Most bankruptcy lawyers think they need to market their practice through a network of Yellow Pages, online media, newspapers, radio, TV and whatever else they’re using – all in an attempt to get the prospect in the door. Then they sell the heck out of the prospect, get them to sign the retainer, and then move onto the next “kill.”
The problem is that marketing a law firm starts at the retention – this is merely the beginning of the relationship, after all. For example, if you’re anything like me you know how frustrating it is when a client signs a retainer and promptly disappears into the world … never to be seem or heard from again.
How to combat this? By continuing the marketing process, and by never giving up on the quest to educate your client about the benefits of their decision. In this way you can successfully combat “buyer’s remorse” that sets in the minute someone leaves your office.
After all, once the client leaves the office they are once again assaulted by messages telling them that bankruptcy is wrong all the time. And though bankruptcy is clearly the wrong decision for some people, that isn’t the case for the people who have made the decision to file for bankruptcy. If it were not the right decision then you wouldn’t have allowed them to sign a retainer in the first place!
Parents, friends, and other businesses relentlessly tell the client that filing for bankruptcy will ruin their life. But by virtue of your knowledge of the process, you know that this isn’t the case for this particular consumer. You know how bankruptcy will help them, and it’s your job as an attorney and counselor to continue to educate them accordingly and to reinforce the message that bankruptcy will help them.
Do your job well and the client will not disappear once the retainer is signed. Do it poorly and your retention rate will plummet every time.
Practice Pro Monthly is reopening to new students on Tuesday, September 15, 2009. This is your chance to get the most comprehensive education on marketing, managing and growing your law firm. To get on the advance notification list and grab your spot the minute it re-opens, go to www.PracticeProMonthly.com right now. I’ll be giving out some cool stuff in the lead-up to the re-opening, so hop on board!
Photo courtesy of Giampaolo Macorig.
