The Hidden Millions

Discover an extra million dollars hidden in your law firm!

DISCOVER AN EXTRA MILLION DOLLARS HIDDEN IN YOUR LAW FIRM

BY KENNETH L. HARDISON PRESIDENT, PILMMA

THE HIDDEN MILLION DISCOVER AN EXTRA MILLION DOLLARS HIDDEN IN YOUR LAW FIRM By

Kenneth L. Hardison President, PILMMA

Today’s lawyer is so focused on getting out the message that will make potential clients call the firm that he or she fails to look within to see if a change in thought process, management, or delivery of service can create new clients. From someone who spends a great deal on marketing, I have become quite savvy on how to bring in clients and bring them in at no cost. Traditionally, clients had one lawyer who handled everything. Now, due to fast paced technology coupled with much smarter clients, lawyers cannot depend on repeat business. The advent of lawyers touting cheaper rates or other hooks knocked the old time family lawyer right off the top rung. Lawyers today are still trying to figure out what went wrong and how to change their practices to meet the needs of 21 st Century clients. Today’s law firm marketing must be more than ads and more than television or other marketing mediums. Firms simply must figure out what clients want and deliver it in such a fashion that clients, in turn, become mini marketers for the law firm. Today’s client wants more than just a lawyer. I don’t recall one client who asked me where I went to law school, what my class ranking was, or even if they could see my law license. Clients were looking for me to get on their level and talk to them and help solve their problems. One thing to know is that I am a keeper of statistics. It became apparent when my law firm implemented our strategic plan back in 1997 that my most valuable service attribute was the high rate of client rapport I had built. A good portion of my business was coming from clients who genuinely liked me and would tell everyone else about me long after their cases were settled. Over the years, I started noticing that there was a big difference between just satisfying the client with the desired results and developing a life-time relationship with them that lasted far beyond the settlement of the case. Thus, I created and designed a client loyalty program within my firm that accounted for approximately 43% of my new clients – some being referred to my firm by clients who were represented by me over 15 years prior! My development, implementation, and expectations of client loyalty versus client satisfaction were non-negotiable in my firm – I didn’t care how much money you generated, you were tasked with creating and maintaining client loyalty.

CLIENT LOYALTY IS NOT THE SAME THING AS CLIENT SATISFACTION As you know, excellent service leads to client satisfaction and client satisfaction is an essential element in creating client loyalty. However, clients can be satisfied with the results but feel no personal tie to you or your firm. Client loyalty is a concept that includes five things: 1. The overall satisfaction of client’s experience when doing business with your law firm. 2. The willingness to build a relationship with you as an individual and with your firm. 3. The willingness to be a repeat client. CLIENT TURN-OFFS: Client turn-offs arise when employees (lawyers and non-lawyers) fail to communicate well, both verbally and non-verbally. Some examples of client turn- offs are: 1. Failure to greet or even smile at a client. 2. Failure to see the client on time. 3. Inaccurate information given or lack of knowledge conveyed. 4. Failure to give full attention to the client either while on the phone or when meeting them in person. 5. Rude or uncaring attitude. 4. The willingness to recommend others to you. 5. The reluctance to switch to another law firm. 6. Inappropriate, dirty, or sloppy appearance at the workplace. 7. Any communicative message that causes the client to feel uncomfortable. Surveys completed by the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs revealed these interesting facts (within this article client and customer are interchangeable): 1. One in four clients is dissatisfied with some aspect of a typical transaction. 2. Only 5% of dissatisfied clients complain to the company. The vast silent majority would rather switch than fight. They simply take their business elsewhere. 3. A dissatisfied client will tell 10 to 20 people (12 is the average) about a company that provided poor service. Some people will tell hundreds or even thousands. How does this affect your business? If 25% of your clients are unhappy or unhappy with your service but only 5% of that 25% bother to complain, the impact can be devastating.

