In this insightful episode of the NewLaw Podcast for Entrepreneurial Lawyers with Ali Katz, Kai, a lawyer based in a small mountain town, faces the challenge of confidently asking clients to pay the full price for her services.
Ali guides Kai through a transformative discussion on overcoming the discomfort of discussing fees and how to build a business that truly serves both the lawyer and the community. This episode delves into the importance of recognizing the value you provide as a lawyer and how to align your pricing with the quality and depth of service you offer.
Realize also, that charging full price is actually in your client’s best interest. You’ve gotta get out of your own way and realize that you’re doing it for them. Listen and re-listen to this episode as many times as you need to anchor in why premium prices are necessary for your clients to have a plan that works. And then go practice. Practice, practice, practice!
Key Takeaways:
Aligning Fees with Service Quality: Understand why charging the full price is essential for delivering high-quality legal services that make a lasting impact on your clients' lives.
Overcoming Money Conversations: Gain practical tips on how to confidently discuss fees with clients, reframing the conversation as a service rather than a transaction.
The Power of Practice: Learn how regular practice and preparation can help you become more comfortable with fee discussions.
Community-Centered Mindset: Shift your focus from your discomfort to the needs of your community, ensuring that your pricing supports the valuable service you provide.
Building a Sustainable Legal Practice: Discover the importance of creating a business model that not only supports your clients but also allows you to live a balanced, fulfilling life as a lawyer.
This episode is a must-listen for lawyers who want to master the art of pricing their services confidently and build a practice that serves both their clients and themselves.
Time Stamps
01:26: Kai joins the conversation, seeking advice on gaining confidence to request full payment from clients, having previously offered discounts and feeling uneasy about discussing money.
02:19: Ali advises Kai to practice asking for full payment and highlights the inevitable discomfort, suggesting that Kai should focus on the clients' benefits to make conversations about money easier.
05:26: Kai explains her motivation for building a sustainable business in her small mountain town, aiming to be a constant community resource and create a lasting legacy.
06:59: Ali encourages Kai to reframe her mindset, focusing on the importance of charging enough to provide valuable client services and maintain a successful law practice.
Transcript
Ali Katz:
And the reality is you have to charge what you charge in order to have a business that can deliver on the service that you're promising. If you don't charge what we recommend, you will not be able to deliver on the service that you're promising. If we could charge any less and still deliver, I would have structured it that way.
Ali Katz: Hello, and welcome to the NewLaw podcast, where we guide entrepreneurial lawyers to build law practices into businesses they love. I'm Ali Katz. If you are at all uncomfortable talking about money or charging premium fees, which, by the way, we call affordable premium fees, so that you can be receiving the fees that you need in order to deliver on a truly meaningful, impactful service while still being the most affordable solution for your clients because of how your fees are structured. I go into detail about this in my book, "New Law Business Model Revealed". And if you feel uncomfortable charging premium fees or talking about money, you're going to want to listen to this very short, very potent episode and do that now. And I'll see you on the other side.
Ali Katz: Hi. Welcome.
Kai: Thank you.
Ali Katz: You offered two clients 50% off plans, and now you'd love some tips and asking clients for the full amount of plans. Any tips? Well, we do have family wealth planning session process, fee quoting process. So tell me more about what you'd like.
Kai: Yes. So I think my reluctance is really kind of confidence, and I know I've seen, like, some tips that you've had before, but really kind of, I guess anything that helps to kind of ask for that amount. And I do really feel like I've done the plan for myself. I did one practice client. I had already offered half off, 50% off before meeting with them. During the meeting, they said they'd be happy to pay the full amount, but I felt awkward at that point. It felt really awkward. And just to kind of, I guess money feels like an awkward thing to talk about still. And if there's any tips about like, how to get over that, how to up level.
Ali Katz: Practice, that's what comes to mind. First of all, practice. So the more you do it, the more comfortable it will get. That's number one, it's going to be uncomfortable because it is. Right? And so can you get okay with it being uncomfortable and still do it?
Kai: Yes, yeah.
Ali Katz: And so, yeah. Yes. And so what it will take in order to do that is a reason that is bigger than your own self and that you begin to realize that you're doing it for them. So I really want you to practice Kai before every meeting, taking two minutes, remind yourself and to feel into energetically in your being that you are doing this for the people that are coming to spend 2 hours with you based on their family dynamics, based on their assets, and based on their budget, so that you can deliver to them a plan that will actually work for the people that they love when they become incapacitated or die. And I want you to feel yourself being there for that family at that time, and even envisioning that family saying to you, thank you. I thank you so much for being here for us, for knowing these people, our family that we love, this man, woman, couple, whatever, that have died. And thank you for helping them put in place a plan such that we can now turn to you to know what to do in our time of grief.
