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Building and Sustaining a Marketing and Sales Culture at Your Law Firm

Or, How to Make Marketing Really, Really Matter

By John Remsen, Jr.

Getting lawyers and law firms do things differently is not an easy task andinstilling a marketing mindset among lawyers is a major effort for mostfirms, resembling the proverbial challenge of “herding cats.”

A national consulting firm recently examined personalities of lawyers fromaround the country using the Caliper personality index and was able to quality whatmany of us have known for years. Compared to the rest of us, lawyers:• Hate change, respecting precedent because it was drilled into them at law school;• Are highly skeptical of new ideas and concepts, demanding proof that change

will work;• Love autonomy, preferring their own judgment over that of any hierarchy or policy;

and• Have a high sense of urgency, expecting immediate results on even complex efforts.

It’s not surprising, then, that most law firms (especially smaller and mid-sizefirms) operate much like fraternities. Governance and decision-making are oftendifficult and time-consuming because everyone wants a voice in the process. MORE LIKE A BUSINESS

However, the most profitable firms are moving closer to a corporate model of gover-nance, with institutional goals, strong leadership and streamlined governance. They arealso starting to embrace marketing, recognizing the need to get closer to existing clientsand invest time and resources on focused, proactive strategies to go after new ones.

So why try to roll the marketing boulder uphill? Simply because any firm thatwants to survive in today’s increasingly competitive marketplace must support amarketing and sales culture. Mergers, acquisitions and consolidations, rising asso-ciate salaries and operating costs, and client cost-cutting are making lawyers runtheir firms more like a business, and less like a profession. Failure to market brings

Have Your StoryStraight Beforethe Reporter Calls

By John Tuerck

The call comes at 3 p.m. Abusiness reporter from the localdaily wants to know if a lawyerin your firm can comment on ahostile takeover bid of a well-known local company. Thereporter sounds harried; herdeadline is just 2 hours off.

For a public relations veteran,the call is a catalyst to action.Who’s good on mergers andacquisitions? Has she dealt withthe press before? Is she avail-able, and can she make thereporter’s deadline?

In This Issue

Volume 19, Number 2 • June 2005

L AW J O U R N A LN E W S L E T T E R S

MarketingThe Law Firm

®

Managing Your PR Agency Relationship . . . . . . .2Scripting the ClientExperience: How toDifferentiate Yourself .3Ensuring Maximum ROI . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Marketing and InternetSearch Engines . . . .7A Haven for Straight Talk . . . . .11

continued on page 9

continued on page 6

The Top Fifty Law Firms inthe areas of Marketing and

Communications will beannounced in a Special

July/August issue ofMarketing The Law Firm

By popular demand, submission deadline extended

to June 10, 2005. All submis-sions should be sent via e-mail

only to Elizabeth Anne “Betiayn”Tursi, Editor-in-Chief, MarketingThe Law Firm at [email protected]. Any collateral materialsaccompanying the essay mustalso be in a format that can be transmitted via email. No

entries will be accepted that aresent via mail or fax to Law Journal Newsletters.

— T h e M L F 5 0 —

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Marketing the Law Firm ! www.ljnonline.com/alm?mktg2 June 2005

PUBLISHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Sofia PablesEDITOR-IN-CHIEF . . . . . . . . . .Elizabeth Anne “Betiayn” TursiMANAGING EDITOR . . . . . . . .Steven Salkin, Esq.MARKETING PROMOTIONSCOORDINATOR . . . . . . . . . . . .Rob FormicaMARKETING ANALYSISCOORDINATOR . . . . . . . . . . . .Traci FootesGRAPHIC DESIGNERS . . . . . . .Louis F. Bartella

BOARD OF EDITORSLARRY BODINE . . . . . . . . .LawMarketing Portal

Glen Ellyn, ILKEVIN W. BROWN . . . . . . .Kevin Brown Marketing &

ConsultingHuntington Beach, CA

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SANDRA NAPOLI D’ARCO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Freeborn & Peters LLP

ChicagoDARRYL CROSS . . . . . . . . .Interface Software

Oak Brook, ILJASON DINWOODIE . . . . . .Dewey, Ballantine LLP

New YorkDAVID H. FREEMAN, J.D. . .Whetstone Consulting, LLC

Boulder, CO

DAWN GERTZ . . . . . . . . . .Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

New YorkANDY HAVENS. . . . . . . . . . .Sanestorm Marketing

Columbus, OHJOHN HELLERMAN . . . . . . .Hellerman Baretz

CommunicationsWashington, DC

MICHAEL HODES, ESQ. . . . .Hodes, Ulman, Pessin & Katz, P.A.

Towson, MDJAY M. JAFFE . . . . . . . . . . . .Jaffe Associates

Washington, DCDOUGLAS C. KRAMER . . . .Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

PhiladelphiaRICHARD S. LEVICK . . . . . . .Levick Strategic

Communications LLCWashington, DC

CRAIG S. LEVINSON . . . . . .Brown Raysman Millstein Felder& Steiner

New YorkSTEVEN A. MEYEROWITZ . . . . . . . . . . .Meyerowitz Communications

Northport, NYGINA PIROZZI . . . . . . . . . .G. Pirozzi Consulting

New YorkTREY RYDER . . . . . . . . . . . .Trey Ryder LLC

Payson, AZEDWARD M. SCHECHTER . . .Duane Morris LLP

PhiladelphiaJILL S. WEBER . . . . . . . . . . .Leonard, Street and Deinard

Minneapolis, MNEVA WISNIK . . . . . . . . . . . .Wisnik Career Enterprises, Inc.

New York

Marketing The Law Firm® (ISSN 0893-7788) is published by Law Journal Newsletters, a division of ALM. © 2005 ALM Properties,

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Managing Your PRAgency Relationship:Communication,Communication,Communication!

By Kevin Aschenbrenner and David Berger

So, you’ve hired your PR firm,signed a letter of engagement on thedotted line, and put them to work.You sit back and let them get to it,and pat yourself on the back a little.And why not? You’ve gone through arigorous process assessing the candi-dates, finding out which agency’s cul-ture fits with your firm’s, hammeredout the details of budgets, responsi-bilities, strategies, etc. Quite frankly,you’re pooped, and, as far as you’reconcerned, your job is over, right?

Well …There’s this rosy stage that starts

every law firm/PR agency relation-ship. You both have your goals clear-ly in mind. You both know what’sexpected. You both have great hopesfor the future.

Why are you so in sync? Becauseyou’ve spent some serious time overa period of weeks — or months —communicating with each other.Maybe you sent out an RFP and gota raft of proposals. Then you had aseries of weed-out meetings withanyone who replied so you coulddevelop a short list. Then you hadanother round of meetings, followedby more discussions with your firstchoice, followed by a tweaking ofthe proposal and contract.

See a pattern?

You were all about communicatingin these early stages. You were clearlystating what you wanted and theagency was clearly stating how itwould meet your needs. And, youexpected that high level of communi-cation from the PR agency. It was, afterall, how they’d win your business.

