[Attorney]: The fee for the legal service is $250/hr with a $5,000 retainer.

[Client]: That’s too much.  Can we do $200/hr with $1,000 retainer?  I promise I’ll pay.  And I can refer my friends to you.

We’ve all, at one time for another, had a client say a version of the above conversation to us.  It happens to the best of us.  The question is, what do you do in that situation?  The answer is simpler said than done.  You of course, hold your ground and don’t lower your fee.  But what happens to a lot of attorneys (not just new or young attorneys), is that we start to bargain with our client and inevitably, we lower the fee.  And in many cases, months down the road, we’re suddenly surprised that this great client isn’t paying us.  How could we have missed the warning signs?!

Here’s a couple of strategies I use to sell my services to a skeptical client and not budge on my fees.

Sell them your expertise, not your fee

What I mean by that is to sell the client on your expertise before you sell them on the price of your legal services.  If the client knows and trusts that you’re the best fit for them, then price is no longer the primary decisive factor between you and the next attorney they’ll call.  You sell them on your expertise by doing very extensive intakes, really listening to the client, and not only giving your client advice about what they want, but tell them what they need.  If you can effectively sync up with your client and tell them what they need before they tell you what they want, you’ve just sold them on your expertise.  The last thing you should do is quote them a price.  At that point, they’ve already decided to hire you despite not knowing the fee.

Show them how you negotiate

In most consumer oriented practices such as any type of civil ligation, transaction deal, family law, etc., you’ll be spending a lot of time negotiating a deal with the other party or opposing counsel.  What the client is paying you for most of the time, is your ability to negotiate on their behalf and get them the best deal possible.  So when a client asks me to lower my fees, this is what I tell them,”If I lowered my fees because you asked me to, then you shouldn’t hire me because what you’re hiring me for is to negotiate on your behalf and if I can’t even effectively negotiate the fee that I know I deserve, what makes you think I’ll be able to negotiate effectively for you?”

At this point, the client should be throwing money at you.

What other techniques have worked for you?  Tell me in the comments.

“If I lowered my fees because you asked me to, then you shouldn’t hire me because what you’re hiring me for is to negotiate on your behalf and if I can’t even effectively negotiate the fee that I know I deserve, what makes you think I’ll be able to negotiate effectively for you?”