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When quoting for work, I usually point out that:
1. Many conveyancers gain their market share through bribery/referral fees and I name them.
2. Often the standards of certain outfits are abysmal. I tell people which firms I have reported to the CQS and/or the SRA and why and those whom I have advised clients to sue or lodge complaints about. Typical examples include lying to me, lying to their own clients, lying to estate agents, gross incompetence, negligence and so on. I also tell them which solicitors at which other firms I would recommend.
3. I am not the cheapest and I explain why. If a client just wants a cheap job, I recommend them to go elsewhere in the knowledge that they can then take advice on the quality of the service received with a view to seeking recompense for the likely incompetence.
4 Many firms use unqualified, unsupervised and/or junior badly trained staff. I recommend enquirers to ask who will actually be doing the work and not to be fobbed off with claims of "supervision".
5. I explain how I save clients money. I do not pay "document fees" unless instructed to and threaten to report those who seek unfairly to charge them to the SRA if they do not back down. I do not pay managing agents or landlord's agents the fees they demand unless they are legally entitled to them (and usually they are not under the terms of the relevant deeds).
I have specialised in property work for decades, have never advertised, do not have a website and do not pay referral fees/bribes. I have enough work because I am recommended by satisfied or delighted clients and have been instructed by people who have told me they chose me for my honesty on the above points despite the higher price. I find that a very substantial minority (or possibly the majority) of the firms I deal with to be an incompetent embarrassment to the profession. On average, at least one firm every week writes to my clients without my consent, for example.
I made it a New Year's resolution this year to report all firms who are repeat offenders to the relevant regulatory bodies. I believe that if more solicitors did the same and also publicly embarrassed the dross to clients, estate agents and so on via copy emails, standards might rise.