The $43,000 Pen

Patrick Leahy knows the story sounds unbelievable, but it is true.

A personal injury attorney from Tacoma, WA, Leahy first ordered pens to promote his firm several years ago. He does no other advertising, doesn't even have a website. Just orders pens and an occasional stress ball.

Leahy gave the pens out to clients and prospective clients. Somehow, one of those pens ended up on the counter of a local bank. "A woman who had recently been in a car accident saw the pen" Leahy remembers. "She was a religious woman and she felt the pen was a sign she should call me."

Leahy took the case and a third of the $27,500 verdict. But there's more to the story. A little while after this case, this same woman's cousin was involved in a car accident too. "She referred him to me.... The settlement was $25,000."

In just two cases, one pen brought Leahy $17,000 worth of business. But there's still more. "Turns out that same guy moved to Yakima and was in another accident," Leahy recalls. "We got an $80,000 settlement from that one. So the pen brought $43,000 in fees."

Needless to say, Leahy has continued to order pens. "It just shows you the value of a promotional product."


Vagoni, D. (2009, October). Magazine articles in APA format. Counselor, 78-82.