LEGAL BUSINESS

Lawyers Are Not Salesmen
- the Art of Selling Professional Services Professionally

In Selling the Invisible, best-selling author and advertising guru, Harry Beckwith, argues that what consumers are primarily interested in today are not functions and form, but relationships. We are told that first, we must establish credibility, then trust, and eventually the agreement to collaborate will be won. Since professional services are not a commodity that customers can see, touch and taste for themselves, trust is critical to getting new work.

At the same time, being in the business of providing professional services requires lawyers to 'sell' their expertise. This puts many lawyers in a quandary: the distaste for self-promotion kicks in hard every time an opportunity to market one's expertise presents itself, for most lawyers intuitively feel that engaging in any form of 'hard sell' is destructive of trust. Persuasive marketing is somehow unbecoming for a lawyer, and degrading to the profession.

This apparent contradiction continues to plague lawyers today; especially solo and small firm practitioners who do not have recourse to the institutionalised and indirect marketing channels (such as free client seminars, newsletters, ads in legal publications) deployed by larger practices. How many times have you heard a colleague disclaim - 'I am a lawyer, not a salesman!'

This article discusses some underlying perceptions and mistaken beliefs that hinder marketing efforts by lawyers. Selling intangibles, unlike commodities, requires a different approach. Angst over what one believes is required to win new business might be a serious impediment to effective marketing.

It's Not About Winning

Thinking in terms of 'winning' means that there is a winner and a loser. This brings a needlessly competitive perspective into the professional relationship. If it's either 'win' or 'lose' in a lawyer's mind, the insidious message is that one has to beat out the competition, beat down the client and win at all cost. It is no wonder most lawyers consider marketing degrading. The truth is, however, that in selling intangible services, one only wins when the client wins too.

A lawyer's goal is to serve the client, not to make the sale. If one serves the client, one will probably get the sale. If one doesn't get this sale, there is a good chance of getting the next one.

Do the Best for Your Client, Every Time

In winning the case, a lawyer is merely doing a job she has been paid to do, and the client would expect no less and would probably be not especially grateful for such a result. However, if doing one's best means referring a client to another lawyer who is better placed to serve him, the client will appreciate such integrity evidenced by a lawyer's willingness to place the client's interest above her own. This gesture builds trust more effectively than any number of cases fought and won on his behalf.

If lawyers subscribe to this mantra - 'to do the best for a client, every time' - and live by it, a remarkable result ensues when a business opportunity presents itself that is within one's expertise. If lawyers are honest about the value of their service to clients, then it is the very essence of professionalism to aggressively help the client see that value. A lawyer is no longer the 'salesman spinning the con' but is, as in all cases, doing the best for her client.

It's about the Client; Not about You

When making a pitch, it's natural to feel the pressure personally. After all, the client is evaluating one's trustworthiness, one's ability to deliver on one's credentials, even one's personality; all on the basis of a single face-to-face meeting.

Lawyers often make it worse by obsessing about how to inveigle a rehearsed spiel of capabilities, past successes and references into the conversation. Come prepared to have these things said, but plan to use none of them. Lawyers may believe that such things add to their credibility; the fact is, it either intimidates or bores the client - because it's about the lawyer, not about them. Lawyers need to limit themselves to 60-second answers (often more difficult than it sounds), and then turn their attention back to the client. The client has a legal problem, and the lawyer needs to find out how she can help him. In a client interview, focus on the client's needs, not on one's menu of services.

Focus on What Can be Done for the Client, Not on What Has Been Done for Others

Naturally clients will use experience and credentials as a qualifier and as justification to a corporate board who might question their choice. But these are merely ways to make the shortlist; they are not foundations for trust and dependability in the relationship.
In interviews with a prospective client, discussions on a lawyer's wealth of experience, credentials, past cases valiantly fought and won are not the most persuasive means for the client to decide if they can trust her. In effect the lawyer is saying - 'You should hire me because of what I am telling you about other clients I have helped and other cases I have won.' Instead she should stay focused on what she can do for this client now.

One cannot sell intangibles by talking about them; it can only be done by giving the client an experience of having one on their team and working with them to solve their problems. The good news is that as soon as that begins to be the case, the lawyer is displaying her experience, living up to her credentials, fulfilling her professional obligations and marketing her services, all at the same time!

Clients Do Not Seek to Trust Their Own Expertise - They Seek Experts They Can Trust

Clients may appear to know all the legal issues and what they need. They don't. Clients don't like to display their ignorance for fear of being weak and taken advantage of. So they respond by tightly bounding the problem statement and telling their counsel only what they think she should know.

Only the most self-confident clients admit that they do not fully understand the problem - which is precisely why they seek out experts. A well-defined problem makes the answer look easy. The real expertise lies in ferreting out the underlying anxieties and attendant complexities; and re-crafting the problem in a more realistic and helpful way. Clients will appreciate that their attorney has taken time to really listen and to 'knuckle down' to their problem - even if she doesn't know what the legal answer is at that point.

Create New Opportunities to Demonstrate Usefulness

It's a myth that if one just does good work, the business will come. Good work on the last project simply says that one is best qualified to do the next project. The crux still to be addressed is - what is the next project? Only very occasionally will clients ask their lawyer to start work on another project after the successful conclusion of the first; more usually, it is up to the lawyer to create the opportunity to provide further services to the client.

To sell a client on the next project, lawyers will need to be knowledgeable about the client's business; to be creative and bold; and to believe in the value the lawyer delivers to that business. One can suggest ways to reduce risk, tighten contracts, engage more constructively with business partners; in real and practical ways, show them how useful it is to have a lawyer on the team.

In conclusion, there is only one piece of advice here that bears repeating - 'It's About the Client, Not About You'. Serve the client and lawyers will find themselves effectively 'marketing' their professional services professionally, without having to make a sales pitch.

Sylvia Low
Bizibody Technology
E-mail: sylvia@bizibody.biz