it’s getting a pretty high response. A lot of people are interested; a lot of people.

What Ineffective Marketing Strategies Do You Want To Alert Readers To?

Interviewer: What exactly is ineffective marketing?

Richard: Branding is not effective. Many believe if you’re out there enough in whatever media, people are going to remember Joe Shmoe’s law office. Well, that is not going to happen. Trust me, it’s a huge waste of money. You’re not Coca-Cola. You’re not Disney. You’ll never win that war, believe me.

A lot of attorneys want vanity numbers, such as 1-800-CALL-DUI, 1-800-DIVORCE. Again, here’s how people get phone numbers today. They Google something; they see a website; and they go to it on their phone. There’s a phone number there. They touch it and call. No one remembers phone numbers. No one is going to remember your phone number. I’m sorry, they’re just not.

There are other ways they fail. This is a huge one. They don’t track they’re marketing. This is rampant. People say, “I have an SEO company, and they do a good job for me.” Really, how do you know? Do you track the phone calls? Do you track the emails? I hear, “No, but they get me business.”

Well, I’ve looked at well over 150 attorney websites. When you look at the back end, 99% of them get between one and three visitors a day from Google. That is nothing. When I’ve worked with them, I’ve gotten them to 30-40-50-80 visits a day from Google. I’ve gotten their phone to ring every single day of the week. Now, you’re getting results. It’s being tracked and you’re seeing what’s working and what’s not.

Another problem is an attorney will have four different kinds of marketing out there. He’ll have pay-per-click. He’ll have SEO. He’ll have a newspaper ad. He’ll have a TV ad. None of it has its own tracking phone number. None of it is tracked. It all just goes into the witch’s brew stew, and hopefully clients come out. You don’t know.

Perhaps one strategy is working really well, but something else is sucking you dry and wasting all your money. You’ll never know that. SEO may be working very well for you or it may be horrible. Meanwhile, pay-per-click is working very well for you. All the while, a Yellow Pages ad is wasting $3,000 a month and turning all of your efforts into garbage. You’ll never know without tracking. That is a huge problem.

Yes, you’re just flying blind, and you’re a sucker if that’s what happens. You’re going to be taken advantage of by every marketing company out there. They’ll blow smoke all day long. They will tell you, “Everything’s great. It’s so wonderful.” If you don’t know, you don’t know. You’re setting yourself up to be screwed.