Predictable Estate Planner - Heath Rost

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The difference between a short term and long term marketing strategy as an estate planning attorney wanting to grow their practice in 2025

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So one thing most estate planning law firm owners don’t understand about their marketing strategy that I wish they did…

“The difference between a short term and long term marketing strategy as an estate planning attorney wanting to grow their practice in 2025”

A large portion of law firms that approach me every day wanting help with their marketing and lead generation for their law firm are in “leads-now” mode. They’re focused on the short term actions they can take that will show them the result they most desire.

These aren’t the ideal clients we like to work with. But I believe it’s mostly because they’re not educated on the behavior of their ideal, qualified, prospect.

 

Short Term Lead Generation Works For Short Bursts Of Qualified And Unqualified Leads

The reason you’re not getting any leads–qualified or not–right now is because your messaging sucks. There I said it. Even if you paid $10,000+ for a website and professional copywriting, 99.9% of marketing agencies don’t understand what actually converts prospects looking for help from an attorney for estate planning.

It’s more than copywriting though, its branding and credibility.

An advertisement and a website will convert prospect into leads, but if you’re stopping there and not implementing any sort of long-term nurturing strategy, not implementing any sort of pre-selling strategy, you’re not going to see

– consistency of leads flowing in
– increase in quality of leads booking appointments
– an increase in the quantity of leads reaching out every monthly

 

Long Term Lead Generation Pre-Sells Your Prospect And Comes From A Confident, Poised Place

The Predictable Estate Planner Marketing (EPLP) System(tm) uses a simple 3-step method to attract and convert website traffic into pre-sold, nurtured, qualified leads.

1) The Conversion Website portrays your business in such a way that your brand is optimally represented. Effective in converting qualified prospects quickly if they’re already educated and want to speak with an attorney right away. This is the beginning of an effective short-term marketing strategy.

2) An online conversion mechanism or “OCM” builds upon the nurturing followup after a prospect becomes a lead. This really is the first step in re-engaging the prospect. Your website is the beginning of your OCM.

3) Pre-selling your prospects through your personality, and educational and purposeful content on your website. This is where the real work with me and my team begins after we get your lead-generation website and OCM automations set up. The first 2 steps get people into your funnel, this third step is ever-changing and evolves with your business.

Things our clients will tell you this solves for their business:

-They can leave for vacation for 2 weeks, cut off all contact with the business, and not worry about things falling apart while they’re gone.

-Prospects have better questions when they eventually sit down with you.

-Prospects have a clearer picture of how you can help them before they even sit down.

-this list goes on but you get the point

 

The One Thing I Wish All Estate Planning Law Firm Owners Knew About Their Marketing Strategy

The behavior of your ideal, qualified, prospect matters. I’ve been empowering estate planning firm owners for the past decade. The truth is in the analytics, the numbers, and the bottom line.

Your practice area of estate planning is Grounded in your Long Term Pre-Selling Marketing Strategy.

If you ever desire to have a never ending stream of qualified leads banging down your door, if you want to be the go-to estate planning attorney in your city, state and region, if you’re tired of wasting time meeting with unqualified leads, if your work-life balance is so out of whack that you’re pulling your hair out,

There is an easier way. I can help.

Maintaining Your Cool: What To Expect When You Start Generating Leads

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With any attorney taking on an added volume of estate planning inquires or “leads” it can take time to gain momentum with closing, responding to leads, and adjusting and evaluating your process.  That’s just a simple fact.  The added volume of leads is a byproduct of what occurs after an attorney or law firm begins work with a lead generation company.  For a complete and thorough understanding of what this is read: What Is A Lead Generation Company And How To Work With Them

For the purpose of this blog, let’s say your attorney lead generation company has set up (1) the landing webpage, (2) the ads, (3) delivery of leads and (4) a lead tracking sheet.

The four structured bullet points I share today will set your law firm up for success, and help you to produce the outcome you want with your lead generation company.  Treat these like your bible.  For without grasping the complete understanding of the importance of each you could end up jumping from one attorney marketing company to the next, and the one after that.

