Having practiced as a litigator before going into marketing, Ross speaks credibly to this audience. In sessions ranging from one hour to a half day, he provides a practical, hands-on approach to a firm’s attorneys or marketing team, ensuring that your professionals’ marketing efforts are productive and effective.
These interactive programs are educational yet entertaining, while leveraging the talents of a firm’s in-house marketing professionals. All presentations are individually tailored to each firm’s unique needs, and firms may choose to include personalized one-on-one or small-group follow-up as well.
Today, many of the most-popular marketing programs relate to social media and the Internet, like Online Marketing, “LinkedIn for Lawyers” or “Facebook Trends for CPAs.”
One of our favorites is “Telling Your Story Online,” a practical and entertaining presentation which shows the search results after a representative prospect Googles the programs’ attendees. It provides simple, step-by-step instructions to show attendees how they can quickly improve their personal results without needing a consultant.
“Content” and “Thought Leadership” are marketing’s latest buzzwords, but most busy professionals don’t have the time or inclination to blog, tweet, or post regularly. Another especially popular presentation is “Turn a Speech into 100 Tweets,” basically how to painlessly turn existing material, like a previous speech into an entire YouTube channel, 10 bylined articles, 20 blog posts, and more with surprisingly little effort.
The legal profession is changing fast and attorneys and law firms are very interested in presentations like “Artificial Intelligence and the Law” or “The Future of the Legal Profession,” tying global or technology trends to how they will be practicing law in the coming decades.
Margins are getting squeezed, so it’s important to learn how to adapt to grow revenue and profits.“Niche and Industry Marketing” is a guaranteed winner, teaching lawyers how to quickly become a market leader in some specialty area, practice, or industry, which is the simplest and fastest way to generate measurable results. This is a perennial crowd pleaser, often called “The best marketing presentation I’ve ever seen.”
And, of course, US lawyers like receiving CLE credit, particularly the coveted mandatory Ethics hours, whenever possible. Most of Ross’s marketing-related programs can be redesigned to quality for Ethics credit if necessary.
Ross has spoken over 100 times to the Legal Marketing Association (LMA), Association of Accounting Marketing (AAM), and other marketing groups. Today, marketers want to learn about digital marketing and trends like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or whether law or accounting firms need a Facebook page or Twitter.
Websites are always popular topics, including “Hot Website Trends,” or using your website to generate revenue. And, as the firms’ internal trainers, marketers particularly value simple checklists and templates they can bring back to their firms to support their professionals.
Ross is one of the most-popular presenters at local and national Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) conferences. A former member of ALA’s National Conference Committee, Ross has spoken to dozens of ALA programs, averaging over a 4.75 out of a possible 10.0.
At small and mid-sized firms, administrators often have general responsibility for marketing, either handling the hands-on efforts, or directing or overseeing the work of others. Helping develop their firms strategy or plans, executive directors or administrators therefore like seeing the big picture. Popular programs discuss trends, hot topics, and new ideas, because they will need to answer their lawyers or CPAs questions about these areas.
At smaller firms, the administrators may have marketing-related titles or responsibilities, and so need to be able to handle or update the firms’ websites, or marketing plans. They like learning about branding and differentiation, and ways to stand out from the competition, including niche industries or specialty areas. Ross’s high-level programs are especially popular with the most-experienced COOs, CFOs, and Executive Directors, who need to identify strategic opportunities for their large or sophisticated firms.
Accountants are particularly interested in the sales, or business development side of things, like “Business Development for CPAs,” or programs teaching them how to use online tools to measurably generate more leads.
Of course, for all types of professionals, the historically proven techniques are still popular, like “Networking Tips and Techniques,” “Personal Branding,” or “Cross Selling.”
Ross also speaks regularly to international networks of law firms, accounting firms, consultants, or other types of global or regional professional-services associations, affiliations, or networks. Networks are particularly interested in finding ways to retain and grow their membership.
The most-popular speeches discuss how to market the network, either (1) directly to clients and prospects, or (2) deeper into each member firm, to increase the number of professionals sending referrals within the network. We also have fun programs detailing how the individual members can market themselves within the network, connecting themselves to a specific geography, i.e. “Argentina = Sofia.”
A former litigator and marketing partner, Ross speaks credibly to legal and professional-services audiences. In sessions ranging from one hour to a full day, he provides a practical, hands-on approach, ensuring that your firm’s marketing is productive and effective, and that your lawyers will have clients when they need them. All presentations are individually tailored to each firm’s unique needs, and may include one-on-one or small-group follow-up as necessary.
These proven, no-risk, interactive programs are practical and motivating, fully supporting the efforts of a firm’s marketing committee and in-house professionals. Ross also emphasizes the applicable ethics rules relating to communications, solicitation, advertising, and promotions, to help the programs qualify for CLE credit. Ross’s evaluations from tough lawyer audiences average over 4.75 out of 5.0.
Depending upon each state’s unique rules, CLE can hone your skills, teach new substantive techniques, improve your practice, or provide context for challenging ethical issues.
CLE should be both educational and entertaining, but too often it’s taught by skilled practitioners who know the substance, but not how to engage an audience. “CLE” has become synonymous with “boring,” with Ethics hours among the worst offenders. What a tragedy. It should be great. It can be. Whether in an in-house training program or firm retreat, Ross Fishman provides some of the nation’s most-entertaining and -effective CLE presentations, often under the coveted Ethics category.
Call Ross directly to learn more about the CLE, marketing, and Ethics programs he offers to firms, and a wide variety of organizations and associations worldwide.
Lawyers are a challenging audience. Smart, savvy, and skeptical, they don’t blindly trust experts or authorities who can’t prove their mettle. A former litigator and marketing partner, Ross has decades of full-time law firm marketing experience, and the ability to convey complex information within the lawyers’ uniquely focused communication style.
There are few things more embarrassing for a marketer or administrator than a disastrous training program or firm retreat. No one wants to face a flood of Monday-morning voicemails asking, “Who hired that guy to speak?!” Such reactions mean that a golden opportunity to learn, bond, or have fun became a waste of time. Of course, nothing can energize a firm more than a great program. It can bring the firm and its lawyers together, teaching important new skills, and motivating everyone to take the next big step forward. And, since it’s time spent away from the office and from home, it should be fun as well as functional, both entertaining and educational.
Whether the issue is marketing or mission, service or strategy, will your speaker leave behind interesting, challenging ideas and the enthusiasm to accomplish them? These are difficult questions. And here’s one very effective answer:
Ross Fishman has become one of the legal profession’s most-effective speakers at firm retreats and training classes. He has presented programs for over 250 firms and associations on six continents. Whether providing a half-day program, or an intensive hour-long, CLE-approved presentation, firms around the world have given his programs some of the highest evaluations ever, speaking on marketing- and strategy-related topics including social media, websites and online marketing, networking, cross selling, and many others.
Every program is individually tailored to the firm and circumstances. Not just entertaining, Ross tangibly helps firms achieve their strategic objectives. Managing Partners, Marketing Partners, Executive Directors and CMOs worldwide have called his programs “The best marketing programs I’ve ever seen.”
Contact Ross Fishman now to book your next event.
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