I held a lunch and learn recently which featured this topic as a roundtable discussion.  We had professionals in a variety of industries share what they typically do to acknowledge their clients, referral partners, or employees.

Start from a place of gratitude:

I’ve read in numerous places that the first step towards abundance is gratitude.  I’m not suggesting that you give in order to get, but simply be open to this universal concept.   Here are a few references, in case you’re interested or unfamiliar with this principle:

http://visualizeabundance.com/gratitude-list.php

http://www.thehigherlife.com/frm/thl_quote.asp?ID=169;

http://www.simpleabundance.com/gratitude_journal.html;

http://anonyrrie.typepad.com/wings4youcoaching/gratitude/;

http://www.abundanceandprosperity.com/law-of-attraction/gratitude/;

In our panel discussion, no one got “new agey”, we simply shared from the heart about why we feel it is important to acknowledge those who work for us, do business with us, or refer business to us. Our guests included marketing professionals, attorneys, financial advisors, CPA’s, coaches, consultants, and an appraiser.  While our professions were different, our mindset was unified.  We all felt it was essential to express gratitude to our clients, employees, and referral partners.

How we expressed it differed from one industry to another, but mostly it was a personal decision to honor those who did business with us or generated business for us.

Ways to show gratitude in your business:

Be sure to run these ideas by your compliance department if you are in a regulated industry like Law, Financial Services, Mortgage or Real Estate Services, etc.  However, I’m confident there is something you can use below, and not break any rules within your industry.

1.  Handwritten Notes:

Most people would agree that the handwritten note has become a lost sentiment from the past.  It’s so easy to send a text, email, or leave a voicemail.  Who bothers to take the time to hand write a note anymore?  Emily Post must be turning in her grave!

However, those who do take the time are the ones who reap the rewards because they are often acknowledged by the receiver of their note.  It may seem odd that someone would thank you for writing a thank you note, but it happens regularly.  Whether or not you are acknowledged for it, it’s a good idea to take time to acknowledge the other person for what they did for you or what you appreciate about them.  That goes for employees, clients, referral partners, and people in your network.

Don’t you want your network to think well of you?

• Drop them a note after a meeting and let them know how and why it was a pleasure for you to spend time with them.  Personalize it; reflect back to something that was said in the meeting.
• Send a thank you note or card for a referral.
• Acknowledge it with a handwritten note, when someone takes the time to talk through a problem with you, or brainstorm an idea with you.
• Thank your employees for doing a great job.  Sure you expect that of them, but appreciation goes a long way.
• Thank your clients by handwritten note for doing business with you.  Yes, you rendered them a service, and they thanked you by paying for it.  However, there’s nothing wrong and everything right about the service provider thanking the client for the privilege of providing them that service.

2.   Charitable Donation:

Some businesses are precluded from receiving anything that might resemble a gift.  Whether the item is a meal, tickets to an event, or a small token of appreciation like a $5 gift card to the local coffee shop, all are precluded in certain business based on corporate policy.  Rather than place someone in an awkward position of having to return the gift, some professionals have chosen to make a charitable donation in the name of that person.  The charity could be a favorite of the person named, or the person who provided the charitable gift.

Some online resources for making charitable gifts and letting the gift recipient choose the charity include:

www.globalgiving.org

www.givingnote.org

3.  Have fun together:

This might mean hosting a party at your company and inviting clients or referral partners.  Some call these client appreciation events.  It could be an event at your workplace, or elsewhere like a baseball game, Art Museum, Theatre.

Other businesses scheduled family oriented activities for their clients and other guests to bring their families and have fun together.

One professional talked about ways to honor her staff by scheduling a couple hours of free chair massages in the middle of the work day.  All the Employees LOVED it!

4.  Small tokens of appreciation:

If gifts aren’t taboo for your industry or the gift recipient, some of our panelists suggested:

• Gift cards
• Books
• Coffee/tea
• Wine
• Popcorn
• Cookies
• Baskets of goodies
• Homemade baked goods/home grown herbs, etc.

