This question is common among lawyers. It is clear that, to attract clients, quality is necessary: without good work, clients are not retained, but the question remains:
Is good performance enough to attract, develop and retain customers? Can we simply rely on word of mouth to attract clients for our law firm?
The legal services market has undergone a great transformation in the last decade until it has become a highly competitive environment. How to convince the client that we are the best option?
How to attract clients?
Organizations hire legal services when they have a need that they cannot satisfy autonomously. They want lawyers who understand their business and the economic implications of their problem or opportunity PGDL.
However, they are also looking for professionals with whom they get along, who are committed to their goals, who treat themselves and their issues as unique and interesting, who understand their perspectives and interests, and, ultimately, whom they can lean on.
The challenge is knowing how to persuade potential clients that we are their best option, within the framework of an offer of intangibles in which quality cannot be verified a priori and with a high component of subjectivity.
Each contact that the client has with the firm is a way of “tangigibilizing” our services and affects the final perception: lawyers, secretaries, website, brochure, press information, conferences in which we participate and our offices, are some of the elements that influence the idea we represent in the minds of our audience. In short, in our market, the competition to attract customers is a fight in the field of perceptions in which the communication strategy of our way of doing things plays a fundamental role.
However, we will not remain in generalities. The skills necessary to sell were not taught to us in law school, we must learn and train on the court.
There are two stages in designing a business plan. Firstly, the strategy: define which audience I am targeting, what is my competitive advantage, what is my value proposition and my differentiation. All these elements have to answer the key marketing question:
Why should I hire you?
It is the definition of the “product” and must be conceptualized in terms of benefits for the target audience. I am not going to dwell on this question, addressed by the marketing plan. Now, how does the lawyer sell?
In the legal sector, sales are between people and the way to move forward is by increasing levels of trust.
Therefore, your plan must include actions to meet the right people, increase levels of trust, detect opportunities for legal collaboration, develop and present your proposal, close the sale and delight the client with your technical and service quality.
Today we will talk only about the first stage:
Meet the right people
- Participate in sector associations
Who are you addressing? What positions do they hold? Where they gather? What do they read? What events do you attend?
Identify the associations or events these people attend.
Participate in the sector association of your region
Write on your blog about the topic
Offer to write articles for the association’s newsletter
Offer to give a lecture on the aspect of concern to the target audience in the subject in which you are an expert
Attend conferences by third-party experts in the sector
Establish alliances with other professionals who are dedicated to the same sector with whom you do not compete
Regularly attend sector events to become a reference in specialized legal advice on the issues that concern them.
Networking is a numbers game: the more people you know, the more likely you are to find someone who needs a lawyer. It is not about handing out professional cards urbi et orbi. The more focused you are, the more efficient you will be.
- Encourage referrals
One of the most important sources of new customers is referrals. Colleagues who are not dedicated to your specialty or are from another region, clients, social network in general. to whom you have clearly communicated your “value proposition”: who you are targeting and what problems you solve.
How to create and take care of recommendations?
1 . Not being a generalist. The quickest way to lose referrals from other attorneys is by practicing all areas of law. Each practice you add and for which you are known eliminates chances of receiving referrals from colleagues, since they may see you as a competitor and, therefore, a threat. Not only will you never reciprocate by sending them topics, but you can also take away their clients. Referring matters to a specialist is a way of taking care of one’s own client, but handing them over to a generalist is a sign of disinterest.
2 . Actively building relationships with at least 5 or 6 new referral sources each year. It is normal for sources to rotate and not keep sending you work for long. You have to work on obtaining referrals as an annual routine: contact professionals (not necessarily lawyers) who are dedicated to the same audience and cultivate the relationship.
3 . To do this, make a list of your current and potential referrers and contact them between 5 and 10 times a year : emails, LinkedIn or Facebook comments, newsletters, phone calls, small gifts and quarterly in-person visits.
Participate in the activities of the Bar Association. Meet other young lawyers in the same situation as you, lawyers from different practice areas, and make a plan to refer each other’s clients. This type of mutually beneficial relationship is important throughout your career, but at the beginning it is essential. And, to make the relationship stronger, recommend things to them or think about how to compensate them financially.
Once you meet the right people, there’s still a long way to go. Selling a lawyer’s services is a complex process that requires learning certain processes and models and training specific skills. This process is complemented by online and offline marketing tools. Its efficient use is the key to maintaining and growing in the office.
- Generate opportunities to attract customers with Inbound Marketing or Attraction Marketing tools
Knowledge professionals, like lawyers, are great content producers. This content, with strategy and well managed, works as a magnet for potential clients when they are looking for information on the issue that concerns them.
Digital platforms provide excellent opportunities to create and strengthen your personal brand and generate contacts. It is a process that allows automating the cultivation of the opportunity and that has meant a revolution in the way in which companies access clients.