It’s been interesting that lately I’ve seen a fair amount of activity occurring on LinkedIn within the ranks of the people in our industry that happen to be in my network. That’s why I thought it might be helpful to post a link to an informative video from Lee Lefever over at Common Craft. It really sheds new light on the value of the connections on LinkedIn.
I’ve hired a number of marketing coaches over the years. Each one has served a different and very positive role in my professional development. More than anything I’ve found value in being coached because it invariably drives me to what some marketers call “massive action.”
A few years ago I hired a gifted guru that some of you have probably heard of – Rich Schefren. This is a guy that just erupts with one amazing concept after another. I’ve learned so much from him. Today I was watching an online video that had clips of a recent presentation he did and I wanted to share it with you.
He juxtaposes 3 business concepts. He refers to the old way of business as “make & sell.” A current way that most businesses operate is “sense & respond.” Then he presents his recommended way as the way of the future and the way to really rise above the competition – “anticipate & preempt.”
One of my favorite lines in this video is “do it wrong fast!” Another is that “action creates clarity.” I wholeheartedly agree with both concepts. We cannot wait to take action until we’ve dissected every potential outcome. We need to get in there and do it. Experiment and just keep doing it. It’s the best way to learn and discover so that we can “anticipate and preempt.” Thank you Rich for all you’ve taught me and continue to teach me.
I’ve known Shirley for about 5 years now and she’s one of my dearest friends. Shirley just celebrated her 85th birthday and she still runs circles around most people. I stopped by her house today and she told me a story. It was about 2 different department stores that we have all heard of. She visited them both today and one provided great service and one was substandard service. As she told me the stories I thought about it from a marketing perspective. What makes this account especially fascinating to me is that Shirley is what I would call an “influential.” Shirley is a “go to person” for many of her friends. She is very bright, knowledgeable on numerous topics and has lots of life experience and common sense. Besides all that she is absolutely delightful, entertaining and lovable!
So here’s the story. Shirley happens to have a 55 year old handicapped son, Glenn. She brings Glenn home every weekend. Well, with summer approaching and Glenn’s birthday being in the summer, she was out shopping for an air conditioner for his room today. She began the story by telling me this – “Target has so many helpful people all over the store that it’s just wonderful.” As she began her shopping excursion in the store several employees were helpful right off the bat. She was having trouble finding the air conditioners and so she asked for help. A very pleasant employee told her to look just beyond where she was and pick up the phone. He told her that somebody would then come to help her within 60 seconds! Did you get that? 60 seconds. Shirley’s next words to me were “58 seconds later, I had help.” A woman arrived, she had a walkie talkie and she was heard saying – “I’ve got it, I’m here.” It almost sounded as if a team of people were standing by to make sure Shirley got her help.
There’s more to the story than that but this struck me. If I perceive this story correctly, I believe that Shirley was very pleased with the service but she was WOWED by one particular policy and that was the focus of her great “word of mouth advertising” on behalf of Target. It was the “60 second rule.”
I can tell you that it is very likely that the Target experience and the 60 second rule will be repeated multiple times because Shirley is an influential and she talks to a lot of people. It was a little thing, but I think that is a big part of her VERY favorable impression of the store.
What happened next was also fascinating from a marketing perspective. Shirley then went to another department store that will remain nameless. The first thing she said about it was this – “there was no one around anywhere to help me.” For me as a listener, I immediately had a bad impression of the store. But as she went on I learned that she got some great prices and some other very favorable things happened at that store. She also said that she “finally found someone and she was very nice.” But Shirley had already compared this store to Target and their 60 second rule. Target won by a landslide.
Application for us? What kind of word of mouth do you think your firm is getting? What do your clients say about you? They are probably not talking about your legal skills. As I’ve said before, your competence as an attorney is assumed. They are probably talking about service issues. They may be saying – they’re a great firm, but it’s hard to get somebody to call you back.
Here’s my marketing recommendation for the day. Put a system in place so that every client phone call – whether new or existing – is returned in 60 minutes or less. That doesn’t mean that you need to have an attorney call back with an answer. It means you need to have a knowledgeable and professional staff member call back to say – “we got your call and Mr. X will be following up with you tomorrow morning. Is there a good time to reach you?”
How are you creating the WOW factor? As I survey PI clients across the country I can tell you that the top 2 things that they consistently report as being most important to them as clients are:
Phone calls are returned promptly
Legal staff is knowledgeable
What are your “Shirley’s” saying about your firm? If you instituted a one hour call back policy – I bet that would be part of what they’d be talking about…
Lee Iacocca said this: “In my lifetime I’ve had the privilege of living through some of Amercia’s greatest moments. I’ve also experienced some of our worst crises: The Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy Assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970′s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: You don’t get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action.” He then goes on to issue a call to action.
Action is what separates the truly successful from the moderately successful. I remember reading years ago that “great ideas are a dime a dozen.” And it’s true. Most people come up with numerous really great ideas in their lives. But a much smaller number take action on their great ideas on a consistent basis.
In talking with attorneys I can tell you that I hear a lot of great ideas. I really do. But what really excites me is when an attorney evaluates ideas and then consistently allocates the resources necessary to create action plans that lead to implementation.
One of the things I really enjoy is reading case studies by some of my favorite marketing guru’s. One of those that I think has a lot for all of us to learn is Dan Kennedy. In his blog today he wrote about his business partner, Bill Glazer, and one of the tactics he uses to achieve “marketplace dominance” in the retail industry. I think it has some lessons for us.
Dan says of Bill:
“He very diligently makes certain that every customer that walks into one of his stores never leaves without his sales associates asking them for their complete contact information (name, address, phone, email, etc.). Now, depending on their spending, he communicates with them often. In fact, certain customers will receive from his store yearly:
18 mailings
4 personal calls from their sales associate
4 voice broadcasts
52 weekly emails
Now in marketing, this is what we call marketplace dominance. It doesn’t matter how many expensive TV spots the big box retailers buy, they canNOT compete or make the impression that Bill’s store makes with his customers.”
In the legal industry, I find that many firms fall short when it comes to prioritizing building their databases and then systematically cultivating those relationships with consistent and varied communications.
My recommendation is that every single contact be put into your database – clients, referral attorneys, vendors, employees, etc and then each target audience should receive varied communications at pre-determined timed intervals. This is one of the very best ways to stay top of mind with your various audiences, thereby positioning your firm for a steady stream of referrals.