Ali Katz: And I'm inviting you to do that so that you get out of you and you get into them, because it's about them. And the reality is you have to charge what you charge in order to have a business that can deliver on the service that you're promising. If you don't charge what we recommend, you will not be able to deliver on the service that you're promising. If we could charge any less and still deliver, I would have structured it that way. I structured it to be the least amount that you can charge to be able to deliver on the service that you need to deliver on, to ensure that you have a plan that works for the clients that you're serving and that you are able to have a life while being a lawyer. Because if you can't have a life and be a lawyer, and you can't deliver on the plans that you're creating, because you're not charging enough, it's not in service to the clients, and that's why it's structured the way it is, so that you can serve the clients that you're here to serve, make a real difference in their life, and have a life yourself. So you're charging full price because it is in their best interest that you do so. Okay, Kai, does that help?
Ali Katz: Would you love direct support to help you grow your law practice into a business you love? Go to newlawbusinessmodel.com/show and sign up for a call with one of our trusted law business advisors. Each of our advisors has been trained directly by me over the past five years, plus to help you chart your path from wherever you are now to where you want to go as efficiently and effectively as possible. You're ready to grow. We are here to help.
Kai: It helps a lot. I think it's so good for me to hear that. I live in a small mountain town. People don't make a ton of money, and there are a lot of lawyers who don't have a business. It's only them. And so when they disappear, their family really hasn't had anyone anywhere to go. And my why has been to be this place for the community. And so when I think about it in that way, that really helps to think about, well, if I want to ever hire another attorney and create a business that their kids can come to, I need to.
Ali Katz: And it's not even just that their kids could come to. It's that there's an inventory of their assets. It's that there's a kids protection plan in place. It's that there's letters that have gone to the people that they've named in their plan to let them know what to do if something happens to them. It's that there's a family wealth legacy interview that is a record of not just their assets, but what actually matters to them.
Ali Katz: So it's all of the bits and providing all of those things you can't do, I promise you, you cannot do. If you don't build a business. And I don't just mean with other lawyers. I mean with at least one other team member or that you're only seeing so few clients that you only see four clients. If you're not charging enough, then you can't deliver on the service. Really, Kai, you're in a place of helping you, reinforcing for yourself about why these pieces are necessary for your clients to have a plan that actually works.
Kai: Okay.
Ali Katz: Okay?
Kai: That feels really different, and it's incredibly helpful. Thank you.
Ali Katz: Great. I'm so glad. I'm so glad, Kai. I'm so glad, and I'm so glad that we ended with you. So thank you, everybody.
Ali Katz: All right, if you loved that episode and you want to learn the planning session process that I developed to really have a nearly 100% engagement rate, meaning that the lawyers who follow the planning session process and who get the coaching support with me to get over their blocks to maybe talking about money or whatever the blocks are, right. Talking about money is so challenging for many people, but there's other blocks as well. That's why I coach consistently. Even though we're giving our Personal Family Lawyer firm leaders, literally the step by step process, things come up, and as those things come up, you want to get support like I did here. And so if you want to learn the step by step process for intaking the people that you meet, and turning them into paying clients through, I used to call it our client engagement system. Now it's just part of our life and legacy planning training. If you want to learn that, go to newlaw.co/show, book a call with a law business advisor and let them know that you heard this episode and that you are really interested mostly in learning how to engage just about 100% of the people that you meet with.
Ali Katz: It's really an unheard of number. I want to acknowledge that it is really an unheard of number in any industry, and yet it's an accurate number. Every month, on our mastering client engagement coaching calls that I do, we celebrate our members who have hit that 100% engagement rate. And when you talk with your law business advisor, if your skeptical mind needs proof, ask them. Ask them for the video clips of those celebrations. Because if they can do it, you can do it too. And if you're doing estate planning or if you want to be doing estate planning while learning life and legacy planning, and then our life and legacy planning process and our engagement system is going to put so much more time back within your control and money back in your pocket that is just leaking away right now.
Ali Katz: Because every single person that you meet with who doesn't hire you costs you so much time and money. And we could just get you back that time and money very rapidly. And from there, then you can make the decision of, oh, I really want to build this business to the next level, whatever that next level is for you. So, if you'd love to get on that path, go to newlaw.co/show so that we can help you to do just that. And I look forward to seeing you on the inside.
