There are two attorneys from Colorado.
Both went to the same law school at the University of Colorado Boulder.
They had similar backgrounds and a lot of people would mistake them for brothers.
As far as people could judge, their prospects out in the world were equally good.
One of them amassed a fortune and became the most successful lawyer in the state.
The other one went broke a couple of years ago. He has had “hard luck” the family explains. He “never seemed to catch hold after law school”.
The successful attorney didn’t seem to have the same problem. He simply sailed his way to the top. Everything he touched turned into an instant success.
I spoke to this successful attorney (who wanted to remain anonymous) and asked him about his secret to success.
Before he even spoke I almost knew what he was going to say, word for word.
Generating 1.5 million leads for attorneys of various levels has allowed me to gain access to some of the most successful lawyers in America.
And there seems to be a single common thread that binds them.
Even if they don’t know about one another, the most successful lawyers all have something in common.
They stick to a set of ‘rules’ (or a blueprint, if you will). This blueprint is pretty much the same every single time.
There is a chasm.
A huge and expanding chasm between the super successful attorneys, and the ones ‘just getting by’.
Even attorneys pulling in $500,000-$2million per year have more room for growth than they can possibly imagine.
I am talking about the super-attorneys. The ones who seem to have more free time, more success, and more golf practice than anyone else.
It seems like they follow a specific path.
So here, with all the dogmatism of brevity, is what I have discovered from the top attorneys in America.
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#1. Do The Opposite Of What You Think Is Natural
After leaving Law School and working for someone for a few years, the broke Colorado attorney set up his own firm.
It was just him and two other staffers.
He understood his area of law well.
He had helped several dozen clients at his previous firm and even scored some impressive victories against all odds.
He could be considered as one of the top in his field.
Yet, every time a potential client walked into his office, he got frustrated and annoyed.
Why? Well, they always wanted a discount. They couldn’t afford his fees. They were skeptical. They were shopping around for lawyers.
He blamed the potential clients. They simply ‘didn’t get it’.
So he cut his prices and extended terms. He was working like a dog, day and night, simply to follow his so called ‘dream’ of owning his own practice.
The other (successful) attorney seemingly did the same.
We worked for another firm for a few years after law school and then proceeded to open his own small office.
And again, he struggled to attract good paying clients.
However, instead of cutting his prices, he did something else.
He raised his prices. By a lot.
He then positioned himself as The Divorce Attorney You Probably Can’t Afford.
He even had a price comparison chart showing how much more expensive he was.
He then printed case studies of his prior successful cases.
He even interviewed his happiest clients and displayed their wonderful words about him around the office.
As soon as someone walked through that door they knew that HE was the authority. Even though he was expensive, they believed that he could solve their problem.
In fact, they believed he could solve their problem BECAUSE he was expensive.
You see, what the successful attorney realized was that all of these people who ‘couldn’t afford’ his fees, were driving $30,000-$50,000 cars, lived in their own homes, and lived decent lives.
They simply weren’t convinced that they had found the right lawyer.
By increasing his fees he almost automatically became the authority in his space.
The case studies and leaflets simply sealed the deal.
The increased fees also meant he could deliver a better service to each client.
Not only did business improve, but so did the outcome of his cases.
So, instead of blaming the clients, he simply positioned himself differently.
People treated him with more respect, as they showed up on time and paid on time.
The broke attorney had contempt for his clients, because he believed they were ‘cheap’ and didn’t appreciate his worth.
What happened next would seal both their fates.
#2. How To Save Money As An Attorney
One of the attorneys hoarded cash, and the other one got out a loan to cover their expenses.
Can you guess which attorney saved every penny they earned, and which one spent every penny?
One of them saved for a rainy day. He worked hard and fast. Soon he had a nice little pot of money that he could use.
The other attorney got out a loan and spent it as soon as he could.
He didn’t even blink an eye, or even think much about it.
He knew he needed to borrow that money, and he borrowed a lot of it.
He, as it turned out, was the successful attorney.
While the broke attorney tried to save every single penny, the successful one couldn’t spend it fast enough.
He took out a loan and started advertising.
Almost everything he earned he spent.
And for good reason. Every $1 he spent in advertising would bring back $10-$20 in clients.
It was an investment.
He then hired more people, some of them fresh out of law school. He even hired other seasoned attorneys, paid them well, and used the same process to break into other areas of law.
He decided to take complete control over how fast and much his law firm was growing.
He believed that for every single penny you saved, you throw 20 pennies down the drain.
His ‘broke’ attorney friend simply thought he was lucky.
“I don’t have the kind of money you do to spend on advertising”. He would say.
#3. Shake Your Limiting Beliefs
One week, in August, the broke attorney came into the office.
It was Friday and he hadn’t seen a single new client come through the doors.
He was confused.
After all, his phone would ring 2-3 times per day and his staff would answer the call.
The “people calling were simply not willing to hire an attorney”, he thought.
“Why on earth would they even call if they are always going to procrastinate?”.