Let’s take a typical injury law firm that signs up 1000 clients per year (not impossible with the right marketing, by the way). If 250 clients are unhappy but they only hear from 5% of that 250, which is approximately 13, that may sound good until they realize that the 237 quiet ones are likely to tell 2,844 people (237 x 12 = 2,844). Conversely, if a client is completely satisfied, he might tell 1 to 3 people or an average of 2. My statistics showed me early on that there were three major categories of referral services in my firm, and they broke down as follows: 421 cases or 41% were from TV. 140 cases or 14% were from digital ads. 340 cases or 33% were from personal referrals. Now let me tell you the cost of getting those referrals. TV costs approximately $1,500 per client in real dollars. Digital ads cost approximately $2,000 per case to get clients in the door. Personal referrals cost absolutely nothing. Which type of referral do you think I want? It’s important to note that of the 340 personal referrals we signed up, we only had 823 referral leads, which means we had a 41% success rate in signing up personal referrals whereas in TV advertising, we had 2,333 calls and signed up 421 new cases. This was a conversion rate of 18%. The Digital ads yielded 1,268 calls and only 140 signups, which was only an 11% conversion rate. You can clearly see that the personal referrals are already sold on our services and are seeking us out and not just shopping around for attorneys or trying to find out information. They come to us wanting our services. This also costs the firm and you less time and money when converting these calls into actual cases. Which do you think is the most cost-effective form of advertising and also yields the greatest conversion rate? The answer is clear – personal referrals from our past clients and people we do business with . Now let’s go to the actual dollar cost for an unhappy client. As I stated earlier, out of 1000 clients, if we go by the national average, we have approximately 250 clients of which 95% never say a word but just never refer clients to us or come back. Thus, we have 237 people who could have talked to at least 474 people and referred us, which on average could have yielded 41% or 196 clients. In actual costs, just look at the following: If we replaced these clients with TV advertisements, the cost would be $176,400. But better yet, let’s think of the lost income. If we average $10,000 a fee, and we lose 196 potential clients, then we have lost approximately 3.2 million dollars in revenue for the year.

BASED ON THE ABOVE, IF WE FOLLOWED THE NATIONAL AVERAGE, LOST REVENUE WOULD BE WELL OVER $3,000,000 How does this affect your firm? The single biggest mistake lawyers make is not realizing they are in the business of making a profit with a good return on investment! When you make a good profit, you can pay your people well, have the best of the best, and you can achieve the success all law firm owners want. HAVE I GOT YOUR ATTENTION NOW? In over thirty years of practice, I learned many things and one of the most important is how to develop client loyalty and keep client loyalty. By following some very simple common-sense rules and setting the stage for all lawyers and employees who work for you, client loyalty is easy to develop. I candidly tell everyone that my practice rises, and falls based on client loyalty.

15 SECRETS TO DEVELOPING CLIENT LOYALTY

1. GREET CLIENTS PROMPTLY A survey clocked the number of seconds people had to wait to be greeted in several businesses. Researchers then asked clients how long they had been waiting. In every case, the client’s estimate of the time elapsed was much longer than the actual time. A client waiting 30 or 40 seconds often feels like he or she has been waiting 3 or 4 minutes. Time drags when people are waiting. One of the things we can do to greet clients properly is not to put them on hold and answer the phone on the first ring when the receptionist is paging you. The key to greeting clients is simple – Don’t keep them waiting . This is a good time to tell you that one of your best investments is a good receptionist or front desk person. This person can make or break your firm simply by not being a people person. Give this person great latitude to get the calls answered and if the rest of the firm doesn’t fall in line, afford this person an open door policy with you. I have found time and time again, the person on the front desk knows for a fact whether or not you are meeting client satisfaction goals. 2. APPLY GOOD CONVERSATION SKILLS A good way to create client rapport is to talk to people like they are in your living room. People in general are intimated by lawyers in law offices. It is your job to make them feel comfortable as they have already been through a traumatic event or they would not be hiring you to start with. Something to use break the ice would be

the weather. For example, “Isn’t the sunshine just beautiful?” or “Some snowfall, isn’t it?” Some preferred topics of conversation can be considered small talk . Americans prefer to talk about weather, sports, jobs, mutual acquaintance, and past experiences, especially ones they have in common with their conversation partners. Most Americans are taught to avoid discussing politics or religion especially with people they do not know well because these are considered controversial topics. Look for clues to gauge the client’s interest. You must understand that interaction means that both parties have an opportunity to participate. If one party monopolizes the conversation, both sides lose.

3. AVOID INAPPROPRIATE CONVERSATION As a general rule, avoid the following: 1. Criticizing or belittling others

2. Griping about the firm, the department, managers or staff 3. Passing on gossip or hurtful comments about others 4. Using excessive profanity 5. Starting up bad feelings among people 6. Making racial, religious, or gender insults 7. Making comments with sexual undertones and/or overtones

As a general rule, appropriate conversation includes: 1. Making positive and upbeat comments 2. Being supportive of other people 3. Giving others the benefit of the doubt 4. Complimenting freely and often 5. Acknowledgement of people’s accomplishments, birthdays, and holidays

4. BUILD RAPPORT WITH THE CLIENT 1. Be a good listener. 2. Relate to what they are going through. 3. Invite feedback.

5. BE SINCERE AND SHOW EMPATHY We have preached for years that “ But for the grace of God, go I” and we should understand when working with these people that they are hurting – some are without jobs, without family. That could be us. We need to be sincere in our dealings with our clients and let them know that we do care, we do feel their pain, and we are here to help them.

