Success stories are valuable tools for marketing professional services. They show prospective clients that you’ve helped others solve the same or similar problems, implying that you can do the same for them.
Talk about the problems people brought to you, the pain this caused them, and the hard work you did to deliver them from misfortune.
And don’t forget the happy ending.
On the other hand, don’t make everything look too easy.
You’ll be more believable and relatable if you tell people about cases that didn’t have a happy ending.
The client didn’t listen to you or the case had problems you couldn’t solve.
You might also tell stories about times when you messed up.
Talk about a case you lost and how this affected you. Talk about your struggles to “save” people and your guilt or sadness when you couldn’t. Talk about a mistake you made and what it cost you to fix it.
Show people the human you, the imperfect you, because people know you’re not perfect and they’ll love you for being honest with them.
But be careful. You need a deft hand to do this.
It’s best to talk about failure in the past tense. Talk about what you learned from the experience and how it made you better at what you do.
You’ll hear me talk about things I did when I first started practicing, how I struggled, what I learned, and how I changed and became successful.
A failure story with a happy ending.
You also need to be selective about the issues you talk about.
If you messed up a case because you got hooked on pain meds after surgery a few years ago and finally kicked the habit, I don’t think anyone would look down on you. If you abused recreational drugs for many years, however, and only recently got clean, you might find some people worrying about you relapsing.
I was late for court once and my case was dismissed. I had to file a motion and pay sanctions to save it. I can tell that story because people understand “being late” and because I saved the case. If I lost because I blew a statute and the client sued me and won, I probably wouldn’t tell that story.
Tell success stories, mostly, but occasionally talk about things that didn’t go so well. If it was your fault, be careful. It’s easy to go too far.
If you’re not sure, have a friend look at your story before you publish it.
Because friends don’t let friends publish drunk.
