Selling: How to sell legal services without putting pressure on the client
by Francesc Dominguez
Question by Mr. Suman J. Khaitan, lawyer, managing partner of Suman Khaitan & Co. Advocates (New Delhi, India)
If you understand how your potential client thinks and makes decisions, you will be on the way to obtaining his preference. I am not speaking about what he thinks, but rather about how he thinks.
Let us talk about how to sell better, and with integrity. Effective selling means creating and continuing a relationship with clients. Selling means influencing and allowing yourself to be influenced. In order to sell, we should know ourselves and overcome our common fears and limitations instead of trying to change others.
The client is in charge. No matter how good your services are. Selling should be centred on the client's needs. Clients buy profits, not services. Discover what your client or prospect values, how he wants to be treated.
Establish a friendly relationship with the client. Friendliness is the first step in gaining his confidence. Look at the client without prejudices. Do not label him for his appearance. Your prospect will realise this and you could lose an opportunity to advise him. If you can, choose a suitable time and place to meet or talk to your potential client. The right moment is when you are in a positive state of mind.
Be careful with your language. Sometimes we speak ambiguously, in a roundabout way or using technical terms that make it difficult for others to understand what we are trying to convey. The fact that we understand ourselves does not mean that other people will understand us. Be aware of the differences between male and female verbal and body language. If a man, for example, says "yes…right", it means that he is merely following your conversation. If a woman says that, it means that she actually agrees with you!
People want to do business or be advised by professionals who understand them and treat them with respect. For this reason we should respect the client's values, even when we do not necessarily share them. Professional relationships based on mutual respect really work. A lawyer should make an effort to make the relationship work. He should establish a friendly relationship. If there is friendliness between you and your prospect, there will be mutual trust, which is the first step towards cooperation. Smile. As someone said, a smile is the shortest distance between people. It lays the foundations for a good relationship. Only those who can smile naturally and show a sincere interest in people can sell well.
In order to create a friendly relationship with your speaker, adjust your behaviour to his. Imitate the tone and the rhythm of his voice, position and movements slightly. This will create a more propitious situation for a harmonious relationship. If, for example, your prospect speaks in short, sharp bursts, adapt to his way of speaking. If he gesticulates with his hands, imitate him discreetly. We feel better with people who are like us. It is unconscious.
When you speak to someone for the first time, let him set the interpersonal distance. Observe if during the interaction he approaches you or moves away. This will help you to understand his communication channel.
Regarding communicative channels, people can be visual, auditory or kinesthetic. Each person has a dominant channel. Around 50% of the business population is visual, 25% auditory and the other 25% kinesthetic. Discover your dominant channel. If, for example, you are visual and speak with an auditory person, you will probably not speak the same language. An auditory person will listen to what you say, but possibly he might not understand what you mean. Learn to adapt to your speaker's channel.
Visual people remember and think through images. For them, seeing is essential. They keep a prudent distance from the speaker and usually speak rapidly and in a high tone. When they imagine, they look up and to their right; when they recall, they look up and toward their left. As they think in images, they can blink "more than normal". They show impatience if interrupted. When speaking, they use words and expressions referring to vision, such as "observe", "look at", "see", "show me", "let's have a look".
I was intrigued by a client. He looked up very frequently when he was thinking during conversations and blinked more than normal. I advised him to look more into the speaker's eyes in order to show confidence and interest. However, I thought that there was some reason that would explain my client's conduct. Now we both know that he is a very visual person.
Auditory people perceive reality through sounds. At times they think aloud. They are good conversationalists. They will thank people for asking them questions. They speak more slowly than visual people and are usually sensitive to intonation. They appreciate speakers who share the pace of their speech and who speak tersely. When they imagine, they look horizontally and towards their right; when they recall they look left. When they think about what they are going to communicate, they look down and to their left. They use monitoring expressions ("ah", "umm", "yes, yes") and words referring to speech and sounds: "Do I explain myself?", "listen", "hear", "it sounds to me", "I understand", etc.
For kinesthetic people, sensations and emotions are very important. They often ask "How are you?" They communicate by means of sensations. Very slow speakers, they tend to accompany their speech with movements. They need proximity with the speaker. They are used to taking people's hands, patting their shoulder or even caressing the other's face, which comes as a surprise to someone who uses another channel. It is important to avoid hurting their feelings. They use expressions such as "I feel good", "it seems OK to me", "This smells funny ", "I like this".
Knowing ourselves better, and showing interest in understanding others, with tact and respect, will allow us to influence more and be influenced. In short, we will sell better.
© 2006, Francesc Dominguez, marketing consultant, co-author of the book El marketing jurídico [Law Marketing]. www.francescdominguez.com. Advice page published in Economist & Jurist (November 2006).
RODRIGO GONZALEZ FERNANDEZ
CONSULTAJURIDICACHILE.BLOGSPOT.COM
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Santiago, Chile
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