How Paralegals Get Attorney Clients | 3 Proven Foundations That Actually Work

Speaker A: Welcome back to the Paralegal Business podcast. Jacqueline Foster here. If you've been wondering how paralegals who start their own businesses serving law firms across the nation actually get attorneys as clients, it's probably not how you might be thinking. And it's definitely not Simply posting on LinkedIn every day just hoping that someone notices you, or relying on things like upwork to find this, like, scattered and inconsistent pool of jobs, if you find any at all. Right, so today I wanted to give you the no BS version of how, But I do want to tell you before we jump in, this is not just theory for me. These three things I'm about to share with you is exactly how I scaled my paralegal business to a half of a million dollars a year. And it's the same approach that I watch paralegals that come inside my world. And the paralegals in business society use every single day to get their first clients and then their next, and their next and their next, so on and so forth. Number three is the one people resist the most. It's the one that I resisted the most in my own business. And all of my students coming after me in my programs have resisted the most and had a hard time committing to. But number three is also the one that makes everything else actually work really easily in your business. Before I dive in, I want to give one more disclaimer. You might be thinking that I'm about to give you these, like, check the box, just do this, do that, go to this tool you maybe never have heard of, or this platform you maybe have never heard of. That's not what this episode is going to be, because I said it's going to be. No bs. It is the absolute truth of how paralegals are finding not only immediate success in getting clients, but ongoing success, ongoing scalability, ongoing sustainability in their businesses. Number one is not only visibility of you, your business and what you do, but it's proximity. It's getting close to the people that need to have the conversations with you about what you do in your business. So when we get into the online space in the legal world, which primarily exists on LinkedIn, about the conversations you have within that platform. So that might look like conversations via, uh, direct messaging to attorneys. That could possibly be your ideal client. We'll never know for sure without having a conversation, but you're taking sort of a educated, uh, guess guess that they might be, they might be in your practice area. They might be a solo, a small firm, a founder, somebody who just started their law firm, or if you're going for a big law, they might fit kind of that demographic. You have to have visibility but within, um, close proximity to the right people. So having the real conversations, most first clients will be coming to you because you got closer to them than, not necessarily louder across a big platform. We get too in our heads about reach. Right. The reality is, is it is truly quality over quantity. And when I started my business I was brand new to LinkedIn. I didn't know how to use the platform. LinkedIn seemed boring to me. I never cared to use it as a social media platform once I started getting into it because I realized that's probably where attorneys are hanging out. It is a professional networking platform more than a social media place. I started to get on there and I probably sat at around 300 connections, maybe up to a thousand within the first year. But they were all very meaningful because I took the time to get to close proximity of the right group of people within that platform. Debunking the idea that you have to have this huge visibility in order to get clients is proximity matters more than mass visibility. Getting those conversations started, not just posting your own content or when you do post your own content, make sure it's geared towards the attorney, uh, that you would like to have conversations with on a particular topic. Even if they never comment, they're seeing it, they're feeling part of that. So storyline, the things that you're posting all the way to commenting on other attorneys posts and conversationally. When I first started and really was getting momentum, I was dedicating at least an hour a day, maybe some days a half hour of just sitting on my phone, having a cup of coffee and engaging in conversation and taking the time to write meaningful responses. And then lastly, about proximity, sometimes you need to get directly into the person's space a little bit. Direct messaging, introducing yourself, letting them know what you do. Which gets me to point 2. It will not work to get in front of the right audience to get in close proximity of your ideal clients if you don't have the clarity of the outcome that they are going to experience working with you. So that's number two. Paralegals that are finding their right clients. Attorney clients for their paralegal businesses in the beginning and ongoing for the whole cycle of the life of the business have a very clear down to their core clarity, visualization written out, brand scripting of the outcome that that attorney is going to experience when working with that paralegal in their business. So let me put this simply. It's not, hey, Attorney, I do drafting, it's hey attorney, I help you get discovery off of your plate so you can actually take on more cases. That's a very generic, just threw that out there randomly. But a very generic example of the outcome so you can dot, dot, dot. So your firm, dot dot, dot. Now there is a time and place because like I said, no bs. Sometimes we just need to throw out all the marketing principles, all the things that say make sure you have clarity on your outcome and make sure you have all of this ducks in a row perfectly lined up. Your website copy looks amazing, you have a perfect script to mass send to thousands and thousands of attorneys. Throw that out for a minute. A lot of the times let's go to the very beginning of starting a business. You don't have any clients, you just are getting momentum. Sometimes it's just a very humble outreach of hey, I am so and so, I am starting my own business as a paralegal. Sometimes it's like just get to the point, right? Throw out the marketing. But as conversations continue, it's not just about getting that attorney to respond. It's even when they respond and they start asking about pricing and then ideally, oh great, you got them on a discovery call with you, a uh, sales call if you will, with you. That's when you need to make sure that you have already really landed on the clarity of outcome that that uh, individual is going to experience by engaging your services. Because when you're clear on that, it's not just a the cheapest price wins or the most flexible this and that wins, it's you are narrowing in on the exact