What Selling Soap Taught Me About Marketing to Attorneys
Before I became a legal nurse consultant I was selling soap. This is what it taught me about marketing to attorneys.
I received the call right before I went into labor. “We’re coming tomorrow to pick up your leftover product.” Before becoming a legal nurse consultant, I became involved with a multilevel marketing company. My husband and I spent $3000 to become distributors of household cleaners. This was a lot of money in 1970. We lived in a 2 bedroom, 60 feet long and 12 feet wide mobile home. Just how much is $3000 of soap? The delivery guy filled one bedroom floor to ceiling with cases of cleaners.
A year after we got involved, the Federal Trade Commission closed down this company for violations: too much emphasis on selling distributorships instead of product. As part of the litigation, the company agreed to buy back the unused product from its distributors. An irritated truck driver confronted me 4 weeks after I delivered my son, wanting to know why I was not home on the agreed upon day to hand over the cases of product. He settled down when I told him I was in labor at the time he came to the house.
While I learned that I was not destined to sell soap, being involved with a multilevel marketing company was actually great for both of us. My husband used the training to successfully assume a role as national sales manager for a plastic extrusion company. I applied the lessons when I started my legal nurse consulting firm, which involved marketing to attorneys.
Here are the marketing to attorneys lessons
1. ABM: Always Be Marketing
I received excellent sales training as a distributor. When I asked my general distributor when I could stop selling, he said, “Never.” If you want to build your business, you can never stop marketing. You have a responsibility to seek new attorney customers and suggest more services to existing customers.
2. Learn to say “Next”.
Your services are not going to be ideal for every attorney you try to reach. Some do not have the kind of practice that supports using you. Some have inhouse LNCs; some will think their paralegals can perform LNC services; some already use independent LNCs. Don’t take it personally when you hear “no.” Every “no” brings you closer to “yes” when you are marketing to attorneys.
3. Never Stop Learning
Legal nurse consulting changes and evolves. New software makes our jobs easier. New laws in your state affect attorneys. New issues emerge in nursing and medical practice. New methods of marketing to attorneys arise. You can never be complacent. Always be learning.
4. Be Determined
Shortly after the truck unloaded cases of cleaner, my husband lost his job and slid into a depression. I was working fulltime in the hospital. I realized that soap was not going to sell itself. On my days off, I walked around the neighborhood and sold cleaning solutions. In one summer, I sold $1,000 worth of soap. I derived satisfaction from watching the stack of boxes get smaller. When you market your business, you have to be prepared for setbacks. You have to keep sight of why you want your business and be committed to making it grow.
5. Be Aware of the Power of Subcontractors
One of the critical lessons I learned from the distributorship model was the power of having people working under you. Your earning ability is an independent LNC is limited to the number of hours a week you can bill. When you work with subcontractors, other people are making money for you while you are doing other things. Multiply that by a few hundred people and you have a saleable business. That’s the secret behind how I was able to sell my legal nurse consulting business.
Pat Iyer MSN RN LNCC coaches other LNCs to help them build a successful LNC business. Learn how you can work with Pat and marketing to attorneys to reach your dreams. Interested in an opportunity to speak with Pat for a laser coaching session? Click on the image on the right column and see if you qualify.