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Below are some frequently asked questions, and their respective answers. Please review them before contacting us -- your question/comment may have already been submitted by someone else.
You may either:
(1) Choose from the following questions and comments (click on a link to read my response), or
(2) Simply scroll down the page to read all of the questions and answers.
How can I order your marketing program?
I'd like to learn more about you.
Can I speak with you over the phone?
I'd like to meet you. / I want to buy you lunch.
Can you give me some business tips/career advice?
I was offended at something you wrote.
What legal marketing agency did you work at? / Where did you do your 1,000 cold calls to lawyers?
You inadvertently omitted the name of the marketing book you bought on eBay for $47.
I have some questions or comments about something you wrote.
What happened to your photograph?
What's happening to your newsletter "Legal Marketing Report"?
How do I unsubscribe from the e-mail list?
I haven't received any faxed newsletters yet.
When are you going to publish more articles on your website?
I like your website. It's very informative. Thank you for publishing it.
How can I order your marketing program?
I do not sell any marketing programs. I am very flattered to have received many unsolicited "orders" for my "program," but I do not offer any seminars, coaching programs, or home study courses. At this time, I am publishing everything for free on this website, as a hobby.
I did briefly consider selling several things, such as:
(a) A service, called...
"How to Build Referral Alliances with
Community Leaders,
Trusted Advisors, and Other Centers of Influence"
This was to be a service where I constructed referral alliances for attorneys, and where I would take a 30% referral fee for each client generated (if your state allowed fee-splitting with attorneys outside of your jurisdiction).
(b) A $10,000 seminar, entitled...
"Confessions of a $400 Million-Dollar Midget"
... where I was going to teach the referral systems of the late centi-millionaire Walter Hailey.
(c) A private-labeled telecommunications software called...
"Client Caress"
... which is a program -- used in the real estate and financial services industry -- that helps stimulate word-of-mouth referrals from clients.
However, one of my companies is in a growth stage, and I had to decide what direction I wanted to go. I could either enter into the marketing consulting arena (where I have virtually no experience), or expand a software company that I have (or sell out to a larger competitor).
I chose the latter.
I'd like to learn more about you.
Aside from being a non-practicing attorney (well, I try not to practice law if I can help it) -- I am an entrepreneur. I currently own several companies.
My favorite (although smallest) business is a diversified distribution company.
We have facilitated the distribution and growth of the following brands:
I also own a commercial real estate maintenance company (it's as non-glamourous as it sounds. It's basically janitorial work). I also own a software development company and a small chain of churro concession stands (churros are a traditional light, crispy, and sweet Spanish snack).
Sometimes, I help small business owners buy and sell companies -- this is the "acquisitions consulting" I wrote about on my website. I no longer actively market this consulting business, because (a) I have referral systems in place that bring me clients automatically, and (b) I cannot install a general manager to run this business... so I end up running things myself, which is a very inefficient use of my time... I'm trying to cut down the time I spend on this business, but it's just so darned fun.
Can I speak with you over the phone?
No, you cannot. Because of my limited schedule, I simply do not have the time to speak with attorneys and give "free consulting" anymore. I also do not offer free advertisements to those who wish to be interviewed for my website.
I'm licensed in New York, where we don't have bar numbers. We do have "attorney registration numbers" but you cannot search the Office of Court Administration using that number.
You can try and call all of the "Michael Lees" licensed in New York, but you won't find me. The name "Michael Lee" is a pseudonym. I adopted it because there is a popular Internet Marketing Guru who has the same name as me, and I wanted to separate myself from him.
A pseudonym also gives me some level of anonymity, so that I can speak my mind freely, without fear of backlash. (Some of my reviews and articles are very harsh).
No, I do not offer consulting services. If you are looking for a consultant, I suggest that you read this special article:
"How to Hire a $100,000 Executive Consultant -- Absolutely Free"
Before you go and spend money on a "consultant" -- please consider utilizing your local SCORE consulting services.
SCORE stands for the Service Corps of Retired Executives, and it is composed of volunteer consultants -- most of whom held executive and top-tier management jobs -- who will come to your office and give you their sage wisdom, gained from many, many years in business.
Any small firm (25 or fewer employees) qualifies for free marketing, accounting, and management consulting.
The counselor's time is absolutely free -- although the Small Business Administration does require you to pay for travel and other incidental charges. Some SCORE offices have you travel to a central SCORE location, so there may be no expenses at all.
