Legal Practice Pro» iPhone

How To Market A Law Firm The Steve Jobs Way

Jay Fleischman — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:00:53 +0000

The past few years have been very good for Steve Jobs and the folks at Apple. Every year Mr. Mock Turtleneck (a few times a year, actually) takes the stage and proclaims that whatever device he holds in his hand will change the world. He announces a date when this magical doo-dad will be on sale, and then he goes back to the office.

Each year, the process repeats. And each year, we salivate like Pavlovian dogs to get our hands on this thing. Whatever “this thing” happens to be.

If only marketing your law firm were this simple. Hit the stage, sell your services without effort, garner accolades.

We know how he does it, right? Build a sexy product that’s just different enough to make us think about the possibilities of owning it, dangle it in front of our noses for a few moments, then snatch it back until a later date. Until that later date arrives, keep this new-fangled contraption in our head through the use of visual and audio cues (ever wonder why the music in those ads are so damn catchy?) and, at long last, make us line up at 5am to get what we now MUST HAVE.

So how do you use the same approach when marketing you law firm?

Get To The Thing That Sucks For Your Clients (Even if They Don’t Know It)

Steve Jobs knows what sucks for his customers. Their phones were clunky. They couldn’t figure out how to work their computers because they kept having to noodle around with registries and virus checkers and spyware programs and a bunch of extra applications that never worked well with one another. They couldn’t enjoy the mobile Internet because their laptops were too heavy and died too fast.

iPhone. Mac. iPad.

Maybe your client’s marriage is crumbling. Or the bills are piling up. Or there’s a threat of deportation. Whatever it is, you may be tempted to think that this is the thing that sucks in your client’s life. You would be wrong. Marketing your law firm has nothing to do with this.

The thing that sucks for your client is that which they would have if they only worked with you. For a bankruptcy client that could be freedom to spend time with the kids in the evening without having to go to that second job at the convenience store. Or the freedom to answer the phone without being scared of who’s on the other end. For someone with immigration problems it could mean having the ability to work legally and at a better wage.

Getting to that thing that sucks means you’ve got to know not only about your client’s problem, but what they hope to achieve by solving that problem.

Give A Taste

Jobs takes the stage and makes a call with his iPhone. Plays around with photos and applications on his iPad. Holds a MacBook Air and demonstrates just how light it is – and what you could be doing with it. He gives you the ability to mentally own it, to imagine the feeling in your hand and the possibilities involved. He does this by telling a story about you – not about the device itself.

Your client needs to walk in the shoes of those who have come first, those who have filed for bankruptcy and are now enjoying their debt-free lives. People who have confronted a crumbling marriage and are now happier for it. Families who have worked through the immigration system and are now prospering.

Clients don’t want to know about the inner workings of the process. At least, not at first. Eventually they’ll get to the stage where they want what you’ve got, and that’s the time to kick the tires and make sure they know enough to have a level of comfort with the buying process. But not now. Now’s the time to get your clients imagining themselves after it’s all over, feeling the benefits of what you’re offering and deciding if those feelings are ones they’d like to have.

Put It On A Shelf

What if Steve Jobs took the stage and announced the iPhone and then said, “it’s available right now. Just grab one on your way out”? It would surely have sold, but without the anticipation there’s a good chance it would not have sold quite as well.

The waiting makes the purchase that much sweeter. Because remember, you’re buying that benefit we talked about – not the device itself.

When marketing your law firm think about ditching the same-day and next-day appointments and using the time between the first phone call and the consultation appointment to build some excitement about what you’re offering. Send out a letter, an email, or even a link to a video showcasing some of what life is like on the other side of the problem they’re facing.

Create An Event

If you ever want to understand customer service and creating fanfare, head over to the Apple Store the next time there’s a product launch. Employees are actively working the crowd asking them which one they’re going to get, offering water to those waiting on line, and in general making a big deal of things. The store is decked out with the product du jour, and everyone’s just thrilled to have you there.

You feel special. Loved, even. It’s a warm and welcoming environment that reinforces the fact that you have made the right choice by coming here. Because by the time you arrive it’s already a foregone conclusion that you’ve made the decision to purchase.

When a new client comes to visit do you hand them some documents and go about your business, leaving them alone with their thoughts and doubts?

Is your waiting room filled with old magazines and bar journals, or does it have the latest issue of Travel + Leisure to help the client envision herself on a tropical island enjoying the good life?

When was the last time someone came out from the back, sat down next to the new client and introduced himself or herself by name? When was the last time an employee came out to make idle conversation and engage the client?

Steve Jobs works hard to bring to market those products that the public will love, but he also knows that in order to move merchandise he needs to leverage the power of psychology. If he doesn’t then he’s just peddling phones and computers – and that’s a crowded market, just like the market for lawyers.

