A general rule of thumb for a referral-based practice is that an established attorney needs to conduct 5-7 marketing activities weekly, two of them involving personal contact. Another axiom is that on average, it takes 7 contacts to move a qualified prospect into the client category. If you’re confused about why you aren’t seeing more business- check your numbers.

How many keep-in-touch calls and notes got done this week?  Any thank-you notes or gifts sent? How many articles did you submit? How many speaking engagements did you land? Did you share coffee or a meal with a prospect or a good referral source? Did you attend any meetings or other events where you might meet clients? Publish an ezine? Add any contacts to your data base?

You get the idea. The point is to block time on your calendar for marketing and to use that time to connect with people in whatever ways work for you. Once you start being intentional with your marketing- once you’re clear that you are going to plan and carry-through with regular activities, you’ll start to see results.

Do it now: 

Make two or more 30=90 minute appointments with yourself this week to work on your marketing activities.  In the time you’ve scheduled, work through these actions:

1. If there are clients that you’ve been out of touch with, call them and ensure they know what’s going on and they feel important.
2. Make a list of your referral sources, your past clients, and any prospects you are courting.
3. Identify a professional organization your clients might belong to, a place for you to network.
4. From the lists, choose a set of contacts to connect with- and then make calls, send cards or emails, forward articles of interest, schedule lunches, attend meetings, etc. Work through the list.
5. Alternately, think of something fun you’d like to do- say, attend a play, and think of people you want to network with and would like to invite. Make it happen.
6. Update your contact records and schedule the next contact forward. When do you want to interact with that contact again? Prioritize and spend your time in the best way possible.
7. Vary activities and repeat!

Final thought:

Schedule time- if marketing isn’t on your calendar, you won’t know when you aren’t doing it.  On the other hand, please let go of any generalized marketing stress- you know you’re handling marketing, so don’t worry about it all the time!