Turn Calls/Inquiries into Signed Retainer
Agreements and Cash in the Bank… Remotely
Interviewer: That might be a little bit nebulous for people so let me get more specific. Back to when you made a little speech saying, “That attorney’s going to try to get you in the office. You know what that means,” literally when do you tell someone that you’re on the phone with, with that? Right in the beginning? As soon as possible? At the end?
Josh: You mean in so far as telling people that other attorneys are going to try to get them into the office?
Interviewer: Yes.
Josh: I pretty much lay out four or five things right at the beginning of the phone call and I say, “Look, first, I’m on the phone with you because I’m interested in getting your business.” People respect that. People know, at that point, that you’re not just a guy to give free information, which a lot of attorneys give a lot of free information and having no expectations of any returns. I’ve been told I give too much information but my goal is to get returns on it. Some of those returns is conversions. Some of it is conversations at a later date when they realize that the slick salesman attorney that’s out there can’t fulfill what he said he would.
The goal of telling people these tricks of the trade is twofold. One, if they call anybody else, they’re going to hear it from the other attorneys. “Yes, I talked to four other attorneys and they all wanted me to get in the office. You were right, Attorney Hale. That’s exactly what they wanted and I felt really used.” I’ve heard that more than once.
Interviewer: It’s fair to play hypnosis. You’re poisoning them against, poisoning the well, I don’t know what you want to call it, laying traps for other attorneys. It’s almost like hypnosis. You’re telling them, “They’re going to say this,” and then when they say that, I bet you and the person goes, “Hmm,” in their mind and it really affects them a lot more when otherwise they might gloss over that comment.
Josh: That’s the whole thing is that’s one side of it. The other side of it is when I’m talking to them, maybe they’ve talked to four or five other attorneys already and I’m saying, “This is what other attorneys are going to say to you,” and they’re saying, “Oh my God. That’s what every attorney said to me.” You’re doing exactly the same thing as the other attorneys – you’re trying to convert. But what you’re doing is you’re giving the person an excuse to work with you because they feel at that point that you know what you’re doing. “Wow, that guy, he told me exactly what other attorneys were going to say.”
Interviewer: What else do you tell them?
Josh: It’s not that you’re poisoning the well. I’ve never told somebody, even when somebody’s asked me advice about another attorney, for example, another attorney that I knew, I have never told somebody anything bad about any other attorney. That’s not who I am as an attorney. But telling them tricks of the trade? I don’t owe it to anybody not to tell the tricks of the trade. The reason is none of these other attorneys are out there putting money in my bank account not to do that. I’m doing it to make a living and that’s my goal is to make a living, even if it means another attorney doesn’t convert the lead. I don’t particularly care if the other attorney doesn’t convert the lead. I want the client in my office, not in his.
Interviewer: What are some of the other tricks of the trade if you’re willing to speak to them?
Josh: Well one of them I’ve been using the past several months was based on your advice. You use a service called DocuSign. I understand that there are several services that do roughly the same thing but DocuSign is a service that allows attorneys to basically get a document signed while they’re on the phone. I’ll send a DocuSign agreement for DUI’s. That’s where I started with you, with DUI’s and we do some other things now but DUI’s probably a good conversation piece because that’s where we have the most experience together.
I use DocuSign while I’m on the phone with them. I’ll say, “You know what? Here are some of the things that we’ve got going on.” In California one of the tricks is attorneys will scare people by saying, “You’ve only got 10 days to retain me,” and that’s because there’s a 10-day rule for the DMV. Well, that’s a pretty common thing for attorneys that handle DUI’s to say.
I take it a step further. I say, “You know what? We don’t have much time on this DMV issue. I’m going to send you the agreement right now while we’re on the phone. Do you have access to the Internet right now while we’re talking? Tell you what, why don’t we go through the agreement together. You can click it. As soon as I get off the phone with you, and I’ll tell you what, I’ll even do it without a credit card, before I get off the phone with you, I will have made a request to the DMV. The DMV will not be able to take your license automatically.” I’ve just went above and beyond what every other attorney does.
Interviewer: That’s true, yes. None of them would essentially do free work, which that’s what it is.
Josh: That’s what it is but, like I said, these people are individuals. They want to know that they’re going to be taken care of. I’m giving them every reason to work with me versus somebody else.
Interviewer: Here’s another softball I’ve actually heard from other attorneys. A couple of attorneys actually told me this: they don’t like to spend time with people on the phone because they’re afraid that it’ll be considered to be giving legal advice. I don’t know if I heard that right from them but they either had that reason or some other reasons not to spend much time on the phone. They only feel comfortable with them in the office. Can you talk about that?
Josh: Any time an attorney talks to somebody, it can be construed as legal advice, plain and simple. But these people are attorneys. This is what they do for a living. They give legal advice. If they can’t give good legal advice, they should find a new job.