What Does It Mean To Always Be Closing

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Scott Benton: Hey everyone, this is Scott Benton. I’m your host on the Classroom2Courtroom podcast. We are here to help make that transition from being a law student into a working professional attorney, as easy as possible. And to underscore the fact that practicing law is fun. We are here to give you the tools to make working as an attorney a fun experience for you and making that transition possible, because they don’t really teach you how to practice law.

In law school, they do serve their function. They get you to graduate law school, and it’s foundational knowledge that you absolutely need in order to practice as an attorney. But, once you’ve made it this far and you’ve passed the bar, and you’ve gotten your ticket as an attorney, you need to forget about everything that you learned in law school, and you need to focus on what it means to be a practicing attorney, and that’s why you are here on this podcast.

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Scott Benton: [00:01:00] Today, we are going to answer the question of, what does it mean to Always Be Closing your client? What does that mean? And how do you go about doing that, exactly? It’s corollary to that question. So, we’re going to dive straight into that question and try and answer that for you.

What does it mean to continually close your client? Now, when a client has retained you, when they’ve hired you, there’s this assumption that you don’t need to continue to sell them on your services because they’ve already hired you. So, what’s the point of continuing with sales? Now, traditionally, sales is one of the more uncomfortable aspects for most people who enter business.

Now, if you have a strong sales ability, you need to recognize, that is a huge and important factor in your arsenal of tools that you’re going to have. Selling is not easy. It’s generally something that you have to learn. That means, you’re going to want to read a lot of books about sales. You’re going to [00:02:00] probably want to take some sales courses and really understand how to do that very well.

Now, here we’re going to tell you what that means in terms of starting your business or starting your career as an attorney, whether you’re hanging your own shingle or joining a firm. And we’re going to help you focus in on what that means to Always Be Closing.

There’s a great film with Alec Baldwin and Jack Lemmon called, Glengarry Glen Ross. And there’s a famous sort of scene where Alec Baldwin is talking about the ABCs of sales, ABCs standing for Always Be Closing. And that’s really something you’re doing, as well. It’s a little bit of a different context in that movie and for what you’re doing as a legal professional.

But basically, when it comes to always be selling your legal services to your client, first, we want to talk about your voice that you’re going to be using all day long. And that’s your voice, whether you’re speaking from your mouth, or whether you’re [00:03:00] typing an email, or some other form of communication, your voice is how you’re presenting yourself.

For the sake of this conversation, we’re going to say that you have two voices, primarily. Now, maybe you have more than two voices, but for this conversation, we’re only going to focus on two. We’re going to focus on your internal sort of work voice.

Your internal work voice. And that’s the voice that you’re using when you go to work, when you show up for the day, and you’re speaking to your colleagues, the people that you work with at the law firm. You’re generally going to be cordial and polite and professional, but you’re not really trying to sell each other on your legal services because you’re not clients of the firm, you’re working at the firm. So that voice that you’re using is going to be more of a day-to-day kind of work voice, a professional voice. There’s no real sales involved in that work voice. But the minute that you’re talking to a client, you’re going to pivot. And it’s going to be a hard pivot. And you’re going to pivot [00:04:00] immediately into, let’s call it your attorney voice.

Now, this is a very different voice. This is going to have three components to it that you’re going to be using. And you are still going to maintain that kind of professional demeanor that you have, in the voice that you’re using at work. But there are some differences.

You’re switching from your work voice, which is a non sales voice, typically. Sometimes, you’re selling people on an idea you have, or whatever. But for the most part, let’s just assume that your work voice is not a sales voice. When you begin to talk to a client that you’re working with, that now suddenly pivots into your sales voice. And that’s very different. You are now using your attorney lingo. You’re using your sales voice. And that has three components that we’re going to talk about.

The three components are these. You’re going to be sharp as a tack. You’re going to be enthusiastic. And you’re going to be an expert in your field. So, let’s just define what those three components mean for a moment.