Some SCORE programs limit the consulting to 90 days -- plenty of time to transform your practice.
All you have to do is visit your local Small Business Administration Office (run by the federal government), and fill out the form entitled, "Counseling Request from Small Business Firm."
I'd like to meet you at the upcoming bar convention. / I want to buy you lunch.
Thank you, and I'm flattered. However, there are three things you should know:
(1) I no longer live in New York City. I live in Los Angeles.
(2) I do not attend conventions or trade shows for the legal profession.
(3) Although I believe in networking, I do not believe in networking events. I choose my networking partners wisely -- my time is too precious to waste. If I want to network with someone, I simply pick up the phone and arrange for a meeting. Here's a tip for you lawyers: although most ethics rules restrict solicitation of new clients, most jurisdictions allow you to cold-call potential referral sources and prior clients. Large law firms do this routinely -- if you're a smaller firm, you should consider doing this also.
Anyways, the answer is no. I'm sorry I cannot meet with you, due to my limited schedule.
Can you give me some business tips / career advice?
I'm sorry, but I cannot offer business
tips for either your law practice or another business endeavor. My
advice is strictly limited to the information on this website.
I was offended at something you wrote.
I'm very sorry to have offended you -- the intent behind my writing is to capture attention and to illustrate my points clearly. I did not intend to offend you, or to offend any individual, group, or profession.
I have some questions/comments about something you wrote.
First, make sure that I wrote it. Some of the articles on my website have been written by guest authors, or have been excerpted from books or periodicals. You can distinguish my writing from theirs, because I have clearly given them credit for their writing.
If you have a questions about a former client of mine -- you have not read carefully enough. I have never had any clients in the field of legal marketing. You were reading a guest article or an excerpt.
If you need clarification about something I wrote, I'm sorry but the articles on my website will have to speak for themselves. If you're disappointed -- I'm sorry. But, please remember that everything is free.
What legal marketing agency did you work at?
Where did you do your
1,000 cold calls to lawyers?
I'd like to name the company, but I'm afraid to. I write some pretty horrible things about them, and they're lawsuit-happy. However, I can tell you that it is similar to LegalMatch and Casepost.
You inadvertently omitted the
name
of the marketing book you bought on eBay for $47.
No, I did not. You did not read carefully enough.
(Excerpt: "I had a tough time finding it, until a sympathetic attorney told me that the real title was Money-Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham and Other Marketing Wizards.")
It is a very expensive book to buy new, so I usually only recommend that you buy it used.
I would like you to know that I tried
something you suggested,
and it worked great / didn't work.
Congratulations! Constantly trying new marketing approaches is the key to continual success. If it worked, then great. If it didin't work -- try something else.
The blog disappeared. It took too much time to maintain. Instead of dribbling out lower-quality blog posts more often, I've decided to publish higher-quality articles less often.
What happened to your photograph?
The photograph took too much time to
load, and I discovered that new visitors would leave the website while
waiting for it to load. So, I took it down.
What's happening to your newsletter "Legal Marketing Report"?
The e-mail newsletter Legal Marketing Report is being published sporadically, and will eventually be replaced by the fax newsletter Rainmaker's Report.
The e-mail newsletter requires me to pay a hefty ongoing fee for a software subscription, and the fax newsletter only requires me to pay when I publish.
I'm not sure when I'll switch over to faxes completely, but in the meantime, I'll publish both e-mail newsletters and fax newsletters, with different articles in each.
How do I unsubscribe from the e-mail list?
If you are currently on my e-mail list and would like to unsubscribe, please see the instructions for unsubscribing at the bottom of the e-mail you received, or e-mail my assistant Mary (the e-mail is on the contact page).
I haven't received any faxed newsletters yet.
The faxed newsletters are not published on a regular schedule, so if you have not received any faxes from me, it probably means that I have not published anything.
Please do not sign up for the fax list multiple times. You will only receive multiple copies of faxes when I do publish something.
When are you going to publish more articles on your website?
I don't know. I publish new articles as time permits. This may mean once a week, or once a year. I don't know. I suggest that you bookmark this website, and return from time to time to check the status of the website.
I like your website. It's very informative. Thank you for publishing it.
Thank you. I enjoy publishing it, and I hope that you enjoy reading it.
If you have a question that is not answered here,
please direct all inquiries to my assistant Mary at:
Warmly,
Attorney at Law
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