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The Renegade Lawyer Podcast
I am more convinced than ever that nothing that traditional bar organizations are doing is going to move the needle on the sad stats on lawyer happiness ...
The root cause of all lawyers' problems is financial stress. Financial stress holds you back from getting the right people on the bus, running the right systems, and being able to only do work for clients you want to work with. Financial stress keeps you in the office on nights and weekends, often doing work you hate for people you don't like, and doing that work alone.
(Yes, you have permission to do only work you like doing and doing it with people you like working with.)
The money stress is not because the lawyers are bad lawyers or bad people. In fact, most lawyers are good at the lawyering part and they are good people.
The money stress is caused by the general lack of both business skills and an entrepreneurial mindset.
Thus, good lawyers who are good people get caught up and slowed down in bringing their gifts to the world. Their families, teams, clients, and communities are not well-served because you can't serve others at your top level when you are constantly worrying about money.
We can blame the law schools and the elites of the profession who are running bar organizations, but to blame anyone else for your own woes is a loser's game. It is, in itself, a restrictive, narrow, mindset that will keep you from ever seeing, let alone experiencing, a better future.
Lawyers need to be in rooms with other entrepreneurs. They need to hang with people who won't tell you that your dreams are too big or that "they" or "the system "won't allow you to achieve them. They need to be in rooms where people will be in their ear telling them that their dreams are too small.
Get in better rooms. That would be the first step.
Second step, ignore every piece of advice any general organized bar is giving about how to make your firm or your life better.
The Renegade Lawyer Podcast
Ep. 192 – Renegade Lawyer Marketing (Audio Book) – Chapter 17: Your One-Chapter Marketing Bible
In this episode of The Renegade Lawyer Podcast, we continue the audiobook version of Renegade Lawyer Marketing with Chapter 17: Your One-Chapter Marketing Bible. Ben Glass outlines the five essential systems every law firm must master to stop playing small and start running a true business—not just a job.
Whether you're a solo practitioner or managing a team of 20, these systems form the foundation of a happy, high-performing, client-attracting law firm.
You’ll learn:
- How to create a Client Attraction System using lead magnets like books or white papers
- The anatomy of a Client Conversion System that works even when you're offline
- Why your Follow-Up System for unconverted leads could be a goldmine
- The importance of building a System for Reviews that tell compelling client stories
- How to design a Referral Evangelist System that turns your fans into unpaid ambassadors
Plus, Ben shares tactical advice you can implement this week to start seeing results.
“What others say about you is far more powerful than anything you could say about yourself.”
If you're ready to build a business that serves your life (not the other way around), this chapter is your blueprint.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Ben Glass is a nationally recognized personal injury and long-term disability insurance attorney in Fairfax, VA. Since 2005, Ben Glass and Great Legal Marketing have been helping solo and small firm lawyers make more money, get more clients and still get home in time for dinner. We call this TheGLMTribe.com
What Makes The GLM Tribe Special?
In short, we are the only organization within the "business builder for lawyers" space that is led by two practicing lawyers.
One thing we're sure you've noticed is that despite the variety of options within our space, no one else is mixing
the actual practice of law with business building in the way that we are.
There are no other organizations who understand the highs and lows of running a small law firm and are engaged in talking to real clients. That is what sets GLM apart from every other organization, and it is why we have had loyal members that have been with us for two-decades.
Segment of your herd really does love you, and they'll go out of your way to tell your story, distribute your books, and even look for opportunities to refer. They get more marketing from us, such as an expensive magazine and random cool stuff, such as luggage tags and cell phones, Mavens, that is your long-term referral sources, can get invited to client appreciation dinners. You need to know who your top referral sources are, and they need to know you're paying attention to them.
SPEAKER_00:Welcome to the Renegade Lawyer Podcast, the show that challenges the way lawyers and professionals think about life, business, and success. Hosted by Ben Glass, attorney, entrepreneur, coach, and father of nine, this show is about more than just practicing law. For over 40 years, Ben has built a law firm that stands for something bigger. He's helped thousands of lawyers create practices that make good money, do meaningful work, and still make it home for different. Each week, Ben brings you real conversations with guests who are challenging the status quo. Lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, thinkers, and builders. These are people creating bold careers and meaningful lives without burning out or selling out. If you're ready to stop playing small and start thinking like a renegade, you're in the right place. Let's dive in.