1) Maintain a lead tracking sheet

It may be helpful to you and your lead generation company to fill out your lead tracking sheet with detailed feedback on every lead that comes through, how it went, what they needed, etc.  Understanding the types of leads that are converting currently is helpful feedback on any campaign.  If your lead generation company is any good, your answers here will be helpful in the event your need to pivot your campaign.  Maintaining the lead tracking sheet is helpful because you will know who you need to follow up with.

 

2) Devise a plan for answering and responding to leads

Devise a plan for making certain you increase the percentage of calls you are able to answer. Set a goal and hold yourself accountable. Notate in your lead tracking sheet whether you answered the lead when they first contacted you, how long it took you to respond and begin to identify trends you see.  Maybe you won’t see any trends at first, but over time it may become black and white what you need to do or how you need to adjust to what you’re doing to close more sales and positively influence your bottom line.

Remember, first impressions matter!  Make sure you answer the phone when your prospect calls.  You might get a different person on the phone when you pick up right away than the person who answers the phone when you call them back a day later. Worse, they may have even contacted another attorney who answered their phone right away and hired them instead.  But I digress, as I said before be on the safe side and answer your phone when a lead calls.

 

3) Know what your business model requires of you

In 2021 many attorneys are shifting their business to be a fully remote business.  If you start working with a lead generation company and you have little to no experience with running a fully remote business then you should approach that relationship from a humble place.  Your lead generation company’s role is not to help you develop your business plan or refine your sales process.  Don’t get frustrated with your lead generation company because you aren’t closing the leads they’re bringing you.  If you are taking detailed notes on every lead in a lead tracking sheet and communicating how it’s going your lead generation company should respond by doing whatever it takes to refine your campaign and make it successful for you.

 

4) Be patient with yourself

You’re going to learn a lot especially in the first couple months working with your lead generation company.  You will soon learn what it’s like managing an influx of day to day business in combination with your leads you’re already working to follow up with.  This adjustment will take some getting used to, so be patient.

 

Finding the right lead generation company for your estate planning practice

As you can gather from the blog today knowing the line of responsibility you carry when working with a lead generation company is of utmost importance in order to form a long lasting relationship.  That is of course our goal with every attorney we work with.  I hope this blog was helpful and will pay you dividends for years to come. If this information was useful, forward it along to a friend then book a call with me using the ‘Schedule Now’ button below. I look forward to connecting.

Onward and Upward,

Heath Rost
Founder, Predictable Estate Planner

What Is Lead Generation?

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Increasing your volume of leads is a byproduct of what occurs after a new attorney begins working with a company for lead generation.  For the purpose of this blog I will cover what lead generation is, and how to set yourself up for success when working with one.  Taken from our homepage:

Simply put, lead generation is the product of attracting, converting and delivering live calls and appointments with people seeking your services where you live. Online advertising through search engines and social media, and setting up the proper retargeting channels are all parts of this process.

But what does a lead generation company do?

Successful lead generation for an estate planner not only includes online advertising, but also encompasses advance nurturing directives including procured landing webpages, calendar integration, lead delivery, tasteful lead followup, and other technical intelligence to make your law firm known and easily approachable.

That is how Estate Planning Lead Pros defines lead generation for attorneys.  If this is your first time working with a lead generation company, or you are just doing research before you do, there are a few things you should understand right now.  The long term goal with any lead generation company your law firm works with is to form a bond, a win win relationship that extends far beyond the terms of your initial agreement. Unless you get off on the right foot with your lead generation company you’ll never build that long term relationship and thus, you won’t have time to adjust to your “new normal.”

How to work with a lead generation company

You should have a general idea for how to work with your lead generation company, which is the subject of this blog.  I promise if you adhere to the next three structured bullet points it will save you a lot of time, money and headache. 🙂

1) Don’t jump to conclusions about lead quality

If you’re working with a new lead generation company, I encourage you to be patient with the leads and with yourself, especially regarding lead quality.  The market will fluctuate and change every day the types of people who are seeking your services and your lead generation company doesn’t have control over that.

