Episode Description
In this episode, media consultant and TV host Mitch Carson shares invaluable insights on building a successful law practice through effective marketing and branding. Drawing from his experience helping his ex-wife transition from Big Law to solo practice, Mitch emphasizes the critical importance of customer service, discusses how lawyers can leverage their writing skills to build authority through books and publications, and reveals strategies for securing media coverage. Learn practical tips for establishing your professional presence while maintaining authenticity and serving your target market effectively.
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Episode Transcript
MITCH: [00:00:00] If you spend big money, you got to fix the inside before you can put money on the outside, address your internal issues. First, I can create an avalanche of leads for various means, but if it comes through a bucket with holes all over the place, you’re just constantly adding more water and you’re on this yacht of life.
Take care of the boat first before you set sail.
LAUREN: Welcome to a different practice. I’m your host, Lauren Lester, and I’m obsessed with all things, business, well being, and optimizing the practice of law for solo and small firm lawyers. I started my solo practice right out of law school, built it from the ground up and now work from home.
Part time while earning well over six figures. I’m here to share tangible concrete tools and resources for ditching the legal professions, antiquated approach, and building a law practice optimized for profit and efficiency. Think of this as grabbing coffee with your work bestie mixed with everything.
They didn’t teach you in law school about running a business, pull up a seat, grab a [00:01:00] cup and get ready to be encouraged and challenged. This is a different practice.
Welcome back everyone. Today’s episode has some golden nuggets for anyone who is looking to build their practice by amplifying their presence in the media landscape. I’m really excited to share my conversation with Mitch Carson. For those who may not know Mitch, he is a force of nature in the media consulting world.
We’re talking about someone who has helped hundreds of professionals land primetime TV and radio interviews across the globe. As a television host on NBC channel three Las Vegas, he’s been on both sides of the camera. And his insight is invaluable. He’s spoken on stages in 63 countries. Yes, you heard that right.
And has produced over 2000 live events internationally. And if that’s not enough, he’s also a published author with books in six languages. But here’s what really caught my attention about Mitch’s story and why I [00:02:00] wanted to have him as a guest on the podcast. He helped his ex wife transition from a large LA law firm to building her own business.
practice. And that’s the kind of real world experience that we love to dive into on this show, as you all know. So today he’s going to break down that process for us and show us how it can be replicated in our own journeys. If this is something that you’re interested in pursuing. We’re also going to get into the nitty gritty of media appearances.
If you’ve ever wondered how to land those coveted TV and radio spots that can instantly boost your credibility and grow your business, Mitch is going to walk us through those steps. And trust me, as somebody who has been a home shopping network pitch man, Mitch knows a thing or two about crafting a message that sells.
What I love about this episode is that it’s not just theory. Everything we discussed has been battle tested and proven in the real world. So whether you’re working on starting your own practice, looking to expand your media presence, or you just want to [00:03:00] learn from someone who has helped countless of professionals transform their businesses, this conversation with Mitch Carson will give you some good food for thought.
Ready to learn from one of the best in the business? Let’s dive into my conversation with Mitch Carson. Welcome Mitch to a different practice.
MITCH: Thank you, Lauren, for having me.
LAUREN: I’m really excited to chat with you today. We were chatting a little bit offline, but I have a personal interest in this episode because I have always been curious.
I see these folks on TV, on the podcast, being interviewed, and I always think like, what magic sauce do they have? Like, how do they get in that position? Did they know somebody? Did they just have that, you know, special gene in their personality that they’re so charismatic, which I do not have, I am not blessed with.
So I was really excited to chat with you to learn about how all of that works and how if anyone is interested in being an expert and coming out publicly as an expert in their field, they can get in some of those pieces. [00:04:00] But I want to go back because you have a really interesting history in helping your former spouse go from a very large law firm to opening her own firm.
So you have firsthand experience building a law firm, um, from the ground up. I’m really curious. What that, um, experience was like, what lessons you learned from it and how you’ve taken that to be able to replicate it with other professionals, in particular attorneys, to kind of help them build their brand.
MITCH: Sure. And I can walk through that process. What I did with her, she was working when I met her. She had actually just left as a full equity partner with a large law firm. I, I believe there were about 130 lawyers that worked at the century Saudi century city law firm, very prestigious in the LA market.
