Solo and Small Firm Marketing » capitalism http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com Effective (but oftentimes unusual) marketing of your law firm Fri, 28 May 2010 19:07:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Eeyore can’t join us at our law marketing seminars http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/eeyore-cant-join-us-at-our-law-marketing-seminars/ http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/eeyore-cant-join-us-at-our-law-marketing-seminars/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 10:16:28 +0000 Ben Glass http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/?p=267 Every once in a while someone will come up to me in the halls during one of our Great Legal Marketing conferences and say “but Ben, you don’t understand, my business/community/clients are different. They will never go for this style of marketing.” (The real losers say “my spouse/mother/law partner will never let us market this way.”

I’m not sure how these folks get in the door since we make it pretty clear in our marketing that we are all about

  • no excuses
  • no limits
  • making a profit
  • hanging out with winners only
  • looking out side the industry to ‘steal’ ideas and bring them into the lawyer industry.

There are certain traits that lawyers who are running profitable businesses don’t have.

]]> http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/eeyore-cant-join-us-at-our-law-marketing-seminars/feed/ 0 You can’t do pro bono work… http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/you-cant-do-pro-bono-work/ http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/you-cant-do-pro-bono-work/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 10:08:59 +0000 Ben Glass http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/?p=265 Recently I attended a meeting here in Northern Virginia of a bunch of firms that were interested in improving delivery of legal services to the poor. I was the only lawyer there as most were mega firms who had sent their “pro bono coordinators” to the meeting to figure out how to get their legions of lawyers to volunteer.

I’m not sure how to get 60 patent attorneys to volunteer to do uncontested divorces but I do know what it takes to get a solo or small firm attorney to do more pro bono: they have to have a profitable practice. If you are making money and working only with clients you like working for then, yes, you’ll have time to get involved in another case that it interesting for which you will not be paid.

But, if you are worried about whether the likes can be turned on next Monday then no, you shouldn’t be taking pro bono cases.

You need to have the mindset of a business owner. You are an entrepreneur. Never be shy about running your law practice in order to make a profit–hopefully a big one for you, your family and (yes) for your employees.

You are the economic engine and many are depending on you to get in new cases, develop a group of raving fans and make more money this year than you’ve ever done before.

Go for it. Don’t be afraid to turn a huge profit for your solo or small law firm.

]]> http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/you-cant-do-pro-bono-work/feed/ 0 Atlas Shrugged, Very Relevant Today http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/atlas-shrugged-very-relevant-today/ http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/atlas-shrugged-very-relevant-today/#comments Sat, 11 Apr 2009 20:08:08 +0000 Ben Glass http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/?p=147 This is one of those books that every student should be tested on before being allowed to graduate from high school.

]]> http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/atlas-shrugged-very-relevant-today/feed/ 0 Will Your Firm Thrive in this Recession http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/will-your-firm-thrive-in-this-recession/ http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/will-your-firm-thrive-in-this-recession/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:10:17 +0000 Ben Glass http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/?p=137 Around every Wal-Mart is a successful mom and pop hardware store. That small business does something different from the 80% who would otherwise fail when Wal-Mart comes to town.

The legal industry is no different. There are some small firms (I talk to a different one just about every day) that only knows there is a recession going on by reading the gloom and doom headlines.

What do they do differently? I suggest its not any one thing. Its how they think about the world, their lives and their businesses.

Go here to see Why Some Law Firms Continue to Thrive in this Economy.

]]> http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/will-your-firm-thrive-in-this-recession/feed/ 1 What Dumb Companies Do in a Recession (Krispy Kreme) http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/what-dumb-companies-do-in-a-recession-krispy-kreme/ http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/what-dumb-companies-do-in-a-recession-krispy-kreme/#comments Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:04:18 +0000 Ben Glass http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/?p=116 Just back in from a donuts with dad “breakfast” at my kids’ elementary school. Two weeks ago the local Krispy Kreme franchise offered to donate several dozen donuts for the event. Yesterday the folks from school went to pick them up and were told by Krispy Kreme “we can’t be giving away donuts, there’s a recession going on, didn’t you notice?”

What a bunch of morons.

Here’s what a smart entrpreneur would have done.

1. Delivered the donuts in a Krispy Kreme truck that remains parked just outside the door while the event is going on.

2. Brought a banner to hang up over the donut table that said “Donuts Courtesy of Krispy Kreme, Ask How You Can Get YOUR Free Donuts”

3. Stayed during the event, handing out coupons for more free donuts, coffee, redeemable within 5 days at the store (thus driving traffic through the front door)

4. Started the Krispy Kreme Birthday program and had the kids (its an elementary school) and their parents signing up for the “free donut on your birthday program.”