2) Adjust your sales process to your leads

Your lead generation company that set up your landing page and your ads will determine the entire flow of this process.  It is your responsibility as the attorney to recognize this process, and adjust to the way your lead generation company is able to produce leads for you.

Do not expect your leads to:

  • Have their wallets open with thumbs on their credit cards the instant you connect
  • Know what you want them to do
  • Sell themselves
  • Answer the phone for you
  • Call at a time most convenient for you — yes you might be on the toilet ?, answer the call anyway!

❗️Website-Only Offer ❗️

For any estate planning attorney that books a call right now, I will provide a personalized hour long training session to you and your team covering how to book more appointments and close more sales. Free of charge when you book!

Your lead generation company should share how the leads will get to you, and help you understand the process your leads went through in order to find you.  That should put you in the right headspace when you do your initial followup with the lead, and whenever you answer a live phone call.

Lastly, have a plan devised and outlined ahead of time for how you will move new prospects (leads) from your starting position–the moment they become a lead–until their new estate plan is signed, sealed and delivered.  If you aren’t accustomed to the volume of leads you start receiving, be patient with yourself.  You aren’t going to close every prospect–every interaction you get when you first get started.  Practice makes perfect, and the more experience you get with prospects the more fluid you will become with your conversations, and ultimately the more estate plans you will get paid to write.

3) Don’t request significant changes to your campaign

Especially if you’re interested in working with a boutique or specialized lead generation company.

This is a big one, perhaps the biggest one!

From experience I can tell you that changing a single design feature or a single line of copywriting can produce drastically different results in a campaign. If you want a true assessment of any lead generation company do not make too many asks outside of what the company has already set up. They know what works best. Further, it’s also why you’ve hired them.  Be kind to your business by reaping the rewards of working with your lead generation company in the manner they produce the best results for their clients.  The better you can be to them the better results you earn from your campaign.

At Estate Planning Lead Pros we are a boutique lead generation company for estate planning attorneys. For 10 years we’ve studied the psychology of converting prospects on your website into leads, how to convert the right prospects into leads, and how to nurture the interaction before and after they become a lead and a client.  We know the language to use and the process that works best for helping estate planners increase their leads, close more sales and grow their practice.

So to wrap this point up, if you’re thinking of working with a specialized lead generation company please do not approach the relationship the wrong way.  Trust their process, and make certain you are hold up your end to make your campaign a success.

Finding the best lead generation company for an estate planning attorney

Not every attorney we talk to is going to be the right fit, just like not everyone is going to get along with each other.  Before we can determine if we would be a good fit we need to have a chance to get to know one another.  We need to meet, and ask each other questions that will help us decide if we can make this work.  So with that I invite you to set up a call with me by clicking the ‘Schedule Now’ button below.  I look forward to connecting.

? Onward and ? Upward,

Heath Rost
Founder, Estate Planning Lead Pros

Why Blogging Is So Valuable For Estate Planning Lawyers

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In today’s blog I’m going to write about a topic I am quite fond of, blogging.  If you don’t know me or this is your first time coming to my website I’ve been working with estate planning attorneys to write blogs on their website for nearly a decade now.  I’ve seen the benefits of having a great blog that come from both an organic and paid search and I want to share three quick reasons why blogging is so valuable for estate planning lawyers.

1) Your customers are asking more questions in this area of law than perhaps any other area

There are a couple reasons for this.  First they may have never worked with an attorney before and want to be more educated before reaching out.  Second is this area of law requires them to do an inventory on their financials and investments prior to meeting with you, so they want to know as much as they can as well.

2) They don’t know how to ask the right question

People are more uneducated when it comes to estate planning than any other area of law (arguably).  The point I want to make here is that they don’t know how to ask the right question, so they have so many different things they will type into their search bar.  That means the pool for you to write a blog that addresses exactly the question being asked is much larger than other areas of law.

