Selling has a bad rap in the legal community.
When I was a young lawyer it was made clear to me that “lawyers don’t sell”.
Selling was (and by some still is) viewed as unprofessional or unbecoming.
We were supposed to do “business development” and learn how to “make it rain”, but we were not supposed to sell. Or at least we couldn’t use the word.
Later in my corporate career, I got a crash course in what professional selling really is and how to do it well.
I learned that selling doesn’t have to be a soul-sucking experience beneath the likes of professional lawyers.
Selling isn’t about taking something from your prospective client.
Selling isn’t about putting something over on them and getting them to buy something they don’t need. In fact, when you think about it, doing that would be a violation of our ethical rules.
Done properly, selling is simply a process of becoming known to the people (or businesses) you were meant to serve. Not everyone in the world. Only those who you were meant to serve.
Isn’t it an act of service to share what you do with the people you were meant to serve? Don’t you think they’d want to know what you do and how you do it, and what makes you different?
Wouldn’t it be helpful to them to know all of that information so they know who they can trust when they or their friends need a lawyer? How is that a bad thing?
Once you take out the head trash around selling you will be free to learn and apply the formula that actually works to help you find more clients and close more deals.
It isn’t about spending gobs of money on advertising. It is about being focused and taking disciplined action in the right direction.
Selling in service to the people you were meant to serve feels good. Very good. Because you are doing the work you were meant to do. You are solving problems. You are adding value and changing lives. And you’re making the money you deserve at the same time.
Pass it on! If this would help a member of your team or a colleague please like and share it. It is time we changed the conversation around selling.
-Doug
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