Marketing to Attorneys – Insider Tricks

For those of you that follow me, you know that most of my practice is mediation and pro se couples but lately I’m doing more and more litigation support and I want to share with you some insider tricks I’ve learned.

Where I live in Phoenix, Arizona, there is a regional bank that sponsors CLE for attorneys on a monthly basis and last spring, I attended one on Collaborative Divorce. They have a training room with room for 50 and there were about 10-15 attorneys there for the workshop.

Not one to miss out on an opportunity, I approached the facilitator after the session and inquired about getting on the calendar as a presenter. We agreed I could speak in September. Excellent! The IDFA has a wonderful, out-of-the-box presentation for attorneys that they sell for a whopping $75 so I re-worked it a little and was ready to roll.

About a week before the training, I emailed the facilitator and asked how many sign-ups we had. She responded, FIFTY!!!!  What? Holy cow!  Ok, then!

When I took the stage I said, “I’m confused. This room is packed and every family law attorney I know HATES math!” I got a good laugh and proceeded with my workshop.

The next week resulted in two emails, two phone calls, and two client referrals. What I have learned is that most attorneys think of financial advisors as ambulance chasers that are only looking for assets to manage but that we don’t add any value to their cases.  It’s only after doing a presentation like this that they understand the depth of the expertise that we bring to the table.

By far, the biggest mistake I’ve seen financial advisors make is to pursue the divorce niche because they think it’s going to be a great way to gather assets. Now don’t get me wrong, it IS a way to gather assets. But if that’s your primary motivator, you will fail. This work is hard! It’s emotional, time consuming, complicated, overwhelming at times, and dealing with couples that are at their very worst will burn you out at record speed if you’re not passionate at some level about what you’re doing. The most successful divorce financial planners have been personally touched by divorce and are compelled to have a positive impact on the system and help people have more successful outcomes.

If you are looking to be respected, sought out, and relied on by attorneys, get in front of them and teach. It will give them a whole new perspective on the value you can bring to the table.