There are plenty of business leaders out there who claim to be committed to helping more clients and to making a bigger impact in their communities.
I know many law firm owners with this outlook. They say they want to do more and change more lives — and they almost always really mean it.
They want to, but they aren’t doing the things necessary to make it a reality.
These attorneys claim to be the best lawyers in their market. They claim they can help the people that need them better than any other lawyer in any other firm - but bemoan the firms that are doing the things they need to do to get those cases.
If you really want to help more people, you need to grow your business.
How do you do that? By developing as a leader, investing in your team’s capabilities, and marketing and advertising your law firm. Simple as that.
If you look at any market across America, you will see that the companies investing in the most marketing and advertising are ones that are the best known.
The law firms doing this are getting the majority of cases - firms number one, two, and three are undoubtedly getting 75–80% of the cases in any given market.
A lot of attorneys love to whine about this. They say things like, “Those aren’t the best lawyers. They’re volume-based. They’re just big advertisers.”
If this is how you feel about the leaders in your market, it’s time for a dose of reality.
If you are truly the best lawyer in your market-if you are uniquely equipped to help people better than your competition, get better results for your clients, and make a bigger impact-why aren’t you doing more to get your name out there?
People in need can’t hire the best-kept secret. If they haven’t heard of you, how can they choose you to represent them?
I’m speaking from experience here. This happened in my own business here at Crisp. When we started the company in 2012, we were producing amazing story-driven videos - the best law firm videos that existed.
However, we weren’t growing.
We weren’t the largest video marketing company in the legal industry, and it’s not because we were not the best - it was because we were not the best known.
The best known will always beat the best.
In the legal space, it’s not just about marketing and advertising - it’s recognizing that you can’t just be a great lawyer. It is simply not enough.
You will not make the greatest impact and reach the most people unless you are the best known.
If you truly care about people, and you say you want to make the greatest impact, it is your duty to grow as a leader, to understand how to grow your practice and treat it as a business, and to be able to invest in and grow your team.
Not only do you owe that to the clients you want to help, but you also owe it to your team, your family, and quite frankly, yourself.
If you want to run your law firm as a business, I encourage you to start acting like it.
If you agree or disagree with anything Michael said here, he wants to know about it. Text him at 404-531-7691 to share your thoughts.
