Legal Marketing & PR

Use Negatives to Increase Credibility

By Tom Kane

I've been talking with various moving companies recently due to an upcoming move to North Carolina. One company, which I found on Angie's List,  this week provided me with copies of a number of emails as references from customers they've served. Interestingly, one of the emails was critical, albeit not overly. Nonetheless, I thought it was smart on their part to not include only glowing reviews. I can't say I gave it a whole lot of thought, but it really did raise their credibility in my eyes.

Lo and behold, today I looked at Trey Ryder's recent newsletter, and what does it contain but an article entitled 'Admit A Negative To Vastly Increase Your Credibility.' Mindful that most of us lawyers are not a humble lot, and are not prone to admit weaknesses of any kind, it reinforced my experience relating to the moving company.

Trey's stories about mail-order copywriters, and a waiter bring the point home. He suggests that lawyers can do the same thing by admitting that they are not experts in certain areas of the law. By so doing they can increase their credibility in their niche area(s) where they most want to develop business.

Admitting that you don't know it all, can increase your credibility in those practice areas that matter.

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Blog on April 29, 2010 (boomark / email).