Larry BodineThe Law Blog GuruStephen FairleyCEO, The Rainmaker Institute

Generating New Clients for a Personal Injury Law Firm

Sponsored by The National Trial Lawyers

PublisherThe National Trial LawyersBit.ly/LawBlogGuru LarryBodineNow@Gmail.com520.577.9759

About Larry Bodine

CEO of The Rainmaker Institute—the nation’s largest law firm marketing company that specializes in helping small law firms generate more referrals and convert more leads

• Coached, trained and spoken to more than 10,000 attorneys

• Developed the first automated lead conversion follow-up system for attorneys

• Nationally recognized expert on intake & lead conversion, blogging, and social media for attorneys

• Academically trained as a Clinical Psychologist

• International best-selling author of 12 books and 10 audio learning programs

• World traveler: Visited over 35 countries and taken 15 cruises

About Stephen Fairley

• Optimize the #1 place clients look for you

• Find the riches in the niches

• Get the most from TV advertising

• 5 things PI attorneys should not waste money on

• Buying from lead-generation companies and how to do it without getting burned

• Build a referral network - turn your contacts and clients into your sales force

• Attract bigger cases by being a well-recognized thought leader

Today’s Program

• Yellow pages

• Radio

• Billboards

• Print (ads and brochures)

• Any marketing that can't be measured

5 things PI attorneys should not waste money on

• 67,000 personal injury or mass tort topic TV spots broadcast

• Your competitors in major markets are spending more than $100,000 per month– Top 10 law firm TV advertisers spend $800K

per month

• Better approaches– Promote a single practice area– Focus on a nich– Seek to dominate a local market– Buy remnant space on cable TV

Getting the most from TV advertising

• TV ads

• Radio

• Billboards

• Park Benches

• Bus advertisements

Broadcasting vs. Narrowcasting

Narrowcasting is the better approach

Internet is #1 way consumers search for lawyers

• Don’t make it all about you

• Tell stories about clients

• Describe client service

• Engage your visitors– Live Chat!– Newsletter signup page– Ebook or white paper downloads– FAQs describing the cost of personal injuries– Comment on a blog post

Optimizing Your Website to Attract Clients

FrequentBlogPosts

Bit.ly/LawBlogGuru

» Updated 3-5 times per week

» The more you blog, the more clients you get –Hubspot

» Best length: 300 – 500 words

5X Per Week is Optimal for Lead

Gen

4 Visitor Conversion Basics

“It’s the Niches that Lead to the Riches”—Stephen Fairley

• A personal injury lawyer for all torts is viewed as a master of none.

• Market a particular specialty– Dog bites– Aviation accidents– Car accidents– Defamation lawsuits– Medical Malpractice– Products liability– Premises liability

– Property damage– Railroad injury– Slip & Fall– Traumatic brain injury– Toxic mold– Wrongful death– Civil Rights

Online Reviews

90% of Customers Say Buying Decisions Are Influenced By Online Reviews - Dimensional Research, 2013

79% Of Consumers Trust Online Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations – BrightLocal 2013

Hand out professionally printed review cards

With links to review pages

Email links to review sites To happy clients

Respond to all comments – good and bad

To help keep your overall ratings high

List all review sites Furnish to all staff and

lawyers Make sure everyone

understands the importance

Onboarding Process How did they find the

firm? Was it by an online review?

Request Reviews After a positive in-person

consultation or favorable settlement

6 Tactics for Online Reviews

• Public speaking

• Webinars

• Activity in client organizations

• Writing for other blogs and websites

• Create legal guides on Avvo and then post a link to them on your Google+ page to get them ranking high

• Commenting on discussions on LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+

Attract better cases as a well-recognized thought-leader

• 103,480,348 new legal actions every year -- National Center for State Courts.

• Lead-gen companies create TV advertising spots on a specific tort –like Actos, Granuflo or Pradaxa

• The TV spots direct consumers to call a toll-free number

• Calls directed to a rotation of law firms

• Modest budget = $25,000 for a two-week campaign

Should you buy from lead-generation companies?

• Internet-driven lead generation companies: Total Attorneys, Nolo, Lead Rival, and LegalZoom

• PI leads: start at $20 go over $100 for more serious injuries

• Med Mal: $20-$60 per lead

• Meso: range from $100 to over $500 per lead

• Can be a very fast way to get more leads in a matter of days or weeks

Should you buy from lead-generation companies?

1. Leads MUST be geographically exclusive

2. You MUST have a dedicated intake specialist

3. You MUST have a sense of urgency when following up

4. You MUST call every lead at least 7-10 times before giving up

5. You MUST track every single lead

5 Keys to Convert More Leads

• What a great referral looks like

• Why you value and depend on their referrals

• How to make a referral to your office – Email introduction or Phone call or In person – Will you call them or do they need to call you? – Invite them to a seminar, a lunch, 1 on 1 meeting…

• What’s in it for the referral source

• What to tell referrals about you and your firm

• What information they can give/hand out – Brochure, special report, video, EBook, CD…

A referral network of your contacts and clients

888.588.5891

Stephen@TheRainmakerInstitute.com

www.TheRainmakerBlog.com

Stephen Fairley

520.577.9759

LarryBodineNow@Gmail.com

http://bit.ly/LawBlogGuru

Contact Us for your Marketing Needs

Larry Bodine

Thursday, August 14Noon Pacific Time

You’ll discover:

• What a secret shopper found calling 125 law firms

• Over 15 best practices for improving your intake

• How to structure your intake team

• Specific steps to double your lead conversion in 90 day or less

Mark your calendar for our next NTL Members-only webinar:

Converting More Leads into Paying Clients