How To Convert Leads to Clients

As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression. For law firms, that first meeting with a potential new client is critical. Follow these tips to make sure you make the most of that first impression to convert more leads to clients when meeting for the first time.

Effective Communication Best Practices

Remember, the law is something you are extremely familiar with... but your potential new client? Chances are they are not as familiar. Use these tips to make sure they understand not only what you are saying, but what you are trying to convey.

• Active Listening Techniques: Listen to what the client is saying, not to craft your response, but to understand what they are saying. Paraphrase their statements. Ask clarifying questions. Being heard and being understood - both ways - is key to great communication.
• Use Clear and Concise Language: To the extent possible, avoid legal terminology. If it is appropriate to use, be sure you explain what all that term entails. If there is a complex topic, take the time to break it down into pieces in as simple an approach as possible.
• Build Personal Connections: We aren't suggesting you invite them over for dinner or anything but as possible find some common ground. Above all, some empathy for their situation. Remember, most people don't need an attorney very often so it's likely a stressful situation for the potential client.
  
• Consider body language, too. Posture, facial expressions, eye gaze, gestures, and body movements all convey various feelings. Be in tune with them as the meeting progresses.

Share your Expertise and Reviews

To help put your potential clients at ease, let your potential client know your expertise. This can be done in a document that they can take with them, or at minimum, a brief summary of your expertise. How long have you been practicing in this area of law? Do you have specific CLE or other ongoing training for this type of law? How many cases have you handled in this area of law? Be sure to share your educational background, Bar license number, years practicing, and all of those facts, too. Make it clear to the potential client that they can ask any questions they like about your background.

The hope is your firm has a Google reviews page, and there are good reviews there. If so, feel free to show them the review page and encourage them to read through the reviews. If you do have a document that is shared with leads about the firm, it's a great idea to include one or two of the reviews and the link to the review page. 

Prepare for the Meeting

Your firm likely got some information from the lead before meeting with them. At a minimum, they submitted their name, email address, phone, and a brief description of their issue. Take some time to review any news in that area of law.  Research the possible legal issues involved and identify potential solutions or strategies in advance. While much of this is already in your mind if you practice this area of law regularly, consider the facts the lead provided and do a bit more prep work.

Offer Exceptional Support

There is a thin line between a potential client looking to hire an attorney and a potential client looking for options on how to move forward. One way to minimize the information-gathering folks is to offer paid consultations. That way, even if the potential client is looking for options, including DIY or online options, your time and expertise are compensated. However, your ability to be successful with that approach depends on other law firms in your area. Do they offer paid or free consultations? It's up to you, of course, but consider the competition.

Whichever approach you choose, offer exceptional support. Answer their questions to the fullest extent possible, making it clear that what may actually happen could be different. Be patient. Each potential client is working on their own timeline and may have other obstacles to address. If they send a follow-up question, answer at your earliest convenience. In summary, to the extent possible, make sure they feel they are important. They are important, after all, to keep your law firm healthy.

Do what you can to provide exceptional support from the initial meeting through matter resolution. Let that be one of your trademarks.

Follow Up

There is not a big difference between being persistent and being annoying. You can always ask the potential client when a good time may be to follow up with them if they don't decide to hire you during the initial meeting. Then, follow up as they suggest. It's more than 'Hey, I'm following up to see if you have made a decision'.  Provide additional information about you, your firm, or a specific aspect of the discussion you had. Perhaps it's a bit more clarity about the legal issue itself. Maybe it's more about how you work with your clients - do you offer a client portal or other technology resources to make it easier to manage the case? This is a great chance to emphasize why the potential client should hire your firm. If you don't know what that reason is, well, you have some work to do.

The key to having a healthy law firm is new clients. Getting that first meeting right is critical to converting more from potential clients to actual clients. The best advice, in summary, is to let the potential client know why they should hire you and how your firm works with clients, whether by phone calls, in-person meetings, offering software platforms, and more. Remind them that while you are an attorney, you are also just a person who empathizes with their situation. It's all about people working with people to resolve a legal issue. It takes knowledge and empathy.