25 things law firms must remember

when implementing

their marketing plans

www.tenandahalf.co.uk

Do any of the following 10 ½ situations apply to you? 1. You know that if your firm is going to grow, you're going to have to do more business development but aren't sure how to get the ball rolling 2. You have lots of good marketing ideas but aren't sure how to translate these ideas into plans and then into action 3. You want to change the focus of your marketing but aren't sure how to introduce the fresh initiatives you’ll need to 4. Your time is taken up with fee earning and feel unable to balance that with the time required for marketing 5. You want to redistribute individual responsibilities to take your plans forward but don't know how 6. You have communicated your plan, assigned responsibilities and set deadlines but need help monitoring progress 7. You have a hardcore of 'rainmakers' within your firm but too many fee earners hide behind them without making a direct contribution of their own 8. Many of your fee earners pay lip service to business development but you are unsure about what is really being done 9. You want to increase buy-in across the firm but are finding it difficult to generate enthusiasm from certain fee earners 10. You have tried to push business development before but, after an initial flurry, activity faded 10 ½. Too many see marketing as just a 'bolt-on‘. You need to reinforce that it’s pivotal if you’re going to be successful

If 1 or 2 ring true, this report should help. If more than 2 ring true, this report is essential reading!

So what are the 25 tips…?

1. Open lines of communication To start with, bring everyone together (support and fee earning staff) and go through your plan explaining the reasons behind each line item and also the benefits to the firm as a whole. Then invite: 1. Feedback 2. Suggested refinements 3. New ideas that could help you achieve your objectives and then acknowledge and distribute all answers – however irrelevant you consider them to be. From there make sure the senior partners and heads of department are always available to answer questions and provide progress reports and significant updates. Also, communicate horizontally. Every practice area and every office needs to know what their colleagues are doing. All too often we hear “I had no idea they were doing that” or “I went for lunch with a prospect last week and David from Commercial Property had been out with him the week before”.

Or there’s the classic “I tried the local professionals networking evening last week and there were six of our lawyers there – I had no idea they went!” If you can’t establish open lines of communication both vertically and horizontally, implementing your marketing plan effectively is going to be tough.

2. Inclusion, involvement and other words beginning with ‘in’ A fait accompli does not work. Throughout the design process make sure everyone who will be involved in implementing your plans are involved in designing them. This definitely doesn’t mean management by committee or the necessity to learn how to ‘herd cats’. The old adage of ‘too many cooks’ still applies. However, there are other ways to ensure people feel involved throughout the design process that won’t cause unnecessary delays but will ensure people feel that they have been listened to and included within the planning process.

3. Horses for courses For some reason when you mention ‘business development’ in a legal context, your audience will immediately think ‘networking’. There are in fact a wide range of activities fee earners at all levels can get involved in.

One of the fundamental ways to aid successful implementation is to make sure people are responsible for the activities best suited to them, the activities they will be more comfortable delivering. Identify who likes an audience, who prefers to meet 1on1, who likes to crack a new target and who prefers to deal with clients they already know. Some may prefer not to make personal contact but enjoy writing or participating in recognised online forums. While the ‘horses for courses’ strategy may not sound scientific, it is effective and has been proven to engender much higher levels of engagement from even the least enthusiastic and, as a result, deliver much higher levels of return.

4. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail While this may look like one of those dreadful management-speak clichés the truth is it only became a cliché because it’s so true. Marketing plans don’t just fall together. In the same way their successful implementation won’t just happen. We’ll come onto the practical side (assigning personal responsibilities and measurement) later in the report but that doesn’t overlook the need to pre-prepare before you even set pen to paper. .

If you are going down the sector route (another conversation entirely) then know what’s going on in the industries you’re targeting. If you’re concentrating on providing more of a full service practice to your region, then know what’s going on locally. Know where the opportunities are and address them in your plan and make sure you are prepared to take full financial advantage of them.

5. Desired outcomes - what does success look like? It was while working with a forward looking firm of patent attorneys that I first heard the term “start with the end in mind” and was unwittingly introduced to the concept of desired outcomes. It was nothing I didn’t know or in fact nothing I hadn’t been doing but it just brought the obvious into sharp focus. Before you even look at writing let alone rolling out a plan know what you want it to do, know where you want to be once you’ve implemented it. The outcome could include financial goals, increased headcount, an increase in local market share or the launch of a new sector team or even new practice area. List out what you want and work backwards.

Just being able to see what you want will help you articulate it. From there it’s easier to write your plan and generate a higher level of engagement amongst your fee earners. All of a sudden you have real goals rather than just words to aim for.