Don’t you think that in a recession this company could have thought of any of this to drive more folks through the door this weekend? Morons.

Instead, they’ve got a couple of hundred parents saying Krispy Kreme, what a bunch of cheapskates.

]]> http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/what-dumb-companies-do-in-a-recession-krispy-kreme/feed/ 1 Proposed Smoking Ban in Virginia-Bad For Business http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/proposed-smoking-ban-in-virginia-bad-for-business/ http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/proposed-smoking-ban-in-virginia-bad-for-business/#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:32:10 +0000 Ben Glass http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/?p=110 Virginia has under consideration a ban on smoking in restaraunts.

Bad idea.

Look. I don’t smoke and hate the smell. I think its a disgusting, harmful habit. I personally would not choose to eat in a restaraunt that allows any smoking.

But….

If a business owner makes a choice to allow smoking in his restaraunt and then employees make their free choice to work there and patrons make their free choice to spend there money at the restaraunt, where’s the problem?

Its very, very dangerous to allow government to interfere with the free market economy. Today’s its smoking, tomorrow it might be what color you can paint your walls.

No one has the “right” to a smoke free restaraunt that they can freely choose to enter or not. It is not an invasion of your personal right to a smoke free meal when you knowingly and willingly enter a restaruant where smoking is allowed.

Again, I wouldn’t go there. I wouldn’t spend my money there. I would tell my friend not to go there. But I don’t have the right to tell the owner what to do or not do with his capital. And since the government derives its right from the citizens, it doesn’t have that right, either.

]]> http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/proposed-smoking-ban-in-virginia-bad-for-business/feed/ 1 600,000 More People Now Available to Help You Get it All Done http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/600000-more-people-now-available-to-help-you-get-it-all-done/ http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/600000-more-people-now-available-to-help-you-get-it-all-done/#comments Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:16:23 +0000 Ben Glass http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/?p=108 The biggest “complaint” I heard after our Jump Start Legal Marketing Conference last weekend was “Ben, you’ve given us so much to do….so many ideas….how will I ever get it all done?”

Today’s Washington Post headline blasts the news that 600,000 more people lost jobs in January. The Wall Street Journal has a picture of a roomful of white collar workers in a hotel room in McLean, Virginia, waiting for a job interview.

There has never been a better time in most of our lifetimes to find highly qualified people who are ready, willing and able to help you keep moving. If you are standing still, waiting to be “rescued” from this recession, you are a fool. Keep moving.

I came back from my own conference (the only legal conference, of any sort, that is selling out all of its events) so rev’d up with ideas I could hardly think. I immediately went on the search to find the quality folks I needed to “get things done.” I’m not sitting still, waiting for rescue. (In fact, started new business last month as well.)

Hired three this week. Great, smart people. Tired of the corporate world. Looking to use THEIR GIFTS and TALENTS in a productive way. Not waiting for a bailout.

What are you waiting for?

]]> http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/600000-more-people-now-available-to-help-you-get-it-all-done/feed/ 0 Outbreak of Capitalism Causes Established Business Community to Shudder http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/outbreak-of-capitalism-causes-established-business-community-to-shudder/ http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/outbreak-of-capitalism-causes-established-business-community-to-shudder/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:33:51 +0000 Ben Glass http://soloandsmallfirmmarketing.com/?p=100 Great article in the February 16, 2009 print edition of Forbes magazine. CrowdSpring.com is an online tool where, if you need graphic design of any type, you post your project and designers not only bid on the project but they submit their actual work on your design and compete for your business.

What a novel idea. Competition. Pure competition. This way the stay at home mom can compete with fancy pants agencies with high budgets, high overhead and a high penchant for designs that win awards but never actually help sell a product or service.

So, what do the entrenced designers do? According to the Forbes article, the established design community has started a campain called NoSpec–which urges designers not to work in advance of getting paid.

Catherine Brownlee, director of something called “the Association of Professional Design Firms” was quoted as saying “You can’t go to the new restaurant at the top of Trump Tower, ask for a taste, and then decide if you are going to pay.” (Guess she’s never been in a Great Harvest Bread Company store either.)

In other words, “we big and established firms are getting killed by entrepreneurship” so lets stop individual designers from competing. Who is she to try to dictate how any entrepreneur should act?

We see this happening with some frequency in lawyer advertising. Its not generally the consumer nor even a competitor that complains about a particular lawyer’s ads. Its the lawyer in the ivory tower, the one not worried about how to get the light bills paid, that generally complains.

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