Building Trust to Earn Clients

From the Grow My Law Firm blog:

In order to do business with anyone - trust must first exist on some level.

The more someone trusts you, the less resistance they have to purchase from you. Think of it like a scale– when you keep adding to trust in one pan, the beam is going to tip the pan representing buyer resistance.

So, how do you develop this trust thing?

The best way to gain trust is to first listen.

But it isn’t quite that straight forward. Let me explain.

How can anyone begin to trust you if they haven’t heard you? You need to speak to be heard. But, what will you say? You can only begin to have an interested audience when you can speak about meaningful solutions. But wait! What solutions? You cannot have a solution until you fully understand your audiences’ problems.

The answer, therefore, is that to fully understand your client’s problems you must first listen to them.

Simple, right?

Ask your best clients questions about what their pains are. What keeps them up at night? What can your practice possibly do to alleviate any or all of those problems? What have you done in the past that solved or prevented enormous problems or consequences to your clients? Write them down. Start a list and create numerous Problem/Solution scenarios.

By the way, I mentioned your “best clients” for a reason. You do want more clients just like them, right?

After you have created a sizable list, take a few of your best cases and turn them into a story. It’s okay to embellish them to make it more interesting. The purpose here is to develop a story that illustrates a Problem/Solution situation.

The story sets up the problem, and the solution is what the characters should have done or what you did to create a solution for the story’s characters to live their lives “happily ever after.” Make your stories interesting. Illustrate the pain so the listener feels it too. Make it human and add a little humor where you can. Then practice telling your stories.

Whatever you do, don’t try to memorize them. Just remember them like you would any story. Sure, they’ll change a little each time, but that’s OK.

By being able to tell your stories, you’ll be much more comfortable in front of every group. The more you tell them, the better the stories will get and the more comfortable you’ll become telling them.

String three or four of these stories together and you’ll have an entertaining “talk” that you can give to every group in town, which includes your potential best clients.

Write articles and incorporate your stories. Compile more and more until you have a book’s worth.

Here are a few benefits to using speaking engagements as part of your marketing efforts.

* You will stand out from the crowd and all of the marketplace noise by having interesting stories with solutions that you can personally provide

* It’s a much better way to leverage your time, so you can stop wasting your valuable cash on unproductive activities like cold-calls, meaningless brochures, or ads no one will ever see

* Speaking before groups is easy to do, inexpensive, and you develop rapport directly with prospective clients, all while providing an entertaining and educational talk

* When you connect with various audience members, there is always a possibility they may refer you to someone they know who can use your services

* You’ll feel proud to market this way because it’s all about giving of yourself and being available to help with your services rather than try to sell them

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Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.