Pat Lamb, who blogs at In Search Of Perfect Client Service, spoke compellingly to our litigators a couple of weeks ago, and I noticed he was carrying around a book by Harry Beckwith. In hopes of becoming more like Pat Lamb (which would improve me considerably), I went out and bought a book by Harry Beckwith too. I chose Selling The Invisible, because there may be nothing more invisible than some accumulated knowledge and insight about juries. ("Skeptics still say [that jury consulting] is sorcery science," reported the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Monday.)
Like any good book about marketing, Beckwith's book is largely about persuasion, and thus directly relevant to trial lawyers. In fact, he's relevant even when he's explicitly writing for a different reader. There's a great short essay about focus groups, called "Focus Groups Don't." It goes:
A typical discussion:
"We need some information."
"OK, let's do a focus group."
It's very tempting to summon focus groups. For one thing, the term "focus groups" is clever packaging. A "survey" sounds like something that only gives you the lay of the land. "Focus group," by contrast, sounds like something that gets you zeroed in.
Or so you would think.
But you are selling individuals, not groups. Focus groups tell more about group dynamics than about market dynamics. Control types take over focus group sessions and try to persuade the others. The wise but shy types sit quietly, waiting for the hour to end. People's views get changed and distorted by other people's views.
"You're selling individuals. Talk to individuals," Beckwith concludes, and he's probably right if you're selling individuals. But I could hardly have written a stronger argument for why "Focus Groups Do" (focus, that is) if you'll be trying to persuade a group.
Beckwith has perfectly described how juries, and mock juries, work. Control types do take over. Wise but shy types do get sidelined. People's views do get changed and distorted by other people's views.
Which is why mock juries are great. You haven't traveled until you've seen the places a group can go with your theory of the case. Find a way to run your case past a group, and then leave them alone with it for awhile, if you possibly can.
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Update: Scott Greenfield, who blogs on criminal defense at Simple Justice, picks up this post here and runs quite a bit farther with it, pulling in Sociology 101 and the moderating effect of a group moderator.
(Photo by Steve McFarland at http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=101334755; license details there.)