The key point emphasized here was: ‘Know your gift recipient’!

You don’t want to give wine to someone that doesn’t drink alcohol, or coffee to a tea drinker.  Find out ahead of time if they like sports, sweets, movies, events, etc.

• Taking a client or referral partner out to lunch or their favorite sporting event was also suggested.
• Others suggested something very personalized, like a picture frame when someone is having a baby.  Included would be a handwritten note extending your sentiments.
• Birthday acknowledgements on Facebook to your network is a FREE gesture with a minimal time commitment, which is appreciated by the birthday greeting recipient.
• A coaching professional offers a complimentary coaching session for his clients on their birthday.
• Another professional mentioned he brings bagels to client meetings (the good kind from an authentic Jewish Deli!)
• Some professionals patronize their client’s business and purchase a product or service and tell their network about it.
• A CPA mentioned he offers discounts on his client’s tax return, when they refer him new business.
• Another simple gesture is to take time to call and thank them for a referral and let them know if/when it turns into business.

However you choose to acknowledge your clients, referral partners, or employees, the bottom line is “Just Do It!”  It’s the right thing to do, and as suggested at the beginning of this article, it will probably bring something positive back to you.  Abundance begins with gratitude!

POINTS TO PONDER AND SHARE:

-What are your favorite ways to show appreciation?

-What are your favorite ways to be acknowledged?

We’ve all heard writing instructors (whether in high school or college) tell us to write about what we know.

1) It allows you to showcase your expertise on a topic;

2) It is generally easier to generate passion or other appropriate emotion in your writing if you are very familiar with the topic;

3) It is easier to connect with your readers, when you write about what you know.  Chances are they are interested in that topic too, and may know something about it already and want to learn more.

Wouldn’t it be great if the people who wanted to sell to us also knew their audience? We might be more inclined to buy if they:

1)  Dazzled us with their expertise about a product or service we were interested in buying;

2)  Or exuded genuine passion about how the product or service would change our life for the better, because they really knew our needs and found a way to meet them;

3)  Or because we fit their target demographic, they knew what we liked, and they consistently found ways to engage us as consumers in a meaningful way.

How many companies or professional service providers do that on a regular basis? Chances are you can count your favorites on one hand.  I’m always surprised when I receive a mailing intended to solicit me as a new customer–when I’m already doing business with the company.  Is it really that hard to separate your prospect list from your client list?

I was reading a recent blog authored by business coach, Preston True, called Relationships 101, which echoed my frustration about being mass marketed to instead of target marketed.  Preston shared an example about being excited to receive what looked like an invitation or card in the mail, instead of the usual junk mail or bills, only to have his joy disappear as he read the ridiculous greeting of “Hello Diva!”   Talk about a disconnect!  I can picture his confused, annoyed, expression right now.  Clearly that marketer sent her mailing to anyone with a pulse and a mailing address, instead of carefully choosing her intended audience at an upcoming event she was promoting.

While mass marketing might work for some products with mass appeal or need (ie. toilet paper), professional service providers and niche product developers need to zero in on what their target client wants and needs.  If you don’t know what your market wants or needs, ask them or do research to find out.  It’s a much better use of your time and resources to meet the known needs of your clients, instead of blindly pitching something you hope they’ll buy.

Think about your own business:

•Do you have a clearly defined target client market?

•Does your website and other marketing materials speak to and attract that type of client?

•Do you know what type of products and services your target client wants and needs?

•Do you know who your target referral partners  or affiliates are?

Whether you are writing for them, speaking to them, or hoping to attract them as clients.  Be clear about who you want, and watch them show up!

I’ve always appreciated hearing about and doing business with companies who give something back to the community, or otherwise have a charitable function as part of their business.  We all have our favorite businesses we support, and we expect good products and services at a fair price.  Yet those companies who think beyond themselves and connect with us on a personal level, seem to successfully gain our loyalty.  Doesn’t it warm your heart and endear you even more to the company when they support a cause that is also important to you?

