One of the most obvious ways to consistently gain new clients, even if your law firm exists in a competitive market, is to stay one step ahead of your competition. This concept sounds quite easy. All you must do is understand what other solo attorneys are doing to gain new clients, and then simply do what they are doing… but do it better.
Are you are suddenly thinking that the concept of staying one step ahead of your competition is easier said than done?
First, it’s difficult to fully understand the marketing strategy of your competitors. You might have some idea of what they are doing to reach prospective clients, but you don’t have all the details of their plan. Second, without sending in an undercover investigator to appropriate a copy of your competitors’ marketing plans, there’s practically no way of knowing the exact combination of tactics being implemented by your competitors. Finally, all attorneys have a unique mix of marketing strategies that can be difficult for another solo attorney to replicate.
Creating and Adhering to a Marketing Strategy
If you are a solo attorney trying to stay one step ahead of your competition in a competitive market, it’s important to create a marketing strategy that is unique to your law firm. But not only must you create a strategy, you must also adhere to the strategy and evaluate its effectiveness on a regular basis. If it’s working… great! Keep it up. But if it’s not yielding the results you want, it’s important to tweak it so it’s more effective.
Following are Tips on How to Gain New Clients – Even Under the Toughest Competitive Circumstances:
Understand What Your Clients Want. When you talk with prospective clients, you might initially believe they’re in desperate need of legal assistance and they’d be willing to hire any attorney available. While this might be true to some extent, people are typically looking for an attorney who not only has time to dedicate to their legal matter, but who is also personable, communicates effectively, and can achieve a desirable outcome. The best way to determine what your clients want is to ask them. After receiving a similar response from multiple clients, you can assume that prospective clients are looking for the same or similar qualities in an attorney.
Make Yourself Easy to Find and Contact. Most people know that a word-of-mouth referral is incredibly valuable. But how will a word-of-mouth referral benefit you if you’re impossible to find? It’s imperative that your law firm have an internet presence. (Do the printed yellow pages even exist any longer?) Prospective clients will search for your contact information online – and if they can’t easily find your contact information, they may quickly move on to the next attorney who offers the same (or similar service).
Focus Your Marketing Efforts in Areas Where You Can Quantify Results. There is no point in spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a marketing campaign if there is no way to determine if your efforts were successful. Use a tactic such as a tracking phone number so you can determine how prospective clients found your name. A tracking phone number can provide invaluable insight into who is looking for an attorney, and where they are looking. The information gleaned from a call tracking campaign can help you determine where to focus your marketing efforts in the future.
Operating a solo law practice in a competitive market can be challenging. You’re competing with many other attorneys who provide similar legal services – and some may be willing to provide them for a lower fee. Even so, a competitive legal services market usually means your area contains many people in need of an attorney. What does all of this mean? It means that plenty of clients are out there… you just need to find them.
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