practice management course · 1. marketing is the process by which an organization relates...

Practice Management Course

Marketing and Business Development

Revision information

Version 3.0 – June 2015

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Table of contents

1. Unit introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 2. Developing marketing strategies ................................................................................................. 2

2.1. What is marketing? What is business development? ............................................................ 2 2.2. Marketing strategy ................................................................................................................. 3 2.3. Plans and budgets ................................................................................................................. 9 2.4. Tips before you start ............................................................................................................ 14 2.5. Key points ............................................................................................................................ 15

3. Positioning, value propositions and messaging ...................................................................... 16 3.1. Positioning ........................................................................................................................... 16 3.2. Value propositions ............................................................................................................... 16 3.3. Referral messaging.............................................................................................................. 19 3.4. Branding and reputation ...................................................................................................... 20 3.5. Personal brand .................................................................................................................... 21 3.6. Become an expert ................................................................................................................ 22 3.7. Key points ............................................................................................................................ 22

4. General and traditional approaches to creating new opportunities ....................................... 23 4.1. Channel focus and targeting ................................................................................................ 23 4.2. The power of referrals.......................................................................................................... 25 4.3. Strategic alliances and reciprocal referral arrangements .................................................... 26 4.4. Referrals from clients ........................................................................................................... 29 4.5. Networking ........................................................................................................................... 31 4.6. Key points ............................................................................................................................ 36

5. Online marketing .......................................................................................................................... 37 5.1. Introduction to online marketing .......................................................................................... 37 5.2. Website design and development ....................................................................................... 38 5.3. Search engine optimisation ................................................................................................. 41 5.4. Content marketing ............................................................................................................... 44 5.5. ’Pay–per–click’ advertising .................................................................................................. 47 5.6. Analytics .............................................................................................................................. 49 5.7. Social media ........................................................................................................................ 50 5.8. Email marketing ................................................................................................................... 53 5.9. Key points ............................................................................................................................ 54

6. Converting opportunities ............................................................................................................ 55 6.1. Sales and sales management ............................................................................................. 55 6.2. Quick sales: converting enquiries ........................................................................................ 56 6.3. Slow sales: consultative or relationship selling ................................................................... 58 6.4. Competitive tendering .......................................................................................................... 61

6.5. Key points ............................................................................................................................ 66 7. Managing client relationships .................................................................................................... 67

7.1. Client relationship management .......................................................................................... 67 7.2. Client service ....................................................................................................................... 71 7.3. Key points ............................................................................................................................ 73

8. References .................................................................................................................................... 74 Appendix 1: Key client tracking template .......................................................................................... 75 Appendix 2: New opportunities tracking template ........................................................................... 76 Appendix 3: Monthly activity chart .................................................................................................... 77 Appendix 4: Client engagement form and new client tracking template ....................................... 78

Queensland Law Society | Practice Management Course: Marketing and Business Development Page 1 of 78

1. Unit introduction This unit is required reading as part of QLS’s Practice Management Course (PMC).

Legal practice marketing and business development is becoming more ambitious, competitive and sophisticated. This unit aims to explain how marketing and business development can help a principal in legal practice, provide an overview of marketing activities that may be potentially suitable for your circumstances, and outline how selling techniques and approaches can assist you to build a sustainable practice.

At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• describe alternative approaches to business development and marketing

• identify approaches most likely to be effective in your practice, and develop a plan for implementation.

Glossary

Reference Description

SMART Stands for ‘specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based.’ In order to be effective, an objective should have these features.

SWOT Stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A business review and planning process requires consideration of these factors.


2. Developing marketing strategies 2.1. What is marketing? What is business development?

Marketing guru Philip Kotler (Kotler, 1991) defined marketing in the following three ways:

1. Marketing is the process by which an organization relates creatively, productively, and profitably to the marketplace.

2. Marketing is the art of creating and satisfying customers at a profit.

3. Marketing is getting the right goods and services to the right people at the right places at the right time at the right price with the right communications and promotion.

Marketing theory introduces the concept of the seven Ps – seven integral components of marketing services both to direct consumers and to businesses. The last four components are considered crucial in all marketing activities.

Component Description

People The profile of potential clients and customers.

Planning Research, analysis, objectives and strategies.

Positioning The position of a product or service relative to competing products.

Product The service or product that is being sold.

Price The value of the product or service as determined by demand and perceptions of quality and value.

Place Where and how the product or service is delivered or distributed.

Promotion Techniques used to sell or position the product or service.

(Adapted from Kotler, P, Armstrong, G, Cunningham, P H (2005)

Principles of Marketing Toronto: Pearson Education Canada.)

In professional services, business development has largely overtaken marketing as the preferred term to describe the efforts of practitioners to profitably identify, anticipate and satisfy customer requirements and win business.

So:

• Is business development just a new term for marketing?

• Is business development part of marketing?

• Is marketing part of business development?

Opinions differ. For many, marketing is seen as attracting prospects and clients, and the promotional aspects of websites, advertising, publications and events, whereas business development is seen as concentrating on sales, client conversion and client development.

However, both terms are commonly and interchangeably used to refer to any activities that attract prospects, convert prospects into clients or build a client base.

http://www.atkinsmarketingsolutions.com/wp/2011/11/08/2135/

http://www.atkinsmarketingsolutions.com/wp/2012/05/26/philip-kotlers-seven-ways-draw-ideas-customers/

http://www.atkinsmarketingsolutions.com/wp/2011/05/24/the-secret-of-marketing-communications/


2.2. Marketing strategy This guide suggests four key areas of focus for practices developing their marketing and business development strategy.

Practices have to create customer awareness and interest in a way that creates some initial opportunity or contact. They then have to convert opportunities into instructions and clients, and manage those client relationships to maximise profitability.

Developing an effective marketing strategy therefore involves:

• agreeing the relative focus, time and resources a practice wants to dedicate to each of these stages and objectives

• identifying which activities and approaches are going to be most successful for each stage/objective

• setting clear objectives and targets for each activity to ensure that the practice attracts sufficient demand each month.

Different practices will have to focus and invest in different stages of this process depending on:

• whether the practice is established or developed

• the intensity of competition

• the nature of the client base and how they make decisions

• the strengths and weaknesses of individual staff

• the available time, money and other resources.

Established practices, for instance, might expect to generate a regular stream of opportunities from reputation and referrals. Their focus will therefore be on positioning, conversion and managing client relationships. The focus on maintaining client relationships arises out of acceptance of the marketing truism that it costs significantly more to find a new client than it does to retain an existing one.

Recently established practices, or practices operating in highly competitive markets, will have to work harder on general promotion and creating new opportunities. These practices may therefore focus on web advertising, SEO (search engine optimisation) and other promotional activities to a much greater extent.

Differentiation, positioning and

messaging Creating new opportunities

Converting opportunities

Managing client

relationships


2.2.1. Where is the next matter coming from?

Effective marketing strategies and plans will enable practices to answer the question “Where is the next work coming from?”.

For both established and new practices, the best place to start is to identify where existing work is coming from by asking both new clients and referrers.

Questions may include:

• how they heard about the practice – to obtain information to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing strategies

• why they chose the practice – to identify any points of differentiation that may assist the development of the practice’s positioning strategy, effectiveness of key messages and to obtain information to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing strategies.

The responses to these questions might give the practice an initial indication of what activities are already working. Indicative results are suggested below:

How clients first became aware of the practice

Primary reason they chose the practice

Start-up practice

• Google search (40%)

• Social media (20%)

• Traditional advertising (10%)

• Networking (10%)

• Traditional PR (5%)

• Organisational referral (5%)

• Returning client (5%)

• Client referral (5%)

• First practice I became aware of to help me (30%)

• Price (20%)

• Convenience (15%)

• Messaging and positioning appealed to me (15%)


• Solicitors known to me (5%)

• I was referred (5%)

• General reputation (5%)

Established practice

• Client referral (30%)


• Organisational referral (20%)

• Networking (5%)

• Google search (5%)

• Social media (5%)

• Traditional PR (5%)

• Traditional advertising (5%)

• Returning satisfied client (25%)

• I was referred (20%)

• Messaging and positioning appealed to me (15%)

• General reputation (10%)

• Price (5%)

• Solicitors known to me (5%)

• Convenience (5%)

• First practice I became aware of to help me (5%)

These results will tell practices what’s working, what isn’t working and what activities are providing an acceptable return on investment. The most obvious response is therefore to do more of what’s working, and consider changing your approach to what isn’t working as well as you had hoped.

A practice can expect that clients will become aware of them in different ways, and choose them for different reasons, as they become more established.


As this happens, the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different marketing activity will change, and strategies and investment should be adapted to suit.

2.2.2. The marketing funnel

Some practices might be great at raising profile, identifying prospects and creating opportunities, but poor at converting them into clients.

A marketing funnel can help practices measure and manage the progress of prospects through the sales process from the top of the funnel attracting prospects and creating opportunities, through the conversion into clients and then into key clients through the management of client relationships.

Using a marketing funnel usually involves practices focusing on the success rates of different activities.

This may include measuring:

• leads generated from specific marketing activities

• website hits

• website conversions

• number of initial enquiries converted into formal meetings

• number of formal meetings converted into instructions

• number of invitations to bid for work

• bid or tender success rates

• number of shortlistings for a panel or a specific piece of legal work

• number and seniority of client/prospect contacts

• number of practice areas known to clients.

Contacts / Prospects / Leads

Good prospects

Meetings / Pitches

Clients

Key clients

Creating opportunities


Managing client relationships


2.2.3. The marketing mix

The major challenge in developing market strategies therefore lies in identifying what marketing and business activities will be successful for your practice. This will depend on your offerings, client type and spread, resources, team capabilities, competition and more.

It is also likely to involve a high degree of trial and error. All activities or approaches can be successful in the right circumstances.

Practices need to identify:

• whether any given activity will work for their practice

• how to make it work

• whether it is time and cost-effective

• whether it will remain so.

What will work for your practice?



Relationship management

Advertising (traditional media)

Advertising (web/social media)

Brochures/leaflets

Client entertaining

Client or legal directories

Client referral initiatives

Client service initiatives

Content marketing and blogs

Direct mail letters/newsletters

Electronic direct mail

Individual professional referrals

Media relations

Networking

Practice events and seminars

Search engine optimisation

Social media

Speaking at external seminars

Sponsorship




Relationship management

Strategic alliances

Web development

The table below provides results from the 2014 Taking the pulse report from ALPMA (Australasian Legal Practice Management Association) and Julian Midwinter & Associates in relation to business development and marketing in Australasian law firms.

Top five marketing and business development activities by dollar spend

Small firms % of respondents

Mid-size firms % of respondents

Large firms % of respondents

Website 13.8 Website 11.4 Events hosted by your firm

13.5

Networking at industry and business events

11.1 Networking at industry and business events

10.2 Sponsorships – business

8.2

Memberships of professional and industry associations

9.2 Referral relationships (cultivating and managing)

10.2 Client entertainment – sporting and social

7.6

Referral relationships (cultivating and managing)

7.2 Events hosted by your firm


7.1

Events hosted by your firm

6.6 Memberships of professional and industry associations

6.9 Tenders, proposals and capability statements

7.2


Top five marketing and business development activities by time spent

Small firms % of respondents

Mid-size firms % of respondents

Large firms % of respondents

Networking at industry and business events

13.4 Website 10.2 Tenders, proposals and capability statements

12.9

Website 10.8 Networking at industry and business events


11.2

Referral relationships (cultivating and managing)


9.0 Client relationship management program – planning, key client management, relationship partners

10.0

Newsletters – hard copy or email

6.2 Referral relationships (cultivating and managing)


7.1

Memberships of professional and industry associations

5.9 Memberships of professional and industry associations

7.3 Newsletters – hardcopy or email

5.9


2.3. Plans and budgets

2.3.1. Marketing planning

Effective planning of marketing activities:

• helps a team or individual gain support from others for their marketing plans

• creates a visible plan of all marketing objectives, strategies and plans for the year

• gives control and direction over all marketing activities for the year, so marketing can be proactive, not reactive

• provides measures and targets for success, so activities can be assessed

• provides a point of reference for all new or potential marketing opportunities.

As with business plans, marketing plans can be as simple or complicated as a practice or team leader want to make them. Some more detailed examples and templates are included in the appendices of this study text.