So, a few months go by. Your PRagency seems to be doing OK, thoughyou just wish they would be pushingthis attorney or that practice group abit more. Oh, and whatever happenedto that pitch on so-and-so, and thatarticle that needed placing. And,glancing at their invoice from lastmonth, did you really authorize 10hours for pitching a new hire release?Was Surfer Dude News (All The StuffThat’s Gnarly to Print) really a goodplacement for that rainmaker corpo-rate attorney? What about that callfrom a reporter friend who asked,quite bluntly, if you knew how pushyyour new media reps were?

If only more law firms wereequipped with PR agency relation-ships klaxons. Yours would be goingoff maniacally right about now,strobing your office with red andblue alarm.

You, my friend (with apologies toDouglas Adams), are about to enterthe long dark teatime of your agencyrelationship.

When good law firm/PR agencyrelationships go bad, things can getvery messy, very fast. Words areexchanged, emails are fired off,tantrums are thrown. And yet, all thiscould be easily avoided if the com-munication patterns begun duringthe wooing stage continue into theharsh light of the day-to-day.

The key is to begin day one ofyour working relationship as youbegan day one of your selectionprocess: in the loop, in control, andin assessment mode. You must con-tinue to be clear regarding yourexpectations, goals, and desiredresults, and your PR agency shouldkeep up its end of the conversationwith information about what they’re

MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS CORNER

Kevin Aschenbrenner is AccountSupervisor, Media Relations at JaffeAssociates, and is the Editor in Chiefof the Jaffe Legal News Service(www.jlns.com). He can be reachedat [email protected] or 604-689-1159. David Berger is AccountExecutive, Media Relations, and canbe reached at [email protected] or 703-922-5520. continued on page 4


Scripting the ClientExperience: How ToReally DifferentiateYourself

By Mark Merenda

I’m always coming across articlesand books by marketing gurus abouthow you must differentiate yourselffrom your competition. Their writingis usually peppered with advice onhow to “position” yourself and“brand” your practice.

And many attorneys spend a lot oftime, energy, and money trying toconvince potential clients that they aresomehow different (read: better) thanothers who provide the same service.

It’s a fool’s errand, and I’ll tell youwhy.

First, you aren’t really a whole lotbetter or worse than others in yourfield. Oh, I know, I know, you’re ter-rific. But guess what? You’re not theonly one who’s terrific. There areothers who are pretty darn good aswell. Maybe even better than you.

But let’s assume you are much bet-ter than everyone else. This brings usto our second point. Your potentialclients can’t tell the difference. Theydo not have your expertise in thecomplicated financial and legal strate-gies in which you deal every day.What you tell them may sound com-pelling, but then so did what theyread in Money magazine, or whattheir friend told them at a cocktailparty, or what another advisor toldthem last week. It all sounds good,but they have no real way of judging.As far as your potential clients areconcerned, any special knowledge orstrategy or technique you advocate issimply a claim you are making.

I hope you’re the world’s greatestattorney. Maybe you are. But in mar-keting terms, that won’t do youmuch good. Believe me, you can beworld’s most brilliant lawyer and stillstarve.

But don’t despair. I am going to tellyou the real secret — how you candifferentiate yourself, blow yourcompetition away, and have an end-less line of referrals at your door.

Are you ready?Develop great customer service.Let’s face it. In most businesses,

the service stinks. There isn’t a weekthat goes by that my friends and Idon’t exchange anecdotes about thecable company, the phone company,the bank, or some retail or servicebusiness that actually seem to begoing out of its way to alienateeveryone who deals with them. SERVICE PLEASE

Service everywhere is bad. Butthat’s good for you.

It presents you with an opportuni-ty. It means that if you can delivereven halfway good customer service,people will rave about you and telltheir friends.

Unfortunately, most lawyers don’tknow the first thing about customerservice. And the first thing they haveto change is how they think aboutthemselves and their business.

Here’s the concept I want you tounderstand. You are not a law firm.You are a customer service organiza-tion whose work product happens tobe legal documents.

Let me quote from Jack Mitchell,CEO of Mitchells/Richards, one ofthe most successful clothing stores inthe U.S., serving the upscale clienteleof Connecticut and New York:

“At Mitchell’s, clothes are not ourpriority. It’s not the first thing wethink of, nor the last. Don’t get mewrong. We like fabulous product,and we search the world to get it, butwe’re all about customers.

“Now that may sound amazing. Aclothing store that isn’t about clothes?But it’s true. And if we were a restau-rant, we wouldn’t be about food. Ifwe were an electronics store, wewouldn’t be about DVD players.Businesses have lost sight of the ideathat customers, not product, are the

most important priority. Most compa-nies think all you have to do is haveplenty of great product and the rightvalue and customers will descend likelocusts on their stores. Many storeshave those things. You can buy agreat blue blazer or black skirt any-where. You can buy a great flat-screen TV at any electronics store.You can get a great sofa at a lot offurniture stores. It’s how you treatcustomers that determines your long-term success.”

I’m here to tell you that creatingclient satisfaction — or better yet, joy— is your job. Not drafting legal doc-uments, not creating legal strategies,not giving legal advice.HOW TO CREATE

CLIENT SATISFACTIONIn their seminal book The

Experience Economy, B. Joseph PineII and James H. Gilmore put forth theproposition that customers do notbuy goods and services as much asthey buy experiences. “Work is the-atre,” they write, “and every businessis a stage.”

Surveys show, for example, that75% of the people who travel to LasVegas, go expecting to lose. What agreat vacation concept, right? Come toour city and lose money! But millionsdo, every year. Why? Because the endresult isn’t what is most important.They are going for the experience.

The masters of this approach, ofcourse, are the people at Disneytheme parks. Every customer is a“guest,” every employee is a “castmember” and every day’s business isa “show.” What are people reallygoing for? A couple of rides andsome souvenirs?

So how do the lessons of “showbusiness” apply to a staid law office?

First, you have to determine whatyou want your client’s (and potentialclients’) experience to be when theycall or visit your office. You need to“script” exactly what will happen.

Questions to ask yourself include:What does the client see when theyenter? How does the receptionistbehave? Are they escorted to the con-ference room? What will you offerthem? What does the client see as heor she looks around the conference

June 2005 3Marketing the Law Firm ! www.ljnonline.com/alm?mktg

continued on page 4

Mark Merenda founded SmartMarketing in 1994. Since that time hehas built Smart Marketing into one ofthe country’s premier marketing firmsfor financial professionals. He can becontacted by telephone at 239-403-7755 or by e-mail: [email protected]. The company’s Website is www.smartmarketingnow.com. Merenda’s blog can be foundat http://smartblog.typepad.com.

Marketing the Law Firm ! www.ljnonline.com/alm?mktg4 June 2005Marketing the Law Firm ! www.ljnonline.com/alm?mktg

doing for you, and how. There’s real-ly no other way.

