All of us have or use market differentiators even if it is our big smiling mug on a website. It is only natural to accentuate our differences in a positive way or means. It is our hope to stand out in some small way to prospective clients.
I try to differentiate myself in a number of different ways.
I promote a very very narrow niche practice in which there are not a lot of players. I have a URL that specifically defines my practice area, StayViolation.Com. I speak to bar groups about the subject. I blog. I post my ugly mug on everything. I have gone from hiding to bragging to everyone that I am a carpet commuter, a spare room tycoon, a Third Wave lawyer.
A market differentiator can be almost anything. The first or only woman in your area to practice a particular area of law. Your location. The fact that you use to be a judicial officer or work for Big Law. That you are a family person. That you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or even an atheist. That you are a woman, male, straight or gay. That you are a virtual lawyer. In Houston nationality plays a big part. Even the fact you work from home can play a huge roll. You can try to turn what might be considered a minus into a plus. When I was starting out I ran commercials of the accomplishments of well known historical figures, who where also attorneys, with the tag line, "A young lawyer really can make a difference".
But, too often solos, and especially new solos, devoid of ideas in this regard, and hoping to build business quickly, resort to marketing based upon fees and price. These attorneys are certainly free to do so, but it is a terrible mistake. It is possibly the most stupid decision you can make in the practice of law.
The problem is that no attorney much markets himself or herself as the most expensive lawyer in town. For the fee issue to stand out it has to be disadvantageous for the attorney. Otherwise, it has to be seriously misleading and that will lead to its own problems.
You do not want to be cheap meat. Believe or not, the 99 Cent store in our community has a deli where they sale discarded meat. I am not going to buy it. The grocery store could not sell it in a reasonable period of time, so let the 99 Cent store try to do it.
The exception to this rule not to differentiate on price or fees might be the free initial consultation. However, this is not so much an attempt to differentiate yourself on fees, but to allow the perspective client to comfortably visit with you to discuss fees.
With the exception of a personal injury lawyer marketing his or her million dollar settlements, I have never found a "low cost" attorney that has been more than marginally prosperous doing this.
First and foremost it cheapens your image and that initial image is very hard to correct later.
Second, in order to make what other attorneys make the fee differentiator has to handle more cases that pay less. That requires the need for more clients, which begets more expensive advertising, which begets more staff, which begets more office space, which begets more technology and implements, such as desks and chairs and computers, and the process just continues to build. Worse, you get to pay for all of this growth with highly discounted fees. So you have more cases, staff and overhead than your competition, and you get to pay for it all with less money. But, what being or selling cheap meat never does is net you the living you deserve. Sure it might work you to death, but to what end?
Third, selling cheap meat brings in the wrong kind of clients. Dealing with people is difficult enough, but you are bringing in skeptical people who are already expecting too much for too little. It is a bad combination. These are people that would risk their health buying deli meat at the 99 cent store.
This is not an argument about how fees are charged. Everyone I think knows I prefer hourly rates as the best measure of compensation for the time expended by you, the attorney. But, you might charge a fixed fee, a unit charge, or some other method. The goal is that you are fairly and fully compensated for the work you do. You, your office and your family depend on this. The point is that fees as a market differentiator almost always destroy your ability to provide for you, your loved ones and your office in the way you wish.
And none of what I say should suggest that poor and disadvantaged people do not deserve legal representation. They do. And, you should help provide it. These people, however, do not need cheap meat. They need a free meal. You need to contribute pro bono time. You need to work with the Bar, law schools, free legal clinics and the like to provide some of what society needs. What we are talking about here concerns itself with running a prosperous business and being a successful attorney.
The bottom line is that you do not want to be, be perceived as, or sell cheap meat.
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