They might include:

• elements that might or might not be covered in an overarching business plan (analysis/ objectives/positioning)

• specific plans for client relationship management, online and content marketing, traditional media or events.

At their simplest, however, marketing plans should address the following questions:

• What are we trying to achieve (overriding objectives, possibly from business plan)?

• What is our value proposition?

• What are our key messages?

• How are we going to generate new opportunities?

• How are we going to convert opportunities?

• How are we going to manage and develop existing client relationships?

• What else are we going to do?

• How are we going to measure success?

Once a marketing plan has been developed, practices should then check:

• Is this plan realistic?

• Are we confident that, if implemented, this plan will be successful?

• Do we have the time, money, people, resources and commitment to implement this plan?

• What external support do we need?


2.3.2. An indicative marketing plan

Messages

Key message Example

Key message one We save you time by:

• helping you avoid long, drawn-out disputes

• acting efficiently at all times

• communicating proactively

• responding promptly to any requests.

(all messages to be supported by client testimonials)

Key message two We protect your finances by:

• getting you the best possible settlement

• offering you a range of resolution methods to suit your budget

• working with you to agree a ‘best value’ scope of work: we don’t do any work where you don’t recognise the value

• putting you in control of costs, fixing fees where appropriate

• managing your legal spend as if it were our own money.

Key message three We take the stress, hassle and anxiety out of your family law matter by:

• listening to your needs and concerns

• explaining your options clearly and patiently

• giving you information, choice and control according to your needs

• doing whatever it takes to earn your trust.

Implementation/action plan

Generating new opportunities (Actions taken to generate new opportunities)

Performance measure

Invest more time and effort in generating enquiries out of both existing and new strategic alliances.

• Increase referrals from existing strategic alliances by 20% by June 2015.

• Develop strategic alliance with compatible succession law practice by November 2014.

Develop and implement social media campaigns to generate further referrals from existing clients and professional referrers.

• All staff to spend, by June 2014, one hour on LinkedIn each week, building contacts base.

• Practice to promote one website blog item, and share one other content piece each week.

Implement community engagement (networking) campaign with different community targets for each individual staff member.

To be developed.


Converting opportunities (Actions you will take to improve conversion of opportunities)

Provide additional training for all staff in sales, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), communicating value and building trust based relationships.

• NLP training for all staff by June 2014.

• Tailored training on ‘trust based relationships’ and ‘communicating value’ by December 2014.

• Convert 70% of all phone enquiries to appointments by June 2015.

• Convert 90% of all appointments to instructions by June 2015.

Update website with stronger differentiating messaging.

• Confirm messages, June 2014.

• Update website, July 2014.

Improve accessibility and availability for new enquiries, with new enquiries roster, out of hours’ availability roster and target of responding to all initial enquiries within 30 minutes.

• Convert 70% of all phone enquiries to appointments by June 2015.

• Convert 90% of all appointments to instructions by June 2015.

Relationship management (Actions you will take to manage and develop existing client/referrer relationships)

Implement a client satisfaction survey, with incentives for clients to respond.

• Approve draft survey June 2014.

• Target 40% response rate by September 2014.

• Target 93% of clients indicating high or very high client satisfaction by December 2015.

Develop higher level client communication skills amongst all staff.

• NLP training for all staff by June 2014.

• Tailored training on ‘trust based relationships’ and ‘communicating value’ by December 2014.

Retain external consultant to audit all practice management systems to identify capacity for delivering greater client value.

• Identify external consultant by August 2014.

• Commence project November 2014.

• Project report January 2015.

• Implementation June 2015.

Other activities (ie product development and pricing initiatives)

Expand fixed fee offerings. 30% of work to be offered on a fixed fee basis by June 2015.


2.3.3. Budgeting

Most marketing budgets cover a year but some initiatives will need to run for longer than that to be effective. Others will require outlays for longer. If the marketing plan covers more than a year, consider whether the budget should too.

The best time to start the marketing budgeting process is towards the end of a financial year as part of the annual business planning cycle, when the practice can expect an indication of projected revenue for the coming year. Marketing budgets can be set in a number of ways or can consider a number of different factors or techniques. Usually, marketing budgets are decided through a mix of considerations.

• Objectives-based budgeting

A ‘bottom-up’ approach. The practice identifies and costs the resources required to meet the objectives and fund the campaigns set out in the marketing plan. This has the advantage of linking the budget directly to the marketing strategy.

• What the practice can afford

A ‘top-down’ approach. All practices have cost pressures and priorities so, with limited funds available, the marketing budget will compete with IT, facilities or training budgets. Strong arguments and evidence of a return on investment are required for a successful budget bid.

Question upper limits on marketing spend and consider whether the practice can afford not to spend on marketing.

• Variation on previous year

The previous year’s budget is the obvious place to start, if available, as it is seen as roughly the ‘right’ amount, regardless of the success or value that came out of the activities funded.

• Share of fee income

Large practices typically spend 2-3% on marketing before salary costs whilst smaller practices spend 1-2%.

• Competitor-based budgeting

Marketing budgets may be decided on the basis of what a practice thinks their competitors spend on marketing. If the practice is in close competition with practices that have spent money on highly effective marketing campaigns, it can be tempting to try and match them.

• Gaining support

When competing for limited resources, internal politics will always be an issue. So, those advocating an increase in marketing spend should look to influence and gain support from key decision makers.


2.3.4. Time budgets

Successful implementation of marketing activities will depend on the available time of principals and other key staff, as much as on financial investment, especially in a small practice.

Time investment can vary significantly, and will depend on your strategy, size of practice, client type and spread. Start-up sole practitioners might spend up to 50% of their time on marketing activities, and for many, this will not drop below 20%.

Here are some tips for managing marketing time demands.

• Prepare a marketing time budget – identifying how much of your time you intend to spend on marketing activities and how you will spend it.

• Diarise time for marketing activities. Plan and make the time, otherwise it won’t happen.

• Be realistic.

• Solicitors experience feast and famine conditions – if the next week is quiet, allocate some time to marketing.

Indicative annual marketing time budget for a small practice principal

(not including specific client development activities)

Available time = 330 hours (44 standard weeks x 7.5 hours a week)

Activity Notes Time allocation

Maintaining major strategic alliances 12 x 1.5 hour meetings a year with 5 alliance partners

90 hours

Maintaining other referral relationships 1 hour every 2 months x 10 referrers 60 hours

Meetings and discussions with online marketing consultant

1.5 hours every month 18 hours

Authoring blogs and content 3 hours a month 36 hours

Social media activity 1 hour a week 48 hours

Reviewing of client satisfaction surveys and any required follow up

2 hours a month 24 hours

Internal client service training and other management

2 hours a month 24 hours

Provisional total 300 hours

GST General sales tasks 30 hours

Total 330 hours


2.4. Tips before you start

Tip Considerations

Focus on SMART objectives

Agree what you want to achieve and decide how to progress.

Maintain high standards for the quality of your legal work

The higher the quality of work, the referrals and recommendations that can be expected.

Maintain high standards of client service

Clients are lost through errors in basic client care, such as poor communication or mismanagement of client expectations. Implement simple and effective client care procedures that all staff understand. Refer to the Client Service unit for ideas and more information.

Focus on people and relationships

Treat clients as valued individuals, not cash machines. In a competitive industry, appeal lies in personal skills as much as legal skills.

Get everyone involved and informed

Effective business development requires a wide range of skills. Speaking at conferences and seminars, contributing to newsletters or website material, courting current and potential clients, pitching for a place on a legal panel and networking require different skills and suit different personalities.

More ‘you’, less ‘we’ Try to communicate in terms of the client’s requirements, rather than your skills and experience. Phrase things in terms of benefits to the client.

Training and development

A wide range of business development skills can be improved through training and applied practice, either in-house or with external providers.

Listen Seek feedback and demonstrate how you are making changes.

Measure, assess and learn

Success often relies on experimentation, trial and error. Business development initiatives should be measured and assessed on completion. Learn from the experience.

Promote successes Gain influence and support for future marketing activities by demonstrating the value of these activities.


2.5. Key points • Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,

delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.

• Marketing theory introduces the concept of seven Ps – seven integral components of marketing services both to direct consumers and to businesses: people, planning, positioning, product, price, place and promotion.

• Four key areas of focus for practices developing their marketing and business development strategy are:

• differentiation, positioning and messaging

• creating new opportunities

• converting opportunities

• managing client relationships.

• The major challenge in developing marketing strategies lies in identifying what marketing and business development activities will be successful for your practice.

• Marketing planning:

• helps a team or individual gain support from others for their marketing plans

• creates a visible plan of all marketing objectives, strategies and plans for the year

• gives control and direction of overall marketing activities for the year, so marketing can be proactive, not reactive

• provides measures and targets for success, so activities can be assessed

• provides a point of reference for all new or potential marketing opportunities.

• Marketing budgets are typically developed using a range of overlapping methods:

• objective-based budgeting

• what the practice can afford

• variation on previous year

• share of fee-income

• competitor-based budgeting

• gaining support.

• Successful implementation of marketing activities will depend on available time and resources as much as money. Practitioners should consider time budgets for marketing activity and proactively record time spent on marketing and business development activities.


3. Positioning, value propositions and messaging 3.1. Positioning

With falling client loyalty and rising client sophistication, law practices have to work harder on positioning and differentiation to give clients a clear reason to choose them over their competitors.

Failure to differentiate will risk leaving clients with the perception that your services are the same as everyone else’s, as lacking any specific value, or as a commodity offering, leading to downward pressure on fees.

The main positioning options for law firms relate to who they provide services for, what services they provide, how they provide services and why they do what they do.

3.2. Value propositions Philip Kotler (1991) defines a value proposition as:

"the set of benefits that your product promises to deliver”.

3.2.1. Different types of value propositions

There are different types of value propositions that a practice might choose to develop, depending on their competitive situation and how well they know their client(s).

The three most common value propositions are:

• All benefits

• Favourable points of difference

• Resonating focus.

• How we do it • Why we do it

• What we do • Who we do it for

WHO WHAT

HOW WHY


Types of value propositions

All benefits Favourable points of difference Resonating focus

Consists of All the benefits the practice believes a client will receive (A list).

All favourable points of difference between your practice’s offering relative to your competitors.

The one or two points of difference that will deliver the greatest value to the customer.

Example We do wills and conveyancing.

We offer a choice of payment options.

We are open Saturday mornings.

We are quicker and cheaper. We will keep you in control of costs.

Answers the client question

Why should we purchase your services? Why should we purchase from you instead of your competitors?

What is most worthwhile for us to keep in mind about your offering?

Requires Knowledge of the practice’s offerings. Understanding of your competitors’ offerings and your competitive positioning.

Knowledge of how your offering delivers superior value to clients compared to your competitors.

Potential downside Can fail to differentiate you from your competitors.

Assumes any chosen point of difference is relevant and valuable to individual clients.

Requires customer value research.

Most law practice value propositions, as far as they can be identified, fall into the first category ‘all benefits’.

These types of value propositions would have been significantly more successful 15 years ago, in a less competitive market, because they offered a number of reassuring messages to clients with limited other options.

In today’s market, however, ‘all benefits’ value propositions fail to differentiate a law practice from its competitors, giving prospective clients no clear reason as to why they should favour one practice over another. For this reason, value propositions that clearly differentiate your practice around favourable points of difference or a resonating focus are generally viewed as more effective.

Often practices use two types of value proposition:

• ‘all benefits’ or ‘favourable points of difference’ value proposition in their general marketing activity (before they understand a specific clients’ needs).

• ‘resonating focus’ value proposition that is more focused and based on specific client needs, concerns and priorities identified in client discussions.


3.2.2. Developing a value proposition

Your value proposition will often be based around your positioning strategy in relation to who you provide services for, what you do, how you do it or why you do it.

Other ways to identify what differentiates you from your competitors or what provides value to clients include:

• reviewing client satisfaction surveys or undertaking specific client research

• internal brainstorming

• discussions with referrers and other stakeholders.

Value propositions are typically focused on either client gain or client pain. How can you reduce or remove client pain? How can you maximise client gain?

Use the TERMS model to help in identifying client pain and gain.

Definition Remove pain Maximise gain

T – Time Save the client time. Create more time for the client.

E – Emotion Reduce stress, hassle and anxiety. Create success, happiness and reassurance. Enhance client status.

R – Risk Reduce client risk.

M – Money Reduce the risk of future financial loss or insecurity, reduce legal costs anxiety and limit legal costs.