Some key things to keep in mindas you work with your agency andassess its performance:

Your invoice should never be a sur-prise. A good PR agency knows thatthe invoice at the end of the monthisn’t so much a list of what they’vedone for you while you were manag-ing other things, but a summary ofwhat you worked on together, tradedemails about, had phone calls regard-ing. There should be no surprises,questions, etc. You should be expect-ing every item on the invoice. Ifsomething surprises you, then it’s timeto have a chat with your agency folks.

You should know how youragency is working with the media onyour behalf. This doesn’t mean find-ing spies amongst your reporterfriends to play tattletale. You should,however, ask that agencies seekapproval from you and/or appropriate

attorneys for every pitch that goesout. You are also perfectly free to askquestions of your agency reps interms of how they work with media,their approach, etc. For example,does your agency subscribe to the“throw everything at the wall and seewhat sticks” approach (which cansoon tire or tick off the reporterswho receive off-topic pitches), or dothey take a more strategic approachfocused on building relationships onbehalf of your firm? You didn’t hirean agency to make a mess of yourreputation with reporters.

You should expect communicationon every pitch at every step. Howmany reporters were contacted? Atwhich outlets? What were theirbeats/titles? If a reporter didn’t picksomething up, did they have a rea-son? A status report during and aftera pitch is a standard tool agencies useto keep clients informed of progressand results. If yours doesn’t, ask why.

Ask your agency to be candidabout any problems they’re facing inworking with your firm. Are they

seeing any internal barriers you canfix? Are you an internal barrier your-self with respect to gate-keeping andnot making communication routesbetween your agency reps and yourattorneys more direct? Are they notgetting cooperation from key attor-neys or staff?

Review your strategic plan regular-ly. Even the best plan must changeand adapt. If you’re experiencingfrustration with the results of your PRagency, maybe they’re working offan outdated plan, or you need torevise things a bit? You should aim tolook at your plan at least once aquarter and revise it every 6 months,at a minimum.

It’s always frustrating if a law firmand its PR agency are at loggerheads,but there are steps you can take toensure a smooth relationship. Ifyou’ve been open in your communi-cation with your agency there arelikely very few issues that you won’tbe able to handle together.

Managing PR Agencycontinued from page 2

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room? Does the attorney walk intothe conference room at precisely theappointed time? How does the attor-ney greet the client?

I suggest, in deciding what youwant your “script” to be, you solicitthe ideas of your employees. It willgreatly help the process of gettingthem to “buy in” to the new way ofdoing things.

The client comes in the door andsees a sign that says: “The Smith LawFirm welcomes Mr. and Mrs. Jones,June 1, 2005.” The receptionist risesfrom behind her desk and greets theJoneses warmly by name. They areescorted to the conference room andautomatically served a glass of waterfrom a carafe. They are asked if theywould like anything else — coffee,soda, etc. The conference room isdecorated with personal memorabiliaand warm objects that reflect the val-ues of the firm’s clients. (Example: ifthe firm specializes in elder law,there are photos of the attorney’sparents, a 1930’s era antique radio, a

copy of Tom Brokaw’s The GreatestGeneration.) The attorney enters theconference at the precise time of theappointment and greets Mr. and Mrs.Jones warmly.

This is your script — the exactsequence of words and events thatwill create the desired client experi-ence.

The next step is to turn your scriptinto a series of protocols for youremployees. This is how we answerthe phone. This is how we greet vis-itors. This is how we speak aboutour firm and its attorneys.

And then, finally, training trainingtraining. Make sure everyone under-stands the protocols, has “bought in,and has practiced until it is secondnature. Arrange to have one of yourfriends pose as a prospective client,and test your new script.

Remember this, above all else: thefact that you have not scripted yourclient’s experience, does not meanthat the client will not have one.

When you think about it, scriptinga great customer service — huggingyour customer, as Jack Mitchell calls it — is a much easier way to

differentiate yourself, than all thepositioning, all the branding, all thecontinuing education or new desig-nations or niche marketing.

It feels good. Your employees andclients will love it. You will love it.And your bottom line will reflect it.

Differentiate Yourselfcontinued from page 3

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Event Strategy:Ensuring Maximum ROIBy Olivia Fox Cabane

You probably have much less timethan you wish you had to “do yournetworking”, so you might as wellmake the most of it. To ensure max-imum return on investment for eachevent you attend, you’ll need to care-fully decide which events to attend,how to prepare for them, whom togo with, how to approach peopleand even what to wear. PICK AND CHOOSE

In choosing your events, it makessense to focus on the industry yourprospects are in, rather than yourown. For instance, if you’re a smallbusiness lawyer, attending an ABAcocktail might not be the best forumfor generating new business. On theother hand, if you attend a smallbusiness owner’s conference such asNABO (National Association ofBusiness Owners), you’ll be swim-ming in a pool of potential clients.

Then, think of the event’s returnon investment. You need to evaluateboth hard costs (admission, trans-portation, drinks or food) and softcosts (time spent, opportunity costs).Often, free events can actually costmore than paying ones, and drawfewer or less valuable prospects. Forinstance, charity fundraisers are usu-ally more expensive than networkingevents, but because charity boardmembers tend to be highly success-ful businesspeople, one good charityluncheon can lead to better contactsand take less time than five mediocrehappy hours.GO IN WITH A PLAN

Once you’ve chosen an event toattend, you need to do someresearch and planning, with yournetworking goals in mind. Whom doyou want to meet? What do you

hope the outcome of these meetingswill be?

Find out everything you can aboutthe host organization: What does thehost hope to achieve with this event?If you can figure this out, and if youcan help the hosts achieve thesegoals, they will be happy to returnthe favor. Also find out if you knowsomeone in the organization whocan introduce you around.

Research the attendees: Who willbe attending and why are they there?What can you talk to them about? Ifyou can, pick up a couple of relevanttrade publications so that you can useinsiders’ jargon. People trust insidersand feel more rapport with someonewho understands their language.

Think about the logistics: Howmuch time is allowed for networking?Is it enough? Who are the sponsors?Are any of them potential clients,strategic partners, or competitors?

Another ROI-maximizing tech-nique is to team up — you mayknow people your partner doesn’tknow and you can introduce eachother around. Even if neither of youknows anyone, you’ll both meet peo-ple in the course of the event andcan introduce each other to yournew acquaintances. Teaming up alsoallows you to talk about each other’saccomplishments in more glowingterms than you could possibly talkabout your own. You can also helpextricate one another from conversa-tions that have gone on too long. Forbest results, find someone whoserves the same target market butisn’t a competitor. Ideally, youshould find someone with whomyour skills and services are comple-mentary. A small-business lawyer canteam up with a financial advisor whoworks with small business owners.Since their services are complemen-tary, they are natural event partners.

When you dress for an event, try towear something that people can talkabout. It can be anything that willdraw attention and inspire people toapproach you, giving those whowant to talk to you an easy excuse todo so. Which one of your hobbies,symbolized onto a pin or a tie forinstance, would be a good conversa-tion starter? A golfer could wear a tiewith golf clubs on it; a skier could

have a tiepin in the shape of twocrossed poles. You may also want toeat beforehand so that you can focuson the people, not the food. It’s hardto balance a drink and a plate andshake hands at the same time, andyou won’t be caught with food inyour mouth when someone asks youa question. If you do arrive hungry,find someone you know and withwhom you can comfortably and prof-itably catch up.

