How to sell legal services at a high price? Selling legal services How to sell legal services.

18/10/2013

The nature of the legal business is that you will always find it difficult to compete on price. No matter how low the prices you offer, there will still be colleagues who will offer legal services cheaper. Competing on price is a dead-end path to developing a legal practice. Why, then, do most lawyers not seek to sell their services at a high price? The following standard objections are encountered:

Customers won't buy;
- competitors are cheaper;
- in our city no one sells services at high prices.

Let's look at how to increase fees in practice without scaring off clients.

Prices for legal services - abstraction

How much does it cost to litigate a criminal case in court? The lawyers I worked with in Russia quoted a range from $1,000 to $50,000 for trial work. Will a $50,000 lawyer provide 50 times better defense than a $1,000 lawyer? Unlikely. Then why can one lawyer charge many times more than another? It's simple. Let us define several axioms regarding pricing:

High fees are technology

Why is one lawyer able to charge high fees, while another is content with significantly less? For me, as a legal marketer, high pricing is one marketing technique that anyone can use. Below in the article I will describe methods that will allow you to painlessly raise prices for legal services. But first, let's get the main thing out of the way.

Why is it worth learning how to sell legal services at a high price?

First, the ability to sell services saves your time. A smaller number of cases with high fees makes it possible to concentrate on each of them, thereby increasing the quality of work.

Second, as we have already said, price in the legal business is a measure of quality. If you learn to charge high fees and can justify them to clients, you will give a big advantage to your practice as a whole - clients will perceive you as a better specialist.

So, enough of the lyrics, let’s look at it in practice.

How to sell legal services at a high price?

Let's look at a few simple methods on how to sell your services at a higher price.

Method one. Just raise the price

What happens if you increase the price by 10-20%? Most likely - nothing. As can be seen from my practice, clients do not even notice such changes. In our world, prices are constantly rising, so a small change in price will not be noticeable. Try revising your price list starting Monday and raising prices by 7%. If any of the clients notice, then politely explain that the cost of office rent, utility bills, contributions to funds, taxes has increased (choose the most appropriate option).

Method two. Sell ​​value

A classic statement in marketing is, “Nobody needs drills, everyone needs holes.” Likewise, customers need the value that you provide when providing a service. By entrusting your business to you, the client receives peace of mind, time savings, confidence in the result and other benefits.

I'll tell you an example from our practice. In Krasnoyarsk, the task was to increase sales of subscription services in a law firm. We have prepared booklets and presentations that clearly demonstrate how our legal outsourcing saves entrepreneurs up to $11,000. We made an analogy with trips to Thailand. At the same time, the cost of services was increased by 15%. As a result, we talked to the potential client in a language he understood: “If you order outsourcing from us, you will save three vacations in Thailand in a year.” As a result, sales increased by 30%.

Method three. Working on fame

Fame sells. The more famous you are among your audience, the easier and more expensive you can sell your services. Set a goal to publish 12 articles in the media during the year, plus find opportunities to give 12 interviews. Believe me, after this your fame will reach a new level.

Method four. Make your service unique

The more unique the service, the more expensive it can be sold. To make your service unique, analyze the market and find out what your colleagues are doing. Think about what you can offer on your part that will add additional value to your service.

Example: many law firms offer such a service as obtaining Ukrainian citizenship. In Kazan, we did the following - we introduced the concept of opening a “turnkey” business. Along with registration, we offered clients the development of three standard contracts. In fact, they combined two services into one. This move allowed us to raise prices by 50%.

Method five. Surcharge for urgency

As you know, there are clients to whom the service should have been provided “yesterday”. Great! For urgent service, enter a 20% surcharge to the cost of the service. At the same time, explain to the client that an urgent matter requires an individual approach, which is why you will have to slightly “push aside” the cases of other clients. Clients simply love it when others are bullied, at least verbally, because of them.

Method six. Additional payment for working with a managing partner

Are you a leader, but at the same time still a practicing lawyer? You have to pay extra to work with a managing partner! How many? At least 30-50%! The client understands this! For him, you are the most experienced wolf on the team, and he is willing to pay extra for this experience.

Method seven. We introduce options in our services

If you have ever experienced buying a car, then the following situation will be familiar to you. When you look at the price in the price list, it is quite reasonable. But then marketers prepared a surprise in the form of “options”! You choose one, the other seems to be needed too, and I would like this one too. As a result, you were “conned” for an amount that is 20-30% higher than the initial one!

