This is the sixth article in a series of articles being written regarding tried and true tips on law office marketing, management and economics.

Most of the previous articles dealt with clients; getting them, keeping them and making them happy.

Clients are the first concept that we are dealing with that every business in the world needs to thrive. Those five things are included in the box that accompanies this article.

You should be scoring yourself at the end of each of these columns. At the end of the client category, we will do a recap for you. You can add up your score, and see how well you are doing, somewhere between “In the Stone Ages,” or operating on the “Cutting Edge.”

Over the last several weeks we have been talking about methods of getting clients. I have often made the comment to people that when you graduate from law school you are a law graduate, if you pass the bar, you are an attorney and if you have a client, you are a counselor at law. As I have said previously, you can be the world’s greatest lawyer, but without clients you will be working for someone else and their clients, not yours.

In the past 30 years, various law firms in Kansas City have ceased to exist, and only those lawyers with their own clients have been able to make a swift transition into a new position or practice. All of the other lawyers without clients, found themselves on the street looking for another place to go to work for someone else’s clients. Having your own clients gives you tremendous freedom. No situation is a perfect situation, but if you know yourself well enough, you can determine how important freedom is to you and whether or not the benefits of having your own clients outweigh the headaches. I have often heard it repeated over and over that regardless of what you are doing in the practice of law, you will encounter problems. The question is, are they your problems that you can creatively solve or are they someone else’s problems to solve; often times having little or no impact on such problems, much less actually solving them.

This week’s topic is to have at least one public speaking engagement once a quarter or four times a year.

When making up this list of items on how to get clients, keep clients and make them happy, it hit me that in 33 years of practice, I have never once turned down a public speaking engagement if I was available to make the engagement. I have spoken in classrooms at grade schools, high schools, colleges and law schools. I have spoken to every type of service, business and professional organization imaginable. In town, out of town, it didn’t matter. The topics have ranged from nearly every legal topic you can think of to some topics that made me wonder why they were asking me to speak, but nonetheless, after having done some homework and having put together a presentation, I was able to give the audience something, and nobody threw any “rotten fruit and vegetables.”

You might ask why anyone would want to never say no? I, on the other hand, would say why would you ever say no! Every single one of these speaking engagements have brought me into contact with people that I otherwise would not have met. These opportunities have allowed me to know more about my profession and the subject matter it was that I had been asked to speak about. These speaking engagements have made me a better speaker, a better lawyer and a better person. Mostly, these speaking engagements have exposed me to a large group of people who are potential clients or who can refer potential clients to me. Should you say yes to these speaking engagements? Not only yes, but hell yes!

Okay, now that I have hopefully convinced you to make yourself visible by making these speaking engagements, how do you go about finding such speaking engagements? The answer is simple: volunteer!

When I was an assistant prosecuting attorney, I became the assistant that would go out to all of the high schools in the Kansas City metropolitan area and talk about what the prosecutor’s office did. When I was active in the Young Lawyers Section of the Bar Association, I jumped at every opportunity I could to be able to participate in public speaking opportunities. Law day activities, teaching teachers, “Ask a Lawyer” programs, and more. Opportunities for speaking are boundless. Legal secretary and paralegal organizations, as well as college courses oriented towards the law are just some of the fertile places to look for opportunities to speak.

Everyone you meet is a potential client. You never know where the next client is coming from, and making yourself visible so the next time a person needs a lawyer or knows someone who needs a lawyer, your name may just be in the forefront of someone’s mind, resulting in your ability to obtain another client and another opportunity to help someone solve their legal problem or handle their legal matter.

By this time you are not surprised to see that several points continue to be made in these articles:

   1. Take the time;

   2. Make yourself visible;

   3. Never say, “no” if you can help it; and

   4. Get involved, volunteer.

If you will begin to put the above (4) concepts into your day-to-day practice, you will be astounded at the results that you will begin to achieve.

No matter how much time and money you put into marketing and advertising, there is no better marketing tool and no better advertisement than a satisfied client. You can’t satisfy a client if you never have one in the first place, so starting with the concept of “getting clients” makes all the sense in the world. If you are already participating in speaking activities, keep it up, if you have not been doing so, get started, now!

Next week we will be continuing to talk about “tips” on getting clients, keeping clients, and making them happy. Next week’s topic is having one press release or note in an alumni magazine per year. Some of the stories about how this has worked will be very enlightening. I will be giving you some real specifics in this area and will show you how taking the time to do a press release or put a note in an alumni magazine can pay off in a big way.

Talk with you next week!

Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.