Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
INFORMER :: NEW PRODUCTS
Service firm launches
first product, Market
Your Law Practice
by Beth Ewen
Seven years ago Terrie Wheeler?s attorney asked, what her exit strategy was. The owner of a marketing consultancy called Professional Services Marketing Inc. started thinking.
?He planted a seed about creating a product around some of my coaching business,? Wheeler says. ?How could I take every element of my marketing coaching business and turn it into a Web-based tool??
The ?voluminous process? has resulted in Wheeler?s first product: Market Your Law Practice, which retails for $1,450 and walks law firms, especially small firms, solo practitioners and outstate firms, through every aspect of marketing.
There?s a marketing folder so users can pull all their media assets in one place. They?ll receive a reminder from their virtual marketing coach to complete various tasks. There?s an ?ask your marketing coach? function, which Wheeler or one of her 20 consultants will answer.
The tool cost about $150,000 to develop. It was funded from Wheeler?s company?s profits, and she ?creatively went into debt.?
She is now marketing it to bar associations across the country as a member benefit. Their members get a $200 discount, and her company pays each bar association $250 per member who signs on.
In June she closed on the bar association of New York. California, Texas and Maine are on board. ?At this point it seems to be really taking hold,? Wheeler says. ?It?s taken longer than I thought.?
She recommends that association strategy to other marketers. ?If you?re marketing, you need to look at the one-to-many strategy rather than one-to-one.? Now she?s licensing the content of the tool for back-office work at financial advisory firms, and plans to develop a Market your Community Bank product.
Terrie Wheeler, Professional Services Marketing Inc. and Market Your Law Practice: 651.633.2711; tw******@***********ng.com; www.marketyourlawpractice.com
