How do you react when you have an opportunity to make a successful sales presentation to an attorney? Let’s say you come home from work to a message on your answering machine. Attorney Geoffrey Gillis says he received your name from a colleague and would like you to set up a time to meet with him in his law office. What can you do to assure a successful outcome of this sales opportunity?
Model of a Successful Sales Presentation with PAS: Preparation, Ask, Samples
1. Preparation for Your Meeting with the Attorney
Your primary job before you ever walk into the law firm is to prepare yourself for a successful sales presentation – as carefully as you would for a job interview. This is a job interview.
What do you need to know about Attorney Gillis?
- What type of law does he practice?
- What type of cases does his firm handle?
- Where did he go to law school?
- Has his firm had any notable recent victories?
- How old is he?
- Does he have any hobbies?
Where do you get these answers? Do an internet search, find his firm’s website, and look on Facebook and Linkedin. Look for him on Martindale.com, a site that gives details about attorneys.
How confident are you?
Assess your own confidence level. First, recognize that a word of mouth referral is golden. If this attorney asked you to meet with him, you are already 90% closer to landing him as a client. All you have to do is show up, handle the meeting well and close the sale.
2. Ask Questions
On the day of the appointment, get to the law firm early. Be pleasant to everyone you encounter. A surprising number of otherwise intelligent people make critical errors at this stage, the foremost of which is to be arrogant to people they perceive as underlings.
After the receptionist escorts you to the attorney’s office, your first impression is critical. Greet the attorney, shake his hand, and wait to be directed as to where to sit. As you scan his office, note if there are files on the floor, piles of paper on the desk, a computer near him, or exhibit boards leaning against the wall. These may all give you clues for questions to ask.
During the meeting, if your research has uncovered anything you can use to establish rapport with the attorney, bring it up. Demonstrate you understand what kind of cases he handles. Ask more questions and listen to what the attorney tells you. It is a natural tendency to babble when you are nervous. However, it is your job to get the attorney to share with you. Prepare a set of question to ask the client, but don’t read them from a pad. Work them into the conversation. Questions an LNC might ask an attorney:
- What aspect of working with medical records do you find most frustrating?
- What do you look for an expert witness?
- What part of handling medical issues do you find to be difficult?
- Do you ever have difficulty reading a doctor’s handwriting?
- Do you ever feel you don’t have time to complete medical research?
- Do you ever wonder if your paralegal might miss a key medical fact?
- Do you ever find it challenging to separate pre-existing conditions and injuries from those that arose from the accident?
Create a list of at least 10 great questions directed to the kind of practice the attorney has. These and other questions are a starting point for probing the attorney’s “pain” – the aspects of his law practice that are difficult. Explain how your LNC services will help the attorney relieve his pain.
3. Bring Samples for a Successful Sales Presentation
Bring a sample work product with you. Attorneys like to see what you can produce. They are usually visual people who need to see the tangible result of your knowledge and skills. You need not show a complete report or chronology – just enough to show the format you follow. Carefully proofread whatever you show to the attorney. This is crucial. Sloppy work equals sloppy performance. There is too much at stake for the attorney to be willing to take a risk on someone who is not detail oriented.
Your sample legal nurse consulting work product should not contain real names. Redact or change the names of the people in the work product. Hand your sample work product to the attorney and sit back. Many attorneys like to flip through or scan the work product, but will have a hard time absorbing what they are reading if you chatter. Be prepared to answer questions, including, “What did it cost to prepare this report?” “What is your hourly rate?”
Also hand him a business card, brochure, cover letter – the information the attorney needs to be able to contact you with a case.
Close the sale by asking the attorney, “Do you have any questions of me? Do you think we will have an opportunity to work together?”
In the best of worlds, the attorney will reach over to a spot on his desk, hand you a set of medical records, and discuss what he needs for the case. Then you know you’ve closed the sale!
Pat Iyer has made many successful sales presentations.
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