July 22, 2011 nº 1,069 - Vol. 9
“Money is a lousy way of keeping score.”
Anonymous
In today’s Law Firm Marketing, Hot prospects turn cold, build defenses when you look like a salesperson.
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Euro zone moves toward Greek deal
European negotiators were homing in Thursday on ways to reduce Greece's debt burden while containing the possible knock-on effects to other weak economies in the 17-nation euro zone, after the way to a deal was paved by an accord Wednesday night in Berlin by the German and French leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met to discuss preparations for the euro-zone leaders' summit. However, euro-zone leaders appear unlikely to agree on the overall size of a new bailout package for Greece at their summit Thursday even as they discussed specific terms of the deal, according to a revised draft statement expected to be released after the summit. As euro-zone leaders gathered for an emergency summit in the Belgian capital, officials said the Berlin meeting had allowed significant movement toward a deal on Greece and an increase in the powers of the euro-zone bailout fund to prevent contagion from spreading to other weak economies in the euro zone.
Note: the latest developments may not be reflected in this edition of Migalhas International, as special production constraints force us to take this newsletter from the copy desk while news is being made. Sorry for the inconvenience.
White House, GOP leaders: deal not close
The White House and top Republican leaders denied reports that Obama and Boehner were close to a "grand bargain" on the budget.
1 - Judge Seeks to Speed Settlement Talks in Google Books Case – click here.
2 - Last Serbian war crimes suspect arrested – click here.
3 - Italy deputies OK pro-Berlusconi colleague arrest – click here.
4 - With Internal Probe, FCPA in Mind, News Corp. Adds More LawyersPosted by Tom Huddleston Jr. – click here.
5 - Groups Tackle Legal Technology Ethics, Standards – click here.
6 - Judge orders Lindsay Lohan to court for probation review – click here.
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Fake Apple stores found in Kunming city, China
An American blogger has discovered three fake Apple stores operating in Kunming city, China. In the article, she writes about conversations with staff, many of whom were convinced that they were employed by the US electronics firm. Apple has said it has no comment to make on the discovery of the counterfeit shops.
Chinese state oil firm buys Canadian oil sands producer
Chinese state oil company CNOOC has agreed to buy Canadian oil sands producer OPTI for $2.1bn (£1.3bn). The deal - which must be approved by regulators - is the latest move by state-run Chinese firms to buy stakes in North American oil producers. Canada's Alberta province is believed to have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world. However it is far more expensive to extract oil from Canada's oil sands than from conventional fields. CNOOC says it will pay OPTI shareholders $34m, but will also take on the firm's $2bn worth of debt.
Hot prospects turn cold, build defenses when you look like a salesperson: Here's a Checklist of Do's and Don'ts
by Trey Ryder
If you talk or act like a salesperson, you immediately trigger your prospect's sales defenses, which he uses to keep you at a distance. This puts you at a serious disadvantage because it causes your prospect not to trust you. And it may erase your opportunity to ever win that prospect as a new client.
One fundamental difference between education-based marketing and selling-based marketing is the issue of control. Selling-based marketing tries to wrest control away from the prospect. Then, through key questions, the salesperson dominates and manipulates the prospect until the prospect makes the desired commitment.
Education-based marketing does the opposite. It gives up any attempt to control the prospect. Instead, you help your prospect understand his problem through education and solve his problem through services. You always make sure your prospect knows that the decision to hire you is his -- and that he is always in control. Education-based marketing treats prospects the way you and I like to be treated, with dignity and respect.
Follow this checklist of Do's and Don'ts so you won't be perceived as a salesperson.
DON'T #1: Don't cold call prospects over the telephone. This is a dead giveaway that you are a salesperson. What do you think of people who solicit you over the phone? The fact that you're a lawyer doesn't make you any less of a telephone solicitor if you cold call prospects.
DO: Design your marketing program so you clearly identify genuine prospects and get them to contact you. You do this by creating an educational message that educates prospects about their problems and the solutions you can provide. You deliver your marketing information to prospects through any number of methods, including advertising, media publicity, seminars, newsletters, web sites, CDs, DVDs -- whatever ways your prospects find comfortable and convenient. You have many effective and powerful ways to get information into your prospects' hands.
DON'T #2: Don't hand a new prospect your business card unless he asks for one. The cross-over technique of shaking hands with your right hand and delivering a business card with your left hand is a sure sign that you are a salesperson. From that moment on, your prospect knows that everything you say is part of your sales pitch, designed to get him to do something he probably doesn't want to do.