I’ll leave them nameless for now. I don’t think it’s really relevant. It’s just no, yeah, I don’t because I don’t want it to [00:05:00] tie back to me and who I was married to and all this and because we’ve been divorced now 18 years, but in that in during that time, she left this large law firm. She went to a prestigious law school, had the credentials.
Now I’m going to talk a little bit about the credentials. I believe in the legal arena. Where you went to law school matters sometimes. Sometimes. If you went to a third tier law school, you may not want to include that in your marketing. And I’m not going to pick on, because at the end of the day, it says ESQ regardless.
Juris Doctorate degree, albeit you’ve gone to the biggest names of Yale, or Harvard, or Stanford, or Bolt. I think those are some of the big name law schools out there. Possibly UCLA, that’s where my ex wife went to law school. Those are Probably first tier law schools. Number one and two would be Harvard and Yale or maybe [00:06:00] Stanford.
I don’t you would know better debate, right? Yeah, that’s up to debate, but certainly Harvard and Yale and If you’ve gone to those schools, you want to include that in your marketing. If you’ve gone to a second slash third tier school, there’s a school in Los Angeles called Whittier school of law. That would be considered third tier.
Maybe depending if you’re, if there are some people that are listening to this, to went to Whittier, I mean, no offense, don’t make up charges against me. Okay. I’m sensitive. I’m just merely talking marketer’s perspective, what you can. and may not want to use in your marketing. I don’t know if you can build much of a story around going to Whittier law school versus Harvard or Yale.
Let’s call those non debatable, but those are probably at least in the two, two of the three top positions, those two law [00:07:00] schools for different purposes as well. I know if you go to Yale, It sends you on a different track from which I’ve learned from my lawyer buddies versus attending Harvard. Uh, might, you might go into the investment banking track or what have you, what, what, what directs you to Washington might be Yale.
And if that’s your market, that’s different than what we’re going to address today. If you want to, if you are a partner in a big firm like a Skadden Arps or one of those others that are large, National firms with hundreds of lawyers. You can leverage that experience to then become a boutique in a smaller law firm for yourself.
And I’m just going to turn this off. It was the case with my ex wife. So I wanted to create a little bit of context. Let me start with what I believe as a consumer, because I had to [00:08:00] consume legal services multiple times in my life as a businessman. And personally, I had to use the services. We talked a little bit about this when I chose a family lawyer to represent me in my five year divorce process, which was a load of fun.
What made me choose three different lawyers and finally settled on the last, the last one. I want all of the lawyers to listen to this very carefully. What’s the number one complaint from clients and what’s their number? What’s the number one way to get the easiest amount of business coming to your practice?
It’s a, not a trick question. The number one complaint from consumers from a consumer is not Getting a call answered, not getting called back. That is the number one complaint from [00:09:00] consumers because I’ve done a lot of marketing in the legal arena to four lawyers in the past. I said, look, I can create lead flow for you.
I can create recognition, but if you don’t f an answer the phone or you don’t call people back the same day. With enthusiasm. They’re the ones that are paying for your bills for your, for your shingle to remain on the door. And if you don’t call them back, you’ve not only disrespected them, you’ve ruined the opportunity for get the cheapest referrals in the world.
They’ll be your raving fans for you. If. You treat them with respect. They’re the ones paying you. You’re not paying them. You aren’t the star They are you need to surrender your ego at the door and the same advice comes to doctors I’ve worked with loads of physicians the successful physician [00:10:00] practices are Run by business people What you practice is law.
What you practice is medicine. I’m using these two professions exactly the same. The same complaints exist for both. You make an appointment for nine o’clock and you may make the client sit there for 30 minutes. Oh, I’m sorry. I was on a conference call. Oh, I’m sorry. I was working on a deposition. We don’t want to hear that.
I was married to a lawyer, so I heard it all the time from the other side for 11 years. And I also know as a consumer. What matters to me and I need to set up this proper context before we get into the meat and potatoes of what is necessary to cause the lead flow. The lead flow is scientific and it’s a, it’s a roadmap, which I’m going to lay out in detail.
But the first part is if you’re not willing to answer the phone, if you’re not willing to give the [00:11:00] time to the people who pay you, you’re Practice something else. Don’t be a lawyer, a sole practitioner. Don’t be a business owner. Be a lawyer. You can be a lawyer and go back to the big firm work for somebody else and have the Your secretary shield the calls for you and be triaged and you can be in big shot itis So i’m a lawyer.
