I spoke to another attorney yesterday who told me that, at my urging, he increased his fees approximately 40% and has received no resistance. His fees were low to begin with, he said, but this has emboldened him to increase his fees even further.
He said the top of the market is still 70% higher than his new fee, and we talked about what he would need to do to justify another increase.
You don’t have to be the top of the market, I told him, but you should at least be in the top one-third to 20%.
But don’t be so quick to dismisss “top of the market” fees. Why couldn’t you be the most expensive guy in town?
You could. The question is how.
Much of marketing is about perception. To some extent, you’re worth more because you say you are. Who’s to say any different?
Your lower-priced competitors, you say? See, that’s where you’re missing the boat. There is no competition at the top of the market. It’s at the lower 80% of the market where everyone does pretty much the same thing and competes on price and good looks.
If you’re mucking about in steerage, you’ll never maximize your potential.
But there is a limit to how much more you can charge simply because you want to charge more. You’ve got to find something you do better or different than other lawyers, and make that a point of differentiation.
One way to do that is to specialize not only in the services you offer but the clients for whom you perform those services. Choose a niche market to target, focus on it, and groom yourself to become the “go to” lawyer in that niche.
There are big advantages to this strategy. Besides being able to charge higher fees, marketing is easier and more effective. Instead of networking with or advertising to “anyone” who might need your services or be able to refer clients, for example, you can concentrate your efforts on marketing exclusively to prospective clients and referral sources in your niche market.
That’s what this attorney said he will do.
He’ll save time, spend less on advertising (if not eliminate it completely), and develop a name for himself in his niche.
Word of mouth travels fast in niche markets. By next year at this time, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he has indeed become the “go to” lawyer in his market.
Learn more about niche marketing, with this
