Why does someone decide to hire you and not your competitor? Usually it is not how good you are as an attorney, it is how you make clients feel and how well they understand what’s in it for them.

After all, perception is reality.

The art of persuasion begins with an in-depth understanding of your target market.  You need to know their emotional triggers and their decision-making process and then leverage that knowledge to get them to act.

Here are six well-proven persuasion techniques you can use to convert more leads into paying clients:

1. Reciprocity. If someone gives you a gift, you feel like you should give them one, too. The need to repay a favor is deeply ingrained in human behavior. When you offer prospects a free ebook or newsletter, you subconsciously encourage them to offer something to you — their email address and permission to be contacted.
2. Commitment. Humans have a natural tendency to want to follow through on their commitments. It is part of our self-image, that we are reliable and trustworthy. If you can get prospects to make a small commitment — signing up for a free consultation — they are more likely to make the bigger commitment of hiring you.
3. Social proof. Monkey see/monkey do is not just for monkeys. People tend to want to do the things that other people do. On the Internet, that is known as social proof — which is why reviews are so widely used. Positive reviews of a product or service lessen the risk that we will be disappointed in our choices. There is security in numbers. Ways to demonstrate your social proof include having testimonials on your website to show others have been satisfied with your work and social media sharing.
4. Likeability. People buy from people they like and trust, so likeability is a big influencer. You can build trust and relationships by using videos and photos on your website and blog featuring you and your staff, associating your brand with charitable causes and by creating content that mirrors your target market.
5. Scarcity. People want what they can’t have. The theory of loss aversion — that people would rather avoid losses than acquire gains — is well proven in human psychology. Making limited time or one-of-a-kind offers — a webinar, a special report — will increase the desirability of those offers considerably.
6. Authority. For the most part, we trust and respect people in authority. Authority can be conferred via a title, an endorsement, or an enviable track record of success. Hosting and posting to a blog regularly can increase your authority, as can participation in LinkedIn groups and online legal directories. Publicizing your awards and your wins also helps boost your authority.

Understood and applied correctly, these time-proven persuasion techniques can help you boost your lead conversion rates dramatically over time.