Ten Reasons Why Law Firm Marketing Plans Fail

It's almost the end of April and a lot of you who started 2008 out all "gung ho" and ready to change the world marketing wise now realize "lo and behold — NOTHING HAS CHANGED."

Here are ten guaranteed signs that your marketing plan will fail.

1. You talked a good marketing game in January BUT you never made marketing a priority. In other words you wrote up the "big marketing plan" threw it in a drawer and went about business as usual. Marketing is an afterthought as usual–if you don't make marketing a priority and then "live and breath" the concept how do you expect the other team members to get on board and actually execute the big "master plan?"

2. You never prepared detailed cash flow budgets and projections so that you'd have something to measure progress by. REAL businesses run with numbers. Somehow most professionals refuse to accept this.

3. Coincident with number 2…you never developed metrics to measure the success or failure of your plans and activities against projections developed in number 2. Things like response rates, client churn rates, average new billings per clients, client lifetime values…etc. Do you have any written metrics for your firm and do you constantly monitor them?

4. You don't have the right people on board to succeed. As author Jim Collins writes…you need the right people "on the bus and the wrong people" off the bus. If you have a firm full of "grinders" you'll have lousy marketing results. If you look for Rainmakers…guess what; you'll have marketing focus and outstanding marketing results.

5. You haven't set a clear and powerful direction for your entire team. It's much more powerful to have weekly meetings with all your staff and COMMUNICATE that we do "marketing" at this firm and here's what is expected from EVERYONE to achieve those marketing goals.

6. Your firm lacks focus. By focus I don't mean we're say "patent lawyers." By focus I mean laser like obsession with identifying market niches that are lucrative (patent law is not a niche - it's a specialty - BIG difference.) A niche is something like "we're molecular patent lawyers - now who in this country needs molecular patents? Let's go after those prospective clients relentlessly.

7. You provide poor client service. There are certain client "moments" when what you say and do are more critical than others. It's those moments that determine whether or not you'll get client referrals. Are your new client referrals from existing clients growing every quarter or are they declining? If they're dropping off…you've got a client service problem whether you choose to admit it or not.

8. You're spending money on the wrong things. Big fancy offices, expensive cars and country club memberships DON'T bring in new clients. Get rid of all that "stuff" and spend the money on communicating to existing clients and prospective clients how you are IMPROVING the operations of their businesses or personal lives.

9. You can't easily predict future revenues. How much new business will you get from referrals in the next 30 days? How much new business will you get from your web site in the next 30 days. If you're like most lawyers, CPAs or consultants your mouth is hanging open and your mind has gone blank.

Ask any CEO of a Fortune 500 company these questions he or she will respond with EXACT expectations in dollars and percentage terms. All successful businesses strive to create marketing SYSTEMS that generate revenues on a consistent and predictable basis.

Can you speak in such knowledgeable terms about your firm or is all "hit and miss?"

10. You don't look for sources of leverage. Leverage allows you to MULTIPLY all your activities. What's leverage?

Leverage involves things like Joint Ventures with other comparable non-competing firms so that you can access THEIR preexisting client lists and already built up goodwill.

Leverage is designing marketing campaigns and activities that successful connect with "one to many prospects" instead of "one to one." Think breakfast seminars and web casts as good examples here.

 

There you've got ten ideas that will radically improve your marketing results.