6. USE GOOD PHONE TECHNIQUES A key to successful phone use is simply to remember that your client cannot see you. Your challenge is to make up for the lost impact of nonverbal communication by using your voice effectively. The best ways to use the phone effectively are: 1. Give the client your name; let the client know who you are just as you would in a face-to-face situation. 2. Smile into the phone. Believe it or not, people can hear you smile over the phone! Some telephone pros place a mirror in front of them while they are on the phone. Always remember to SMILE. 3. Keep your client informed. If you need to look up information, tell the client what you are doing. Don’t leave them holding a dead phone with no clue as to whether you are still with them. 4. Invite the client to get to the point. Use questions such as “How can I assist you today?” or “What can I do for you?” 5. Commit to the requests of the client. Tell the client specifically what you will do and when you will get back to them. 6. Thank the client. This lets the client know when the conservation is over. 7. Let your voice fluctuate in tone, rate, and loudness. You hold people’s attention by putting a little life into your voice. Express honest reactions in expressive ways. Let your voice tone be natural and friendly. 8. Use hold carefully. People hate being put on hold. It is necessary to explain why you are placing them on hold and break in periodically to let them know they haven’t been forgotten. If what you are doing takes longer than a few minutes, ask the client if you can call them back. Write down your commitment to call them back and do not forget to do so. 9. Use friendly, common, tactful words. Never accuse the client of anything; never convey that their request is an imposition. 7. BE POLITE AT ALL COSTS Always use the words please and thank you . I know this isn’t brain surgery, but it is important. Sometimes the simplest things can make a huge difference in a client’s perceptions and this is an area where that is the case. Clients want to be appreciated and treating them politely conveys appreciation. Please and Thank You are powerful words for building client rapport and creating client loyalty. They are easy to say and well worth the effort. 8. ENJOY PEOPLE AND THEIR DIVERSITY Every person is different; each has a unique personality. But the kinds of people who tend to bug us the most are the ones who are not like us. Recognize this, accept diversity, and learn to enjoy it. Know that people’s needs are basically the same;

similarly, when we treat clients like guests, with dignity and courtesy, it creates goodwill.

9. CALL PEOPLE BY THEIR NAMES People love to hear their names. Think about the times when someone unexpectedly addressed you by your name…didn’t it feel good? Didn’t you feel less like a number and more like someone who was valued? People appreciate it when you make the effort to find out and address them by their names. Here are some ways to make the most out of calling clients by their names: 1. When appropriate, introduce yourself to the client and ask his or her name. 2. Avoid being overly familiar too quickly. It’s normally safe to call people Mr. Smith or Mrs. Jones, but could be seen as rude if you call them Homer or Marge. 3. If you aren’t sure how to pronounce the name, ask the client. 4. If a person has an unusual or interesting name, comment on it in a positive way. 5. If a person shares a name with someone in your family or with a friend, comment on that. People are usually proud of their names and will feel honored when you acknowledge them. Take time to get and use the names of your clients. 10. LISTEN WITH MORE THAN YOUR EARS Most of us are not good listeners. We listen with 25% of our potential, which means we ignore, forget, distort, or misunderstand 75% of what we hear. Hard to believe, perhaps, but true. Such lazy listening habits can be very costly, both to our businesses and to ourselves. Here are some tips on how to be a better listener: 1. Resist distractions . Force yourself to keep your mind on what is being said. 2. Be an opportunist : What can I get out of what is being said, how can this information help build a relationship with this client? 3. Stay Alert : It is easy to daydream if the speaker is a bit boring or talking very slowly but try to focus. Make the client the center of your attention. 4. Listen for central themes, relevant and isolated facts : Too often people get hopelessly lost as listeners because they focus on unimportant facts and details and miss the speaker’s main point. Judge the content of what people are saying not the way they are saying it. Clients may not

