Lawyers With Purpose

Use Your Maintenance Program to Generate Additional Revenue Through Advertising

A members-only section on your website can allow enrollees in your maintenance program to sign up for exclusive events, download videos of workshops they might have missed, and more. It also allows you to generate revenue through advertising (as does your newsletter). How? By offering companies that provide services of interest to your clients the opportunity to advertise on this portion of your site. House cleaners, estate sale firms, delivery services, caregivers… service providers like these and many more will pay handsomely for access to a targeted demographic. So, too, will financial advisors, accountants, attorneys who practice in areas outside of your own, and other professionals.

Of course, you must screen potential advertisers carefully to make sure they are good at what they do and worthy of your clients’ trust. Also, don’t run too many ads. Enrollees in your maintenance program will appreciate exclusive access to companies that provide services they need and can trust. However, you don’t want to leave the impression that generating advertising revenue is the only reason you offer a newsletter or a members-only section on your website.

Start 2020 Off Right by Kick-Starting Your Maintenance Program

By LWP Implementation Specialist Amanda "Mandy" Bossow

From mid-November through the beginning of January, Lawyers with Purpose members tend to see a decrease of initial contacts, initial meetings, and workshop attendance. The holidays are THE time for your prospects and clients to be thinking about AND discussing their future plans with family, however, not as many do. How can you remedy this? By kicking off your maintenance program!

What is a maintenance program? The maintenance program is an additional service your firm can offer your clients to keep them informed of changes to the law, reminding them of the importance of keeping their plan up-to-date with personal changes, and keeping your firm in their top of mind awareness by sending out periodic newsletters, event invites, etc.

The beginning of the year is a wonderful time to send out an invitation to your clients, inviting them to join your maintenance program. It can fit right into their new year resolutions and provide them and their families great benefits, not only for this year, but for years to come.

You first must decide what you will include as part of your Maintenance Program. The suggested LWP Engagement Agreement (found on the LWP Member site) includes an option for a Maintenance Program where you can find some suggested items to include as part of your program!

Some suggested offerings the engagement agreement includes are:

• Regular client newsletters
• An annual client updating workshop aimed at keeping the client current with the changing legal environment
• Law firm-initiated changes to the client’s documents, if requested, to take advantage of changes in the law
• “Word processing” amendments to the client’s estate planning documents
• Regular specialized workshops
• On-going guidance with funding of new assets acquired during the year
• Annual estate plan review upon request
• Assistance to the client’s disability panel to verify their disability and get their successor Trustee appointed
• Meeting with the client’s family or helpers upon their disability or death to explain the estate plan they created and outline the assistance available in maintaining or settling their plan (any new services, if required, will be identified and billed separately)
• Annual social event for the client and their family to enjoy
• Special pricing for their family members to do planning during the year

Don’t be intimidated by this long list! You can make your Maintenance Program as inclusive as you’d like. You may decide in the beginning the only thing you can offer is the law firm-initiated changes, word processing amendments, and an annual estate plan review. Make sure you pay attention to your calendar to ensure you have time allotted to take care of these clients.

Next you need to start offering it to new prospects and clients during their initial and vision meetings. The lovely part about this is it’s already built into the LWP Enrollment Process! As you are discussing the various planning options with the potential client, you can discuss which plans have a maintenance option. You can even find a space for it directly on the Vision Clarifier tool!

Third, you need to determine how you are going to inform your current client pool of this beneficial new service. Some members send out a letter inviting their current clients to join at a discounted rate, while other members inform their clients they are enrolled into the maintenance program free for the first year so they can reap the benefits and then officially enroll the next year. You could also invite your clients to a kick-off event in which they can attend, maybe grab a drink with you, and hear all about other amazing events and additional benefits this program offers (as this is just a taste). The options are endless and entirely up to you!

The final step, which will be an on-going part of your practice, is to continue to maintain and grow your maintenance program. Maybe you start out small, offering only a few additional items, but then can add in quarterly newsletters, private events for maintenance clients only, etc.

