Why You Might Not Be Getting New Business The Easy Way

I went looking on-line for a local real estate lawyer.

What I need now is pretty simple—someone to set up an LLC. My regular business lawyer could do it in her sleep, but I wanted to find a specialist to start getting wired into the local real estate community.

I emailed four friends involved in real estate here to ask for referrals, but I figured I’d surf a bit to see who popped up on-line while I was waiting to hear from them.

You might say I was looking for a local authority. Not a storied, national name, but someone who gave me confidence that they were tied into the property scene AND understood business.

Simple right?

Not so much, actually. I found five firms that appeared to have real estate practices—they kept popping up on different lists. Each one did a decent job of describing their real estate practices. But, not one linked the practice description to the lawyers actually practicing real estate law.

So I had to scroll through their faces (literally) and click on each one to see if perhaps they were the real estate expert. Annoyingly time-consuming and it just didn’t build confidence (side note: not a single firm offered any relevant content to peruse. No how-to’s, no opinion pieces, no blog posts, nada, zilch).

So I tried a different search tactic and finally found one soloist who got it. Her site was technically stuck in about 2010, but her bio was exactly on point (she spoke local real estate and business fluently) and she had a handful of helpful videos with her point of view content. Her credentials were impressive and she seemed like a real person. Bingo!

Meanwhile, the referrals came in. One was an estate guy who could file for an LLC (thanks but no, I already have a great general business attorney). Another was comparable to the soloist I’d found and came highly recommended—she made my short list to contact.

The last two were recommended by a financier, but one had three specialties and the other? Well, his main photo was a poor resolution shot of him in a rep tie holding onto a leather executive chair with a map behind his head. He just didn’t look like someone I’d want to spend time with no matter how much he knows.

The thing is, this exact experience could be what your clients go through trying to find you. If you want to make it easier on them, think about your answer to these questions:

• Is your niche—your specialty—clearly and consistently outlined on your site?
• Is that specialty precise enough (not too big, not too small) to draw in your sweet-spot clients?
• Do you have assets—content—that help answer the typical questions your ideal clients are grappling with when they search for you?
• Does your circle, especially the people who refer you, understand your expertise and focus? Can they describe you in a sentence?

A client who truly needs help will keep looking till they find the person they believe can do the job.

But wouldn’t it be better if they found you immediately?

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