Maximise financial settlement. Improve tax efficiency. Improve the profitability of their business.

S – Situation Increase convenience through flexible communications, out-of-hours availability, parking, videoconference and visiting clients at their premises at their preferred time.

3.2.3. So what?

A good test of a value proposition is to ask ‘so what?’ Experienced? So what? Been around a long time? So what? Big and have lots of staff or offices? So what?

A value proposition is effective if it defines value in terms of what the client values. Explain why an attribute will help with something the client cares about.

For example, “Our experience and expertise means we will be able to complete this process quicker and more effectively than our competitors, saving the client time, money and anxiety”.

3.2.4. Prove it!

Be ready to justify the value proposition. How is your practice’s client service superior? Are testimonials available? What’s different to other practices?

Develop and share evidence to support the value proposition, and make all staff familiar with this. Refer to the Client Service unit for more information.


3.3. Referral messaging What would you like your clients to say about you?

Once potential clients find some names or a shortlist of legal practices, whether through referrals, directories, advertising or other sources, they will likely look for further information on your website or the internet through online searches, telephone your firm or ask friends and contacts – increasingly on social media – if they know anything about you.

Maximise opportunities by using clients and contacts as your sales force. This means providing good service, staying in touch and – as with any sales team – giving them the words and messages they can use in their ‘sales’ efforts.

Prospect: Do you know any good succession lawyers in north Brisbane?

Client: Yes. I used XYZ & Associates and was happy with their services.

Prospect: What was good about them?

Client: Stunned silence = a lost opportunity…

In a competitive market, clients and contacts need to be able to tell someone else why they should come to you rather than anyone else.

Prospects are likely to receive a number of names and referrals, so you need to give your clients something specific and positive to say about you; a variation on your value proposition, a differentiating feature, or something specific about your costs, people or service levels.

Examples include:

• “They kept me in control of costs all the way through.”

• “They really took the time to understand my needs and helped me understand my options.”

• “They had it all sorted in no time with minimum fuss.”

Develop some client messages and weave these into all communications to emphasise your commitment.

For example:

• First interview: “How can we best keep you in control of costs?”

• Client agreement: “We will send you cost updates every two weeks and will always seek your approval for costs not anticipated in this estimate before we proceed.”

• Ongoing communications: “Are you happy with how the costs are tracking?”

• Client satisfaction survey: “Did we keep you in control of costs?”

You need to deliver on claims, but sometimes this is not enough to get the message across. Help clients recognise and understand why they can be confident in referring others to you and give them the reasons, and the messaging, they need.

For further information on positioning refer to the Business Planning unit.


3.4. Branding and reputation

3.4.1. What is a brand?

Each organisation has its own collection of qualities and character traits. The perceived brand is the consolidation of these traits and their projection to the outside world.

Ambler and Styles (1997) define brands as:

“the promise of a bundle of attributes that someone buys...the attributes may be real or illusory, rational or emotional, tangible or invisible”.

Therefore, a brand is much more than a visual or tangible identity and its successful projection is not reliant on a big advertising budget. On the contrary, ‘living the brand’ can be more important than promoting the brand, as clients and potential clients will be much more influenced by their actual experience.

3.4.2. Why is a brand important?

A brand reinforces and projects a consistent set of internal and external values that differentiates the practice. In that sense, it will incorporate, or at least be consistent with, a practice’s value proposition.

A brand differs from a value proposition, however, in its broader focus on internal values and the entirety of the staff and client experience.

A strong brand:

• is a promise of consistency, which is reassuring to clients

• is a valuable asset and a sustainable value proposition

• breeds client loyalty

• offers a margin for premium pricing.

Successful brand building involves:

• a focus on internal values as much as external promotion

• commitment, agreement and consensus from all staff on embedding the agreed brand values into practice culture

• external promotion of the practice’s brand through consistent messaging

• reinforcement of brand messaging through staff and customer experience

• creation of a visual identity (office design/logo/website, brochure and stationery design) that reflects the brand values and is consistent with any messaging

• continual monitoring and evaluation.


3.5. Personal brand A personal brand is important because clients buy from or develop relationships with people rather than organisations. Personal reputation matters – it gives people a reason to call you, trust you or refer other people to you – and it pays to invest.

For a sole practitioner, identifying the brand is easy – it’s you!

Pick out your best attributes, plan where you want to take the practice and promote yourself as much as your practice.

Personality traits distinguish one person from another. When they are consistent, recognisable and valuable to you and/or your practice, you have a personal brand.

A strong personal brand is authentic, visible and consistent.

• Authentic – be yourself. Don’t pretend to be anything other than yourself. People can spot a fraud.

• Visible – get out there. Talk to people, network, present, write articles, blog and contribute in meetings.

• Consistent – a strong brand can only develop if you are consistent in your actions and behaviour.

In defining your brand, ask:

• What are your top five values?

• What are your strengths and weaknesses – technical and personal?

• How do you think most of your clients and professional colleagues would describe you?

• How would you love your clients and professional colleagues to describe you?

Once you have an idea of what your brand is and what it should be, focus on development and promotion:

• Be positive, confident and believe in yourself and your value to others.

• Develop, demonstrate and promote your strengths.

• Address weaknesses and gaps.

• Stay true to your values, and be consistent in behaviour and communication.

• Seek feedback on how people see you and how you can develop.

• Regularly review and adapt your personal brand.

• Expand your network.

• Get noticed.

• Build your profile.

• Build your expert status.


3.6. Become an expert Being recognised as an expert is one of the best ways to differentiate yourself and attract new business. It reassures clients and prospects, and makes you a lower risk referral for other professionals.

Expert status can be developed formally or informally:

• Become a QLS accredited specialist.

• Write books and articles.

• Be an active commentator on LinkedIn or social media sites.

• Start your own blog.

• Speak at conferences, seminars and client or community events.

• Gain additional qualifications.

• Become a university lecturer.

• Be ranked as an expert in a legal directory.

• Join a QLS policy committee.

• Become a media commentator.

• Gain media coverage for a high profile or landmark case.

3.7. Key points • With falling client loyalty and rising client sophistication, law practices have to work

harder on positioning and differentiation to give clients a clear reason to choose them over their competitors.

• Failure to differentiate will risk leaving clients with the perception that your services are the same as everyone else’s, as lacking any specific value, or as a commodity offering, leading to downward pressure on fees.

• The main positioning options for law firms relate to who they provide services for, what services they provide, how they provide services and why they do what they do.

• A value proposition is ‘a promise of value to be delivered and a belief from the customer of value that will be experienced’. A value proposition can apply to an entire organisation, a practice area, or a specific matter.

• Value propositions are typically focused on either client gain or client pain. Use the TERMS model (time, emotion, risk, money, situation) to help in identifying client pain or gain.

• A ‘brand’ is the promise or bundle of attributes that someone buys. The attributes may be real or illusory, rational or emotional, tangible or invisible.

• A personal brand is important because clients buy from or develop relationships with people rather than organisations. Personal reputation matters – it gives people a reason to call you, trust you or refer people to you.


4. General and traditional approaches to creating new opportunities

4.1. Channel focus and targeting For the majority of practices, mass marketing through traditional methods is time and cost prohibitive. Most solicitors and practices, with the exception of some personal injuries practices with large advertising budgets, simply cannot expect to raise sufficient awareness and recognition across their entire potential client base to effectively create demand.

Marketing is generally most effective when a number of promotional methods reinforce each other to create repeated and consistent client awareness and recognition.

Single or random acts of promotion or networking may be ineffective, as can excessively repeating or reproducing the same key messages or promotions.

Professionals are increasingly focusing their marketing attention on specific market segments (channels) through which they are confident they can generate significantly higher client awareness than any competitors.

For example, a number of marketing activities (such as networking, advertising, cultivation of referrals, free seminars and social media) may be used to target a:

• specific industry

• specific geographic location

• chambers of commerce or business association

• school community, sports club or charity

• professional or members organisation

• local ethnic or immigrant community.

Channel focus

Networking

Advertising

Seminars Social media

Referrals


The result is that each separate marketing activity reinforces the others to create a virtuous cycle of client awareness and recognition.

By focusing your marketing time and resources in this way, you can be confident of generating a regular flow of enquiries through each channel. Individual principals can reasonably expect to effectively market to between two and four different channels in this way.

As with many other aspects of marketing and development, the key to successful channel development lies in a process.

Stage of process Actions

Understand your broad market

• What market are you targeting?

• How is the market segmented?

• Which segments are attractive in terms of potential growth, profitability and competition?

Target your channels

• Do you already have contacts and a profile in any potential channels?

• Which channels would be receptive to your particular services and value proposition?

• Where do your competitors play? What channels are unexploited?

• How difficult will it be to dominate the channel?

Aim and prepare • Research issues, companies and individuals.

• What do you do? Prepare three key messages that might particularly resonate with this channel.

• Who are the key decision makers?

• What events do they go to?

• What publications do they read?

Go for it • Use existing contacts first – for access, for referrals and for information.

• Cultivate relationships with decision-makers and influencers.

• Identify and attend networking events.

• Focus on implementing a number of promotional activities to reinforce the others (networking, referrals, seminars, social media, advertising and sponsorship).

Understand your broad market

Target your channel(s)

Aim and prepare Go for it


Keep at it. Creating new opportunities requires long-term effort, so do not give up if efforts don’t immediately bring new instructions. It takes time to raise a profile, so a steady, sustainable approach is best. Plan how much time and money can be committed to generating new opportunities through any given channel and follow through!

4.2. The power of referrals In research by Ric Wilmot (2014), 84% of professional services clients chose their adviser on the basis of a recommendation or a referral.

One major advantage of clients gained through referrals is that the referral confers greater credibility and trust. The fact that someone the client trusts has referred them means that the new client has more confidence in you than might otherwise have been the case.

Referred prospects/clients are therefore:

• less price sensitive (than clients gained through other promotional means)

• easier to convert

• easier to manage.

Referrals also provide an opportunity to help a referrer – if the relationship works, trust is reinforced with the referrer. Referrals that work well are a win for everyone.

Referrals can come from many sources: clients and former clients, strategic alliance partners, professional contacts, social contacts, or even just people who have become aware of you through other marketing activities. Section 4.1 discusses how a range of different activities focused on specific target segments can build your profile and generate referrals, even from people you have never met.

The following sections focus on how to build referrals through clients, strategic alliances and reciprocal arrangements.

Queensland Law Society – referral service

The Society’s referral list helps members of the public identify practitioners who may be able to assist them with their specific legal requirements in a particular area of law. The Society receives more than 50,000 enquiries from the public each year.

Registering on the Society’s referral list is complimentary and provides opportunities to talk to potential new clients. To be eligible for inclusion you must be a member of the Society and have practised as a legal practitioner for at least five consecutive years.

For further information on the Society’s referral list visit qls.com.au or contact Records and Member Services on 1300 367 757 or via email at [email protected].


4.3. Strategic alliances and reciprocal referral arrangements For professional practices, referrals can be incredibly valuable, and this applies to the giving of referrals as well as the receiving.

Traditionally, the giving and receiving of referrals between professionals has been:

• Reactive – on the initiative of the client seeking additional guidance

• non-exclusive – professionals will give referrals to and receive referrals from many other professionals

• informal – no agreements or expectations are set in relation to the giving and receiving of referrals

• social – largely based around social connections rather than as a commercial business development activity.

Over the past 10 years, there has been a change in the way professionals give and receive referrals with other professionals.

Practices are increasingly seeing any referral they provide to another professional as a highly valuable commodity, and are seeking to ensure that they receive similar referrals in return.

Driven largely by accountancy practices, law practices are increasingly moving to more formal, exclusive strategic alliances, under which referrals are proactively generated and exchanged by each alliance partner, with expectations as to both the number of referrals that can be exchanged, and the activities each alliance partner will engage in to generate these referrals.

Traditional professional referrals Strategic alliances and referrals

Reactive Proactive

Non-exclusive Exclusive

Individual Practice-based

Informal Formal

Social Commercially focused

In considering a move from one approach to another, practices should consider:

• the volume of referrals they currently give and receive

• the current breadth of their referral network

• the trade-off between receiving a small number of referrals from each of a large number of referrers, or a large number of referrals from each of a smaller number of referrers

• the ethical implications of establishing more formal commercial arrangements (see section 4.3.2).


