I was with Darryl Isaacs, a famous personal injury lawyer in Kentucky, when he got a $10 million trucking accident case; it was 2:00 AM, and we were hanging out when he got a message on Facebook. It was from a mother whose one-year-old child had been killed by a truck. She was distraught.
She didn’t know what to do, but she had seen Darryl on TV and messaged him on Facebook. He replied, saying, “I’m so sorry. What happened? How can I help?” They got on the phone, and she explained the whole situation. Darryl said, “Ma’am, don’t worry about the legal thing. We can take care of that next week. Right now, I want to make sure you’re okay. Can I send you some food? Can I take you to the hospital? Can I do something for you? Can I send one of my people to help you right now?” And it’s 2 in the morning. Can you imagine somebody else doing this? “I understand your grief and that all this stuff is happening.”
He added, “How can I be of service to you?” In that Facebook message, he said, “Here’s my personal cell phone number.” That’s when they got on the phone and started talking. Imagine that—something like that is worth $10 million. But she wasn’t calling all the other personal injury attorneys. She called Darryl, saying, “I feel like I know you. We’ve never talked before.”
And I’ve seen Darryl give out his cell phone number dozens of times.
He shows me his screen time on his iPhone, and he averages 20 hours and 3 minutes a day, meaning he sleeps less than 4 hours a night. And it means he has the worst phone addiction I’ve ever seen.
Over the last 30 years, his firm, Isaacs & Isaacs, has helped 60,000 people through some of the worst moments of their lives.
“Hey, I’m nobody special. I’m just Darryl,” he says.
He calls me when I’m on my way to his house, saying he’s going to the grocery store. “What can I get you?” he asks. When I get to the house, the fridge is full of yummy things I like to eat. He got everything on the list, even asking the clerk to find my favorite junk foods.
He’s one of the best-known personal injury attorneys on the planet. Even the lawyers that have done billions clamor to get coaching in his group.
I Googled him before meeting (don’t we all do that?) and saw he had a bunch of Super Bowl commercials, some with 15 million organic views. They were cheesy
When we went to the University of Kentucky basketball game, the head coach and players came up to him to chat. We got to go to the locker room, see the facilities in a way that fans can only dream of.
I have spent months trying to figure out his secret.
Is this just a big act? Maybe he’s putting on a good show like your favorite actor.
But it turns out his strategy is to make everyone feel special.
