How to Start a Law Firm | Two Marketing Ideas Shot Down

I can't help it. I think it's just in my blood now. But I am constantly thinking of ways to increase my conversion rate for potential clients (i.e. calls from the website) and thinking of ways to get more people to want to choose me over the other options out there. It might be obvious, but it comes down to being different from everyone else, in a good way, and also giving people what they are looking for.

I'm rolling out a new website in the next week or so, (and, by the way, you can see it here, and I'd love to hear comments from the perspective of a potential client - you have about 48 hours before it's set in stone) and that got me to thinking about things that I could add to the site to make my firm more appealing. And I came up with two ideas, which I'll share with you now.

But before I get to the ideas, I wanted to let you know I've been reading a lot about persuasion and marketing lately (two more books in addition to the two that I reviewed the last time - if you want to hear about them I'll review them, they are fascinating). The idea for this reading is twofold. First, I want to market my firm better from a general standpoint - I want to drill down what the identity of the firm is so I can make business decisions in the future based on that defined perspective.

And second, I want to make it easier to sign up potential clients. If you've just started working on opening your own law firm or are in the thinking stages I can tell you there is no better feeling than someone that walks into your office and just wants to sign up. They already know a lot about you and just want to take care of the formality of signing the paperwork.

Anyway, back to the subject. My two ideas were these: (1) limit the number of DUI cases a week that I take to two; and (2) provide a service based money back guarantee. I can feel all of you going bonkers right now telling the computer screen how stupid I am for dreaming up both of these ideas.

But you are in luck. Because the purpose of this blog is not to just tell you what I'm doing but to walk you through the thought process, I'm going to do that. You might still think I'm stupid, but at least you'll know it was reasoned stupidity.

Limiting the Number of Clients I Take - aka Scarcity

There are two schools of thought out there when it comes to the number of clients your firm will take on at a time. The first is to take on as many as possible and figure out the details later (I would describe this as almost every firm - the fear of the phone not ringing is a large motivating factor here). The second is to take on a reasonable number of clients, maybe at a bit of a higher price, and do exceptional work for them. Limiting the number of clients is obviously in line with the second school of thought.

I'm not finished yet, though. The idea isn't just to limit the number of clients to two per week, but to let all potential clients in the meeting know that this was the case. That means once one signed up all meeting for the rest of the week would be told that there is one spot left for this great service. If you call too late, we won't be able to take your case. It's a classic business device to help potential clients make sales.

I ran this idea by Kelsey, my assistant, because she's got a pretty good business sense, and she immediately didn't like the idea. I don't really remember why, but she didn't. So, like anyone that wants to have someone tell them their idea is good so they can run with it, I told someone else - RJon of starting a law firm fame (the big box on the right side of the page) - and he didn't really like it either. I remember his answer because I wrote it down, but it had something to do with the idea that my firm is already a boutique type firm - the exclusivity is inherent in its structure. There's no reason to ramp it up another notch.

Two nos is a sign, but this idea isn't completely off the shelf yet - it's just not going to be incorporated into the website.

The Service Based Money Back Guarantee

I can picture the horror on your faces at just reading this.

"Aren't people just going to say they aren't satisfied so they can get their money back?"

"What if you end up paying out a bunch of money and working for free?"

For me, the bottom line here is I know I already provide great customer service - that is actually one of the things that separates me from other firms. So I'm not as worried about people asking for their money back, even with a DUI practice where things can go haywire from time to time.

Ask anyone that provides a money back guarantee and they'll tell you there are many more people that are convinced by that guarantee to sign up than scammers that will go back on you when the job is done. RJon so much as admitted this to me (he's got a money back guarantee on his services).

No, that wasn't the hang up for me. The hang up was a different thing RJon mentioned that got me thinking (and, for the record, Kelsey was against this two - rarely am I wrong - I'm the owner, right? - and rarely am I wrong twice in one day - I think she relished that just a bit) about a potential problem with this idea.

RJon mentioned the fact that contingency cases aren't allowed in criminal cases. Duh. His concern was that others might not see my service based guarantee any different than a results guarantee. I disagree, but that got me thinking about something else that might cause more headaches than it's worth.

If I offer a money back guarantee, there is an argument there that I haven't actually earned the fee until the matter is over and the client tells me they are satisfied with the work. That begs the question, do all of those fees go into an IOLTA account until they are "earned" or are they still "earned upon receipt" and only subject to be returned if the contract clause comes to fruition. I have my ideas but decided at the end of the day it wasn't worth the headache.

I'm on a big time marketing kick right now, which is good for you and good for me. After all, a big part of having a successful law firm is having enough clients to allow you to eat. You get that down and you can figure out everything else, right?

Please take a look at my site and let me know what you think. Your opinion matters to me (though no stealing, okay?!). And, as always, if you have any other questions, let me know.