If possible, arrive early. This willgive you the opportunity to meet theorganizers (often key people in theorganization) before they’re inundat-ed with other guests and duties.What’s more, it’s hard to walk into aroom filled with people and feelimmediately at ease. When fewerattendees are on hand, you canwarm up slowly. As soon as youarrive, look out for networkingopportunities; they begin as soon asyou get out of the car. Start conver-sations with people who enter thebuilding with you, press the sameelevator button, or are gatheredaround the reception desk. Beingfriendly doesn’t cost much and canproduce substantial returns.

The easiest way to start is byapproaching people who are stand-ing alone, rather than in a group; thelone rangers you’re approaching areprobably feeling even more uncom-fortable than you are. By going overto them, you’re doing them a favor,and they’ll probably be grateful toyou. When approaching a group,don’t be afraid to move in and joinconversations already in progress. Itmay look like people already knoweach other just because they’re hav-ing a lively chat, when in fact they’veoften just met.

An easy way to start a conversationis to notice something about your tar-get and offer a compliment followedby an open-ended question, such as“where did you get it?” or “what doesit mean?” Without saying so, you’resending out the very flattering signal:“You seem interesting and I’d like toget to know you!” Don’t worry aboutopening lines. We’ve all lost anopportunity to meet someonebecause we were trying to think ofthe perfect opening line — and there

continued on page 6

Olivia Fox Cabane is the ExecutiveDirector of Spitfire Communications(www.spitfireteam.com) located inNew York City. Olivia can be reachedat 212-561-9146 or via e-mail [email protected].


PR pros toiling in law-firm market-ing departments, however, have tolook before leaping. Is there achance the firm has represented thelocal company, even on an unrelatedmatter? If not, do any of your firm’sclients have special sensitivity aboutthe issue? Will the M&A partner inthe Dallas office feel wounded if youput the Denver M&A partner in touchwith the reporter?

There is acute tension between thedo-it-now mindset of media-savvy PRpros and the generally cautiousnature of lawyers. Eliminating thetension completely is impossible,even inadvisable. After all, the client’sinterests are sacrosanct, and over-looking those interests to get somequick press courts disaster. You canalleviate the tension, however, by tak-ing steps to ensure a smooth processbefore you get that 3 o’clock call.

The first hurdle is to ensure that thereis no direct client conflict in respondingto a reporter’s inquiry. Many larger firmshave established intranet sites that allowfor a quick online check to determine ifthere is a conflict. Others may have adesignated attorney or staff memberwith a complete client database at herfingertips. Whatever the procedure, itpays to become familiar with yourfirm’s conflict-checking apparatus.

Revisiting our scenario, assumeyour check reveals that your firmrepresented the local target of thetakeover bid in, say, a commercialreal estate matter 2 years ago. Yourlawyers, as a result, are constrainedfrom providing on-the-record com-ments about the client, even on anunrelated matter. However, with yourguidance, they might be able tospeak off-the-record and enhancethe reporter’s understanding of thegeneral issue — in this case, themechanics of takeover bids.

Why is this useful? Particularly withrespect to the mainstream media,reporters frequently struggle withsome of the legal nuances of a story(Are there any Sarbanes-Oxley issuesin the proposed merger? What, ifanything, could the shareholders doto block the takeover?). A lawyerwho can explain legal concepts inplain English and enhance thereporter’s understanding, then, hasdone a favor — one that could berepaid with future calls in caseswhere the lawyer can comment forattribution. Lawyers who have culti-vated relationships with reportersappear in the news time and again.

One cautionary note: The lawyerproviding background commentsmust be able to trust the reporter tokeep comments off-the-record. If youdon’t know the reporter, make itcrystal clear that the comments arenot for attribution. Talk to her editor,if necessary, and emphasize thepoint. And if you get a bad feelingfrom the reporter, walk away.

Currying favor with a reporter is notworth angering or losing a client.

Even if your firm hasn’t represent-ed either of the companies involvedin the takeover bid, it makes goodbusiness sense to check around anddetermine if other clients would dis-like seeing their lawyers publiclycommenting on a sensitive subject. Inour scenario, for example, it’s smartto ask if another client in the midst ofa different merger would be dis-pleased to see his firm’s lawyer com-menting on a hostile bid. If in doubt,ask the managing or marketing part-ner in an e-mail, and keep the e-mailed response in a secure folder.

The next question is whether yourlawyers have been trained to treat themedia like clients. That means return-ing calls promptly, even if the lawyeris getting back to the reporter todecline comment. Reporters underdeadline are stressed-out and irrita-ble. They have editors breathingdown their necks, hassling them overthe looming deadline and asking forthe story angle and length. If a lawyerreneges on a promise to call back, hisor reputation with the reporter — andthe reporter’s colleagues — is poi-soned. Just as good lawyers are havebeen trained to provide sterling clientservice, they should be trained totreat the press with alacrity.

Finally — but not insignificantly —there is the issue of the firm’s culture.By promoting a lawyer as an expert tothe press, you may risk disapproval bypromoting an unwanted “star system.”

John D. Tuerck is the CommunicationsManager at Ropes & Gray in Boston.John can be reached at 617-951-7817 orat [email protected].

Story Straightcontinued from page 1

is no such thing. Just about anythingwill work if it’s delivered with a smileand honest interest.TAKE AIM

If you have a specific target in mind,simply go to the organizer and say: “I’msure you know almost everybody —I’m looking for Mike Johnson. Do youknow him? Would you introduce me?”When they walk over with you to intro-duce you to your target, your status willimmediately be associated with theirs.For best results, pump them for enough

information to launch the conversation;find out about your target’s occupationand interests. If you find out that yourtarget loves to sail, your opening linecould be: “Mike, Susan was just tellingme that you’re an avid sailor. Whatkind of boat do you cruise on?”

You can also ask the organizers ifyou can clip a note to your target’sname tag, for instance written on theback of your business card, sayingyou’d like to meet them. Speaking ofnametags, always place them on yourright-hand side. When you extendyour hand for a handshake, it will beright in the other person’s line of sight.

As soon as you get home, or per-haps even on your way back, writenotes on the backs of business cardsyou’ve collected to jolt your memory.Write down the date, time of theevent, perhaps the topic of your con-versation and any distinctive fea-tures, such as “spiky hair,” “glasses,”etc. And then, be sure to follow up!If you promised you’d send informa-tion, do it; don’t let more than aweek go by. You never know whatmay come of it.

