Every so often, in a particular area of a professional practice, somebody gets the bright idea to give samples ' to give a half hour of free advice as a way to entice a prospective client to ask for more. Two questions arise. Is it ethical? Is it good marketing? The unqualified answer to both is ' it depends.

In an economic environment in which the larger firms are competing with the smaller firms for the smaller clients, and in which law firms are retrenching and the client pool is diminishing, can the sole practitioner or the smaller firm compete in this arena?

The Difference Between Doing And Managing Marketing In the early, primitive days of marketing professional services, there weren't enough people doing marketing for law, accounting, and consulting firms to think much about departmental management. The exceptions, of course, were the larger firms, particularly those for whom, in the beginning, having more people on staff was often equated to better marketing. Marketing, at the beginning, was invariably assigned to a partner, who had only a vague'

The Difference Between Doing And Managing Marketing In the early, primitive days of marketing professional services, there weren't enough people doing marketing for law, accounting, and consulting firms to think much about departmental management. The exceptions, of course, were the larger firms, particularly those for whom, in the beginning, having more people on staff was often equated to better marketing. Marketing, at the beginning, was invariably assigned to a partner, who had only a vague…

The Difference Between Doing And Managing Marketing In the early, primitive days of marketing professional services, there weren't enough people doing marketing for law, accounting, and consulting firms to think much about departmental management. The exceptions, of course, were the larger firms, particularly those for whom, in the beginning, having more people on staff was often equated to better marketing. Marketing, at the beginning, was invariably assigned to a partner, who had only a vague…

The idea is to keep in touch with the prospect ' to keep your name and service very much in the forefront of his or her mind without being counterproductive. How counterproductive? By being a nuisance. By calling too often. By pressing too hard. What does that leave?

Okay, so you sent the prospect a letter. Or you had a great meeting. Or the prospect came to a seminar. And nothing happened. You've learned the basic lesson. An initial contact, no matter how friendly, is not a marriage vow. The follow-up is necessary. The fact is that in professional services marketing you've got a few distinctive things working. The prospect may like you, but doesn't need your services at this moment. The prospect is not in…

Every legal and accounting publication ' in hard copy or on the Internet ' is loaded with advice about how to start a practice. But what seems to be missing is realistic guidance on the practice ' the practice, not the theory ' of practice development: Not what you should do, but what you could do.