6. Keep everything joined up If you are to implement your plan successfully it needs to be directly relevant to every part of your business plan. Your fee earners need to see all of your key objectives are tackled and that departmental objectives match the firm’s. Your fee earners need to see the overall financial targets match the sum total expected of each department and that departmental targets are directly linked to individual billable targets. Your fee earners need to see that the required activity targets match the financial targets. Your fee earners need to see all of the firm’s practice areas are involved. Most importantly, make sure your fee earners can understand they are expected to act in the interest of the firm, not to work in their own silos.

7. Nobody escapes! One of the easiest ways to derail the implementation of any plan is to leave yourself open to being asked “Well, they don’t do it so why should I?” There’s no credible comeback and once that particular elephant’s in the room, it’s nigh on impossible to persuade it to leave. In short, everyone has to be involved in the implementation process in some way. Everyone has to be accountable for delivering their part and the openness with which those accountabilities are measured has to be the same for everyone. If you make any special dispensations to save difficult conversations or to preclude potentially difficult colleagues, you are only creating an excuse for some to dip in and out as it suits them which in turn will mean you will not enjoy the level of success you should.

8. Clear personal accountabilities To implement a plan properly everyone involved needs to know exactly what they’re responsible for and that means to the letter, not woolly suggestions or intimations but clearly spelled out targets, sectors, activities and timelines. Create a working environment without any confusion and you will create an environment that works.

9. SMART targets The last thing I want to do is teach granny to suck eggs or whatever that appalling phrase is – in fact let’s just say I’m mindful of stating the bleeding obvious but feel duty bound to remind you that if you are going to set goals they need to be: Specific (as in clear personal accountabilities) Measurable (up next!) Achievable Realistic Time-bound I won’t labour the each point because they’re completely self-explanatory. Let’s call this point a quick half-time refresher!

10. What isn't measured isn't done Alongside financial targets there need to be performance indicators. What do you need to do, how often do you need to do it, how many times are you going to need to repeat those activities if they are to bring in the levels of success required to realise your financial targets? If it takes 10 phone calls to fix 3 coffees to get one pitch opportunity then the targets need to start with the 10 phone calls, not with the proposal and definitely not with a number preceded with a £.

Those performance indicators then need to be added to a simple dashboard, somewhere your fee earners can record their activities quickly and easily. This will allow you to monitor progress continually and satisfy yourself that the building blocks to achieving your financial targets are being put into place and everyone on the team is fulfilling their personal responsibilities.

11. The carpenters' rule: measure, then measure again Once you have your measuring tools in place – use them! Again it all sounds obvious but if you keep checking things are on track you are alerted to any potential shortfalls while they’re just a blip in need of attention rather than a black hole in need of disaster recovery. Once you identify a missed deadline or a drop in activity, address it. From a management perspective it’s so much easier to broach the subject with those involved informally, in fact it often allows you to use the opportunity to motivate and reinvigorate. This type of meeting is also much more productive than having the performance led meetings that could occur further down the line.

12. Written commitment beats spoken intention It’s all very well people nodding and even smiling in meetings as they agree to the tasks assigned to them but what happens when you ask for a catch-up or progress report? How many of the individual tasks have been forgotten or overlooked? How many weren’t totally acknowledged at that first meeting? This isn’t done on purpose. This is the result of having loads of other things to worry about as soon as you get back to your desk. If you want to make sure your team knows exactly what’s expected of them, make sure you drop each team member a short email – and bullet points will suffice – summarising the key actions. This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes … even less if you do it straight after the meeting when everything’s still fresh. Better still, design a template outlining the key activities and get your fee earners to fill it in before you meet. Having them commit to certain activities without having to be volunteered makes it more likely the activities will be completed. As a manager it also gives you a template to chart progress on during future meetings.

13. Names and numbers Don’t swim against the tide. You will move further faster if you use the contacts and potentially warm introductions you already have in the building. Once you have your objectives on paper and have agreed on the tactics you need to use to achieve these objectives, have a look at who you actually need to meet to make things happen. Once you have identified who you need to know, ask your colleagues who on that list they know so you can be introduced personally. Taking the time to conduct this exercise properly both speeds up progress and makes it much more comfortable for fee earners to get in front of their key targets. Likewise, how many people you want to influence (referrers or prospective clients) are already on your database? A call out the blue is as hard to take as it is to make but if you can soften your targets up with relevant, valuable communications over time they will be more disposed to taking your call and letting you follow up that call with an offer to meet face-to-face.