What do you think?

Photo Credit: Some rights reserved by SeenyaRita

Why The Untethered Lawyer Ditched His iPhone For Droid

Jay Fleischman — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:00:26 +0000

For weeks my iPhone hadn’t logged in any visual voicemail. The only way I knew that there were messages was when my wife called to tell me that my voicemail was full.

For months my phone never rang, with callers going to voicemail (where I would lose them until my wife called to tell me that my voicemail was full).

I persevered, in love with my iPhone.

Then, the week prior to Christmas, all hell broke loose.

My phone wouldn’t fetch data unless I was hooked into wi-fi. One night I stood in the rain for 10 minutes trying to get a simple app to connect so I could get my car. And get out of the rain.

But I loved my iPhone. Sleek, smooth to the touch, a friend indeed. It was more than a phone – it was a constant companion, my alarm clock, my window to Twitter and Facebook, my email client and my music player.

Convinced this was a case of an old phone, I took it to the Genius Bar. Nope, I was told, the phone’s just fine. Call AT&T to see if they can do something on their end with the connectivity.

You’re laughing now. Mocking me. Sit down and hush up – I hate it when proven to be blind.

So I called A&T to see if their network was having unusual problems, especially in light of the fact that I knew they’d pulled the iPhone from their online store for about a day post-Christmas.

Yup, I was told. AT&T has knocked down a bunch of towers in New York City and is in the process of re-building them.

Waitaminit … they’d KNOCKED DOWN CELL PHONE TOWERS IN NEW YORK CITY?

Oh, and here’s the best part.

They had no clue when they’d be ready to go. In the interim, New York City service is marked as “severely degraded.”

So my iPhone was going to be near-bricklike for an unknown amount of time, calling out to cell towers that no longer were and would not be for quite some time.

Was my iPhone awesome? Yes it was.

Is my iPhone now deactivated, costing me an Early Termination Fee? Yes it is.

Welcome to my life with Droid.

A Virtual Lawyer And On-The-Go iPhone Dictation

Jay Fleischman — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:00:39 +0000

In the old days, lawyers had a Dictaphone or some such device, complete with a little hand-held microphone, for dictation. They’d sit at their mahogany desks and ramble into a recorder, then pass the tape to their “girl” (yes, that’s what they were called back then – haven’t you ever watched “Man Men”?). The lawyer would promptly retire to the gentleman’s club for a martini or six, then golf the rest of the day.

Later on, we got hip to technology. Lawyers tossed out the Dictaphones (and started getting sued for chasing their secretaries around desks – rightfully so, I might add) and began using mini-cassette recorders for their dictation. Then it was an electronic recorder with a USB hook-up for their computer.

Now we’ve got something better. An iPhone and a freebie app from the folks who brought us Dragon Dictate.

Nuance Dragon Dictation for iPhone lets you tap the little Record button, start talking, and then tap when you’re finished. The app turns your words into text that you can use for an e-mail, a text message, or the contents of your iPhone’s clipboard.

Make a mistake? No worries, just tap the error to bring up a list of suggestions. Only bad part? You can’t use it offline.

Equally amazing: Dragon Dictation is free, at least for now.

Here’s a video. If you’ve got an iPhone, go grab this app before they start charging big money for it.

Photo courtesy of rpujols.

Untethered Video Conferencing Comes To iPhone

Jay Fleischman — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:00:07 +0000

Fring is a essentially an instant messaging platform that allows you to use AOL, MSN, Yahoo and all the other popular instant messaging systems. It supports Skype calls as well, and works on the iPhone.

Big deal, you say. Skype has an iPhone app.

Ever make a video call on your iPhone with Skype? As of now, you can’t do it.

You can with Fring.

Rock on! Now you can make video calls with your iPhone using Fring. How cool is that?

Hat tip to the VOIP & Gadgets Blog for the information about this new functionality.

Vonage Goes Untethered With New iPhone And BlackBerry Apps

Jay Fleischman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:22:44 +0000

Vonage today launched applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry, bringing low-cost calling for cell phones. The calls go over wi-fi signals, but when wi-fi isn’t available (or when cell coverage is available), Vonage calls take up local minutes.

With cell phone plans so inexpensive these days, it’s tempting to wonder why this is such a big deal. Two reasons:

If you make a lot of international calls, the Vonage calling plan is no doubt far less expensive than that of your cell phone provider.

If you’re using Vonage for your office line then you’re now able to roam the world, untethered, without missing your business calls or worrying about call forwarding.

Why use Vonage for iPhone rather than the Skype app? The iPhone app for Skype is limited to areas where Wi-Fi is available. When you make a Skype call while in cell range, you’re always using your minutes – local or long-distance.

