Dear Subscriber & Friend,

I will get right to it today.  No windup, no buildup.

Here’s one simple strategy that can create multiple NEW CLIENT marketing opportunities. I call it the “Great Bait” strategy.

Here’s What It’s All About…

Throughout your day, how many people in various service industries do you come in contact with? One, three, five, ten or more? Think about EVERYONE: waiters, waitresses, cashiers, drivers, shop keepers, professionals. business owners, managers, etc. (the list can go on and on).  Think about EVERYTHING you do during the day and EVERY PERSON you encounter.

Assuming you get good service from any of these individuals, you say to him or her, “Thank you so much, I really appreciate all your great service. I”ll definitely have to send you some business — do you mind if I refer my friends to you?”

Other person: “Yes, absolutely. That would be great!”

You: “No problem. I’m sure you’ll take good care of them like you did me. And hopefully, if you or your friends ever need my services, I’ll take good care of you as well.”

AT THIS POINT, STOP. SAY NOTHING.

The question 99.9% of people will follow up with and ask (either out of obligation or curiosity) is…

“So What Do YOU Do?”

Nice entry, right?

This is the perfect lead into your “sales pitch” (but make it brief): what you do and how you’re different from other lawyers.

And with that you will have turned a benign, otherwise inconsequential interaction into a real marketing opportunity. And what’s great is, they’re the ones asking you what you do!

Of course, no real marketing interaction would be complete without the handing over of the business card. Personally, I’m not too keen about volunteering my card to anyone. I believe if they want it, they will ask for it. That’s just me. But you can sort of “nudge” them along by wrapping up your conversation with the following words:

“Like I said, if I can ever help you or your friends with ________________________ (type of law you practice), give me a call or you can email me.”

That will almost always prompt the question, “Do you have a business card?” At this point, you hand them your card and write something in your own handwriting on it. (Always personally write something on your card when handing it to someone. It feels much more personal to the recipient and your interaction will be much more memorable. It can be an additional phone number, special email address, your area of practice, etc.)

How Well Does the Great Bait Strategy Work?

Obviously, it doesn’t work every time. Nothing does. But you’d be surprised at how well it works overall. Although I don’t know for certain, my guess is it works well because you’re the one making the first move by promising to send business to the other person. So they feel somewhat obligated to reciprocate. Plus, it’s a numbers game. The more people you can introduce your services to, the higher the probability someone will eventually need them.

Plus there’s a little bit of “being at the right place at the right time” going on here as well.

When I taught this strategy many years ago, it was because it had worked like gangbusters for me (back when I was still marketing for legal cases). I’ve also had many lawyers tell me it worked for them. One lawyer used it in a florist shop to land a personal injury case. Another had success using it on a waitress in a steakhouse. A third used it on his dental hygienist after getting his teeth cleaned to get a divorce case (I vividly remember his email because he was absolutely floored that the strategy actually worked!) And there have been many other successes that frankly I can’t remember them all now.

What it comes down to is this: if you meet only two new people a day (many lawyers interact with double or triple that number) and use the Great Bait strategy on them, you’ll be introducing your services to over 700 new people every year (not counting all the family and friends who you will be indirectly marketing to through them) who otherwise would probably have never known about you. All in all, you could be “meeting” several thousand referral sources and clients every year simply by telling people how great they are.

And the best part is…

It Costs You $0 to Implement

It doesn’t get much better than that!

So, go out and try the Great Bait. And when you’re in total shock because of how well it works, shoot me an email and tell me all about it. I’d love to share your story.

P.S. – I’m a big believer in follow-through. If you do in fact promise people that you’ll send them some business, then by all means, follow through. At the very least, tell your friends about the good service you received and they can decide for themselves whether to go.

P.P.S. – Germany or Argentina in the World Cup?