Maybe. But the average lawyer is, by definition, average and unless you can delineate what you do better than other lawyers, you can’t call yourself better. Just average.
Do you get better outcomes for your clients? Give them more value? Help them in ways that go beyond your core legal services?
What. Exactly. Do. You. Do. Better?
I know that’s a tough call. Start by noting what you do differently, meaning that your competition doesn’t regularly do.
I know, that’s also tough, because many attorneys do what you do and you do what they do. Same laws, same procedures, same basic process, and very much the same outcomes and deliverables.
It’s true.
Still, if you want to stand out and show prospective clients an advantage to hiring you (instead of them), you need to give them reasons.
Why should they hire you “instead”?
You need to figure that out. Don’t worry. It’s not as difficult as you think. Because in marketing, “different” is often seen as “better”.
So, what do you do that’s different?
It doesn’t have to be big and amazing. It could be as simple as your process for investigating a new case and setting up a new file (for example).
What’s so special about that? Maybe nothing. Probably nothing. Your competition probably does the same things you do (questions, research, investigation, forms, first steps, etc.)
But while you (and your competition) see how you open a new file as small and commonplace and not worth mentioning, it can be a big deal to your clients who don’t know what you do and why it’s important.
By providing a few details about what you do, and why, something small and commonplace can be a big deal.
Clients don’t know all the steps you take, the forms you use, the procedures you follow, and the benefits these confer.
So, tell them. When you do, what’s commonplace and boring to you (and your competition) becomes important.
And gives you an advantage.
And, if you describe what you do when you open a new file and your competition doesn’t (because they assume everyone does it and it’s not worth mentioning), in the eyes of your prospective clients, you “own” that advantage.
Which is why you start by researching your competition, to see what they do (and don’t do), and what they say (and don’t say) about it.
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