No, it doesn’t have to be hard
To get your customer to buy from you. That’s it.
Find the pain, solve the pain, get the sale. Sure, there is a little more to it, but that
is a formula. So, let’s look at the
three points a little deeper.
People want the take the easy path through life and most
people do not do difficult or confusing things unless they have
to. For example, going to the
doctor is scary and expensive so people do not schedule annual physicals. I’ve heard people tell me how proud they are
that they have not been to the doctor in 20 years.
Really?
A lot of things can happen in five years or even one
year. These people won’t go until it has
gone on too long and they are in pain.
Then, it might be too late. One
friend of mine died six weeks after learning he had cancer … which could have
been detected if he had gone for annual physicals YEARS earlier.
What pain will spur a person to action? How will you find it and describe it?
As an attorney, finding people in pain is easy. People come to us in pain. Lawsuits, death of a loved one, traffic
accident. Whatever it is, they are
feeling pain, and we are one of the ways to remove the pain. So, your job in marketing is to take what you
already know they want and describe it for the prospect
so they believe you understand. Then,
they can start to trust you. More on
that next…
Traffic? Maybe it is
“Don’t go! We go to court for you.” or “Don’t pay too much! We help reduce insurance hikes”.
Lawsuit? Maybe
“Courtroom warriors to fight for you” or “Your rights are yours – we protect
yours” or “We aren’t scared of court.”
You know it as the benefit to the client, but you probably seldom
talk that way. We are not taught that
way in school or socially or on TV. We usually talk about features as
benefits. For example, in estate
planning, we might describe the documents we produce or how many meetings we
have with clients. A litigation attorney
might note that she has “won over $5M for clients last year”.
They don’t care.
What they want is to be protected from the mess that
happened when Aunt Edna died and the family fought for
two years. Or to stop those creditor
phone calls.
Can you solve the pain?
Of course you can. You’re an attorney and you understand what
they need and how to go about getting the results for them.
But, they don’t know that.
You are the best person they can find. You are the best in the field or your community. You must believe that
or you would stop practicing. Here is
where you need them to trust you.
But, you don’t do that by just saying
so.
Instead, you build
trust by reminding them that you understand their pain. The exact solution doesn’t matter yet … what
matters is that they believe that you can do what they need.
You can explain that in two ways that occur at the same time
(that is, before the sale).
First, you want them to get to know you. For example, tell them you have a family
too. A mother with Alzheimer’s
disease. A child with special
needs. Or that you have had struggles
with money in the past. Or, that you
love to hunt or own two rescue Greyhounds.
We work with people we know and with whom we have a relationship. You build the relationship
Secondly, you teach them that you know the field by sharing
important and relevant information with them.
You give them what they need right now, then build on that with
more interactions. A traffic attorney might
share the “Six things you should NOT say to the insurance company during the
interview.” Other examples might be “The
five best things about bankruptcy” or “The four ways to avoid probate” or “What
happens in a lawsuit”.
Each interaction, with content, builds trust and engages the
prospect a little more.
You can do this for your clients. You probably already do it.
These are free giveaways that attract people to you. Once they are there, you can help them connect
with you by identifying their pain, showing how you solve it, and then simply
offering them a chance to work with your firm to do that.
Each interaction, each item of relevant content, teaches
them that you can solve their pain. When
they believe that, buying is a mere formality.
You identified the pain, and even better, you convinced the
prospect that you understand AND can solve that pain. So, why don’t they all flock in?
Although buying is the next logical step after you have explained
what they need, most people won’t just purchase. Why not?
Because most companies and attorneys simply do not ask for
the sale.
Every interaction with prospects needs to tell the prospect
what to do next. They are not born
knowing what we are telling them, and they also don’t understand that there is
a next step. So far, you look a lot like
a kindly attorney teaching them what they need to know. Some will understand that there is a process or a fee involved, but they usually won’t ask you
first.
So, ask. Just say
something like “May I solve your problem today?” (And, have the paperwork ready for them to sign!)
It can be that easy!
Find the pain, solve the pain, close the sale.
You can do it!
Now, there are a lot of details in the steps above, and you
might need some help along the way. The
internet can only go so far.
That is where we come in.
I do this myself, in my Elder Law practice. I run a small solo business in Durham, North
Carolina, and I’ve employed admins, paralegals, and other attorneys. Today, it is just my virtual part-time paralegal
and me, supporting a full-time practice with about half-time hours.
How?
I struggled with the same issues you probably do … getting
leads, converting the leads to clients, and delivering the products. Then, doing it all again. Marketing takes all the time, then clients
roll in and marketing stops, then three months of no income … you probably know
the drill.
It takes time! And I
found myself working long hours, and making less than I wanted. And being
worried every month that I would not be able to pay the bills.
I thought about this formula for my own practice, and have learned
a lot about marketing from really amazing people. I then invested in developing extensive
automation of my marketing and processes.
Today, I’m expanding to support other attorneys who face
these issues and want to change that.
Call me today!
If you want help from me, give me a call at 984-234-5880.
Better yet, schedule a short, free call, and tell me your
story. I’ll help you find (and solve) your
own pain.
Make your practice work for you, not the
other way around.
May I help you solve your biggest pain today? Click
here to schedule!
P.S. If you want more information about various aspects of
marketing for law firms, poke around the website.
P.P.S. One of the first things I will suggest is that you use
a robust CRM in your practice to track leads, prospects, and clients. Want to learn more? Download this eBook.
I look forward to getting to know you. Call Now!
984-234-5880