Practice Success

Lisa and Dave share their expertise and experiences in an area that many attorneys struggle with—advertising. They begin by distinguishing between marketing and advertising. Then, they cover a range of topics, including: the importance of being intentional with your marketing formula, path, and plan; traditional, digital, and social media; why you need to be wary of media “deals” and thinking you can do all of your firm’s advertising yourself; collaborating with advertising agencies and holding them accountable; tracking results systematically; LWP advertising tools and systems, such as AMP; taking advantage of today’s technology; and more.

Lisa and Dave discuss Relationship Marketing and LWP’s Relationship Management System (RMS). RMS is an efficient, cost-effective method for establishing, nurturing, and maintaining mutually rewarding relationships with like-minded allied professionals (financial advisors, CPAs, nursing home professionals, and more). Dave shares what has worked, and what hasn’t, over the course of 30 years as a practicing attorney, as well as the changes wrought by new technologies during that time. You’ll see how, early in his career, Dave overcame resistance from many financial advisors, who thought of attorneys as “deal killers.” Lisa and Dave discuss getting past “the gatekeeper,” the proper mindset, the four components of the Synergy Meeting, identifying synergistic partners and the importance of having an “80/20” conversation with them, the “system” of RMS, and why Relationship Marketing is a numbers game.

Lisa and Dave are joined by LWP Member Matthew Deliberato, Founder of the Deliberato Law Center, LLC in Independence, Ohio. Matthew “grew up in a funeral home” and served as a fourth-generation Funeral Director, so he has always been committed to helping families during difficult times. Early in his career Matthew practiced law and worked at the funeral home, which became untenable after he developed cancer in 2010. During this time, Matthew discovered LWP and the world of possibilities inherent in being an estate planning attorney. He has gone from being a true solo to partnering with another attorney (he characterizes this partnership as the worst three years of his life). Matthew’s firm now has a part-time probate/trust administration attorney, a team of five, and serves between 200 and 300 families a year. Matthew and Dave discuss lessons learned from Benjamin Hardy’s book The Gap and the Gain; the importance of reporting, financials, and planning; the macro versus the micro; filling the pipeline not the bucket; finding the Who, setting expectations, and building a self-managed team; and more.

Lisa and Dave welcome LWP Member Jeff Bellomo, Founder of Bellomo & Associates, LLC in York, Pennsylvania. Jeff shares what inspired him to focus on elder law and estate planning, his “Entrepreneurial Seizure” in 2009, the realization that he needed to learn how to actually run a business, and his experiences with LWP over the last 11 years. Initially, Jeff was a true solo—he

didn’t have a team member for over six months. He now has a law firm leader managing the day-to-day operations of his firm, as well as a part-time attorney and 17 team members. Jeff defines his current role as a “team member” with a satisfying work-life balance. He holds 16 to 17 meetings a week and spends four to eight hours a week on marketing, RMS, blogs, and videos. See how Jeff went from needing a J-O-B to owning a firm with $2.1 million in revenue—and the challenges he overcame along the way, particularly with regard to learning to trust the skills of his team and Following the Darn System. (We have Jeff to thank for creating the mantra “FDS” back in 2012.) Toward the end of this engaging podcast, Jeff also shares a powerful personal story. You don’t want to miss it.

Lisa and Dave are joined by attorney Dave Mancuso from the Estate Planning Law Center (The Lab), who shares his challenges learning the LWP Relationship Management System (RMS). The discussion begins with the premise that there are two ways to get leads: you can write checks, or you can shake hands. The latter involves identifying allied professionals and forging mutually beneficial relationships with them. Dave Mancuso describes how he learned the importance of using RMS to sell himself as a worthy and valuable synergistic partner for allied professionals. Through reflective listening and experience, Dave was able to closely follow and apply the four elements of the RMS approach while making it authentically his own. Bottom line: You don’t have to try to be like Dave Zumpano for RMS to work, you should be yourself… but you must follow the system.