The Yaffe Group not only does this within their own company, but they help their clients with “cause marketing” as a key element of the services they provide.  I recently spoke with Michael Morin, the Executive Vice President and Director of Client Services at Yaffe.  He’s been with the 52 year old company for 30 years, and cause marketing has been part of the company culture for as long as he can remember.  Morin explained that some of their clients come to them with a specific cause to market that is near and dear to them, while other clients support a cause as part of their overall marketing strategy.   Morin said, “I think we attract this type of client, because we believe in it.  Cause marketing helps build relationships because you can relate to people on another level through a common interest or passion, and we enjoy giving back to the community.”

The Yaffe Group is an advertising agency which helps its clients with brand consulting, promotions, and creative services through its offices in Southfield, Michigan; Houston, Texas; and Phoenix, Arizona. Yaffe and its employees has helped the Arts, women and children, Leader Dogs for the Blind, Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Lighthouse of Oakland County, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Boy Scouts of America, and other organizations over the years through cause marketing campaigns.  Morin feels that it “humanizes a company while increasing their visibility and that of the cause they are supporting.  The cause becomes the catalyst and the connector.”

Morin suggests that if companies are considering a cause marketing campaign, they should seek to accomplish these 3 things:

1)      Make a connection:  Make the cause relevant to the business and its customers.

2)      Make it personal:  Be engaged on a personal level and create the marketing campaign out of a shared passion within the organization.

3)      Make an impact:  Benefit the greater community or the cause you are supporting as a result of the marketing campaign.

The proliferation of social media makes it even easier to link friends together to support a common cause.  Why not gather some friends or local businesses together over a cause you are passionate about and make an impact?

Enjoy!

Lori T. Williams, Esq.

Niche Specialization for Lawyers

By: Steven M. Gursten, Esq.

We’ve all heard there are many advantages to niche specialization, yet many law firms continue to maintain a general practice or offer a wide array of legal services to ensure no opportunity is missed. In a dynamic legal industry where today’s demand for efficiency and the need to stand out competitively are higher than ever, firms must find alternatives to capture new business. Refining your firm’s focus and narrowing in on a specialized area of practice can help you gain a competitive edge along with greater efficiencies and credibility.

What’s in a Name?

Almost all law firm names are a series of last names of founding partners. But unless you are one of the very few law firms in America spending a fortune on television, and perhaps to a much lesser extent, radio, and yellow pages, these names mean absolutely nothing to the average person on the street. It reflects a by-gone era when most lawyer referrals were word of mouth. But your surname, or three to five surnames, tells the public nothing about yourself or what areas of law you practice within.

These names are basically very hard to remember, hard to pronounce, and susceptible to all sorts of interesting spelling permutations. It also does nothing to distinguish or separate yourself from any other lawyer or law firm with a bunch of strange sounding names.

Being a generalist, people won’t remember you for any particular area of true expertise.

Many lawyers are faced with the challenge of competing for clients in an already crowded and hyper-competitive field. One has only to open up the local phone book for proof.

Choosing a “dba” that clearly states the type of law your practice is involved in can differentiate and distinguish you from other law firms, even other law firms who practice within the same area as yours. Someone who glances at your letterhead or street sign or business card would know immediately what type of law you practice. And in that glance it immediately differentiates your lawyers from competitors. Perhaps most important, it conveys that your law firm has deep subject matter knowledge and expertise. Some examples of this could include “Denver Divorce Law” or “New York Personal Injury Experts”. With these types of law firm names, potential clients searching for a lawyer immediately know what type of service you provide and distinguishes you as a local expert in that field of law.

Some partners may at first be very reluctant to make the leap to a dba or firm name change. They may be concerned that by embracing niche specialization and focusing solely on one area of practice, they would lose the miscellaneous case or two that came from a past friend or client’s referral. But by focusing on one practice area you may find that these losses, to the extent that they have occurred, have been more than offset by signing far more cases of people who have a specific need for your area of law.

