Can you sell yourself — and your legal services — to a stranger in only half a minute? Marketing experts say that in this small amount of time, you should be able to give a so-called “30-second elevator speech” that outlines who you are, what makes your services unique, and what you can offer potential clients.

Lawyers meet potential clients in a wide variety of places, including cocktail parties, social gatherings, conferences or conventions. And sometimes they meet people in more unlikely places, when they least expect to meet a future client. Having a short prepared speech can grab someone’s attention right away and hopefully will make him think of you in the future when he needs a lawyer. That means those few sentences should be well thought-out and rehearsed.

A typical elevator speech should consist of several components: a memorable introduction, the benefits and solutions you provide, and what makes you unique. Your pitch can then be adjusted to the individual, depending on who they are. Define yourself in a way that will elicit interest, such as increasing profits, saving money, specific expertise, prompt service or solving a particular problem. Use whatever sets you apart.

Having a prepared speech and being able to launch into it at a moment’s notice are key factors in making this a successful marketing tool. Unfortunately, although the 30-second elevator speech seems simple enough, it’s surprising that many lawyers don’t have something prepared.

“Most people don’t do a good job of this,” says Lonny Balbi, a family lawyer at Balbi & Company in Calgary. “Lawyers typically just say, ‘I’m a lawyer,’ or ‘I do divorce law,’ or, ‘I’m a corporate lawyer,’ or something like that.” That’s a lost opportunity to do business with a potential client.”

Balbi, who refers to his speech as a “laser talk,” speaks to potential clients wherever he goes. “It can be funny, it can be serious, you can do it many different ways, but the idea is to just expand upon what you do, to talk about the kind of clients that you deal with and to explain the benefits of using you. Why would you use me over the next person?”

And although that person may not be a potential client, they can refer you to others, says Balbi. “In my business, just about everybody’s a referral source.”

Hook 'Em

Grab people’s attention with a unique statement that they’ll remember, something that resonates. Family lawyer Balbi sometimes uses the line: “I deal with people who are in the Third World War,” to get someone’s attention.

Try to develop a speech that’s natural and that comes off smoothly. Some people think that practising what to say puts you at risk of sounding trite or overly polished, but when you’re well-prepared it can seem more natural and believable. And keep it short and to the point. When people say, “What do you do?” you’ve got to swing into action.

“You’ve got a very short period of time, and people get bored very easily. No one likes to talk to somebody who’s always talking about themselves,” says Bob Teskey, managing partner of Field LLP in Edmonton. “You may have a minute or a minute and a half at the most, but you don’t have very long … I think if lawyers make a mistake, it is that they talk too much.”

Create a bond with the person you’re speaking to. “More than anything, people hire lawyers based on trust,” says Teskey. A relationship of trust isn’t created by merely talking about yourself. Sometimes lawyers put too much emphasis on describing their expertise rather than on creating a bond with someone. “Talk about the things that are common to us all,” says Teskey.

There can be a risk of doing a hard sell, so keep things at a personal level. “If they ask you something that is law-related, I think that there’s always a tendency to view that as an opening for a university lecture,” says Teskey.

Focus on the person you’re speaking to. If you have time, ask questions to assess what they need and what you can offer them.

“Often lawyers are viewed as being detached and really not identifying with the needs of the client,” says Teskey. “You have to get to something that’s meaty; you can’t talk about, ‘We’re the best in the land,’ because everybody’s going to say the same thing. So what you’re trying to do is to identify something that you believe sets you apart; that the people that you’re addressing can identify with.”

Scott Norton, Q.C., a partner at Stewart McKelvey in Halifax, tries to tailor his pitch to his audience.

“If it happened to be that the person was an insurance adjuster that I didn’t know, then I’d launch into, ‘I’ve been doing insurance defence work for 25 years. Do you know so-and-so?’ depending on where they said they were working. So I’d make it more personal, if it was obvious from the introduction that this was somebody who worked in my circle … In 30 seconds you can hopefully make an impression that they remember you and pass along a business card.”

Build Your Firm’s Brand

When he’s introduced to new people, Norton asks what they do for a living, then inquires as to who handles their legal work. Unless they happen to need a lawyer who does insurance defence work, he uses the meeting as a cross-selling opportunity to put them in touch with a lawyer from his firm who does work in whatever area of business they’re in.

Giving a short elevator speech not only sells your own services, it also provides a great opportunity to build the brand awareness of your firm and help position it in the marketplace. All staff members should be aware of what the firm has to offer so they can pass it along to others.

“There’s tremendous strength in basically advertising your position or your brand and the uniqueness of your firm’s services or abilities through the words of staff and professionals, as they interact with many, many people on a daily basis,” says Ron Currie, Gowlings LLP’s national marketing director, who is based in Toronto. “For us, it’s 1,800 staff and professionals combined; that’s a lot of people basically advertising what this firm is about … This kind of process is really one that should be embraced by the executive level of the firm.”

Once you’ve finished talking, make sure to exchange business cards. David Varty, of Varty & Company in Vancouver, says one of the keys to giving an effective elevator speech is to “make an assumed close,” which can be as simple as saying “let’s keep in touch.” You can go further and ask them to lunch to discuss how you can help them. Better yet, offer to drop by their office to discuss ways you can be of service.

“Because you’re coming to their office there’s no problem for them; they don’t have to go and do something,” he says. The good thing about doing that is that there’s very little cost involved. “Taking them out to an expensive lunch, they start feeling a little uneasy about feeling pressured or obliged.”

Every lawyer should be able to launch into a 30-second elevator speech at a moment’s notice. It’s fast, it’s simple and it can be highly effective.

Balbi advises lawyers to “sit down and think about this and develop something that works well for your personality. Think about the types of people you represent, what is it that you do for them, what are you committed to doing, and why do you make a difference for people? You could be a corporate lawyer and you’re trying to help people grow their business — you’re there to help people become multimillionaires.” And what potential client wouldn’t want to hear that story?

Ann Macaulay is a Toronto writer.