Transcript: Believing in the Value of Your Offer with Dina Cataldo

Hello, my friend. How are you?

Do you do excellent work for your clients?

Of course you do.

I'm assuming you do if you listen to this podcast.

Or maybe you're not sure you do. Then you definitely need to listen to this podcast.

I'm recording this episode specifically for entrepreneurial lawyers, BUT even if you work for someone else keep listening because it's important that you know the value of your services. Our belief in the value of our services will determine how much we're willing to charge for them and how confident we are that we can get our clients results.

Before we jump in, have you been spending time with me on Instagram. I spend most of my social media time there, I share a lot of mindset tools and tips and occasionally photos of my dog Frankie. I'd love to connect with you there. Join me @dina.cataldo — Share a snapshot of you listening to the podcast and be sure to tag me, so I see it @dina.cataldo.

Alright, so this week is the week a lot of legal professionals get together for a legal tech Convention. What I want to do in this episode is challenge a mindset that is often weaved into any of these legal conferences.

It's so subtle that most lawyers just fall into it and don't question it.

Our mindset determines our behaviors, and our behaviors determine our results in our practice and our life, so it's important to point a critical eye at them.

One of the mindsets I noticed at this convention was lack of control and scarcity of clients.

I spent one day in multiple rooms, and I kept seeing the same comments and hearing the same things from attendees and presenters that they had to work more hours to get more customers. Part of this is because the tech company selling services that are supposed to give lawyers back more hours, but the way it was presented at times was that they needed to be able to pick up the phone at any time.

Something I hear lawyers say is that clients will tell them that no other lawyer picked up the phone. To that I say, so what?

They answer that they think that means that they need to be available to pick up the phone at all hours because otherwise they're going to “lose” a client.

To that I ask, is that really what that means?

Or does it just mean that you're picking up scraps instead of trusting and promoting your value?

Because if you trusted and promoted your own value, people would be knocking down your doors to get appointments. You'd be raising your rates, and saying no to work you don't want.

Our value is not determined by the number of hours we're willing to be available. Our value isn't determined by the willingness to drop everything to answer the phone.

If you don't believe in your value, your clients won't believe in your value. If you're not a lawyer with your own practice, then think of your boss as your most important client.

I heard from someone that every person should think about themselves as an entrepreneur even if you work for a boss.

The reason for this is so that you learn to value yourself as much as an entrepreneur must.

An entrepreneur sells their services to the highest bidder.

They do this, so they can make a bigger impact in their life and the lives of others.

The more money you have fueling your business's engine, the more people you can help.

Heck, you can just want the money to want the money. There's nothing wrong with that.

I want to see you have all the money you want and more.

To do that, you must believe in your value.

Let's get one thing straight: value has nothing to do with the number of hours you work, how intensely you work, or who you are as a person.

As lawyers we tend to conflate the hours we work and the level of intensity that we work with our personal value.

To be clear, you are 100% valuable as a human right now as is whether you work or not. Whether you're a lawyer or not. Your work is not your self-worth, and I think we need that drilled into us in school.

What we're talking about here is believing in the value of the services you provide to your clients.

When I talk about services, I'll use the word OFFER and SERVICES interchangeably.

You offer your services to clients.

Before you can even do this work, I encourage you to take a good look at your offers and decide what you WANT to offer and what your current rates are. Not all lawyers know their rates off the top of their head because they've delegated that thought process or make up a price when they talk to a new client. DON'T DO THIS.

Make clear decisions on what your rates are for each offer you have.

Here are some questions to ask yourself about your practice to make the work we're doing in this podcast even more valuable to you:
– how many offers do you have?
– what does each offer include? (ex. phone calls, documents, etc)
– how much are you charging for each offer? Is it a combination of hourly rates and flat rate, etc.?)

Make the answers to these questions as simple as possible for your own sanity.

We could do a whole episode on that topic, but I want to focus in on valuing your offer in this podcast and being in full belief of the value you provide your client.

In this episode we're exploring:

– what it means to believe in the value of your offer.
– I'm going to show you that the actions you take when you don't believe in the value of your offer are all caused by what you're thinking before you take action. I'll show you exactly what thoughts you need to work on, so you stop de-valuing yourself and start practicing behaviors that will help you make more money in your practice.

What's the problem with NOT doing the work to believe in your value?

Our mindset — our belief about ourselves, the value of our offer, what we think about our clients — all impact how we sell. And if you have an offer, you're selling.

We are only focusing on believing in the value of your offer in this episode.

Our thoughts about our offer impacts our behavior.

For instance, if you're in a consult, and you have the thought, “They can't afford it” or your price is “too expensive,” then your behavior will likely be that you lower the price for them or you change the structure of payments. Or maybe your voice wobbles when you give them the price.

Another example. If you're in a consult, and you think they're going to say “no,” you don't sell them on the value of your services.