I propose to introduce this principle into your practice. You work with the client around the clock - plus 10% to the standard price! We are ready to outsource consultation on both personal and production issues - plus 15% to the contract cost!

Method eight. We use chants

In practice, we are faced with the fact that many law firms miss out on their sales for one simple reason - they simply do not offer the client to buy.

Have you been to McDonald's? When purchasing, you will always be asked: “Will you take the pie?” A simple question, but it can significantly increase the company's sales. This technique is called speech. Speech is a standard phrase that is used to invite a client to buy an additional service.

Example. At one bar association in Moscow, we sought to increase sales of the “Support of Enforcement Proceedings” service. A standard speech module was developed for negotiations with the client: “Tell me, will you seek execution of the court decision yourself? We have a service “Support of enforcement proceedings”, our specialists will force bailiffs to work for only 10% of the amount collected... payment upon delivery.” A simple phrase, but it worked about 30% of the time.

Method nine. Introducing a VIP offer

The method is as follows: we introduce into our service, for example, divorce, a VIP package worth $10,000. When a client asks how much it costs, we first talk about the “VIP” service, then about the “Standard” service, which costs $2,000. Is it true that after “VIP” “Standard” already seems inexpensive? The most surprising thing is that approximately every tenth person buys the service at the VIP tariff. In general, you understand the principle.

Instead of a conclusion

I often hear from professionals that a 10% increase in the cost of services (or a discount of the same amount) are little things that should not be paid attention to.

Let's do some math. Let's say you sell your service for $100, the cost of the service is $30, your total profit is $70. What happens if you raise the price by 10%? That's right, you will sell your service for $110 and your profit will be $80, that is, an increase of 14%.

This is only in one go! And you can apply 2-3 techniques right away, increasing your profits by 30-40% without costs.

The main takeaway is this: By understanding how customers perceive your pricing and implementing a few of the techniques described above, you can ultimately increase your profits by 100% or more!

Dmitry Zasukhin - legal marketer, Moscow (RF)

4. Dealing with objections. This is the last stage of establishing a relationship. Marina can easily tell you that she is busy and cannot go have tea with you. Congratulations, you have encountered objections. This is quite normal and, as you can see, is a natural phase of establishing relationships between people.

We have looked at the stages of establishing a relationship. Sales of services unfold according to the same scenario. First, you establish contact with the client, ask questions and delve into the essence of the problem, then you make your proposal and, quite possibly, you have to respond to objections.

There is a good saying in marketing: “Nobody needs drills, everyone needs holes!” Simply put, people want to buy from you not the service itself, but its result.

Sales theory goes one step further and here we look at needs. When we sell something to someone, we satisfy their needs. For example, when we buy bread, we satisfy nutritional needs. With needs, not everything is so simple: they are obvious and hidden.

Let's look at this situation with an example. Imagine that you have a neighbor who bought himself the latest Land Cruiser. Why did he do this? He will tell you that this is a large, safe car and that he will feel comfortable driving it. Is everything right? Yes, a person shares with us his obvious needs. But let's look at the problem a little deeper: why did he buy such an expensive car?

By studying hidden needs, we can assume that a big car is prestige, it is the envy of others. A person who was able to spend 3.5 million rubles is considered successful. This car is a clear superiority on the road. All of the above is a strong motivator for purchasing, but it is very unlikely that a person will talk about it openly. The thing is that these needs are hidden.

So, a person is driven to purchase by satisfying needs, which are of two types: hidden and explicit. You may ask why you need to know about some hidden needs. The fact is that marketing and sales specialists have long determined that if sales and advertising are based on satisfying hidden needs, then the likelihood of a purchase increases. This is why expensive cars are sold as prestigious ones. And cosmetics are sold to women as a miracle cure for youth and attractiveness.

Remember! If you want to be successful in selling legal services, you must appeal to the satisfaction of his hidden needs in negotiations with the client.

Let's look at what hidden needs a legal service can satisfy.

By working in legal marketing and communicating directly with your clients, we have been able to identify the following hidden needs. Simply put, these are the motivators that drive your consumers to purchase legal services.

Safety. Many legal problems result in a loss of control and a sense of security. For the average person, this is extremely stressful. The people who sit down with you want to hear from you how you are going to keep them safe.

For example, we recommended to one Moscow lawyer that during negotiations with clients he talk about how often he will visit them in a pre-trial detention center and how safe it is to work with him. Another criminal defense lawyer provided his clients with a separate cell phone that was used exclusively to communicate with the lawyer. No one knew the number, so the chance of wiretapping was reduced to a minimum. The clients were incredibly grateful and happy to work with him.