Increasingly, practices are seeing their traditional referral partners (accountants, financial advisors, other lawyers and agents) move into such strategic alliances with competitors, and many feel they are left with no choice but to enter into similar arrangements.

Strategic alliances can be time-consuming to manage, but practices can often successfully manage between two and four such arrangements successfully. Practices have to commit to investing in and developing any relationship with alliance partners. If they fail to commit, the relationship eventually ceases, and so do the referrals.

Securing strategic alliances and referral streams provides practices with increased certainty.

4.3.1. Developing professional strategic alliances

Tips to maximise the effectiveness of a reciprocal organisational referral arrangements is outlined in the table below.

Tip Communication

Pick partners carefully

• It will not be possible to establish formal referral agreements with multiple organisations: more than five will not allow enough time to manage the relationship.

• What types of organisations will give you the most referrals?

• Are they a good choice of partner? (Consider client base, rapport with individuals, trust and ethics?)

Formalise the relationship

• Prepare your sales pitch: what can your practice offer your potential partner in terms of referrals and other assistance?

• Ask them if they would be willing to discuss setting up a more formal arrangement.

• Discuss how the arrangement might work, including:

• realistic expectations of the number of referrals or recommendations that can be generated by each side each month

• expected actions by each side.

Train and support your referral partners

• Referral partners cannot confidently refer clients if they do not understand your practice.

• Arrange training for their staff and provide supporting information and documentation.

• Provide regular updates– including in relation to training new staff or services.

Do the follow up marketing to their clients

• Do not expect referral partners to do all the marketing work.

• Ensure they have enough of your literature, ask what they need and expect in return and promptly follow up on any opportunities.

Keep your side of the bargain

• Don’t expect a free ride. Referral relationships work best when there is a genuine reciprocal benefit for both partners.

• Develop measures of your activity and communicate this to referral partners.

Consider joint marketing initiatives

If the relationship is going well, with both referral partners actively seeking opportunities from the same client types, consider joint marketing campaigns to save costs and maximise opportunities.

Regularly review the relationship

Establish regular meetings to review referral activity and discuss how the relationship can be maintained and developed.


4.3.2. Ethical considerations in strategic alliances

Solicitors must be vigilant in their dealings to avoid actual and potential conflicts between their own interests and their duty of ‘undivided loyalty’ to their client.

Rule 12 of the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules 2012 (ASCR) states:

“12.1 A solicitor must not act for a client where there is conflict between the duty to serve the best interests of a client and the interests of the solicitor or an associate of the solicitor, except as permitted by this Rule.

12.2 A solicitor must not exercise any undue influence intended to dispose the client to benefit the solicitor in excess of the solicitor’s fair remuneration for legal services provided to the client.”

Arrangements such as the giving and receiving of referral fees may present such a conflict for solicitors.

In the case of strategic alliances or formal referral arrangements, similar conflicts arise because the solicitor may expect a clear benefit from the third party (in the form of referrals) in return for any referrals given.

Where you engage in any formal reciprocal referral arrangements, you should ask yourself if such arrangements could lead to a conflict in loyalty owed to the client, as against that owed to the referrer and the self-interest in receiving further such referrals.

Rule 12.4.3 of the ASCR (referral fees from third parties) states:

“A solicitor may contemplate receiving a benefit or commission from a third person in two circumstances:

• where the solicitor receives a client as a result of a referral; or

• where the solicitor refers the client to a third person who offers a commission (‘a referral fee’).”

Under this rule, the solicitor must receive the client’s informed consent to the benefit.

The solicitor must also disclose to the client:

• if a commission or benefit is, or may be, payable

• the nature of the commission or benefit

• the client’s ability to refuse any referral.

Before entering into any strategic alliances or reciprocal referral arrangements, practices are therefore advised to consider whether disclosure and fully informed client consent are necessary.

Further guidance:

For further information please refer to the Society’s Ethics Centre’s Guidance Note – Referral fees – solicitors obtaining work by paying a financial benefit to a third party.

For further assistance please contact the Society’s Ethics Centre to speak to an ethics solicitor on 07 3842 5843 or via email on [email protected].

http://ethics.qls.com.au/sites/all/files/140109%20Referral%20fees%20-%20solicitors%20obtaining%20work%20by%20paying%20a%20financial%20benefit%20to%20a%20third%20party.pdf

http://ethics.qls.com.au/sites/all/files/140109%20Referral%20fees%20-%20solicitors%20obtaining%20work%20by%20paying%20a%20financial%20benefit%20to%20a%20third%20party.pdf

mailto:[email protected]


4.4. Referrals from clients Although most practices receive referred prospects in one form or another, few have a clear system for increasing the number of referrals they receive or increasing the quality of these referrals.

Investing in simple practice systems and communication strategies can dramatically increase both the number and quality of referrals that a practice receives from its clients.

Below are 10 simple steps to maximise referrals from clients.

Step Description

Excellent client service

• The first step to receiving referrals is providing excellent client service.

• Aim to exceed client expectations.

• See PMC study text on Client Service.

Referral messaging

• Communicate value in all your client dealings.

• Give your clients something powerful and positive to say when they are referring you.

Stay in touch • Develop a monthly plan of meetings, calls, newsletters and emails to stay in front of major clients and referrers.

• Try to make sure your clients can access your contact details easily (ie emails, social media, fridge magnets).

Give to get • Proactively look for opportunities to refer work to others.

• The more you help others, the more they will be willing to refer work to you.

Excellent client service

Referral messaging Stay in touch Give to get

Say you are a referrals based

business Get found Social media Leverage positive

feedback

Please Thank you


Step Description

Say you are a referrals based business

• Mentioning that you are a referrals-based business will subtly suggest that contacts could refer to you.

• Being a referrals based business suggests to potential clients and potential referrers that you are good at what you do and it gives people some reassurance that they would be safe in referring others to you.

Get found • Referrers may not have the time and inclination to pass on your contact details to others. They might not even remember your name.

• Make sure you can be found: search engine optimisation, social media, Google AdWords and directories.

Social media • Expand your network on LinkedIn and social media. Connect with your clients.

• Increasingly, people are using social media such as LinkedIn to search for their professional advisors. Prospective clients will often identify and approach you directly or approach a mutual contact to ask them about you.

• Being connected to someone the prospective client knows and respects is in itself a form of referral.

Leverage positive feedback

• Actively seek client feedback (ie satisfaction surveys) and thank clients for any type of feedback provided. Remind them you are a referrals based business and ask them to tell others.

• Many prospective clients are happy to accept recommendations from people they don’t know in the form of online testimonials. Post positive client testimonials on your website (preferably with real names and photos).

• Ask happy clients to endorse your skills or recommend you on LinkedIn.

Please • Ask satisfied clients if they can recommend you or introduce you to others.

• Ask at a relaxed moment when the relationship is strong. Ask for permission to ask a favour first.

• Be specific wherever possible in terms of who you might like to be introduced to.

• Only ask for referrals once. Don’t be pushy.

Thank you • Develop systematic arrangements for tracking and thanking referrers – whether by a phone call, personalised note or a small gift.

• Referrals convey significant trust on the part of the referrers: if a client is unhappy with your service after a referral, it reflects badly on the referrer. Maintaining contact with the referrer will allow you let them know how the relationship is progressing.


4.5. Networking

4.5.1. What is networking?

Networking is the growth and effective leverage of personal and professional networks: it is about building relationships and making the most of them.

While understanding how to network can help to improve your networking effectiveness, do not expect networking to generate immediate leads or instructions. Networking is a long-term initiative – you might not see an immediate benefit, but if you develop and nurture the right networks and relationships, opportunities are created.

There are three different components to effective networking: strategic, tactical and operational.

Strategic networking looks at the structure and diversity of your network, assesses the types of networks you need to develop and the type of networking required to achieve your personal and practice objectives.

Tactical networking looks at how people can make the most out of every networking opportunity in terms of focused preparation, effective engagement and follow-up. Effective networking is as much about discipline as it is about social skills, and for this reason introverts often get better networking results than some extroverts who get distracted by the chat and fun.

Some people are viewed as ‘natural networkers’: gregarious people, typically extroverts, who are comfortable in any social situation, can join or initiate conversations with strangers easily and can effortlessly build rapport.

Such people are highly skilled at operational networking – the social and practical skills that help people engage with others. These people can make ‘networking’ look easy, but are they getting any real benefit out of their easy, confident socialising?

Operational networking (social, practical skills)

Conversation Food and alcohol? Rapport?

Tactical networking (event planning and execution)

Prepare Engage Follow-up

Strategic networking (What? Who? How?)

What do you want to achieve through networking?

What type of people do you want in your network?

How can you best manage and leverage your network?


4.5.2. Strategic networking

Strategic networking requires taking a step back and asking the big questions about any networking activity.

Question Considerations

What are your networking goals?

What are your primary personal and professional goals?

These goals may be to:

• Generate leads from your existing client community?

• Seek new contacts in different communities?

• Develop new relationships with potential referrers and influencers?

• Maintain relationships with existing referrers and influencers?

• Promote brand awareness?

• Seek new ideas and perspectives?

Think ahead – might your goals change?

What type of people do you want to meet?

• Assess your current network of contacts – will it help you achieve your goals?

• What types of networks and individuals will better help you achieve your goals?

• What specific relationships do you need to develop?

How are you going to meet them?

• Direct approaches?

• Asking mutual contacts for introductions? Who can help you access a new network or community?

• Attending events? Personal or professional?

What type of networks do you want to develop and use?

• Personal/professional/hybrid?

• Homogenous or diverse? Broad, diverse networks are likely to be more useful than narrow homogenous ones.

• Quality or quantity? Should you invest your time in developing a smaller number of high value contacts, or a larger, more inclusive network?

How can you best maintain, manage and leverage your network?

• Give. Build social and networking capital. Make deposits of goodwill in different relationships that can be drawn on later.

• Don’t neglect or ignore old/cold contacts: they might have developed new networks that could be highly valuable to you.

• Review and cull your network regularly: beware of damaging associations.

• Actively seek introductions but don’t ask for favours before earning the right.


4.5.3. Tactical networking

Maximising the effectiveness of networking activity takes planning and discipline. Turning the activity into a process can assist reduce the unease or anxiety that some experience before networking events.

Prepare

Check the event • What is the potential benefit?

• Is it worth attending?

Target individuals • Who are your targets?

• Define objectives for each of your targets?

• Can introductions be arranged from people who are also attending?

Prepare conversation topics

• Do not be lost for words. Prepare conversation elements, ready for use.

• Join a group and make positive comments about the event or host.

• “I was hoping to meet you so I could ask…”

• Ask interesting questions.

Have some ‘give to gets’ ready

Think of something you could give to others or some way you can help others as a way of building a relationship and trust. This could be offering to send an article or introducing someone to somebody else. Paying it forward creates goodwill that can be drawn on as required.

Prepare

•Check the event •Target individuals •Prepare conversation

•Give to get

Engage

•Target your targets

•Hunt in packs •Talk business •Low-commitment follow-up

•Make notes

Follow-up

•Keep commitments

•Social media •Record data •Research •Follow-up the follow-up


Engage

Target • Try to speak to new people who will expand your circle of contacts.

• Pick peers rather than people who are noticeably more senior or junior to you – these are the people you are most likely to develop mutually beneficial relationships with.

• Target relaxed groupings of three people or more. Avoid interrupting personal or intense conversations.

Hunt in packs Networking is more effective if done in pairs or groups. This means you are rarely isolated or distant and makes it easier to join other groups; you can promote each other without appearing to brag.

Talk business • Find out what other people do and move the conversation to business matters.

• Exchange business cards if it feels right. If someone asks for your card, you should ask for theirs. Don’t offer cards indiscriminately.

Give to get/ask for a low-commitment follow-up

Giving is a great way to develop a new relationship. Offering to make an introduction or provide an article or a third person’s contact details gives you a reason to get in contact. Asking for a meeting or appointment on the basis of a brief chat can be seen as too pushy – asking if you can stay in touch to help is much more effective.

Notes After a good conversation with someone, retire to a quiet spot and subtly make some brief notes. Without notes, you might forget what was discussed, and miss the opportunity to further benefit from the meeting.

Follow-up

Keep commitments • Keep promises – send the article or arrange the introduction. Do not delay, or else it might be difficult to make the most of the opportunity.

• Neglecting your commitments can risk harm to your reputation.

