Closing Takes Time for a Reason
Selling is an artform, and not all salespeople are created equal. Most of us could share some bad sales stories of when and why we walked away from product deals for various reasons. The stories we tend to not share as much are the tales of how great we felt when making a purchase of a product from someone. Those times when we talked to a person or persons that took the time to learn how to speak to us before they sold the product to us. A great salesperson can make it seem effortless to sell, which of course it is not. It is a skill worth admiring and absolutely worth observing and learning from should you so choose.
In the absence of a material product, you are selling yourself. This is the situation between the attorney and the client. Attorneys have a service, based on knowledge, that they provide. They market this service and the client contacts them to explore their options. It is an initial outreach based on need and trust (not to mention professional ethics). So clearly there is a distinction between a salesperson and an attorney. You would not go to a greenhouse and ask the person behind the register to defend you in a criminal matter, and you would not (under usual circumstances) buy a new blender at a family law firm. Salespeople sell, attorneys close deals.
Closing usually happens at the end of an intake > review > follow up > close cycle with the attorney in the driver’s seat of a collaborative effort. Sales can be as simple as a discussion > payment cycle with the seller at the wheel. The sales cycle can work in a lot of professions, but it really has no place in the legal profession. There can be terrible outcomes when selling, not closing, occurs with clients.
If you don’t get the whole story, how can you properly evaluate a case? If an attorney never reviews the story, how can they be sure of what services they will be providing? Is it possible to fully understand a case without asking important follow up questions? And worst of all, if any or all of these steps are skipped how will the client have truly realistic expectations?
Closing a deal in the legal profession is just as important as any other service driven industry. But the final close with a client should always be done by an attorney. It is why we at Clean Intakes quote price ranges only if previously established by an attorney, and always inform individuals that the final determination rests with the quoting attorney. To us it is a nightmare scenario if there is a payment transaction but the attorney does not have all the information they needed to properly evaluate the case. No quick sale is worth reputational harm. An unsatisfied client will not be a repeat client. A client that feels misled could be a potential grievance. In the law firm the attorney closes the deal, and closing takes time for a good reason.