SPEAKER_01:Hey everyone, this is Ben and welcome back to the Renegade Lawyer Podcast. And today we're back to the book Renegade Lawyer Marketing. We're on chapter 17, your one-chapter marketing Bible. Again, we're making the audio version of the book available for free. This enhanced audio version actually has commentary by me that is not in the book. So we spoke about systems that move you from having a job into having a business. As far as marketing goal goes, and all businesses must be marketing machines to thrive. You need to create and master the following five systems for a happier, more lucrative practice. And of course, this is the goal. Like again, your one life. Let's build a happy life. Let's build a happy practice that supports that life. It is 100% possible as I'm recording this. We are just off of the Great Legal Marketing Summit. We sold out. If you have any doubts that Great Legal Marketing and its Summit is the place to be, go on LinkedIn and just look at all of the comments of people who were there and people who weren't there saying why they enjoy this conference above all the other conferences that are going on uh at this time of year. All right, let's dig deeper into the uh into the five systems. Number one, you need a client attraction system. Most lawyers have one call to action. Call me now. You need to give people an alternative reason to contact you because some aren't ready yet to make an appointment, even though they do have a problem or an opportunity that you could solve for them or help them solve. You need an information lead magnet, typically a print book, that you can also make available in an e-book format. If you don't have one, start putting out a free report or a white paper. The best marketers have several books. I've probably got over 20 now different practice area books and also motivational books for my clients. Um, and one for each point on the moving rate of interest a potential client may have for you. And by that I mean there's people that are doing research on their on their problem or opportunity. There's people who are thinking, well, do I need a lawyer? There's people that have hired a lawyer and are having trouble and they maybe want to switch lawyers. So you can actually have marketing pieces, lead generation magnets for each step of that client's journey because you actually don't know where they are when they first find out about you or land on your web page or or come into some contact with you. You then develop collateral marketing material that gives people a reason to be attracted to you and your book or paper because it's different and interesting. And that system then tracks everything. The objection we often hear from lawyers who are exposed to this for the first time is that we are teaching clients how to handle the case on their own and they won't need a lawyer. Well, we aren't. The lead magnet, the lead generation magnet, serves three purposes. It allows you to provide value to people whose cases you actually don't want. These low value or no value injury cases, instead of me or my staff spending time explaining how to handle the case or risking a negative Google review because we couldn't help, the free offer allows you to provide value at scale in exchange for an email and a mailing address that now gives you permission to continue to market to that person for a time in the future when they do need you and they do have a case that you could handle. Next, you can establish yourself as the wise man at the top of the mountain. The days of saying this is the guy who wrote the book are behind us, but that's only because the medium is changing slightly to podcast or video, like this podcast, actually. Either way, there's elevated status in making a different offer into the marketing place than anyone else. Even though I've been teaching the book um strategy for over 20 years, still relatively few lawyers who will go through the work of authoring and dealing with a publisher or self-publisher and getting a book out there. And those lawyers differentiate themselves. Every time I speak on long-term disability, I have one of about two or three different books that I take with me, depending on the audience, that I give out. And yes, we get consults and cases because people take our book home. All right. Next, it demonstrates to your avatar client that handling the case on their own or hiring the wrong lawyer, that is, someone who's not you, is a path littered with landmarks. Besides, the client who's going to call you immediately to ask for help is still going to call you. They aren't going to be persuaded to read the book instead. There are several people on the internet who are truly just looking, and the offer allows you to capture their information and continue to market to them. The book or white paper offers open doors to more new clients than it closes. Next, you need a client conversion system. Most lawyers don't need to invest more money in getting more leads. They need to fix their existing conversion system to convert the leads they're receiving into actual clients. You must create training and scripts for the folks answering their calls. Or if the response mechanism is to fill out a web form, then what that potential client sees on the landing page after he hits the send button must be interesting, informative, and relevant to what he asked for. You need to develop your version of a shock and awe package. That's an information package that shows up like no one else's. Dan Kennedy invented the term shock and awe. And when he spoke for us at our national summit, he introduced the term on the June 17, 20, 2023 episode of the Renegade Lawyer podcast. So you can go back and find that episode. Dan also spoke for us, again, as I'm recording this a couple of weeks ago at the GLM summit. Those recordings will be available shortly, and you'll be able to purchase the entire audio