I don’t need to answer the phone No way, Buster. If you want to be a sole practitioner who then grows his or her practice and starts hiring associates, maybe bringing on partners, you better share the same mindset from the outset. Same mindset from the outset. Create a culture of service. Getting back to people.
Okay, I live in Las Vegas now. Most of my life I lived in Los Angeles. That’s where I’m from. I’ve lived here. It is the most prolific marketing [00:12:00] arena of lawyers that I’ve seen anywhere in the country. Billboards, advertisements on network television ads in print publication. They are prolific. There are so many accident attorneys here, which are litigators that are PI attorneys that I’ve seen.
It’s 10 times more prolific than Los Angeles, where I come from. Casinos drinking insurance rates are very high here for cars. It’s a 24 seven city. There are accidents constantly. I’m happy. I happen to be going through some litigation right now because I got rear ended by a drunk driver that was leaving a shift at a casino.
He was drunk, slammed into me. No insurance, no driver’s license in an illegal alien. I had to hire a lawyer. Who did I choose? I called two of the guys that were on billboards. They [00:13:00] were arrogant. And I said, I’m not working with that. I ended up talking to another smaller operation was does not have a billboard.
He came by referral. Let me mention that again, guys and gals, came by referral, he talked to me like a human being, didn’t demean me, and I spoke with terms that he found alarming, he said, do you have a legal background? I said, no, I was married to one. So I certainly know the trade vernacular quite well, because I heard it for 11 years over dinner.
All throughout my time together, my two best friends are attorneys in L. A. So I do understand it. I was interviewing him as much as he was interviewing me. You need to understand who, what type of client you’re going to want to attract. Is it everybody? Is it the buckshot approach? Or do you want a [00:14:00] particular demographic to particular gender?
What type of people do you want to work with? Identifying that target market, then imagine putting a scope on your BB gun. I don’t want to make a big armory here. You put a scope on your BB gun as opposed to a buckshot BB gun that sprays everybody that’s buckshot marketing, which is only expensive and foolish.
So it starts with who are you after defining that market as granular as granular as possible And then creating the plan Executing on that plan then reviewing those results tweaking and improving. There’s the road map In a broad sense now specific executables when my former wife decided to leave this large [00:15:00] firm in Century City, open her practice in Calabasas, where she wanted to open her office was down the street.
We lived in West Hills, California, which is down the road about four miles. And she opened her office strategically in Calabasas because it had a nice zip code, nice label for mailing purposes, which then can course can extend over to the fees that you charge, because if you are charging Calabasas fees, well, let’s just use something a little more recognizable nationwide because you have a nationwide consumption here.
Beverly Hills lawyer, Century City lawyer. Top of the food chain terms of prestige probably come from top 10 law schools all the lawyers that work in the big firms There are the boutiques beverly hills century city top of the food chain possibly downtown La [00:16:00] if you have an address that falls outside Of that branding, because we’re talking about Tiffany wrapping at this point, if you are wrapped in Tiffany, the diamond that is inside that box is perceived to be higher value than one that was purchased at Walmart or Target, which is maybe mid range.
I mean, I’m just using perfect metaphors here or imperfect metaphors. And if you are wrapped in Tiffany, you are then allowed to charge Tiffany rates. Your office must look like it’s been put together by a first class designer. If you come in and you’ve got wicker furniture or folding plastic chairs in your lobby, and you’re positioned, and you are in Beverly Hills or Century City, You’re going to have a message to market mismatch, a branding mismatch.[00:17:00]
Okay. So identify the market. If you want the wealthy people, and I certainly, there are arguments for both types of practices. Do you cater to the poor or people have very little means of practice? Or of money or disposable income to pay you. That’s fine. If you are a bleeding heart, liberal lawyer, and we, we need those people that are there that may work at a legal aid clinic.
And there’s no slam on that. If that’s fine, wicker furniture and folding chairs may be appropriate for your lobby. And I just, I go back to the. Sol this, or there was a TV series on Netflix called it’s all about Saul or something. Yeah. Better call Saul. Better call Saul. He had, I love that. He’s one of the most brilliant actors, that guy.
He’s so good. And he played the part of the ambulance chaser, the [00:18:00] low budget polyester suit lawyer who operated in the back room of a nail salon. Okay. He can’t have, Saul. Furniture that came from Beverly Hills in the room, rented room of a nail salon. It’s plastic chairs and his fees. If he were to charge fees, I think he was contingency, but if he were to charge fees, they’d have to match the environment.
