A lawyer recently what I thought about her idea of sending her elder law clients and their adult-children, home with a book about caring for one’s elderly parents.  She said she pays around $11 per book and find that the children (who are often very influential in the decision-making-process) often refer to the book when asking follow-up questions after the Sales Call.

I suggested to her (and to you) that you  you write your own book based on your own experiences with clients.  You don’t have to rip-off anyone else’s material but if you find a book on a similar topic relevant to your practice area, and the basic structure works, you can use it as an outline and tell your own stories. 

  • Use real-life examples of situations you have helped clients with. 
  • Use real-life examples where you were not able to help clients because they came to you too late in order to illustate the point about thinking ahead. 
  • Tell clients ahead of time all the things you wish they knew ahead of time before they come into your office. 

And don’t be afraid to give clients enough info to help themselves if the problems they are bringing to you are simple enough.  If you have a high-end practice, then those are probably not the kinds of problems you want to be working on anyway.  And if you have a high-volume practice, the clients will hire you anyway, and with more confidence, when they appreciate just how much easier it is to pay you than try & do it theselves.

Send the book to the client or prospective client BEFORE they come to your office so that they are better informed, don’t waste your time or theirs asking basic questions you already addressed in the book, and already feel comfortable with you by the time they arrive at your office.  Your Sales Calls will go much easier because rapport will have been established for you and conversion rates will improve dramatically.  Plus, as an added bonus, your clients themselves will begin finding areas of work for you to help them with that you may not have discovered until much later in the process.

If you write a good book, or better-yet record the whole thing on CD for their convenience, you will soon also be able to increase your fees with little resistance.