I visit website after website for attorneys claiming something like “Excellent Legal Representation at an Affordable Price.”

If you’re one of the lawyers using that kind of tagline, you’re competing on price. You might think you’re selling “Excellent Legal Representation,” but you’re not. Your prospective clients assume you’re “Excellent.” They’re keying in on “Affordable Price.” That’s all they see in that headline.

They’re calling you because you’re cheap—period.

When they call, you’d better be cheap, because if you’re not, they’re hanging up. They’ll say, “Good-bye, Ms. Excellent Legal Representation at an Affordable Price.”

You don’t want to build a practice based on cheap. It’s the wrong way to go. You can’t win that game. Someone cheaper will always come along. Do you want to fight for the position of low price leader for your entire legal career?

When lawyers compete on price, they work diligently to drive one another out of business. Years ago, when I got a speeding ticket, I paid my lawyer $300. A few months ago, my 17-year-old got a ticket, and we paid $150. We could have found counsel in many North Carolina counties for as little as $35. Once the price competition starts, it keeps going until we get to zero. Is that going to work for you?

Seriously, is that the game you want to play?

What’s the long-term plan? Be cheap, attract clients, and then raise rates? The only problem with that plan is when you raise rates, you’ll lose clients because you won’t be cheap. Won’t all your happy clients tell their friends? Sure they will—they’ll tell them how cheap you were. Sadly, you aren’t going to continue selling services at an “affordable price” if you’re not really the lawyer with the “affordable price.”

Can you compete on price and win? Sure, if you, like Walmart, have the ability to drive down your costs and stay ahead of the competition. Do you? I doubt it. It’s especially tough in the labor-intensive area of family law.

When you decide what to say about yourself in your marketing material, you need to say something unique and something sustainable. Don’t compete on price. There are so many alternatives to price. You don’t have to pick the one competitive distinction that has the effect of slowly, but surely, driving you right into the ground.