Rarely does a week go by that I don’t receive calls or emails from law firms or attorneys who are frustrated with their conversion rates. They ask me, can you teach me to be a better closer? Can you teach my attorneys how to close more business and be rainmakers? My closing rate sucks. Can your coaching programs show me a better way to convert more of my expensive marketing leads into paying clients?

Law firms are convinced that if they had a better way to close, all of their revenue problems would vanish. They believe that attorneys are losing business because they are not good closers or because they lack a closing phrase or a slick closing technique that would encourage a prospect to retain them on the spot. They are losing business because they do not have the modern conversion skills to conduct a compelling client consultation from the opening to the closing.  

Closing complications are a blatant symptom of a much bigger and more costly problem. Making adjustments to closing issues is the equivalent of putting a bandage on a bullet wound. It would be a colossal waste of time and money and would only make matters worse.

Fixing closing problems is unproductive because the results are superficial. What is left untouched, what is missed, what is overlooked are the underlying dynamics that perpetuate the problem. If the outcome of all of the hard work of attracting a prospect and meeting with them doesn’t result in a new client or more business, it means that something is broken in your process and something is off in your communication. An obstacle is in the way that is causing a prospect not to feel comfortable retaining you.

It’s easy to believe that closing is the problem when revenue is not increasing, and clients are not retaining you. The ability to move the deal forward has nothing to do with how to close. It has everything to do with how you positioned yourself throughout the consultation process. The close is the easiest part of the consultation. Closing strong and often is a culmination of a well-managed and thorough execution of the entire process, not an aspect of how well you dazzled someone with fancy closing language.

Attorneys can’t do an average or run-of-the-mill consultation and think that a new closing technique is going to win a client over. The best and most potent way to close more business is to recognize that closing starts at the beginning. Closing starts the moment that an attorney enters the consultation room, the moment that the conversation starts. If you manage the conversation properly, closing should never be an obstacle.

The real reason why ideal clients leave your office without retaining is not that you don’t know how or when to close. People don’t retain you because the process that you are using during a consultation is outdated and out of alignment with the way that the new legal consumer buys legal solutions. They don’t view you as the progressive attorney that they are looking to hire.

Attempting to close today’s consumer with old-school communication and closing skills is destroying the bottom line.

Attorneys unknowingly attempt to close today’s savvy legal consumer using a process from the 1980s that has lost its effectiveness. The process is unproductive because it has not seen any innovation in decades. Yes, decades.

This obsolete process was created in a different time, in a different marketplace, and for a different consumer. Without a transformation, this massive and expensive issue will remain poor at best. You will have to get used to hearing, I need to think about it. I will get back to you. Your fees are too high.

Stop focusing on the close, and start focusing on learning the powerful skills that will help make closing easier: lead and client conversion skills.

Attorneys can improve closing rates in many ways. The best of these is to invest in a modern-day solution that aligns with today’s discerning legal consumer. Invest in the knowledge of understanding WHY and HOW people make decisions. Helping someone make a buying decision is much different than trying to close them.

Business is rarely lost at the end of a consultation or during the close. No one will ever say, Alice, you’re my first choice, and I would like to retain your services, but you’re a crappy closer. Marie, I’m unable to retain you. I was hoping that you were going to be a more confident and powerful closer. Steve, you are the right attorney for me, but your closing skills are dreadful.

Without a refresh, you will continue to leave enormous amounts of money on the table and watch perfect clients walk out the door and retain the competition. You will continue to see money disappear before your very eyes instead of profits pouring into your practice.

Here’s how much is at stake: Let’s say that an average client means an additional $5,000 to your practice and that two additional clients per month choose to hire you instead of your competition. This would net you an additional $10,000 per month or $120,000 per year.

When you revive your process, you will get used to hearing, Who do I make the retainer check out to? I am ready to retain you now. When can we get started?

You can double or triple your conversation rates and differentiate yourself with a strong opening and a powerful consultation process that knocks a prospects socks off and makes you their first and only choice.