Here are 10 common attorney objections to
marketing and sales, along with insight and advice to law firm marketers on how
to understand and work with the anti-marketing mindset.
Attorney MarketingI have been intrigued by a question posed to the Legal
Marketing Group of Linked-In that has sparked a blaze of comments from
literally dozens of legal marketers and lawyers around the globe. The simple
question that has captured the imaginations of so many was essentially this:
“What is the reason that most lawyers dislike the concept of marketing?”
One of the interesting things I noted from the lengthy conversation
thread was that nobody disagreed with the premise that lawyers generally seem
averse to marketing.
In fact, participants offered numerous examples of actual statements
from marketing-phobic lawyers who were encouraged to step up their game. These
comments included such stunners as these:
• “It is unprofessional to
sell.”
• “Marketing makes me feel like
this is a business.”
• “If I made 3 calls a week, I
would be out of people to call in 3 weeks.”
And here is one that I heard at a meeting recently, which is in a
similar vein:
• “If we sent out newsletters
and hosted seminars on legal developments for clients, then they would be less
likely to need our help in litigation.”
I also noticed that the explanations offered for this attitudinal
phenomenon generally fell into one of 10 different categories. So, based on
this global conversation and my own experiences, I decided to write an article
about the 10 basic reasons that lawyers are uncomfortable with marketing, and
some solutions that marketers can use to minimize this discomfort or even
eliminate it.
Here are the 10 biggest reasons why lawyers shun the concept of
marketing, and some ways that you, as a legal marketing pro, might help these
lawyers to overcome their aversions:
1. “Marketing violates our traditions and/or professional ethics.”
This objection comes in various flavors, such as “marketing is just
trickery” or “sales and marketing are the same as ambulance chasing.” Some
lawyers, even young ones, are somehow stuck in an ancient era when sales and
advertising were in fact violations of professional rules. Many of these
lawyers truly believe that attempts to reach out to clients are just plain
wrong.
SOLUTION: Try a Q&A lunch seminar with a lawyer from the state bar
ethics office. The state bar ethics counsel is used to answering questions from
lawyers about where ethical lines are drawn, and they are usually happy to help
bar members understand what is considered “professional” in the way of
marketing. Ethics counsel often sees and can discuss what other firms are doing
to reach out to and connect with clients. Marketers too can learn a lot about
nuances of jurisdictions in which they work. In most states, the professional
rules primarily prohibit deceptive marketing that might constitute fraud or
misrepresentation, but there can be quirks (such as prohibitions on Website
testimonials, or on the use of “representative successes” without proper
disclaimers).
2. “Clients hate being sold something.”
Sometimes this objection is really a “projection.” Many lawyers set up
barriers between themselves and the outside world in the form of call
screeners, frosty demeanors and social firewalls based on fear of who might
“get in.” Other times, lawyers are just truly concerned that clients will feel
that “outreach” attempts are intrusive and mercenary.
SOLUTION: Bring in some clients who have been successfully wooed by the
firm (or better yet, by other firms) to explain what forms of outreach they
like and what forms they disdain. Let the clients speak for themselves about
what kinds of “pitches” worked for them, what kinds of newsletters or content
made them pick up a phone to call, or what kinds of unsolicited referrals or
introductions favorably influenced them. The lawyers will soon learn that most
clients want value, and are eager to hear an original, succinct value-oriented
pitch that is respectfully made. Marketers too can learn just what clients
hate, as that is equally important.
3. “My time is better spent on ‘real work.’”
This objection is more than just a marketing “put down.” It is a
comparative assessment of what activity will give them the most return on
investment (“ROI”): marketing or legal work. Behind this objection, there is a
certain noble feeling that producing great quality work and rendering great
service is more valuable than boasting about the results. The implicit
assumption, unsubstantiated by any empirical proof, is that more client work
will come in the door if a legal service provider just focuses 100 percent of
his/her energy on being the best lawyer he or she can be.
SOLUTION: Try bringing in a business school professor, who can speak at
great length about businesses with superior products that went out of business
or missed opportunities because of marketing failures. They could talk about the
fact that Xerox invented the majority of early advancements in personal
computing, but failed to sell them, or they could talk about the early market
dominance of Microsoft over Macintosh, despite the clear functional superiority
of Apple products. You could also call in someone who studies professional
services marketing to explain how some firms have improved revenues per
professional and gross revenues through conscious focus on better marketing
while other firms, historically known for “good work,” have disappeared or
failed to grow significantly in an increasingly competitive environment.