Lisa and Dave reveal what attorneys need to know about marketing from both a strategic and a tactical perspective. Topics include: how to utilize your marketing budget and the differences between branding dollars, marketing dollars, and advertising dollars; determining your marketing ROI; the importance of having a marketing plan in place; three key elements of a basic marketing plan; why you must know your value and what sets you apart from other firms in your market; keeping your messaging consist across all media; the role of your firm’s website; how attorney marketing and lead generation have changed over time; the difference between a “contact” and a lead; the myth of the magic bullet; and more.

Dave and Mandy Bossow welcome LWP Member Daniel Umlauf, Founder of Salem Law in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After graduating from law school in 2010, Daniel worked at a small firm before going out on his own in 2013 and focusing on estate planning. He joined a professional organization that provided some helpful tools, but two years in his revenue was still inconsistent and unpredictable. Seeing the opportunities available in elder law, and LWP’s expertise in that area, Daniel became a Member in 2017. His firm is now robust, with a reliable revenue stream and solid referral network. Daniel has been able to delegate, thanks to two full-time Paralegals, one of whom also serves as Director of Operations, and a full-time Client Services Coordinator. Daniel credits LWP software, systems, processes, and tracking with helping his firm overcome the income “yo-yo” and become more intentional.

Dave is joined by LWP Member Andrew Jaloza, Founder of The Estate Planning & Elder Law Group in Queens, New York. Andrew began his legal career in 1988, working in a variety of practice areas, including estate planning, but his main focus was real estate. Like many attorneys, he was looking to “escape being an attorney.” He went into the mortgage business until the crash of 2008, after which he resumed practicing law. It wasn’t until he took a workshop called “Finding Passion in the Second Half of Your Life” that Andrew decided he was meant to focus on elder law and estate planning. Seven years later, he finally began to do so, after meeting and speaking with Dave. Since then, his practice has gone from 90% real estate to 90% estate planning and elder law. What was once “Andy Jaloza by the seat of your pants law” is now an intentional practice with LWP systems and processes in place. Watch as Andrew shares his experiences with this transformation and the challenges along the way, particularly with regard to team building, mindset, and core values.

In this engaging podcast, Lisa and Dave welcome LWP Member Erach Screwvala. Erach began his career 23 years ago in the area of insurance litigation. Let’s just say he didn’t exactly love it.

After transitioning into general litigation and theater law, the latter of which Erach found more satisfying, he eventually decided to start his own firm. He quickly discovered that going solo in theater law is not the recipe for consistent revenue, at least in his case. A “recovering litigator,” Erach decided to focus on estate planning. He began by teaching himself the basics and found some initial success. Eventually, however, he was hindered by the same problem so many solos face—how to run a successful business. Erach and Dave discuss this challenge in depth, with references to Gerber’s E-Myth, the Entrepreneurial Seizure, the Fatal Assumption, the Revenue Rollercoaster, and more. Then Erach shares his experiences with LWP, which he joined initially for the sole purpose of learning Medicaid planning. Erach likes to say, “I came for the Medicaid planning, I stayed for the systems and processes.”

Lisa and Dave welcome LWP Member Alan Hougum, Founder of the Hougum Law Firm, LLC, which has offices in Wausau and Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Alan began his career at a large firm doing tax and corporate law before transitioning into estate planning. After discovering LWP 12 years ago (from an LWP email he received), Alan began generating considerable revenue for the firm. Somewhat reluctantly, he decided to take the big leap and founded his own firm eight years ago, bringing two members of his team with him. The relationships he had established with financial planners, CPAs, and other synergistic partners proved crucial in initially maintaining and then increasing revenue. With the new-found control he had as founder, Alan was able to freely implement LWP systems and processes, which led to more relationships with professionals who liked the way he and his team consistently operated and were happy to refer clients to the firm. Hougum Law Firm now has three attorneys (soon to be four) and a team of 16. Watch as Alan shares his experiences with team building, relationship marketing, and more using LWP models, systems, and processes.