3) The more you answer your customers questions they more they know, like and trust you.

The more comfortable customers are with you the more likely they are to fill out a lead form on your website, book and appointment or call your law firm directly.  You want them to spend more time on your website, and the more questions you’ve answered for them the more invested they are in you and your law firm.

That about does it for this blog.  If you’re an estate planning lawyer and you need a high-converting website and/or lead generation I would love to speak with you.  Schedule a call with me by clicking below.

What’s Unique About People Who Seek Help With Estate Planning

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In the decade I’ve been working with estate planning attorneys I’ve noticed there are certain characteristics that differentiate prospects and leads for estate planning attorneys as compared to prospects in other areas of law. Knowing who your prospect is and getting really clear on who they are and what their needs are is a great way to improve your law firm marketing.

How Estate Planning Prospects Are Different

1-Preconceived notions about what it’s like to work with an attorney

People think lawyers are scary because of the way they are portrayed in the media.  It’s even more important that you humanize yourself and build the relationship with your prospective client as soon as you can.

2-They are in no hurry to get their estate plan set up

Estate plans most often aren’t things that need to be done this week.  How can you go about convincing your prospect into moving forward?

How EP Attorneys Can Overcome These Factors

1-Education

The more educated your prospects are the more comfortable they will be with moving forward. They see the value in what you do and appreciate you answering their questions.

2-Investment

Every exchange increases your prospects investment to work with you. No one likes interviewing attorneys to find the right one, it’s your duty not to lose them.

3-Relationships

Build that relationship as soon and early as you can.  From the moment they first see your ad, to when they’re on your website to when you’re speaking with them on the phone for the first time.  Relationship building is everything for estate planning attorneys.

Why A One Page Website Is Really All Your Law Firm Needs (To Get Started)

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One of the mistakes I see law firms make when building a new website is going all-in from the git-go. I believe it is a mistake when you’re building a new website to have more than 1 page max before adding on additional or new content.

That may sound a little blunt, and maybe you completely disagree with me–but hear me out.

The primary reason, and overarching reason a one page website is really all you need is because if your website doesn’t convert leads from one page, what makes us think it will convert leads when it has more than one page? Here are my followup arguments and points:

#1: What you can measure you can manage.

If you have nothing to measure from one page, what are you able to measure from two pages, three pages or more?

Analytics tell you everything you need to know starting with how people find your website and gaging the interest level of those people based on how they found you.

#2: Analyzing user behavior

When you have one page on your website to start, you learn how website visitors (your prospects) use your website. You can track everything about the user experience, study that data and learn from it.

When you know how people find your website with interest levels that are high, you learn the bigger picture, direction and vision for how you should make adjustments to your landing page. You analyze so you can adjust.

#3: Adjusting your 1-page landing website

After studying the data and learning what you can from what it’s telling you, you can make adjustments to your landing page to achieve the outcome you desire. Until you achieve that outcome, there is no reason to add more content to your website.

Start with what you know works, and build from there. That’s the strategy.

#Wrap-up

Using the strategy of starting from a 1-page website and building from there will give you the strongest foundation possible. The less business analytics to analyze when you first launch your new website the better. Having too many analytics to measure from the git-go could leave you spinning your wheels, so play it safe and start small. Lets discuss your website and find out if a 1-page website is the right place for you to (re)start. Book a call with me today.

What Is Lead Conversion?

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To understand how we can go about increasing conversions on your law firm’s website we first need to be on the same page about how we delineate what a conversion is.  For the purpose of this video and blog the types of conversions we’re trying to increase are:

  • Prospect clicks on your phone number on your website
  • Submits a contact form
  • Schedules an appointment

So how do we get more of these types of conversions when prospects visit our website?  We do this using one simple strategy.

Blogging.

Why Blogging To Increase Conversions On My Website?

Especially for estate planning attorneys, it’s important to your prospects when they visit your website that you give off the appearance that you are a patient business to work with.

