5 Signs You’re Talking Too Much as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant

Let’s face it. Silence can be uncomfortable. Especially when you’re in an interview with an attorney-prospect. The attorney just said, “$150/hr. sounds expensive” and you’ve replied, “My hourly fee will pay for itself with the money you’ll save on expensive MD experts.” Now you’re both sitting there quietly waiting for someone to break the silence.

With neither of you saying a word, it should be obvious that you are both using a tried and true negotiation strategy – waiting each other out. While it’s possible that the attorney may have gone into a coma or passed out from low blood sugar, it’s more likely he thinks you’ll break first. He doesn’t know that as an RN you’re used to waiting for hours at a time (or worse 10-12 hours) just for a trip to the bathroom. You can easily sit there as long as is necessary.

The old negotiation adage “Whoever speaks first loses” still has merit today. To effectively use silence, you have to be comfortable in the space of silence. Beginning Certified Legal Nurse Consultants tend to err on the side of talking too much. When you talk too much, you run the risk of unnecessarily offering to lower your fee, boring the attorney-prospect or, even worse, making yourself appear to be much less than the professional legal nurse consultant that you are. Silence can be uncomfortable but talking too much is a sure way to go home without that case.

So keeping in mind that silence is often golden, watch for these 5 signs you’re talking too much as a legal nurse consultant:

1. You pause to take a breath and notice that the attorney has gotten up and left the room.
2. You make eye contact with the attorney and see that his eyes have glazed over and that he’s slumped over in his chair, drooling out of the right side of his mouth.
3. You hear quiet beeping noises and you realize the attorney is playing Candy Crush.
4. You notice the attorney has slipped his cellphone onto his lap and is furiously trying to text his assistant to buzz in, interrupt and rescue him.
5. You pull out your 25th sample work product and you realize you’ve forgotten what the attorney-prospect’s specialty practice of law is so you decide to start your show and tell over to cover all your bases.

If you’ve ever found yourself in any one of these five situations, it’s obvious that you’re talking too much and it’s undoubtedly proving fatal to your legal nurse consulting business.

It’s certainly okay to open with a brief overview of your credentials, experience and qualifications. But keep it brief. Right after that brief introduction, ask the attorney-prospect a question. Your doing most of the talking in an attorney interview does not work. Your goal is to engage the prospect, get him to talk about himself, the types of cases he litigates and the difficult issues he’s handling.

Before you go into any attorney interview review the Interview Questions in the Your Additional Resources section of the NACLNC^® Association.

And one last tip: if you think you’re over-talking in an attorney interview, you probably are! LOL!

Success Is Yours!

P.S. Comment and share how you avoid over-talking with attorneys.