This episode covers the 6 hottest places you need to be showing your face in 2022, as an elder law or estate planning attorney: 3 online and 3 in person.
And BONUS: Amie shares the “ace-up-the-sleeve” in how to make people lean in to you, and not tune you out. This secret will not only make your networking successful but less awkward. Win win.
At Bambiz, our marketing helps Elder Law & Estate Planning attorneys get in front of quality clients. Check us out at https://bambiz.net.
Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Elder Law Growth Podcast! We are on a mission to help elder law and estate planning firms grow their practices through digital marketing so they can help create a lasting legacy for families everywhere. No one should pass away without a solid plan in place and everyone should be able to age with dignity.
Imagine this, you are at a law conference with lots of people around. You’re there because you’re trying to get to know these strangers because those strangers will ultimately bring you referrals. That’s right I’m talking about networking and you know that it’s not what you know it’s who you know.
That’s why you’re there, it’s all about those connections but guess what networking is awkward. Nobody likes starting conversations with strangers but you are there to network because you desperately need to get to know other people so you can get referrals. But what are you doing? You’re looking at your phone, this is what most people do in group gatherings. They’re looking at their phone because it’s awkward if you make eye contact so you’re trying not to make eye contact.
The whole time you’re wondering how am I going to do this, I know I’m here to get to know people but this is hard! How is this possible? How am I going to network when it’s so hard.
If one of these poor saps takes pity on me, they make eye contact with me and they start a conversation, what do I say? Your mind just draws a blank, what do I say without coming off like an idiot.
Welcome to elder law growth the place to be for all things marketing for your elder law and estate planning practice. Here in this podcast, you will have all the tools and skills that you need to market your own practice without wasting a second of your time.
I’m Amie Hearst I’m the marketing manager here at Bambiz and in this episode, we’re talking all about networking. I’m gonna give you the three hottest places you need to be in 2022 as an estate planning attorney or an elder law attorney. This is specific, the three hottest places online and three hottest places in person you need to be showing up at.
Stick around to the end because that’s when i’m going to give you the secret sauce to making networking not difficult and actually successful. That way when you are showing up in these six places I recommend it’s gonna be so easy.
Let’s dive in! First, let’s talk about where you should be showing up online in three places. The first place you might not have thought about is nextdoor. The nextdoor app it’s a much smaller pond but think about this. The people who are on next door, most likely, are not on social media. Lots of people are on next door because they want to connect with their neighbors but they don’t want to be on social media. So yes, you will be a much bigger fish in a much smaller pond versus social media.
There’s not a lot of strategy to nextdoor app, all you need to do is fill out your business profile. Definitely include your website but here’s the kicker you need three hearts to show up in the search engine for nextdoor. Have three different people give you a review for nextdoor and that way when someone types in elder law or estate planning in the search bar you show up. ]
Next up we’re talking about Facebook. The Facebook groups, ever since the pandemic, have skyrocketed and people especially your target audience the older folks they’re on there and they’re loving it.
Facebook groups are a great way for older people to connect and you need to be there. Think about the local groups in your community. I’m in Boise, we’re also known as treasure valley so for me I would type in the treasure valley community, treasure valley business, and treasure valley family and I would join all those groups. That way I can go in there and contribute.
The other area you need to look at is the national groups if I were in your shoes I would print off a map of the united states and i would put a pin in each state of the attorneys I know. Once you are active and trying to reach out and get to know attorneys in states that you don’t know. They’re gonna wanna give you the same favor.
When you join these groups it’s always good to introduce yourself. You don’t have to invest a bunch of time just 10 minutes a week. Scroll through the posts and see if you can add anything relevant and anything helpful
The third group is mega obvious, LinkedIn, I could talk about LinkedIn for hours. LinkedIn is the best network to be on if you’re a professional and you’re just trying to get to know other people.
LinkedIn has a great way of favoring those who are trying to network. Have you ever noticed when you’re scrolling through your news feed on LinkedIn that you see that one of your friends left a comment on somebody else’s post that you’ve never even heard of. That’s networking you’re getting to know your friend’s friends so if you leave a really good comment that really good comment could show up on so many news feeds of people who’ve never even heard of you.
