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[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. I am the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. How are you? We are dedicated to helping law students transition from law school into their professional careers as attorneys and where we even make the practice of law fun.
[00:00:22] Scott Benton: Now today, we’re going to answer the question of why do people buy legal services?
[00:00:30] Scott Benton: Why do people buy legal services?
[00:00:32] Scott Benton: [00:01:00] Now for the most part, You gotta ask yourself why a person would start making phone calls to law firms and why they would get on the Internet in order to find an attorney who can handle their case. And if you were to really drill down into it, you’re going to find that at the heart of that decision, it comes down to emotions.
[00:01:42] Scott Benton: Now, of course, people who hire attorneys have feelings and they have emotions just like anyone else. And more than just about anything, This is what’s going to drive them to pursuing their legal goals and why they’re going to get on the phone with you and your firm and ultimately why they’re going to [00:02:00] engage you for your legal services.
[00:02:02] Scott Benton: Now, this is going to be one of the key factors that you’re going to want to keep in mind as you begin working with your new client. And as you start building a relationship with them, you want to remember that the more you get to know your client, and really get to know the names of their spouse, their children, their pets, their little league, baseball schedule, everything, the more they’re going to trust you as their attorney, and the more they’re going to keep paying for your legal services, and the more they’re going to open up to you.
[00:02:32] Scott Benton: and tell you all about the background case facts that, in essence, are the true emotional drivers of the case. And it’s the reason behind why they contacted you in the first place. And those reasons, like I said, are usually emotional in nature. So the more you know the why, behind someone’s motivations.
[00:02:54] Scott Benton: The easier it becomes to set case objectives and to devise [00:03:00] strategies and effectively move their case forward. If you know the emotional reasons behind what’s driving your client, those reasons are going to become the backbone of your conversations with them to keep the case on track. You want to continually remind your client of why you’re doing the work you’re doing together.
[00:03:19] Scott Benton: And at each step along the way, you’re going to want to be able to determine how much closer you are to reaching the objectives found in the background case facts are different than regular case facts or what we call case facts, because a judge.
[00:03:35] Scott Benton: or an opposing counsel, they don’t usually see or even hear about the background case facts. That’s something between you and the client. Now, sometimes People, they just have their hidden reasons for pursuing a case or a legal action, and those reasons aren’t necessarily going to be found in the case records or in the case facts.
[00:03:55] Scott Benton: As you dig deeper into the story of what brought your [00:04:00] client into the office, To contact you, and we like to say that you should go three levels down, and as you do that, you’re going to start to get to the truly valuable information that you need in order to properly understand what your client wants.
[00:04:17] Scott Benton: Now, the reason you want to dig down this deeply into a client’s case with them. And you want to build that relationship and you want to build that trust with them, and you want to get into the story that deeply, it’s because it’s going to not only help you solidify a strong, connected, working relationship with your client, but it’s also going to help the client feel that you truly understand their case from the inside out, inside of them, how they see it, how they feel, in to the outside world.
[00:04:49] Scott Benton: So working a case from the inside out means you’re going to be much more personally invested yourself in the case. And it’s going to mean that you’re not just [00:05:00] Showing up every day and reaching your minimum billable hour goal, which is the same as working a case from the outside in. And that’s very different.
[00:05:09] Scott Benton: Those are going to feel like very long days. It’s almost going to feel like a prison sentence. But when you work on a case from the inside out, when you get to know those inner motivational reasons why they’re pursuing their legal actions, that why. Then. You’re going to be personally invested in your client’s case.
[00:05:29] Scott Benton: Your day is going to go very quickly. It’s going to feel like you blink and now it’s time to go home. And not only did you reach your minimum billable hours, you also greatly exceeded them. Now additionally, when you’ve built up that level of trust with your client, they’re going to continue to pay for your legal services. They’re not going to stop funding their client account. And they’re not going to stop taking your phone calls. And they’re not going to stop returning your email. They’re going to be in contact with you all the way through. So [00:06:00] because the idea these days is that with artificial intelligence and even with these do it yourself legal websites that are really available to anybody, clients expect that legal services are largely going to be free.
[00:06:14] Scott Benton: or cheap or something, but what they are willing to pay for is your expertise in a specific area of law and your educational background and how much they like working with you. Nowadays, as the idea goes anyway, clients will pay for the strong connection or the relationship that they have with their attorney all day long.
[00:06:35] Scott Benton: They buy legal services. based on emotion. Yes, but they keep paying for those legal services based on the strength of the bond that they have with their attorney. That’s you. So tapping into their feelings and their emotional reasons for hiring an attorney and really listening to those background case facts, those facts that don’t appear in a courtroom that the judge never hears about or [00:07:00] opposing counsel.
[00:07:01] Scott Benton: That’s going to go a long way. So if you work the math backwards, the reason people buy legal services is because of feelings and because of emotions, which often has nothing to do with the case facts that get presented in court.
And at the end of the day are known by only you and your client. So I hope that’s helpful. My name is Scott Benton. I’m the host of the classroom 2 courtroom podcast. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Now if this is information that you’re enjoying and you’d like to receive an alert, every time we put out a new episode, you can go to our website.
[00:07:32] Scott Benton: Our website is classroom 2 courtroom. com. You can leave us your contact information and we will send out that alert when we’ve got a new episode finished and posted. And if this is information that you’re enjoying, don’t forget to share and subscribe. And hopefully you’ll join us on our next episode of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast.
[00:07:50] Scott Benton: Until then, we hope you’ll also join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time. Thank you so much.
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