People want to be educated and they want to learn.  Especially as an attorney it’s important that you be willing to educate them and be patient with them.  If prospects that visit your website don’t know that then they are going to be less likely to reach out to you and become a conversion.

A typical law firm website that is using paid ads will attain conversions from 1%-2% of their website traffic.  Over the past 10 years working with estate planning attorneys we’ve identified a trend a correlation between conversion rate and the number of pages and posts on the law firm’s website.

This means simply that the more blog posts and pages you’re creating, the more likely the prospect is to become a lead.

Why We Encourage Blogging

In terms of organic SEO and paid ads when you have more pages and posts on your website it’s going to result in higher conversion rates.  Higher conversion rates mean that the more people you have visiting your website the larger return on investment your law firm is going to see in the long run.

How do I get clients more invested in the interaction with me as an estate planning attorney?

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One decades worth of Internet, analytics, and numerous case studies have shown that the more invested a person is during the “dating stage” with a particular attorney or law firm the more likely they are to become a customer of the law firm. In this blog post, I will break down–in order–how to get your prospective client more invested in the interaction with you–their estate planning attorney. So without further ado..

Number one. Make it easy for them to find you.

Make it easy for them to find you. Most commonly known strategies: organic search ranking, google my business, paid search advertising, social media ads, direct mailers, radio and television. You have to do whatever you have to do in order to get more traffic to your website. Consult your marketing specialist for recommendations.

Number two. Lead, Nurture & Guide them.

Once you have your foot in the door and they are on your website now, it is time to lead, nurture and guide them the way you most enjoy doing it. Show them you’re listening, have a conversation with them and provide answers to their questions. Read more on my top 3 ways to extend more value to your prospective clients.

Number three. What to do after they take initial action.

After they take initial action. At this point, you have their contact information and your website has produced the result you most desire. This is where most attorneys quit, but this is actually where attorneys are generating quality leads with prospective clients–quality leads that know and understand the benefits of a trust over a simple well will–will become live calls and appointments for you. Your objective from number two was simply to get people into the beginning of your funnel. Once you have accomplished that your new objective is to funnel, only the right and best prospects into booking a time to meet and to speak with you the attorney.

You now possess the power once they are in your funnel to weed out people who are not serious about working with you to get their estate plan completed. It is OK to make them work in order to claim a piece of your very precious time. Now that they are in your funnel, you can take appropriate action to get your prospective client to invest more time, more clicks into the interaction with you the attorney.

Need help?

If you are an attorney that wants to write more estate plans and generate more leads online and off-line then I may be able to help you. I build a system that generates live calls and appointments from people in your area that need help with their estate plan. To book a time to speak with me, help me learn more about you and your business by completing the quiz here. The quiz is very short–only 2 to 3 minutes. Make sure you enter your email at the end so I know how to match up your answers with you. From there, you will be able to book a time with me to discuss your marketing strategy.

Complete the quiz ? ?

What are my top 3 ways to extend more value to your prospective clients? (in order)

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Ever study the law of attraction? ?

In a nutshell, the more value you put out into the Universe the more you get back. It works the same with marketing your services as an attorney that specializes in estate planning wills & trusts. The more value you extend your prospective clients the more leads you generate.  Attorneys, in this blog I’ll break down–in order–my top 3 ways to extend more value to your prospective clients.  So without further ado..

1. Listen to them.

Listen to them. Showing that you’re listening gets you on the same page, keeps them present and focused on the interaction.

2. Have a conversation with them.

Have a conversation with them. The purpose of listening is to have a conversation. No one likes being talked at. Too often as attorneys we feel the need to showcase our expertise on a particular topic and thats where you’re likely to lose the person you’re having a conversation with. Practice storytelling.

3. Educate them.

Educate them. The purpose of the conversation is to help them. This is one of the 2 most important factors (specifically for estate planning attorneys) for generating more leads via your website. This should be the part that you as the attorney enjoy doing the most. It’s the reason you got into estate planning in the first place–to give people peace of mind about their estate.