recordings delivered in the form of a private podcast. That's pretty cool. Finally, you need an automated follow-up system for unconverted leads. Don't lose them, they're gold. Twice a year we go through the unconverted leads that didn't tell us that they'd hired another lawyer, and we called them back and we asked them, Are you still looking or did you find someone else to solve your problem? The first time we did that exercise, we went back a year and signed 20 new clients in a week. Those results are abnormal, but if you take the time to do this follow-up, you will sign at least three to five new clients who you would not otherwise have gotten to work with. This is something that your larger competitors are good at, actually. If you don't think so, fill out one of those Facebook ads for you need a lawyer if you've been in an accident, put your cell phone number in and an email address in the form, and you'll see that they are relentless. This is what you're up against. And as I said earlier, the gorillas do know what they are doing. Today, our sequence after a potential client reaches out to us includes a drop sequence. If someone reaches out to us and then disappears either after initial contact or consultation, they get an email, text message, and phone call once a day for five days. Following that, they are seeded into our regular email list, and a couple of times a year we recontact our deep list and sign up new clients each time. Next, you need a system for collecting online reviews. This is so important, so important. Like it or not, your prospects are checking you out by reviewing online lawyer rating information. Your hating it doesn't mean they won't do it. Our Ben Glass Law online reviews have been very powerful force for us. This is not random. We have a system that encourages consumers to tell others about us, and we make it easy for them to do it. Moreover, we're good at getting them to tell stories, not just give us likes. If a marketing vulture ever tells you to pay them to get you more likes, tell them, sure, but only if I can pay you in likes, not dollars. A big point that most lawyers miss, there's absolutely no reason to wait until the end of the case to get others to write about you. What others write about you is not limited to testimonials about the result you got them. Remember, consumers will likely remember the experience they had with your firm for much longer than they will remember the result you got for them. By the way, don't let those reviews live and die on your Google Business profile. Find ways to repurpose them in your other marketing by moving the best testimonials to your website, your print newsletter, and social media. Like the Avo experience, you never know what the owner of any media is going to do next. By that I mean like Avo was relevant and it was great for a long time and then it wasn't, and it really literally dropped off the face of the earth, as far as my opinion goes about that. Next, you need a system for creating and encouraging evangelists. Now, this is a step above, hey, I gave you a positive review. What others say about you is far more powerful than anything you could say about yourself. We all have our fans, those people who have requested information from us, who now get marketing from us. They get specific marketing when they are prospects who have raised our hands, and they get mailed a monthly print newsletter as long as they're still living in our market area. That's your basic system. The advanced evangelist system recognizes that a segment of your herd really does love you, and they'll go out of your way to tell your story, distribute your books, and even look for opportunities to refer. They get more marketing from us, such as an expensive magazine and random cool stuff, such as luggage tags and cell phone chargers. Your Mavens, that is your long-term referral sources, can get invited to client appreciation dinners. The point is you need to know who your top referral sources are, and they need to know you're paying attention to them. The easiest way to start this process is to write about them in your monthly newsletter or ask them to consider contributing an article. This advanced strategy is to invite them to your video studio for interviews that promote them, not you. Remember, what others say about you is far more powerful than anything you could say about yourself. And you finally need a specific system for increasing referrals from other professionals and business owners. Getting referrals from other respected herd leaders or tribal leaders, we sometimes call them, this is huge. You want this to be an orchestrated, not a random process. The single best way to get referrals is to look around your community, find people who could be referring clients to you, and ask yourself, what can I do for these people or their business first? That's from Zig Ziggler. I started listening to Zig Ziggler stuff, I think probably 50 years ago or so. Always positive. One of his themes was you can get everything in this world that you want if you only look around and make sure that everyone else gets what they want first. Now, all businesses, including law firms, must be marketing machines to thrive. And these five systems are the heart of the machine. All right, in the next chapter, chapter 18, I'm going to invite you to steal my referral strategy. All right, until then, talk soon.
SPEAKER_00:That's it for today's episode of the Renegade Lawyer Podcast, where we're rewriting the rules of what it means to build a great law practice and a great life. If something sparked a new idea or gave you clarity, pass it on. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who's ready to think bigger. Want more tools, strategies, and stories from the trenches? Visit GreatLegalMarketing.com or connect with Ben Glass and the team on LinkedIn. Keep building boldly. We'll see you next time.
