Best Way to Get a Lawyer Client?

Well I can give you some ideas since I am in a similar boat. I am a medical student, soon to be MD. I'm going to go into practice after residency, but I have given serious thought to offering marketing services to other doctors to supplement my income during residency. Doctors and lawyers probably have similar gatekeepers. Here is what I will do if I start trying to do marketing for doctors:

1) Send via the mail something that will get opened and read. This means probably in a priority envelop or a box. Include a big grabber of some kind. I'm thinking spending between $10 and $20 on the direct mail piece that is just impossible to ignore. Maybe send the lawyer some legal-related nic nac. For a doctor I might send an anatomical model, a stethescope, something like that.

2) On the letterhead, and when I sign it, I will always use my title, Dr. Francisco D'Anconia, MD. haha yeah, I'll send him something made out of copper!!!!! I don't know if you get to call yourself Esq. after graduating law school or after passing the bar, but if you can't use Esq you may as well use JD. People take more seriously something coming from a colleague, and at least in medicine, we're far more likely to make time for each other than we are to make time for some other guy.

3) The same thing that motivates laypeople motivates professionals: greed. Here is the nice thing though: I think professionals like lawyers, doctors, CPAs or others are much more likely to take a longer term view to what they're doing. So you will probably have an easier time explaining why they should pay today for a project that will yield fruit six months in the future. You are selling to people who spent 7 or 8 years in University learning their profession. They are long term planners. But they still want money, just like everyone else. Dollar signs are in EVERYONE'S eyes.

4) Here is something pharmaceutical reps do for doctors: they take them out to dinner. NICE DINNERS. If a pharmaceutical rep brings lunch, he/she gets 1 minute with the doctor and gives a presentation to the staff. If it is at a nice restaurant with Prime Rib, good wine and so forth, you'd better bet that doctor is going to show up!!!! The only drug rep I know of who gets significant time with doctors at the hospital I am at now is married to one of the staff physicians. That is why the doctors always listen to her, because she is the wife of a close colleague. They have probably been to her house for Christmas parties. But here is the idea, if you can afford it: rent out a banquet room at a fancy upscale restaurant. Send out invitations to 200 lawyers. Nice invitations. Specify what is on the menu. Call and follow up the invitations. Maybe offer an alternative date. Then you can give a short presentation, and afterwards book each lawyer for an individual appointment to see you where you can close the deal. I guess this depends on how lucrative the market is for you, but if we're talking personal injury leads those can be worth thousands!

5) Hey, how about this for a grabber: one of those life size copies of the US Constitution on fake parchment paper? They look great, I have one framed in my house. Lawyers would probably eat that up. Maybe they'd want the magna carta or something. But you can put that in a priority mail tube, and I bet that is going to get a 100% open rate.

Whitepaper marketing IMHO.

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^^Free? No, quite the opposite I guarantee the ranking within X months (a date that I'm 99% certain I can do by the deadline) and then say I work for free after that point until it gets ranked, IF it isn't ranked by then.

It's just a way to re-assure a business owner who is thinking "how do I know this guy is doing anything for me if he won't even guarantee the ranking I need?"

I have a few clients that are attorneys and I find that you can get a BIG response from them when you play them against their competition. Like other members mentioned, direct mail seems to work better than cold calling. You need to have a heading that will capture their attention...e.g. "Why is the ABC Lawfirm consistently outranking your firm for the following keywords....?"

Do some research on the competition and send them a piece of direct mail. This will tell him or her that you took the time to research the firm and can provide them with a solution. You can also try to do this with email (competition on the subject line) but it works better with direct mail.

Don't send a form email saying what you can accomplish without knowing rank of their site(s). As a lawyer, this 1/2 ass approach is pretty annoying. Do your homework, hand deliver something. Most attorneys have sites up. Have examples of what you can do better and firm pricing prepared.

I've had quite a few attorney clients. To break in:

• Read, devour, and commit to memory trends found at jdsupra.com
  
• Join the LinkedIn Legal Marketing Group
  
• Find a local group or organization trying to influence legislation (that you agree with of course) and volunteer to help with web, social media, etc.
  
• Comment on local Attorney blogs - especially their side 'cause marketing' blogs. Follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
  
• Scour smaller law firm websites for mistakes in domain registration, SEO, linking, etc. Send them a short note with the solution via one of their social media channels.
  
• Finally, and most importantly - check the state bar association's website for the absolute latest on web advertising and social media disclosure requirements. They are ALWAYS in flux.