Make Money Mondays: Don’t Transact – Transform

On at least one level, most legal services are transactional.  Lawyers enter into representation agreements with clients to perform a service: drafting an estate plan, representation in a DUI case, negotiating separation terms and a settlement for a divorce.  Some engagements are completed in a matter of weeks while others can go on for years.  But in the end, legal services are a one-time event involving payment by a client to a lawyer to address a discrete problem. That’s the transaction.

When lawyers sell transactions, they sell a fungible commodity. To be sure, legal services are personal in nature, and so personality and skill matter to some degree. But from a client’s perspective, it doesn’t much matter who – or even what – it takes to get the job done…which is why so many lawyers find themselves competing on price against each other or Legal Zoom.

So what would it look like if lawyers sold transformation instead?  A small business lawyer wouldn’t merely offer to draft corporate documents for a client, but would instead help make connections with funding sources so that the company could grow and transform.  A family law attorney wouldn’t merely help a client divorce a spouse, but could grant access to courses on financial planning or coping with stress to help clients get back on their feet.  Helping clients transform makes legal services more valuable to clients and makes the representational process more rewarding to lawyers.

Plus, when you transform clients, you leave them better off than you found them.

Speaking of transformation, the LawyerMomOwnerSummit.com promises to be transformational for attendees. Register today…or buy a ticket for a friend or client.