The benefits for your clients to join and maintain their maintenance membership as well as the benefits for your firm is unlimited!  During the slow-down mentioned earlier in this article, you can plan your revenue goals to include the maintenance income right around the same time a decrease in new clients may occur! This also helps you stay in contact with your clients, reminding them to keep their plan current, inviting their family and friends to get their own estate plans completed, and providing a wonderful service to your community!

Marketing to the Sandwich Generation: Produce a TV or Radio Ad

Television and radio ads are proven tactics to build widespread awareness of your name and firm throughout your community. If you are already using the “Ask” campaign, it will be relatively easy to produce a new ad incorporating a message about the challenges faced by the sandwich generation. Such an ad will allow you to position yourself as the industry leader to this growing demographic. As for content, repurposing the article we mentioned in an earlier post might be all you need.

TV and radio aren’t for everyone. If you live in a large, heavily populated market, TV might be cost prohibitive, although radio could be affordable. But don’t write these tactics off before contacting local media outlets to get a quote. You may be pleasantly surprised at how economical it is to reach a widespread audience.

Marketing to the Sandwich Generation: Sponsor an Event

We all have an organization or cause that is special to our hearts. Supporting your favorite charitable organization not only helps those in need and makes you feel good, it can also position your firm as a caring member of the community—thereby enhancing your brand.

Don’t just write a check. Try sponsoring an event, or at the very least participate in one. In this case, you’ll want to choose an event that has something to do with an issue relevant to the sandwich generation… an event for seniors, perhaps, or caregivers. You can find potential sponsorship opportunities in your local paper or online. If you can’t find any suitable events, you can create one yourself.

Once you have sponsored or created an event, be sure to publicize it. Don’t forget to mention your participation in, or sponsorship of, the event. Write an article about it, take pictures, and send them to the local newspaper. You’ll want to post the article on your website as well as on social media, and include it in your newsletter if you have one.

Marketing to the Sandwich Generation: Create a Lead Magnet

In the world of digital marketing, the most coveted piece of prospect information is an email address. The question is, how can you convince visitors to your website to provide you with their email addresses? The answer: a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a free offer or incentive, typically a valuable piece of information, such as a special report or booklet. In essence, you are providing this free information in exchange for the prospect’s email address. You may have the preconceived notion that lead magnets must incorporate massive quantities of content, but that’s not necessarily true. Short downloads can be just as effective at collecting leads as 50-page white papers.

Of course, your lead magnet must be something that many prospects will want. Given the sandwich generation’s growth and its need for planning solutions, a lead magnet focusing on long-term care planning, Medicaid crisis planning and the like should help you capture plenty of leads.

Marketing to the Sandwich Generation: Host a Picnic or Hold a Seminar

Host a Picnic

A picnic (with sandwiches on the menu) offers a great opportunity to market your firm to the sandwich generation. You’ll want to invite your existing clients—and have them invite friends and family—together with prospects in your data base. The informal atmosphere of a picnic should make everyone feel comfortable, willing to share their personal stories and greatest concerns. Meanwhile, you’ll  have the opportunity to talk about ways to address those concerns through proper planning.

Hold a Seminar

Seminars are still one of the most popular, and effective, ways to market legal services to the public. While more formal than a picnic, you will be able to make an actual presentation. Content for your presentation can be created by tweaking one of your current PowerPoints to focus on issues important to the sandwich generation, or by making a short PowerPoint from scratch that focuses exclusively on long-term care planning, Medicaid planning, advance directives, and other topics members of the sandwich generation will find compelling. What should you serve at the seminar? Yes, we highly recommend sandwiches.

Marketing to the Sandwich Generation: Write an Article—and Make the Most of It

Writing a single article about the sandwich generation will allow you to use multiple platforms to get the word out about your firm and how you can address the challenges faced by the sandwich generation. You can use your article for:

• Blogs
• Social media posts
• Your newsletter
• Emails
• A press release

What should you say in your article? You want to begin by defining the term sandwich generation, then discuss the challenges faced by this demographic. After that, tell the reader how your firm can address these challenges. You’ll want to close with a “call to action,” inviting the reader to visit your website or contact your firm for a consultation. You don’t have to write a tome here, maybe just 400 words or so. (Of course, if you love to write, you can make your article as long and informative as you want.)

