You’ve met with the prospective client, diagnosed their situation, and told them what you can do to help. You’ve got your retainer agreement ready and it’s time to quote a fee.
How do you feel at that very moment?
If you’re like many attorneys, you’re nervous. You’re afraid they will say no or try to haggle. They’ll balk at signing up and you won’t know what to do next.
Maybe they sign up, maybe they don’t, but the next time you quote a fee, you’ll remember that feeling and your apprehension will grow.
It doesn’t get better over time, it gets worse. It gets worse because deep inside you may believe that your fees really are too high and you telegraph that to the client.
What’s the solution?
Reduce your fees. Lower them until that uneasy feeling goes away and you feel that you are offering them a great deal.
Hey, if YOU believe your fees are too high, they’re too high.
Think about it. If you truly believe that what you are proposing to do for the client is worth more than what you’re asking them to pay, if you truly believe that you deliver immense value and the client would foolish to turn you down, you would have no trouble looking the client in the eye and telling them that. No nerves, no doubts, no hesitation.
Okay, okay, you want to know if there is another solution.
Sure. Instead of lowering your fees, increase the value of your services.
Look at what other lawyers do and do more. Provide better service, bonuses, guarantees, payments options, and other tangible and intangible deliverables that make the totality of what you do worth more to the client.
When quoting fees, you’ll be able to tell the client the advantages of hiring you. You’re worth more so you can charge more.
What’s that? You believe your fees are fair? You’re nervous because you think the client won’t understand.
Ah, but they will understand. You just have to do a better job of selling your services.
Don’t just show them the “features” of what they get–the documents, the process, the work product–show them the “benefits”. Show them how they will be better off as a result of hiring you. Show them how they will save money, increase their profits, protect their business or family, minimize risk, or achieve peace of mind.
Features are what you do. Benefits are what they get as a result of your doing it.
Don’t hold back. Tell them what could happen if they don’t fix the problem. Give them both barrels, right between the eyes.
Tell stories about other people who tried to fix that problem themselves, hired the wrong attorney, or waited too long, and suffered the consequences. And then tell them success stories of clients you’ve helped get the benefits you offer.
Give them a vivid picture of how things could be if they hire you, and how they might be if they don’t.
Sales is about the transference of belief. If you believe in the value of what you do, and you transfer that belief to your prospective clients, you’ll sign up more of them and never get nervous quoting fees.
For more about using features and benefits to sell your services, get The Formula
