I meet LNCs who are struggling in their businesses. They attribute their struggles to attorneys not being interested in what they have to offer, an over-saturated market, or not having the right connections. Could they be unknowingly sabotaging an LNC business?
One LNC told me that the only ones who make it in this field are either married to an attorney or had a boyfriend or girlfriend who was an attorney. I can think of 2 LNCs I’ve ever known who are married to attorneys.
This is what I’ve seen LNCs do to hamper their success, better known as shooting themselves in the foot.
I’ll start from the mildest to the most extreme method of sabotaging an LNC business.
Self-sabotage trick #3 Focusing only on services
“If I list my services it will be obvious to the attorneys why he or she should hire me.”
Attorneys see many similar or identically worded lists of LNC services. They want to know, “Why should I hire this LNC? How is that LNC service going to help me?”
There is a big difference between stating that your service is “locating expert witnesses” versus “locating expert witnesses so that you need not spend your hours trying to find well-qualified experts for your cases.”
Describe the benefits by listing your service and completing the sentence with “so that”. The “so that” is the benefit for the attorney.
Explain your benefits so that you are clearly defining what the attorney will gain by working with you.
Self-sabotage trick #2 Not having a reason why the attorney should give you name and email address when coming to your website
“Why do I need to collect names of visitors to my website? What is the point? All I need are 4 pages.”
Of course, without a website you are invisible to attorneys looking for help with cases. Yes, I have gotten work from attorneys who found my site because of a blog I wrote on a topic they were researching.
Make the most of your website. Offer an enticing free report, checklist, or tool that encourages an attorney visitor to give you name and email address so you can build a list and stay in touch with those attorneys.
Periodically send them interesting bits of news, advice, and knowledge that reinforces the benefits of working with you.
You’ll need a mailing service like Constant Contact, Get Response or Mail Chimp to accomplish this. An email service like Gmail or Yahoo will flag emails as spam as soon as you start adding more than 20 or so names to an email.
Self-sabotage trick #1 Not getting a retainer
“I did the work and now I am trying to get paid.” This LNC did not ask for a retainer from clients but instead completed the case and sent it to the attorney.
Address your fear of not getting paid by asking for money upfront to come with a signed fee agreement and the medical records.
If you get the records but not the check, put the records aside and ask for the check. Again. Be firm.
All plaintiff attorneys should be willing to send you a retainer. If they aren’t don’t work with them. Some defense attorneys and insurance carriers will send you a retainer. The risk is much smaller that a defense team will not pay you.
- Not stressing benefits of hiring you gets you ignored.
- Not having an offer of a free opt in report does not allow you to continue to build a relationship with attorney visitors to your site.
- Not getting paid leaves you feeling abused.
Have I got you intrigued to learn more? My free webinar is ready for you right now. Click on this link to get instant access to our free training, Three Biggest Mistakes LNCs Make.