Want clients to appreciate the value of the firm’s services?
“Make the services hard to get but easy to buy.” says Trey Ryder, a law firm marketing consultant in Payson, AZ. Give the appearance of being in high demand with limited time available and let people know they are competing for a limited resource. It’s called marketing with scarcity, and there’s good psychology to it.
“People take short cuts to find out which attorneys are good at what they do,” and one of the key short indicators they use is a full schedule. “When attorneys aren’t available, the demand for their time makes them seem more desirable.”
The scarcity of the firm’s services can be actual or manufactured, he says. All that’s needed is an unspoken message “that something is limited.” The more scarce it is, the more valuable it is.
And an interesting point is that when some product or service has just recently become in great demand, people see the value of it as even higher.
Scarcity does two things. It tells people the firm must be outstanding because everybody is clamoring for its services. And it makes people anxious to get in line for fear they’ll miss out on something.
The schedule is full, but …
The process starts when a prospect calls to make a first appointment.
Don’t ask “when can you come in?”
Many firms do just that, fearing that if they don’t accommodate the caller’s first request the response will be “never mind. I’ll call somebody else.” But far from drawing that potential client in, that invites the client to wonder why the schedule is blank.
Go the other way around and give the caller two available time slots to pick from. Ask “what’s a good time of day for you to come in?” If the answer is morning, name two morning times, and make them look tight: “I can get you in at 9:30 a.m. Thursday or at 11 a.m. Monday. Which would be more convenient for you?” Obviously, the office is packed with business.
If neither suits, ask for a preference, but give the impression the firm is making an exception: “Name a good time and let me see if I can juggle my schedule.”
Let the caller state a preference and then make it look like that time is already booked. Pause a little and ask “let me put you on hold and see if we can ask someone else to come in at a different time.” Then come back with “yes, I can shift my schedule around to accommodate you.”
With the tight schedule, “the perception of the attorney goes up dramatically,” Ryder says. Bank on it that the prospect will keep the appointment, because now the time is a negotiated prize.
Hereʼs when I can call you back
Make the services look even scarcer by giving each client a written policy on when telephone calls will be returned. And the best policy is to set a specific time period for callbacks, such as “our attorneys try to return calls after 3 p.m.”
That says the firm doesn’t want anybody’s expectations to run too high. The attorneys will respond, but they are extremely busy and in demand.
Iʼm out on an important mission
A similar approach is to craft the auto reply e-mails to indicate scarcity.
Instead of the basic “I’m unavailable,” give details about the legal work being done, such as, “I’m in court today from noon until 3 p.m. and won’t be available during that time.” Telling people that important work is going on “reinforces the fact that the attorney is busy.”
And to show yet more demand, instead of “I will get back with you immediately,” phrase it as “l will do my best to get back with you as soon as possible.”
Again, the client sees the attorney as busy but making every effort to respond.
Lots of clients talking about us
Client testimonials to the quality of the attorney’s services can carry the scarcity marketing even further, because they show the attorney has a wealth of business and everybody likes being a part of it.
Get as many as possible and put them everywhere possible, including the website and the firm’s brochures, Ryder says. The more testimonials, the more in demand the attorney appears, and the reader’s reaction is one of “Attorney A must not have a lot of time available, so I need to get in quickly.”
Thereʼs no time to waste here
It’s also possible to create a sense of opportunity scarcity by pointing out the urgency of a situation.
Lean on the law by mentioning things such as “if you’re going to act on this, you need to do so before the statute of limitations runs out.” Or point to a pending change in the law that will negatively affect the matter.
Or lean on business by telling the prospect the firm has a fee increase scheduled to take effect next month or that the attorney’s client roster is approaching capacity or that the other side may withdraw an offer if it’s not acted on immediately.
The urgency “makes the opportunity more scarce and more valuable.”
Get in the queue
Another tactic for scarcity marketing: schedule the other appointments so there is always a client in the office when a prospect shows up.
It’s a trick the car industry uses, Ryder says. A salesperson schedules several people for the same time. They come in and see other people interested in the cars, they think they’ll miss out on something, and now they’re anxious to buy.
That approach works well for any industry—including the legal profession. The prospect sees the attorneys are busy, assumes they’re busy because they’re good, and is eager to get on board.
Instead of scheduling client meetings with an hour’s break in between, schedule them only five minutes apart so it looks like there’s “an ongoing line of people forming a queue to get the services.”
“That alone increases the value of an attorney’s services and the fees people are willing to pay.”
We only have nine seats
Use the scarcity technique yet again to advertise programs such as seminars, even though they are being held to bring in new business.
In the ad, emphasize that the seminar is a roundtable discussion in the office “and there are only nine seats available. We recommend that you make a reservation, because seats are taken quickly.”
Or if it’s a webinar and the firm has 19 connections, point out that there are 19 and no more.
It’s much like selling candy bars by keeping just one in the box, Ryder says. People walking by think it’s the last one so they buy it.
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