When a new client agrees to retain you, it’s paperwork time.
All of you have been trained to hand your new client a “clipboard” and have them fill in all the details of their case, including information about the incident, their personal finances, circumstances, past criminal history, current issues, and a whole lot more.
Why have them do this?
Why Only Now, AFTER they’ve retained you?
Your advice to clients is the polar opposite of what they should do when confronted by 3rd parties, adversarial parties, or law enforcement.
What you advise clients:
“Anything you say will be used against you. Don’t talk too much.”
What your clients SHOULD know about working with you:
“Everything you tell me may be used to help defend your case better. Don’t leave anything out.”
See the conflict here? I’m told conflicting things by the same person, i.e. my attorney. How do people respond to conflicting messages?
More often than not, they freeze up, get confused, and do the wrong thing.
When SHOULD You Start Grooming Clients to Tell You Everything?
Your MARKETING messages should do the initial work FOR YOU.
What if each potential client came to you with detailed journal of everything that happened to them before, during, and after the events of their case transpired, whether that means an arrest, an injury, or a downward slide into bankruptcy?
That would be pretty darn helpful, now wouldn’t it?
You’d have a MUCH easier time defending and/or representing that clients and wouldn’t have to interrogate them for information or peer through the fog of their memory to tease out the important information that you need to help their case.
Why not COMBINE your marketing and GROOM potential clients to work better with you?
Create a journal with your law firm’s name, phone#, and email on every page with memory-jogger questions that clients can fill in to document the events of their case.
You know what questions to ask, based on the area of law.
You know that peoples’ memories fade quickly.
You know the stress of an arrest, an accident, or financial trouble can easily wipe, modify, or distort someone’s memory.
You want to HELP potential clients, offer a guiding hand, and encourage them to do an initial consult and then hire you without being PUSHY, UN-PROFESSIONAL, or SALESY.
See an example of a journal here I made up for a criminal Defense firm that focuses on DUI defense
Why wait until they’re in your office and have already hired you?
Use the tools you ALREADY HAVE to attract more clients with a message that is helpful to them, informs them, jogs their memory, and prepares them better to work with you?
For help in crafting a series of informational journals / memory joggers / client-grooming marketing materials, call me today:
Richard Jacobs
Author: “Secrets of Attorney Marketing
Law School Dares Not Teach”
(now available on Amazon)
Speakeasy Authority Marketing
Call me: (888) 225-8594