4. “Marketing is a distinct profession so I could do more harm than good
with it.”
I was surprised to see this comment, or some variation of it voiced by
participants who were lawyers, but it made sense after I thought about it.
That’s because there is a really genuine feeling about the importance of
professionalism among lawyers, and they generally care a great deal about doing
things right. Lawyers are also trained in the art of anticipating what can go
horribly wrong if things are done incorrectly. Thus, some lawyers would simply
prefer to leave the marketing to marketers. This would be wonderful but for the
fact that marketing cannot just be delegated, and it requires some degree of
involvement of the lawyers in their own business. The attitude of “I will do
the work and you just make the sales” is not functional. Lawyers have to
allocate some time toward working with their marketing professionals and/or
clients and prospects.
SOLUTION: This objection to marketing involvement can be difficult to
deal with because it is based not on any demeaning attitude toward marketers,
but on a presumed level of super-competence that does not exist. As a former
General Counsel, I am inclined to call the attention of these objectors to
their problem clients – the ones who are always in trouble. These are generally
the clients who have the exact same attitude about lawyers. “Just let me run my
business and you keep me out of trouble or fix the problems,” is their
attitude. You can explain that getting good results in marketing is no
different than getting them in law – it requires involvement and teamwork and
not just delegation. You might even consider calling in an outside expert who
can explain how and why involved lawyers get better marketing results.
5. “I went to school to practice law and not to run a business.”
I have heard this complaint in my experience more than any other. It is hard
to put into words just how much some lawyers resent “business.” They believe
they entered a noble profession that is somehow distinct and divorced from
business, as well as the laws of economics. Many lawyers with this attitude see
marketers as a kind of virus that has infected law firms with obsessions about
sales and revenue, productivity, efficiency and other bothersome concepts.
These lawyers not only resent marketing, they view it as the likely cause of
client-stealing, competitiveness and other problems they have to conquer while
practicing law.
SOLUTION: This is another tough one. These lawyers basically don’t trust
professional marketers and see them as the enemy. You might be better off
avoiding them, but you have to consider their potential impact on your
professional career. To build trust with them, you might have to work on making
deeper, personal connections with them first. You might have to listen a lot,
resist the urge to prove them wrong, and just ask how you can help them survive
in this modern dog-eat-dog world. Again, I am reminded of the position that
General Counsel must defend against some business people who believe that
business was just heaven before the lawyers wrecked it. These people often
think that lawyers create problems and disputes that would not otherwise exist.
For people like this, you eventually have to help them to discover for
themselves that they are blaming the thermometer for the fever. Lawyers did not
invent trouble, and marketers did not create competition. They both just help
you to survive it (or not).
6. “Lawyers have nothing ‘hard’ to sell so marketing does not apply to
us.”
This objection comes from attorneys who believe that sales are for
widgets and not for services. In fact, there are advertising firms that will
tell you that the reason there are no ads for big advertising firms is because
advertising does not yield the same ROI for services as for products. Ad firms
invest their own money in other ways of connecting with professional services
clients. So there is some rationale behind this thought, but it confuses
advertising with marketing.
SOLUTION: Find a way to explain to lawyers that advertising is not
marketing. The discipline of marketing is essential to ALL organizations that
rely on revenue to survive. Why? Marketing is the study of why your clients buy
your services, what services they buy, when and how they make buying decisions,
what they are willing to pay for your services, what would make them buy more, what
other services they want from you, what causes them to defect and what causes
them to recommend you to others. In short, it is the essential understanding of
how your cash register rings. You might consider calling in successful
marketing experts from other professional service disciplines to explain how
they grew their practices with effective marketing. You might also consider
calling in a business professor who studies professional services firms.
Remember, lawyers are evidence-oriented and they value credentials as well.
7. “This is simply outside of my comfort zone.”
Some lawyers are candid in saying that they are just plain uncomfortable
with marketing. They can’t explain it, and they might not object to it in any
cerebral way. These lawyers are not saying that marketing is bad, or that it
does not apply to them. They are just afraid of it.
SOLUTION: For lawyers like this, you might just have to take baby steps.