By choosing to practice in one very narrow and niche-specialized area of law, everyone – your potential clients, potential referral sources and the general public will know immediately and exactly what you do.  Your image is clear and precise.

Marketing in the 21 st Century and the Google Age

In the business of law, marketing yourself as a generalist does not persuade, distinguish, or differentiate yourself in a sea of lawyer advertising. You are just one more name, either competing with well-branded TV advertisers who would spend millions in advertising every year, or in a phone book packed with similar ads from other lawyers with unfamiliar names as well.

Advertising legal services as a generalist isn’t only confusing to human beings, it’s confusing for the search engines as well. In the internet age, niche specialization makes it easier for web crawlers and search engines that continuously monitor the web for content to understand exactly what area of law you practice, just like it does for people.

A clearly stated area of practice, well-supported by content that is thematically relevant and consistent to this area of practice makes it easy for the search engines to understand and index your website. The job of the search engines is to deliver the most relevant results to the user. A website focused on niche specialization makes this task easier for the search engines to deliver useful content. Unfortunately for most lawyer websites today, every area of law that is listed complicates this task, and puts you at risk for lower rankings, buried deep in search results never to be found. What is true for people is also true for search engines – and niche specialization makes it easy for both people and internet search engines to understand who you are and what kind of law you specialize in.

The mistake that too many lawyers make in offering a long list of legal services is that they don’t want to miss out on that one “big case.” Yet the more areas of law you offer legal services in, the less authoritative you become – for people and for search engines.

The more narrow your niche, the easier it is to establish yourself as the authority in that specialized area of law and for people and web crawlers to regard you as a more relevant choice in that area of law.  Also, the easier it is for your clients, potential clients, and referral sources, including other lawyers, to know and more easily remember exactly what it is you do.

Niche specialization works in the internet age.

Other Advantages of Niche Specialization

Additional benefits to niche specialization in addition to search engine optimization, include:

Persuasiveness and Credibility -The more narrow your niche, the easier it is to establish yourself as the authority in that specialized area of law and for people to perceive you immediately as an expert in that area of law.

Recognition – Lawyers are more likely to refer cases to you if you specialize, and a higher web ranking on the internet more likely to drive clients to your firm. Your chance of being contacted by media as a source for comments will significantly increase. You will more likely be asked to speak at legal seminars on your area of expertise.

Increased Efficiency. By focusing on only one type of case your firm will be able to build an extensive document library and work product database that covers both specific cases that are routine and not routine. The more you specialize, the more you will develop in-depth knowledge about your area of the law.

Reduction of Costs - Being all things to all people creates lots of stress. Every new case and new motion requires huge additional effort. Today, with only a few words typed in your document management system, attorneys can quickly find work product on almost every conceivable issue related to your niche area of law – from motions in limine filed in past trials to unusual lien situations.

Better Use of Forms – Niche specialization allows attorneys and staff to create interrogatories, motions and form documents in a blink.

Better Division of Labor – Specializing allows lawyers to create systems and “go-to” people to add increased efficiencies. With proper division of labor, complex tasks become easy to break down into simple tasks, which in turn become easy for staff to accomplish. By dividing the tasks in the office, and creating in house specialists, you can cater to the strengths of your employees.

Better Division of Resources – When you specialize you no longer have to have every volume of all the books in your law library. You can allocate scarce resources in a more efficient manner. Focusing on an area of niche specialization, you can have the top library in your area of expertise, one that is up to date and the one other lawyers want to use when they have a case in your area.

As you consider your future, consider narrowing the range of services you offer.  Target one or two areas in which you want to practice law.  Obviously, this advice better serves lawyers in more dense (and more competitive) geographical areas. Choose carefully and make sure the geographical area you practice in can support a niche practice, or be prepared to travel. The more narrow your niche — the more effective your marketing and internet advertising will become.

POINTS TO PONDER AND SHARE:

•Do you struggle with effectively marketing your professional services and distinguishing yourself from competitors?

•Is your professional brand clear, memorable, consistent?

