How To Add Empathy Into Your Law Firm Pitch

When your prospective clients think of the phrase, “law firm pitch,” the first word that pops into their head likely isn’t empathy. Or excitement. To the individuals who have to sit through countless meetings being pitched at and keeping track of a thousand slides in their head, there's not necessarily a positive connotation.

This seems to be a hallmark of law firm marketing. But it doesn't need to be.

Ultimately, you're selling to another human being. So just because you hail from the complicated realm of legal, doesn’t mean it’s not in your best interest to inject some humanity into your law firm pitch presentation. 

In other words, you need to use empathy.

And what's the best way to do this? To make sure you have a solid pitch that is shaped by empathy.

When you're putting together your pitch, it's crucial to consider how it will be received by the person who you’re pitching to. These three tips will make sure that you are able to craft a law firm pitch that resonates with your target and gets you real results.

1. Keep it brief

Take it from one person who is often on the receiving end of these pitches and described the experience as "painful."

Here is this individual's account of said pain:

"They had a storied reputation. And based on this reputation alone, I was confident they could adequately represent our interests. That is until the partner tasked with pitching their services droned on for 35 minutes… without pause. While they had clearly taken the time to understand the limited facts of the case we had given them, if I tuned out midway through their presentation, I was confident a judge would do the same."

In contrast, another firm delivered a pitch that was just 13 slides long. And who do you think he decided to go with?

Across every industry, people are busy. So you need to use empathy to determine what information is crucial, and what information can be left out. Otherwise, you risk information overload. Not to mention eliminating time or opportunity for your pitch-ee to ask questions.

In short: the most compelling law firm pitch includes only what's valuable and leaves out the rest.

2. Tell a story

Most prospective clients will walk into a meeting expecting a boring law firm pitch to be spewed at them. They’re usually filled with stuffy jargon and lots of information they probably won’t remember. What they don't expect is a great story.

Across any industry, storytelling is proven to effectively push sales across the finish line. And law firm marketing is no exception to this.

Just because some amount of legal jargon and buttoned-up business talk is necessary, it doesn't mean you can't still humanize the pitch.

The best way to mix storytelling into a legal pitch is testimonials. If you have a really powerful story of when you affected positive change with a prior client, showcase it. Hearing actual success stories makes people feel good. They will naturally picture themselves having that same positive experience. 

You can also put them directly in the center of your storytelling. Walk them through exactly what it would be like to work with you. And what they can accomplish with your help. This allows you to communicate the value of your services in a way that they can visualize and contextualize it within their own lives.

3. Keep it organized and uniform

First impressions are everything. So it's imperative to have really organized, consistent, and visually appealing pitch decks. The best ideas can be ruined by poor or disorganized representation. If your pitch is visually overwhelming, it's a hard barrier to overcome.

The best way to prevent your pitch from being perceived as any less valuable than it is, is to streamline your creation process. Create templates for specific use cases. This ensures that whoever is preparing the document will create a visual experience that is organized and consistent.

Adding software to your stack that automates this process is a great option to guarantee that there are never any breakdowns in the process. Data can easily get lost and jumbled around. But document generation software can give you confidence that the right data will get to the right place.

You can also go the DIY option to create plug-and-play templates. When you have a library of templates that are consistently implemented, you will build a good reputation. You want to be known as the law firm marketing team that just understands the value of visual appeal and organization.

A law firm pitch is not doomed to be stuffy, long, and visually unappealing

The existence of negative industry norms is actually a great opportunity to stand out from the competition. 

Empathy is not necessarily common in law firm marketing. So when a prospective client recognizes the effort to push the needle that way, you are a breath of fresh air. 

When you take the initiative to break the status quo and refuse to accept that "it is what it is,” you reap the benefits. So build some empathy into your documents and make some waves in your industry.