Maximum ROIcontinued from page 5

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continued on page 10


We Should GetTogether More

Law Firm Marketing and the Internet Search Engines

By Jason P. Lisi

There’s a marketing concept outthere that many law firms have justrecently stumbled upon, one that mostother types of industries have knownwell for decades — return on invest-ment, or ROI. As firms become moresophisticated in marketing, as budgetsfor marketing increase, and as compe-tition becomes more fierce, firms arebeginning to demand that their market-ing dollars they spend produce results.

Nowhere is the concept of ROImore easily implemented, tracked,and realized than in the area ofInternet marketing, through the useof Web sites and the search enginesthat locate them. Because all activi-ties on the Web are tracked by thevarious computers that host Websites and search engines (via arcanebut highly detailed server log files), alaw firm can know from where it getsvisitors, what the visitors do on theWeb site, and what makes themleave for another Web site.

But the first step in achieving apositive ROI from a law firm Web siteis to get the visitors there in the firstplace. A beautifully designed andprofessional Web site that no oneviews is like a Broadway play that noone sees — it’s a huge waste ofmoney, time, and effort. Enter theoften-discussed, often-misunder-stood, and ever-evolving searchengine — a technology that, if usedeffectively, can produce results farsuperior to other forms of marketing.THE BASICS

Years ago, the concept of using asearch engine to locate information

on the Internet was a little-known,almost academic exercise, the stuff ofStanford University computer gurusand the free-information-for-all cul-ture of the early Web.

How times have changed.The major players in search today

are run by some of the best-knownbrands in the world, such as Google,Yahoo, and Microsoft. Indeed, theworld of search is now a multi-bil-lion-dollar industry, led by publiccompanies, fiercely competing foryour attention and law firm advertis-ing budget.

Effectively using search as a mar-keting device to drive potentialclients to a law firm’s Web siterequires knowledge of the two tech-nologies that can affect a Web site’svisibility in search results — ‘organic’(ie, free) rankings and ‘sponsored’(ie, costly) listings.ORGANIC RANKINGS: SPIDERS, CRAWLERS, AND BOTS

Most search engine users are obliv-ious to the fact that when they entersearch terms and receive a list ofresults, they have not searched Websites, per se, but instead havesearched a database of Web site textand other properties. The results of asearch are mere links to correspon-ding Web sites, much in the sameway as a library’s electronic card cat-alog is a pointer to the correspon-ding book located somewhere withinthe stacks. If a Web site is not in thatsearch engine’s database (known asits index), the search results will notinclude the Web site’s link. No link,then, means little or no traffic.

Getting a Web site included in theall-important search engine index,and more crucially, getting the Website to appear on the first or secondpage of search engine results, iscalled ‘search engine optimization’ orSEO. It is the process of (somewould say the black art of) configur-ing a Web site’s text, code, graphics,and functions to rank highly for cer-tain search terms.

And challenges abound. Not onlydo the various search engines close-ly guard the criteria they find impor-tant to ranking one site over another(think Coca-Cola recipe), each searchengine’s ranking system is differentand each system is changed behindthe scenes, without notice to the

outside world. Those seeking betterrankings are left to extrapolate thesearch engines’ ranking criteria bydiscovery through trial and error ofmany changes to Web sites.

Thus, having a Web site listed in asearch engine’s index is critical. Howdoes that happen? Most searchengines have pages where a Web siteowner can submit the site’s homepage for inclusion in the index.Google’s page, for example is atwww.google.com/addurl.html.

Once the search engine knows ofa site’s homepage, the crawlers takeover. The crawler — know by manynames, such as ‘spider’ or ‘bot’ (shortfor robot) — will visit the site’s homepage, read some or all of the page’stext and internal code, and then sendthat information back to the searchengine for inclusion in its database or‘index.’ Once done with the firstpage, the crawler will follow all thelinks it recognizes (ie, properly for-matted) to perform the same readingfunction on other pages of the Website. The more pages containinginformation-rich text that the crawlerreads and sends back to its mothership, the better chance that Web sitehas of ranking well for terms con-tained in the Web site text.

If the site is not properly con-structed — for example, built usingold technologies such as frames —the crawler can’t get to other pageson the site, and thus, will send verylittle information about the site to thesearch engine index. Such sites needsearch engine optimization, whichcould include minor text and codechanges or drastic build-from-the-ground-up revision.

Finally, the process of submitting aWeb site to a search engine and real-izing results is a slow one. Because ofthe way search engines send out theircrawlers and the crushing volume ofrequests for indexing, there cansometimes be a four-to-eight-weeklag between a site’s being crawledand its appearance in the index.SPONSORED LISTINGS: BUYING

WHAT DOESN’T COME NATURALLYIt is this lag and the inability to

closely control where and when aWeb site appears in search enginerankings that has made paid forms ofsearch engine links so popular.


Jason P. Lisi, Esq. is president ofLegal Internet Solutions Incorporated(www.LegaLisi.com), a Philadelphia-based Web site development andsearch engine optimization firm forthe legal industry. A former practic-ing lawyer, he speaks and writes fre-quently on Internet issues. He can bereached at [email protected] and215-523-8580. continued on page 8


Known by names such as ‘pay-per-click’ and ‘paid sponsorship,’ thisform of advertising and the billionsof dollars spent on it is fueling thehigh-stakes search engine ‘war’among Google, Yahoo, and newarrival to the battle, Microsoft.

The process of running these adver-tising campaigns is called ‘searchengine marketing’ (or SEM) and thedollars involved — not to mention theROI — can be staggering. In a recentreport, PricewaterhouseCoopers cal-culated that the amount spent in 2004on performance-based Internet adver-tising such as pay-per-click was near-ly $4 billion, or 41% of the $9.6 billionspent on Internet advertising last year.

Pay-per-click advertisements arefamiliar sights these days. Usuallyappearing at the top, right side, andbottom of search engine results, thesetext advertisements appear, for themost part, because the sponsors havebid top dollar for a ‘click,’ or visit totheir Web site. A pay-per-click adver-tiser can have an ad appear onlywhen searchers use certain searchterms, called ‘keywords’ the advertis-er has bid upon. A personal injurylaw firm would want its ad to appear,therefore, when a searcher enteredterms such as ‘personal injury lawyer’or ‘personal injury attorney.’

Simply having an ad appear (calledan ‘impression’) costs nothing, but ifa searcher should click upon a linkand visit the corresponding site, thefirm’s credit card will be charged apre-arranged per-click rate (from 10cents to more than $25 for termssuch as ‘Vioxx lawyer’) for the searchterm targeted.

There is great effectiveness in thisform of advertising. Since the lawfirm’s credit card is charged onlywhen someone clicks on the firm’sad, advertising budgets are not wast-ed on disinterested viewers (as withnewspaper and phone book ads).Further, because the advertisingviewer has to click the ad to come tothe Web site (an overt act), the pre-sumption is that the viewer is inter-ested in the law firm’s service and isa good target for the selling proposi-tion of the law firm’s Web site.Finally, because the law firm’s Web

site server can record certain activi-ties a Web site visitor takes (such asfilling out a contact-request form)and the firm can associate the actionwith paid-for search terms — aprocess called ‘conversion tracking’— the firm can alter its campaignquickly to take advantage of search-ing trends to increase the return foreach advertising dollar spent.