First of all, you’re going to be [00:05:00] sharp as a tack. Okay, what does that mean? That means that in your attorney voice, you are showing up with your A game and you’re at your game face on, and you’re A game on the table. So, if you’re showing up at work and there’s like a whole lot of stuff going on in your life, you need to do one of two things.

You need to either take all of that baggage that you have, that you brought to work with you that day. If there’s a lot of stuff that’s going on in the background in your mind with your home or your family, or maybe your car broke down, or there’s just a lot of stuff that you’ve got to get through, you need to be able to take all of that, put it in a box, put it in an imaginary box, take that box and put it on a shelf somewhere.

Those problems are still going to be there, but you’re not going to carry them with you for that time period, for that day. They’re going to be in a box, temporarily. That box is going to be on a shelf, somewhere. And you’re going to get to your job, and you’re going to call your client, and you’re going to show up with your A game and your game face on. All that other baggage, all that other stuff has been left [00:06:00] behind for the time being.

Now, sometimes, occasionally, if it’s just not possible for you to do that, if you’re just not going to be able to show up with your game face on and with your A game on the table, then you need to not call the client, at that point.

You need to wait until there’s a moment when you are able to step into that part of the voice, that sharp as a tack component that belongs in your attorney voice, not your work voice.

Occasionally, you can get away with all that baggage stuff. If you’re close to people at work or whatever, you should probably leave that at home, the sort of general consensus. But people being people, occasionally, they will share the sort of some of the struggles that they’re going through. But when it comes to your clients, no way, Jose.

No way are you going to allow yourself to show up with that baggage in any capacity. You are going to show up sharp as a tack. That is critical. That is non-negotiable. You must show up sharp as a tack. And if you can’t for some reason or another, then you [00:07:00] just have to not contact your client at that point in time. You need to wait. You need to take a breath. You need to take some time until you can once again collect yourself and show up with that A game.

Now, the second component that you want to use in your voice is, you want to have enthusiasm. What does that mean exactly? You have to understand that your client is looking to you for guidance and they have to have a certain amount of confidence in your abilities to get the job done. They believe in you. And they’ve hired you because they believe in you. And they’ve hired you because they have certain legal objectives and legal goals that they are trying to get done and they are going to get them through you so they are paying you for those legal services.

That means that you want to show up enthusiastic about them, about their case, about the objectives, about all the steps that it’s gonna take for you to reach those objectives.

Here’s the thing, sometimes, things just aren’t going to go your way. You’re going to lose a [00:08:00] hearing or some kind of piece of information is going to come in that may cripple or derail your case. Maybe temporarily or more long term. And that’s something that’s going to be upsetting to the client. That’s something that they’re going to be reactive to. But you need to remember in those moments that you’re the anchor. You need to maintain that level of confidence in yourself that you’re transferring to that client so that they continue to have confidence in you.

They are going to come to you for that guidance and that support and that confidence. They’re going to be busy falling apart in many cases because when you’re in a case of some kind, a lot of times, that can be in a very emotional space that you’re in.

The law firm that I work at, which is we do high conflict probate cases, there’s usually a lot of family issues going on. People who feel betrayed by those that they love and those that they believed in, and who ultimately a lot of times have betrayed them. So, there’s a lot of emotional undercurrent going in to [00:09:00] these cases.

Now, you’re not allowed to get swept up in that emotional undercurrent. You’re not allowed to pick up that ball. That’s the clients. If they’re going to pick it up, if they’re going to have a bad day, if you lose a hearing and they fall apart over that, you have to remember that you’re still going to show up enthusiastic.

Now, you’re not bursting with enthusiasm, it’s a bottled enthusiasm. It’s your enthusiasm is concealed underneath your demeanor, so to speak. But it’s propping you up and it’s building inside of you. You’re never gonna outwardly express that unbridled enthusiasm thing. It’s bottled enthusiasm.

And because if you explode with enthusiasm, a lot of times, that can create a sort of like an awkward space. It’s socially awkward a little bit. It can get weird, but you want to keep that just right below the surface. That enthusiasm.

