Lawyers search for the next shiny object that will be the panacea for their marketing and management challenges. But they are wasting their time. What many do not realize is that a case management software will not solve their problems and jumping from one marketing campaign to the next will not bring long-term success.
So, what is the key to success? In a word, consistency. If you take any marketing campaign and consistently implement a campaign with a single-minded focus, it will be highly successful over time. When you are remarkably consistent, you become extraordinarily successful over the long-term.
“The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.”
Great by Choice, by Jim Collins and Morten Hansen
At marketing seminars, I often talk about the value of a monthly print newsletter for nurturing referral relationships. I can sense the skepticism in the audience, as some lawyers shake their heads, as if to say, “This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” I tackle the skepticism head-on by asking, “Have you ever had a print newsletter?” and the response is just what I expected, “Yeah, I had a newsletter for 4 months and it didn’t work.”
Nothing works for 4 months. But with consistency and patience, this skeptical lawyer might have discovered that a monthly print newsletter is the most powerful tool for nurturing hundreds (or even thousands) of referral relationships with referring lawyers, vendors and former and current clients.
“Be boringly consistent in the short term to become remarkable in the long term.”
Jeremie Averous
Our law firm has had a monthly print newsletter, Lawyer Alert, for over 10 years and without question, it generates new referrals and top of mind awareness among our referral partners. But would a monthly print newsletter have worked for a few months? No chance. Our monthly print newsletter has been successful because of the consistency of sending the newsletter every month for years.
A Case Study that Might Shock You
Case in point: On January 8th, I began a streak of asking for at least 1 Google review every day. Asking for a Google review via email only takes 10 seconds and is easy to do. Frequently, our law firm will go days without getting a Google review, but over time, the reviews consistently seem to pop up.
And you can’t argue with the results. On January 8th, our law firm had 124 Google reviews and as of September 19th, we have 447 Google reviews (and we are well on our way to having 500 Google reviews by December 31st). Our law firm added 323 Google reviews in a little over 8 months. How did this happen? The consistent practice of asking for at least 1 Google review every day.
And there’s no reason you can’t do the same thing. Think of an activity, if you did it consistently every day, would make a profound impact on your law firm or your life? Keep a record of your streak and keep doing the activity every day. You won’t notice much of a change at first, or even for the first few weeks, but over time, you will be stunned by the results.
Turns out, consistently doing an activity every day is the key to long-term success.
Photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels