15 Feb Why highly effective solicitors know how to sell their value

The most recent Commonwealth Bank legal market pulse identified ‘negotiating price with clients’ as one of the most challenging business elements in legal practice. This probably isn’t too surprising in the current climate.

What is slightly more surprising is that more law practices don’t invest in developing the skills required to either more confidently negotiate on price – or better still – sell and promote their value through all client communications so that pricing power is developed and pricing negotiations are less traumatic.

Register now for one of Giles Watson’s March practice development masterclasses.

Solicitors are never too young to learn how to sell their value. Anyone who has any client contact should be equipped with some basic ability to justify their existence and the value of the work. If solicitors can’t effectively communicate the value of their work, they will struggle to build client trust and appreciation, struggle with productivity (justifying their time), they will experience downwards pressure on fees, they will miss the positive client feedback that is vital for morale and validation, and they will struggle to cultivate referrals and recommendations.

Skills such as

• focusing conversations on client objectives and value
• ‘building the pain’
• focusing on outputs not inputs
• building relationship value
• communicating personal brand attributes and practice competitive advantages, and
• delivering a tailored and excellent client experience

are not only necessary for partners – they should be seen as required skills for anyone who has client contact.

To learn more, register now for one of the following workshops:
• 7 habits of highly effective solicitors, – full day workshop, March 15, Brisbane. Earlybird closing 19 Feb
• Power pricing & productivity (= profits), – half day workshop, March 16 (PM), Brisbane. Earlybird closing 19 Feb
• 7 habits of highly effective young lawyers, – full day workshop, March 21, Melbourne (with Paddy Oliver of Lexcel Consulting)