Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Out of sight, out of mind. Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net/sippakorn

Many years ago, one of my colleagues (and friend), Cordell Parvin, provided me the slides to one of his seminars.  And while the topic is not important, what is notable is that one of the slides contained the following truism:

“It’s not what you know. 

It’s not who you know.

It’s not even who knows you. 

It’s who knows what you know.”

This is a very interesting way to say that you, and the services you provide as an attorney, must remain at the top of the minds of your prospects, your clients and your referral sources.  (By the way, I have usurped that slide for my seminars – thanks Cordell.)

Quick – What comes to mind when I say soda (or pop, depending on what part of the country you are from)?  Did you think Coca-Cola?  Pepsi?

What about fast food?  Does McDonald’s come to mind?  Burger King?  Wendy’s?

How about when I say sneakers (or trainers or running shoes)?  Did you think Nike?  Adidas?  Reebok?

Each one of these brands has spent many millions of dollars trying to be the first thing you think about when you are thirsty, hungry or need new gym shoes.   Each one of corporations spends hours on commercial time, advertising, media, billboards, online ads, etc. so that you continue to see them all of the time.  Every day, we are bombarded with information from these and other companies over and over again.  Why?  Because they know that if they repetitively keep themselves in your mind, you will most likely buy their products.

While most attorneys and law firms do not have the advertising budgets that these and other big name brands have, what they do have is time.

Except . . . as lawyers we are very, very busy.

That is, unless you don’t have clients – and then you have all of the time in the world.

Too many attorneys experience the “feast or famine” syndrome that goes along with not marketing their legal services consistently and constantly.   When they are busy working on client matters, they claim that they don’t have time to market their services.  When the client matters end, they are scrambling for new clients and stressing about paying the bills.

Isn’t it time to stop that vicious merry-go-round?

You have heard the cliché: “out of sight, out of mind” many times.  Did you ever stop to think about what it truly means in the context of your rainmaking activities?

It means that if you are not frequently and repetitively keeping your name in front of the people with whom you want to business, or in front of the people who can refer new client matters, when a potential case arises for which you would be the perfect attorney, you may not be the first attorney that comes to mind.  In fact, the lawyer who will come to mind is the one that has kept their name in the forefront.

Keeping your name at the top of their minds means:

• Figuring out your specific legal brand,
• Determining your ideal clients,
• Discovering where these ideal clients are hanging out – both on and off line,
• Ascertaining the other people who work with your ideal clients so that you can create relationships which lead to referrals, and
• Finding a way to create connections with these people on a continual basis.

Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about the topics above as well as the various methods and tactics you can use to keep your name and your legal practice “top of mind”.

The only way to get off that merry-go-round, which like any really good amusement park ride makes you dizzy, sick to your stomach, scared and stressed, is to continually market your services.

New York and New Jersey Law Firms:   SCHEDULE A RAINMAKING TRAINING SEMINAR IN YOUR CONFERENCE ROOM & EARN ETHICS CLEs Unlike other Rainmaking Seminars in which your attorneys have to leave the office, this training is conducted in your conference room at your firm’s convenience. (More states being added regularly.)