By Carmen Dellutri, Esq., Dellutri Law Group, Fort Myers, FL
Some people are born great salespeople. Those people are charismatic and upbeat, and they have the ability to entice us to want to part with our hard earned dollars for the product or service they are selling. But most of us aren’t born with the natural ability to sell. Yet, selling yourself is a massive part of business success. Why? If you can’t sell yourself and your services, why should anyone pay you for your services?
In other words, you have to make people believe in you and want to hire you for who you are. I don’t know many people who want to hire a mediocre attorney. Most people will only work with an entrepreneur or buy into a business if they like and trust the person running it – if you aren’t a natural salesperson, you have your work cut out for you.
Know Who You Are Selling To
Before conducting an interview, journalists will spend hours researching the person they will be speaking to. They seek to find out things that other journalists might have missed like whether or not a person has a sense of humor, and where that person went to school. Why do these details matter? The more you know about your audience, the more confidence you can and will have in your sales pitch.
How can you research your ideal customer? Take the time to really consider who that person is, what makes them tick, and why they might be seeking your services. Most of the time, you can collect generalized information about that person in your intake form. Take a few minutes in the beginning of the consultation to do the following:
- Get them to open up to you by asking follow-up questions. This is a great way to break the ice and start the consultation.
- Ask if they have ever hired an Attorney before?
- How they heard about you?
- Where are they from?
Anything to break the ice.
Work on Being Yourself
You can read a million business books and try to emulate the best speaker you’ve ever seen, but chances are that trying to be someone else will come across as inauthentic. We all have off days, many of us have quirks, and few of us are as smooth as a TV character.
Sure, it would be nice to be Don Draper, but that’s not reality. The more authentic you are with your customers, the more they will understand what makes you tick, and whether or not they like who you are as a person.
Realize That You Can’t Win Them All
Some people won’t like you. Because those people don’t like you, they won’t do business with you. It’s hard not to take this personally, but that’s just the way it is. You don’t have to win over every person that you want to do business with, and learning to let go of those people that you don’t gel with will help your business progress. Suck it up and move on.
Sometimes, you can figure out what it is that a person does not like about you and fix it, but driving yourself crazy trying to be everyone’s favorite attorney isn’t going to help you make progress.
Learn to Say No
Sometimes, you won’t be able to help a person that comes to you. If the person that needs help is asking for something that’s just out of your scope, don’t be afraid to refer him/her to someone else. Having the confidence to send a potential client elsewhere says a lot about your personality – and it’s a great way to sell who you really are. You may not be able to help this person, but if they like you they will refer others to you.
Do you have to take classes in order to learn how to sell yourself better? It won’t hurt, but keeping these basic tips in mind will help drastically as well.
Remember: if you don’t believe in yourself or what you’re selling, nobody else will!
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Carmen Dellutri is the Founder and President of the Dellutri Law Group, P.A. He is certified by the American Board of Certification Consumer in bankruptcy law. He is also a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Court and Family Law Mediator and a Qualified Arbitrator.
He is a graduate of Edison Community College and the University of South Florida. In 1993, he graduated from Loyola University School of Law. While in law school, Mr. Dellutri clerked for the Honorable Charles Ward, Louisiana Fourth District Court of Appeal. Mr. Dellutri was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1993 and the New York Bar in 1994. He also received his Master of Laws (LL. M.) degree from Tulane University School of Law in 1994. Mr. Dellutri became a member of The Florida Bar in 1995. After entering private practice, Mr. Dellutri received his Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree from Florida Gulf Coast University in 1999.
Mr. Dellutri is licensed to practice in all state courts in Florida and the United States District Courts; Northern, Southern, and Middle Districts of Florida. Mr. Dellutri is also licensed to practice law in United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit and the United States Tax Court. Although Mr. Dellutri is not actively engaged in the practice of law in New Jersey or New York, he is admitted to practice law in all state and federal courts in New Jersey, and all state courts of New York.
The Law Offices of Carmen Dellutri, P.A. evolved into The Dellutri Law Group, P.A. as the firm grew from a little office in downtown Fort Myers to our four (4) offices today. Mr. Dellutri actively litigates cases involving catastrophic injuries and wrongful death on behalf of the victims. Additionally, the firm represents consumers in all forms of bankruptcy litigation. Mr. Dellutri is one of the founding members of the Bankruptcy Law Network and its affiliated websites.
Mr. Dellutri encourages each member of the firm to be active in the community. Last year, the firm supported many charitable and civic causes by donating time and much needed capital to the community. Mr. Dellutri and the other attorneys in the firm routinely speak to students and civic groups of all ages about various issues.
