Client Development Your Clients Do Not Want To Be Sold

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers Client Development: Your Clients Do Not Want to be Sold Your clients do not want to be sold. But,when they need legal help,  they want to buy legal services from someone who makes it easy. Suppose you were sent to six weeks of training on selling techniques and then came back to begin selling clients. Or, suppose you trained to be a timeshare salesman or woman. You might have some success, but I doubt it would come from learning how to deal with objections or the myriad of closing techniques. I hate to be sold anything and resist salesmen who try to sell me. But, there are some salesman who just make it easy to buy. As you know, Nancy and I just bought a new house in March. The salesman made a difference. He was incredibly helpful. Our clients are like us. They do not want us to sell them anything and they will immediately resent us if we do try to sell them. Selling clients is very difficult for lawyers. But, when clients need a lawyer,  getting clients to buy from you is something you can successfully accomplish. You can interact with a potential client without an invitation by giving away something they find valuable. It could be a book, article or memo you have written on a topic the potential client would find valuable. I remember a few years ago the federal regulations on a topic of particular interest to the construction industry changed. Before the ink was dry on the revised regulations, I had written a summary in simple non-legal language with bullet points on what to do and what not to do. I sent my summary to as many potential clients I personally knew as possible. More importantly, I sent it to contractor association executives who published my summary and suggestions in their newsletters. That was even more effective because they sent it to their contractor members. So, instead of trying to sell clients, give them the opportunity to evaluate you by providing them something valuable they can use. Stay on top of what is going on and then be first to market, giving away something they will value. When you are able to do this you actually are identifying a problem or opportunity and creating a solution before the potential client has identified the problem or opportunity. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.