It bothered him, but he simply assumed “that’s the way it goes”.
Don’t get me wrong, those are all valid questions.
And these were the same questions asked by the successful attorney.
He got a lot of referrals and a lot of inbound calls from his advertising. However, the ratio of people calling, and becoming clients seemed rather low.
After speaking to a lot of other attorneys, all of them seemed to have the same problem. In fact, most of them didn’t even consider it a problem… “that’s the way it goes” remember?
The successful attorney wasn’t satisfied with their answers.
So he started recording all of the inbound phone calls.
And he noticed something.
When someone comes into his office they can see his case studies, testimonials, and it is obvious why he is the ‘go-to’ man in his field.
But that element was missing on the phone.
And so he fixed it.
Something remarkable happened.
A few weeks later he became one of the most successful attorneys in his state. He went from zero to hero in a little over 2 years.
His practice grew and grew (you’ve probably seen his advertising somewhere).
Here’s how he fixed the problem, and it is something every single attorney in America should copy.
He simply put all of his case studies online in the form of online reviews.
Once a client was happy, he would ask them to post a review about him and share their experience.
Once he got a few reviews online, he then had a chat with his staff.
He instructed them to make a small change to their conversation when they face an objection on the phone.
“While we’re on the phone, do me a favor and Google ‘[firm name] reviews’.”
People on the phone were then hit with one case study after another.
All of the sudden people had the same experience outside of the office, that they had in the office.
Research has shown that 88% of people trust an online review as much as a personal recommendation.
What made it even more successful was the fact that hardly any attorneys were doing it.
He was all over Yelp, Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.
Avvo reviews didn’t make much of a difference, believe it or not.
He marketed and distributed those reviews as far as he could.
Take Yelp for example.
After getting a dozen reviews on there he was far ahead of 90% of attorneys. He then simply bought Yelp advertising, and his firm’s profile stood out like a beacon.
While everyone else was losing money on Yelp, he was raking in the clients.
Don’t just assume “that’s the way it goes”.
Shake your limiting beliefs and you’ll be on the fast track to joining some of the ‘super lawyers’ out there.
#4. Spend Less Time On Cases & More On This One Crucial Activity
The broke attorney was a hard worker.
He believed that if he worked extra hard on his client’s cases, they would reward him.
His reputation would grow organically and he’d get referrals.
4 years after he opened his firm a woman had a particularly tricky case. She didn’t have much money, and of course, he decided to help her out.
This is what he did. It was part of his ‘strategy’.
Help people and get referrals.
He spent the next few weeks working his butt off. Long days and long nights were a regular occurrence.
The client would call him to check up on the case, and he’d politely tell her “I’m taking care of it”.
Several months go by and finally the case came to a conclusion.
She lost custody of her kids, however, she was granted visitation rights.
This was a great outcome considering her situation.
A few weeks later he received a notification that she had filed a complaint with the Colorado Bar Association.
She accused him of misleading her, over billing, and unethical behavior.
None of it was true, and nothing came of it.
However, he was furious.
He put his blood sweat and tears into that case. Why on earth wasn’t she grateful?
He basically worked for minimum wage to get the best possible outcome.
Yet, he made one simple mistake. This is a mistake that the most successful attorneys don’t make.
His successful friend takes a different approach to his cases.
Since he charges more, he’s able to hire people to help him out with a majority of the case work.
He then gets little briefings about each case.
This frees up a lot of his time.
How does he spend some of that time?
He constantly stays in contact with his clients and keeps them up to date on everything that’s happening.
He reassures them, holds their hand, and removes the uncertainty.
The clients even get emails with some of the briefing material.
Instead of just ‘working hard for the case’ he works smart for the client.
And what comes out at the end of it?
A positive case study and online review. He kept on solidifying his position as the best attorney in the state.
#5. Your Biggest Downfall That’s Easily Avoided
The broke attorney was frustrated and overworked.
He truly thought things would turn out differently.
For him, the successful attorney had all the luck in the world, and all he had was “hard luck”.
For the successful attorney it wasn’t luck at all.
According to him, the biggest downfall is inaction by kicking the can down the road.
When he saw an opportunity to improve things, he took it.
Procrastination is his worst enemy and he fought it by taking fast action, all the time.
Most attorneys are guilty of this. Even some of the seemingly ‘successful ones’ are living below their potential.
Be open to advice, be open to spending money, be open to change.
You Now Have Two Choices
Choice #1: You enjoy the blueprint I have just outlined for you, and then go about your day.
With this option you’ll take some tips from it, but you don’t really take action. You’re busy, I get it.
Then there is choice #2: this is the choice of smart attorneys.
You take action. You decide TODAY to grow your law firm.
Schedule a 1-1 appointment with us. It is a free consultation and we will help you without charge.
After the call you can simply decide whether to do it yourself, or to retain us.
It is as simple as that.
My team and I have implemented everything the successful attorney in this story has. We’ve even done a lot of it for him.
This is what we do.
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