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Message: Hi, I thought you might be interested in this article I found. Remove the Pain for Financial Gain - Part 6 - Prescribe This article is part of an article series on How to Get Clients as a Lawyer. The Series Is titled: Remove the Pain for Financial Gain Here are links to all the articles in the series: Remove the Pain for Financial Gain: Part 1: Introduction Remove the Pain for Financial Gain: Part 2: The Process Remove the Pain for Financial Gain: Part 3: The Interview Remove the Pain for Financial Gain: Part 4: The Diagnosis Remove the Pain for Financial Gain: Part 5: The Agitation Remove the Pain for Financial Gain: Part 6: The Prescription Remove the Pain for Financial Gain: Wrap-up Part 6: The Prescription As a recap - the IDAP process is a consultative sales system that attorneys use to develop new client relationships. IDAP is an acronym for: Interview Diagnose Agitate Prescribe The focus of this article will be the prescription aspect of the IDAP process. To understand the prescribe portion of the IDAP process we first must examine what happens when a doctor prescribes medication for a patient. After conducting a thorough examination, a doctor will make a diagnosis and prescribe a medication that will help restore the patient to good physical health. In the case of a client and an attorney, the attorney has walked the client through the IDAP process to the point where the client needs help. In fact, by now he should be begging for assistance. There are three ways you can tell if you are ready to move into the prescription phase of the IDAP process: One: The client is starting to look and sound despondent about the issue. If the client says something like: “Where do you recommend we start?” or “How should we attack this?” or “What do you think we should do?” or my personal favorite “Can you help me?” Then you know that they have recognized the urgency of the issue (from the agitation step) and they know that you are the solution (from the diagnose step). Did you notice the keys in those example statements? They all contained the client and the attorney working together to solve the problem. In order to move forward, the client must know that he needs help and he must believe that you are the obvious choice to help him. If you don’t have those two aspects covered you should not move forward. Two: The client wants to solve the problem. Just as in the case of a doctor – the patient must want to take the medicine. The client must want to solve this problem badly enough to implement the solution no matter what it may be. As you move down the road with your clients there will be times when you recommend a less than perfect alternative to a situation (such as a lower settlement number or partial victory). Ultimately, the client must want his matter resolved. If he is not ready to bring the problem to a resolution, you may be wasting your time. Three: The client must be free from outside influences that offer some kind of alternative to working with you. You must have the client’s direct and undivided attention or you will eventually lose the relationship and maybe even lose a chance at a favorable outcome in the matter. I have seen many, many cases where the client was engaging in legal advice “by committee” and it always and I stress ALWAYS ends in a confused and torn client and in at least one attorney getting fired or resigning from the case. The client must be committed to your firm 100%. Once all three of these conditions have been met, we are ready to propose our solution. Each prescription must include two elements in addition to any work that you will complete for the client. Element 1 is a specific set of action steps that the client must take in order to help you resolve the matter. This is important because it keeps the client actively engaged in the situation. They will retain ownership for the outcome and this will hopeful keep their urgency alive. Element 2 is potential outcomes – good bad and ugly. You should have a conversation with your clients at each step of the resolution process that details all the potential outcomes no matter how unlikely. You should use these conversations (and email exchanges) to manage the client’s expectations. Bad news should be delivered as soon as possible. Good news should be tempered unless it is the good news of a total victory. The prescription process does not occur at just one point in the client relationship. You will be making recommendations throughout your relationship with the client. If you have not met the requirements listed above you will dramatically decrease the likelihood that your prescription will be followed. In our next article on the IDAP process we will summarize everything we have discussed. Link: http://www.rainmakerlawyer.com/site/permalink/remove_the_pain_part_6_prescribe/