Social media • Connect with them on LinkedIn.

Record the data • Enter information in a database of contacts with any appropriate notes.

Research • Do some light research on anyone you meet (ie check their website or LinkedIn profile).

• Could they be a useful contact? Who else might they be able to introduce you to?

Follow-up the follow-up

• Ask for a slightly higher commitment, such as a brief coffee 10 days after the event, if you have helped someone, or have earned enough goodwill. Be aware of not being too pushy – don’t ask for a formal meeting or lunch date if you have not earned it.

• If someone has helped you, send a thank you note. This makes it more likely that they will help again.


4.5.4. Operational networking – hints and tips

Hints and tips Considerations

Engage • When approaching individuals be confident, smile and deliver a relaxed opening line to initiate conversation.

• When approaching groups, go to the fringes of the group, smile and listen silently until an opportunity to contribute arises. Be welcoming to people who want to join the group.

Beware of food or alcohol

Watch what and how you eat so that you don’t appear inelegant or greedy.

Limit your alcohol intake – if you drink too much you might miss opportunities, forget useful information or even embarrass yourself.

Be brief Be wary of boring others, imposing yourself or taking up too much of their time. Make contact, establish a rapport, exchange information and move on.

Develop rapport • Listen.

• Ask interesting questions.

• Pay attention to the person you’re speaking to.

• Find areas of common interest.

• Get people talking about themselves.

• Be positive and memorable.

Advice Don’t give advice unless someone specifically asks for it – it risks offending.

Don’t brag Don’t be too pushy or ‘salesy’.

Don’t brag or be too obvious in promoting your strengths.

Avoid being overt in asking for or offering of business cards

Wait until someone asks for your card, or until you have a valid reason to ask to exchange cards.

If you remember their details, and you believe they will remember you, you may be able to locate their contact information online. Be cautious – not every professional has an online presence.

Remember why you are all there

Everyone in the room is there to promote their business and make contacts – you can make a good impression in many small ways that can be of benefit further down the track.


4.6. Key points

• Marketing is generally most effective when a number of promotional methods reinforce each other to create repeated and consistent client awareness and recognition. Successful marketing often lies in repetition.

• Professionals are increasingly focusing their marketing efforts on specific market segments (channels) through which they are confident that they can generate significantly higher client awareness than any competitors.

• The majority of professional services clients choose their advisors on the basis of a recommendation or a referral.

• Referred prospects are less price sensitive, easier to convert and easier to manage than clients gained through many other promotional methods.

• Referrals between professionals are increasingly proactive, exclusive, formal and commercially focused.

• Formal strategic alliances introduce ethical considerations for solicitors due to the potential conflict between their own interests and their duty of ‘undivided loyalty’ to the client.

• Investing in practice systems can dramatically increase both the number and quality of referrals that a practice receives from its clients.

• Networking is the growth and effective leverage of personal and professional networks – it is about both building relationships and making the most of them.

• Effective networking has strategic, tactical and operational considerations.


5. Online marketing 5.1. Introduction to online marketing

The internet and related technological advances have drastically altered the way in which information is shared, how clients seek professional support and how all law practices market themselves.

Some practices use online marketing as their primary means of lead generation, whilst others prefer more traditional methods, such as networking and cultivating client, or professional, referrals.

The extent to which clients use online technologies to search for information and seek, or check, referrals, requires all practices to consider, and invest, in their online presence.

Comprehensive online marketing strategies typically incorporate a number of the interrelated elements set out below.

Online marketing strategy

SEO

Pay-per-click ads

Website design

Content marketing

Social media

Website analytics

Email


Type Description

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

The art or science of promoting the visibility of your web pages in search engine results.

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads

Internet advertising where the advertiser only pays when an ad is ‘clicked’ and someone is transferred to the desired website. There are other advertising models within the broader sphere of search engine marketing (SEM), but PPC is the dominant model.

Website design Designing websites to inform, connect, capture and convert.

Content marketing Using content (ie blogs, articles, documents, guides, videos and slides) to generate awareness and profile, drive people to your website and boost search engine optimisation.

Social media Creating, sharing and exchanging information through virtual communities and networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Website analytics The measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data for the purposes of understanding and optimising your online strategy.

Email Directly emailing your clients and contacts.

All of these elements impact and inform the others to assist developing a truly coordinated online marketing strategy.

For example:

• Analytics can assist in developing individual web page effectiveness, strategic search terms for SEO and PPC advertising, and relevant content for website design and content marketing.

• Content is then promoted through the website, social media, email and other methods, which in turn boosts SEO and website conversion effectiveness.

• Social media provides ideas and potential new audiences for content.

5.2. Website design and development

5.2.1. Website purpose

A law practice website can serve a number of functions.

It can potentially:

• attract new prospects, with the assistance of an integrated marketing strategy

• positively differentiate your practice from your competitors

• provide content to attract and engage with prospects and clients

• provide additional information (including basic contact details) to prospects, supporting other marketing and business development

• reassure prospects that you have the capabilities to assist them


• convert prospects into enquiries or clients

• capture contact details

• promote new services to existing clients.

When developing a website, determine which of the above possible objectives are priorities and decide how you can design your website to maximise effectiveness.

5.2.2. Be remarkable

A website can help attract new clients, but can also lose them.

Potential clients will often review a practice’s website before making contact. The website content therefore has to be sufficiently engaging to give people a reason to call or investigate further.

One of the most consistent criticisms of the majority of law practice websites is that they all look the same:

Criticisms suggest law practice websites all:

• look ‘professional’ in a slightly formal, stuffy, tired way

• talk about their history (when they were established)

• list their practice areas or services (often too many)

• make unsubstantiated claims about client service

• have an ‘about us’ section that fails to differentiate the practice

• lack any new or interesting content

• include personal biographies that routinely list qualifications, admission dates, practice areas, professional memberships and published works

• fail to differentiate the practice from its competitors

• look the same!

The main purposes of websites are to differentiate, engage with clients, generate interest and convert visitors to enquirers and clients. To do this, the website has to offer something different or remarkable that genuinely interests clients.

5.2.3. Website design considerations

Don’t expect web developers to develop your positioning strategy!

It is important that practitioners take control of their own website.

Website designers and developers can only do so much: the basic design direction, structure, content and messaging in a law practice website has to come from the law practice itself.

Website Considerations

Design direction

• Know what you want in terms of ‘look and feel’.

• Review other websites and give any designers or web-builders some examples they can refer to in developing your site.


Website Considerations

• How can you look different from your competitors?

Structure • Take time deciding the operational headings and menus.

• Are they internally consistent?

• Will users find it easy to navigate through to the information they need?

Content and messaging

• Include dynamic content in terms of news items, blogs, newsletters, downloadable guides, podcasts and videos.

• Differentiate the practice from other law practices.

• Include client testimonials (preferably with client names and photos).

• Feature a prominent value proposition.

• Provide reassurance to the target market.

• Include a ‘call to action’ – a prompt for clients to make direct contact.

• Answer typical questions from clients and prospects.

• Feature engaging profiles and images of all personnel.

5.2.4. Website development options

Developing a website has never been easier, but costs vary dramatically.

Many practitioners develop their own websites by using themes/templates from user-friendly content management systems, such as wordpress.com or squarespace.com. Depending on your skill in using the themes, templates and plug-ins provided, the resulting websites can both look professional and be effective.

Be warned, however, it’s not quite as easy as it looks! It can take significant time and effort to understand how the different tools work, and training or assistance from a professional developer may be required.

The choice of who develops your website will often depend on:

• how you want to use your website

• how regularly and extensively you anticipate updating it

• your available budget (both initially and for updates)

• your skills and confidence in either developing it or updating within the practice.

A favoured approach for many small practices is to use web developers to create the initial website via a theme/template from a user-friendly content management system that then allows for updates to be applied by staff within the practice. This approach can reduce costs and allows practices to update content in-house.


Some legal practice management software solution providers are also offering law firms a website as part of their overall package. Alternatively, practitioners can look to retain professional web developers or web designers to develop a more tailored website to meet specific functionality or design needs.

5.2.5. Mobile compatibility

A major consideration in website development is to ensure that your site is mobile compatible. Research from LexisNexis found 74% of people searching the internet to identify legal service providers used multiple devices (phones and tablets, as well as desktops and laptops).

Most web developers offer design solutions that are compatible with mobile use. This aspect of website development should be tested and confirmed prior to website deployment.

Terminology surrounding mobile compatibility is clarified in the below table.

5.3. Search engine optimisation Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of building your website’s visibility and prominence in common search engines such as Google.

Given the extent to which potential clients continue to use search engines to identify potential professional providers, effective SEO can give you the edge on your competitors by driving more traffic to your website.

Significant investment of time and money in SEO is not for everyone. Criticisms and challenges of SEO as a major marketing strategy include the following:

• Retaining professional SEO consultants or website designers can be prohibitively expensive for smaller practices.

• The rules by which Google and other search engines prioritise listings are constantly changing, making it difficult for non-professionals to manage the process effectively.

• SEO is highly dependent on the ongoing promotion of the site through the time consuming production and promotion of new content.

• Resulting enquiries are often not from the targeted market segment, are harder to convert and are more price sensitive than enquiries from other marketing activities.

• SEO is a long-term strategy and is unlikely to bring immediate results in the same way that PPC advertising might.


Web designer A web designer focuses on look and feel, using graphics and graphic design to create the appropriate aesthetic experience. They are likely to have some experience with coding and providing the appropriate functionality for your site, but they primarily see themselves as artists rather than technicians.

Web developer Developers focus on functionality and technical performance, with extensive knowledge of coding and languages such as HTML, JavaScript and CSS.


Mobile responsive

A site that dynamically adapts to different screen sizes by resizing and reformatting its fundamental parts.

Mobile optimised

A mobile optimised website will specifically reformat itself for a list of handheld devices with larger navigation buttons and differently optimised images for superior viewing, and use on mobile devices.


For the above reasons, many law practices decline to invest significantly in SEO, or alternatively, may place less emphasis on it as a primary marketing strategy once a client base has been built up and more direct referrals can be expected.

In more recent years, however, Google and other search engines have invested significantly in more sophisticated algorithms that reward websites of genuine relevance. Sites that rely solely on keywords are now finding disfavour with search engines. Instead, effective SEO increasingly relies on valuable shared content, unique regularly updated content, backlinks from respected websites and accessible design structure.

Feature Considerations

Valuable shared content

• Include downloadable guides, blogs, images, podcasts, videos and other media on your website.

• Submit articles to online media.

• Post videos to YouTube and slides to Slideshare.

• Regularly update or publish new content. Promote this content through email, social media and other sources.

• Focus on specific content that will match the trend for increasingly sophisticated searching techniques.

Backlinks from respected websites

• Register in respected online directories and listing sites.

• Ask referral partners to include a link from their website through to yours.

• Promote your website in practice and individual social media pages and updates. Encourage people to ‘share’ this content.

Accessible design structure

• XML sitemaps, internal links, blog titles, URLs.

• Make it easy for search engines to understand your site.

5.3.1. Is SEO ‘dead’?

The last decade has seen increasing claims of the ‘death’ of SEO as an effective marketing strategy.

The reasons for these claims are twofold:

• Google and other search engines have changed the algorithms that previously made it possible for SEO consultants to manipulate search rankings.

• Increasingly, the space available on search result pages for organic search results has reduced whilst the space allocated to PPC advertising has increased.

Changes to Google algorithms

There is consensus that the changes in Google algorithms have meant that manipulative SEO tactics (keyword density and repetition etc) are either less effective or are actively counter-productive.

Search engine optimisers still maintain that there is a legitimate and effective role in making website content more accessible and understandable to search engines. Focusing on valuable shared content and relevant backlinks are also still seen as being effective.

In this sense, whilst the rules and strategies have changed, SEO isn’t dead – just evolving.


Google search result pages: organic search vs advertising

The aim of SEO is for your practice to appear either:

• at the top of the Google rankings for any given search

• above the fold (so you are seen without the need to scroll down the page)

• on the first page.

In recent years however, the space available for organic search results has reduced, whilst the space allocated to advertising (Google AdWords) has increased, thus reducing the likelihood that you will appear above the fold or on the first page of the search results.

This is leading many businesses to reduce or limit their investment in organic SEO and focus instead on Google AdWords or PPC advertising.