Here’s another tip: You can repurpose your article’s content to produce a video, which you can then post on your website’s landing page. Videos posted on landing pages have been shown to increase conversion rates by as much as 80 percent. A video that focuses on an important topic like the planning needs of the sandwich generation could produce even better results.

Here’s How to Market Your Services to the Sandwich Generation

The term sandwich generation refers to people who are raising their own children while simultaneously trying to care for aging parents. In essence, they are “sandwiched” between these two roles, each of which is demanding in its own right.

Perhaps you are a member of this generation and have first-hand experience juggling the two roles yourself? If so, you are not alone. It is estimated that 47 percent of adults in their 40s and 50s who have a parent 65 or older are also raising a youngster or supporting a grown child. In fact, one in seven of these adults are financially assisting both their parents and one or more children.

This demographic is growing and in need of the services you provide: long-term care planning, Medicaid crisis planning, advance directives, wills, trusts, and more. The question is, how do you reach them with the message that you have the planning solutions they so desperately need?

In the coming days, we’ll provide you with a variety of proven marketing tactics to reach these folks. Check back Thursday for a tactic that’s easy, quick, economical, and can be used a across multiple platforms.

Introducing June 2019 Member of the Month, Jenny Rivard

Located in Manchester, New Hampshire and serving all of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, American Wealth Protection has been an LWP member since the fall of 2017.  Owner and Founder Jenny Rivard began her legal career at just 14 years old when she worked typing documents and answering phones for the estate planning law firm where her mother worked.  After several years at that firm, she knew that she wanted to become an estate planning and elder law attorney.  She avidly pursued her career, obtaining her undergraduate degree in just 3 years, and in 2009, became the second youngest person to have passed the bar in the state of New Hampshire.  After a brief stint at another firm, she created her own a year later, and went on to innovate by being the only firm in her market to include financial planning among her firm’s offerings, providing seamless service to her clients.  Today, Jenny and her husband, Patrick, who is also an attorney and plays a key business development role at AWP, are focused not only on growing their business but also parenting their four beautiful children.

LWP sat down with Jenny Rivard to talk about her firm and the changes it’s experienced since becoming a member. 

What brought you to LWP? 

About six years ago, I had a client who came to see me because she needed a plan.  She had Alzheimers and could no longer do math, but prior to this, she had been a physicist!  We prepared all the standard documents, but she needed more.  “Who will help with the day-to-day things, like bathing?  What checkbook should my son use when he needs to take over the finances?” were among her many concerns.  I realized that despite having a lot of tools, in order to provide a real plan, I needed more.  I decided to get involved with Medicaid planning, and when I searched online for training, I found LWP. 

I knew I needed the Medicaid software, so I attended Practice With Purpose, and I joined LWP right then.  I’ve been a platinum member for two years. 

How tightly do you follow LWP’s systems and processes?

My firm definitely speaks the LWP language, but we’re a unique firm, so despite my strong inclination to want to follow the systems as strictly as possible and not change the workflows, I realized that my firm simply didn’t fit perfectly in the category.  We wanted one system that could handle all of the services we offer, including financial planning and insurance, while keeping all the notes for every file together.  There are confidentiality issues that get quite complex with that, so, we’ve had to adapt LWP’s systems to fit. 

What is the greatest success you’ve had since you fully engaged with LWP?

We’re on the brink of doubling our revenue within about a year to 18 months, but even so, I’d say that the biggest success was being able to see the 10,000-foot view so we could see what was to come next.  Before LWP, I’d done pretty well on my own, but I was working in the business.  Since joining LWP, we’ve gone from being a one-person to a five-person firm.  That was due to the coaching—the ability to get to the next steps that I couldn’t have achieved on my own.  Hands down, for me, the most valuable part of LWP has been the coaching with Mandy and Candace.  They help us stay focused and spent a good deal of time helping us tweak the software to fit our model.

To what, specifically, do you attribute your revenue growth?