have the right words, but they know what they need better than anyone else. 5. Listen as though you had to report the content of the message to someone in 8 hours : This forces you to concentrate and remember. It is a good technique to practice. 6. Develop note taking skills : The simple process of typing or writing down key points as you hear them helps you retain what you hear, even if you do not read the notes later. 7. Hold your fire : Do not jump to make judgments. Wait until your client has finished talking. 8. Work on listening : Tune out those thoughts that get you thinking about something else. 9. Seek clarification from your client until you fully understand their needs : One way to do this is to repeat what you think they are trying to say using sincere, open-ended questions. 11. DRESS NEATLY AND APPROPRIATELY It’s true. People do judge you by the way you look. When clients come into our office, we must look professional and our workplace must be clean and neat. People who see sloppy offices think sloppy work. Don’t think office image doesn’t work. I had a client tell me he hired me because my office looked like I had spent a great deal of money on it, and he figured I had to be successful if I could afford to have a nice-looking office. 12. WEAR YOUR SMILE WHEN A CLIENT COMES INTO THE OFFICE Always put on your smile when somebody comes into the office. Be complimentary. Complimenting takes only a second and can add enormous goodwill. If you don’t do this very often, get into the habit of saying something complimentary to each of your clients. Safe grounds for sincere compliments are as follows: 1. An article of clothing they are wearing. 2. Their children 3. Their behavior 4. Something they own. 5. Their helpfulness. For example, “Thank you for filling out the forms so carefully, that will help.” 13. FISH FOR NEGATIVE FEEDBACK What?! Fish for negative feedback?? Exactly. Negative feedback is the kind that helps us improve. In client service, there is no neutral gear – we either improve or we slip backwards. The best way to get feedback is to let clients know that you

really want their honest opinion…good news or bad…and provide ways for them to tell you. A good way to do this is to use open-ended questions when people express their ideas. An open-ended question cannot be answered with a simple yes or no or one- word response. Below are common questions with one-word answers you hear every day in businesses that can be easily changed to open-ended questions: Instead of saying: Say: “How was everything?” “What else can I do for you?” “Can I get you something else?” “What else can I get for you?” “Will that be all?” “What else can I do for you?” “Was everything satisfactory?” “What else could we do better to serve you?” “Did we meet your needs?” “How else can we be of service?” 14. THE GRANDMA SELF-TEST Best-selling author and speaker, Jeffrey Gitomer, passes along this bit of wisdom and I agree with him. This is a sure-fire way to determine how what you say will sound to the client. A way to test is to put Grandma at the end of everything you say. Every time you speak to a client, end it with Grandma – if it sounds like something you would say to your grandmother or your grandmother would want to hear, then say it. If not, don’t. For example, how would this sound? ü “Sorry, we’re closed, Grandma .” ü “Next! Grandma .” ü “What is this in reference to Grandma ?” ü “It’s our policy, Grandma .” Get it? If you wouldn’t say it to your Grandma , why would you say it to your client? There are lots of phrases you use every day that irritate clients, and you may have no clue until you insert Grandma at the end. Try it and test yourself – take the five phrases you say all the time and add Grandma at the end. 15. LIVE BY THE GOLDEN RULE I have preached this ever since I started practicing law. Simply put, Treat people the way you would want to be treated. Because I believe that these rules are so simple, it constantly amazes me that other law firms do not put them into play. I have come to realize that the leadership of the firm must set the standards, and the rules as the basis of a client loyalty program must be non-negotiable. You absolutely 100% must be willing to terminate

your highest income producer or your best non-lawyer if they don’t believe in client loyalty. I have done it and never regretted it. You should couple a client loyalty program with quality assurance standards and hold people accountable. In my firm, for example, every client is talked to once every sixty days and receives an update letter every thirty days. Sound impossible? Absolutely not. I have a program designed that shows me the case name, status of the case, and the last time an attorney talked to the client, and the last time the case manager talked to the client. They are required to have a 95% or better success rate. If they don’t, they are given thirty days to pull it into line and if not, they receive a written warning with the consequences spelled out. I tied bonuses in my firm directly to client service. Only you can decide where to spend your marketing dollars. And only you can decide the return on your investment. I have often said that my name is my most valuable asset and my marketing program keeps my name out in front as one who puts his clients first. The return on this investment is immeasurable! THE FINAL CAVEAT The rules and the thought process sound simple but it truly requires the top leadership to define the program for the rest of the firm. You have to make a client loyalty program non-negotiable with respect to continue employment with your firm. If you allow one person for any reason whatsoever to not be accountable, it simply will not work because your other remaining employees will know you do not truly believe in the program. I went to great lengths to implement my client loyalty philosophy in all aspects of my firm including having a Client Advocate available for dissatisfied or concerned clients, creating, and living by a Client Bill of Rights, and utilizing High- Performance Training Classes for law firms to teach people how to be people persons. I quit hiring non-lawyers based on legal experience but rather based on ATTITUDE not aptitude. I did not allow ego driven attorneys in my firm. I did pre- hire testing, and I did annual yearly profile testing to see how our people could improve. The return on the investment – essentially free marketing through client loyalty – is truly priceless. In closing, I would have to tell you one other side benefit – the unexpected one. Because we were a true client-first firm, our work culture changed. We attracted the best of the best and we had a waiting list of people wanting to work with us. It is because we were allowing our people and our clients to establish relationships that give mutual satisfaction to each other.