5.3.2. Keyword and content strategy

Given the limited number of spaces available for organic search results above the fold on Google search results, practices need to be strategic about what they want to be found for.

There is likely to be significant competition for a good Google placement under the search term ‘Commercial Lawyer Brisbane’, and also a lower conversion rate from any website visit. There would be less competition and a higher conversion rate for more specific search terms, such as ‘Franchising law, Woolloongabba’.

Clients are getting more sophisticated in their Google searches and are increasingly using more specific search terms to look for both information and service providers.

As with positioning generally, such targeted approaches to SEO in terms of keywords and content will often be more effective than broader ‘catch-all’ terms.

Specialist firms, or firms servicing specific markets or locations, may therefore find SEO a more effective strategy than broad or generalist practices.


5.3.3. Google My Business

Another strategy to gain a prominent position on search engine results pages is to use Google My Business (this product has replaced Google Places for Business and Google+ Pages Dashboard).

Approximately half of all Google searches are local or location-based, meaning they have a location (Brisbane, Woolloongabba, Toowoomba) in the search term.

Typically, the first page of Google search results includes a map and a listing of local business meeting the search term within that location.

You can register to appear in these listings for free through the service Google My Business at google.com/business/.

5.4. Content marketing

5.4.1. Why content matters

As client sophistication increases, clients want to be informed before they seek to retain any professional advisor.

If people have a business, personal or legal challenge, increasingly they look to research and gain an understanding of the challenge before they look to find a solution or service provider.

They look for information (content) first and solutions second.

To connect with prospects, legal practices therefore have to provide interesting and engaging content that both educates the prospect and builds trust that the practice can help them.

An effective content strategy includes:

• regularly creating interesting and relevant content in various formats, such as downloadable guides, blogs, articles, videos, podcasts, slides and more

• publishing interesting and relevant content on the practice website

• seeking publication of content in other online sites or offline media

• posting of videos on YouTube and slides on Slideshare

• promoting shared content through both personal and practice social media accounts (ie LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter)

Your business here


• promoting through email, electronic direct mail and other direct means

• measuring the effectiveness of different content in achieving marketing goals.

Providing interesting and engaging content:

• makes your website more interesting and engaging, increasing the likelihood of conversion or contact

• clarifies your positioning and builds your reputation and expert status

• boosts SEO

• introduces you and your content to new audiences as your existing contacts ‘like’ or ‘share’ your posts on social media, including forwarding your emails generates leads and drives people to your website.

Liking and sharing can be viewed as a form of referral and recommendation, and may introduce new prospects.

Content marketing can be a powerful, effective tool to boost the effectiveness of your marketing activities and achieve your objectives.

Content marketing

SEO

Lead generation

Website conversion

Positioning Referrals

Expert status

Networking


5.4.2. Creating, sharing and commenting on content

Creating a regular supply of relevant, engaging content is a significant challenge, especially for smaller practices.

The below table outlines tips to assist develop relevant and engaging content.

Tip Considerations

Look for ideas online

• Engage in social media. See what other people are writing about, and how they’re writing about it.

• Subscribe to relevant blogs and newsfeeds.

• Keep notes of ideas that you can develop further.

• Subscribe to blogs or networks from overseas. Sometimes the UK and US have some of the latest thinking or ideas.

Use different media

• Don’t just write articles. Record videos and podcasts, develop images and publish slideshows.

• Using a range of media will boost SEO and introduce you to different audiences.

Short and long • Look to create a mix of shorter and longer content pieces.

• Creating substantive downloadable guides for your website can assist support your practice's positioning and SEO.

• Simple, short comments can often create greater interest and circulation on social media.

Regularly update your content

Update your website content regularly and re-market it.

Write about what people are searching for

• Use analytics to find what people are searching for.

• Post answers to the questions your target market is asking.

Create

Publish

Promote

Measure


Tip Considerations

Ensure your website offers reassurance about related services

• If someone visits your website as a result of some external content marketing, you need to be able to reassure them that you can undertake the work discussed.

• There is little point writing an article on franchising if you do not specifically talk about franchising under your website list of services.

Don’t obsess about originality

• Online content is as much about sharing and comment as it is about originality.

• It’s fine to refer to or comment on others’ ideas and content: being seen as a trusted gateway to others’ content can be as valuable as being an original author.

• There are very few truly original ideas. Put your own perspective on something and say something in your own way.

Ask questions/ engage your community

It’s not all about answers. Asking the right questions can engage as many people and raise your profile as much as providing answers.

5.4.3. Strategic content marketing

As with the comments in relation to SEO above, content that focuses on specific issues and uses specific keywords is increasingly likely to be more effective in terms of both search engine optimisation and ultimate conversion than broader topics.

Clients look for information before they look for professional advisors and increasingly use very specific search terms in their information searches. Solicitors who provide content to match these specific search terms are likely to be more successful than those who create content under more generalist headings.

5.5. ’Pay–per–click’ advertising As discussed above in relation to SEO, space on search engine results pages is increasingly being taken up by paid advertising slots rather than organic search results.

Google AdWords is the advertising service from Google that places short ads alongside organic search results in search results pages. The ads are short, typically consisting of one headline of 25 characters or less, two additional text lines of 35 characters each, and a URL display.

Your ads will appear on search result pages for keywords that you have identified. You can therefore target specific geographic audiences or enquiries and tailor your ads to different geographic locations.

The choice of keywords will therefore be central to the effectiveness of your advertising. Google offer traffic and costs estimates to assist making an informed decision. Success, however, can depend on both trial and error and the sophisticated use of tools, such as Google Analytics.

With the ‘PPC’ formula, you are only charged if people click on your ads and progress to your website. The ‘no visit, no fee’ payment structure therefore makes it easier to assess return on investment than for many other forms of advertising or marketing.

You can also set your budget in terms of daily spend, so you are not at financial risk of your ads being more effective than anticipated. This means that it is not prohibitively expensive for a practice to experiment with Google AdWords, with a low limit, for example, of $20 a day.


Cost–per–click

The actual ‘cost-per-click’ will depend on an auction process, how many other people want to place an ad using the same keywords and how much they are willing to spend.

You can control how much you are willing to pay for a click. Costs typically vary from $7–$20. These costs are dependent on the number of people bidding to advertise under a given search term, resulting in less common, unique search terms to be available at a lower cost.

For example, a click on an ad under the search term ‘Personal injury lawyers Brisbane’ may cost $100, whereas a more specific, less popular search might cost significantly less, such as ‘Franchising lawyer, Annerley’.

5.5.1. Google AdWords: return on investment?

The return on your Google AdWords investment will depend on how effective Google AdWords are at driving traffic to your website, and converting that traffic (the clicks through to your website) into an actual instruction.

For example, if you pay $10 per click and convert 5% of the subsequent visits to your site into instructions then the marketing cost per instruction is: $10 x 20 = $200.

This might represent an actual loss for practices that offer wills for less than $200, and would also probably write-off all of the profit from a typical conveyance. For higher value work, however, a marketing cost of only $200 might represent very good value.

Small changes in cost-per-click and conversion can therefore make a dramatic difference in return on investment. If you pay $7 per click and convert 20% of the subsequent visits to your site into instructions then the marketing cost per instruction is reduced to $7 x 5 = $35.

If investing in Google AdWords it is important to consider that it can:

• be significantly more expensive overall than investing in SEO

• bring quick results, but results will end when the budget runs out

• be excluded from search results if ‘Adblocker’ has been activated on the user’s browser.

Cost per click

• $10

% of website visits converted to instructions

• 20%

Marketing cost per instruction

• $200

Cost per click

• $7

% of website visits converted to instructions

• 5%

Marketing cost per instruction

• $35


Conversion

To assess return on investment, it is therefore important to be able to track those instructions that actually come from PPC advertising (use conversion tracking in Google AdWords/Google Analytics). Whilst some instructions may be captured by a website enquiry form or email, the majority of people still prefer to pick up the phone. Website ‘bounce rates’ (the percentage of visitors to a particular website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page) might not mean failure – they could mean success!

To effectively track this information, procedures should be implemented to ensure all clients and enquirers (if possible) are asked how they found the practice and their responses recorded.

Targeting, keyword selection and competition

To maximise any return on Google AdWords investment, practices should therefore focus on reducing the cost per click (by limiting the competition for placing under search terms) and seeking to increase conversion.

As with SEO/content marketing, using narrower, more specific keyword terms is likely to both reduce competition and costs, and increase website conversion rates. Specialist firms and firms servicing specific markets or locations may find Google AdWords a more effective strategy than a full service firm or generalist practice.

Remarketing

Have you ever spent time researching an issue, but then see ads for those services pop up frequently over the next few weeks on seemingly unrelated sites?

This phenomenon is called remarketing. Remarketing lets you target those people who have visited your site with ads on other sites. As one site visit is rarely enough to convert someone to action, remarketing gives you the chance to target those people who might be most interested in your ads, and gives you another chance to close the deal.

5.6. Analytics Website analytics concerns the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data for purposes of understanding and optimising web usage.

Onsite analytics measure actual visitor traffic arriving at your website, with data including number of page views, the different media from which people are arriving at your website, bounce rates, average time on page, click paths and more.

Offsite analytics measure your potential website audience, enable you to see the bigger picture of how your website compares to others and allows you to engage in market research as to the likely impact of using different keywords for SEO and advertising.

5.6.1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics (Google.com.au/analytics) is the most widely used website analytics service, generating detailed statistics about a website’s traffic, traffic sources, conversions and sales.

You can see what keywords are bringing people to your site, where they are coming from, advertising performance, landing page quality and conversions.

The basic model of Google Analytics is free with advanced tools available for a premium subscription.

http://www.google.com.au/analytics


5.7. Social media Social media is now mainstream, even in the largely conservative and risk-averse legal profession.

Whilst there are risks involved in solicitors working with social media, there are also significant marketing opportunities.

Social media can be used for many different marketing purposes, with different media having different strengths and weaknesses. The most commonly used types of social media are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Type Description

Facebook Facebook has an estimated 1.4 billion active users (October 2014). Although traditionally seen as personal, social and consumer focused, it is increasingly used for business purposes.

Twitter Twitter is primarily a micro-blogging site where people post comments and updates of up to 140 characters. It is primarily used by business to share content, raise their profile and direct traffic to blogs and websites.

LinkedIn LinkedIn has an estimated 300 million users (October 2014) and is seen as the primary social media tool for business and professionals.

5.7.1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn has gained its position as the primary social media for professionals because of its versatility.

The benefits and opportunities of LinkedIn across various marketing and business development activities are set out in the table below.

Features Description

Networking Allows you to grow your network and make new contacts through discussions or through introductions by mutual contacts.

Referrals by association

Increasingly, people are searching, identifying and contacting potential professional advisors via LinkedIn. Prospective clients may approach you directly, via an ‘introduction’ from one of your existing LinkedIn contacts, or approach a mutual contact to ask about your technical expertise and overall experience.

Being connected to someone the prospective client knows, and respects, is in itself a form of referral.

Gaining recommendations and skill endorsements

Provides clients with the opportunity to endorse specific skills and leave recommendations, resulting in highly visible client testimonials.

Content marketing

Provides opportunity to share relevant, engaging content, build your profile, support positioning statements and promote your expert status or capabilities. This includes blogs or links back to your website promoting blogs, and other more substantial content.

Search engine optimisation

Social media activity through content marketing will create links back to your website and generally boost SEO.


Features Description

Client relationship management (CRM)

Allows you to track interactions with a contact, develop contact databases/lists via syncing contacts from existing address books, emails and calendars, identify prospects via LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator, make contact with prospects via InMail messages and more.

Company Page Creates a Company Page that allows you to set out information on your practice and any available job opportunities. This page may appear in search results before your formal website and is frequently more dynamic and informative.

Social media marketing

Referrals

Networking

SEO

Content marketing Web page

Endorsements

CRM


5.7.2. Tips for LinkedIn success

Tips Considerations

Complete your profile

• The more detail in a profile, the easier it is for people to find and connect.

• Add a photo and use a ‘professional headline’, such as job title and employer.

• Make it consistent with websites and any other online presence.

Build connections

• Decide on strategy – do you want as many contacts as possible to maximise reach or to limit your connections to a trusted few?

• Invite existing contacts and send invitations after meeting new people.

• When you connect with someone new, see who is in their network, and consider asking for an introduction or connecting with them through a group.

• Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to target new contacts.

