In an earlier post, I talked about a solo lawyer practice growing a client base when starting a solo practice.
Like any other business, we look for the marketing advice to do this.
But perhaps our search should start looking at the “why.” Why become a solo lawyer? Not the immediate reason, which I think is obvious that it’s to make a living. I mean looking at the intangible “why” and how this can help us create better practice for both the client and ourselves.
Below is a Ted video from Simon Sinek on how great leaders inspire action. It’s very interesting from the point of the psychology of human beings and marketing, but my ears perked up when he mentioned law firms, and it started me thinking about the way I practice, and the way we all try to build our solo law practice.
He says that “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” He goes on to say that “if you talk about why you do it, you will attract others who believe what you believe.” And finally he says that “What you do serves as the proof of what you believe.”
A lot of marketing talks about targeting clients, and I’ve taken some of that information in and applied it to my own practice. I’ve had some degree of success, which has provided benefits beyond the tangible money results. Now, if I can only articulate my “why” maybe that will also result in something interesting, profitable too but not just that by building something more comprehensive yet simple (I don’t know, is this phrase and oxymoron?).
Perhaps for corporations, this might not seem important (although Sinek gives a lot of corporate examples), but for us lawyer who essentially sell a personal service perhaps our inarticulate “Why” is showing all over the place and we don’t even know it.
If you watch the video, consider sharing your thoughts below.