One law firm that has seen successwith this type of marketing isMeyerson & O’Neill, located inPhiladelphia. Seeking to attract casesacross the United States to itsephedra supplement products liabili-ty practice, the firm began pay-per-click campaigns in several searchengines, concentrating on Google’sservice called AdWords. The firm, atwo-lawyer operation at the time,chose to not pay top dollar for first-place sponsored ranking for termssuch as “ephedra injury lawyer,” butbid a lesser amount to secure thirdplace in the list of ads (see thescreenshot below). By clicking onthe ad, visitors were brought to aspecial ephedra page on the Web sitecalled a ‘landing page’ that explainedthe symptoms and issues involvedand gave clear instruction as to howto contact the firm for representation.

The result has been more than ahalf-dozen cases filed locally and inWashington, Michigan, and Texas.“We just couldn’t have had them if wehadn’t undertaken the campaign,”says firm founder Jack A. Meyerson.

The firm is currently running

pay-per-click campaigns for casesinvolving topics such as catastrophicjobsite injuries, prescription drugside effects, and general products lia-bility. “Our case load has grown sub-stantially with referrals from all overthe country,” he says. As a result, hesays, there are now four full-timelawyers at the firm.TRACKING THE RESULTS

One of the most attractive aspectsof online advertising, especially pay-per-click and other sponsored meth-ods, is that a firm can very closelytrack the effectiveness of the effortsvia online and offline means. Sinceeach and every activity a Web siteviewer performs is watched by oneor more computers somewherealong the network, there are nowsophisticated methods of determin-ing how a visitor came to a law firm’sWeb site, what the visitor viewedwhile at the Web site, and whetherthe visitor later became a prospect orclient.

Each Web server — a high-speedcomputer that hosts a Web site —tracks visits in extensive detail in textlog files deep within the computer’sfile system. Using log file analysissoftware, a search engine expert canglean facts about Web site visitors,how they found the Web site, whatpages they viewed, what page madethem exit the site, and much moreinformation. This information can beused, for example, to determine how

Get Togethercontinued from page 7


June 2005 9

red ink, irrelevance and an “out ofbusiness” sign on your door.Marketing is what enables a firm toattract and retain desirable clients,and it puts the firm in a position tofire the ones it no longer wants.

That said, a marketing culture can’tbe implemented overnight — it mustbe slowly, gradually fostered throughbasic, focused, step-by-step efforts.Overcome typical lawyer impatienceand resistance by showcasing suc-cessful pilot programs. A communi-cations effort that presents the proof,demonstrates a successful result andvalidates the judgment of the partici-pants, will appeal to lawyers’ lem-ming instinct: “If Jim can do it, so thehell can I!”YA GOTTA BELIEVE

The key, then, is to create the ini-tial success that will make everyonein the firm believe marketing matters.I mean really matters. As marketingconsultant to thousands of lawyers athundreds of firms, I’ve seen that tenkey elements are absolutely crucialto generate marketing momentum.Neglect even one of them and yourlegacy will be, “We tried that before,it didn’t work.”

1. Find a Passionate Leader. If afirm’s leaders — those lawyers whohave the most clout and the greatestrespect — aren’t committed to mar-keting, no one will be. Convincethem that marketing is an investmentin tomorrow, not just an expense fortoday. Cultivate a senior level mar-keting czar who is passionate aboutmarketing and inspires others. Don’twaste your time on naysayers or jun-ior associates. Convince an alphamale, and the herd will follow.

2. Apply Some Structure.Attorneys are the world’s worst

visualizers. Vague generalizationsabout how marketing works won’tmotivate them. Your marketing efforthas to involve concrete, tangiblebenchmarks and requirements thatshow the firm is serious:

• Set clear expectations fornon-billable time devoted to mar-keting. Set a target of 200 hours ayear for partners and 100 hours peryear for associates. Overcoming thebillable hour fixation is crucial formarketing efforts, which often takeyears to generate results.

• Incorporate marketing intopartnership requirements. Derailthe partnership track of grinders whosit at their computers all day anddon’t have a book of business.

• Create marketing plans atevery level — attorney, industry orpractice group, the entire firm. Themarketing plans should be written,simple and focused, and should setshort-term goals (have lunch withtwo media industry prospects permonth) in the pursuit of long-termobjectives (double billings withmedia clients).

• Communicate marketing suc-cesses by every tool at your com-mand. Meetings, emails, newsletters,bulletin boards in the lounge,Intranet postings, monthly statusreports, and more.

• Monitor marketing perform-ance. Hold the laggards accountableand reward the performers. Mostmarketing initiatives must be repeat-ed ten or more times over a period oftwo-plus years before they pay off.Rewarding only the ultimate resultisn’t enough incentive. Peg somecompensation to efforts that empha-size and support the marketing plan.

• Eliminate the time andexpense wasters. Scrap “randomacts of golf and lunch” and “powerfulpartner pet projects” that don’t sup-port firm-wide marketing objectives.

3. Provide Training andResources. Sales techniques aren’ttaught in law school. There are, how-ever, plenty of sales training pro-grams for lawyers that emphasize thebasics: if you’ve taken a prospect tolunch seven times, ask if you canhandle their contract work. One-on-one coaching sessions can be sup-plemented by attendance at the

Marketing Partner Forum and theLegal Marketing Association annualmeeting, participation in theLawmarketing listserv, and circula-tion of marketing newsletters. Helplawyers overcome their marketinginsecurities by exposing them to bestpractices.

4. Create a Forum ofAccountability. The best way togenerate marketing momentum isthrough face-to-face discussions —but not with marketing at the tail endof a long agenda. Create specificmarketing forums where groups of10 to 20 attorneys can report on theirinitiatives, share leads and ideas, andbe held publicly accountable for theirmarketing efforts. Meetings shouldbe held at least monthly, scheduledwell in advance for a set time andplace, with mandatory attendanceand a leader committed to marketingin charge. Distribute minutes andmake sure the results are publicizedthrough reports, newsletters andretreat presentations. The only wayto overcome resistance to theseforums is to make clear that they areabout results and accountability —and then use them to reinforce both.

5. Invest Time and Money. Everyfirm’s needs are different, but certainrules of thumb apply — for example,one in-house marketer for approxi-mately every 40 lawyers, and a mar-keting budget roughly equal to 3% ofgross revenues. Lawyers in theirskepticism will ask, “Is this really nec-essary?” Appeal to the lemminginstinct by demonstrating which otherfirms are doing at least as much.

