Is the Codeword for I Am Doing This Under Duress Sometimes it’s more about the polar bears (brand) and less about the taste (actual service)
1,300,000 lawyers.
400,000 firms.
So why are you the best choice for anyone?
And to make matters worse, no one actually wants to hire us. They have a legal problem they want to make go away or resolve as best as possible.
Please don’t take the prior two lines as a direct attack. They apply just as much to me, my firm, you, your firm, the firm next door, or the one down the street.
So seriously, how do you stand out?
Before I answer that rhetorical question, I have one more.
Coke or Pepsi?
Please tell me you have a preference between the two and cringed when the other one was mentioned. Pepsi made you cringe, right?
Why do we care about the difference between two carbonated sodas that should be the same or at least very similar?
Sure, they taste different. Pepsi is gross. Coke is good with alcohol.
But the real reason is their brand.
Maybe you love Santa and the polar bears. Maybe you love the idea of ending the world’s hatred by sharing a soft drink. Either way, they have brands.
That’s how you get people to want to work with you and know that you are their best attorney. You build a brand.
You turn yourself into a magnet that attracts the right client and repels the wrong client. Or maybe it pushes away the right people too. Grammar is hard.
And here’s the tough part. How do you figure out your brand?
I have no trick or magic bullet. Every time someone talks about branding, I ask this question and guess what? Different answers every time.
So I’m going to give you two options.
Option 1:
Carve out some time to be super introspective. Really look at:
Who you are
What makes you likable
What the people you like have in common
What you are interested in
What about people you enjoy connecting with and why
Option 2:
Just freaking be you and see what happens.
And I’ll bet you had another reaction to those options, with one sounding much better and one sounding much worse.
Look, I don’t need 1,000 photos of you sitting in your office. I don’t need to know every Perfect Lawyer Who Lawyers Good and Does Other Things Good Too award you’ve won.
I want to know what your “other things good” thing is.
I wear Hawaiian shirts and sandals most of the time. If you think that makes me unprofessional and you don’t want to work with me because of that, that’s totally your right.
Or maybe it makes you like me more.
But even if it’s bad, it’s better to know that now before you spend a bunch of time getting to know me, we do a full consult, and then during our marketing work together we realize we are a terrible fit. Maybe my team is “unprofessional,” “not aggressive enough,” or whatever else.
Yes, I repel people. But guess what? I also, I hope, build raving fans.
If 5,000,000 people think you’re their number two favorite attorney, you’re only getting the business if number one says no.
Someone recently posted about what they should wear in their content, and I stand by what I wrote:
If you want a fat white guy in a suit, you’ve got about 1,000,000 options.
But if you want a fat white guy in a Hawaiian shirt, you’ve got me.
One important caveat. This is all real and genuine.
I hate dressing up. A good friend had me in his wedding, and I had to wear a tux. I did it, but man was it a whole thing. I cannot imagine having to put on the monkey suit every single day.
If I were truly all about being GQ and fancy, this would not work for me.
So don’t be someone else. Be you.
Some people will not like it, and that’s okay. Haters are literally wasting their lives trying to pull you down.
Instead, find your tribe. Your herd. Your blue flame. Your raving fans. Your apostles. And just be happy and successful.
Seriously, email me your thoughts on what you think you should do. Let’s talk about it.
Because next week, we’re talking about how you actually implement this brand.
Hint: it’s not by following the crowd.
Until then, keep rocking.