ACCIDENTS & PERSONAL INJURY LAW

Transcription

1 Sales Playbook ACCIDENTS & PERSONAL INJURY LAW Contents: SECTION The What 1.2 The Why 1.3 Display Advertising 1.4 The Lingo 1.5 The Economy 1.6 The Seasons SECTION The Conversation 3.2 The Questions 3.3 The Goals 3.4 The Value 3.5 The Expectations 3.6 The Close SECTION 2 SECTION The Decision-Maker 2.2 The Gate Keeper 4.1 The Inbounds 4.2 Offline Providers

2 Section THE WHAT Personal injury attorneys provide legal assistance for auto accidents, slip and fall, dog bites, motorcycle, truck and bus accidents as well as animal attacks and medical malpractice. 1.2 THE WHY Personal injury attorneys are a good vertical to target for a number of reasons: Many relevant searches justify large monthly budgets, which personal injury attorneys can usually afford to pay. Personal injury campaigns provide good ROI due to the cost factor. While there isn t necessarily lifetime customer value, current cases can provide good referral sources. Strong campaign results. Accidents occur all of the time, an unpleasant fact. However, these accidents generate consistent business for a personal injury attorney. Clients need to call for an appointment with the attorney. This makes it easy to show results and helps with optimization. Clients are generally in an immediate need when they call a personal injury attorney. The call to appointment ratio is normally high - the attorney should get the business from the phone call, and we should be able to easily show the value of our program from the reports. The cases are worth a lot of money to the attorney if they close them. (Typically the law firm or attorney will make a third of what the case settles for.) 1.3 DISPLAY ADVERTISING Are personal injury attorneys good candidates for display advertising? Yes - additional exposure and branding will encourage people to call for help sooner (while still within the statute of limitations for their case) rather than later. The remarketing aspect will encourage calls from new clients who were on the website but haven t yet called for a consultation.

3 1.4 THE LINGO Personal injury attorneys often have specializations. It is important to understand their particular area of expertise and the terminology specific to that practice: Depositions - Testimony taken orally, under oath, with an attorney asking questions and the deponent (the individual being questioned) answering while a court reporter or tape recorder records the testimony. Contingency - An event that might not occur. Retainer - A contract between attorney and client specifying the nature of the services to be rendered and the cost of the services. Tort - A civil wrong, or wrongful act, whether intentional or accidental, from which injury occurs to another. Arbitration - The process by which the parties of a dispute submit their differences to the judgment of an impartial person or group appointed by mutual consent or statutory provision. Pro Bono - Work completed, without compensation, for the public good. Litigation - Any lawsuit or other resort to the courts to determine a legal question or matter. Aviation law - The branch of law that concerns flight, air travel, and associated legal and business concerns. 1.5 THE ECONOMY This vertical is minimally affected by a bad economy. The attorneys work off of a contingency fee basis and the client puts no money up front. They get paid a percentage of the settlement. Also, people are also more likely to sue in a bad economy! The economy has had an effect on accident attorneys: Accident attorneys typically sue insurance companies on their clients behalf. Due to the bad economy, many drivers on the road today have expired, low, or no insurance. If there is no insurance company to sue, though, there is no case. Truck drivers are required to carry extremely high insurance policies that can lead to some large cases for the accident victim. These truck cases are sometimes considered the Holy Grail for accident attorneys. 1.6 THE SEASONS As a general rule, personal injury law has no seasonality. Accidents and other personal injury cases provide a year-round stream of business for a successful personal injury attorney.

4 Section THE DECISION MAKER Normally, the attorney is the decision-maker, but others may become involved (ex: other attorneys, outside marketing agencies, web guys ) depending on the size of the firm. In some situations, if the firm has done PPC before, then a marketing director can make a reallocation decision. If they are new to search, you ll likely need to meet with the head attorney. 2.2 THE GATEKEEPER Most accident and personal injury attorneys will have a gatekeeper, whether it s a secretary, administrative assistant, paralegal, or other office staff. Some tips on getting through the gatekeeper: Drop-ins don t generally work for this vertical. Sometimes, though, dropping in may allow you to build a stronger relationship with the gatekeeper, which may eventually help you get through to the attorney. Involve the gatekeeper; they can often be an advocate for you. Ask the receptionist if he/she keeps the attorney s calendar. If so, say that you would like to set an appointment to come in and talk. Explain that a set appointment will allow you to not have to pop-in again. the attorney directly. Often, the address is easily found on the website. Reference other attorneys, but only if you have the authority to do so. Call before or after hours. Often, the receptionist has left for the day and the attorney will answer the phone. Try not mentioning who you work for when leaving a message. Just leave your name and number. The attorney may think you are a potential client and perhaps call you back. Use an interest-creating remark to get their attention. Keep in mind that many other salespeople call this vertical as well. Try to stand out from your competitors. Send creative mailers to the attorney in an envelope marked confidential. This usually will bypass the gatekeeper and go straight to the attorney.

