No thanks.
But isn’t that what you’re selling when you try to get a client to file for bankruptcy?
I’m not saying that’s what you’re really selling, but stand in your client’s shoes for a minute. Doesn’t it seem like that’s what you’re selling – from their perspective?
From the moment they were expelled from the womb, your clients have been told that bankruptcy happens to other people – not honest, decent, hard-working folks.
Bankruptcy is a word whispered in a manner not unlike “cancer”. When someone files for bankruptcy their friends talk about it in hushed tones, as if the consumer were cut from lesser moral cloth.
We as bankruptcy lawyers know that to be just the opposite. We know that bankruptcy is a way to fight back, to reclaim control over one’s finances, to regain solid footing. We can spout off numerous famous people who file for bankruptcy (Larry King! Walt Disney! Donald Trump – just about every month, it seems!).
But it doesn’t do anything, does it?
Bankruptcy is the Rodney Dangerfield of the legal world.
So what’s the solution, you ask?
Education.
But not the facts – no, your clients don’t care about the facts. They have a lifetime of learning to undo, and your 30 minute consultation sure isn’t going to cut it as reprogramming.
Show your clients a few success stories. People who look, walk, and talk the way they do. People who you’ve helped and who have gone on to own homes, build savings, and make a better life.
Explain the process in language THEY understand – without jargon. They don’t know a cramdown from a sundown. It isn’t in their parlance. So talk to them in a way they “get”.
Reach out and SHARE what you know, freely and happily. Give it all away.
Yes, all of it. Every shred of knowledge and information you have, give it away. Because in doing so, you stand a better chance of overcoming a lifetime of misinformation.
Worried your client will go out and do their own bankruptcy?
Come on, get real.
Just because I know how wine is made, doesn’t mean I’m stomping grapes like Lucille Ball.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments section below.
