Selling to Legal Teams: 3 Mistakes To Avoid
Authenticity Matters
As obvious as this short article may seem, it is both saddening and surprising that these mistakes are made time, and time again in legaltech.
Selling is about building and maintaining relationships not one night stands. Being authentic goes a long way, both in the short and long term.
This isn’t reality television, faking it means you won’t make it when it comes to selling legal teams legaltech. In enterprise software sales buyers want partners, not peddlers.
Three ways to nuke your sale
Steer clear of these three basic, but overlooked mistakes when selling legaltech.
1. Lying
Never. Ever. Lie.
This should go without saying. Sadly, too often this childhood lesson is often totally forgotten when it comes to pitching legaltech. All the more so when that legaltech embodies some form of “AI” or “blockchain”.
Regrettably, some legal AI vendors are essentially Wizard of Ozing, using humans behind an interface to present an impression of next-generation contract review. This is also known as fauxtomation, and is a topic we’ve highlighted here and here. The worst part is these tools might genuinely be valuable if they were repositioned as LPO offerings, backed up by the necessary SLAs and other protections of an LPO. Instead, pretending AI where none exists simply means no sale… and a very tenuous market reputation. Better vendors are upfront and open about whether, when and how they use humans in the loop. Be a good vendor, please.
Don’t take our word for it. Remember the obvious fact legal teams are trained to detect BS. Sooner or later you’ll get caught out.
Therefore, in all interactions be confident, but don’t fake it until you make it. If you fake it, you won’t make it.
2. Bamboozle
Similar to the above, don’t attempt to mesmerise buyers with the latest buzzwords and technical mumbo jumbo.
Doing so will typically:
- Inflate expectations, on the assumption the jargon sounds clever, must be clever and therefore will be exceptional beyond all basis in reality.
- Turn people off, on the assumption they cannot understand what you are saying and either (a) feel dumb, or (b) genuinely can’t find a fit for your product vs. their need.
- Suggest that your product is fake, or based on BS marketing.
3. Sneaky
Buyers invest huge amounts of time and energy gathering user requirements, surveying the market, meeting and vetting vendors and products.
The surest way to mess this up is to go behind the buyer’s backs and pitch to other individuals within the organisation.
Inevitably the pitched other does one of two things:
- contacts the buyer straight away, adding yet another management overhead to the buyer’s list of stakeholders that need to be placated; or
- contacts the buyer weeks or months later, by which time said other has signed or hopes to sign a contract without having gone through the proper approvals and thereby created an expectations management timebomb… sometimes coupled with an expectation the product can also be deployed instantaneously into the organisation’s IT environment for a live matter… which is rarely, if ever, possible due to security reasons.
In either scenario, you make the buyer’s job harder not easier. And it never ever ends well for the vendor.
The only sure thing is that the vendor will end up on the naughty list, never to be contacted again.
Something to do instead — be honest, humble and hopeful
Overinflated expectations have a compound effect.
Over time mismanaged expectations exponentially inflate beyond an inflection point. After that point, no matter what you deliver, no matter how good it is, it simply won’t suffice. This is when the buyer’s remorse, or cold feet, kick in.
Too often expectations are set into the stratosphere only to come crashing down once a sales cycle moves from pitch to proof of value, let alone from proof of value to production (if it gets that far). But there is a solution.
Underpromise and overdeliver is a winner
To avoid compounding overinflated expectations do what most business and career development books prescribe:
Underpromise and overdeliver.
Yes, this idea has its supporters and detractors. Yes, naturally, if used too often, this can become somewhat transparent and disingenuous. But used well, this can deliver dividends in terms of relationship building, stickiness and trust.
If anything, it’s a useful yardstick to check yourself: is what you are promising the buyer overstretching what you can deliver? If so, rein it in, don’t promise it and certainly don’t hype it.
We know you have competitors, so should you
Be humble. You may be the best of breed in your niche but acknowledge your competition. Very rarely, if ever, is a single product or service without competition. If not, it’s usually anti-competitive and therefore not something a legal organisation can buy.
However, don’t disparage your competition. One or two legaltech vendors seem to delight in publicly denigrating their competition, making obvious digs at easily identifiable competitors. No one likes a bully. Don’t be one.
Instead sell your strengths, not the weaknesses of others. Describe the differentiating factors or features of your product. Mention, to the extent you are legally entitled, other organisations working with your solution. If you can, provide data-backed ROI studies of such successes — this is extremely rare, so doing so will make you stand out a mile vs. the competition.
Help make buyers look good
Remember you need to make the buyer look good. Anything you do to make them look dumb, or worse, bad will ultimately come back around and ruin your chances of concluding a successful sale or profitable longstanding sales relationship with the buying organisation.
Easy ways to make them look good are to come armed to presentations, pitches and demos (or better still proposals) with demonstrable ROI use cases based on disclosed assumptions, qualifications and context. Likewise, if you can help the buyer prove ROI against their own use cases with ease then it becomes very easy to buy and much less effort to sell.
Conclusion
Whilst it can be appealing to take shortcuts… DON’T. People buy based on people. Trust over trickery wins over the long term. Be upfront about your product or service, what it can do / can’t do and what is today vs. roadmap of tomorrow. If you could do something beyond current capabilities, be realistic with yourself and the buyer about the qualifications and assumptions delivering on that promise might entail. Acknowledge competitors but don’t disparage them. Sell to your strengths rather than crow about the weaknesses of others. Confidence is attractive, whereas negativity is not. But in the end, be realistic but hopeful about the value you can provide as a partner, not peddler.
Originally published at lawtomated.
