I was searching for a company to work on our deck and back yard recently. It was interesting to see how each company that offered those services positioned themselves, how they talked about what they did, and their client experience.
Some talked about all the different types of projects they could work on or how big their company was.
Others talked about how they worked primarily on building outdoor experiences, their personal stories, and the benefits their customers saw from a better place for their families to hang out on warm summer nights. Guess which one caught my eye?
How can you avoid being the former? By knowing how to clearly communicate your value to potential clients so they will say, “YES! I want to know more!”
You Need to Know Your Ideal Client
Potential clients want to work with an attorney who can knock it out of the park doing what they do better than anyone else in their practice area. They want to retain an attorney who can meet their exact needs, in other words, a lawyer who has the solution to help THEM.
You Need to Know Your Big Result
We’ve all heard the question, “So, what do you do?”
Don’t answer with the label for what you do, like divorce lawyer, real estate attorney, etc. Labels are boring and common, and labels cause people to stop listening to you. You see, once they know your label, they think they know everything there is to know about you.
Instead, lead with the BIG RESULT – the big solution you can deliver. You want them to think, “That’s exactly what I need!”
For example, instead of saying “I’m a divorce attorney”, you could go with “I help people going through a divorce get the best possible result for them and for their children through mediation and collaborative law services.”
You Need to Know the Benefit of Achieving the Big Result
Buying decisions are often made based on emotions and justified with logic. It is important to know what the Big Result your client wants is, and why that Big Result matters so much to them.
What will change for your client when they achieve the Big Result? Will they sleep better? Will it put more money in their pockets? Will it allow them to spend more time with their family?
You Need to Know How You’re Different
Odds are, a potential client knows other lawyers who do the same thing you do, and they are trying to choose between multiple options. You need to know why they should choose you and how you are different – differentiation is what provides your value.
When you aren’t any different than your competitors, you make it difficult for potential clients to figure out who they should retain. They don’t want to work to figure it out! They want it to be easy, and the easiest way to tell two things apart is by price – and when you compete on price, everyone loses.
You Need to Know What Services You Offer
Before you can speak in a compelling way about your firm, you need to be clear on the details of what you offer. That includes what legal services people can hire you for, how those offerings are structured, and how potential clients can learn from you if they aren’t quite ready to hire an attorney.
You Need to Know How Prospects Can Get Started
When you are speaking with a potential client about retaining you, it is critical that you remember to ‘make the ask’ or extend an invitation for them to take the next step – and to do that, you must know what the next step is.
Do they need to schedule a consultation? Fill out a discovery form on your website? Call you?
Level Up Your Marketing
Once you know the answers to these six things, you can build a great website that communicates your unique value, generates more leads, and gets the results you’ve always dreamed of from your marketing investment.
