I once had a secretary who asked me for a raise. I thought I paid her well but I told her that I would consider paying her more if she would first show me that she was worth more. I knew she capable of a lot more and was only doing enough to keep her job.
She countered. She said that if I wanted her to do more, I had to pay her more. First.
She used to work for the government, so I know why she didn’t get it. In the real world, if you want to earn more, show your employer that you are worth more. If you do, you may not even have to ask for a raise.
The same goes for lawyers in private practice. Show your clients and target market that you are worth more to them, and then you can easily raise your rates.
I talked about this yesterday. I said that the foundation of marketing and building a successful law practice is delivering value to your clients and target market. The more value you give, the more clients, repeat business, referrals, and other benefits you get, and that includes being able to charge higher fees.
Give more value, FIRST.
One of the benefits of doing this is that it practically eliminates the need to do any selling. The value you deliver does the selling for you.
Something as simple as posting high quality information on your website tells your market what they need to know about you and how you can help them. Through this information, and the client stories you tell to illustrate your points, people can see that you have knowledge, experience, and a work ethic that they want in an attorney.
Prospects get to know and trust you through your content. They sell themselves on hiring you. Referral sources see how much you know and how much you do for your clients and they know that their referrals will be in good hands.
How else can you deliver value to your market?
By providing referrals, making introductions, and promoting their business or practice.
By sharing their content with your lists and contacts.
By helping their causes through donations and volunteering your time.
When you deliver enough value to your market, you don’t need to sell your services. You need do little more than mention them.
They already know and trust you. They already know you’re good at what you do. If they need your help, or know someone who does, they’re not going to go anywhere else.
Selling legal services is easier when you know the formula