It’s the coaching…more so than anything else.  I was too “in it” to see the 10,000-foot view of what was to come next.  My LWP coaches got me out of that.  I don’t think I would’ve gotten to this place without that coaching.

What do you believe sets American Wealth Protection apart from your competition?

Our unique model sets us apart.  It’s the fact that we have the financial advisors on staff, and we do both legal and financial seminars.  While we do have clients that have their own advisors, often times, they’re in separate buildings and not always on the same page in regard to the client’s needs.  Our model offers a more integrated approach.  Also, our approach to financial planning is to plan for the worst-case scenario.  We assume the highest inflation and taxes, and from that, we figure out how long our clients’ income will last.  Once that scenario has been created, we see what’s left to protect, which takes us into estate planning.  I think our model is pretty unique right now, but people will probably migrate to it over time.  A lot of attorneys think they need to bring someone in house, but in my case, I had both the legal and the financial planning licenses. 

What is your marketing model?

I have over 2,000 clients I’ve gathered in the last 9 years, so we get a lot of client referrals.  Other than that, there are a few referrals from other places, and of course, we do the workshops.  We would like to start more traditional advertising, but we’re not doing it yet.  For now, we’re continuing to work on our infrastructure.

Do you attend LWP’s TAPER events, and if so, what wowed you there?

We attend one TAPER per year, and the IMQ (In Marriage QDRO^®) presentation was amazing.  But, our firm’s TAPER “aha” moment is really just that it keeps us centered and moving in the same direction, and we really need that by October of each year.

What is your favorite LWP tool?  It’s a tie between the dashboard and the Medicaid software.  The dashboard is an easy way to see what happened all month—what we should have earned vs. what we actually collected.

What kinds of changes, if any, are you currently seeing in your market?

In our market, we’re seeing a trend among widows whose husbands had handled the finances.  They’ve suddenly found themselves in a situation in which they don’t know who to call.  There’s an unmet need there. 

FUN FACTS:

Share something about yourself that most people don’t know about you.

I’m a “little old lady at heart.”  I really enjoy crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles.  I grew up on a farm, so now I can my own vegetables, and I love all kinds of outdoor activities, like fishing.

What is your favorite book, and how did it impact your life?

I love to read.  The book that taught me how to adapt my personality to that of the person with whom I’m speaking so we’re connected was Jeffrey Fox’s Rainmaker.  It has nothing to with law at all.  It’s super small, easy read, and the reason I could bring in business.  I found it when I was starting my own firm and googling every sales book I could to try to figure things out.

 

 

Know the Seven Common Workshop Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

When LWP members start putting their workshops together for the first time, they often think of them as a way to generate new clients, which is a key outcome.  However, they tend to focus on the workshop solely as a lead generator, and this mindset falls severely short in terms of what workshops actually help you accomplish. The workshop should be considered part of your process, the education part.  It is the part of the process that almost everyone needs, but they don’t think they do. The workshop helps participants see things they didn’t know, as well as things they didn’t even know they didn’t know; it provides them something new upon which to reflect.  The workshop doesn’t just generate leads; it helps enroll qualified candidates into your firm for a Vision Meeting and helps you accomplish higher retention rates and higher average fees, adding to increased profitability.  Here are some of the common workshop mistakes that will sabotage your success:

1. Not delivering your value proposition. Avoid this mistake at all costs.  Not knowing your value propositions is the primary reason why workshops remain poorly attended and don’t result in the desired appointments.  You must know all of your value propositions and how to present them properly.  You need to understand what motivates the market that you serve; marketing messages that tend to resonate include how to save the family home, protect assets from long term care costs, and prevent losing control to the government.  Another way to show value is to waive the Initial Meeting fee for workshop attendees; doing so can be considered a $200 value proposition.  When you deliver the workshop, do you review pre-planning and crisis planning case studies?  Do you tell the stories?  Do you make sure participants understand that Medicaid does not mean they get reduced amounts of care?  Do you get them thinking about what they need?  Are you being clear on your value propositions in your marketing, enrollment calls, and presentation, and if so, do your numbers confirm that?  You’re not the only one who needs to understand fully your value propositions.  As staff members who communicate with potential clients, your marketing and client service coordinator(s) must know the benefits of attending the workshop, too.  Beyond that, you also need to understand why an allied professional would want to attend your workshop after having a Synergy Meeting with you, or the relationship could end right there. 

