Are you alienating your best potential clients?

Have you ever been turned off by a sales pitch? Have you ever considered that your best potential clients might be turned off by your marketing message or style?

I'm not a big believer in 'best practices.' Different styles and techniques work for different people - and attract different people. Even so, it may be worth examining your marketing approach and your marketing message, particularly if you aren't attracting the kinds of clients you want to work with - or if you aren't attracting enough of them.

Your marketing message needs to resonate with your ideal clients to be successful. If you put yourself in your client's shoes, is there anything about your marketing message that could turn your clients off? Does your marketing message do a good job of informing potential clients not only about YOU and what you do, but about YOUR CLIENTS and how you help them?

Yesterday the subject of the Random Rants 08 blog was Legal Marketers. The author called two specific legal marketers to task for using what the author considered to be objectionable sales tactics to get lawyers to use their services. He cited the use of multiple Twitter accounts, streams sales email messages on LinkedIn, "grandiose" titles and fake offers as some of the tactics that turn him off - and noted that he considers them even more offensive because they are being used by lawyers.

Will these same tactics turn everyone off? Maybe, maybe not. Different people have different tolerance levels and they respond to different messages. But like attracts like. Was it the intention of these individuals to "spam" potential clients or to give the impression that they weren't genuine? I doubt it.

A word of caution: be very careful about the message that your marketing methods convey, as well as the message the words themselves convey. Are you using scare tactics in your marketing? You'll likely attract those who respond to that kind of message. Does your message paint you as a 'fight to the death' lawyer? If so, you'll attract clients who may be looking for a fight. That's not necessarily bad if that's your intention, but it's something to keep in mind.

Keep in mind, too, that the essence of the lawyer-client relationship is one of trust. If the client feels that your marketing efforts amount to a bait and switch, or if you're hiding behind what your potential clients feel are 'fake' offers or false promises (whether that's your intention or not), that trust will be lost - and trust lost is difficult, if not impossible, to repair.

Comments

[Kristin Abele]

Allison,

I wanted to congratulate you on the selection of this post for in the inclusion in November's Carnival of Trust, hosted by Jordan Furlong. The Carnival can be found at: http://www.law21.ca/2009/11/02/carnival-of-trust-november-2009/

The Carnival of Trust is held monthly and is a compilation of the best blog posts dealing with the subject of trust in business, politics and society. Jordan pulled together a fantastic group of perspectives this month. Your post brings to light a very important point about how over-promising and alienating clients through poor self-marketing strategies. I believe this spans across the board and is not limited to lawyers alone--many people could profit from your insight.

Congratulations again,
Kristin Abele
www.trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters