Branding the We

Description:   This week's episode is dedicated to the topic of branding the ‘we’. What do I mean by branding the we? When entrepreneurial lawyers first hire an attorney, they often encounter the problem of having their clients actually want to work with the attorney. Your clients come to you because they know, like and trust you. They don’t want your associate doing the work. It has to be you.    Oftentimes the first hire that the lawyer makes in the law firm of their associate attorney is someone younger, typically at the start of their career. A client who is accustomed to a certain level of expertise, knowledge and a level of comfort with you, then ‘handed off’ to someone who does not have the same finesse, is not going to be happy. So I’m going to talk about a strategy to avoid that happening, starting with some of the ways that you can prevent that, even before the client gets to your office.   In this episode we discuss: How to avoid client confusion or disappointment by tailoring the continuity of your marketing, intake and assigned representation communication. Hiring a seasoned lawyer versus hiring a baby lawyer. Introducing a client to an associate without devaluing your associate in the process. The importance of using the pronoun ‘we’ when referring to your firm. Things that can be done to provide confidence to your clients throughout the process. How branding the ‘we’ makes your business more valuable and helps with business growth.   Allison Bio:   Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Freehold, New Jersey. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law.    Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University.   In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.    Contact Info:   Contact Law Firm Mentor: Scheduler: https://meetme.so/LawFirmMentor     Snippets   00:03:24 (47 Seconds) So what then happens is the client having had a certain level of expertise, a certain level of knowledge, a certain level of skill, a certain level of comfort with you, is then quote unquote handed off to someone who does not have the same level of experience. And that is what normally creates the level of dissension and hostility in clients when they feel that you just picked their file up and dumped it off on some kid down the hall. So we're going to talk about a strategy to actually avoid that happening and then avoid the level of discomfort that that causes you and the level of dissatisfaction that causes your clients. But I want to start talking about some of the ways that we can prevent that even before the client gets to your office.