14. It's not just a fad Here comes the pulpit moment … the brimstone and treacle! If you’re going to really make things move forward you need to be totally consistent and not dip in and out as and when time allows. I know that may look a bit blunt in black and white and I’m hoping you’re thinking “Why would we kick off a marketing push without the commitment to see it through?” Well the truth is the amount of times I’ve heard a variation on “well we tried it before and the launch went fine but then it kind of just ground to a halt” is frightening. Effective, focused, systematic business development will grow your business. This isn’t an opinion, it is a fact. However it has to be structured and you have to be disciplined. If you approach it as a quick fix or the latest in a long line of ideas of the week, it won’t work. Worse still, your fee earners will be left feeling doubtful or even negative towards business development when you try again next time around.

15. The law of little and often You and your team aren’t salespeople. You have your legal work to do and nobody’s underestimating just how hard it is

to balance that with your marketing responsibilities – in fact sometimes it’s hard to find any time to market at all. That is why any activities you look to implement have to be designed under the auspices of ‘little and often’. Find time for an email or phone call in between files. Go for a quick coffee to break the day up but have it with a client or referrer rather than a colleague (unless you’re exploring cross-selling opportunities of course). Choose two networking groups that suit you and go every time to get the best return rather than dipping in and out of ten, going when work allows and not get anything back. Use ‘dead time’ like train journeys to put articles or blogs together or time in receptions waiting for meetings to update your LinkedIn. Doing a little bit all the time will ensure you build a decent pipeline without having to throw the kitchen sink at your marketing at the expense of your billable work during the troughs.

16. Meetings don't move Business development meetings aren’t at the top of many solicitor’s lists of things they most like to do and it’s natural once they’re in the calendar they may simply have to be moved – don’t! This is a dangerous precedent and will only lead – albeit over time – to them disappearing completely.

Treat your marketing/BD meetings like you would a partners’ meeting or a client meeting. They’re in the diary. They’re central to your continued and even increased success. Leave them in the diary. You will be astounded how much more effective your marketing becomes just by sticking to this one simple rule.

17. Meetings don't overrun People will soon find reasons not to attend any marketing or BD meeting if that meeting has earned a reputation for overrunning. Some will blame the pressures of billable hour targets but the truth is they won’t come because they know the probability of them being bored rigid as you enter the third hour is dangerously high. Also meetings that overrun seldom overrun because of the quality of the discourse, it’s usually because people are using the forum to push a personal agenda or because you’re going into too much detail on certain points. You’ve no doubt come across the KISS acronym in another guise but it has relevance here too – keep it short, son!

18. Adopt an open door policy Arguably this could fall under the open lines of communication we started with but it’s more than that. If you aren’t available and willing to answer questions and discuss ideas or pass on a quick update, the message you’re unwittingly giving is that you’ve got better things to do and this isn’t a priority. The knock-on effect is that subliminally marketing loses some of its priority in the mind of the solicitor who came to talk you. I’m not suggesting you can’t ask for a more convenient time if you’re engrossed in the detail of a particularly spikey matter but make sure you acknowledge the need to talk and either set a time to continue or a diary note to go and see that person at their desk as soon as you can.

19. Conduct a skills audit Any plan requires the right skills to put it into action. While not everybody needs all of the skills it is essential somewhere in your team you have the skills to successfully progress each area of your plan. For example if your team doesn’t possess an enthusiastic presenter then the seminar and trade association speaking initiative probably won’t bear fruit … or happen at all!

A simple way to conduct a skills audit is simply to draw a line vertically down the middle of a sheet of common or garden A4, list the skills you need on one side and then the best person’s name on the other! If you can’t place a name next to some of the activities you want to implement, you have a gap in the skills available to you.

20. Fill any gaps Training isn’t an expense, it’s an investment. If you weigh up the cost of any skills training in terms of each candidate bringing in one new client per year on the back of their new skills, suddenly you can recognise the potential returns. And let’s be honest, one new client per year must be well under the market average for any capable fee earner. The important thing is that any training you do invest in must be relevant. We’ve heard too many horror stories about firms who have brought in generic sales trainers and the entire programme’s backfired. You need someone who understands law firms, someone who can use relevant points of reference and introduce best practice.

21. Internal support vs. external help Ensuring your plans really take hold and generate the right level of success may not be possible with the management resource you have available – especially if the senior partners and heads of department have their own fee earning responsibilities. If you do leave the starting blocks without being able to provide the right level of direct management, you may find things don’t progress as you wanted them to. While buying in sales management may initially look expensive, it will cost far less than the time you’ve already invested in putting your plan together and rolling it out. Then add in the creation of the supporting brochures, online resources and association memberships you’ve had to buy to support your plans...! Yes, you can play the self-interest card against us here (one of Tenandahalf’s key strengths is our success record of providing exactly this type of sales management for law firms of all sizes) but the flip side is we really know how it works and how to make it work.