2. Failing to have a budget and goals established. There is more to hosting workshops than getting them scheduled and filled.  You need to define the amount you are able to spend and your expected return on investment.  To calculate that, you should know the number (as well as the percentage) of participants likely to schedule a meeting, and based on your average retention rate, the number and percentage of meeting attendees that are projected to hire you.  You need to know the costs of your workshops, including marketing expense, and have a financial revenue and profit goal for each workshop. Have you defined your goals and expenses?

3. Not having the right “whos” in place.  Knowing who is responsible for planning the workshop dates, preparing all the materials, and doing the majority of the administrative tasks is critical.  It's also critical to know who is accountable for the number of seats and registrations, and who is responsible to fill the workshop. You also must know who is responsible for the enrollment after the initial contact.  The presenter is responsible for the delivery of the presentation and accountable for the yes rate following a workshop; make sure you are tracking that detail on the LWP Dashboard to Profitability. Lastly, be clear who is responsible for workshop follow up and getting those who say yes scheduled for a Vision Meeting. Any one “who” who does not do his/her job correctly can drastically impact the results of your workshop—from attendance to outcome. Do you know who your whos are, or are you wearing each of those hats yourself?

4. Choosing the wrong location. This can also negatively impact your workshops.  First, be sure the location works for your budget.  Common places to consider are your office, library, senior centers, Chamber of Commerce, and hotels.  I once saw a dashboard that showed more attendees than registrants because the hosting library promoted the workshop, resulting in a number of walk-ins.  Verify that your chosen location will support your style of doing workshops by being a reputable site with ample seating, quality lighting, and appropriate parking.  Your location can either reduce or increase your attendance, so don’t overlook its importance.

5. Not having the proper materials. Review your handouts, and be sure you have what’s needed to demonstrate your value.  Do you provide the Estate Planning Facts handout?  Do you provide a workshop flyer and share that it is for workshop attendees to provide to a family member or friend who may be interested?  Do your workshop attendees have a way of capturing notes, particularly regarding what is important to them, so they can bring those notes to a Vision Meeting?  Do you provide the personal and financial information sheet to simplify the process for attendees and have them complete it prior to their Vision Meeting?  You need to know that your deliverables are working hard to enhance your value.

6. Not presenting the stories properly. This will turn people off.  You must know both: how to present the stories that you tell properly, and which stories you shouldn’t tell.  To determine whether to tell a story, first verify that you’re confident in the legal principle that the story conveys and that your state allows that strategy; there are some states that do not allow a second crack at the apple.  Be sure to review the stories guide, understand which slide accompanies each story, where the story is used in connection with the Estate Plan Audit, and what legal concept you are demonstrating.  Get comfortable with your set up and delivery.  Personalize your story; make it your experience, share your emotions, and be sure to use your Power-In-Partnership communication training.  This includes your purpose story.  Every story has a reason, so be clear on why you are telling each one.

7. Not having proper follow up. This will hurt you.  Follow up begins at the end of your presentation, so don’t rush or cut your workshop closing short.  You always need to have enough time to close your workshop properly.  You should provide time for participants to ask any unresolved questions at the end.  Some of our members even offer to schedule appointments in the back of the room afterward. 

If your process includes calling participants the day after a workshop, be sure to tell participants to expect a call if they said yes, and make sure your “who” has time to make those calls blocked off on his/her calendar.  Being committed to follow up is key, especially when you are a solo, so be sure to account for follow up time.  Don’t overlook what goes into getting appointments, from the closing of the workshop to the actual calendaring of appointments. The longer you wait to follow up, the less relevant your value becomes.

Understanding the standards of planning and preparing for LWP workshops is key to successfully marketing, delivering, and following up to get the goals you desire.  Make sure you are using the LWP Focusers and Dashboard to Profitability to track and measure the impact of changes you make and the return on investment.  I wish you all success in your next workshop!