DO: If, during your conversation, your prospect doesn't request your card, you can always ask if he would like one. (This leaves the decision to accept your card under your prospect's control.) But never hand your card to a prospect unsolicited. Wait until he asks, or until he has given his permission in response to your offer to provide one.
DON'T #3: Don't insist on an in-person meeting before you divulge any information. The good ol' "let's get together so we can discuss your needs" tells your prospect a sales pitch is imminent. The needs approach is used so often that prospects know you learned it in sales school. When you withhold information and insist on a meeting, your prospect recalls the last time he had this experience with his life insurance agent, real estate broker, or someone else who insisted on meeting face to face. As a result, when you make this offer, you arouse your prospect's suspicion. This causes him to fortify his defenses and look for an excuse to cancel the meeting.
DO: You should be ready and willing to provide information any time you are asked, whether over the phone or in person. You greatly increase your credibility when you are open and up front with information. In fact, you should offer your educational handouts so prospects know you have materials that could help them. When prospects realize that you're not trying to hide anything -- and not trying to control the flow of information -- they perceive you to be a level above other lawyers. And your prospect responds favorably because he can tell you are trying to help him.
DON'T #4: Don't avoid revealing your fees. How you respond to the fee question can really help you or hurt you. It's your choice. Prospects ask fee questions for two reasons: One, to find out what you charge. And two, to see whether you'll be up front with them, or whether you'll try to duck the issue.
Prospects know that vacuum cleaner salesmen (and most salespeople, for that matter) dance around the price and won't reveal it until they reach a certain point near the end of their sales pitch. Your prospect concludes the more you dance around your hourly rate, the higher it will be. Plus it proves to him that, at least in this instance, you have not been forthcoming in answering his questions.
DO: Your prospect wants you to answer his question with a number. So give him your typical hourly rate. This satisfies your prospect's immediate need to hear you put some number in the blank Then reassure him that you will give him a fee estimate, range or quote as soon as you learn more about the services he needs. This makes a positive impression twice, once when you disclose your hourly rate, and a second time when you tell him you'll provide a better answer when you learn more.
DON'T #5: Don't ask questions designed to trap your prospect. In one of his books, Zig Ziglar teaches the 3-question close. I suppose Ziglar would describe it delicately something like this: By asking just three simple questions you are able to show your prospect how much he will benefit from buying your product or service.
As someone who is tired of salespeople and phone solicitors, I hear it more in a carnival barker's voice: "Yes, my friend, you heard right. In just 30 seconds, by asking three simple questions, you can turn an innocent conversation into a steel-jawed trap that nails your prospect to the wall so he has nowhere to go and nothing to do but sign your contract and give you money."
What is the result of using this method? To start, you trapped your prospect, so you immediately jump to the top of the list of people he doesn't trust. Do I have to go further? Do you like it when someone does this to you? Of course not.
DO: A persuasive marketing presentation offers all the facts and all the ways your prospect benefits from hiring you. Then it emphasizes that you will do whatever it takes to make sure your prospect has the information he needs to make an informed decision. You add urgency to the message by pointing out what your prospect risks by waiting and how bad those consequences could become. But you always make it clear to your prospect that the decision is his and his alone -- and that you're there to provide information, answer questions, and help him make the best decision, to whatever degree he wants your help.
DON'T #6: Don't sell services from a trade show booth. Lawyers already have enough problems with their image. The last thing you need is to look like the guy hawking his vegetable slicer/dicer/cuber/chopper/corer/shredder/peeler. And even if you don't perceive a trade show that way -- even if you rationalize your way out of this comparison -- remember that your perception doesn't count. The only perception that matters is your prospect's. And when your prospect sees you standing in a trade show booth, he immediately assumes you are there because you have something to sell. That's exactly the appearance you want to avoid.
DO: Trade shows often work because they provide the opportunity for you and your prospects to interact, which is the essential marketing step most lawyers overlook. Fortunately, you can design interaction into your marketing program in better and more dignified ways: For example, you can interact with prospects over the telephone, in person, at seminars, during lunch, even on the golf course.
In most cases, when you act and sound like a salesperson, your prospects treat you like a salesperson. They avoid you. They don't trust you. They don't even want to talk with you. This is why I urge lawyers to avoid selling-based marketing.