individual that needs to feel exactly what you are here to allow them to feel in their business. Whether that's cleaner cases or happier clients, or less of a chaotic admin background noise of inbox, whatever that may be. You need to be able to articulate that through your messaging ongoing until you really sign that client and then further through your engagement with that client, continue to follow through on that promise of an outcome. It doesn't have to be this huge, like mind blowing, life changing the world outcome. It can be very small but impactful to that individual. You have to stay close to that messaging as you engage with that attorney. So we're going number one, we get them proximity, we get conversations going. More than just throwing content out there, we get closer, more connection requests or ideal clients. We are then putting content out there, we're balancing the two of visibility but with proximity. And then number two is also there to say we are converting that close proximity set of people that need to be in our space, we're converting them into clients because we're speaking the outcomes that they need to hear because that's what they're ultimately hiring you for. Yeah, duh, uh, they're hiring you to draft, they're hiring you to handle administration, they're hiring you to handle the intake process, whatever type of business you start. But really that's not the emotional drive behind why they're hiring you. They're hiring you to fill a void, to get them from A to B, to get them from this to that. You're taking them through a transformation by working with you. And in through that you are growing lifelong relationships and, and lifelong being rememberable. What's the word? Being memorable. Take on more cases might not sound emotional, but to an attorney that is struggling to pay the bills at home and they're the breadwinner or whatever reason, they need more cases to keep their financial stability going forward, that's a real emotional driver for, for that attorney. So the clarity of the outcome more in an emotional undertone, you don't have to say so you're happier and skip around the office and all these things. You don't have to call out the emotion, but really getting deep. And so that's, you know, and backing, um, up to the beginning of this episode, I told you, this is not theory. This was what I held onto so deeply. As I was bringing in new clients. I had no marketing spend, spent $0 on marketing, less a random conference that I wanted to try out, going to that didn't actually yield me any clients. I spent no money on marketing. I didn't spend money on ads. I didn't spend money on lead generation. I didn't spend money on somebody to go and call 7,000 law firms for me and try to book appointments for me. I, I didn't spend money on Google ratings and sponsors and all these. I didn't do it. I focused very, very closely on the evolution I was taking my attorneys through. And not only did that help me get my first client through the proximity, through the conversations on LinkedIn, through posting helpful blogs to that attorney out there that needed the outcome that I was offering to them, but also to existing clients as I held true to what the actual mission of my business was, I helped them grow through my company. And so through that I was getting testimonials and referrals and from my clients. It's hard because it doesn't feel tangible. Paralegals want this. Do X, Y, Z post an ad spend exactly this many dollars a day with these exact keywords and you will get X clients from it. This will be your ultimate ROI from it. This will be your ultimate conversion rate. But marketing, especially to that half of a million dollar mark and you're getting that visibility and that credibility and that close proximity to who you're here to reach and you're, you're, you're trying to get yourself into that space. That is what is the most important is real conversations with the right people who could likely be our best educated guest, likely be an ideal client for you having that clarity of outcome in your business. And I'm about to jump into number three. But these also having the clarity of outcome. Okay, before I head into the last tip, if you're a paralegal sitting there thinking I m want more, more freedom, more money, more opportunity for growth, whether that's you haven't started a business yet or you're starting a business and you're just not scaling to where you want to, that's exactly what we are doing inside the paralegals and business society. So the society is where you're going to come and build a business that uh, actually makes sense for you. Your experience, your life, your goals, step by step truly is a all encompassing space for paralegals that want to start businesses and paralegals that have even hit their first six figures and beyond and want to continue to evolve that business. And there is currently a sign up bonus waiting for you right now but it will not be there forever. So if you've been thinking about it and you've been like uh, I might join PIBs, I don't know yet, this is a really good time to take a look at it. As a reminder, it is 9.99 per month. Go check it out. If you just need to explore your real market earning potential as a paralegal in business, be sure to check out my new free paralegal business rate estimator and revenue tool. I just created it. It's very smart interactive toggles. It takes a lot of different scenario and gives you a really good estimate of where you would come in in your rate. Um, as well as what that would look like if you wanted to scale beyond yourself whatnot. And paralegals are absolutely loving it. So every thing is linked up below for your convenience. Number three of how paralegals are getting clients in their business, I talked one Proximity. Not just visibility but within close proximity to your ideal clients and having meaningful as meaningful can be online conversations. Number two, clarity of that outcome, this is number three and the toughest one for me to coach. And I'm just gonna say it. Have to pep talk my paralegal students through. I had to pep talk myself through it. It's starting and thinking smaller than you would think you need to. So many paralegals, myself included when I was starting my business, really think that I have to appease to everyone, therefore open up my service lines to any possible client out there and be a yes man to say I do it all. Uh, and I'm going to unpack this a little bit. When you're building your business out, you really need to think about one attorney, one problem and one solution. Where paralegals go wrong here in thinking is that all I'm saying is you do one thing, discovery, or you do one practice area, that's it. Don't, don't go to any more practice areas or you only serve attorneys in Georgia. Right. That's not what I'm saying. One attorney, one problem, one