Comfort. People who turn to lawyers want to maintain a sense of comfort. We have repeatedly heard from your clients that even the word “court” gives them an unpleasant feeling. It must be admitted that for many ordinary people, court and trial are not the most pleasant pastime and they are ready to do everything to avoid this discomfort.

In selling legal services, we appeal to comfort when we talk about how our work is streamlined in such a way as to reduce client intervention in the process. It’s great when, for example, a lawyer focuses on the fact that he can protect the client by taking full participation in the process. We even used this tactic when selling cases in arbitration courts. A good argument for the client is that your business processes are streamlined in such a way that you will carry out the process without the participation of the principal. This works for clients, although we understand that the client’s participation in the arbitration process is rarely required.

Taking responsibility. Clients want to feel that you are taking responsibility for their destiny. They want to know that you have a clear plan of action. Negotiations with you should instill confidence and calm.

Imagine if you're lying on the operating table and the doctor says, “Well, you know, I'm actually not very sure. You are only my third patient...” How will you feel? Unfortunately, we hear such phrases more than once from many lawyers.

I want to immediately warn you against overplaying. Some lawyers take the “I’ll push away the clouds with my hands” tactic. That is, we will promise the client everything, even three boxes, just to buy it. You say: “What's wrong with that? It works!” Yes, it works, but this is no longer a sale, but a sales pitch. In this book, we will deliberately not consider the technologies of selling, or, in scientific terms, manipulative sales. I am deeply convinced that if you are committed to long-term cooperation with your clients, then you cannot sell your services. Snatching is a deception, a path to nowhere.

Attention and sympathy. You need to understand that people turn to you not only as an expert in legal matters, but also as a person who will understand and support. In sales, we often use active listening methods: they allow us to build trusting relationships with clients.

Money. According to statistics, most processes in Russia are of a property nature. Simply put, lawyers help the population earn (save) money using the rules of the law. This is a natural process, since we have taken the capitalist path and are unlikely to turn away from it.

When negotiating with clients, you need to talk about money and do it as specifically as possible. Provide examples from your practice that show how you have helped clients earn or save significant money. Disclose the details of your tactics regarding how you are going to resolve a particular property dispute. All this will allow you to negotiate with the client as substantively as possible. Clients will feel your professional attitude and understanding of the essence of their issue.

Time. Why do people turn to lawyers? One reason is that you save people time. A professional lawyer will win the dispute much faster. You need to understand that time is a key factor for clients. Therefore, give examples of successful cases related to time. Talk to the client about time as an important component of the job.

One funny thing about the legal business is that clients don't always want services to be provided quickly and thus problems resolved quickly. For example, when selling arbitration disputes, we often encounter requests from clients to delay the legal process. Once, a client directly answered the question “Why do you want to delay the trial with your counterparty?” He said: “It’s stupid to laugh.” You, in turn, must feel what request is coming from your client, and thereby adopt the optimal negotiation strategy with him.

Legal marketing. How to sell legal services? Dmitry Zasukhin

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Title: Legal marketing. How to sell legal services?
Author: Dmitry Zasukhin
Year: 2016
Genre: PR, Just about business, Advertising, Marketing strategy, Law

About the book “Legal Marketing. How to sell legal services? Dmitry Zasukhin

The legal business in Russia is growing rapidly, which inevitably leads to increased competition. The book examines the fundamental tool of competition - effective sales. The author talks about the strategy and tactics of selling legal services, offers specific techniques and tools that allow you to sell legal services most effectively. The book will be of interest to legal business owners and privately practicing lawyers.

On our website about books, you can download and read online the book “Legal Marketing. How to sell legal services? Dmitry Zasukhin in epub, fb2, txt, rtf formats. The book will give you a lot of pleasant moments and real pleasure from reading. You can buy the full version from our partner. Also, here you will find the latest news from the literary world, learn the biography of your favorite authors.

For beginning writers, there is a separate section with useful tips and tricks, interesting articles, thanks to which you yourself can try your hand at literary crafts.