There are differences in how the application works on both iPhone and BlackBerry. When you’re on the iPhone you need to open the Vonage application every time you want to use it. A BlackBerry, in contrast, will automatically revert to the Vonage rates over the wireless provider’s every time an international number is dialed.

It’s a major coup for the untethered, and those who want to cut the cords without breaking the lines of communication.

Law On My Phone – New iPhone Apps For Lawyers

Jay Fleischman — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:26:41 +0000

Ever wish you could quickly calculate the number of court days, calendar days, workdays, business days or calendar days before or after a given date?

How about a handy way to record, organize, and display all of your CLE credits? You know, a simple tool to display the number of credits earned in each of the authorized subject areas, such as skills, ethics and professionalism, law practice management, and professional practice. Something that would also keep track of extra credits you want to apply to the next compliance period.

That would be cool, right?

Well, it’s here – and it’s called Law On My Phone. It’s a suite of iPhone applications tailor-made for lawyers.

The CLE applications are good for California, New York, Florida, Texas and Louisiana only. Presumably, the rest of the state with mandatory CLE will come on board soon enough.

And at $0.99 a pop, your state’s CLE application plus the two date timers will set you back under $3. Not too shabby.

Have you used any of these apps? Are they any good? Drop a comment below and let me know!

How Tethering Your iPhone Can Save You Money

Eugene S. Melchionne — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:00:41 +0000

Multitasking. Productivity. Using technology to achieve both. IPhone tethering can solve a number of problems. Last year when preparing to give a presentation in Hilton Head on technology in the law office, I worried that WiFi would not be present in the seminar room. I had planned to stay in touch with my office and my clients while out of town and I wanted, no, needed, internet access.

After some research and a trip to eBay, I purchased a 3G connect card for my laptop. There are many versions; a USB ‘dongle’ that sticks out of the computer or PC or Express cards that fit into the machine. Essentially, this is cell phone hardware that allows your laptop to connect to the internet over the 3G or EDGE cell network. My service plan allows for 5 Gb of data transfer for the grand sum of about $60.00 per month. Not free certainly, but not a sum that will break the bank.

Now with tethering, I can use my iPhone in place of that card. I no longer need to carry extra hardware. I don’t have to pay that extra charge on my phone bill. Since I didn’t buy the connect card through my cell provider, I’m not tied into an extended contract and can cancel at any time.

But tethering solves many other problems. My summer weekend hideaway offers free WiFi, but it is so slow that it is usable. (Not all WiFi services are equal.) I don’t have to use that.

I can use the tethering feature to connect to my office network with my iPhone, through a VPN, and access my office server from anywhere.

I can fax through that VPN to the fax server on that office network so faxes appear to come from the office instead of where I happen to be at the moment.

I can print to any printer in the office while I am away. That means a client can come in to sign documents that I have drafted without waiting for me to return there to print or faxing the document from the nearest Kinko’s.

I can video-conference with the laptop’s built-in camera, through the iPhone tether, to anyone.

I can place a Skype phone call through the laptop, through the iPhone tether without paying AT&T for the long distance call! All free. Did I say that I like free? Free, free, free!

The possibilities are endless. What can you do with a tethered iPhone today?

Turn Your iPhone Into A Modem For Portable Productivity

Eugene S. Melchionne — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:00:28 +0000

More and more lawyers are using their laptops to access information and work remotely. Though Internet access is readily available at many coffee shops and airports, the charge for connectivity can be extreme. And when you need to hop online for only an hour, paying the full day-rate seems wasteful.

For some, the answer is getting one of those neat little wi-fi cards from the cell phone company. But these, too, often cost $25-$50 per month plus the hardware costs (unless you can get a freebie from the company). Up until now, most lawyers have only dreamed of being able to use their iPhone as a means of getting connected to the Internet with their laptop.

Other cell phones can do this and the feature is enabled (but not activated) in the latest version of the iPhone OS.

I did just that recently. Pressed for time, I needed to send an email with substantial attachments to a Chapter 7 Trustee in a client’s case. I had a 45 minute drive ahead of me to get to Court and the calendar call was in 30 minutes. So I belted my MacBook Pro into the passenger seat with the lid open, connected the laptop to the iPhone by BlueTooth and set my email program sending that email out. Strapped myself into the driver’s seat and headed off to court some 35 miles away. By the time I got to Court, the email had been sent over the G3 cell network and the Trustee had acknowledged receipt by return email!

Next time, I’m going to extend this feat by making a phone call through my car’s handsfree connection while emailing through the laptop at the same time. You can activate the tethering feature in your iPhone easily.

How many things can you do at once?