Selling To Lawyers, Law Firms...

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane...

...but in this case, I know when I'm coming back again.

I'm going to be attending the The American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution's Seventh Annual Conference on ADR and Mediation in Los Angeles from Thursday to Sunday, so blogging will be rather light until I return Monday.

This reminds me of an oldie-but-a-goodie article on exhibiting at legal trades shows called Carpe Exhibitum: A Trade Show Primer. While it was originally written in 2000 to address those looking to exhbit at New York LegalTech, I'd still say that most of it applies to anybody exhibiting at any legal trade show looking to sell to lawyers.

Here's an excerpt:

The most important thing, of course, is to go into the booth with a great attitude, a plan for success and a big smile. If you start off ready to have fun, you're going to have infinitely more success than your competitor – no matter the size of their booth or the quality of their product. People would rather spend their time talking to somebody interesting (meaning interested in them) than in watching a demo. There are some things to remember, though, outside of this basic premise.

You can read the full article here.

More On Selling...

While your target audience of lawyers, law firms, and legal service vendors do have thier own unique rules to keep in mind, that doesn't mean that general sales pyschology goes right out the window, either.

"It's about tailoring EVERYTHING to what the customer wants.    It's revolutionary.

The first 90 seconds of talking to a customer, or a person that you're pursuading...you should focus only on them. Never use the word "I". Instead of "I agree," it's "You're Right." And at that level, people will consciously and unconsciously...be come more comfortable."

You can read more here.

Two No-Cost Ways To Sell To Lawyers

1. When you're creating marketing materials, make sure it includes information about your customers or your clients, and not just information about YOU. If your brochure or flier or whatever is full of "rah-rah" stuff only about YOU, it probably won't get read. Send your prospects information about thow they profit, produce or succeed, and they will eat it up with a spoon.

2. Writesmall articles in journals, newspapers, e-zines, and newsletters that your prospects read. Two good places are association newletters and your city's local legal or business journals.When your name appears where your prospects are reading, it's a great value statemtn for them-- they get information they can use-- and for YOU-- you are now seem as an authority.

Another great resource for selling...

...is Jeff Gitomer's website, Gitomer Online . In addition to his books and seminars, he publishes a free weekly email newsletter that is chock-full of practical sales advice.

He also has a weekly free "GITBIT", a nugget of sales advice, or worksheets or activities that you can access and download and use to build off of what he touches on in each newsletter.

I'd also reccommend his "Little Red Book of Selling". I recently got it, and it's really opening my eyes to a lot of things.