How to Attract High-Net-Worth Clients to Your Estate Planning Practice
The insight into Ultra High Net Worth buyer behavior in choosing law firms and how to show them your firm is the right choice.
You have the website, the visibility, and poured major time and resources into your online presence. You have buckets of client testimonials. Everything you’ve been taught to do with marketing and visibility, you’ve done, but you aren’t really getting the clients you desire.
Learn how ultra high net worth clients buy services and leverage that knowledge to bring in affluent clients to your firm.
What you’d love is an influx of high net worth individuals who have built legacies worth protecting and retain high net worth estate planning clients for your law practice.
And even though you are CONFIDENT you could help them, you are invisible to them.
Why the disconnect?
The problem: law firms using mainstream marketing
I’m not surprised you aren’t attracting these clients into your retainers if you are following the same old marketing advice for lawyers that every other firm is using,
I work with businesses who attract and retain high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Most marketers don’t understand this level of affluence, likely because they don’t know anyone of this wealth level.
But agencies ALSO have NO CLUE how UHNW and HNW people make buying decisions on high stakes investments. When a client like this chooses an estate planning attorney, if they choose poorly they could lose everything they ever built. If they choose wisely, they could protect their empire so the great grandkids never have to work.
Marketing experts are experts in the mass market customer, not the wealthy client. I recently read a misinformed article in Forbes. They said if a law firm wants quality clients they need “insightful content and a chat bot.”
Yawn. If you want to blend in with every other law firm in the world, go right ahead and implement generic, boring and overused strategies.
Hint, don’t do that, please. And Forbes needs to do better.
What Most Law Firms Get Wrong With Affluent Clients
Law firms use conventional marketing because agencies don’t know any better. They apply the same strategies to a $1M client and a $100M client. After all a client’s a client, right?
Uh no.
I say this gently and with the best of intentions, you are invisible to high net worth clients because you look like everyone else out there. Your firm’s marketing, position, look, website, message, marketing and language are all the same. (If I see another website with the words “trusted advisor” I might throw my MacBook across the room)
You can’t use the same generic sales techniques everyone else is using and expect high value clients to land in your lap.
Clients have changed and we have to change as well.
It’s no longer enough to get a Chatbot on your website, or publish in a respected journal. People just don’t care anymore. Every other law firm has the same things you do on their website. Most law firms are presenting a gilded version of themselves polished, respectable, and completely forgettable.
What High-Net-Worth Clients Actually Want
Ultra high net worth clients want superlative law firms because they are superlative.
These clients have built empires. Remember, they know they are unique and they want their firms to be just as unique; in other words, attorneys who understand their clients’ legacy and dreams. They want you to knows their fears, respect their achievements and undertstand their level of success.
HNW clients know they deserve better than mainstream and reject anything that looks commonplace. You cannot look or market like any other law firm. You must be distinctively, uniquely, and exclusively different.
A New Approach to Attracting Estate and Trust Clients
The estate clients you want already have access to capable attorneys. They’re not choosing based on who’s visible or smart.
They’re choosing based on who feels safe, discreet, and a strategic match for their specific situation.
They’re Looking For:
Exclusivity
Confidentiality
Emotional containment
High level thought-processes
Unique strategies they’ve not heard before
Custom client experiences they can’t receive anywhere else
A level of privacy that is second to none
Every firm claims they are exclusive and confidential, so how do you go the extra mile for this discerning client?
Does Your Law Firm Brand Match Their Identity?
Your firm should reflect the self image, standards, and emotional expectations of the high net worth clients you want to attract. In other words, your identity should match their identity. They know they are unique and you should be too.
High net worth clients don’t hire attorneys based on credentials they hire based on how the firm makes them feel about themselves. They’re thinking:
“Does hiring this firm reflect who I am, where I am in life, and how I make decisions? Does this firm's success match my own?”
A Quick Self-Test for Affluent Readiness
Do people at their level of success choose you and your firm?
Have you worked with others who have the same level of complexity, privacy, concerns, or complicated family dynamics?
Can you navigate at this level with a profound amount of finesse and discretion?
Do can you read their minds about the challenges they will face in the near and far future without having them over explain their life and business?
Is your branding, message, position or client experience catered to the most affluent client?
If your messaging sounds like it came from a marketing agency or from any other law firm's website it will fail the test. Even if every part of your brand (online and offline!) is clean and polished, you can’t be generic or impersonal. Affluent clients look for signals if you are the right or the wrong choice for them, and they will use their emotions and intuition to decide.
Why Firms Lose the Clients They Want
The advisors UHNW clients retain must feel like a natural extension of their identity; composed, strategic, discreet, and the right fit.
This is where most firms quietly lose clients. Even the most skilled attorneys present themselves through blah visuals and messaging that is either common or complicated.
