Do you think your clients and prospects and professional contacts see you as friendly, open, and easy to talk to, or relatively impersonal or distant? 

It makes a difference. 

You don’t have to be everyone’s best friend, but the more likable and approachable you appear, the more likely it is that you will be approached. 

You’ll get more prospects inquiring about your services, asking questions, making an appointment, and hiring you. You’ll get more people signing up for your newsletter, following you on social, and telling others about you. 

When people meet you, read your newsletter or articles or your posts on social (by you or by others about you), when they read the “About” page on your website or your clients’ reviews, what do they think about you? 

When you’re not in the room, how do you suppose they describe you? 

Image is fundamental to the success of a professional because, to a great extent, it determines how comfortable people are about approaching and hiring you. 

So, how do you appear to be approachable, especially if this doesn’t come naturally to you? 

The simplest way to do it is to use a conversational tone in your writing, presentations, and conversations. 

Don’t write in the third person or formally. Loosen up. Write (and speak) simply and plainly, as though you were speaking to a friend. 

Well, almost. There is such a thing as being too informal, sharing too much personal information, and appearing less than professional. 

Be professional, but friendly.

Get readers involved in the conversation. Ask what they think, what they have done, or what they want to know. 

And don’t make everything about you. Tell stories about people you’ve helped, not just the outcomes but some of the process, so readers can see what it would be like working with you.

And smile. In your photos and in person.

Show the world you are approachable by showing them you are a real person, a nice one at that. The kind of person they would like to know even if they weren’t looking for an attorney. 

I don’t know what “weird” means, but I know it when I see it. (Why does that sentence sound oddly familiar?) Anyway, lawyers come in all shapes and sizes, colors and accents, and the world is better because of it. 

But let’s face it, clients judge lawyers by a lot of things beside their legal acumen, including their appearance—clothing, hair, manner of speech, sense of humor, and more—and if a lawyer is too different from what those clients are used to and expect, some clients might be uncomfortable and stay away. 

On the other hand, it depends. 

In the not-so-distant past, long hair for men was odd, and no doubt scared off many a client. Smoking was common. Tattoos weren’t. Casual clothing was considered unprofessional. And the list goes on. 

Anyway, my point is that while we don’t necessarily have to conform to current styles, we shouldn’t ignore them. That means we should probably “look like a lawyer” and act the way our clients expect a lawyer to act, and be willing to accept the consequences if we don’t. 

If you handle estate planning and work with a lot of boomers, for example, you might want to cover your tats, wear a suit when you meet with them, and talk about the new Beetles song (and video) instead of that Swift person. If you handle entertainment law, you might make different decisions. 

Clients want their lawyer to be normal, and they get to decide what that means for them. Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, consider giving them what they want. 

Hmm, maybe I should dust off my old Nehru Jacket. . .