So take that into account, ladies and gentlemen, Esquires that are listening to this. You’re branding because remember personal brand is I’m going to address that a lot. Okay. And this is the proper context before we get into the tactical, what people say about you when you’re not in your room, when you’re not present is your perceived value.
Hence your personal brand value. Well, if you have your ear to the [00:19:00] door and what you hear, that’s exactly how you are perceived and you will get exactly what you tolerate in life. So it’s your job to change their perception of you. If you want. to attract a particular crowd of people. What they say about you and your service will be directly correlated to your income.
There’s an absolute correlation to your income. The only exception is you are so bloody specialized in your field that they don’t have a choice. If you are the run of the mill, no disrespect. You are a personal injury lawyer in Las Vegas and you have shit service. You’re going to be on the unemployment line very soon because the guy that makes, who has the greatest exposure here, and I’ll mention his name, his name is knock fee and a Q V I he’s on at least 20 billboards in Las Vegas, his [00:20:00] market.
He’s got two offices in the most expensive areas in Henderson and Summerlin in Las Vegas. Those are the two ritzy neighborhoods. So he’s everywhere. They answer the phone when you call with a smile. It’s not some surly overlooked lawyer. What? Who’s what do you want? Get to the point. You treat people like that, you’re going to point yourself right in the direction of unemployment.
Okay? His office is triaged perfectly. They answer the phone quickly, treat you like a human being, a valued human being, and that’s why this guy is so bloody successful. Whether he’s a good lawyer or not is irrelevant.
Irrelevant, ladies and gentlemen. I don’t know if he’s a good lawyer. I don’t know if he’s better than Better Call Saul [00:21:00] from Netflix. Who knows if he practices law? He probably went to a third tier law school or maybe he just scraped by or who knows what Saul did. I doubt he went to Harvard. Probably not.
He’s a fictional character, but you get my point. And I think probably most of the lawyers have watched it because it’s quite entertaining and really, really well written show. One of the most accurate I’ve seen of that tier of, of law practice. So let’s get back to the personal brand part. It’s got to me.
It requires congruency from the minute they walk into your office, your ads. Your referral sources, what they will say about you. You may want to survey clients and ask them a very potentially, a potentially very uncomfortable answer will come your way. Would you refer me? [00:22:00] That’s the ultimate litmus test to know whether you are going to get referrals and whether your business is going to perish or flourish.
It’s all about how you’re perceived. Okay. And guys and gals, you don’t have a great rep in the service department. You have a rep as being very smart people and incredibly arrogant and above service It’s if you are a business person then act like a business person if you are a lawyer who practices law Great go work at a big firm, but if you’re a business person who peddles legal services as your product Your service is legal representation for your clients Then we’re talking Then we’re going to take it to [00:23:00] the tactical, which I, I will get into context.
It was that valuable.
LAUREN: No, I think it’s super valuable. And I, I totally agree and have been trying to find ways to express that because I think, um, having the whole picture. Make sense and being really focused on the consumer and their experience has always been number one and you’re absolutely right. We do not do that.
Well as a profession on the whole, it’s never taught to us. So I understand it, but it’s it’s not an excuse. But I think what was helpful. For me and listening to you talk is I am not nor do I want to be the Beverly Hills attorney, right? I don’t I show up in jeans and a t shirt and I don’t have I have a remote office But what I heard you say was As long as the brand is congruent So it’s not like i’m charging astronomical fees and then don’t have sort of that feel But [00:24:00] at the end of the day it is the customer service that is going to make Uh, successful.
So if we don’t want to be the Beverly Hills, if we want to help more kind of everyday people, if we like being in our rural practice and having that kind of lifestyle and being that type of attorney and we don’t charge the astronomical fees, that’s okay. But what’s going to make the difference is what’s the service we provide
MITCH: 100 percent and you are going to compete.
If you leave big law firm X, And you’re a small law firm. Why? Maybe you’ll grow up into big law firm. Why? But in the beginning stages, humble yourself, leave your ego out the door outside. Be humble. Be approachable. Don’t be the a hole lawyer. That you guys have earned the reputation for. And I mentioned my two best buddies are lawyers.