What helps with the behaviors that are costing you clients and money are your thoughts ABOUT your offer.

Sometimes I'll talk to lawyers that believe that they need to lower their rates because other lawyers in town have lower rates.

I ask them if they like those lawyers or if they'd ever recommend anyone to them, and they usually tell me no. They tell me that they're not the best lawyers in town.

Then I ask them how their services compare. The lawyers I work with tell me that they're always on time, they know what the issues are, they're good communicators, they're committed to helping their clients.

That's what clients want!

They don't want bargain basement lawyers at bargain basement pricing, and if they do, they're not your people.

Well-paying clients want lawyers who solve their problems and that they trust.

If you're one of the lawyers who believes you need to pick up your phone all the time in you're going to lose business, I want to ask you something: how can you solve for that problem in a different way?

One possible answer that comes to mind is that you craft a phone message that assures them that you answer your voicemail 3 times a day and at what times you check it. Then follow through on your calendar to check it. Maybe you add in a line that you're committed to excellent service and want to give them your full attention and direct them to a phone service that will book a consult time with them that you've left open on your calendar. Maybe you direct them to a website where you have a calendar available for them to book a consult themselves.

Our behaviors change when we look at problems from a neutral or curious place instead of a place of scarcity of clients or doubt in your offer, your brain will become more resourceful.

What happens when you DO believe in your value?

– You get better clients. The reason you get better clients is that you hire people who want the quality of work you offer, and they're committed and all in at the price.
– You're going to like your work more because you're not angry with yourself or resentful that you took on a client for less than you really wanted to charge.
– You're going to have more time and energy because you're not going to be ruminating about how you should have charged more or how your client is too needy or how you should have seen the red flags earlier.

Some things to recognize when you do this work of believing in the value of your services:
– it's not always easy. You will want to lower your price. If you can learn to sit in the discomfort and say the price anyway, you will get better and better at it. The first few times are always the hardest.
– you might back down the first couple times you try to stand fast in your value. Don't judge yourself. This is normal. Just notice it, so the next time you allow yourself to feel uncomfortable and say your price anyway. Be willing to hear a no.
– you may get “no”‘s when you first start holding fast to your value. That's normal too. All it means is that you have practiced believing in your value long enough. Your belief generates behaviors — not just the behaviors in your consults. It generates the behaviors in writing content, in showing up in networking, in reaching out to prospects. Our beliefs have a cumulative effect, and sometimes it takes some time to bear fruit. Commit to yourself and know your value. You will attract the clients you want to work with.

How do you begin believing in the value of your services?

If you have multiple areas of practice, do this work for each of your offers individually. You want to build belief in each area of your practice.

Spend time on this. This is not a rush process. It takes commitment and practice. This is work I do with my clients to help them refocus their minds on their offer's value, so if you're self-coaching yourself, reconnect with the value of your service all the time — especially right before a consult or writing content for your business.

1. What result can your client expect to receive when they pay for your service?
2. What's the lifetime value of your services? What are the long-term results your clients can expect to see? Are you helping them provide long-term care for loved ones? Are you giving them peace of mind? Write it out in detail. Write out specific examples you have where you created amazing lifetime value for your clients.
3. Why are you the perfect attorney for them? What special skills do you have that add to your offer? Some examples are being a good listener who makes their client feel important, maybe you're great at chit-chat and putting clients at ease instantly, maybe you have a lifestyle trait that attracts people to you because they trust you not to judge them. Write down specific examples where you've seen these skills benefit your client relationships.
4. If your client doesn't choose to work with YOU specifically, what could happen? Could they hire that guy down the street who charges less and doesn't always show for court appearances? Could they hire an attorney who can't see the long-term ramifications of signing a contract without specific language protecting them or their assets?
5. What are the biggest successes you've had with clients who've signed with you? I had one client who said that she saved one of her client a million dollars because she added a single line to a contract. Years later it would have bit him in the behind but for her foresight. How have you saved your clients pain?
6. What do you need to believe about your offer to feel amazing selling it? Maybe you believe that you are the best lawyers in that practice area. Maybe you believe that you're the most meticulous contracts lawyer they'll ever find. Basically, what would you need to believe about your offer, so that if they said “no,” you'd genuinely say, “Oh, you must be confused.” Maybe you don't say that out loud, but you genuinely believe that they just don't understand how amazing your services are.

Your answers to all of these questions are also great for your marketing, FYI.

This is the kind of work that impacts your mindset. Our mindset is what determines our behaviors, so this is important work, my friend.

If you want help doing this kind of work on your practice, book a call with me.

We'll take a look at where you're currently focusing your attention and find out if that's in alignment with your goals for your practice and your life.

You can book a call at dinacataldo.com/strategysession that's dinacataldo.com/strategysession

Alright my friend, I hope you have a great day, and I'll talk to you soon.

Bye.