When potential clients call the office of Virginia personal injury attorney Ben Glass, one of the first questions they’re asked is, “Did you know Ben Glass wrote the book on car accident cases here in Virginia? Would it be okay if I sent you a copy?”

Most callers say yes and Glass’ team then mails them a printed copy of his self-published book for free.

This strategy allows Glass to quickly create trust with potential clients and stand out from his competition, by positioning himself as a trusted authority genuinely interested in helping them.

Clearly, Glass isn’t your average personal injury attorney. In addition to his law firm, he also runs his own publishing company, Ben Glass Publishing plus Great Legal Marketing, LLC in which he teaches other attorneys how to effectively grow their practices.

In an interview on the Main Street Author Podcast with Mike Capuzzi, Glass shared how he  writes books to promote his law practice, land speaking engagements so he can get in front of new prospect and to grow his business.

Glass’ many books include The Ultimate Guide to Accident Cases: 5 Deadly Sins That Can Wreck Your Injury Claim and How to Buy Car Insurance, which he calls “a trust piece” that helps him get speaking gigs so he can get in front of more people.

Wanting to have something to give people that’s better than a business card, Glass’ books started off as stapled booklets. Over the years he has used these books as small lead-generation magnets that have effectively driven revenue for his law firm. He says that for this to work, books don’t need to be long. His books generally range from 18 to 30 pages in length.

In the highly competitive field of personal injury lawyers, he wanted to market a book first when other lawyers promote themselves first, so he created books to be perceived as an authority in his field. Because of the way he frames his topics, his books enable him to promote himself as an expert who helps consumers walk through the legal process.

By creating books with a strong consumer benefit expressed in the title, such as The Accident Victim’s Guide to Settling Your Case Without a Lawyer, people are more likely to respond after receiving a book in the mail than they are likely to call a business like a law firm on their own

Glass says there are many good reasons to become an author, citing that writing and self-publishing books is an effective way to grow a business. He emphasizes it makes your business stand out because few businesses do this.

While the prospect of writing and self-publishing a book can seem overwhelming, Glass points out that the process can be simple.

The book doesn’t need to be a huge book that is expensively produced. Print-on-demand (POD) make the process affordable because through POD you don’t need to do a large run of books, so you no longer need to pay thousands up front and store boxes of books in your garage.

Glass advises business owners to consider writing books based on how prospects would come to their business. By doing this, business owners can generate qualified leads.

So what if someone has doubts and thinks they’re not qualified enough to write a book? For cases like this, Glass offers ideas to make it easy to write a book:

  • Write a book from the prospect’s point of view. Address their concerns as they decide whether to make a purchase.
  • Answer prospects’ questions in your book. This is a simple way to create effective content no matter how qualified you feel.
  • Make it easy for prospects to say yes. Use the book to overcome barriers to the sale.
  • Make selling easier. Consider this a low-pressure way to sell to prospects without the pressure of a one-on-one sales pitch.
  • Look at problems from the prospect’s point of view. Your book should be about the prospect and address what’s going on in the prospect’s head right now.
  • Reduce the pressure to sell.  You don’t have to do as much heavy lifting to make sales when you have a book.
  • Differentiate yourself. A book has more impact than a brochure and a higher perceived value.

Podcast host Mike Capuzzi coined the term “shook” for “short helpful book” to describe a promotional book from mainstream business owners. These are basically direct response books.

He and Ben Glass assert that this is an effective method of promotion and that these books are especially good for higher ticket purchases. This is also a non-threatening way to reach prospects. It looks very professional and impresses prospects while allowing your team to brag about you in an appropriate manner. If you mail out these books for free, it also allows you to capture the names of prospects who aren’t yet ready to get on the phone with you to be sold.

Another benefit is that these short books can be written to help clients get to the next step. Your book can illustrate how to get from point A to point B, without having to explain everything in depth.

When producing a book, Glass warns against being cheap because that could harm your reputation. He also advises against only creating an ebook as a PDF because it doesn’t have the same impact on prospects as a printed book. He says the book doesn’t need to be a hardcover to impress prospects, however.

A surprising benefit to using small books as marketing pieces is they can help you get sales down the road. Most business owners think if they didn’t make the sale today the prospect has moved on but, with a book, that’s not necessarily the case. This is true even when the consumer is moving quickly to a decision.

Glass advises professionals and business owners to create several books to grow their business. Once books are created and produced, you can get loads of use out of them. He has ten books in circulation right now which he uses for a variety of promotional opportunities.

Learn more about Ben Glass at  https://www.benglasslaw.com and https://www.greatlegalmarketing.com

For more informative interviews, check out more episodes of the Main Street Author Podcast as well as host Mike Capuzzi’s books,  Main Street Author and The 100-Page Book.