To increase your prospect's trust, respect and confidence, stay in the education mode because education-based marketing is the key to attracting new clients with dignity.
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FREE LAWYER MARKETING ALERT: If you'd like to receive Trey Ryder's weekly Lawyer Marketing Alert, send an e-mail to [email protected]. Write "Subscribe LMA" in the subject line and write your name and e-mail address in the body of the message.
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Law firm authorized to answer investigators
A law firm that helped advise News Corp.'s U.K. newspapers unit on a phone-hacking related review was authorized by the company to answer questions from police and parliamentary select committees about the work it did.
How to produce e-mails in discovery?
From a computer forensics examiner’s point of view, simply printing outthe e-mails is just a bad idea. There is metadata in the e-mails, and in any attachments, that could be critical to a case. Not only could it help your case, but if you don't preserve it, to prove it doesn't hurt your case, it can damage your case. Recently working on a case, that spun its wheels for some time because the parties produced documents on paper, when I finally gotoriginal electronic versions, I was able to prove quite clearly that theversion provided by one party was altered after the lawsuit was filed. Working from the printed versions, I could not do so. A piece of advise? Get a computer forensics person on board, and have the e-mails properly preserved from the PST.
Congress examines federal role in marriage laws
For the first time since Congress voted in 1996 to define marriage as between a man and a woman, a congressional committee on Wednesday looked at reversing that action.
Toyota cleared to appeal ruling on standing
A federal judge has given Toyota Motor Corp. the green light to appeal his refusal to dismiss the sudden acceleration claims brought on behalf of consumers nationwide.
Hitler's deputy Hess is exhumed
The grave of Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess is destroyed and his remains exhumed after it became a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site. The exhumation, cremation and burial at sea of Rudolf Hess make for, perhaps, a fittingly ignominious end for a man who was once one of the most important members of the Nazi regime and an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler.
Al-Qaeda jihadist animation targets children
Al-Qaeda supporters say they are making an animated children's film aimed at inspiring them to take up armed struggle with the militant group. Stills were published on the Arabic-language al-Shamouk jihadist website, reported Qulliam, a London-based "counter extremism" think tank. It said the movie would show "heroic acts" including "armed engagements". But a US government adviser on counter-terrorism expressed doubt that such a cartoon was really being made.it became a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site.
Lawyer denies Greek piracy 'scam'
A lawyer whose firm demanded money from alleged illegal downloaders in the United Kingdom has denied re-starting the scheme in Greece. Andrew Crossley said that e-mails sent out in the name of ACS:Law were a scam and nothing to do with him. The messages accuse their recipients of file sharing and demand payments of £1,665. Crossley's firm was wound-up and he is the subject of disciplinary action for sending similar letters in the UK. The Greek letters were brought to light by Ralli Solicitors, which represented some of those accused by ACS:Law. It is now advising a client based in Greece.
American Airlines buys 460 planes
American Airlines, the world's fourth-largest, announces multi-billion dollar orders for 460 new Boeing and Airbus planes.
Ethanol industry torn over losing subsidy billions
The ethanol industry stands to lose its federal subsidy in the current deficit talks. The federal government pays oil companies about $6 billion a year to blend ethanol into gasoline; it's been subsidizing ethanol for 33 years now. But any agreement in Washington, D.C., to raise the debt ceiling will most likely include a plan to cut off that subsidy. And after all these years, many in the ethanol industry say they don't really care. The end of the subsidy — and the mixed reaction to that idea — reveals how the world of corn ethanol has changed dramatically. In fact, the industry wouldn't have happened without it. " Buis says, "but we're in a different position today." There are several reasons behind the change. The first is regulatory: The government forces oil companies to use ethanol. And that mandate is growing. Next year, it will call for more ethanol than the industry produced this year. High oil prices are another reason ethanol producers are sanguine about the tax credit ending. Corn ethanol is currently cheaper to produce than gasoline. It's also quite a bit cheaper than imported ethanol, most of it made from sugar cane.
