How to recognize bad clients before they make you miserable

Bear with me because instead of just "telling" you how to recognize bad clients I thought it would be More Effective To DEMONSTRATE It For You In Action. . . First I sent the following article to all of my ezine subscribers (if you've already read it, scroll down to see a response I received shortly thereafter)

From:RJON ROBINS

Date:Tue, 8 Dec2009 21:20:31 -0500 (EST)

To:

Subject:Office Depot& Law Firm Marketing: How an expensive marketing idea keeps back-firing.

Dxxxxxxx,So I thought you might beable to apply the following lesson to help you get more prospectiveclients to make the decision to hire your firm & at premium-profitablefees.It's a pretty simple lessonreally. Unfortunately though, it's one that our friends at Office Depotcan't seem to learn. Andso it keeps back-firing on them.

Butyou are a subscriber to this ezine so you don't have to make the samemistake. Let me explain. . .

30 Seconds ofContextI've been wanting to buy anextra wireless scanner/printer to keep downstairs in my home. So thatwhen I emerge from The Cave with laptop in-hand and decide to work downstairsfor a change I can more easily scan/print etc. from wherever I decide toset-up "Down There Where The Cats Dwell". (MiniDog comes up herewith me but the cats never do).So I keep going to OfficeDepot to pick up a wireless scanner/printer to set up in an empty cabinetdown there BUT THEY KEEP CONVINCING ME NOT TO MAKE THE PURCHASE!!!So not only does OfficeDepot lose my business, but I lose the convenience of having an extrascanner/printer downstairs because my soon-to-be-former Preferred Vendorkeeps causing me doubt. Here's what I mean. . . Office Depot has a"Rewards Program". And like so many other large nationalretailers, theirs seems to have been designed by imbiciles. I've shareseveral other examples with you over the years including the CVS video.The way Office Depot'sprogram works, is that you earn reward dollars for every purchase youmake. So far, so good right? Butthe only way to redeem your reward dollars is by bringing-in the coupon theysend to you in the mail each month.Wait a second! We already know yourcomputer system is connected to your cash register or else you wouldn't beable to track my credits going in. So why can't the register speak tothe computer to give me my credits automatically, like a pleasant surprise, going the other-way-around and delight me with an unexpected bonus whenI'm standing there at the cash register?Of course I never rememberto bring the damn coupons with me. Office Depot is a "ConvenienceVendor" for me. Because if I was really shopping on price I'd buyonline from somewhere else. So I'm willing to pay extra for the convenienceof being able to buy on near-impulse. However the fact that theykeep shoving it in my face everytime I'm at the register that I could besaving enough to buy lunch, I keep postponing the new scanner/printeracquisition thinking to myself that maybe next time I'll remember to bringthe coupons with me. And besides maybe betweennow & then I'll find something better. Or maybe I should re-thinkthis whole idea of having a scanner/printer in every room of the houseanyway. I mean we are supposed to be in some kind of a recession aren'twe? ;-) So in Office Depot'sattempt to be sure that I don't actually take advantage of theirrewards program (or maybe they're just lazy, or stupid) what they have really accomplished is putting me"Off" of a sale. A sale that could have put hundredsof dollars of extra cash-flow in their hands weeks ago. OK RJon, SoWhere's The Law Firm Marketing Lesson?The lesson in this for YOU is to be sure you're not talkingyourself out of a "sale" in a mis-guided attempt to protectyourself from any downside. Just recently I showed aMember how to DRAMATICALLY increase his revenues in 2010. We're talkingabout adding an "extra" hundred thousand dollars of almost pureprofit to his bottom line. All by taking a realisticview of his downside potential and NOT putting that between himself and hisclients. More specifically, I showedhim how to offer and earn ALOT of extra profit by offering his clients thesame 100% "YouWill Be Happy" money-back guarantee that I do. Andhow by offering anything less in a mis-guided attempt to protect himself fromdownside, he is actually "costing" himself alot of money andunecessary aggravation. Be Better ThanOffice DepotBe better than Office Depotin your small law firm. Look at the "transaction" from theperspective of your prospective clients. Look at every element of riskand do whatever you can to move it to theappropriate side of the ledger. If for example you are supposed to besome kind of expert who has "been around this block" enough timesto warrant a premium fee, find a way to mitigate or better yet eliminate theclient's risk altogether.Focus first on how to makethe offer of your services as irresistible to your clients as possible.Pump UP the value & Dial DOWN the risk to them. This is possible,by the way in EVERY practice area, bar-none (yes even criminal defense &family law).OK, gotta take MiniDog fora walk. If you haven't done so already be sure to sign-up for Thursday's f&ee teleseminar entitled "The 12 Things You Have To Do To Predictably Grow Your LawFirm By AT LEAST 25% in 2010, Not Just Despite The Economy, But ActuallyBECAUSE OF IT All While Enjoying More Control, More Time Off, And MoreBottom-Line Net Profits!"~ RJON p.s. Next time you're inOffice Depot tell me if this doesn't cause you to think twice about spendingas much money there as you were otherwise prepared to give them!https://resources.howtomanageasmalllawfirm.com/12-10-09freelivetalk.html THIS IS THE EMAIL I RECEIVED BACK FROM "D":

