YourABA, monthly enews published by the American Bar Association, recently spoke with Robert Kohn who—along with his brother Lawrence Kohn—is the author of Selling in Your Comfort Zone: Safe and Effective Strategies for Developing New Clients. Both Kohns are successful marketing and sales consultants.
Before lawyers can discover how they can effectively drum up new business, you say they must first understand their reluctance to sell. Why is that important?
The reluctance to sell is the fundamental issue of our book. If lawyers don’t know why they’re reluctant, they can’t fix it. Our purpose in writing this is to help readers take action.
Understanding the reasons for your reluctance helps you find ways to overcome whatever it is that is blocking you. For example, if it’s your fear of rejection, then you can look for ways that minimize the chance for rejection. If it’s a fear of being perceived as pushy or manipulative, which is a very common concern, then you can look for communication techniques that aren’t pushy or manipulative.
There are a lot of books on selling, but they don’t address the issue of reluctance effectively. They acknowledge that there are obstacles, but don’t give any advice for overcoming them. Instead, they say, “just do it.”
The reality is that our lives are filled with a great number of things we have to do, so it doesn’t take much for a person to avoid a task he doesn’t want to do in the first place—in this case, selling.
After identifying the obstacles to selling, what’s the next step?
Get in the habit of challenging those feelings of reluctance. Rather than not doing something because you feel reluctant, ask yourself why you have that feeling.
In some cases you may find that your feeling is not justified. It may go back to a feeling you had as a child that no longer applies as an adult—for example, you sold cookies to support your local school and you didn’t like the task. But, you’re an adult now. You’re much more knowledgeable, and you’re providing something that is of great value, something that going to have great impact on someone else’s life. There’s a difference in age, mental sophistication and what you’re selling. So, when you experience a feeling of reluctance, don’t simply give up. Rather, ask yourself, “What is the reason for my feeling? Is it valid or irrational?”
Maybe you determine that the feeling is valid. Well, if you’re not comfortable with one selling technique, start looking for a different technique that may be more viable. Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from looking for things that you can do.
Public speaking is one of people’s greatest fears. You suggest ways to lessen that fear. Can you tell us a bit about that?
The key here is to focus on not being embarrassed. People are afraid of being judged harshly. For example, a lot of lawyers imagine speaking to a group of their peers at an ABA program. As lawyers, speaking to your peers—especially to those in your practice area—carries a risk. Lawyers fear they will be judged harshly because the other lawyers may be just as knowledgeable, or more so, than them.
One solution is to not to speak before other lawyers. There may be other venues that are more effective for you, where you will be the clear authority. You could speak to a group of prospects, to a group of clients or to the company of one of your clients.
I don’t want to minimize the value of speaking to other lawyers—I think there’s great value to doing so, and it allows one to become a better lawyer. But if you are uncomfortable speaking to your peers, then find other groups.
A second tip is to understand your goal in speaking. A lot of lawyers have an unrealistic expectation of what is required of them as speakers. When they’re thinking about speakers, they may think of Churchill or Lincoln; if they’re comparing themselves to Churchill or Lincoln, there’s a good chance they’re going to come up short.
Ask yourself, “What is the audience’s expectation?” Are they expecting a great orator, or are they looking to gain some valuable information? I’ve attended several programs where I’ve had people from the audience come up to me and say, “If I could get one or two really good tips from this program, it will have been worth my time.” So if that’s what people want, then your goal should be to give lots of good tips.
When you are confident that you are providing your audience with a lot of useful information, you will be less afraid to speak.
A related question—Can you address what you characterize as “the myth of introversion?”
This is one of my favorite topics because I am an introvert. My brother and coauthor, Larry, is the extrovert. We both do marketing, we just do it in different ways.
The myth is that introverts are social misfits, that they are unable to sell. The truth is that introverts are often outgoing, but they may have a natural predisposition to want to spend time alone. But that doesn’t preclude them from selling. In fact, many successful business development lawyers I know claim to be shy.
Introverts can sell. They just have to find an environment in which they feel comfortable.
Turning to a different element of selling—How do lawyers go about finding clients?
The key here is to understand where business comes from.
In our experience business comes from developing quality relationships. Lawyers should focus on who their potential clients are, and how to build quality relationships with them over time. It could be a long-term process.
There are two fundamental business development strategies that we teach, and they are “reach” and “frequency.” Reach is the process of meeting new people. There’s a rule that the more people you know, the greater likelihood you are to get business.
If you don’t have a lot of contacts, focus on how to meet people. There are two ways: One way is to ask people you know to introduce you, if you’re comfortable doing so; the other way is to get involved with organizations.
And frequency?
Once you reach people, the second strategy is frequency, the process of staying in touch with people over time. Your goal with frequency is to maintain a consistent, positive presence in the minds of the people you’ve met. So, when the timing is right—when someone either needs your services or wants to refer your services to others—you will be top of mind.
Maintaining that presence might mean one-on-one interaction, such as taking someone to lunch or to a ballgame, or you may offer to give a seminar at their firm. Lawyers should always look at things of value to give to people.
Finally—Do you have any final words of advice for lawyers who know they need to be more active in searching out new clients but who haven’t taken that first step yet?
There are a couple of things I’d like to talk about here.
One is to have a support system in place, someone who will hold you accountable to your goals. It might be a colleague, it might be support staff, a friend or even a marketing coach. The idea is to make a commitment, and have someone who is going to hold your feet to the flames a little bit.
If you don’t have a support system, it’s too easy to let the routine of life and old habits take over.
The other tip is to look for selling methods that meet the standard of being both “safe and effective.” We define “safe” as those things that are appropriate to one’s personality; we define “effective” as things that are a good use of one’s time because they are likely to pay off.
Some of these things might include jotting down ideas about an article that you’ll write further down the road, or making a list of names you’ll contact—a target list. These things are both safe and effective because they’re easy, and they’re effective. Getting clear about what you want to do increases the likelihood of taking action.
“Develop New Clients in Your Comfort Zone,” 2009, published by the American Bar Association, Your ABA. ©2009 by the American Bar Association. Reprinted With permission. All rights reserved. This information or any or portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.