I’ve, I have scolded them [00:25:00] for not getting back to clients. Oh, I don’t like this lady or something tough stuff. You’re a business owner. You practice law, but you are a business owner. Shut the F up, take the call. And I went through this, my number one argument with my ex wife, when she started out in her practice, I said, I would refer Clients and friends to her and they said you’re not and I would complain to her at night.
I said you didn’t call Howard back She says I got busy. I said this is a referral. I said you need to leave this big firm mentality And your ucla law bigshot itis problem, which is an incurable virus at the door You need some medicine for this virus and quick Because I’m your husband and I’m not referring shit to you until you correct that, that mental block that you’ve got thinking that you’re a big shot because you’re not, you’re a [00:26:00] small business owner now and you better act accordingly.
You left the big law firm that was shielded by the big brand of the multiple big names on the wall with this and we’re this and we’re covered here. You had a secretary that fielded these things. You don’t right now. You need to get off your high horse and get down to the trenches and your rates. Well, I don’t charge what I did at the, when I was at the big law firm, I said, then start giving people service.
And I stopped, I said, I’m not going to refer to you. And it directly affects my pocket. Of course, because we have the, we money. You know, you have your money. I have my money and we have our money as a married couple But i’m not going to hurt my business because you’re not calling people back. I had friends that say i’ll never use her again She was arrogant.
She didn’t call me back and the outcome Do you think if you treated somebody well, you called them back and treated them? [00:27:00] Well, whether the outcome was good or bad is sometimes subjective. Yep. Absolutely sometimes subjective But they will blame the lawyer for the outcome if they’re treated like shit And if they didn’t get called back, they’re going to think and associate performance to the way they were treated.
They’re going to associate performance of the outcome based on how they were treated. If you were treated really, really well, and the outcome did not meet expectations, which perspective is better? The answer is obvious. I mean, it’s not a trick question. It’s a, it’s rhetorical. But one that can be easily be answered.
And if somebody has that mindset of I’m a big shot lawyer, I went to school and I’m smarter than most. Yes, you are book wise, but these are common people who may not have your level of education, who may need a little bit of dumbed down your English and [00:28:00] communicate with them as human beings use common, Language.
If you start speaking in legal jargon, what do you think you’ve done? You’ve ostracized your client, the client that will be your bread and butter and feed your families in the future. It is 30 times less. Expensive to get a referral than it is to go and run ads to try to get people to come in to recognize you Ads are necessary.
I’m going to talk about that.
I needed to Emphasize the importance of service and that is in internal marketing is more important in the legal arena and the Medical arena bedside manner for doctors suffer from it even worse than lawyers do They’re terrible. Terrible. I have scolded many physicians that I’ve done work for and when I’ve gone in, I said, my [00:29:00] appointment was at 9 30 Buster.
My name is Dr. Smith. I said, I don’t give a damn. My master’s degree, Mitch. Okay, you haven’t got that much more schooling than me, but you’re going to call. You are going to respect my time because frankly, I charge more money than you do. And their eyes get big. I said, yes, I make more money than you, Dr.
Smith. So my time, so I should be sending you a bill. I’ve told them that, and they’re just dumbfounded. No, nobody’s ever talked to me that way. I said, well, you needed this headbutt. Didn’t you? Don’t make me wait ever again. And that was for me. I had the balls to say it because that’s how I felt. You’re not making me wait because you think your time is more valuable than mine.
Said that to doctors. I’ve said it to lawyers. And you’re not don’t make people wait and if you spend big money You got to fix the inside before you can put money on the outside address your internal issues first Make sure you answer the phone and I don’t mean to offend anybody by this, but I need to be a wake up call [00:30:00] Or I haven’t done my job being a host or guest on this, on this podcast.
Now I’ll get into the outside. There’s a lot of setup, but I think it’s so important. And I’ve seen this over and over again with clients. I can create an avalanche of leads avalanche through the various means. I’ll be at whatever the business is, but if it comes through a bucket with holes all over the place, you’re just constantly adding more water and water and it’s leaking.
How do you run a successful Yachting business with holes and you’re on this yacht of life moving and you have turbulence things happen all this Plug your holes up quickly take care of the boat first before you set sail Now, how do we set sail two things write a book? You guys are great writers by training [00:31:00] Make sure your english is there.
It doesn’t have to be a long It’s not a new york times best selling book
LAUREN: Yeah, it’s going to, what, what are we writing about? Like I’m thinking, what would I write about that hasn’t already been written?