6. Identify Your A, B and CClients. Law firms often fail to iden-tify the clients and the business theywant, making little differentiation inattorney time and effort between get-ting the $5000 real estate contractand the $5 million IPO. You shouldidentify your A-List clients, the fre-quent flyers you really want toencourage, and emphasize winningmore business from these guys. Thentarget them: Go visit them at theirplace of business, solicit their feed-back on your services and act on it,invite them to events and seminars,join their trade associations, wineand dine them. Showing that you


John Remsen, Jr. is the principal ofThe Remsen Group, a marketing con-sulting firm that works exclusively withlaw firms. He is a Past President of theSoutheastern chapter of the Legal Marketing Association and hasserved on its national Board ofDirectors. He can be reached at 404-885-9100 or [email protected]. © 2005, The Remsen Group

Sales Culturecontinued from page 1


10 June 2005Marketing the Law Firm ! www.ljnonline.com/alm?mktg

many visitors in a particular periodwere referred to the site fromGoogle, which, in turn, can suggestways to maximize exposure in thatsearch engine.

A newer technology called ‘con-version tracking’ can not only pin-point from which search engine avisitor was referred, but can veryclosely track what search term andsponsored ad the visitor clicked onto come to the site. By use of a hid-den code in a specific Web site page,a pay-per-click system such asGoogle can show the advertiser whatkeyword terms and ads are generating

qualified leads to the law firm by vis-itors who ‘convert,’ or take someaction to get in touch with the firm,such as filling out an online form orsigning up for a newsletter. Armedwith the knowledge of which termsare productive and which are not, alaw firm can be very efficient with itsonline marketing budget by onlypaying for keyword terms that pro-duce qualified leads.CONCLUSION: RETURN ON INVESTMENT

As law firms become more sophis-ticated marketers, the concept ofusing the Internet as a way toincrease law firm revenues is becom-ing commonplace. Any marketingeffort, however, should produce

more dollars than it costs — a posi-tive return on investment. Effectiveonline marketing methods areemerging and changing constantlyand the skillful use of dynamic, high-ly trackable advertising technologieswill be rewarded with a positiveimpact on a law firm’s bottom line.

FOR MORE INFORMATION• Search Engine Watch:www.searchenginewatch.com• Search Engine Report: www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport• Search Engine Guide: www.search engineguide.com

Get Togethercontinued from page 8

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really do care about them is theessential step to getting more workfrom them.

7. Focus on Industries, NotArea of Law. Too many law firmspractice marketing by trying to mar-ket their practice. Clients don’t thinkthat way. They focus on their busi-ness and industry concerns, andwant their law firm to do the same.Competent legal technicians are adime a dozen; law firms that talk thelanguage of the hospitality industryare valued much more highly.Focusing on industries targeted byyour marketing plan prevents wast-ing time and effort by trying to be allthings to all people. It also promotescross selling among practices, as youidentify which real estate, corporate,tax and other services you can tailorto clients in specific industries.

8. Get an Identity. Emphasize thatyou’re not just another law firm.Making an impression captures shareof mind, then share of market. All theeffective marketer’s tools apply here:a logo, a short and memorable firmname (no more than two words),sharp web site, readable collateralmaterials that are not mind-numbingexercises in lawyer-ese, email tem-plates with links back to your website, promotional items that clientswill want to use. Remember that anice brochure or impressive web siteconstitute just a small part of a totalmarketing effort.

9. Hire “People People.” Lawyersare trained to be good communica-tors before groups, whether juries orboards of directors. They typicallyaren’t good at establishing interper-sonal, one-on-one communication.Rather than trying to turn an intro-verted lawyer into a rainmaker, itmakes sense to hire lawyers with a

focus on personality as well as ongrades and law journal experience.Look for outgoing types who areflexible and embrace change, andthey can become missionaries foryour marketing efforts. The sameapplies to everyone in the organiza-tion — receptionists, administrativeassistants and (yes) marketers.

10. Manage Lawyer Expectations.All the steps that we’ve discussedhere take time, and the marketingplan they support will continue toevolve. Make sure the lawyers atyour firm know and understand thisfrom the start. Set a limited numberof priorities and don’t try to movetoo far too fast. But make absolutelycertain that you deliver everythingthat you promise — which, in theend, is a good definition of effectivemarketing.

Sales Culturecontinued from page 9

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Some firms believe that cherry-pickingcertain lawyers for public relationscomes at the expense of firm-widecollegiality, leading to resentmentfrom other lawyers on the sidelines.

In other firms, the issue is notwhether you should promote certainlawyers to the press, but whichlawyers you should promote. Whileyou may believe the gregarious,

publicity-seeking M&A partner inDallas is perfect for the hostiletakeover story, your firm’s manage-ment may have a different view.

In addition to the host of imageand other concerns confronting allPR professionals who work with thepress, law firm marketers must con-tend with a distinct set of uniqueconcerns. While it’s impossible toaddress all of them in advance, thereare certain concerns that arise in vir-tually every law firm. Anticipating

and addressing those concernsbefore they arise is the best way tohandle the 3 o’clock call.

Story Straightcontinued from page 6

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To comment on this month’s articlesor suggest a story idea, contact Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Anne

“Betiayn” Tursi [email protected].


Invite The AudienceInto The Tent

Forming Client Service TeamsDoesn’t Just Get the Work DoneBetter, it Brings in More Work.

By Andy Havens

I heard this horror story from anassociate in a large, corporate firm ayear or so ago. He was at the table withfive or six other attorneys from his firmand ten or so people from one of theirlargest client companies. My friendhadn’t been on this assignment long,and was there as back up, and wasmostly keeping quiet, taking notes andtrying not to screw up. SOP for a youngassociate attending such a conclave.

At one point in the meeting, a par-ticular legal issue came up, and thepartner in charge of this client, theone leading the meeting, said: “Youknow, we don’t handle that type oflaw at our firm. But I’m familiar witha few good people here in town whodo. I’ll make a couple calls and getyou a good choice of referrals.”

One of the lawyers from the corpo-rate counsel’s office spoke up at thatpoint, though, and asked: “Excuseme, but isn’t Mr. Jingleheimer-Schmidta partner at your firm?”

“Yes,” replied the partner incharge. “Why do you ask?”

“Because,” replied the client, “Hehappens to be one of the most respectexperts in the state in that particulararea of the law. I worked with him onseveral such cases when I was stillwith the Attorney General’s office.”

As my dad would have said, “Gleep.”HOT IS BAD, COOL IS GOOD

I teach marketing and advertisingat a local liberal arts college here inColumbus. Tons of fun for me. And it

helps the kids get a little sleep oncea week. One of the areas we cover isthe work of Marshall McLuhan. Iwon’t go into all the details of hisimportant contributions to communi-cations studies, but one area that isvitally important to marketing is theidea of “hot” vs. “cool” media. In anutshell, “hot” media are those thatresist interaction, and “cool” mediainvite interaction. Remember is likefire vs. pina colada.

You want your marketing to be as“cool” as possible. Why? Becausepeople like cool. They don’t like tobe put off, burned, held-at-arm’s-length, stymied, kept out, etc. Studyafter study shows that marketing withany kind of interactivity built into itwill vastly outperform “one-way”media. That’s one of the reasons thatthe Internet has taken off and spreadas quickly as it has. The possibilitiesfor interactivity on the Web areinsanely apparent, even to peoplewho aren’t particularly creative.

