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Written by Russ Korins, Nimbus Law Firm Marketing. Russ Korins assists law firms with marketing and practice development. He previously practiced corporate and technology law. He is based in New York City and works with clients around the country.

The next time you are out with your non-lawyer friends, try asking them a couple of questions:

"Who here urgently needs commercial litigation?"

"Raise your hand if you need trusts & estates work."

If these sound stilted and silly, just think: most legal marketing is guilty of this very problem. You can do better by incorporating an approach called client-centric marketing into your practice development efforts.

Focusing on the benefits and value to buyers, from the buyer’s perspective, is something most great businesses already do. Think about ads for the hottest smartphone: they do not talk about the technical aspects of how data packets travel from point A to point B; they instead emphasize staying in touch, connectivity, sharing, and doing what you love and working from anywhere. These are things people want and need. They say "I want to be able to email when I'm away from the office."

Law firms can benefit from the same approach. Client-centric marketing for lawyers means explaining how their work is:

• the solution to a problem, or
• the key to an opportunity.

Imagine what a prospective client is thinking to spur the search for an attorney. Then, describe your work in those terms, from the client's perspective.

Returning to the commercial litigation example, no businessperson walks around saying, "I need commercial litigation." Instead, they say they need help resolving a dispute with another company and protecting their own business.

Similarly, people do not say, "I need trusts & estates." They think, "I need a lawyer for a will because I want to protect my loved ones."

Consider your own practice. What problems do you solve? What do you help people do? If you are not sure, a good way to start is completing the sentence "I help ____ do ______."

Once you sharpen your client-centric message, work it into all of your marketing channels: your website, your email with contacts, and the way you introduce yourself in person. For help, explain what you do to those non-lawyer friends, and ask them why they think it is valuable.

A client-centric perspective is an important element of successful legal marketing. Work it into everything you say, and prospects and referral sources will remember you as someone valuable.

Recently, Lawyer Coach Debra Bruce provided an excellent overview of the benefits of listening to your clients and prospective clients:  one of the key things a client needs from his attorney--the one that sets the stage for most of the others--is to feel that the lawyer hears and understands his concerns.  But that's just the first step; once you've assured the prospect or client that you understand his concerns, your next task is to clearly address those concerns.

Prospective clients are often a bit overwhelemed when they pick up the phone or walk through your office doors.  In many areas of consumer law, the would-be client is facing much mroe than the decision as to whether to hire an attorney and which one.  The person sitting in front of  you may also be dealing with the fallout from a broken relationship or coping with the possibility of a jail sentence or is in a constant state of anxiety after months of creditor calls and juggling to try to keep the utilities on and food on the table.

He may not consciously realize it himself, but he's not just shopping for a legal service.  He's shopping for reassurance.

The woman who is unable to work due to an injury and worried about supporting her family, the man whose wife and children moved out last week and many others in need of legal assistance feel that the world is out of control.  Helping these prospective clients see the days ahead in manageable pieces and clear action steps will not only set their minds at ease, but will build faith in you and your ability and willingness to help.

Of course, you never want to create unrealistic expectations in a client; you can't solve all of their problems and shouldn't pretend that you can.  But you do know what to do next, and how to break down the issues your client is facing and focus your energy (and his) on those aspects you can address productively.  By clearly conveying that, you can help your client see the life changes he's facing as manageable and give him clear action steps for the pieces of the coming process that are in fact within his control. In doing so, you help alleviate his anxiety and sense of chaos, and also help him to make the first decision on the path to regaining control: hiring you to help address the coming legal hurdles.

Putting it into practice:

• Clearly restate your prospective client's key concerns so he knows that you "get it"
• Tie your responses and advice to the things he cares about
• Use language like "Here's how I can help with that..." and "The first thing I would do for you..."
• Give him something manageable to work on:  don't keep him in the dark or throw an overwhelming task list at him right away

Attorneys--how do you help your clients and prospective clients feel confident in your ability to help them regain control in emotion-driven areas of law?

The post below was contributed by Debra L. Bruce.  Debra is president of Lawyer-Coach (www.lawyer-coach.com), a law practice management coaching and training firm. She practiced law for 18 years before becoming the first Texas lawyer credentialed by the International Coach Federation (ICF). She has served as Vice-Chair of the Law Practice Management Committee of the State Bar of Texas and as leader of the Houston chapter of ICF.

Are you a good listener? How do you know? Why should you care?

Clients and prospects want to know that you care about them, their business and their problems. You know the common negative stereotypes about lawyers: that lawyers are arrogant, uncaring, selfish and greedy. Perhaps our public relations problems result in part from our listening habits.

