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[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast, where we help you easily transition from law school into your professional career as an attorney, and where we remind you that the practice of law is fun.
[00:00:19] Scott Benton: And today, we’re going to answer the question that’s asking, how do I prepare for a meeting with a potential new client?
[00:00:28] Scott Benton: Now, this question is really talking about creating the best first impression that you can. And it really falls into the importance of building relationships right from your initial contact with a client or a potential new client. I’m sure, you’ve always heard that you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.
[00:00:47] Scott Benton: So, it’s really important for you to get good at meeting people. Unfortunately, this is a learned skill. It’s one you can always pick up from books or workshops, maybe YouTube videos. And then with [00:01:00] plenty of practice, you’re going to get place.
[00:01:02] Scott Benton: In general, when you talk to somebody on the phone, you’re going to want to make sure that you’re going in with a lot of energy. And you want to smile before starting because that’s generally going to change your whole body posture, and really how you present yourself. So, you want to breathe and you want to focus your attention on the person that you’ll be talking to.
[00:01:20] Scott Benton: Now, you definitely don’t want to eat or drink anything while you’re talking to that person. And you want to make sure that you’re thoroughly prepared to talk to them, by reading the case notes, looking over the case file, and really familiarizing yourself the best you can about their case, so that you’re asking intelligent questions, when they start telling you about the situation that you’re in.
[00:01:41] Scott Benton: Now, if you get the potential new client on the phone, to demonstrate your concern for their time, when they pick up, you want to say who you are, and what you’re calling about, and the firm that you’re from, and you simply want to ask them, if now is a good time to talk. And if it’s not, then you don’t want to ask them when a good [00:02:00] time would be. You can schedule a time to meet with them, something that you’ll follow up on.
[00:02:04] Scott Benton: And sometimes, when people talk to attorneys, they’re just naturally nervous, or maybe, they’re just uncomfortable, especially if they haven’t talked to you before. And they might really not say that they can’t talk, even though they really can.
[00:02:17] Scott Benton: So, the last thing you want to do is really put anybody in a potentially uncomfortable position. And a lot of times, potential clients are just not going to tell you that they’re in an uncomfortable position. So you really want to take that possibility off the table and ask them if now’s a good time to talk, otherwise, schedule something for later.
[00:02:36] Scott Benton: Ideally, you really want this first impression to be a shocking experience, in the good way. And that means that an interaction is so good for the potential new client that it exceeds their expectations. And the potential new client is going into it thinking, that was a shock at how positive that experience was.
[00:02:56] Scott Benton: Be sure you know how to pronounce the [00:03:00] name of the person. Chances are, you haven’t met them before, so sometimes people have names that are tricky. You want to make sure that you practice their name, you’re pronouncing it correctly, before you get on the phone with them or if you sit down with them in a conference room.
[00:03:13] Scott Benton: You want to make sure that you’re not bringing in any of your pain, so to speak. As you noticed, so many people in the workplace, they act as if they’re in pain, as if something’s bothering them. And that’s definitely not something you want to bring into any of your conversations as an attorney, because that’s going to defeat your ability to make a good first impression.
[00:03:33] Scott Benton: Now, you might see people in like doctor’s offices where staff sometimes, they appear annoyed or bothered or upset about something. Sometimes, they’ll even drag you into the conversation, as if, you want to hear about their pain. You’re usually at a doctor’s office because you have some issue that you’re trying to remedy.
[00:03:50] Scott Benton: It’s the same thing for you and an attorney is there to remedy the pain of someone who is considering hiring them. So [00:04:00] just remember, that clients are already really dealing with their own extreme pain and they want someone to fix their legal situation, and that’s why they’ve come to you for answers and solutions.
[00:04:08] Scott Benton: So, anything that you’re doing, such as imposing your own day-to-day problems, it really doesn’t belong in the conversation. So, this in and of itself is going to be somewhat of a shocking experience for the potential new client, because of how widespread and typical it is for people at companies to behave, as if something’s bothering them.
[00:04:28] Scott Benton: So not doing that alone is going to set you very far ahead of other law firms. Keeping the spotlight pointed squarely on the client without really talking about yourself or expressing your own personal opinions, that’s just going to go a long way to build the foundation of that relationship.
[00:04:44] Scott Benton: In fact, when it comes to potential new clients, you’ll probably talk very little and listen most of the time to their discussion of the case. You really need all your energy to focus on what they’re saying to determine if this is a viable case. If this is something that your [00:05:00] firm is going to be able to handle.
[00:05:02] Scott Benton: But it’s a lot more difficult to do that if you’re busy making the meeting more about yourself or talking over the client or interrupting them. So, making a meeting about yourself and talking more than listening is going to send the wrong message that you don’t want to send to the potential new client.
[00:05:17] Scott Benton: It says that they’re not worth listening to. And that they’re not the most important person in the room. When the truth is, they really are the most important person in the room and you need to always remember that. So talking over them or not listening, it says the firm’s going to be difficult to work with, so you might end up losing that potential client, because you weren’t focused on the quality of the client journey that they’re in from beginning to end.
[00:05:40] Scott Benton: Lastly, and as an aside, I usually mention this whenever the subject comes up, where, we’re talking about the client journey and establishing relationships with clients. But there’s a great book that you want to read. It was written in 1936 by Dale Carnegie. It’s called How to Win Friends & Influence People.
[00:05:55] Scott Benton: Really, it’s timeless advice for making excellent first impressions. And really for [00:06:00] building and maintaining strong working relationships with your clients, it’s very much worth reading. Definitely, check that out if you get a chance. I don’t want to cover the Dale Carnegie book too much here because I do talk about that on several other episodes.
[00:06:13] Scott Benton: So, I hope that’s been helpful. I’m Scott Benton. I’m your host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast.
[00:06:17] Scott Benton: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Now, if you like the material that we’re presenting in the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast, and you’d like to get notified anytime we put out a new episode, you can go over to our website, which is Classroom2Courtroom.com. You can put in your contact information. And whenever we put out a new episode of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast, you’ll get a notification.
[00:06:39] Scott Benton: And if you do like this material that we’re producing, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe. And we hope you’ll join us for the next episode. Until then. We also hope, you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time.
[00:06:51] Scott Benton: Thank you so much for listening. And we’ll see you on the next episode. Take care.
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