What to Say to People You Meet

Know What to Say to Potential Clients--memorize a script. What do you say when someone asks you “What kind of law do you practice?” Or “What is your specialty?” This 3 to 10 seconds might be the most important words you speak in terms of client development. You want to differentiate yourself from other attorneys and leave the person with a memory that will stick with them. For example, “I work on contracts and real estate matters including litigation involving contracts and real estate. In addition, we have over 30 attorneys in the office and can handle most everything. What line of work are you in? Who is your attorney?” People like to talk about themselves so ask questions like “How long have you lived in Las Vegas? How did you get into that line of work? How do you handle the growth in your business in terms of [managing people i.e., hiring, firing basically HR issues--see if there is work for our employment dept] “How much space does your company occupy and where are you located? [see if there is lease work for our transactional dept], “Do you have a will and trust? [see if there is any work for our estate planning dept] and if they don’t have a trust, ask “Do you know why trusts are so popular?” Then tell them, “Trusts save you the costs of probating your assets--no attorneys or court fees, they are totally confidential because there are no public documents filed with the court listing all of your assets, you can give money to your kids in increments when they are 21, 25, 30 or more instead of the kids getting all of the assets at age 18, you can sell property after someone dies without a court order, and finally you can save federal estate taxes.”