From The Desk Of:
Richard Jacobs
Author of Secrets of Attorney Marketing Law School Dares Not Teach
President, Speakeasy Marketing
“If I can get ’em in the office,
I know I can close them.”
For many years, I heard these words a lot. From attorneys who believed, rightly or wrongly, that all their
marketing problems would be solved if they could just get the phone to ring more often. If we could just
get them more leads. If they could just get more folks in for consultations or case reviews.
But what about when you can’t get them in your office?
Then you need a different way to close.
You’ve probably heard a lot about videoconferencing this last week or so. Tools like Zoom and
DocuSign, which allow you to get potentials onto a screenshare, exchange files, walk them through
documents, get signatures – that kind of thing. You might even have received offers from marketing
companies, kindly offering to “set these systems up for you” in return for a handsome fee.
Save your money. Because what they are providing is just the tech.
Don’t get me wrong.
The right technology is important.
But it’s not enough. It’s just one layer.
Getting set up with state-of-the-art videoconferencing or “collaboration” tools won’t fill your pipeline with
cases any more than having a telephone or mailing address. You need something else.
What?
The ability to get even the most skeptical or uncompliant potentials onto a screenshare, rivet their
attention to the screen, pitch them with a killer presentation, and close them immediately.
Not later. Not tomorrow. Not after they’ve spoken to their wife, partner, or life coach.
RIGHT NOW.
There are five parts to this, which I’ll run you through in a moment.
Get them right, and you’ll be equipped to use this technology to keep your pipeline stuffed full of
lucrative cases. You’ll be able to keep your show on the road all through the shutdown.
You may even thrive during this period.
For reasons I’ll explain, meeting with potentials remotely is a more efficient way to close them. If you
follow the advice I’m about to share, and – crucially – implement it, you may find that your no-show rate
goes down, your overall close rate increases, and you waste less time trying to win new business.
At the end of the day, isn’t that what almost every attorney wants?
More clients. Less no-shows.
Fewer hours wasted on deadbeats.
So, how do you do it?
There are five specific things you need to get right. Five things you have to have working for you, over
the technology – to turn calls, inquiries, and LiveChats into signed retainer agreements remotely.
Thing #1:
A way for your staff to answer incoming calls, screen out price-shoppers, establish your
positioning, and get qualified potentials pre-sold on you before you’re even on the line.
Remember, potentials are no longer coming into your office. You are coming into their home. This
changes the dynamic. If potentials don’t respect you, they can terminate the meeting with one click of a
button. You need to establish authority and elevate your positioning before they speak with you.
What you need here are telephone welcome message scripts, voicemail scripts, answering scripts for
admin, “on-hold” scripts, etc. Scripts that screen, qualify, and pre-sell. And in a way that is friendly.
That last point is important.
We here at Speakeasy have been mystery shopping law practices for the last ten years. At the end, we
provide our clients with a written report that analyses the “customer experience” according to a number
of different metrics. Do you have any idea how many attorneys we have blindsided with these reports?
Some of them had been sitting in a silent office alone, frustrated because they weren’t getting enough
new cases. And, unbeknown to them, their voicemail message or receptionist had been turning away
perfectly good clients, because they didn’t project enough empathy or understanding.
Now, what if you don’t have a receptionist? What if you are the one who answers the phone? Then it’s
even more important to have to have a set of scripts that properly build your positioning and authority.
Thing #2:
A way for you to conduct a case evaluation through screenshare that involves
potentials, has them riveted, gets them to invest, and makes it almost impossible for
them to leave.
Part of this, of course, is because you need to gather certain pieces of information in order to do your
job. However, from a closing point of view, the way you conduct this part of the call is critical to getting
the potential to agree to your fees and sign a retainer agreement immediately at the end of the call.
You need one or more “involvement devices”.
The worst thing you can do is have the potential stare mindlessly at a screen for 30 minutes or more,
while you barrage them with questions and then confuse them with legalese. You need something they
can click on, something you and he/she will create together during the call.
Another point to consider:
As this section of the call progresses, you want the potential to invest more and more incrementally. It
should almost feel like they have started working on their case with you – work that they would need to
“throw away” if they were to pass on your offer and retain a cheaper competitor instead. Now, I realize
there are ethical and professional considerations in all this. It’s a nuanced area you have to get right.
Thing #3:
A way to present your offer (i.e. your service package and fees) in a way that makes it
look like incredible value in comparison to competing attorneys, even if their fees are
cheaper.
There are several tools that are your friend here.
Comparison tables, which show all the things you will do (even if intangible) compared with what other
cheaper attorneys provide, are great for putting your fees in the right context. I urge you to create three
different price tiers, with three different levels of service or representation. Most potentials will go for the
middle option – but just seeing the other two makes them less resistant to fees and more compliant.