•Does your marketing message resonate with your target client market?

•Is your marketing message authentic to your values and your firm culture?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Please comment below on these or other points you gleaned from this article.

Lori

About the Author

Steven M. Gursten is a partner at Michigan Auto Law, an auto accident law firm helping victims injured in Michigan car, truck and motorcycle accidents. Steve also has a blog: Michigan Auto Lawyers Blog.

School may be out for summer, but parents still need an education….. in college planning! Learn about the common miconceptions surrounding college planning and scholarships, according to Certified College Planning Specialist, Jeffrey Taylor. Taylor shared more tips earlier this year about student marketing and why early planning is better for your student. Read Taylor’s prior blog here.

“My job is to help parents save time and money in planning for and paying for their child’s college education”, says Taylor.  ”One of the easiest ways to save time is to not search for scholarships.”  This may sound counter-intuitive because all parents would love for their children to receive scholarships, so why not pursue them?  The answer, according to Taylor, is that “student athletes, National Honor Society students, Validictorians, and students active in extra curricular activities like Science Clubs are the ones who always get scholarships, and they don’t even ask for them.”  It’s all due to what Taylor refers to as “student marketing”. Students who are positioned to get noticed, like the athletes, NHS students, etc., and whose parents and teachers make sure they are noticed by the “powers that be” at colleges, are the ones who predictably find the funding needed to pay for college.

Taylor explains, financial aid is based on the following factors:

•Student positioning/marketing;

•Planning of the parent(s);

•Preparation by the student.

“Private dollars (such as scholarships) only constitutes 2% of all college funding available, so don’t waste your time searching for scholarships,” says Taylor.  ”The rest of college funding comes from financial aid, or parents/grandparents using their savings or retirement plan dollars, or student loans, or the better method—pre planning for college”.  Taylor advocates marketing or positioning a student to put them in the center of the largest pool of money available.

Factors which help position the student to obtain funding include:

•Strong GPA (3.2 or better.  Some schools like University of Michigan want to see a 3.7 or higher);

•Strong test scores on ACT/SAT (the magic number varies school to school);

•Community Service (demonstrated through pictures, certificates, etc.)

Taylor notes that while strong test scores and a high GPA are desirable, they still don’t guarantee funding for college.  ”What college ‘costs’, will vary family to family”, says Taylor.  ”There are ways to lower the cost of college through proper planning.  Additionally, utilizing a cost recovery plan allows you to save for college and recover your out of pocket dollars at the end of college, so you can protect your retirement dollars.”

Taylor advises against taking out loans for college as a primary funding method, because unforeseen circumstances can arise that will put you at financial risk in the future.  ”If the parent who signed or co-signed for a loan thereafter experiences a job loss, serious medical condition, or financial problem, he or she is still responsible for repayment of the loan.”  Student loans are non dischargeable in Bankruptcy, so there really is no way to get rid of this debt other than paying it off.  ”Rather than put yourself in debt and experience future financial stress you may not recover from, it is better to pre-plan paying for college,” says Taylor.  ”That way you can preserve your assets and savings for your retirement years.”

For most families, the home equity loan is no longer a viable college funding strategy because of the current housing market with many homes having little to no equity, or having a value less than their mortgage(s). Taylor notes that “new college funding strategies continually become available, but families need to be educated about their options so they can choose what works best for their situation.”

Points to ponder and share:

•What, if anything, has changed about your perception of college funding options or strategies from reading this article?

•What challenges have you faced trying to educate yourself about college funding options?

•What obstacles or success have you experienced searching for scholarships?

————————————————————————————————————————————————

Jeffrey Taylor is a Certified College Planning Specialist, with over 20 years of financial consulting experience. His company, College Funding Resource, LLC, is located in Southfield, MI.  Jeff’s planning experience includes but is not limited to college admissions, student loan debt elimination, out of pocket cost recovery strategies, college aid planning, and various techniques that are designed to reduce or eliminate the high cost of college.  For more information, visit his website.

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