If they believe that referrals are the way to build a client base, then show
them incremental steps they can take to get more referrals. If they fear human
contact, then get them to write some content and show them how they can place
that content on blogs, JD Supra or other sites to get more exposure. Remind
them too that their clients are another lawyer’s targets. When their survival
instinct kicks in, their comfort zones will grow.
8. “I do not have any spare time – I’m already busy.”
This objection sounds a lot like the one that “my time is better spent
on real work.” But there is a difference. The lawyers who think they are too
busy for marketing are not skeptical about marketing efficacy. They are afraid
of having more clients or having clients of their own. How would he or she
serve them with so much to do already? Often these lawyers are senior
associates or younger partners who are already in great demand by rainmaking
partners who want them to do the grunt work. They are afraid of growth and many
are naïve about the value the firm attaches to their ability to spew out work
when it is handed to them.
SOLUTION: Lawyers of this variety believe they have no need to grow
their client base if they have one at all. Often they are busy because they are
great service providers, even if they are not good rainmakers. These attorneys
would be more invested in marketing if: (1) they understood its critical importance
to internal survival and advancement; and (2) they believed that the firm would
help them to find ways of supporting additional clients of their own with more
associates, more productive technology applications, or whatever. The first
hurdle is not so hard to overcome. Just introduce these busy lawyers to some
formerly busy lawyers who are more senior and were let go during a downturn
because they were replaceable with younger, cheaper labor. Rainmakers are not
released by any firm — grunts are. The second hurdle is harder to overcome
because, in fact, senior leaders at many firms do not want to support
rainmaking by “drones” that could become internal competition. The current
rainmakers may like things just the way they are, thank you. Your biggest
challenge might be getting firm leadership to commit to growth that comes from
all levels, and to the infrastructure necessary to support that growth.
9. “We survive on referrals – marketing is a waste of money.”
This is another common refrain, and in fact, I have known many lawyers
who have told me that 90 percent of their business comes from referrals, mostly
from other lawyers. Of course, these same lawyers have told me that they spend
all of their business development time in bar meetings and conferences because
of that reason. It never occurs to them that if they spend 100 percent of their
time with lawyers, then it is not surprising that more than 90 percent of their
referrals come from lawyers. They also don’t necessarily think that when they
strike up a conversation with a referral source about their current cases or
matters, that they are “marketing.” Thus, they see no value to marketing, and
they never ask how 10 percent of their clients found them without a lawyer
referral or how more of those clients could find them. They also don’t spend
any time studying why some sources produce plenty of referrals and others none.
That would be marketing.
SOLUTION: You cannot question the fact that referrals are important. In
a service business they are critical. ALL clients want to know that someone
else got served well by a professional that they will entrust with vitally
important and often sensitive, confidential matters. They trust a lawyer they
have never met because someone they know and trust said that lawyer was
excellent. You need to assure these lawyers that marketing is a way of
nourishing, leveraging and expanding on the trust of a referral network, and
that marketing is NOT an attempt to replace traditional referral networks. You
might also need to show them a few examples of how marketing activities could
bring them more referrals (for instance, by enhancing communications with
existing referral sources and with prospects who might become new referral
sources, such as currently satisfied clients who may or may not be lawyers).
Bring in another lawyer for “show and tell” who has already expanded his
referral network with the help of that crazy discipline known as marketing.
10. “I know how to market – we don’t need you.”
Lawyers in this category may be somewhat successful rainmakers who just
don’t see your professional value. Of course, the best rainmakers love to
connect with people and love to expand their outreach, so they are likely to
pick your brain aplenty for any extra advantage they can find (much as the best
athletes in the world often hire more personal trainers and coaches than
ordinary athletes). It is these somewhat successful professionals who are more
likely to convince themselves that you are unnecessary because they are
presumptively smarter than you.
SOLUTION: To work well with these lawyers, you must establish some level
of trust in your competence and your credibility. Credentials might help, but
endorsement by one of their peers who has benefited from your work is better
(try getting an endorsement from a rainmaker that you have helped). Again,
offering to listen to these lawyers and taking them in baby steps toward more
effective marketing can open their minds just a little. Trust is not built
overnight. Small gains that are made with patience and understanding are
critical to winning hearts and minds.
Well, there you have it: 10 big objections lawyers have to marketing and
various ways that you can try to overcome those objections. I hope that legal
marketers find this piece to be of some value, and I hope that some of my
suggested tips prove useful. Let me know what you think.
Source From: http://legalmarketingreader.com/attorney-marketing.html
