Knowing the 8 Contacts Rule of Sales will help give you the edge in marketing your law firm.
Salespeople are the type of people whose income is almost always directly impacted by how much effort they put into their work. When you think about it, attorneys are salespeople as well, because they have to entice potential clients to buy their services.
There is no one way to sell when it comes to business. However, one strategy known as the 8 Contacts Rule outshines other selling strategies that may either be inadequate or not right for the attorney.
Put simply, the 8 Contacts Rule discusses the idea that it takes eight points of contact to seal the deal and turn a prospect into a paying client. This doesn’t start when you have physical or vocal contact with the client; it starts when your client first becomes aware of your presence.
Relationships need nurturing. Know that.
Sales should be looked at as a funnel. The funnel starts at the top with the client beginning as a prospect and once they reach the bottom of the funnel, they become a client.
Working the relationship is imperative to turn someone into a client because becoming a client rarely happens overnight or with little effort.
Marketing efforts such as advertising, blogging, networking, appearances, and so forth are what most consider the first point of contact.
As soon as a potential client enters that funnel, how you nurture that relationship becomes increasingly important because it allows you to guide them to the bottom. The wrong step can cause a prospect to leave the funnel.
This beginning is where the eight additional contact points begin.
The points of contact are a mix of active touches (like phone or in-person consults or status emails) and passive touches (like receiving a copy of your firm’s newsletter).
Manage your Eight Points of Contact wisely.
This rule may sound easy, but for many attorneys, it is very hard to establish and maintain consistency. Attorneys have to take into account scheduling and unexpected occurrences as these can be common in the profession. Attorneys must implement a strategy to manage these contact points.
Setting up the system in four steps:
- create a place in your contacts list to organize your prospective clients and set up a spreadsheet to manage the contacts,
- create templates and scripts for the touches,
- schedule the points of contact starting at the date of the initial contact; and
- delegate the tasks to someone to an assistant or law clerk.
Implementing a system allows one to get all of the passive points completed automatically. The active point are then allowed to be cued by another person and given your direct attention to be be finished as soon as possible.
How do I know I have the edge with the 8 Contacts Rule?
The 8 Contacts Rule works because in terms of other strategies, only the first four points are emphasized and then it is typical to give up if results are not achieved. This gives you edge over your competition.
In the entirety of potential clientele, very few are actually ready to hire you or your firm now. In terms of percentage, think 10%. This Rule makes you stay in front of those who may not be ready to buy today, but have a good chance of buying in the future.
Once your competition has “given up” it makes it far easier for you to make yourself relevant to the client and signals for an easy close to the deal.
And here’s the beauty of it, by using the 8 Contacts Rule, your firm will close more new business:
- without any Jedi sales skills;
- without improving your legal skills;
- without changing your marketing strategy; and
- without any significant additional expense (if any at all).
You have to be on point to be successful and your persistence is will be an asset to you and your legal career.
