Mind Shift: Opportunities First, Issues Second
I have written a decent amount about Avvo’s tour of the West Coast last month, but one lawyer from the tour has been clinking around in my head (sadly, there is a lot of room for stuff to clink around in there), and I decided to write about it.
During our seminar in Los Angeles, a lawyer commented from the crowd that he was getting too many leads from Avvo that were smaller cases than he prefers. He said he was getting something like 15 leads per week. He was mildly (maybe completely) annoyed by this and wanted to know how we could help him screen out the smaller cases.
I had to do very little talking in response to this because one of our panelists J. Craig Williams quickly pointed out that the lawyer could be referring these “smaller” cases to hungrier lawyers for a meaningful fee. Kelly Chang Rickert then pointed out that all of this activity through the lawyer’s Avvo Profile was free marketing that would help him land the big case from time to time. I also mentioned the six-figure case that Anthony Colleluori reeled in through Avvo.
Ultimately, our commenting lawyer agreed that these were all great ideas and seemed to be happier that Avvo was sending so many potential clients his way. But it once again got me thinking about how hardwired we are as lawyers to spot the issues of every situation rather than the opportunities. I have written about this before, so I will not go on and on. But let me repeat this piece of advice: It is critical that lawyers, in evaluating their different marketing channels, take the time to think through the different potential opportunities of each channel before listing even one potential issue. Take the time to go hog wild and think through all the different ways you could leverage that channel – whether free or paid. After partaking in such positive thinking, only then identify the potential issues. That will in turn allow you to at least consider the ROI of every opportunity, before scrapping it from the outset due to fear.
I assure every lawyer out there that this simple shift in critical thinking will lead to less hand-wringing and more business. A place that J. Craig Williams and Kelly Chang Rickert already are and every lawyer should be.
Be opportunistic!
Mark
July 6th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Mark,
I can’t believe a lawyer would complain about the SIZE of the cases he received from AVVO. AVVO is a free site. It’s like receiving a gift of a billboard next to a highway, and then complaining that the people who come into your store off the billboard don’t buy enough in your store.
That’s not the fault of the billboard, for Pete’s sake!
There’s also this; forget referring for a referral fee. If you refer cases out, you get cases referred to you. Bread cast on the waters doesn’t come back soggy.
Joseph
July 7th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Mark,
I was at that Los Angeles seminar. I do remember whom you were talking about. After playing with AVVO a decent amount I have a suggestion that would make me much more likely to use it. I wish the questions and answers could be sorted by State. I am a California licensed attorney and I don’t want to answer questions asked by residents of other states. Instead of sorting through questions individually I would love to be able to just have a pull down by state so I could quickly get to questions that are relevant to me.
Just a suggestion. Thanks for the valuable info at the LA seminar. Everyone should attend one.
Christopher R. Twining
http://www.twininglaw.com
July 27th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Mark,
You have a very good point about the mindset of lawyers. We are trained and paid to be problem solvers, so everything we look at tends to look like a problem. Finding opportunities is a different mindset, but one lawyers as business people need to cultivate. Makes us more charming people to be around, too…
Melissa Denton