So without fail, the most popular question still remains, “How do get more clients [for my law practice]?”

This past week I was chatting an attorney who was asking, “What do I do during my downtime other than twiddling my thumbs?”

There seemed to be a mix of frustration of not having clients and the frustration of now knowing how to get more in the door. There was also the frustration of paying people/companies who promise leads but fail to deliver. Just a quick note on that . . . no one will care as much about bringing in prospects for your law practice as you will so don’t be quick to outsource marketing. That’s all I gotta say about that.

So here’s what I advised him to do and to date, this remains one of my favorite marketing methods for generating new and repeat business. I asked him how many clients he’s had since he started his law practice. It had been about a year or two since he started so he had somewhere around 100 past clients.

Next question. “Were they happy with your services?” In other words, “Did they like you?”

Yup, they did. Cool. Now we have something to work with.

I asked him, “How did you leave things with them when you were done with their case.”

He sent them a disengagement letter and mentioned that if they had someone to refer to him he’d appreciate it.

Umm, okay. So I asked, how have you communicated with them since they got the disengagement letter?

He hasn’t.

BOOM! There was the issue. It is NOT, NOT, NOT your clients’ responsibility to keep in touch with you, come back to you for repeat business and/or refer their friends. Hell, it’s not even their responsibility to remember your name. It’s YOUR responsibility to make sure that your clients (past and present) NEVER forget your name when they need you again or when they need to refer a friend.

So here’s was STEP ONE of my advice to him. Put together a list of all your past clients and call them up. Why? To just shoot the shit. I don’t want you to try to sell them anything. Don’t try to see what they need, etc. Just ask them how they’re doing, talk about their favorite football team, ask them how their kids are doing or how they’re enjoying the Prius they just bought.

If you haven’t talked to someone in ages and then you pitch them, it’s cheesy and will turn them off. Don’t do it. Connect and and I mean genuinely connect with them. Connect with them in such a way that when they call, you remember exactly who they are, what they do, where their kids go to college and the name of their dog. That’s the human connection that’s missing in business these days. Get it back!

I don’t care if you have 1000 clients. Call them all. It’ll take you two weeks but it’ll be the best investment in the future of your law practice you’ll ever make. Then talk to them once every 6 months or so just to keep in touch. Got more than 1000 past clients? No problem. Call 5 per day. Chunk it down and make it easy.

Okay, so what’s step 2? It’s called a Nurture Campaign and it’s the tool that will make sure that clients never forget you when they need an attorney again or when they need to refer their friends.

Which brings me to my Black Friday Special . . .

Second, they required that I send in a cancellation letter via certified mail.

They require a 30-day period in which to cancel and finally . . .

My cancellation is “subject to their review.”

WOW (yes, that’s my emotion and the name of the gym), could they have done anything more to make it difficult and to receive the worst possible reviews that anyone could have given them.

I enjoyed working out there but this horrible taste they left in my mouth was enough to kill the entire experience.  And these days, nothing is private.  When a company screwed up people would tell their friends.  Now they can tell the world.

Bottom line.  Make life easy for your clients.  Make them say, “Hey, I know my time has come but I loved working with you and will tell all my friends what an amazing experience I had.”

Hell, they may even put it online and tell the world.  Ahh, that’d be nice

But that’s just the “what” part of it.  The more important question is the HOW part of it.  How do you get them to leave their name and email?  First, the old model of “enter your name and email to receive our weekly Ezine” is dead (or close to it).  But the concept still remains intact.

What makes someone part with their name and email is an irresistible free offer that makes them say, “Hmm, I would like a copy of that free report (or video, or CD, or whatever) and it’s worth my parting with my email to get it. ” Not only does a free report, video, CD, etc. drastically increase your odds of generating a warm prospect it also lends itself to establishing you as the expert in your realm.