Take These 2 Actions Now to Gain Clients in Your Law Practice
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Become a PFL®How can you, as a lawyer, use your law degree in the highest and best way possible right now, to serve your community AND ensure that your law practice will thrive?
It’s time to get into action, now, and position yourself to be seen and known as an expert and leader in your community for the people who need your guidance now more than ever.
Take These Two Actions Now to Establish Yourself as an Expert and Gain Clients in Your Law Practice
Today I am going to give you two actions that you can take, right away, to establish yourself as the expert leader in your community, without seeming opportunistic at all, but instead, really coming from your heart to show the people in your community that you are a trusted advisor, a trusted resource; somebody that they can turn to in times of crisis like these.
Watch the video below to hear my message for you, and lawyers everywhere, and find out two actions you can take, immediately. If you prefer to keep reading instead, I've provided the transcript below, too.
Action #1: Start Communicating with Your Community - From Your Heart
Whether that's happening on Facebook, LinkedIn, via email, or even by picking up the phone. It is time for you to start communicating from your heart, letting the people in your community know where you are personally during this great time of uncertainty.
They need to hear from you from a human perspective, human to human. That's what's going to have them want to work with you. That's what's going to have them see you as a trusted resource. And when I say communicating with them, human to human, what I mean is that rather than just sharing legal information, share how this entire situation that we're all experiencing collectively is impacting you as a daughter or son as a parent, as a sibling, as a spouse.
Let them know what's going on in your life and what you are doing to prepare for the times to come and how you're going to show up for them as a trusted resource.
Now, if this feels uncomfortable or maybe vulnerable, that's exactly what we're looking for, because that's the way that your heart is going to shine through during these times, and that's what the people in your community need to be seeing.
For example, one of the very first things that I shared with my community is that I was scared that I wasn't sure how to handle things...
So I decided to get into action and get on the phone with my mom and my sister. My mom lives in Florida, my sister lives in California, I live in Colorado and we decided to actually have a zoom conference where the three of us got together to talk about what we were going to do collectively as a family.
We decided it would make the most sense for my mom to stay in Florida and to self-isolate there, which was challenging for my sister and me, because if something happens to her, we wouldn't necessarily be able to easily get to her. We all were there with each other in our uncertainty and in our fear.
And then we began to look at what could we control; what could we do to give ourselves some certainty? We decided to make sure that our mom's legal documents were updated, her healthcare directive, naming us, her will, her power of attorney, she doesn't have enough assets to need to trust.
So we made sure that her basic legal documents were taken care of and that we knew where her accounts were in case anything happened to her. That gave her the peace of mind of knowing that if anything did happen to her, things would be as easy as possible for my sister and I. And then my sister and I began to do the same thing for ourselves, really, for each other, and for my children.
And I shared this with my community, and I shared this with the people that I communicate with on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and via email.
And after I did that, I then began to ask people in another post, a follow-up post, 'what are you doing to prepare your parents?' 'What are you doing to connect with your family during this time?' And I began to create conversation among my community.
After getting the conversation started, I then established myself as a financial and legal expert.
I made a post saying that I'm a financial and legal expert -- and that I wanted to know who wanted to hear from me, during this time, with the financial and legal expertise that I have... and I heard back from a lot of people saying that they did.
Now, I'm not sure that would have happened if I had not vulnerably led with my own process, sharing my fear, and then letting them know what I was doing to take action.
So that's one thing that you can do right away, because you are certainly having your own personal experience, and you might have an idea that as a lawyer, you need to show up in a certain way. Always professional, always seeming like you have all the answers...
But the truth is that people want to work with humans.
They want to work with humans who they know are experiencing the exact same things that they are.
They want to be able to be vulnerable with you. They want to be able to be imperfect with you. And that means that they need to be able to see your vulnerability and your imperfection as well.
When they do, they'll start to see you as a trusted resource that they can count on. They'll start to see you as somebody that they can trust, who isn't distant from them or far away from them, but who's just like them. The only difference is that you have a little more knowledge because you have a law degree.
So if you want to be seen as the expert leader in these times, it's time for you to start communicating with your community.
It's time for you to start getting vulnerable, confidently vulnerable, sharing your process, bringing out your heart, and your humanity.
Want to see how NLBM lawyer members are connecting with their community and providing value via social media? We’ve put together a guide with lots of examples and you can download it here.
Action #2: Start Connecting With Other Professionals in Your Community
The other thing that you can do right away is to start to put together communities online of other professionals, that are right in your hometown, inviting them to get on zoom with you and maybe three to five other handpicked professionals and complementary professions, other business owners who, just like you, are facing the same questions about how to serve the community.
In this time, just get on there, be together, see what ideas they have, bring the ideas that you have, and at the end, make an invitation for you to come together and create something valuable for your community—something educational that will help the people in your community to stay calm, to make good decisions, and to take care of the people and the work that they love.
These are two things that you can do right away. You have everything that you need to do it, and if you'd like any support in doing it, we're always here for you at New Law Business Model.