Posted In: Business Development
Law Firm Selling – Presenting Bios with Pizzaz!
I’m going to start this post off by saying lawyers test the absolute highest of all professionals in skepticism. So it’s no wonder many lawyers have their own thoughts about the effectiveness of their firm bio and more important, what should or should not be part of the bio content. Bios are hit at least ten times more and often higher than that, than any other part of the firm’s web site. Take out the recruiters and it’s just about as high. As more people turn to social media and search engines for finding just the right expertise (it is happening with much more frequency) and clients and contacts continue to refer their favorite lawyers to others, a lawyer’s bio has to do the selling on its own. Consider your bio is your product sheet. It is selling you.
Those who conduct client interviews know the top three criteria clients use for hiring outside counsel are expertise, experience and relationship–often framed as “I have to like the person; like working with him/her and the team. Keeping that in mind, a bio must accomplish a few things:
- Differentiate you from competitors who do exactly what you do;
- Present expertise in a specific area of the law and often with similar types of business issues or businesses (e.g., M&A expertise in the manufacturing segment or IP expertise in wind energy, as a couple of examples).
- Demonstrate experience by discussing representative examples. Make your examples reader-oriented versus passive and having every paragraph start with your name.
- Allow the reader to connect with you—add something interesting about yourself. For example, when not helping clients with finding opportunities for growth, Silvia is an avid gardener and grows plants and donates excess growth to others. Or you can use charitable work if you don’t want to get too personal. Connecting with the reader allows them to connect with you to begin the threads of a relationship.
- Last but not least, it is the lawyer’s responsibility to keep bios current. If you are a deal lawyer, the most recent deals need to show up in your experience bullets.
Keep in mind a good bio format is one opening paragraph about you; a second paragraph, reader-oriented, that discusses the types of clients with whom you work. Then list representative experience, then leadership roles outside of the firm or business community roles. And then information about you that allows the reader to connect with you.
Once your bio is updated, remember to update your social media site bios with the same information. Now you have a great sales tool.
For more information on creating a selling advantage, please contact Silvia at scoulter@lawvisiongroup.com
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