MITCH: I’m going to write, look, it’s, it can be, it’s a fancy business card at the very baseline, Lauren. It’s a business card for you to hand out.
And now the most consumable amount of words in a book is 10, 000 words. When I came out with my first book published by John Wiley and sons, Over here. Let me show these. This is the silent salesman that I had. Uh, This is 50, 000 words to give you an idea. Okay. That was then this book, a small book I wrote is 27, 000 words and it’s this thick.
Okay. 10 to 20. That was 27, 000. 20, [00:32:00] 000 is the maximum that people have the patience to read today. For the most part, Textbooks are different, but what would you write about? You practice what area of law and I’ll help you on the spot here so other people can learn
LAUREN: So I do um death and taxes so state planning and tax resolution and some marital agreements easy
MITCH: the the myths and The 10 ways to demystify What you need to know about death and taxes
LAUREN: 10 chapters So i’m hearing this I get tripped up on I have to have some like brilliant never thought of idea
MITCH: No, okay.
Yeah, okay You can for a bigger book. Gotcha. I’m using, I’m only referring to this as a marketing book, which you can give away to people who come to visit you or at networking events, or if you do TV show appearances, which is what I’m going to talk about next. [00:33:00] And it’s 10, 000 to 20, 000 words, not more and you will give it away.
And inside of that book, it is, it creates what is called a book funnel. And a marketing funnel, which then will take them through other teachings, which can be an expansion on each chapter. So if you have a book with 10 chapters, this is what I teach. I’ve got a group of 27 authors going through the program in Singapore.
It’s 10, 000 to 20, 000 words, 10 chapters, estimating 1, 500 words per chapter. So that comes out to 15, 000 words. Simple math. You write a bibliography, very easy to support some of these points. My God, there’s case studies up the wazoo. You add a biography, you can add a quote at the beginning of each chapter.
So it looks a little more legitimate. It’s just not pure text. Like this book I wrote years ago, [00:34:00] it’s pure text. There were. No quotes, no images, no illustrations. You can create little cartoons, very inexpensive to put this together, total investment of printing and all this. You can have a fancy business card for less than a thousand dollars.
That’s pretty cheap. And no one can take away. And that’ll include the ISBN number, which by the way, I didn’t do it on this book because I never published it. It was strictly a business card that I would hand out that earned me a load of money. A load of money. And that set me up for then when I went to a fully published book with John Wiley and sons was this, which has an ISBN number, which is the foot, you know, the thumbprint for every book.
It’s unique to the, to the product, those bars, that is a necessary. An easy addition to what you create for yourself because lawyers no different You are [00:35:00] professionals you’re practicing law, but if you are a smaller practice You’re going to be judged based on the plumage you have as a peacock with feathers if you’ve been If you are a published author, you’re going to show it.
That’s a very nice feather to have as part of your plumage. I’m only going to refer to the male peacock here and not, yeah, because they’re the ones with the colors to use it, to attract the female peacocks. And they’re the loudest, the ones that scream a lot. So they’ve got all these feathers. Now, parts of those feathers would be a fully developed LinkedIn profile.
You must have social media. You don’t need to talk as an attorney. Okay. Not necessary to have Tik TOK. I don’t think that has any relevance unless you’re super sexy and you want to shake your booty in a suit. You want to have LinkedIn, which is the professional network and there are elements to cover there.
You want to have a professional headshot and you may want to have Instagram. You may want to [00:36:00] have your Facebook, very simple, professional with some advice that’s been dispensed there. And that’s where you’re going to house. And you may want to have a youtube channel where you’re giving General legal advice and then of course have your legal disclaimers So I don’t want to get into that based on your state because you guys are so bloody regulated.
So be careful But give general good advice where you are A recognized authority and then have your website that’s nicely created representing you maybe your legal background possibly Or you could have case studies And you can change the names of people there and you could all and then you would show your book Here’s the free book just pay shipping and handling which is a way of capturing their information Your clients are going to ref your people that you’re working with oftentimes are parents Or no parents or the children of the people that are affected.
It’s almost in the [00:37:00] category of elder law It’s very close to what you’re doing and that is a one and done because once they’re kind of done But they will remember you and refer and you could also do seminars in hospice centers or uh, or elder elderly retreats You Or the places where, because the baby boomers have the most money in America.
I happen to be part of that cohort. I was born in 1960 and I’m not checking in any old folks home yet. I don’t want to. I, I like working and doing what I’m doing. But those places are loaded with wealthy people.
