some attorneys find a great deal of emotional and even spiritual satisfaction in helping these “salt of the earth” individuals and families. And from a purely marketing point of view, these people are strongly motivated by a very real fear of the devastating effects of nursing home costs.

But attorneys who have decided to extend their practices in this area often have trouble knowing how to market their services.

There are four main markets for lawyers to address: the public at large,

The last few years have seen a change in the estate planning market. The apparent determination of President Bush and the Republican majority in Congress to do away with the estate tax has made marketing estate planning more difficult.

Most estate planning attorneys know there are plenty of reasons—reasons completely unrelated to tax issues—that an individual needs to make an estate plan. Most of these reasons have to do with family issues. Perhaps parents have a son-in-law they don’t trust. Perhaps one of their children is a spendthrift. Perhaps one child works in the family business and others do not. All are very good reasons for making an estate plan.

Yet lawyers would be fooling themselves if they do not admit that the hammer that has driven the estate planning market is fear of the estate tax. It is this fear that most often drove individuals to stop procrastinating and create an estate plan.

Unfortunately, that fear is greatly diminished. Procrastination is back in vogue. As they currently exist, estate tax laws actually reward procrastination—at least until 2010.

The bursting of the Internet bubble and subsequent dive in the stock market did not help matters, as many high net worth individuals decided that their net worth wasn’t so high after all.

For many estate planning attorneys, a viable strategy to boost or maintain revenues has been to add elder law and Medicaid planning as an extension of their estate planning practices. This strategy makes a lot of sense. Medicaid planning, after all, is asset protection of another sort and for another purpose. Instead of protecting someone’s life savings from the estate tax, lawyers are saving someone’s (much more modest) life savings from nursing home costs.

There are several advantages to this market. For one thing, the number of people who qualify (net worth $50,000 to, say, $600,000) is huge compared to the less than 2% of the population who need tax-based estate planning. For another, some attorneys find a great deal of emotional and even spiritual satisfaction in helping these “salt of the earth” individuals and families. And from a purely marketing point of view, these people are strongly motivated by a very real fear of the devastating effects of nursing home costs.

But attorneys who have decided to extend their practices in this area often have trouble knowing how to market their services.

There are four main markets for lawyers to address: the public at large,

Perhaps one of their children is a spendthrift. Perhaps one child works in the family business and others do not. All are very good reasons for making an estate plan.

Yet lawyers would be fooling themselves if they do not admit that the hammer that has driven the estate planning market is fear of the estate tax. It is this fear that most often drove individuals to stop procrastinating and create an estate plan.

Unfortunately, that fear is greatly diminished. Procrastination is back in vogue. As they currently exist, estate tax laws actually reward procrastination—at least until 2010.

The bursting of the Internet bubble and subsequent dive in the stock market did not help matters, as many high net worth individuals decided that their net worth wasn’t so high after all.

For many estate planning attorneys, a viable strategy to boost or maintain revenues has been to add elder law and Medicaid planning as an extension of their estate planning practices. This strategy makes a lot of sense. Medicaid planning, after all, is asset protection of another sort and for another purpose. Instead of protecting someone’s life savings from the estate tax, lawyers are saving someone’s (much more modest) life savings from nursing home costs.

There are several advantages to this market. For one thing, the number of people who qualify (net worth $50,000 to, say, $600,000) is huge compared to the less than 2% of the population who need tax-based estate planning. For another, some attorneys find a great deal of emotional and even spiritual satisfaction in helping these “salt of the earth” individuals and families. And from a purely marketing point of view, these people are strongly motivated by a very real fear of the devastating effects of nursing home costs.

But attorneys who have decided to extend their practices in this area often have trouble knowing how to market their services.

There are four main markets for lawyers to address: the public at large,

vogue. As they currently exist, estate tax laws actually reward procrastination—at least until 2010.

The bursting of the Internet bubble and subsequent dive in the stock market did not help matters, as many high net worth individuals decided that their net worth wasn’t so high after all.

For many estate planning attorneys, a viable strategy to boost or maintain revenues has been to add elder law and Medicaid planning as an extension of their estate planning practices. This strategy makes a lot of sense. Medicaid planning, after all, is asset protection of another sort and for another purpose. Instead of protecting someone’s life savings from the estate tax, lawyers are saving someone’s (much more modest) life savings from nursing home costs.

There are several advantages to this market. For one thing, the number of people who qualify (net worth $50,000 to, say, $600,000) is huge compared to the less than 2% of the population who need tax-based estate planning. For another, some attorneys find a great deal of emotional and even spiritual satisfaction in helping these “salt of the earth” individuals and families. And from a purely marketing point of view, these people are strongly motivated by a very real fear of the devastating effects of nursing home costs.

But attorneys who have decided to extend their practices in this area often have trouble knowing how to market their services.

There are four main markets for lawyers to address: the public at large,

es a lot of sense. Medicaid planning, after all, is asset protection of another sort and for another purpose. Instead of protecting someone’s life savings from the estate tax, lawyers are saving someone’s (much more modest) life savings from nursing home costs.

There are several advantages to this market. For one thing, the number of people who qualify (net worth $50,000 to, say, $600,000) is huge compared to the less than 2% of the population who need tax-based estate planning. For another, some attorneys find a great deal of emotional and even spiritual satisfaction in helping these “salt of the earth” individuals and families. And from a purely marketing point of view, these people are strongly motivated by a very real fear of the devastating effects of nursing home costs.

But attorneys who have decided to extend their practices in this area often have trouble knowing how to market their services.

There are four main markets for lawyers to address: the public at large,

some attorneys find a great deal of emotional and even spiritual satisfaction in helping these “salt of the earth” individuals and families. And from a purely marketing point of view, these people are strongly motivated by a very real fear of the devastating effects of nursing home costs.

But attorneys who have decided to extend their practices in this area often have trouble knowing how to market their services.

There are four main markets for lawyers to address: the public at large, referral sources in the financial/legal community, referral sources in the medical community and the lawyers’ own client base.

Each is a subject in itself, but let us concentrate for now on the third item, gaining referral sources in the medical community.

Defining a target market

The first task is to define a target market: Who, among the medical professionals, is best situated, and best motivated to send referrals? A typical list might include hospital discharge administrators, geriatric care specialists, gerontologists, licensed social workers, funeral home directors, Medicaid administrators at nursing homes and assisted living facilities, nursing agencies and so on.

The next step is to identify the members of the target universe. That is, lawyers should develop a list. This usually means purchasing a list from a list broker and then building on it. For every person on that list, they should have a name, address, title, telephone number, e-mail address and fax number.

Then lawyers need a strategy to get themselves in front of these contacts, or vice versa. This strategy is predicated on forming relationships, and the only way to form relationships is to actually meet these people.

And finally, lawyers need a strategy for “dripping” on their referral sources—that is, reminding them of their existence on a regular basis.

Ways of reaching out

Two methods that have proven very effective are the Medicaid roundtable and the life care planning guide. Briefly, the Medicaid roundtable involves hosting a luncheon once a month and inviting members of the aforementioned target universe to attend (ideally, no more than 15 people) for a discussion of issues related to the crisis in elder care and the challenges facing older patients and their families. After the hosting attorney gives a short (5-10 minute) talk, a free discussion ensues. The goal is not to ask for business or openly promote one’s practice