In law school we learn to listen for the purpose of critically evaluating what the speaker says so that we can quickly make a decision about the best course of action. We learn to take feelings out of the decision process, and focus on facts, legal principles and logic. We develop the ability to think on our feet and make quick responses as we face grilling by professors in class or make arguments in moot court competitions. Then as lawyers we interrupt to clarify and focus on facts, disregarding feelings, which we deem irrelevant. We try to control the situation by doing more talking than listening, and what listening we do has a decidedly adversarial or challenging bent.

That approach may serve us well in the courtroom, but it causes problems when we need to build rapport and trust with clients. Effective listening builds rapport because it communicates our interest and concern, and helps us reach beneath our clients’ words to learn what is really troubling them. Listening also alerts us to potential new developments in the client’s business and additional opportunities to serve the client. In short, listening is an important marketing tool!

A large northeastern law firm decided to study their most effective rainmakers to see what they did differently from other seasoned lawyers in the firm. They discovered that the major rainmakers provided more than legal services to their clients. They became trusted advisors. As a result, executives turned to them again and again as a resource, regardless of their area of specialty or expertise, even to discuss non-legal matters. Those rainmakers were able to strengthen their relationship with the client, and at the same time cross-sell additional services of the firm.

How can you become a trusted advisor? You must be a good listener, because listening builds safety and trust. Listen without interrupting, and listen for more than the facts, legal issues and arguments to be made. A good listener notices the emotions of the client, such as fear, worry, anger, resentment, pride, hope and enthusiasm, which allow the listener to pick up on important unspoken cues and signals. Maintain eye contact with the speaker and allow him or her to speak without interruption. That demonstrates your respect and concern and builds rapport. If questions come up that need to be clarified, make a note of them and come back to them when the client finishes speaking.

Get your client or prospect talking by asking open-ended questions. Remember those TV shows where one person does all the talking, then goes away thinking the listener is a great conversationalist? Here are some open-ended questions that can establish your interest in the client’s welfare, while also exploring ways your firm can be of service:

• What keeps you up at night?
• What issues is your company facing these days?
• How do those issues impact the company?
• How are you impacted personally?
• What has worked with similar issues in the past?
• What hasn’t worked?
• What would success look like?
• How would success impact you personally?
• What kinds of changes in your industry or product/service are coming down the pike?
• What impact will that have?

As a trusted advisor you won’t jump in with a sales pitch or a litany of your firm’s attributes when you hear your prospect’s concerns and problems. After she has had the opportunity to tell you a lot about her challenges, however, you might describe how you successfully helped someone with a similar issue in the past. Success stories are memorable and more convincing than mere claims that you can do the job well.

Sometimes merely listening provides the most valuable service you can render to the client in the moment, and that investment saves you time and effort in the long run. If you are feeling impatient and wish the client would get to the point, you may need to shift your listening approach from evaluative to empathetic listening. Notice whether the client is feeling angry, nervous, hurt, worried, betrayed, distraught, disrespected, cheated or something else with regard to the events that brought him to your office. That information may help you design a better fitting solution. Make eye contact, nod, and give other verbal or non-verbal signals that you are tracking what the client is saying. Don’t jump in with problem-solving just yet. Once the client feels heard he will feel safer and will be able to more rationally and reasonably discuss the appropriate action with you. Now you can ask your evaluative questions.

In the increasingly competitive legal world, success depends on more than legal expertise. Become a trusted advisor by learning to talk less, listen more, and recognize when to shift your listening approach. You’ll know you are a good listener when the trust you engender breeds loyalty, repeat business and referrals from your clients.

Last week, Debra joined us for a Total Expert Radio segment on the Power of Listening for Lawyers.  Generating business and building client relationships is just one area in which listening can help attorneys keep things running smoother, improve relationships, cut through conflict and move forward more productively and profitably.  If you missed the show, listen to the recording: The Power of Listening for Lawyers

Generally, when I write about generating new clients, I focus on the types of clients attorneys want to target, but there is another factor that comes into play before the attorney-client relationship begins: the client has to choose a particular lawyer.

In many ads and marketing campaigns, attorneys focus on quantifiable characteristics to attract clients: board certifications, specific areas of expertise, Avvo ratings, success ratings, years of experience or prices. Most decisions, however, are made for non-rational reasons. The rational reasons, such as evidence based on quantifiable characteristics, are then used to support the decision.

Yesterday, I came across a Forbes article entitled “How to Make Email Marketing Campaigns Sing.” This article interviewed five top executives from Xerox, eBay, Qwest Communications and General Motors who shared their secrets on how to market business through email. While each of these executives gave their own answers on how they use email campaigns to market their businesses, a few things remained common among all five: The content in their messages are personalized, customized, relevant, and beneficial to consumers and current customers.