solution. So one attorney, what is that attorney dealing with on a day to day basis? And yes, many times paralegals are identifying a very specific attorney, maybe a solo personal injury attorney out in Georgia. Sometimes they're saying a solo attorney that really wants to scale their practice in a more automated way and they're building a tech stacking company around it or a consulting company around it. Right. Maybe they're thinking of one specific attorney that practices in a variety of transactional law that are really bogged down in admin support. So we're talking about the attorney and the problem. What, what's really driving their reason for looking at your website? What's really driving that one attorney to say, I need something that this person offers. So it's getting down to that one attorney and I call it the North Star client inside the paralegals in business society. And I have the paralegals go through multiple exercises stacked upon each other that get them to a very clear picture who that attorney is. And I have to continuously reiterate, you're not narrowing your reach by identifying a very specific North Star client, but when you design the North Star client and you have that core into your business plan of who that one attorney is, what is the problem that they're dealing with? Solutions different than outcome. How are your services packaged up, uh, to uniquely fit into that attorney's problem and solve it, what is that solution? And then as I stated before, the outcome that they experience as a result. So our messaging, especially our website copy, are how we are conducting Discovery calls, how we're bringing, even having them fill out the form on our websites. That's like, oh yeah, this form was built for me because it's asking me the right questions. Paralegals push back and say I don't care what attorney I get. Like I just, these are the skills, this is what I can offer. They'll get too all over the place and then their messaging doesn't land right. So then an attorney gets onto the website and they say I don't even know what this person actually does. Am I even uh, the right fit for this service? And people don't want to go through any burning any mental calories when they're making purchase decisions. They really don't. Uh, we are habits of convenience for the most part. You know, as consumers out there, we don't want to exert any mental calories, burn any mental calories trying to figure out am I, am I a good fit for this business to hire them? Am I the person that they are here to help? So when you get very, I don't want to say starting smaller than you think, but narrowing in on a very specific attorney that is experiencing a very specific problem, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to do real estate only. You need to be able to pass that grunt test of can I figure out if I'm the right attorney for this paralegal business within three seconds of visiting their website. So starting smaller than you think, getting very clear. One attorney, one problem, one solution. Sometimes that means you have to take a variety of your solutions because you might have a couple different service lines if you will. Some paralegals kind of make it really easy on themselves and they just say okay, I'm just going to solve a discovery bottleneck. I'm just going to just solve uh, a pre lit medical records demand drafting bottleneck. But sometimes a paralegal desires with their skill sets to do a variety of services and solutions. But what's the over encompassing solution? Is the solution flexible on demand pick, you know, a la carte type of support? What is that solution in its entirety? I just had an episode recently where I talked about the secret sauce to business. And that's to say there is none. And you know, uh, you might see businesses out there scaling to seven figures, scaling to multiple seven figures, multiple eight figures and you say like okay there's I gotta start doing ads. Because that's probably what these big businesses are doing. They're ranking top of Google, placing ads in the middle of YouTube videos. That is absolutely not necessary to Get a good client base in your business, especially to your first if 500k, right? If you want to scale to 500k, maybe you only want to scale to 100, 150, 300. I don't know what your magic goal or number is, but understanding that really I think that first 500k. Some would call this bootstrapping. I call it smart business. You're building a reputation, you're building a very visible, on point, solution driven problem, solution driven business for a very ideal client Persona. It's these three things are not a, again, not a theory. And they're not just my method. It is the actual core to any business success. Like any core business success. And if you look around, my favorite example to make this so wild, it's a wild, wild comparison. But Axe deodorant. Some of you might remember walking through the high school halls or maybe you had a teenage son that overloaded themselves in Axe spray. Go watch. The advertising of Axe Axe specifically targeted one specific consumer profile, which was a young boy or a young adult that wanted status, that wanted to feel cool and desired and popular. Watch the ad videos because it's exactly who they were targeting. And their problem is they don't know how, they don't know how to be cool. And the solution is Axe Frame. And they so creatively did it, which is funny because it was like, gosh, everybody was getting like migraines. You get migraines walking through a hall or walking through a Walmart and every boy had Ax Spray all over them. Right? Every company is marketing to a very specific person. Now that's not to say a 50 year old man doesn't see themselves in that marketing and says, I want to feel that way too. Like the cool kids are doing it, you know, that's not to say you're completely closing off that market, but you're getting a, a real brand because you're focusing on one specific target person. Um, so that is number three, unpacked. I don't know if that's helped draw that parallel anymore. Give me grace. I took a whole week off last week, so I'm just coming back into myself here. All right, that's that. And I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Let me know if you have any questions, uh, below or reach out to me. We do live power hours inside the paralegals and business society. So if you have very specific questions you uncovered, that is going to be the place that you can come get. Any question you possibly have will be answered. Um, inside pibs. So definitely come check us out. And don't forget to subscribe. Make sure you have your notifications on for upcoming episodes. We have some fun guests coming up, um, on the Paralegal Business podcast. And thank you so very much for watching this all the way through. Until next time, have great days ahead of you.