From: dxxxxxxxh@yahoo.com [mailto:dxxxxxxxh@yahoo.com]Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 10:05 PMTo: RJON ROBINSSubject: Re: Office Depot & Law Firm Marketing: How an expensivemarketing ideakeeps back-firing.

CanI ask why you don't ever give one piece of actually useful advise. If you did Iwould actually sign up for you service and pay.

Dxx XxxxhSent via BlackBerry by AT&TAnd Here Was My Reply. I should point out that were I not using this as a "teaching exercise" for YOUR BENEFIT I would normally have simply ignored the question and politely declined any future applications from this candidate. Because one of the benefits of knowing how to market a small law practice is the ability to pick & choose who you get to work with and for. And smart-asses who blatantly miss not just one but 14 points in a single article certainly aren't my idea of a good time. Hello Dxxx, You asked “Can I ask why you don't evergive one piece of actually useful advise.”Actually Dxxx, in thatlast email I offered no fewer than 14 pieces of useful advice relating to lawfirm marketing, management, client service, client selection, careersatisfaction and cash-flow. Here I’veitemized them for you:

1. Sonot only does Office Depot lose my business, but I lose the convenience ofhaving an extra scanner/printer downstairs because my soon-to-be-formerPreferred Vendor keeps causing me doubt. In other words, when you give your clients doubts abouthiring you, it’s not just you who loses, but also prospective client whose lifecould presumably be improved if they actually hired you.

2. delight me with an unexpected bonus In other words, you should delight yourclients with unexpected bonuses.

3. OfficeDepot is a "Convenience Vendor" for me. Because if I was reallyshopping on price I'd buy online from somewhere else. So I'm willing topay extra for the convenience In other words, there’s a lot ofpremium legal fees to be earned by being a “convenience law firm”

4. SoI'm willing to pay extra for the convenience of being able to buy onnear-impulse. In otherwords, there are a lot of people like me who have extra disposable income andwe’re willing to pay extra to vendors who make things easy for us so we canoperate on “impulse” for small things in life that aren’t going to make orbreak us.

5.thefact that they keep shoving it in my face everytime I'm at the register that Icould be saving enough to buy lunch, I keep postponing the new scanner/printeracquisition In other words, too many lawyers shove all the downsideinto prospective clients’ faces right at the moment of truth and then wonderwhy they can’t get enough business. Orwonder why “their” clients go out and hire other lawyers instead. Often less qualified lawyers but who know howto make the client feel more comfortable about their decision.

6.what they have really accomplished is putting me"Off" of a sale.A sale that could have put hundreds of dollars of extra cash-flow in theirhands weeks ago. In other words, there is a direct connection betweenbeing able to convert prospective clients into paying clients, and a lawyer’scash-flow. There is more value in convertinga client today vs. converting the same client for the same fees tomorrow.

