The Importance of Differentiation and Client Engagement for Lawyers (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Differentiation is really important. It is what enables you to set yourself apart. And you have to give this some thought. You can't just do it. You have to think about what it is that makes you different from the lawyer down the street, or the lawyer in the next county, or why should this client hire me instead of hiring some other lawyer? And that's going to be different for every lawyer, which is why we call it a unique sales proposition. Well, it's certainly very important to identify your target base, because you shouldn't spend any money until you have. And I believe the place we start in identifying our target is to look at where our existing clients come from. So you should always have a system to identify, to learn, where your client comes from. How did you get that client? After you know that, when you know where your clients come from, you can look at those and determine what do those clients have in common. Given this day and age with immediate gratification, wants, and ability, responsiveness, I think, is what people look for more than anything else. People expect an immediate response, immediate gratification. I would urge you, though, not necessarily to always provide that. I think it's important to set reasonable expectations, because if you let your clients think you're going to respond immediately, you're going to fail. So set the expectations at the outset of your relationship, at the outset of your engagement. Make sure the client knows that. Put it in writing for your own protection. And make it reasonable, but make it fast. The best way to increase referrals is to ask for them. You have to let people know what you do and that you want the referrals. And then it's not so hard to cultivate them. How each lawyer does it is different, because we all have different skills, different comfort zones. You are not going to be good at cultivating relationships in some forced manner. If it isn't something you're comfortable with, you're not going to do it. And you're certainly not going to do it well. And by the way, value is what it's all about. If you're not giving value to someone, you can't expect to get value in return. Let's communicate to the nth degree with our clients. Don't look at a call from a client as a burden. A call comes in. It's 4.55. You're packing up. You're about to leave. It's very easy to not take that phone call. Yet take that call and view it not as a burden, but as an opportunity, because that's what it really is. Every chance we have to talk to a client or a potential client or a referral source is an opportunity. And we should make the most of it.