116 Lawyers Aren't Special. They Need To Sell Their Services Too

<p>Lawyers have spent a lot of time studying to pass their bar exams.  When they graduate, they are the white collar galley slaves, shackled to legal partner’s teams, doing the grunt work for years, until they can be allowed on deck.  As they move up the ranks they begin to interact with clients.  After a few more years they actually have to go out and get clients.  The big dog in the law firm is the rainmaker, who brought in the clients who paid the most money for the professional services of the firm.</p> <p> </p> <p>Lawyers are proud of their achievements, their study, their knowledge of the law, their brains.  They want the clients to appreciate all of this and as a consequence, give them work.  This is the “I deserve it” school of sales in the law.  Knowledge is valuable. I have knowledge therefore you need me to help you sort out these various issues you are facing.  I don’t have to be persuasive, charming, attractive, engaging or likeable because I have what you need. </p> <p> </p> <p>Once upon a time that was the way of the legal profession.  A bunch of lawyer nerds serving up legal rocket science to companies.  Times change and now there are lots and lots of lawyers, all vying for their share of the pie.  The clients have also become better educated too and are more discerning, particularly around questioning the massive bills they receive.</p> <p> </p> <p>Faced with such a proliferation of buying choices what do clients do?  They do what they do for all the other purchases they make.  They apply the “Know, Like and Trust” rule.  To know the legal firm, means to have a trusted confidant provide some testimonial style advice on how they performed in the past, how reliable they were and their degree of expertise in this particular area.  If there is no track record which the client can judge, then this “know” process is the equivalent of the “cold call” in sales.  Don’t recall there were any “cold calling” modules in the legal curriculum at university.</p> <p> </p> <p>The “like” part is the legal equivalen