Client Conversion Training
This client conversion training is designd to help lawyers convert more opportunities into business. A prospect who contacts your firm has a need for a lawyer. But they also have choice and there’s probably a few firms like yours they could choose from. So why should they choose your firm and you?
There are two main elements to this training, firstly Building a Strong Personal Connection. Secondly we turn to offering a Powerful Legal Plan. The first is about making that personal connection so that the prospect thinks they can work with you. The second looks at the legal advice and arguments you make to support their position.
The premise of this training is that you need to do both of these to improve your conversion rate. Connect with the person and provide a compelling legal argument.
What’s the risk of not doing both?
If you just do the personal connection piece and another law firm presents a compelling legal argument, your prospect may prefer to go with them, because that is their preference. Alternately, if you just present the legal argument, another law firm might work hard on the personal connection, which might be more appealing to the prospect.
This client conversion training means working on both elements to impove your conversion rate.
Workshop Style
This training is run as a workshop in style. This means it is a discussion with participants reviewing their own experiences and asking questions throughout. At each step ideas are introduced, explained and illustrated. They are then applied to your situations and practice area.
Duration
This client conversion training is run as either two 90 minute parts, or one three hour session. If you need it to be different from these options, please contact us.
Part 1: Building a Strong Personal Connection
Building a strong personal connection means working hard at understanding your prospect. We give you a blend of tools and actions to do this, which you can use immediately.
ITD Work Styles Model
Understanding and working with the personality of your prospect is crucial. We designed the ITD Work Styles Model to be easy to understand and simple to apply. This model gives you the language to describe your prospect and their preferences. It also helps you to draft questions which will help to unveil their personality.
By analysing yourself and the prospect, the model gives you ideas on what you could do to build a bridge and create that personal connection.
Needs & Wants
Research shows that demonstrating an understanding of the propect’s needs and wants, gives them confidence that you can fulfill these. We explore the different kinds of needs and wants and why it is so critical to define them, in discussion with your prospect.
Questioning & Listening
In any sales situation it is too easy to make assumptions, especially if you are busy and time is money. A review of some of the key questions to ask in a prospect situation can help in building a personal connection. That’s because great questions make people think and open their minds to new possibilities. Through this a connection can be made.
Avoiding assumptions, conscious & unconscious bias
Looking at the kind of assumptions we can easily make when engaging new propsects is always useful. But we go further, we look at some of the assumptions your prospect might have about you, and review which of these are incorrect. Actions to correct these assumptions are then suggested.
Communication
Communication is key with any new prospect. Understanding how to communicate includes their style of communication, frequency and preferred method. This can be vital as they might not match with your own, default preferences. It also means discussing their expectations and exceeding these to build a bridge.
Rapport
Developing rapport with a new prospect means helping them to feel that they have a connection with you. This may come from all of the above sections in this training, but it can also need special focus. We cover actions you can take to build rapport with each new prospect, such as mirroring.
Summary
This section of the training gives you ideas on how to build a connection with your new prospect. During the training we talk about real situations and you can discuss your experiences with prospects. Discussion is encouraged and we review ideas on how to overcome difficult situations with people in the initial stages of the relationship.
In terms of timing, this section can be run as a part 1 session, separate to part 2 on the legal aspects.
Part 2: Offering a Powerful Legal Plan
Considering the legal aspects of a new prospect is where you will probably feel most comfortable and excited. But it is important to consider how you present your legal plan. This section gives you ideas on exactly this.
Structuring, presenting and explaining your legal plan
Presenting your legal plan is a specific skill. Where do you start? How much detail should you go into? How much technical detail should be covered? We give ideas on how to structure your legal plan, depending on the prospect’s personality, needs and wants.
Using Nudge principles
Nudge principles can help you to analyse your current approach and make improvements. The Nudge principle was developed by Thaler & Sunstein, the former winning a Nobel prize for his work. We have taken the overall approach and broken it down into a number of ideas. These include a Nudge Audit to review your sales process with new prospects, which can reveal some immediate actions to improve your approach. We also take other Nudge ideas and show how they can improve the legal plan you offer.
Matching your plan to client needs and wants
In Part 1 of this training we cover identifying the prospect’s needs & wants. Presenting your legal plan and matching it to these needs and wants is a powerful tool than many often miss. It means presenting in the prospect’s context or view, rather than just a group of logical steps. Emphasis will be placed in different parts depending on their needs and wants.
Explaining legal fees with confidence
Discussing legal fees is an area where many lawyers do not feel comfortable, or at least lack confidence. But having confidence in your fees is an essential part of prospect engagement. Presenting and discussing them professionally can be where one lawyer and law firm succeed over others. We show you ideas on how to do this comfortably.
Words, legal jargon etc.
You know this already, but even so, it is worth a review. Explaining your legal plan in words the prospect can understand is vital. What ever your practice area you use words, acronyms and phrases bespoke to that area. Communicating sometimes complex legal processes can be crucial to winning your new client.
Summary
Combining Part 1 and Part 2 of this training gives you a chance to review your approach to winning new business. This client conversion training is a combination of ideas and reflection, to give your approach a boost. To discuss how it could work for your firm, just complete the form below or call us.
Make an enquiry below, or call +44 (0)800 804 8086
