Frankly, building a successful real estate practice requires nothing special at all. Building a successful law practice—now that’s the challenge. Yes, substantive real property law is very different from substantive intellectual property law or workers’ compensation law or employment law, but the need to know the law in your own field and the need to give superb, top-notch service to clients is universal.
What Clients Want
Most of our clients are satisfied (rightly or wrongly) with their assumption that we have mastered our field. What they care about is service. There are a lot of attorneys who can do just what you do; some do it better, some not as well. In almost all cases, however, they can do it well enough. That’s not to say that every challenge can be met by every attorney, but ego-busting as this might sound, most of us can solve the common and recurring problems that cross our desks.
So, what separates the successful (real estate or other) practitioner from the rest of the field? Simply stated, it is meeting the client’s needs, and providing solutions. And this starts with knowing each of your clients because clients aren’t generic. Does “that” particular client want answers or reasoning or both? A lot of other attorneys can do the same work you do. How will you distinguish yourself from all those others?