“What did you learn in the first quarter?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. My boss, Jim Hurley, emails these memo requests regularly to our leadership team and this was one of the few I did not need to review a report or do a deep mental dive in to. My primary lesson learned stemmed from Google’s recent update. It showed me that we do not own our web traffic. It’s nice to think we do after all of the time and money we throw into it, but we do not. Like most of the businesses affected, we did not do anything wrong. Our primary crime was having “injury lawyers” as part of our official name.
After realizing this with the Google update, it forced me to think about it for our other advertising spaces. Another advertiser can renew their billboard contract before us, campaign season always drives up television prices, and God bless us all that have been through a Google My Business suspension.
So what? What lesson did I actually learn?
Our database is the most valuable marketing asset we have.
I know this. You know this. But when you compare the time, money and energy, you dump into other marketing spaces to the time, money and energy you put into your database- how does it measure up?
Did you frown the same way I did? Great. Let’s get into some strategies that will help you zero in on the referral sources that matter most.
Your Thank You’s
You got a referral. Great! Now what? Go above and beyond the form letter on letterhead or the promotional pen. Find a local bakery in the area that will drop off a dozen mini cakes or cupcakes to you at a time and send that to your referral partners that month. Drop in that form letter or thank you card and watch how appreciated they feel.
If you have someone in your office that can, I encourage calling the referral source to thank them. “Hey Mr.— how are you? Jim wanted me to give you a call to say thank you for referring your sister to us. Those referrals mean everything to our firm.” I have recently delegated this to our Client Services Director and our referral partners love it. We often get updates on clients we have not spoken to in years and they are reminded as to why they hired us.
Your Client Experience
As a business owner or marketer I am certain you’ve had the “Unique Value Proposition” conversation, maybe even hired an outside agency to help you ‘discover’ it. Know that the one thing your competitors do not have that you do are the clients you serve(d). You have to ensure that their experience with your firm is superb. I’m certain you have hired team members who are contacting clients regularly and have the most golden personalities. Take it a step further by determining a time where clients begin to get antsy in how long their case is taking. The month before have the legal team send them a “gift” that reminds the client how hard you are working for them and thanks them for trusting your firm. Here is an example: At 3 months we send clients a movie night gift box. It comes in a branded box, has popcorn, candy and a note from their legal team that states “We know how much you have gone through these past few months. We hope that you can take a night this week for yourself and relax.” We get calls, reviews, emails, texts and pictures with clients telling us how much they love it and felt appreciated.
Your Post Client Experience
When doing testimonials for our television commercials, I found out that every client we interviewed celebrates the date of their accident. For many, it was the day they narrowly escaped death. Even though it is a celebration, it is still tied to a very traumatic event. We decided to create “settle-versary” gifts. A year after the clients settlement, we send them a letter reminding them that it has been a year since their settlement and thanking them for trusting us with their case. This is another tear-jerker for many of our clients as it was the day all of the drama that came with their accident, was over. Creating a settle-versary gift is something that only we can
do as for an overwhelming majority of clients we will be the only injury law firm they ever work with.
Your Systems
If any young marketer asks my advice on the one thing they need to focus on to grow I will always say “systems” Any strategy you deploy that focuses on your database marketing has to have a system to accompany it or the chances of it failing multiply. Assume you decide to implement gifting your referral partners a baked good. Ensure the bakery delivers the baked goods on the same day every month, know exactly which team member(s) will be sending the gifts out and try pre-printed thank you cards to save on time. Make sure the process is written down and taught multiple times to the people that will be carrying it out. It is important to note that his piece is not written in an effort to discourage you from using advertising spaces. I yell the benefits of multi-channel attribution from the roof tops. However, if you are still maneuvering through the effects of the Google update or have ever had an advertising space removed from your arsenal- take a minute. Assess your database referral sources and determine if you are putting enough resources into your client experience. If not, deploy some of the above strategies and let me know how they work out for you.
Cassidy Lewis
Chief Marketing Officer
Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers
