Marketing to law firms can be challenging. Lawyers are smart, critical thinkers. Communicating with attorneys, law firm decision makers, and influencers requires strategic planning to positively influence how your value is perceived.
Lawyers appreciate solid arguments that confidently present factual information. The legal field requires its players to seek out all available evidence in a situation and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of every side before making decisions based on the most favorable outcomes supported by logic and reason.
Help them arrive at the conclusion that your service or product is exactly what they need by giving them the evidence that supports that decision. Here are four tips to do just that:
1. Present Solid Evidence.
People want to be able to formulate solid arguments in their own heads to support important decisions. This is especially true for lawyers, who are practiced in weighing all the evidence and analyzing its value.
Leave the emotional sales tactics to B2C advertisers. Attorneys want hard evidence to support a logical decision to choose your product or service. Back up your assertions with research, statistics, data, and facts.
Case studies that show real-world success stories can be particularly convincing. Prepare for lawyers to look for differences between your case study subjects and situations and themselves and their situations. You can preempt any doubts by doing your homework ahead of time and providing suggestions for ways their firm can experience the same or better benefits with your product or service regardless of any differences in demographics, applications, or anything else.
Social proof may not be convincing enough on its own, but it can certainly be persuasive. The presence of loyal followers and your healthy online engagement with them show that you are tuned in to the needs of your audience and care about their thoughts and opinions. Glowing customer reviews are compelling confirmations that reinforce positive impressions.
2. Radiate Confidence.
You probably already know that confidence sells. Confidence may even be the number one factor in winning sales. Research has shown that appearing confident is more convincing to buyers than actually providing proof of your competency.
Of course, attorneys are too smart to be sucked in by confidence alone. They will be searching for evidence that will prove or disprove what you are saying, no matter how confidently you say it. Still, those in the legal profession hold confidence in high regard.
Attorneys place such a high value on confidence because it plays a vital role in their profession. CEOs want to partner with attorneys who are assertive in representing their interests. Litigators must be able to stand up for their clients’ rights. Uncertainty can lead to ineffectiveness and loss.
Radiate confidence! Uncertainty leads to ineffectiveness. Click To TweetKnow your material backwards and forward. If you’re inwardly cringing with the desperate hope that no one will ask you about certain features or facts you’re hazy about, it will show.
There are many websites, books, and articles devoted to building confidence and offering suggestions ranging from simply visualizing yourself acting and feeling confident to weeks-long programs. Find what works for you, especially in light of the next tip.
3. Prepare to be cross-examined.
The people you are talking with are at least somewhat invested in what you’re offering because they’ve given you a chunk of their precious time. They will ask questions searching for answers in an attempt to form a well-rounded interpretation of all the facts, issues, and possible outcomes.
You can help them build a fully formed image of success in their minds if you know what is holding them back from moving forward with the solution you’re offering. Is the cost too high? Do they not feel a real need for it? Are they waiting to see how technology develops in the future? Find out what concerns them most and stands in the way of a resounding “yes” to your offer. You can do this through client surveys, client interviews, and talking with your sales team.
Study the potential buyers’ objections to your product or service. Craft responses addressing each of them. You will be able to pull from these responses when you are answering questions and helping the lawyers and decision makers envision a successful partnership with you.
Help prospects envision a successful partnership with you. Click To Tweet4. Provide handouts and printed materials.
The image of shelves with rows and rows of thick, hardbound books in a law office is a cliche for good reason. Lawyers read. They read a lot. And you can use this habit to your advantage.
Leave behind handouts, brochures, guides and other printed materials when you visit a law firm. Email them to prospects. Attorneys are much more likely than those in other professions to read and consider them.
Also, when influencers discuss your offer with decision makers, they will use your documents to back up their opinion. Through printed flyers, pamphlets, brochures and other materials, you can continue to present your offer and answer questions for you long after the conversation is over.
Follow these rules of thumb consistently when communicating with attorneys.
Whether you are talking with litigators, criminal lawyers, M&A attorneys, divorce lawyers, or any other type, they all have similar training in how they think and analyze information. Following these tips will shore up many of the weaknesses in your conversations with attorneys and improve how they see you and the value you bring to their world.
Created using Visme. An easy-to-use Infographic Maker.