LAUREN: And do you find, um, is it just like I reach out? Like, do I just find the local ones in my area and just say, Hey, I’m an attorney and I have this topic that I’d like to talk about?
Can I come talk to your people? Like, how do you get that connection?
MITCH: How do you get that connection is by you show your [00:38:00] feathers.
LAUREN: Okay,
MITCH: you show your feathers You call the director or whomever the person is for community outreach They all have I mean you have to look and snapshot it or you could be so bold Most of you aren’t shy to show up and say I want to leave this book for the director.
That’s your business card Business cards lawyers hand out like candy, but if you are in the elder practice area or a state planning area You can give a free two hour talk You To the group of people after their dinner, or maybe it’s a lunch and learn and may, they may buy on the spot, which is an appointment with you, which is there your opportunity to close, or they may hold, but if you hand out your book, which you’ve printed, it’s a small book like this, it’ll cost you to print, you know, 4, 5.
But to have direct access, and this is going in on the cheap, [00:39:00] this is guerrilla marketing versus buying a big billboard, which is, those can be 10, 000 a month. So the very expensive, big investment, do they ROI possibly, you know, they’re good for brand recognition, but you know, you can ask like, where did it come from?
But if you do a direct approach with going to a place where elderly people are gathered, you can do that. That’s for your area of law. But for the small practice. Regardless of your category or your specific topic of law of, you know, whether you’re a elder law lawyer, you’re a maritime lawyer, you are an aeronautics lawyer, you’re a PI attorney, doesn’t matter.
You do crim law, all of those categories, you need a book. And it can start with the 10 myths, 10 things you need to know, 10 strategies to plan for retirement, proven strategies. Proof is a [00:40:00] good word to use. These are all copy elements. Here, the title of this book is Creating Relationships for Life. The Serious Business Owner’s Guide to And then it’s a better, the serious, you know, uh, okay.
The, uh, the, the 10 secrets lawyers didn’t want you to know, EI lawyers did not want you to know, and then you go through the fees are 33%. If you don’t go to trial 40%, if you have to go to trial, here’s how you select a good attorney. And all of that is pointing to you. It’s a marketing tool. Yeah. And I happened to take the pride and then you would insert a testimonial.
And Oh, by the way, I covered this when I was on the TV station, local Fox five in Las Vegas, I was invited to share what about my book on this live TV show.
LAUREN: Is that what, uh, because I’m so curious and I want to make sure we have time to get to it [00:41:00] for local TV, radio, are they usually wanting, like, the book, like, they don’t just want Lauren to come up and chat with them, but they want me to have something.
So is that also like a pitch to them? Like, how, how does my local news station find me?
MITCH: Hey, how they find you a couple ways is you have a good publicist, such as myself that knows how to pitch you. The easiest way for me to pitch clients to get on TV is through a book, unique angle, either they’re, they’re current on AI for lawyers, which is new that now a trending topic, trending topic.
It’s not a fad that’s trending. It’s going to be here for a while. They also work with what is called a media calendar. So I had three clients that came out to Las Vegas, all were from out of state, utilizing the opportunity of my connections, guaranteeing them television coverage on four networks, big name networks [00:42:00] here in Las Vegas.
And they went back to their respective states. They were black women. So they all came out for Black Women’s History Month. Which was in April, and I got them all on TV and they all used it to leverage this television experience here in their marketing. One of them was a retired brigadier general from the U S army, and she was a speaker on leadership and she’s been now getting, she’s gotten invited to many leadership platforms to speak from her background.
One was a retired, she was 33 years in the military. The other was 30 years retired, uh, Sergeant major. From the military. And the third lady was a radio show host out of Atlanta who wanted television. She was a radio show celebrity in Atlanta. She came out here because she wanted television to brag about, because then she can get higher quality guests that she charges for, or it has [00:43:00] boosts her brand because she was after speaking gigs.
Everybody has a different objective, but the asset is, is leverageable from when you have the brand behind you. You have the Tiffany packaging after you’ve been on television, even though it’s a smaller market of Las Vegas, ultimately being on TV with the brand of New York is ideal, but to get there is a pipe dream, unless you have built up to it, and that’s a long process.
