Dear Super Lawyers,
I’ve been meaning to get in touch to let you know that over the past few weeks, I have been forwarded at least a dozen emails from confused lawyers from people on your sales team that I then need to decipher and explain.
You make some of my days harder than they need to be.
No matter how many times I ask you to contact me directly with any sales pitches, you still insist on emailing lawyers with confusing and misleading emails that at first glance make it seem like they just need to update their information or else they won’t be included in your guide – but upon further examination, a trained eye of a marketing person knows these are really sales pitches.
You go to the lawyers directly instead of us because you want them to get nervous about being excluded in the guide – you know that will motivate them to take action and maybe even pay up.
You also include a link to your calendar to set up a meeting where you pitch all sorts of things that we don’t need – upgraded profiles, plaques, bios with links, etc.
But here’s the thing – these sorts of bells and whistles don’t bring in new clients. Our clients don’t really care if we have firm profile or a clickthrough bio.
They likely don’t even care if we are listed in Super Lawyers because it’s peer review – not based on client feedback.
They care that we do GOOD WORK and that we are GOOD LAWYERS.
I’m not sure why your sales team feels like it’s a good idea to resort to these kinds of tactics to make their quotas but if you would just be upfront, you’d have a higher likelihood of selling upgraded profiles.
Old school lead generation methods like these are becoming less efficient and just don’t work.
Not to mention they don’t make your company or your people look good.
I suggest you modernize and shift your approach if you want to be more effective in the legal industry.
Instead of the hard, fear-based based sell, consider sending value-added content and webinars to your clients and prospects. Offer to help them. That kind of marketing often leads to new business.
Maybe you forgot that a food part of your audience are marketers themselves.
If we ask you to not reach out to our lawyers directly, please respect that. Work with us instead of around us. I promise you’ll get better results.
Thanks for listening, Stefanie
Lawyers, if you get an email like this, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me – I can help you figure out what you need to do.