You should also prepare a payment plan option. I would keep this hidden up your sleeve as an “ace”
card, as a way for dealing for objections relating to your fee. (Consider it your “backup plan”.)
Deadlines are extremely helpful. Most attorneys can only take on so many cases at a time. Tell
potentials, as a courtesy to them, that you are meeting with other potential clients. You cannot take all
of their cases on, and somebody is bound to be disappointed. If they are ready to get started today, you
can put them in your calendar. Otherwise, you cannot make any promises. This sets up for the close.
You should also have rebuttals prepared for every major excuse or objection. And you should have
“nightmare stories” that illustrate the consequences of procrastination or trying to cut corners.
Thing #4:
A way to close potentials immediately, right there and then, and finish the call with a
signed retainer agreement in your hand and cash on its way to your bank account.
Again, this is about far more than the technology. Yes, there are tools for reviewing the retainer
agreement together, on the call, and for getting it digitally-signed. These are important.
However, you also need scripts – scripts for successfully getting the agreement immediately (and not
later), scripts for negotiating your fee (almost inevitable) without giving away the farm, scripts for getting
your fee (or at least the first payment) right away while they are on the line, scripts for overcoming any
last-minute objections, and scripts for pouring cement on the deal and for setting “ground rules”.
Thing #5:
A way to follow up with all the potentials who say “maybe” that is professional,
courteous, doesn’t seem desperate, and makes full use of email, text, phone, and direct
mail.
Human nature being what it is, most people don’t say “yes” to an offer the first time they see it. They
say “maybe”. If you follow the advice laid out above, your close rate should be way above average. But
many of your potentials will still be “maybes”. From my own personal experience, I can tell you that for
the majority of offers we have ever launched, the majority of our sales came from “maybes” that we
managed to convert into “yeses”. How? By following up across multiple channels together.
That’s what you need to do here. If a potential doesn’t convert into a client immediately, on the call, you
need a dependable sequence of emails, texts, telephone calls, voicemail messages, and direct mail
pieces you can send to keep your offer at the top of their mind, in a way that is professional.
Follow-up also has an important role to play in getting people who verbally agreed to work with you to
return their signed retainer, in collecting on payment plans, in getting reviews, and in getting referrals.
* * *
Those are the five things you need to get right – to be able to close potential clients remotely, keep your
pipeline stuffed full of lucrative cases, and get through the COVID-19 shutdown.
None of them are complicated. However, you need to have the right tools in place. You can’t just wing a
presentation over Zoom. You can’t just leave your admin staff or receptionist to do their own thing. You
can’t just let a “maybe” potential leave your presentation and wait around for them to call back.
You need procedures. Step-by-step procedures that ensure consistency and help make sure you (and
your staff) complete all the right steps of this process in the right order. Otherwise it doesn’t work.
You also need the right “props”. I’m talking about involvement devices, presentation slides, tables,
illustrative graphics, price-comparison charts, etc., and, yes, the right technology tools.
And, most importantly, though – you need scripts.
Lots and lots of scripts. Proven routines for just about every eventuality, so that no matter what a
potential client throws at you (or your receptionist) you can handle it the right way.
(“Right way” = the way that best converts potentials into clients.)
Introducing Virtual Close System:
“A Complete System for Converting Clients Remotely,
and Keeping Your Pipeline Stuffed full of New Cases”
This offer cannot be combined with any other offer
This brand new package contains everything you need to get potentials in your virtual office – with the
right attitude, and in the right emotional state, pre-sold on you – and to convert them into clients.
It contains every script, prop, procedure, and other resource you need to put together a killer
presentation. Everything you need to make your client conversion process watertight.
And it also comes with training modules for you and your staff.
There are two packages.
The “GOLD” package, which is really the base package, contains everything you need to implement the
first four steps of the process outlined above. 17+ scripts, tools, training, and other resources for:
- Answering Incoming Calls/Inquiries (module 1)
- Evaluating Potentials’ Case/Situation (module 2)
- Presenting Your Service Package (module 3)
- Closing Immediately (module 4)
That’s the Gold package.
There is also a “PLATINUM” package, for attorneys who want help with the follow up. It contains
everything that is laid out above for the Gold package, and you also get:
- Turning “Maybes” into “Yeses” (module 5)
This offer cannot be combined with any other offer
How Much Does
Virtual Close System Cost?
The Gold package costs $1,997. If you need it, there is an option for you to break this down into one
payment today of $997 and two additional monthly installments of $500 starting in 30 days.
The Platinum package also costs $1,997. However, because of the done-for-you service component,
there is an additional fee of $347 per month starting today.
This offer cannot be combined with any other offer