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How and When to Position Your Law Firm for Better Clients

Law practice positioning is something many lawyers never consider. They look to their left and look to their right, and they assume incorrectly that they should be just like other attorneys.

That’s not positioning. That’s just being passive and playing the hand you’re dealt.

Positioning Is an Active Choice

The problem with being passive about your positioning is that you’re not looking at potential clients. You’re looking at other lawyers, most of whom have no idea what they’re doing.

Positioning is choosing to be perceived by potential clients as something specific. It’s about occupying a specific place in the mind of your prospect - so they associate your law firm with a specific solution to a specific problem.

For example, most lawyers would say, “I’m an estate planning attorney.”

That’s not positioning. It’s a practice area.

Law firm positioning is, “I help neurosurgeons plan for their family's security after they're gone.”

Now you’ve said something much more specific. You’ve started to define a narrow group of people who you service, and when they should think of you.

Here’s the Dirty Little Secret that Will Make You More Money

Of course, most attorneys who hear this will say, “I could never do that. What about all of the other people who need my help?”

Here’s the secret: The more specific your law firm’s positioning is, the more money you’ll make, and the better clients you’ll have.

Positioning is all about being something specific in the mind of a prospect or potential referral partner.

Before you market, you have to choose your position. Positioning tells you where to market and how to market. If you’re not positioned the right way, your marketing will fall on deaf ears.

Let’s go back to the example of neurosurgeons. You can think through where these neurosurgeons hang out, how to reach them, and what will resonate with them. Neurosurgeons don’t have a lot of time, so you have to figure out how to present your offering and emphasize that it doesn’t take a lot of time.

That positioning won’t appeal to everybody. Maybe the file clerk who needs help with estate planning doesn’t care about time. They’d rather save a few bucks even if the process takes a bit longer. But if you want to get that price elasticity that comes with working with a client like a neurosurgeon, you take time out of the equation. You make it a selling point.

Specific Positioning Will Make Your Law Practice More Successful

You’ll attract more clients. You’ll close with a higher frequency. You’ll be able to command higher rates.

But it all starts with the right positioning.

Positioning flows through everything in your practice, from how you market, to how you interact with clients and referral partners, to how you ask for referrals from former clients.

Think about it this way. If you were buying an attorney’s services, would you prefer to buy from the generalist who claims to represent everybody under the sun?

Or would you want to work with, and be willing to pay more to, a specialist who focuses on solving your specific problem?

Case in point: there’s a reason why Practice Alchemy only works with lawyers.

Now how will you apply this to your business?

Download "Complete Marketing Guide to Building a Marketing Strategy for Your Law Firm"

Raj Jha