It’s possible, but maybe an overspend and not necessary for most, if you are an attorney in a local market, having press. In your market is obviously ideal, but to get covered in the press, maybe not so simple. All of my clients are outside of the Las Vegas area that come in and get covered because then they’re able to use it as a tool to be [00:44:00] proven in another market, which then opens the door to being covered in their, in their local market where their clients exist.
I’ve got four clients coming in in September from Toronto, Montreal, Canada, all by referral. different businesses coming in so then they can leverage the experience of being on TV in Las Vegas. Also, they’ve never been on TV before, but then they are big business owners in Toronto. This will help open the door from when I get them on TV in Toronto because they only have two national TV stations there.
It’s a totally different than the U. S. to control it. But if they will respect Fox, they will respect CBS, ABC, CW, and NBC. Those are all the big channels that I get people covered on here in Las Vegas. Then they’re able to put it on in Canada. And it also happened with my clients in Singapore. It starts to create what is the snowball effect?[00:45:00]
Media earns more attention. Now a book, is it necessary? No, but it makes it a lot easier. It’s a good feather for your plumage. If you’re a peacock, you got a peacock getting right. You guys are good writers by trade, right? Publications, even your local rag, your local newspaper is a great place to start offer free legal advice and have a column.
It takes you two minutes to bang out an 800 word article. Two minutes. And if you’re super lazy, have Chad GPT write it and edit it. You guys are prolific writers. You went to school for that.
LAUREN: Yeah, it plays to our strengths. I mean, it’s kind of a no brainer. It’s not like we have to learn this whole new skill.
It’s just using the skill we have in a different way.
MITCH: You’re not Bob the butt crap plumber that has to write an article, which is a, an impossible task. You guys are skilled writers. That’s what you do. You don’t get through law school without it use your god given skills right now leverage [00:46:00] those And use it to add feathers and feathers and feathers and be a beautiful peacock and scream.
The clients will come in and be mindful, of course, of treating them well.
LAUREN: We can get them in the door, but like you said, we’ve got to plug those holes in the boat and give them great, great customer service, which at the end of the day is going to make the ultimate difference.
MITCH: Before you go on TV. Before you get on a radio show or before you do podcast interviews, it’s all nonsensical until you plug your holes and you suspend your ego and you become a person using common speak language.
If you want to jargon them and impress them with your law degree, oh boy, you’re going to be eating alone a lot. Okay, leave the jargon for your lawyer friends. Make it dumb down your language. Make it simple. I had to learn that I have a journalism [00:47:00] undergrad degree from USC. Then I went on and got my MBA.
I can talk with fancy words as well. Who am I going to impress myself? And then I’ll be alone. When I speak, I dumbed down my language to make it. I write at a sixth grade level. And when you are writing articles in your local publication, which I urge all of your listeners to attempt to get in their free legal column, it’ll pay it for itself in spades.
Trust me. I know those are hard words for a lawyer. Trust me, but I’m a marketer. Okay. Trust me. It will make a difference for you and you will get into the practice of speaking simply in common speak for the common man.
LAUREN: That’s so great. This has been so helpful. I feel like I have a hundred ideas now. So thank you, Mitch.
So I’ve like, it, it dispelled the myths to me. I thought this was something, like I said, somebody with charisma and certain [00:48:00] connections, that’s the only way that this was going to happen, but you made it so simple and so doable, so I so appreciate your insight. If anyone wants to learn more about you or get additional help from you, where can they find, find you?
MITCH: They can find me on my website with my credentials. If you want to use my snapshot and see my feathers is mitchcarson. com. I’m sure it’ll be in your show notes. Absolutely. You want to make an appointment and they want to get on television guaranteed, guaranteed, and it’s in my legal language. I guarantee coverage.
It’s get interviewed, guaranteed. com forward slash meet with Mitch. Get interviewed guaranteed. com forward slash meet with Mitch. And I can say that on a legal show. I guarantee the coverage. No publicist in America does that, but I do and I guarantee it in Las Vegas.
LAUREN: That’s amazing. Well, thank you so much for all that you do and for your time today and for all of these wonderful nuggets.
Uh, hopefully folks will reach [00:49:00] out, plug their holes first and get all their feathers in place and then know that you are there to help them take it to the next level.
MITCH: Oh, well, thank you for having me, Lauren. It’s been a real pleasure and a privilege. Thank you.
LAUREN: I’m over here giving you a virtual high five because you just finished another episode of a different practice for more from this episode, head over to a different practice.
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