Legal Marketing & PR

Billy Mays "the pitchman" and Legal Marketing

By Tom Kane

Being totally honest, when I first saw the title of Jeff Berman's post on AttorneySync about Billy Mays, who recently died suddenly, I thought it was a bit insensitive in its timing. But, as I started reading '6 Things We Can Learn From Billy Mays About Lawyer Marketing' (and before I saw his cite to one of my posts -- honest), I realized I had rushed to judgment. Not only was Jeff sensitive to the great 'pitchman's' passing, but his points were right on target relative to lawyer marketing.

Since Billy Mays was local to my area, his passing was extensively covered in the local papers, as well as online. I learned a lot from those who knew and loved him. Most importantly, he loved what he was doing, and he never pushed products he didn't believe in. That is Jeff's overall point, I believe.

So, here are his six pointers:

1. Use the 'WOW' factor. He, nor I, don't mean 'wow' in any unprofessional sense, but rather by demonstrating your niche and expertise after better understanding the issues and building some trust (this is best done by listening to the client more than 50% of the time - a WOW factor in itself);
2. Enjoy your practice. Here Jeff refers to my recent post and the reference to David Maister's survey about too many lawyers don't enjoy their work or the clients they do it for;
3. Undertake services you really believe in. If you do not believe in the value of the services you provide, you simply cannot do as good a job as you would if you 'offered good value and solved a problem for people' with heart like Mays did;
4. Provide quality presentations. Ensure that your presentation – whether in a formal speech, elevator pitch, or in casual conversation is 'professional, unique, & polished;'
5. Know your audience and whom you trying to reach. In order to effectively develop business, lawyers too need to know their market and target clients; and
6. Network effectively. Networking with 'strong professional connections,' again like Mays did, will improve your success in developing business.

Thanks, Jeff.

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Blog on July 07, 2009 (boomark / email).