The main challenges in selling professional services are:

1. The client does not understand the essence of the service.
   Any professional service solves a client’s problem and, as a rule, this problem is hidden. Let's take legal services, for example. The client's contracts were drawn up incorrectly. How to convince him that it is necessary to draw up the correct documents in advance, before the thunder strikes? The peculiarity of clients is that all issues that go beyond the scope of their main business process seem incomprehensible and insignificant to them. When communicating with other professionals, there is a lot of misunderstanding due to the complexity and sometimes reluctance to delve into aspects of the business.
2. Long time to make a decision.
   I have already written that professional services have a strong impact on the client’s business, which leads to a long transaction cycle. Constant negotiations, demonstrations, and development of solutions lead to the fact that the deal sometimes takes from 3 months to a year or more. Such a long transaction period must be taken into account when building a professional services business; one must know and be able to manage this cycle.
3. Reluctance to pay for the service.
   Professional services are expensive. The reason is that the cost of the service must also include a long transaction period. Clients are reluctant to part with big money. Our task is to learn to show clients the value of the service and, in practice, to learn how to sell services at a high price.
4. Incorrect assessments of work results.
   The service has been provided, repeat sales need to be made, but the client cannot understand and evaluate the results of the work. For example, you conducted an audit and drew up correct contracts. But how will the client evaluate this?

Despite all the difficulties, more and more businesses are striving to introduce the sale of professional services into their practice. Let's find out why.

Why is it worth starting selling legal services to legal entities?

Many lawyers still work only with individuals. persons and do not know why they should start working with a legal entity. persons.

The main reason is profit.

Selling legal services to legal entities involves minimal costs, but the margin is sometimes measured in thousands of percent. If your practice is not focused on providing services to legal entities, think about what areas you can open to start working with entrepreneurs. Without a doubt, this will lead you to increased profits and the formation of new competitive advantages.

Basic Strategies in the sale of professional services.

There are not many strategies for selling legal services; you need to understand the basic ones. Let's look at them.

Why are services more difficult to sell than, for example, things that can be touched, tried on, tested? There are several reasons for this.

The problem is a pig in a poke

First of all, this is a pig in a poke problem. A service cannot be assessed before you have received it. In addition, with regard to legal services, it can be difficult to determine whether it is of high quality or not, because the client himself will not be able to understand and evaluate this.

Let’s say a court decision in which the case was lost can serve as evidence of the low quality of the service, but even then only partially, because in most cases, the outcome of a court case is a weaving of many circumstances, among which the lawyer’s work itself is not in the first place in its importance for the outcome of the case.

Unstable result

Unstable results, the human factor, peculiarities of law enforcement, when in the same courts, some categories of cases can be decided in one direction in one month, and in another month – in the other direction, in addition, the human factor on the part of the lawyer himself, defense lawyer, representative when in some matters he gives his best, but in others, for one reason or another, he does not try or misses something.

The problem of unobvious need

The need for the services of a lawyer, as well as for the services of a doctor, is, in principle, not obvious. The services of a lawyer are even less obvious than the services of a doctor. Of course, some people put off seeing a doctor until the last moment, until they feel really bad, and then they will run to the doctor.

It's the same with lawyers. People may put off, put off, put off seeking legal help. Of course, this applies to a lesser extent to cases when we are talking about a criminal case, and a person can be put behind bars, then, naturally, they immediately rush to contact a lawyer. If the case is not criminal, but some other case, there are many examples, then the problem is not so obvious, and people will delay until the last minute.

For example, if a person is at fault for an accident, instead of hiring a lawyer at the stage of consideration of the case in the traffic police, he comes 2 years after the accident, when a claim for half a million was brought against him for compensation for damages by subrogation, etc.

Well, the main competitor of the lawyer, which I have already mentioned, is the client himself, because in many categories of cases he can do something himself to try to solve his problem, sometimes taking many unnecessary actions and further confusing an initially difficult situation.

Process and results services

There are 2 types of services – process and results. In process services, the process of providing the service itself is important for the client (consumer), but the end result is unimportant (for example, riding on attractions). And in effective ones, on the contrary, only the final result is important for the client, and the process itself is secondary (for example, treatment for an illness).

Why do you need an understanding of what services you provide, process or result-based? In order to better understand how a client thinks, what he pays attention to when choosing a lawyer for his case.

The problem when selling legal services is that most services are productive, in particular, legal representation, but are perceived by the lawyers themselves as procedural, and money is taken specifically for the process (for each court hearing, for example), at the same time for the client It doesn’t matter at all how many meetings you attend – all that matters to him is the result in the form of a positive outcome of the case.

This is where the systemic disagreements between lawyers and their clients lie.

How can you distinguish a process service from an effective one? From the client's point of view, if the service can be provided instantly, then the service is effective. If the process of providing the service itself is important to the client, then the service is process-based.

Court cases last for at least six months, sometimes more than a year, and therefore for a lawyer this service seems to be procedural, because he goes to court hearings month after month, writes complaints, petitions, carries out a lot of work for a long time, while for the client Only the end result is important.