Let’s face it. There is nothing people hate more than to sit through a sales pitch on something they don’t think they need. You may think they need your legal services, but at least initially, they may think otherwise.

Why Selling Doesn’t Work

When you are focused on selling, you take every opportunity you can to get the prospect to close the deal and go with you. Instead of listening to their concerns, you think of what you might say next or how you can overcome their next objection. This causes prospects to become defensive and unresponsive to what you are trying to tell them.

While it’s true that some selling is necessary in marketing (you have to ask for the contract eventually), the initial stages of your marketing process should be designed to attract prospects to you. You don’t want prospects to view you as a salesperson ready to jump at any and every possible lead thrown your way.

You want them to see you as a successful lawyer who has more than enough business and who values your time. You want them to call you because they know of your reputation and are willing to pay your fees to hire you. After all, it’s far easier to convert prospects to clients when they have a genuine need for your services and actually want to work with you.

Why Educating Prospects Is More Effective

Education based marketing focuses on knowing your clients and prospects extremely well and educating them about their problems and the solutions you provide. It is built around giving your clients as much information as they need to move to the next step in their purchasing cycle. There is no sales pitch involved. All materials are designed to educate your prospect about his problem and how he can go about fixing it. And during the process, you do your best to explain in a clear cut fashion how you can solve his problem and what he gets for your fee.

An example of this process might be:

• you create an informational piece (usually in written form)
• you offer your free handout/booklet/tip sheet to prospects that are interested in your services through direct mail, advertising, or the media
• to get this free information, prospects must call your office or fill out a form on your website
• at that point of contact, you respond by sending the materials and potentially inviting him to attend a seminar you are giving or to join your newsletter

With each contact, your prospect grows more familiar with you and your services and becomes increasingly more likely to become a paying client. And with each step, he becomes more knowledgeable about his problem, the risks involved, and potential solutions to his problem. At the same time, the free advice you offer builds your reputation as an authority figure in your community.

Benefits of Information-Based Marketing

The benefits of using information-based marketing materials to promote your services include:

• Prospects contact you, rather than you seeking out prospects
• Prospects see you as an authority in your specialty area
• You can charge a higher fee for your services because prospects see you as a reliable information source
• You can pick the clients who you enjoy working with and who will be more profitable rather than taking on any prospect that comes your way
• You save time by answering common questions in your marketing materials rather than answering the same questions over and over.
• You can measure the return on your marketing because you know the number of prospects who respond to a particular marketing piece.

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