Remember, your brand is a direct reflection on THEM. If they hire you, it means something about them.
The Psychology of the Affluent Buyer
Affluent clients decide based on feelings first and facts second.
High net worth clients often make estate planning decisions by tuning into how a firm feels, not just what you say, but how you present yourself.
They don’t need legal options, they’re looking for signals of safety, exclusivity, and identity match. They want to know if you are going to understand people like them. Or if you’re going to be one of those people that’s going to have to be educated on how they operate and think. They don’t want to have to educate anyone. They want people that understand someone of their caliber and their level. Your visual representation, your tone, and depth are read as someone who gets them or someone who does not. So your tone depth and visual presentation has to be spot on.
The Buying Moment
You have to understand what they need to see from you. Usually that means more restraint, more elegance, and less words.
When your buyer makes decisions, it happens in a millisecond before they realize it’s happening.
They are making snap decisions on whether or not you look and sound like someone they want to work with. If you don’t they will move on and never look back.
A HNW or UHNW client needs to see refined elegance from you, not the same tired articles, emails, business cards and slogans. They won’t be hiring you if you are on a billboard or advertising late at night on hulu!
Real Examples of the Shift
We worked with a firm that worked with legacy families, and reworked their message and position to reflect outcome-driven narratives with a trusted advisory tone. This serious and grounded authority they presented was so powerful: their first new client was referred by a private banker they’ve never met who had seen the new positioning and reached out and referred them.
Another firm we worked to refine their message, they eliminated all blog content and replaced it with “letters to future heirs“ short video series. They tripled their inquiries from families with over 50 million in assets.
Yet another business changed their focus from volume posting on social media to a handwritten letter campaign and personalized gifts BEFORE the clients said yes. They increased their retainers by 30% that quarter and signed 1/2 of the clients who received the letters and gifts.
Why Affluent People Buy Expensive Services
All of the above examples are rooted in behavior and buyer motivators of the wealthy.
Affluent clients are paying to protect their empire: but their buyer motivator isn’t security, it is LONGEVITY and life extension. They long to leave a legacy on earth. (This is one of their buying motivators, when you work with me we uncover 5-6 distinct reasons they buy and infuse those reasons into your positioning.)
Real life example, why would someone buy a Patek Philippe watch; do they really need to spend $100,000 on a time piece?
They buy the watch because they want to be REMEMBERED when they are gone.
Someone who has built a substantial estate wants to know it will be protected in their lifetime; but also so they are remembered when they are gone.
“You never actually own a Patek Philippe, You merely look after it for the next generation”
When you understand how to tap into their emotions, you have the edge over every other firm in the market.
Congratulations, you have read your client’s mind and know exactly what to say to them from hello to we received your retainer, lets’ book some time and get started!
Tactical Shifts to Make in Your Firms’ Brand.
Replace long form sales copy with short, composed language that mirrors how UHNW clients speak and think.
Use exact language and do not go off into lawyer jargon.
Use elegant, minimal design with white space and private access language. If you want the client to stay longer on the page use dark colors. If your firm desires for the client to take action, use lighter colors.
Look at the buyer motivators of your best clients, why did they choose you? What else are they investing in? This knowledge gives you the clues you need when you speak to high net worth groups, meet a new prospect, write a letter or email, or write any copy for your website.
How to Attract UHNW Clients Without Saying a Word
The most effective law firm brands in the estate space are composed, deliberate and emotionally intelligent. Clients want to know: is this firm the firm for people like me when it’s time to make serious decisions?
5 Ways to Signal You Belong in Their World
Use restrained, visual sophistication. Minimal color palette, white space, and elegant typography. No clutter, no gimmicks.
Mirror their internal language. Speak to what they’re thinking: "I want this handled before it becomes complicated." "This isn’t just about tax. It’s about legacy."
Make everything feel like a private invitation. No pop-ups or gimmicks. Consider a letter-style welcome, private client page, or language like “by referral only.”
Showcase exclusivity. State clearly who you help and who you don’t. “We help clients preparing for generational wealth transfers, philanthropic shifts, and high impact estate structures.”
Be emotionally neutral. Your voice should reflect calm authority, not hype or overfriendliness.
Mistakes to Avoid for UHNW Clients.
Most law firms overuse the same language in their communications: focus, results, solutions, client-centered, experienced, advisor, trusted. I googled all of those words and found 15 law firm websites that looked nearly identical.
The photo to the left is one of the 15 I found in about 1 minute of searching.
Do not chase visibility, you will be seen as someone who lacks discretion.
Final Word
Fancy visuals are fine. But this level of client values deep insight. They respect mastery. They know what it takes to build something that lasts.
If you’re attracting good clients but know your firm is built for more discerning ones, it’s time to stop refining and start recalibrating.
This is your invitation to book your call.