U.K. probe goes beyond Murdoch's newspapers
"British Phone-Hacking Probe Expands Beyond Murdoch Papers" is the headline on one of CNN's main stories right now. CNN writes that it's been told by the British Information Commissioner's office that the Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) "asked the data-protection agency to hand over files from a 2006 investigation into the work of a private investigator who sold illegally obtained information to a wide range of newspapers, including the Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and News of the World." The first two are not owned by Murdoch's News Corp. As CNN says, much of the information the Met has asked for stems from a 2006 report by the Information Commissioner's office that looked at the "blagging" done by private investigators for British news outlets. Here's how the Commissioner's office defines "blagging": "Suppliers use two main methods to obtain the information they want: through corruption, or more usually by some form of deception, generally known as 'blagging'. Blaggers pretend to be someone they are not in order to wheedle out the information they are seeking. They are prepared to make several telephone calls to get it. Each call they make takes them a little further towards their goal: obtaining information illegally which they then sell for a specified price. Records seized under search warrants show that many private investigators and tracing agents are making a lucrative business out of this trade."
Bangladesh judge indicts 430 civilians for 2009 mutiny
A judge in the Court of Metropolitan Sessions, a criminal court in Bangladesh, on Wednesday indicted 430 people for their roles in a February 2009 mutiny. Bangladesh has conducted a series of military and civil trials for the thousands of citizens and soldiers involved in the mutiny, which left 74 dead. All of the indicted, before the court in shackles, pleaded not guilty. Two unnamed politicians were indicted, including a member of the ruling party, the Awami League. Remaining suspects of the more than 800 civilians arrested will be arraigned on July 27.
Guinea authorities arrest nearly 80 suspects after attack on president
Guinea authorities have arrested between 70 and 80 suspects accused of plotting an attack on President Alpha Conde Wednesday. Assailants launched rocket-propelled grenades at Condes' home, and three people were killed, including one of his bodyguards. The suspects include former army leader General Nouhou Thiam and a past member of Conde's presidential guard. Conde delivered an address later in the day on state radio assuring investors that the country is not unstable and asking citizens to remain calm and unite. The attacks were "strongly condemned" by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon who urged the citizens of Guinea to maintain peace and democracy in the country.
European rights official denounces burqa bans
Council of Europe (COE) Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg on Wednesday condemned the flurry of burqa and niqab bans that have been implemented recently around the world. Hammarberg said the bans may not conform to European human rights standards such as the right to respect for personal life and personal identity. He noted that there are sometimes compelling reasons for requiring women to remove the veils in certain circumstances, including safety or for identification purposes. However, he said that the bans are repressive and that targeting women is not the solution. Hammarberg emphasized that the laws could have unintended consequences: "It is more likely that such laws—so obviously targeting the adherents of one religious faith—would further stigmatise these women and lead to their alienation from the majority society. Banning women dressed in the burqa/niqab from public institutions like hospitals or government offices may only result in them avoiding such places entirely. This is not liberation." Instead of penalizing women, Hammarberg said, governments should take action against hate crimes and discrimination against minorities.
Republican lawmakers urge Obama to define terror suspect detention policy
Top Republican lawmakers on Wednesday urged US President Barack Obama to define terror suspect interrogation, detention and prosecution procedures. In a letter to the president, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Howard McKeon and other officials from the Intelligence, Judiciary, Foreign Relations, and Homeland Security Committees criticized the administration for its lack of comprehensive policies for dealing with terror suspects. The letter comes in response to the Obama administration's handling of terror suspect Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, who was brought to the US in July to face a civil trial in New York, a decision that has sparked harsh criticism from lawmakers who want terror suspects to be held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Warsame was captured by US forces in April somewhere in the Gulf region and detained on a US Navy ship for questioning until being sent to the US for trial. The lawmakers criticized the administration for limiting use of military detention and prosecution and called on Obama to articulate his position on detention policies.
Google gets extension to negotiate book scanning settlement
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday extended settlement negotiations for an additional two months in The Authors Guild et al v. Google Inc., a copyright suit filed in 2005 over a Google initiative to scan and catalog books to make them more accessible online. Google and the Authors Guild, a group representation authors and publishers, also received an extension at the beginning of June, leading to Tuesday's conference. Judge Denny Chin set a hearing for September 15 and stated that if a reasonable settlement is not reached the parties will go to trial. He also suggested focusing negotiations on an "opt-in" function for authors rather than "opt-out." A settlement was reached in March 2009, but Chin rejected it, partially for allowing authors' silence to operate as an automatic opt-in to the program.
States negotiating immunity for banks over foreclosures
State attorneys general are negotiating to give major banks wide immunity over irregularities in handling foreclosures, even as evidence has emerged that banks are continuing to file questionable documents.
BP oil spill claims fund to face independent audit
The $20 billion fund BP Plc set up to compensate those who suffered losses from the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be independently audited.
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