5 Section THE CONVERSATION Once you have the appointment, you should think about what sort of information you want to share, and what type of questions to ask. Do you think people are looking for personal injury attorneys on the Internet? How much is your average client (or case) worth? How many calls/leads normally convert to a case, with your current advertising? What is your market area? Local, regional, multi-state? Do you focus more on auto or motorcycle accidents? Do you focus more on slip and fall, dog bites or both? What types of advertising do you do? What has been most effective? How are you tracking your current advertising? Who manages your website? Do you have a desire to grow your practice? Add more attorneys? 3.2 THE QUESTIONS Get the decision-maker talking about the business, how it s doing, what the future goals are. Here are some questions to drive this conversation forward: Are people who are on your website more likely to call? Fill out a form? ? What is the decision-making process like for people who need a personal injury attorney? Do they need him/her right away? Do they shop for the best price? How much time do they spend researching injury cases before actually making the call? Do you have a set budget for advertising or do you do things as they come along? ROI should be a big discussion point, but note that some settlements can take a long, long time, which sometimes makes ROI calculations difficult for existing clients. Instead, focus more on the number of clients they are looking to gain. What is your current market share in comparison to other personal injury attorneys in your area? What local competitor has/could most affect your business? Why? How do you allocate advertising funds? What are the best types of clients to target? Wrongful death? Accidents? Dog bite? Slip and fall?

6 3.2 THE QUESTIONS, con t Are the cases you get now the kind you want? Or, could the quality and quantity be better? I understand that most personal injury attorneys make a third of the settlement cost. Do you make the same? 3.3 THE GOALS Most personal injury attorneys do a lot of creative advertising. The most aggressive billboard and TV advertisers typically have the most lucrative campaigns because they experience significant lift from other media. Make them feel as if they have made great marketing decisions thus far and explain that these other forms of advertising will help make this initiative more effective. Do not encourage them to spend big money on their website (and SEO). Rarely they will be making a one or the other choice. Who are they looking to target with their advertising (generally)? Auto accident victims (high transaction value), this includes other modes of transportation as well. People with full-tort insurance. (Typically, people with limited tort insurance are less attractive.) Slip and fall. Dog bite victims. Wrongful death (very high transaction value). 3.4 THE VALUE Specifically for a personal injury attorney, it will be rare to have repeat business. However, a satisfied client will provide a good number of referrals. Individual cases range in value, typically from $3000 to millions. 3.5 THE EXPECTATIONS Setting the correct expectations with attorneys is especially critical. Our liability is greater with attorneys because they can easily litigate. Never make guarantees or promises you are not sure we can keep.

7 3.5 THE EXPECTATIONS, con t. Even at the initial meetings, focus on number of new cases and types of cases; there are definitely higher-value cases and lower-value cases. Strongly encourage the recording of the phone calls. It is extremely important to be able to listen to those phone calls to really demonstrate the value of. If you sell these guys on the numbers, you will DEFINITELY lose them on the numbers. It is about the visibility and the efficiency. 3.6 THE CLOSE Be aggressive! Most successful attorneys are aggressive and persistent. They will respect a rep who behaves similarly. Build trust & credibility. Go for the long-term relationship. Demonstrate knowledge & product conviction. Affirm their current business decisions & use the information to your advantage. It normally takes approximately 3-4 weeks (1-2 meetings) to close from when you set the initial appointment, but sometimes these can indeed be one-call closes.

8 Section THE INBOUNDS Lead aggregators, like Findlaw.com Legal.com. Lawyers.com Yellow Book Other PPC & SEO providers ReachLocal When speaking about the competition: I can spend your money more efficiently while bringing you more clients...let me show you how. Speak about how they show up (or would show up) with their competitors on lead aggregator websites. Find out who handles their website. Some of these guys spent $20K on the site design and are a big on SEO. 4.2 OFFLINE PROVIDERS Print yellow pages Cable TV Newspapers, Radio, Billboards, etc. When speaking about the competition: 60% of the people that used to go to the yellow pages now go directly to the Internet. Often times, big spending on offline media is ego-related. Discuss how the Internet has affected offline (traditional) advertising. The decreasing viewership of traditional media. Tracking the results. Yellow Pages still works ok. However, a drastic drop in results has taken place. The ROI for Yellow Pages has gone down and the attorneys are often looking for something better.