Are Your Marketing Efforts Turning to Dollars?

By: Mark Powers & Shawn McNalis, Atticus, Inc.

In a marketing workshop a while back, a client stood up and challenged me with the question, "Just how many times do I have to go to lunch with someone before they'll send me business?"

It's a great question. And one that's especially difficult to answer.

Sometimes the results of your marketing efforts show up swiftly, such as when you take a referral source out to lunch and he sends a client the very next day. Boom. The ratio is one lunch to one client and the payoff is clear. When business shows up this quickly, and it sometimes does, it's a gratifying experience.

Then there are the times you take a referral source to lunch four or five times and they send nothing. Ever. Your repeated attempts to cultivate a relationship fail miserably. You believe you have good rapport because they appear to like you-but no new business results. In stark contrast to your earlier success, the ratio here is five lunches to zero clients. What makes marketing so unpredictable?

Many variables come in to play: the level of relationship you have with the referral source, their access to good referable clients, whether or not they feel you can reciprocate, their standing relationships with other attorneys, their desire to see you succeed, etc.

The interplay of all these variables leads to wide-ranging results, making it difficult to answer the "How many lunches does it take?" question. But let's take it one step further: With this lack of predictability, how can you tell if your marketing efforts ever pay off? By stepping back to take in the long view.

The sometimes-disappointing results of individual client development actions can be discouraging and after a few disappointments many would-be rainmakers stop their efforts all together. But if you both stay focused on major client development goals and keep marketing, you will see results.

Perhaps, like one of the attorneys we work with, you want to increase the number of referrals you get from a certain type of referral source. We met with this particular client at the beginning of the year and examined his list of referral sources. We saw that certain attorneys provided his best referrals. We asked him to cultivate them further and get to know more attorneys of the same type. As we've said many times before, referrals often increase as the level of relationship increases. After a rough start in the first quarter he became somewhat discouraged, but he stuck with his plan and increased his efforts. At the same time he began measuring his outcomes.

Sure enough, toward the end of the second quarter, the referrals started to pick up. Not only did he prove to himself he could market to a targeted group successfully; he was inspired to set larger goals.

Think of marketing as a game in which the scores accumulate over time. With marketing, you can't manage what you don't measure. Marketing retreats that set fresh objectives at the beginning of the year are a very effective way to focus on new strategies. Once you set those new strategies, you've created a game for yourself.How do you tell if you're winning the game? By keeping score.

To win the marketing game, you've got to focus on two areas of play: getting the clients to call your office, then converting the clients from "potential" to "paying" clients.

Our best advice on getting clients to call your office is to engage, at a minimum, in three substantial marketing contacts a week. That means you'll have over a hundred targeted contacts over the course of a year. Spend your time with the right kind of referral sources and this level of activity will get clients to call.

Once they do, the game changes and your job is to lead them through the chain of events involved in signing them up. Measuring how you do at each of these steps is critical to improving your effectiveness. All of these statistics can be tracked on a simple chart (often kept at the receptionist's desk). The statistics can be compiled each quarter, and analyzed at the end of each year to evaluate whether or not progress was made.

The first bit of data to collect is the number of inquiry calls. Not only will you want to capture who called and how many called per month, but also where the calls originated. Were they from specific categories of referral sources (CPA, attorney, doctor, etc.), the telephone book, or past clients? An upward trend in the number of clients who come from your referral sources, measured month to month, should indicate that your marketing is getting new clients to call.

Now you have to get them from the call to the office. You want a high number of callers to schedule an initial consultation, so track this percentage. This tells you how successful the person who's conducting the intake calls is at bringing interested clients in the door. It may be you, it may be your associate or an experienced staff person-whoever it is should aim to get 80% to 90% of qualified clients (keep in mind some clients are price shopping and shouldn't be scheduled) in for a consultation.

Next, you want to track the number of consultations with potential clients who then become paying clients. This measures the effectiveness with which you are converting them. No one is successful all of the time, but attorneys who are the most successful typically convert 85% to 95%. Learn what your conversion ratio is so you can improve your consultation approach. We work with attorneys all the time who rework their consultation strategies and measure their results to see if they've improved. If someone who is at the top of his game like Tiger Woods can break down his swing and rebuild it to be more effective, you can do the same thing with your consultation. It's well worth spending time to sharpen your skills. If your marketing efforts bring in ten clients one month, but you only convert 50% of them, you've lost all the time, money and effort that went into getting half of them there. Life is easier on those who convert a greater percentage of potential clients. They don't have to market twice as hard to make up for their inability to close the client.

Finally, the last statistic to track is your average fee per file. Most attorneys watch for an increase in the raw number of files they open, but we advise you to take it a step further. Why? Because opening 100 files at an average fee of $5,000, for example, is not as good as opening 75 files with an average fee of $7,000. The first scenario generates $500,000 in revenue-not bad, but the second gives you an additional $25,000 for a total of $525,000-and you opened fewer files. Do the math using your own metrics. This approach typically translates to working fewer hours and generating more income.

