Practical pointers you can use right away
Each weekly SuccessTip provides a simple and proven recommendation to help you get better at growing and running your firm.

You’ll get useful guidance on topics from deepening client and staff loyalty to maximizing your online marketing ROI. And, all SuccessTips can be read in three minutes or less.

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• Get More Clients With a Better Email Signature
• Stop Rationalizing Your Discounts
• Improve Staff Performance with FAST Feedback
• 10 Ways to Strengthen Business Relationships

Get More Clients With a Better Email Signature

NOTE: the links in this SuccessTip are fictitious and for illustrative purposes only.

You probably use a basic email signature that includes your name, firm name, address, phone and fax numbers, email address, and website URL – one that looks something like this:

Evelyn Smith
Sanders, Smith & Lofton, LLP
123 Main Street  Suite 902
Pittsburgh, PA 15204
P: (505) 152-1520
F: (505) 123-1234
www.sanderssmithlaw.com

If that’s all you’re including, however, you’re missing a powerful opportunity to market yourself and attract more clients.

Think about it: email is likely to be your most frequently used tool to communicate with the rest of the world. Yet few attorneys use it to full effect. If you’re like most attorneys, you’re making two faulty assumptions:

A. that other lawyers actually understand what kind of cases you want, and

B. that they have you at the top of their minds when your kind of case crosses their desk for a potential referral.

A better email signature can help correct this situation by informing your email recipients (whether prospective referral source or prospective client) who it is that you seek to serve, and by enticing them to visit your site.

Here, then, are two important upgrades for your signature:

1. Add a descriptive phrase (otherwise known as a tagline) that states what you do for your target client or the types of cases you handle – for example: “Protecting the rights of employees throughout Virginia” or “Solving complex construction disputes.” Note: if you have more than one major practice focus, you can rotate your messages, say, quarterly.

2. Link to a page of interest on your website or your blog, such as a checklist, article, resource link, or FAQs page – for example, include a clickable link such as “State-of-the-Art Due Diligence: Find Out How Your Policy Stacks Up HERE” or “Check out a list of employees' most frequently asked questions at www.ourlawfirm.com/faqs.html.” This link, too, can be changed or updated periodically.

Evelyn’s new signature:

Evelyn Smith
Sanders, Smith & Lofton, LLP
Criminal Defense Attorneys

123 Main Street  Suite 902
Pittsburgh, PA 15204
P: (505) 152-1520
F: (505) 123-1234
www.sanderssmithlaw.com

Representing individuals and businesses accused of fraud and financial crimes.
Be Prepared. Read our Internal Investigations Primer here

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Stop Rationalizing Your Discounts

Write-downs and write-offs, when used strategically, can build client loyalty. It's appropriate, for example, to let a client know that you won't be charging them for a chunk of learning-curve time on a subject that's new to you. But far too many write-downs and write-offs are symptomatic of inefficient processes that result in discount rationalizations such as inaccurate time capture, redundant review, or delayed production. In order to bill your full fee without ambivalence, you need to eliminate these rationalizations by fixing the processes that create them.

Review your bills for the prior two months and determine which of the three rationalizations above cost you the most money. Then, as painful as it might be, estimate the dollar value you sacrificed. (Note: if your main reason is that you're simply uncomfortable charging your full published rate, get over it and start doing it!) Once you've identified the main culprit, resolve to begin improving the systems that led to the loss. Wisely applied write-downs and write-offs are fine. Habitual discounts are not.

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Improve Staff Performance with FAST Feedback

You remember B.F. Skinner. He’s the guy who proved that the more direct the connection between a behavior and its consequence, the more likely the behavior will be modified accordingly. So, taking a cue from Skinner, a powerful strategy you can use to improve the overall effectiveness of your practice is to give your staff immediate feedback on their day-to-day performance. Personnel management expert Bruce Tulgan calls it FAST Feedback (Frequent, Accurate, Specific, and Timely).

Pay attention this week to the instances in which a staff member is not performing up to expectations in some relatively simple way. For example, let’s say your secretary does not screen the call properly before buzzing you to see if you’ll take it. Instead of ignoring the incident (or telling yourself that you’ll remember to mention it later), address it immediately after you’ve taken the call (or had the caller put into voice mail). Be clear about what happened and what should happen next time. It will take only a minute or two. FAST Feedback also is great for reinforcing new, positive behavior.

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10 Ways to Strengthen Business Relationships

Precious few business relationships happen so easily as to not require nurturing. Most relationships (with referral sources, for example) have to be tended consciously. Yet, because it takes effort, such conscious tending often is avoided or neglected. The strengthening of existing relationships need not feel burdensome or forced, however.

Here are 10 ways to fortify your relationships with clients, referral sources, partners, et al. These are NOT listed in order of importance, but all are ways by which you can demonstrate your genuine interest in your clients and their circumstances.

1. Send a personal thank-you note at the end of an engagement.
2. Ask for a tour of their facility.
3. Offer to help or speak at an organization to which they belong.
4. Make a donation to one of their favorite charitable organizations.
5. Ask to meet additional key personnel.
6. Introduce them to someone they’d want to meet.
7. Offer to co-author an article with them for a publication they read.
8. Send a birthday card.
9. Send a news clipping or article about their business, industry, or hobby.
10. Tell them directly why you enjoy representing them or working with them.

Strengthening relationships with good people who are in a position to help you – and be helped by you – is one of the wisest investments you can make in your own success.

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