Need help?

If you are an attorney that wants to write more estate plans and generate more leads online and off-line then I may be able to help you. I build a system that generates live calls and appointments from people in your area that need help with their estate plan. To book a time to speak with me, help me learn more about you and your business by completing the quiz here. The quiz is very short–only 2 to 3 minutes. Make sure you enter your email at the end so I know how to match up your answers with you. From there, you will be able to book a time with me to discuss your marketing strategy.

Complete the quiz ? ?

The Difference Between A Virtual Estate Planner And Mobile Estate Planner

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I love this topic, because for an estate planning attorney the way you market yourself makes a huge difference in whether or not a prospective client becomes a lead for your business.  The way people can work with you tells a huge story about whether or not you’ll have success in growing your law firm, and growing it through your digital marketing efforts.  In this blog I’ll do my best to compare and contrast the two, from a marketers perspective.

 

Mobile Estate Planners Have It Made…. Sort Of

First off, what the heck is a mobile estate planner?  For the purposes of this blog, an estate planner is a licensed and practicing attorney that writes estate plans, wills, trusts, powers of attorney and all the necessary estate planning documents anyone requires in preparation for their demise.  A mobile estate planner is an estate planner that will travel to meet with clients where they are be that in a residential home, nursing or senior-living home, hospital or coffee shop.  A mobile estate planner is not limited by their physical location within the metro area or city they reside and practice in.

As you can probably tell from my description of a mobile estate planner that by marketing yourself as mobile you give yourself a leg-up on your competition as an estate planning attorney.  Not only that, there are several things you can do, depending on your metro area, to gain an organic search advantage through the use of multiple mailing address or offices where you can meet with clients at.

Why is this important? 

Because people like to support local, and with something as personal as managing their estate after their passing they like to know that the person [the attorney] they choose to work with for their estate plan is local, and can be contacted in the event they need to make a change or someone they name in their plan has a question for them.

On the downside, most people don’t know that an attorney that is licensed in the state can write an estate plan for them no matter how far away they live from them. Writing and publishing blogs and making your messaging clear on your website are great ways to overcome this.

Additionally, most people think their county has specific laws and rules that an estate planner that lives outside of their territory will not understand, and therefore something could be missing in their estate plan.  Blogs and great messaging again are the answer here.

 

Virtual Estate Planners Have More Disadvantages Than You May Think

A virtual estate planner is an estate planner that does not meet with clients in-person, ever.  They only meet over the phone, audio and video conferencing.  This can be a big factor in whether or not a prospective client will choose to reach out to you and become a new lead through your digital marketing efforts.  People want to meet in person, they want to know you live near them and understand the lay of the land as it pertains to their estate.

On the upside, if you are solely a virtual estate planner for your metro area or city you practice in, but you also live in that area, you need to make that clear in your messaging or else you could miss out on a lot of business that would convert into a lead through your website and digital marketing efforts.

If you choose to practice estate planning as an attorney in a city you don’t live, you might consider setting up a mailing address within that city, and connecting that with a Google My Business profile.  That will give you an element of trust with prospects that live there, even though you don’t.

Lastly, through your digital marketing I encourage you to make the fact that you’re a virtual estate planner clear up front.  One of the first things your prospects are looking for is a yes or no answer to “are they local?”  If you can answer that question, along with questions like “are they an estate planning attorney” then you’ll be well on your way to converting that website prospect into a lead.

 

Virtual Estate Planning Vs. Mobile Estate Planning: Which One Is Best?

Wrapping up it really depends on how you like to practice law and what your process is.  After converting a prospect into a lead, a lead generation company’s role with your company is not to create the process for you, rather it is to help automate it and free up your time for you.  Depending on what your law firm’s digital footprint looks like currently will determine the best way to go about marketing yourself more effectively as a virtual or mobile estate planner.  If a conversation about that is warranted, I invite you to schedule a call with me now.

? Onward and ? Upward,
Heath Rost