The simplest way to network on LinkedIn is to not leave posts it’s to leave really good comments. Like a paragraph to two paragraphs of really good comments because when people are scrolling down and they see your comment they’re gonna click on you. They’re gonna be curious, just be yourself and people will eventually find you.
So that’s the three places you should be showing up online, but what about in person? There’s some obvious ones but there’s one that you might not have tried and it is a gold mine especially if you live in a bigger area.
The first place you need to look into when you are networking in person and you’re trying to meet people and get your face physically out there is to go through meetup. Meetup.com is amazing for getting to know people in your community and it saves a bunch of awkwardness because you’re there for a common purpose. For example, if you really like hiking you can go on meetup.com and see all the different events that are happening and join those events.
Even though you’re there for something completely separate from work you can bet your bottom dollar people are going to ask you what you do. Even if you go for things that are not work-related work is going to come up anyway and it will be in a much more relaxed environment.
Also, meetup has wonderful professional networks so just go on there and check it out. Guaranteed it’s one of the best ways you can meet people in your community without having to be so professional.
The second place you need to be showing up in person is the most obvious choice, your local bar association. Join your local bar and go to the activities even activities that you’re not really interested in. Actually, that might be a better bet for you because you’ll end up mingling with people that you wouldn’t normally mingle with. So really take advantage of the local bar association, it is a wide open door to you for networking.
The last place is the other obvious choice, which is just volunteering in your community. This is helpful for anyone who’s trying to make friends and just trying to network. Any kind of activity where you can help, that’s what you want you want to come off as a helpful person especially paying attention to where your potential clients would be volunteering.
So you need to volunteer, be a part of your local bar, and check out your local meetup groups and events. If you want to go a step further for meetup, create your own group that way you are the head honcho of the group, and everyone’s networking with you because you’re the organizer.
I told you to stick around till the very end because this is going to be the secret to making networking not only successful but not so awkward. How do you make that other person lean in instead of tune you out? How can we talk without coming off like a bumbling idiot?
Trust me, we’ve all been there so here is the secret, it’s your one liner. You need to have your one liner so a one-liner is not my concept. This came from marketing made simple it is a book by Donald Miller, check it out. In this book he talks about a one-liner, every business needs to have its one liner. Every professional needs to have their own one-liner.
Here’s the magic about a one-liner and how it makes you successful and not awkward at the same time. Think of this, you’re at a group dinner and a stranger walks up to you and says what do you do. The common answer that most people would say is I’m an estate planning attorney or i’m an elder law attorney. You can bet that this is going to go over the other person’s head.
Not only is your response kind of shutting the door on the conversation but it’s intimidating because you’re saying you’re an attorney. Take it from somebody who’s on the outside and is not an attorney, when someone says “I’m an attorney” it’s intimidating. The other person doesn’t want to come off like an idiot so they don’t ask questions their curiosity goes way down.
So whatever you can do avoid saying “I’m an estate planning attorney” or “I’m an elder law attorney” because trust me that’s going to scare the other person. Instead, you put in your one-liner. It includes the problem that you solve, the solution to the problem, and the benefit after you’ve solved the problem.
For example, I’m pretending to be an estate planning attorney so my one-liner could be somebody walks up to me and asks what I do I say, ”You know so many families in our community they’re losing their homes due to nursing home costs and they don’t know how to apply for Medicaid. So what i do and I’m really passionate about this, I will go in and I will help these families. I’ll help them protect their assets and their inheritance. I’ll help them save their house but still get the care that they need and it’s great because i help them get the peace of mind that they deserve.”
It’s a little bit of a mouthful but if you can whittle it down to one sentence and just say “I help families in our community protect their inheritance and get the care that they need for their loved ones”. If you just say that the other person guaranteed is going to lean in and say what does that mean. I want to know more about this because my mom is aging and she can’t live on her own. Guaranteed someone’s going to say I want to know what that’s about.
It takes down the walls of the conversation and it helps the other person not feel stupid and it makes you look more passionate. You can use your one-liner in any other ways. You can use it in your email signature, you can use it in person, you can use it online, you can use it on your social media, on your website, or when you’re at a grocery store.
It’s going to make conversations a lot easier. Good luck out there, get out there, start networking, broaden your circle, and meet new people. You can do it! If you want to learn more about marketing for your law firm please visit our website bambiz.net.