So, if they lose a case and you call them up and you’re doing a postmortem on the case and you’re going through, everything that happened that day or the day before, whenever the hearing was, then you want to [00:10:00] show up enthusiastic, still. Now, not falsely enthusiastic, but you want to look for things that are positive in that case, in losing that hearing or whatever the negative thing was that happened.

You want to make sure that they’re seeing the positive side, not a Pollyannic way, if you understand that term. Go see a movie called Pollyanna, and you’ll understand what I mean. It’s like where people are positive, even though everything around them is like burning down to the ground. They’re still like, isn’t this great? It’s not that. You don’t want to be Pollyannic, but you want to be enthusiastic, and you want to be positive. And you want to look for the positive things that are still going on around you, regardless of the outcome that has taken place. So, you want to show up sharp as a tack. That means, you want your A game on the table. You want to be enthusiastic.

And there’s a third component to your voice, to your attorney voice. That’s what you’re doing. What is your attorney voice is maybe a better way to express this episode of the Classroom2Courtroom podcast. You want to work on developing your attorney [00:11:00] voice.

So, So far we have sharp as a tack, we have show up with enthusiasm, and the last thing we have is that you want to be an expert in your field.

Now, what does it mean to be an expert in your field? You might be working on probate or you might be doing wills and trusts, or estate plans or whatever it is. Whatever version of law that you’re working in. Especially, if you’re starting as a new attorney, you may feel like, I haven’t done this before. I’m not an expert in my field.

But all that really means is, that you have to be a little bit better in that particular subject area than other attorneys. You just have to be a little bit better. And chances are, that if you’re working in a specific niche of law that you are better in that specific niche.

The law covers so many different areas. You’ve picked a specialty and narrowed it down to really one thing, and you can consider yourself an expert. You actually already are an expert. Maybe you haven’t been doing it for 10 or 20 years, or practicing this type of law for [00:12:00] any duration of time where you can say to yourself, Oh, no, I’m an absolute, I’m a national expert.

You don’t need to be a national expert. That’s not what we’re talking about. You need to be just a little bit better, a little bit knowledgeable about that particular area of law, and that makes you an expert in the field. And so, that’s the third part. That’s the third component in the lawyer voice. So, we have sharp as a tack, enthusiasm, expert in your field. And you’re going to combine all three of those, you are an expert in your field.

Okay. And you’re going to combine all three of those. And that’s what becomes your attorney voice. That’s what you’re going to be using whenever you’re speaking to a client of yours. And you don’t want to break character. You want to maintain that character. You want to be able to slip into that persona that you’ve created with that attorney voice.

And in that way, your client is going to believe in you. They’re going to feel confident because you’ve transferred your confidence to them. So, they’re going to feel like they have a confident, competent, strong attorney that is going to help them through this [00:13:00] process that they’ve hired you to help them through. And they’re going to reach their goals that they’ve set their legal goals. And they’re going to continue to believe in you. And the reason you want them to continue to believe in you is because, they’re then going to continue to pay for your legal services all the way up to and through the conclusion of their case.

So, it’s really important. And this is what sales is all about coming full circle now. You are selling the client on your services by virtue of using this attorney’s voice that you’re going to develop, and that you’re going to work on and perfect and continue to hone. And that is selling your client, continuously.

Always Be Closing. You’re always closing on your ability to accomplish the legal goals that they have set and hired you for, and are paying you to do.

So, I hope that’s helpful. I hope, it will allow you to distinguish between your work voice and your lawyer voice. And it’ll help you to become inspired, to want to develop your [00:14:00] attorney voice that you’ll want to show up with your A game, sharpest a tack. You want to be enthusiastic, look for the positive. And you’re going to be an expert in your field, which we already know you are. I know, you’re gonna have doubts about that, but it’s not true. Don’t listen to that inner voice of yours. You already are an expert in that field. And so, you can confidently move forward, knowing that is so

So, that’s it. That’s our episode. I hope you enjoyed that. If you would like to get notified every time we put out a new episode, you can go to our website. Our website is Classroom2Courtroom.com.

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Until then, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time. Thank you so much. Take care now.

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