• Play by the rules and observe networking etiquette.

Give to get Give introductions, endorsements and recommendations. This strengthens existing relationships and may prompt returns.

Join groups Join a relevant discussion group. New groups are starting all the time. If there isn’t one for your niche, start one! Blogging in LinkedIn groups is a great way to raise profile and hone your blogging skills.

Ask questions/give answers

• Raise your profile by asking or responding to questions – in groups or your network. This will develop new contacts and remind old ones of your existence and expertise. Be strategic – not all questions are worth your time to answer and not all questioners are worth responding to.

• Start polls.

Provide and respond to status updates

Let people know your thoughts and activities. Responding to status updates is a way of reconnecting and starting conversations.

Be active but don’t be a pest

The more active you are, in terms of status updates, questions and new connections, the more you raise your profile, but be warned: as with Facebook, it is easy to disconnect from someone without them knowing.

5.7.3. Social media advertising

Increasingly, practices are considering social media as an alternative to web advertising. Social media advertising can be very effective, especially in media more focused on professional networks such as LinkedIn, due to the ability to target specific market segments.

LinkedIn advertising can be tailored to industry, job title, seniority, geography and gender. It is similar to web advertising in its PPC payment model.


5.7.4. Social media ethical sins (Extracted from ‘Seven ethical sins in social media’ QLS Ethics Centre Guidance Note, Stafford Shepherd, March 2013)

Seven things to think about when using social media:

1. Use common sense and discretion – social media can be a powerful tool to create opportunity but it can also be a danger.

2. Remember we owe a duty to not disclose confidential information we have acquired during a client engagement (rule 9 Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules (ASCR)).

For example, In the Matter of Peshek, No. 6201779, Comm. No. 09 CH 89 (Aug 25, 2009) (Peshek), an Illinois assistant public defender discussed her cases on her blog. In one particular incident, she posted that one of her clients, a college student facing drug charges was “taking the rap for his drug-dealing dirtbag of an older brother because he’s no snitch”. In other comments she described one judge as a “total a**hole” and another member of the judiciary as “clueless”. The disciplinary tribunal found that she had breached her obligation of confidentiality and her comments were prejudicial to the administration of justice. It was recommended that she be disbarred.

3. Blogs, Facebook and other social media may lead to unintended client engagements. Innocent questions and answers provided may be in some circumstances construed as legal advice.

4. Our paramount duty is to the court and the administration of justice (rule 3 ASCR). We must be careful not to publish comments that may be prejudicial to or diminish public confidence in the administration of justice (rules 4 and 28 ASCR; also see Peshek above).

5. It would be a breach of the ‘no contact rule’ (rule 33 ASCR) to make a ‘friend’ of another practitioner’s client.

6. Regard should be had as to the manner in which social media is used to gather evidence relevant to a client matter. Access to the public information on the social networking site of an opponent’s client or a potential witness would not be an ethical violation. However, the use of a third party to gain access to a person’s web content by asking to be their ‘friend’ could be seen to be deceptive conduct (see the opinion of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Professional Guidance Committee, Opinion 2009-2 (March 2009)).

7. In the course of representing a client, we must not, in any communication, use tactics that go beyond legitimate advocacy which are primarily designed to embarrass or frustrate another person (rule 34.1.3 ASCR). Nor are we entitled to knowingly make a false statement to an opponent (rule 22.1 ASCR). If we used a social networking site to collect material about an opponent party or witness by purposeful deception, such as ‘friending’ the client of another solicitor or the witness of an opponent to gain access to secured web pages, without disclosing our intent when making the request, then this is likely to be an ethical breach.

5.8. Email marketing Whilst social media activity can be very effective, the most effective marketing strategies are often the most direct – where you can communicate directly with your most engaged contacts and clients.

For this reason, communicating with 100 genuinely attentive recipients through email can be more effective than posting updates to 1000 contacts on LinkedIn, where you have to compete with everyone else’s blogs and distractions. As with websites, ensure your emails or electronic direct mail (eDM) can be read on email through the use of mobile optimised email templates.

Focus on gaining email addresses and asking people if they want to subscribe to your regular communications.


Other considerations may include:

• Obtaining emails from existing contacts, but note you may need explicit consent to email them as per privacy law requirements.

• Offering a downloadable guide or otherwise designing your website to specifically capture email addresses.

• Creating an email subscription landing page on your websites.

• Promoting your guide and website with the intention of gaining email addresses.

• Asking all clients and contacts if they want to subscribe to regular emails.

MailChimp

Use a third party email platform, such as MailChimp (mailchimp.com) to create professional looking electronic direct mail (with pre-designed templates), manage your contact list and monitor responses through metrics.

MailChimp is easy to use and is free if you have fewer than 2000 recipients per month.

5.9. Key points • The internet and related technological advances have drastically altered the way in which

information is shared, how clients seek professional support and how all law practices market themselves.

• Clients are increasingly using the internet and social media to look for information and engage advisors – this means few practices can ignore their online presence.

• A comprehensive online marketing strategy incorporates search engine optimisation (SEO), web advertising, website design, content marketing, social media, website analytics and email.

• Websites should seek to inform, engage, differentiate and convert.

• Content marketing through a website and social media is increasingly effective as clients seek information before they seek to retain advisors.

• Analytics informs effective web design, content marketing, SEO and advertising.

• Social media is a very versatile marketing media, helping to expand networks, generate referrals, attract new prospects, manage client relationships and more, but does involve ethical risks which practitioners should be aware of.

http://mailchimp.com/


6. Converting opportunities 6.1. Sales and sales management

Solicitor reticence on sales and sales management is often attributable to concerns about ethics and professionalism, concerns about how it looks to be ‘touting for business’, fear of failure and a lack of organisational support through training, recognition and reward.

A successful sale, however, is most reliant on understanding prospects (and their business), gaining their trust and building rapport. Effective sales rely on listening rather than talking and asking questions rather than giving answers. Techniques vary but are easy to learn and apply, whether a sale is expected in two minutes or two years.

The biggest barrier to effective sales of legal services is not the skills of individual solicitors, but the extent to which sales are seen as important in the culture and strategy of the practice.

Common challenges include:

• a cultural aversion to sales activity

• aggressive/ambitious targets for billable hours that leave little time for anything other than fee-earning

• a lack of training in sales and other non-legal skills.

The key issues in implementing a sales-focused culture in legal practice are set out in the below table.

Key issues Considerations

Commitment from the top

Senior management have to take the lead by making sales a priority, setting objectives and creating a culture where effective sales are possible.

Get everyone involved

Although partners will often be the ones closing a sale, everyone should see themselves as part of the process of building relationships with clients and prospects. Associate relationships with junior client contacts now might be crucial in 10 years’ time.

Training Training and development initiatives can help people develop skills in relation to a range of sales skills and business development behaviours.

Time and resources

If sales are important, consider a concession on billable hour targets for key individuals or for a department as a whole.

Measurement and discipline

What gets measured gets done. Practices should monitor progress on sales activities, check if targets are being met and identify priorities and responsibilities.


6.2. Quick sales: converting enquiries Practices work hard to generate client enquiries that can be converted into instructions.

Opportunities are lost if the practice fails to respond to client enquiries with the speed, information, solicitor contact or active interest required –resulting in clients becoming frustrated and moving onto an alternative provider.

A good response to the first contact from a prospect is vital. As soon as the prospect has discussed their matter with someone, provided personal details or arranged a meeting, they have invested time/effort and there will be some reluctance to write this off for no benefit.

The challenge is to capture the enquirer or potential client, get them talking and progress the relationship onto the next stage. The below table sets out various reasons an opportunity may be missed.

Reason Why

Inability to speak to a legal professional

• If they cannot speak to a solicitor or find someone who they can discuss their matter with, many prospects will call the next practice on their shortlist or the next listing in Google.

• Ideally, practices should nominate a solicitor or senior paralegal – perhaps on a roster – to be available to take calls from new enquirers.

• For times when people are genuinely unavailable, support staff should be trained to get the caller’s details, help as best they can themselves (without offering advice they are not qualified to give) and ensure someone calls them back as soon as possible.

Failure to return enquiries

• Prospects will only wait so long for a return call before they look elsewhere.

• Make the return of these calls a priority and set standards for how promptly both phone and email enquiries are returned.

Inability to arrange a meeting at short notice

A phone call might not be enough. If the prospect wants a meeting quickly, and they cannot see someone, they will move on. Someone from each practice area should be able to attend meetings at short notice.

Inability to ‘sell’ • Solicitors and support staff should be trained in basic sales techniques.

• Refer to the Client Service unit in relation to rapport, listening, questioning, and communicating value.

Inability to provide information about costs or service

• If a prospect cannot get the information they seek, they might lose interest.

• Support staff should be trained to provide an appropriate informative response (if not a definitive answer) to these questions.

Failure to take the initiative and arrange a meeting

• The more client engagement, the more likely the conversion.

• Solicitors and support staff should be aware of the importance of either progressing the enquiry to a meeting or getting contact details so that a follow-up call can be made.


Practices therefore need to invest time and effort into the art of converting enquiries through:

• individual and team skills training

• the development of scripts and other resources to assist and guide conversations

• regular discussions on what works and what doesn’t so practices can perform consistently

• success measures.

Measuring success

Key measures include:

• the number of enquiries received (email/phone/other)

• the percentage of enquiries converted to a meeting (solicitor conversion vs support staff conversion)

• the percentage of meetings converted into instructions.

Ideally a practice should measure the relative conversion rates of different individuals, so that calls can be forwarded to the most effective converter.

One of the key questions facing practices is the extent to which enquiries should be taken by partners, solicitors, paralegals or support staff. Often this comes down to mathematics and a calculated return on investment for the partner time.

If partners are significantly more successful in converting enquiries for high value matters, however, there is a strong argument for forwarding as many initial enquiries as possible through to them directly.


6.3. Slow sales: consultative or relationship selling Selling is a process. Sometimes you only have one or two opportunities to close a sale, but for major contracts with large commercial organisations there may be 10 or more different contacts, with different individuals within a prospect organisation, before a sale is completed.

The selling process consists of a number of distinct phases, starting at the point where you have just identified a prospect. To get an instruction – the solicitor’s ‘sale’ – you might have to go through similar processes a number of times, with different contacts, in the same organisation.

The model outlined below is an amalgam of many sales models and aims to include all the main issues.

Qualify the prospect Get the first meeting Prepare for the first meeting

Relationship building/ identify

needs Trial close Overcome

objections

Trial close? Close


The selling process

Stage Description

Qualify the prospect

Prior to any client meeting, research prospects to establish if they are worth developing as a prospect (ie qualify the prospect).

Ask:

• How likely is this prospect to give me work?

• Is this prospect in our target market?

• Would there be any conflicts of interest?

• Is this prospect likely to be a profitable client?

Talk to colleagues or undertake research before you invest too much time in any specific client.

Get the first meeting

Why would a potential client want to meet you?

Often, the most difficult step in the process is getting a first formal meeting with the client. Two popular approaches to this are to either identify a colleague or mutual contact who can facilitate such a meeting or follow-up a networking encounter.

Whatever the approach, ultimate success in gaining a formal meeting will rely on the prospect’s perception of potential value.

Value might have already been created by yourself through a ‘give to get’ action arising from networking, or alternatively, value might lie in the prospect’s relationship with the introducing colleague/contact.

If there is no ‘credit in the bank’ to justify a meeting, a solicitor might need to offer other reasons as to why the client should commit to a meeting.

What’s in it for the client? Could you share some insights on a relevant topic? Provide them with valuable information? Facilitate a valuable introduction? Prepare a message of value and communicate this to the client.

Prepare for the first meeting

Prepare for the meeting by further researching the prospect.

Use both internal (colleagues or databases) or external sources to:

• develop an understanding of the business and industry

• try to identify any current projects or challenges for the prospect

• identify any mutual contacts

• identify any mutual interests or experiences.

Prepare for the meeting by:

• clarifying what you want out of the meeting (Another meeting? An invitation to tender? An introduction to somebody else?)

• what value you can provide to the client during the meeting

• how you are going to achieve both these objectives.


Stage Description

Relationship building/identify needs

This is the most important phase in the sales process and could take anywhere between two minutes and two years to complete.

During this phase, you should look to:

• deliver on any promises of value

• gain the trust or respect of the prospect

• develop a dialogue

• develop a rapport

• identify business or legal concerns and respectfully probe for further information.

