Do you feel uncomfortable “selling” yourself to clients? If so, you are like almost every lawyer I know. But, don’t worry about it because clients to not want to hire lawyers who are trying to sell them.
You cannot directly market or try to “sell” clients. The harder you try to sell the less successful you will be. Clients want to buy (actually, need to buy), but they do not want to be sold. Whatever you tell potential clients about how good you are, how good your firm is or how your firm’s service is extraordinary, they will likely not believe what you say. Your competitors are telling potential clients the same things.
The approach that works is to attract lawyers to you and to your firm. To do that, you have to stand out from the crowd. Clients do not want to hire lawyers who are ordinary. They want to hire lawyers who are extraordinary. Clients will come to you if you are perceived as remarkable (a very difficult task) or you create something that is remarkable. Marketing guru, Seth Godin says that to get people to come to you:
Start by creating something amazing, something people will love and want to talk about. Something remarkable.
What is something your potential clients and referral sources would find remarkable, because it addresses an issue that is important to them, that you can give away?