Marketing history and intelligenceon this goes back to the early 1900’s.Free samples, test-drives, in storedisplays, etc., were all ways of get-ting customers to interact with prod-ucts. They all work. So do surveys.Many surveys are, in fact, nothingmore than advertising disguised assurveys. By getting you to investyour time in filling out a form, thecompany knows that you will thinkmore favorably about their product.CLIENT TEAMS –BEING GOOD

AND GETTING BETTERWhat do the above anecdotes have

to do with each other? Well, the first isabout how a firm’s lack of self-knowl-edge can be cripplingly stupid whenit comes to managing client relation-ships. The other is about how interac-tivity is an important way to improvemarketing. The best vehicle for com-bating the first and enhancing the sec-ond is through the formation andproper use of client service teams.

What is a client service team? It’s agroup of people whose purpose is toimprove the service you provide to aparticular client. Most law firms whoform client service teams do so only

for their larger clients with long-term,multi-practice needs, and that makessense. You probably don’t need aclient service team for a one-off mat-ter, even if it will bring in a hugeretainer. You may need a good mat-ter management system … but that’sanother article.

Why do you need a client serviceteam? Because managing your bestclients’ work over a long period oftime is different than just doing theindividual pieces of work that comealong. This is another one of thosetricky “the whole is greater than thesum of the parts” things that lawfirms need to come to grips with.Doing 100 pieces of work for thesame client is qualitatively differentthan doing 1 piece of work each for100 different clients.

Why is it different? I’ll start you offwith three issues and let you take itfrom there:

1. Billing: If you screw up a billfor a one-off client, that’s no big deal.He’s not coming back. Let’s say youhave an error rate of 5% on yourbills. Still no big deal, even for clientsthat you see once every couple ofyears. But for your top clients? Theones you bill $10,000+ a month to?That becomes a big deal.

2. Associate churn: New facesevery year will mean nothing to clientsyou only see once every ten years.They will expect it. But if you’re notholding on to your associates, yourlong-term, top clients will notice.

3. Administrative consistency: Ifone of your attorneys is still using let-terhead from 1979, and one likes toprint everything on goldenrod col-ored paper, and one uses spiral bind-ing instead of three-hole punch, andone uses Word Perfect, and one usesgreen fonts in email… this will seem(maybe) cute and eccentric to thoseclients you only see once in awhile.To the big clients? It will seem unpro-fessional and bizarre.

Big law departments are narrowingthe field of law firms they use. Why?Partly to save money. But partly towork with firms that do things moreefficiently and in a more “business-like” manner. When you’re at home,I don’t give a tin-whistle what wordprocessor you use. At work,


Andy Havens is a marketing manage-ment consultant and co-founder ofSanestorm Marketing (www. sanestorm.com). He can be reached at 1-877-SSTORM1, ext. 1 or [email protected]. Andy’s informative andentertaining legal marketing blog is http://legalmarketing.typepad.com/blog.

A HAVEN FOR STRAIGHT TALK

12 June 2005Marketing the Law Firm ! www.ljnonline.com/alm?mktg

using Word Perfect communicates acomplete lack of respect for yourclients’ world view (unless they arein the 1% of the business world that’sstill using Word Perfect).

So, the job of the client serviceteam is to work towards improvingservice to the firms’ best clients overlong periods of time. To do so acrossall practice groups and levels of thefirm, and to make sure that all firmfunctions — from administrative tofinance, marketing to personnel,billing to the actual delivery of serv-ice — are done in a consistent andappropriate manner.WHAT DOES A CLIENT

SERVICE TEAM LOOK LIKE?Ask your clients.I’m absolutely amazed at the num-

ber of firms who take on the task offorming client service teams withoutasking their clients to participate inthe activity. That’s like trying to haveyour suit tailored by phone. It justdoesn’t work that way. I would startwith this very simple statement towhoever is in charge of purchasingyour services:

“We’re thinking about puttingtogether a team to help manageyour account. Simply put, we doso much work for you now thatwe think it’s important for us tolook at your legal needs as awhole, rather than just in pieces.We’d like your help in designingthe team and figuring out thelogistics of what it will look like,how often it will meet and whatmetrics we’ll use to manage theteam’s processes and progress.We’d also like your help inchoosing a manager for the team.The manager’s role will be tomake sure that our service

improves over time and isresponsive to your input and crit-icism. Please be assured thatnone of the time taken by any ofour attorneys or staff on this teamwill be billed to you in any way.Our goals here are to make surethat we are fully meeting yourneeds, anticipating new issuesbefore they become troublesome,and responding as quickly aspossible to your feedback.”Something like that. Now… from a

client’s standpoint, doesn’t a clientservice team sound pretty “cool?”Yes… but what’s marketing got to do with it?

First of all, I’m a marketing guyand you’re reading about it here andI’m the one bringing up all theMcLuhan stuff about “coolness” andgetting into your clients’ space andall that. Marketers are all aboutunderstanding relationships aboveand beyond the nuts-and-bolts ofdoing the work.

Second of all, everyone in yourmarketing department probablyknows more about your firm’s over-all operations than any individualattorney you’ve got. Hopefully. Ifnot, well… They should. By involv-ing them in the client services team,you can make sure you don’t sufferan embarrassing blunder like the onementioned at the beginning of thispiece. You’ll also be able to lean onyour marketing people to understandwhich other attorneys to bring intothe discussion when your client asksfor help in areas of the firm’s practiceyou’re not as familiar with.

Third of all, once you’ve got theclient services team formed, you’vegot a huge opportunity for subtlecross-selling.

And on this point, I want to preachto my brethren in the marketingdepartment for a moment. I cannot

overstate my emphasis on the word“subtle” in the above sentence. DoNOT turn client services meetings intoan excuse for other practice group’s“show-and-tell.” Do NOT turn themeetings into a round-robin of “whatgreat verdicts we got” discussions. DoNOT hand out brochures. Do NOThand out newsletters.WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Invite a new lawyer from a differ-ent practice group to attend and lis-ten at every meeting. Just listen.Introduce them. Explain that they arehere to learn.

Invite employees from the client’sorganization to attend the meetings.

Ask the client if you can visit theiroffice and other operations.

Invite an outside speaker that’s ofinterest to your firm and your clients

Invite people from your client’sother service providers — account-ants, architects, ad agencies, etc. —to attend a meeting where no legallysensitive information will be dis-cussed, to learn more about whatthey do, and so they can learn moreabout the legal side of the business

The whole point is to make yourselfmore a part of your client’s business,rather than an adjunct to it. The merce-nary term for this is “getting your hooksinto a customer.” I prefer to think of itas doing well by doing good.Enlightened self interest and all that.

If done right, you’ll save yourclient money and grief, and actuallyget more work. How is that possible?Because you’ll end up with a larger“share of wallet.” Wouldn’t you ratherhave 100% of a client’s $200,000 legalbudget than 25% of his $400,000 one?

I know which answer you clientwould choose. A client services teamwill help you get there.

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