22. Communicate success When you have a win let your team know. And make sure you name the successful person, the client and the fees. More importantly tell people which marketing activity generated the success. Many solicitors quite understandably consider marketing to be just another onerous add-on to an already hectic schedule and need data to underline just why investing time in business development is so vital. What better way can there be than to see marketing in action?

23. Celebrate success That’s right. Get your hand in your pocket and give your lawyers tangible recognition. We’re not talking about a champagne reception at Claridges. Maybe a glass of wine in the boardroom after a particularly successful week on the WIP? Maybe you could stick a card behind the bar for a few pints?

Maybe you could go to the dogs (racing rather than figuratively); most tracks have a lucky 6 promotion where 6 people can get in free with a free drink and a free bet. Nose around your local attractions you’ll be amazed at the variety of promotions on offer. One firm we know delivers ice creams to the desks of the fee earners who have brought in some work or successfully referred a client to another practice area. It goes down a storm and there’s probably change from a tenner but the goodwill the ice cream generates has really seen BD take hold which has in turn increased fee levels.

24. Look at next year half way through this year You are in this for the long haul. One of the easiest ways to ensure long-term success is to make sure that what you’re implementing is actually working and delivering the level of financial success you want it to. This requires a little tweaking along the way but it also requires looking at the year ahead once you have meaningful data on the results each initiative is generating. Make sure your future plans contain realistic and achievable (and that doesn’t mean unambitious) targets to keep staff motivated. Make sure the activities that aren’t working are dropped to ensure cost-efficiency and staff engagement.

Make sure any new opportunities that arise throughout the year are factored in so you’re in a position to move ahead of your competitors and take full commercial advantage. On a more practical level, paying attention to the next year also makes the planning process that little bit quicker and easier when it comes around.

25. Stretch yourself Lastly, the ‘last year + 5%’ approach to setting financial targets is dead. Your plan needs to be ambitious and deliver not only financial growth but also the means to personally benefit your partners and your fee earners. That benefit may be increasing personal earnings, job stability, future career opportunities or new challenges. Without pushing yourselves these benefits won’t be available and the likelihood of getting the people you need to get things moving fully engaged will shrink. Be ambitious! Many firms are just looking to consolidate or even minimise shrinkage in these tough times. If you put the right plan together and build up the level of enthusiasm required to implement that plan you will be surprised at what you can achieve.

This report is the latest in a long line which includes …

… if you would like any of these reports please email douglas@tenandahalf.co.uk or go to

www.tenandahalf.co.uk/resources/ special_reports

Alternatively, let us know exactly where you need advice

What is your biggest headache when it comes to marketing and business development?

There are many reasons why people aren’t totally confident when it comes to marketing their firm. To make it a little bit easier, we would like to give you an opportunity to ask us about any areas you’d like a bit of practical advice on. Just write down your marketing and BD headaches and email them to us at info@tenandahalf.co.uk. We will give you some tips on how you can work around these obstacles and make marketing and business development that little bit easier.

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Email your headaches to Tenandahalf at info@tenandahalf.co.uk or tweet us @sizetenandahalf and we will give you some practical, straightforward ideas If you would like some more detailed advice in the form of a first free 45 minute consultation please email douglas@tenandahalf.co.uk or call us on 0115 969 9817

If you would like to discuss how we can help you implement your marketing and business development plans, please choose one of the following 3 options …

call Tenandahalf on 0115 969 9817 to arrange

your free 45 minute consultancy

email douglas@tenandahalf.co.uk to ask for the next 10 tips on

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phone Bernard on 07771 897772 to ask how

your attorneys could measure their successes

more effectively

“The advice was commercial and demonstrated a genuine understanding of professional services and the real issues that face us in the current market place. They were easy to talk to and ‘jargon free’. He added value over and beyond the brief.” Richard Field, Managing Partner, Rollits “What struck me most about Tenandahalf is their clear, uncomplicated approach. For many in professional services engaging in business development is daunting but Tenandahalf’s clarity of strategy coupled with their infectious enthusiasm empowered the members of our team.” Ben Lowans, Partner, Addleshaw Goddard “Tenandahalf provide refreshingly down-to-earth advice.” John Haresnape, Head of UK Business Development, Taylor Wessing LLP “I have an ever growing number of marketing consultants beating a path to my door but what I've found in Size 10½ Boots is a deep understanding of legal BD and an uncanny ability to provide insightful advice and add value, every time.” Nick Symington, Business Development Director, Langleys Solicitors