To achieve this goal, you must market yourself intelligently. To begin the process, establish what your average fee per file is presently by looking back at the cases you've opened in the last year. One way to do this is to have your bookkeeping software print out a list of cases, files or clients for the last year, in descending order of value. Print a hard copy of this, then jot down the referral source for each case as you read through the list. It should be obvious who sends you higher-dollar business-the names will be clustered at the top of the list.

Focus on cultivating these people-and others like them. If one CPA, psychotherapist or tax attorney sends you great work, clone them. Get to know more potential referral sources in the same field. The fact you have one good referral source of this type means you can cultivate others. If your referral sources are not competitive with one another, ask the one you know well to introduce you to his or her colleagues. If it's not appropriate to ask for an introduction like this, get to know other professionals on your own. Targeting those who will not only send business, but will send very good business, is the essence of smart marketing.

Make sure your marketing efforts translate into dollars by doggedly sticking with your marketing goals - even when it's discouraging. Capture your marketing statistics to understand and improve your conversion rates in the chain of events that lead a client from potential to paying and target your referral sources intelligently. To win at the game of marketing you've got to be good at every aspect of the game and learn to keep score. Because, in the words of the great Yogi Berra, "You can see a lot, just by watching."

About the Authors:

Mark Powers, President of Atticus, Inc., and Shawn McNalis co-authored How Good Attorneys Become Great Rainmakers and Time Management for Attorneys, and are featured marketing writers for Lawyers, USA and a number of other publications. To learn more about the work that Atticus (www.atticusonline.com) does with attorneys or the Atticus Rainmakers™ (www.atticusrainmakers.com) program, please visit or call 352-383-0490 or 888-644-0022. 

Opportunities with Planning for Pets

For many clients, pets are members of the family. These clients often say that if something happens to them, they are more concerned with what will happen to their pets than to their children or spouse.

Given many clients' feelings towards their pets, and the costs of care and longevity of some types of pets, this is an area where the planning team can differentiate itself and provide real client value while also generating additional revenue for multiple team members.

What Will Happen to the Pets When the Owner Becomes Disabled or Passes Away?

Most pet owners do not want their pets killed if something should happen to them. However, without proper planning, the death of the pet is almost certain in some areas. For example, in some Nevada counties, if the client does not provide for a pet by way of a trust, when the client dies Animal Control must take the pet to the local kill shelter if there is not a family member present who is willing to care for the pet. Some kill shelters euthanize animals 72 hours after they arrive at the facility, making it virtually impossible for anyone to adopt the pet. Clients can avoid this unintended and unfortunate result by creating a trust that names a caregiver for their pets.

Planning Tip: Research how your state or county laws affect pets after the owner dies or cannot care for the pet. Help your clients to provide caregiver information to their local Animal Control so that, when the time comes, Animal Control can contact the caregiver(s) to retrieve the pet.

Planning Tip: Provide your clients with a Pet Alert Card including the owner's name, number of pets, and multiple caregivers' names and phone numbers. Laminate the card and ask each client to place it in their wallet behind their driver's license. If something happens to the client, someone searching for their identity will see the Pet Alert Card and know there are pets that need care.

Providing for Pets Upon the Owner's Death

Outright Gifts

The law treats pets as property. Because property cannot own other property, money and other property cannot be left or transferred outright to a pet. One can transfer or leave assets to a caretaker with the request that the caretaker care for his or her pets. However, because the caretaker receives the gift outright, no one is responsible for ascertaining whether a pet is receiving the care requested by the pet owner.

Once the caretaker receives the gift and the pet's owner is gone or incompetent, there is nothing to stop the caretaker from having the pet euthanized, throwing it out on the street, taking it to a local kill shelter, or using the assets in ways unrelated to the care of the pet. In addition, once in the caregiver's hands, the assets are exposed to the caregiver's creditors and they may be transferred to a former spouse on the caregiver's divorce.

Statutory Pet Trusts

As of August 1, 2007, thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia have enacted statues pertaining to pet trusts, and others have legislation pending. These statutes allow virtually any third party designated by the terms of the trust to use the trust funds for the benefit of pets.

Some state statutes specifically limit the terms of a pet trust. For example, some states limit the amount of money an individual can leave in trust for their pet. In those states that have adopted the Uniform Trust Code's pet trust provisions, the amount of money an individual can leave in trust for a pet cannot exceed the amount required to care for the pet over the term of the trust. The trust must distribute any excess funds to the person(s) or charity(ies) who would have taken had the pet trust terminated.

In making this determination, the level of pet care the owner provided determines the endowment amount required to provide care for the pet. Factors include: the cost of daily care (food, treats, and daycare), veterinary care (yearly teeth cleaning, shots, nail trimming, and emergency care), grooming, boarding, travel expenses, and pet insurance. Additional factors may apply in particular cases. For example, horses are expensive to maintain and require exercise, training, and a large tract of land; some birds and reptiles have very long life expectancies; and care of some pets will require construction of a special habitat on the caregiver's property.