7. Thelesson in this for YOU is to be sure you're not talking yourself out ofa "sale" in a mis-guided attempt to protect yourself from anydownside. I thought thisone was pretty obvious. Too many lawyersattempt to protect THEMSELVES from any possible downside. This is misguided and results in fewerclients hiring those lawyers.

8. Just recently I showed a Member how toDRAMATICALLY increase his revenues in 2010. We're talking about adding an"extra" hundred thousand dollars of almost pure profit to his bottomline. All by taking a realistic view of his downside potential and NOTputting that between himself and his clients. In other words, one of my Members is going to earn a lot moremoney in 2010 than he did in 2009 as a direct result of putting the abovelessons to practice by taking a more realistic view of his downside potentialin most of his engagements. This is a common mistake I see many lawyersmake. Since the fixed overhead of hislaw firm is already covered by existing fees these “extra” projected fees willbe almost all profit which makes them even better than the first couple hundredthousand he’ll earn which are split between overhead & profit. This is actually a separate point impliedwithin the first so I’m going to call it 8b.

9. More specifically, I showed him how tooffer and earn ALOT of extra profit by offering his clients the same 100% "You Will Be Happy"money-back guarantee that I do. In other words, you should offer your clients the same100% “You Will Be Happy” money-back guarantee that I do.

10. And how by offering anything less in amis-guided attempt to protect himself from downside, he is actually"costing" himself alot of money and unecessary aggravation. In other words, if you are offering yourclients anything less than the same 100% “You Will Be Happy” money-backguarantee that I do you are probably “costing” yourself a lot of lost revenueand unnecessary aggravation. Which ifyou connect up item # 10 to item # 6 I think is an even more compelling reasonto offer your clients the same 100% “You Will Be Happy” money-back guaranteethat I do.

11. Look at the "transaction"from the perspective of your prospective clients. Because too many lawyers get stuck in the myopichabit of only looking at the “transaction” from their own perspective. And I put “transaction” in quotation marks todraw attention to the fact that too many lawyers consider it to be just that, atransaction.

12. Look at every element of risk and dowhatever you can to move it to the appropriateside of the ledger. If for example you are supposed to be some kind ofexpert who has "been around this block" enough times to warrant apremium fee, find a way to mitigate or better yet eliminate the client's riskaltogether. In other words,what you should be doing is looking at every element of risk in an engagementand do whatever you can to move each such element to the appropriate side ofthe ledger. So your clients shouldundertake the risk flowing from their own decisions. But if you expect to be respected as a “professional”whose services should warrant a premium fee you should be prepared to undertakesome of the risk too. Ideally, if youcan eliminate all risk from your client’s side of the ledger you can earn thehighest premium fees. Now connect thispoint back to Item # 10 above & consider what you could be earning if youcould figure out a way to offer the same kind of 100% “You Will Be Happy”money-back guarantee that I do.

13. Focus first on how to make the offerof your services as irresistible to your clients as possible. Pump UP thevalue & Dial DOWN the risk to them. The way you achieve item # 12 (being worthy of premiumfees) is by figuring out how to make the offer of your services as irresistibleto your clients as possible. You do thisby pumping up the value and dialing down the risk to them.

14. This is possible, by the way in EVERYpractice area, bar-none (yes even criminal defense & family law). This piece of advice is to encourageevery lawyer who read that article to have confidence that this is possible inevery practice area so that no-one would dismiss it as being impossible in hisor her own area of practice.

Dxxx, you also stated in your email to methat “Ifyou did [give one piece of actually useful advise] (sic). I would actually sign up for your service andpay”.

Nowthat I have demonstrated that I DID give you not just one but fourteen piecesof “actually useful advice” I must now broach the subject of your payment formy services. When, by what means and in whatamount shall I expect to receive it?

RJON

Note: I admit I myself was being a smart-ass here too. But that's another one of the many benefits of knowing how to market a small law firm. You don't have to take nearly as much shit from people ;-)