While email allows us to easily send messages to a large number of people at a very low cost, it also makes it easy for consumers to filter and delete those messages. When you send out your newsletter, announcements or other marketing materials, create content that will give potential clients a reason to “read, click, link and listen.” That means you should pay attention to your target audience, their interests and the reasons why they would want to hire you as their attorney.

Use your email campaign to show potential clients that you understand their needs and that you have the tools to help. By targeting your audience and providing readers with something of value in your message, you are more likely to encourage potential clients to visit your website or call your firm for more information or assistance, which can lead to more business for your law firm.

Yesterday, I watched a video on TED, featuring Simon Sinek, the author of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. In the video, Sinek explained his theory on what makes successful innovators and leaders.

In his Talk, Sinek describes what he calls the Golden Circle, which is basically a visualization of the way organizations and people communicate to others. The visualization is made of up three concentric circles with “why” at the center, “how” at the middle ring, and “what” at the outer ring.

According to Sinek, most people communicate from the “what” to the “why,” but he suggests that successful innovators and inspiring leaders communicate from the inside out. He gives a great example, using Apple:

If Apple communicated like everyone else, they may say this: “We make great computers. They are beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. Wanna buy one?”

Instead, Apple communicates like this: “Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Wanna buy one?”

Can you see the difference in these two examples? With his examples, Sinek tries to show that people don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. In other words, people don’t do business with someone because that product or service provider has what the consumer needs; they do business with organizations and people who believe what they believe.

With Twitter, Facebook, blogs, webinars, phone apps, television, direct mail marketing and countless other outlets for legal advertising and communications, attorneys are marketing their services in more ways and in more places than ever. However, like most people, these attorneys tend to focus on the “what” – what services they provide, what documents they can create, what they can get for their clients, etc.

Maybe it is time for lawyers to start thinking more about the “why.” Why did you become a lawyer? Why did you start your own law firm? Why do you provide legal services? If you want to be the type of lawyer that stands out as a leader among the thousands of people offering similar legal services, the answer to these questions should be an answer that speaks not to what your clients want but instead to what your clients believe.

Today, I hosted a Total Expert Radio show on attorney obligations to comply with the rules of professional conduct that govern law firm marketing.  Our featured guests were two experts on ethics and legal marketing: Will Hornsby and Nancy Roberts Linder.

Hornsby is counsel in the American Bar Association’s Division for Legal Services, chair of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission Hearing Panel, a Cook County arbitrator and an adjunct faculty member of the John Marshall Law School.  Hornsby has written several articles and two books on technology, law firm marketing and legal ethics, and he also teaches a class on the professional responsibility of a technology-based law practice.

Nancy Roberts Linder is the Principal of Nancy Roberts Linder Consulting, a LaGrange, Illinois-based marketing consulting practice for professional service entities, primarily law firms.  She consults in a variety of client development and client relationship management areas, including strategic planning, communications development, and attorney skills enhancement.  In addition, Linder has written numerous articles on lawyer marketing; designed and implemented marketing databases; advised on website design, content and usage evaluation; taught HTML to marketing support staff; evaluated marketing-related software for law firm applications; and developed curriculum to teach marketing skills to law students.

Both of my guests gave some great tips, and you can access the entire show here, but here are a few highlights from today’s show:

• The ethics rules that exist now were written in the 20^th century, and many people would argue that they reflect 19^th century values, but now we are dealing with 21^st century technology, so the ability to apply those rules to current opportunities for client development can create a lot of friction.

• Lawyers who use new technology are ahead of the policymakers, so they need to weigh the benefits of using that new technology with the potential risks that their may be issues or unanswered questions under ethics rules.

• Generally, issues with ethics rules will not arise from the technology itself but instead from the way you use that technology to present messages and market your law practice.

• The ethics game is largely played with semantics, and ethics rules can often rest more on how an attorneys says things rather than what the attorney is trying to say.

• There is some subjectivity in the interpretation of rules, but when lawyers understand what the rules say and how they apply they can learn how to use them to their advantage.

• Ethics rules are very nuanced and can vary widely state-by-state.  Attorneys have an obligation to comply with the rules of the states in which they are seeking clients.

• Listen to the full recorded show and learn how to do the following and more: use ethics rules to your advantage; create disclaimers for your website that is seen by people in multiple states; prevent conflicts when potential clients send you unsolicited messages through your website or email; maintain client confidentiality and security when communicating online; and write blog posts that subtly promote your expertise and practice without conflicting with ethics rules regarding advertising and solicitation.