Traditional Trusts

Even if your state does not have a specific pet trust statute, a pet owner can name a human caregiver as the beneficiary of a trust, require that the distributions to the beneficiary are dependent on the beneficiary caring appropriately for a pet, and require the trustee to ensure that the beneficiary is properly caring for the pet using trust assets. This type of trust may be used without regard to whether the state has a specific pet trust statute.

Planning Tip: Both statutory pet trusts and traditional trusts allow the pet owner to provide detailed requirements as to how the caregiver must care for the pets upon the pet owner's disability or death.

Planning Tip: Will planning is inadequate for pets because it does not address disability and because of the time lapse between death and the will being admitted to probate.

Funding Pet Care

Many pet owners do not have sufficient funds to properly care for their pets after their disability or death. Life insurance is one way to increase funds available to care for pets after the pet owner's death.

Planning Tip: Life insurance that names a pet trust or traditional trust as a beneficiary is an ideal funding mechanism. If the client is concerned that funding of a pet or traditional trust will reduce the children's inheritance, the client can increase the amount of life insurance and name as beneficiaries both (1) the pet or traditional trust and (2) the children (or a trust for the children's benefit).

Planning Tip: Financial advisors, when determining wealth accumulation needs, should take into consideration the care needs of a beloved pet. Use of pet or traditional trusts to provide pet care also gives the financial advisor the opportunity to continue to manage the trust assets after the client's death or disability.

Trust Terms

In addition to stating that it is the client's intent to create a trust for the benefit of (or to provide funds adequate for the care of) his or her pet, the trust should specifically name a succession of caregivers/beneficiaries and a separate trustee to ensure that the serving caregiver/beneficiary is properly caring for the pet. The trust should also allow the trustee to reimburse the caregiver/beneficiary for all pet expenses with proper documentation, have access necessary to determine whether the pet is receiving the intended care, and withhold distributions to the caretaker/beneficiary if the pet is not receiving the intended care. If your state statute does not limit the trust terms, the client can include anything that is not illegal or against public policy.

Here are several issues for client consideration:

-Creating a pet panel to offer guidance to the trustee and caregiver/beneficiary, and to remove and replace the trustee and caregiver/beneficiary, if necessary. Consider including a veterinarian to make the final decision regarding euthanization for medical reasons, to ensure that the pet is not euthanized prematurely by the caregiver/beneficiary.

-Paying the caregiver/beneficiary a monthly fee for caring for the pet or allowing the caregiver/beneficiary to live in the client's home, rent free.

-Awarding a bonus to the caregiver/beneficiary at the end of the pet's life as a "thank you" for taking care of the pet.

-Determining how the trustee is to distribute the remaining trust funds after the last pet dies.

-If the client chooses not to create a pet panel to determine who will be a successor caregiver/beneficiary, the trust should name multiple successor caregivers/beneficiaries (three or more) in case a caregiver/beneficiary is unwilling or unable to serve. As a final back-up, the client should consider requiring the trustee to give the pet to a no-kill animal sanctuary if there are no caregivers/beneficiaries available. This can literally save the pet's life.

Pet Identification

To prevent the caregiver/beneficiary from replacing a pet that dies to continue receiving trust benefits, the pet owner should specify how the trustee can identify the pet. The client should consider micro-chipping the pet or having DNA samples preserved for verification.

Other

You may encounter pet owners who want their healthy pets euthanized when they become incapacitated or die, thinking "no one can care for my pets as well as I do." However, many states' courts have invalidated such euthanasia provisions on the basis that destruction of estate property is against public policy. In these states, encourage clients to consider using no-kill organizations that have the pet's best interest in mind and will find the next best home for their pets. Again, this is a state-specific question and thus it is critical that advisors know their state's laws in this area.

Conclusion

Many clients are oblivious to the issues surrounding the care of their pets after their disability or death. By raising this issue with clients, the planning team can differentiate itself and provide value in an area that is significant to many clients, while also creating additional revenue for multiple team members.

In the Spotlight at the Gallagher Law Firm

 Adam A. Holland Attorney   

Adam Holland specializes in resolving real estate and shareholder disputes, as well as assisting banks and creditors in enforcing their rights.

Representative Experience

• Successfully appealed suspension of professional fighting license. All disciplinary action against the fighter was dropped and his record expunged.
• Protected medical center from tax foreclosure and fully discharged $250,000 special assessment/tax lien.
• Reviewed and resolved numerous real estate title matters.
• Represented title insurance companies with various real estate and mortgage disputes involving priority and possession claims.
• Obtained favorable six-figure settlements in multiple shareholder disputes. 

The Gallagher Law Firm, PLC  2408 Lake Lansing Road, Lansing, MI  48912