What’s Your Why?
Why did you become an attorney? Why were you drawn to the legal profession? You have probably been asked questions like these or similar ones when you had to create a bio for your website or for other sites. You probably reflect and give a meaningful answer that ultimately ties back to helping people. Most bios are written so that people can gain an understanding of who you are and why you are someone they might want to work with.
When we are asked about our actions or what we are doing, it always comes back to why. Choices are made upon the foundation of a “why”. Simon Sinek wrote a book that dives into what sets other business/organizations/leaders apart and what makes them able to inspire when others are not able to called, Start with Why. If you haven’t read it, you should. You can also check out his Ted Talk where he goes over the major themes of what he covers in his book. “Why” according to Sinek is your purpose, cause, belief, why you get out of bed, why your firm exists, and why people should care. The most important line you’ll hear in his Ted Talk is, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
If the premise of your discussions with clients is about drafting a will, trust, and estate plan, then you are selling “what you do”. Instead the conversation should be flipped to why you do what you do and why clients should establish an estate plan that they keep up to date.
Simon Sinek talks about how companies that see great success and have devoted consumers are run by inspired leaders who think from the inside out. Three shining examples are Starbucks, Harley Davidson, and Apple. Instead of you and your team thinking in stages of what, how, why, (estate plans, good documents, families’ affairs in order), you need to invert your thinking and instead start with why then move to how and then what. Inverting your thinking changes the meaning on each stage to: effectively taking care of clients and their families at death or incapacitation (why), build lasting relationships with clients so you can tailor plans to theirs lives, assets, and families (how), effective estate plans that are continually updated through your ongoing client care program that brings in consistent recurring revenue (what).
Reevaluating your practice and your processes and turning them on their head to start with “why” will bring purpose back into your work and elevate your leadership from managing to inspiring.
Being an inspired leader and rebuilding your firm on the premise of “why” brings in better clients that are better referral sources and gives you the confidence to tell clients their family will be taken care of when it matters most no matter their life changes.
Let Client Care Academy be the launch pad to convert your leadership from merely managing to inspiring and to transform your firm from transactional to relational. You can become the lawyer and leader you’ve always wanted to be whose “why” permeates everything you do, empowers your team, and truly takes care of your clients.
Email our Program Coordinator, Megan Davitt, to sign up for our Foundations Workshop today!