If you’ve ever walked in late to a movie, or joined a conversation when someone was half-way through a story, you know what it’s like to try to put the pieces together. Sometimes you can glean enough insight from the conversation or movie dialogue to catch up – but sometimes you just can’t.
That’s a challenge that faces estate planning attorneys on a regular basis.
When a potential client calls you, they are usually at a pain point in their life – they realize they need to begin planning for an ailing spouse’s care, or a family event has led them to need to revise an estate plan. They’ve lived with this story, maybe for many years, and they know the inner details and the facts that led to their current state.
You’ve just walked into the middle of the movie, and you need to catch up.
Some of your clients wish that you and your staff could read their minds. They want to know that you are immediately able to discern the challenges that they are facing and have the answers. Most of the time, you do. But sometimes there are no easy answers, or the details are in such a fog of emotions that the path to a resolution is simply not fast or easy.
We promise not to practice law. But we do know a lot about your clients.
When clients reach out to you to solve a problem, what they need is one clear and consistent message from you, your staff, your website and your social media. They want to know that you care. That means when they call the office, they are treated with kindness, dignity and respect.
Your staff needs to know that they may be very fragile and will deeply appreciate kindness. If a receptionist or answering service puts them on hold, they may hang up. If your website is more concerned with your credentials than demonstrating how you help clients, they may go to another estate planning attorney’s website. If they visit your social media pages and see something that does not warm their spirit or convey your human side, you might lose them.
Your clients are coming to you when they are in need. They need your legal skills, but they also need you as a caring professional. Your goal is to enter their conversation, even though you are coming in at the middle (or in some cases, towards the end) and relate to them on a personal and a professional level. The problems you solve are personal, with a legal solution.
In marketing terms, it’s figuring out where they are in their customer journey, and what messaging strategy they need.
But it’s also a person-to-person conversation – catching up in the middle of their movie, and connecting your skills to their needs.