Client Loyalty was translated into firm loyalty with my past employees – work production was high, retention rate was above average, and there was a genuine positive feeling at the office that made you happy to come to work. Only you can decide if you or your firm are willing to change – I can only tell you that it works! If you found this article worthwhile, let me ask you something… Would a 28% increase on the return on investment of your marketing dollars make a difference in your practice? Of course, it would! Any lawyer worth their sheepskin would give their eyeteeth to get an increase of even a fraction of that return. But what “any lawyer” doesn’t know is that a 28% increase is NOT that difficult to achieve…. In fact, our average Mastermind Member does just that – pulls in a whopping 28% more on every dollar spent – less than one year after putting this valuable knowledge to work. Many achieve even higher returns. (And they all got to keep their eyeteeth.) Nothing else comes close to performing this reliably, consistently, and quickly , for law firms like yours. Guaranteed. That’s because our job… our sole guiding mission …at PILMMA is to do one thing: Dramatically increase your return on your marketing dollars – while providing you with all the wickedly effective strategies, methods, techniques and tactics used by the most successful law firms in the country. Ingenious knowledge proven to drive massive revenues straight to your bottom line. It’s all we do, and we do it better than anyone else in the country. In fact, I’m so confident we can help you throw open the floodgates to a torrent of quality cases and create an explosive increase to your bottom line – just as we have done for hundreds of other contingency-based lawyers – that I offer a 100% Iron Clad Money Back Guarantee. Here’s the deal: If after one year of membership, you don’t feel you received at least a 10x return on your membership investment, then we have no business billing you for our services. You read that right. If you are not completely satisfied with the benefits to you from the information and services we deliver – and you’ve implemented at least one of our strategies, tactics, ideas and methods – but you didn’t get those same results at the very minimum….we will gladly, and immediately, refund every cent you have paid PILMMA. That is my Ironclad, Zero-Risk, All Your Money Back Guarantee to you.

What other organization is willing to offer you that guarantee? NONE!! PILMMA is the only Legal Association willing to put our wallet where our mouth is. And invest an entire year in you and your law firm…. working side-by-side to create a white-hot level of success that fills your bank account and leaves competing firms shocked and confused. But don’t take my word for it. As lawyers we make our living on the proof, so I encourage you to investigate. Take a look at testimonials from present members…lawyers just like you who were skeptical at first…lawyers who are happy to tell you about the breakthrough results they’ve enjoyed after joining PILMMA. Depose them. Ask them for evidence. I guarantee their testimony will hold up under your scrutiny. The bottom line is this: I could hammer you with crafty sales writer pitches and dazzle you with $100 words all day, but that’s not what we do. (Besides, your bull-meter is too finely tuned for that.) We also bring in speakers to talk and teach us and our teams cutting edge automation and technology to be more efficient. We roundtable subjects in our private meetings. Here are just a few of the subjects covered last year. v How to manage offshore and remote employees v How to raise your average personal injury fee v How to manage your cashflow and increase your margins So, in closing, I’ll ask you 3 simple questions: 1. Are you serious about bringing in more clients and more revenue to your practice? 2. Are you willing to learn powerful and proven strategies and tactics from the most successful experts in the legal industry? 3. Are you willing to apply what you learn to make your practice thrive? If you answered “yes” to these questions, contact us at 1-800-497-1890 or email us at info@pilmma.org. Remember, “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts ” – John Wooden. Dedicated to your success,

Kenneth L. Hardison

KEN HARDISON is known as the “ Millionaire Maker ” for a reason. He’s helped lawyers across the country double, triple, or quadruple their law practices and income! He brings to law firm owners the insights, knowledge, and critical strategies of Legal Marketing and Management that can only be learned in

the trenches of real law firm success.

With over 30 years of legal experience, Ken has personally grown and sold two 7-figure law firms and shares his real-life knowledge and experience with other attorneys, helping them experience exponential growth, increased profits, and ethical market preeminence.

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