Copyright (c) 2010 Benjamin Glass

Most of these so-called "professional marketing coaches" are of the mindset that all businesses are the same and they have the one-size-fits-all answer to your legal marketing woes. Actually, strike the word "legal" from that, they don't care that you're a lawyer. They won't tailor their seminars or materials to legal marketing, they'll just tell you that you're a business and their system will work for anyone, including you.

Is every case you handle the same?

It doesn't matter how similar two cases are; no two cases are ever truly the same. That's why good lawyers never tell clients how much their settlement should be based on similar cases they've handled in the past. And just as case settlements differ, the way you handle them is also different. Different clients, judges, juries, and circumstances all add up to a unique case.

Just as your cases are unique, so are all lawyers. Sure, there may be several lawyers in your area with the same practice areas, but you're still unique among them. What works for one lawyer in your area won't necessarily work for you as well. In the same vein of thought, what professional marketing coaches sell as working for any businessman won't necessarily work for you and your firm.

What's in a certification?

I've seen my fair share of "certified" professional marketing coaches out there, but very seldom do I see who or what certified them. When I do see those lists of fancy letters behind their names and framed certificates on their walls I wonder what they really mean. Who certified their certifiers? You most likely attended a law school with a long history of graduating successful lawyers - proof that certification from that institution is worth its word. But take a look at the name of where some of these certifications come from - most of them sound pretty generic to me. I don't think there's an "Ivy League" version of schools for professional marketing coaches!

Truth is, many of these certification programs churn out certificates to approve people as professional marketing coaches. Anyone with the time to plop down a couple thousand dollars can become a bona-fide professional marketing coach in a few months.

We Are Not Legal Marketing Sheep

When I teach legal marketing to new lawyers and law firms I give them guidelines, not steps to follow. Anyone with half a brain can follow steps, but it takes real initiative and drive to adapt guidelines into a solid legal marketing program.

The problem with professional marketing coaches is that they sell their seminars and materials as a set in stone program. Don't deviate from it or you'll ruin the magic - and that's the excuse they'll hand you when their tactics don't work; "you didn't follow the steps!"

If we all followed the same steps, we'd be legal marketing sheep who are all going through the same motions of posting the same ads in the Yellow Pages and signing up for the same lawyer directories. Just remember that every person that goes to a professional marketing coaches' seminar will be getting the EXACT SAME INFORMATION. The only way to really get anything out of it is to take that information and break out of the mold and put it to a unique use.