Once the issues have been identified, confirm understanding and show empathy. For example: “I can see why that’s important”.

If rapport can be developed successfully, they might broach the subject of work themselves. If they don’t, raise it by finding an angle and moving to a trial close.

Trial close Once concerns have been identified, it is time for the trial close. Ask them a “so, if” question (or a variation of it) in an attempt to get a provisional agreement to proceed.

For example:

• “So, if we could demonstrate our experience with regard to the inherent political risks in Malaysian structured finance, would you be interested?”

• “So, if I could reassure you on our associate’s experience, would you be interested in a meeting?”

This might lead to the next stage, to a “no” or a “maybe” from the prospect. This can be a good thing, as it allows further probing so you can learn more about their concerns.

Overcome objections

Objections can come in a variety of forms. A real, valid objection is difficult to overcome, but a misunderstanding is simple to put right. A prospect might offer excuses just to put you off.

A suggested approach to overcome objections may be to:

• Gain a good understanding of the objection – get to the root cause.

• Acknowledge or qualify their objections, for example:

• “I understand that is an important issue.”

• “I can see that would be key.”

• Respond:

• If you are confident you can address the objection, set the opportunity up with one of the following:

• The trial close: “So, if we could reassure you about X…” • A presumptive rephrase: “So, you’re saying that if we can put a more

experienced team together, it would be worth having a meeting.”

If you are not confident about resolving the objection, acknowledge this and focus on another approach. Tell it like it is, for example “We can’t compete against those rates but we can offer the best team around.”

If the problem is a lack of information – ask questions until you know.


Stage Description

Close Closing, or asking for confirmation, is the area where many solicitors hesitate or are reluctant to move forward. It can be seen as pushy, obvious or aggressive but this needn’t be the case, provided the timing is right. Some clients perceive not closing as arrogant and a sign that you assume you have already secured the work.

When to close?

Look for indicators, including if the prospect:

• agrees you meet all their requirements.

• shows a lot of interest in some feature of your service.

• asks specific questions that indicate they are already thinking of working with you, including:

• “How do your client extranets work?”

• “Do you have the capacity to put a large team on this?”

If you are confident that it is the right time to close, there are a number of alternative techniques that can be applied.

These include:

• The open question: “So, where do we go from here?”

• The direct question: “Can we do business?”

• The trial close: “So, if…?”

• The assumptive close: “So, when do you want to start working on this?”

• The alternative close: “So, to get this started, shall we begin tomorrow or next week?”

The technique chosen should be based on specific circumstances, what feels most comfortable and is least confronting.

6.4. Competitive tendering Invitations to tender can often be a success in themselves as marketing activities can contribute towards a practice’s inclusion on an invitation to tender. This highlights the fact the bidding process starts well before a practice receives an invitation to tender and effective branding and relationship management strategies are key factors in receiving invitations to tender.

Practices that are successful with tender documentation invest significant time and resources in internal tender development processes, but also recognise that many tenders are won and lost before tender documentation is formally reviewed.

Successful competitive tendering relies to a great extent on:

• clear positioning and strategic differentiation of both the practice and its capabilities in respect of the project

• communicating enthusiasm to assist both the client and the project

• developing a client/prospect relationship, both prior to, and during, the competitive tender process

• demonstrating a clear understanding of the client’s challenges and priorities.


The following sections outline the key processes involved in and contents of a typical tender proposal.

6.4.1. Internal tender development processes

The success of a tender depends as much on the management of the bidding process as on skilful drafting. The below table highlights key stages of the tender process.

Stage Actions

Alert colleagues • Let colleagues and the marketing and/or business development team know a bid is provisionally on, and the timescales.

• Read and circulate documents.

Research the tendering organisation prior to contacting it

• Find out more about the tendering organisation and the project – web searches, annual reports and news stories.

• Has the practice worked for them before?

• Does anyone know the organisation?

• Identify your competitors.

• Identify pertinent questions.

Successful bids

Strategy and differentiation

Internal tender development

processes

Client relationship

focus

Understanding the client

organisation

Enthusiasm


Stage Actions

Initial discussions and bid decision

Organise a meeting to discuss:

• Conflict considerations?

• Do we want this sort of work?

• Do we want this job?

• How much time will it take?

• How profitable will it be?

• How risky is it?

• Consequences of losing?

• Questions for the potential client?

Internal meeting • Identify any potential competitors.

• Identify your strengths and weaknesses in relation to your competitors.

• Be aware of limitations and consider how to deal with questions or challenges addressing them.

• Clearly communicate your value proposition in terms of the client’s defined needs and priorities.

• Be bold in positively differentiating your practice.

• Appoint team.

• Agree price and/or pricing strategy.

• Allocate responsibilities and timescales for drafting.

Call tendering organisation or get meeting if possible

• Make a personal connection.

• Communicate enthusiasm.

• Ask why you were short-listed.

• Demonstrate your knowledge of the organisation and their business.

• Ask questions to help in preparing the bid – what are their worries?

• Try to identify their key criteria (ie expertise, understanding, team and cost).

• Win the work before the documentation stage.

Manage writing and publishing

• Packaging and presentation is important.

• Coordinate drafting – house style, one voice and fresh eyes to proofread.

• Advise marketing/desktop design/courier/print room as required.

• Allow time for copying, binding and delivery.

• Decide who has final approval and sign off.

Send and check • Send the bid in time for the deadline.

• Call to check they received it, whether they read it and have any questions.

Follow-up • Feedback is vital. If unsuccessful, call to find out why. Try to find a way to stay in touch or discuss other opportunities.

• If successful, call to find out why. Start discussing and planning the project.


6.4.2. Elements of a competitive tender document

Starting a bid from scratch is a daunting, time-consuming task. It makes sense to refer to previous bids and take certain elements from these. A library of previous bids can provide useful examples. In the largest practices, this may be contained in a searchable database.

Each bid needs to be treated on its merits and of course must comply with any requirements outlined by the client. Most bids include common elements and are outlined below.

Tender component

Description

Covering letter Refer to previous work, meetings or conversations. Make a personal connection. Keep it short – the information is in the bid.

Introduction Outline the work you are bidding for and what the document includes.

Contents List of subject headings and their page numbers.

Executive summary

Articulate your value proposition/selling proposition.

Requirements • Summarise your understanding of the client’s requirements. Include any relevant information you have gained about the client or the project from research or earlier conversations, and issues that the client has not mentioned but that you think might affect the project.

• Outline the legal work and how you would approach it.

• Draft a project plan – break the work into coherent stages.

Relevant experience

• Relevant to the specific client/project/sector/country.

• Include succinct case studies and outline how you have helped others achieve their objectives.

Team • A summary of your team, including structure and whether they have worked together before.

• Profiles – tailored to the client/project.

• Back-up and other practice resources available.

• Suggest specialists if required.

Costs/timescales • Be creative and flexible on fees and offer to discuss.

• Include estimated timescales.

• Emphasise value.

Practice structure and policies

Policies – IT, quality, risk management, client care, conflicts of interest, equality and diversity, training, complaints and claims, financial structure and management structure.

General information about the practice

Practice statistics, awards, practice areas, geographical spread, clients and affiliations.

Why us? Outline key points of difference and why you should get the instruction. Ensure it fits in with the executive summary – reinforce the message.


6.4.3. The presentation

Many bids require a presentation before or after submission. This presentation can be as important, or more important, than the written document, so put equal effort into it.

Considerations to be made both before and at the presentation are set out in the below table.

Action Considerations

Ask questions and interact

Involve the panel throughout the presentation. This builds rapport, demonstrates your enthusiasm and helps to retain the panel’s attention.

Personality • Use your research to help you relate to and make a connection with the panel, whether they are expecting a formal or informal presentation.

• Be aware of and adopt or mirror the mood and personality of the panel as much as possible.

Be flexible Be ready for the panel to take a discussion away from your plan for the presentation. Go with the flow and respond to what the client wants.

Expect questions Think about what the panel might ask, and be ready with answers.

Prepare questions • Ask who is on the panel; then do some research on the members – what do they like, what are their roles and personalities?

• Tailor the presentation to suit them.

• Demonstrate understanding and enthusiasm with intelligent, relevant questions.

Rehearse Run through the presentation to iron out any rough patches.

Asking for business

Ask for the work and show your enthusiasm. Don’t let fear of rejection or embarrassment at seeming pushy get in the way of a successful bid.

There are dangers associated with not asking for work – you might appear complacent, arrogant or not hungry enough.

Useful sales techniques may include:

• “So where do we go from here?”

• “How would you like to proceed?”

• “So, if our fees can be reduced…”

• “So, if we can reassure you about our associates’ experience…”

• “If we start tomorrow, we can…”

Practice these with your colleagues before the presentation or a meeting with the client.


6.5. Key points • Implementing a sales-focused culture in legal practices requires:

• commitment from the top

• getting everyone involved

• skills and process training

• time and resources

• measurement and discipline.

• Selling is a process that can take between minutes and years to complete.

• Practices that are successful with tender documentation invest significant time and resources in internal tender development processes, but also recognise that many tenders are won and lost before tender documentation is formally reviewed.

• Successful competitive tendering relies to a great extent on:

• clear positioning and strategic differentiation

• communication of enthusiasm

• development of the client/prospect relationship

• demonstration of a clear understanding of client challenges and priorities.


7. Managing client relationships 7.1. Client relationship management

Client relationship management (CRM) is a systematic, managed approach for sustaining and growing loyal and profitable client relationships.

CRM aims to give structure and focus to strengthening client relationships. Given limited resources in both time and money, it makes sense to focus on your most important clients.

Existing client relationships must be managed to ensure retention of high quality and a high quantity of work. Winning a new client will always cost more than maintaining and developing an existing one.

Apart from that, concentrating on developing existing clients:

• helps to lock-in existing workflow

• develops existing clients as a source of new business and referrals

• keeps you in touch with them, so you can anticipate problems before they become critical

• facilitates cross-selling.

The overriding objective of CRM is to strengthen key client relationships. Even if you believe you have a satisfactory relationship with a client and could reasonably expect instructions to keep coming, do not assume things will never change.

There are different sorts of contacts and clients and different ways to progress, depending on how developed your relationship with the client is.

CRM should ensure that the most important client relationships are constantly developing in the right direction.

Clients

Pitching and tenders Converting enquiries Sales management

Key client

Seminars Client-care Cross-selling Reciprocal referrals Trusted advisor behaviours

Business partner

Account management Tailored hospitality

Advocate

Flexible billing Tailored training Secondments


7.1.1. Implementing and managing a CRM program

A CRM program can be implemented for a practice, a team or an office – but the key stages remain the same.

Stage Description

Gain support and commitment

• Implementing a CRM program can be difficult and frustrating, and its success depends on ‘buy-in’ from everyone.

• Explain the benefits of implementing a CRM program and what it will mean for your colleagues.

Agree on client lists

• Make lists of clients who are most important to you.

• The most obvious are ‘key clients’ – those who have the highest billings figures or those for whom you do the most work. Before you start, confirm that ‘highest billing’ is the same as ‘most profitable’.

• Consider other groupings where managing the relationship would be beneficial ie ‘key referrers’, ‘development clients’, ‘targets’ or ‘quick wins’.

• Use accounts and matter listings to identify key clients.

• Select a manageable number of clients for specific relationship management. If you select too many, the process becomes unworkable.

Set up client partner and teams

• Identify one person to be responsible for managing the relationship with each key client. This might be the partner who does the most work for each client. The responsibilities of the coordinating partner are outlined in section 7.1.2.

• Identify the client team – others who do work for the client or have an interest in doing so.

Research • Gather information from a range of internal and external sources. Useful information includes:

• billings

• matter listings

• who knows who

• the scope of the client’s activities

• the client’s other advisors

• how they like to be entertained (ie food, drink and social events).


Stage Description

Develop client plans

• Analyse the current situation, including a definition of the relationship as it is, and the results of internal and external research.

• Complete a SWOT analysis for the relationship.

• Develop SMART objectives for relationship management and specify how you want it to develop:

• More instructions?

• Higher value instructions?

• Cross-sell to different practice areas?

• Introduce client’s contacts to more practice contacts?

• Develop relationships with more client contacts?

• Ask the client to refer their contacts to you or facilitate a specific introduction.

• Develop action plans, including responsibilities and timeframes for achieving the stated objectives. How much contact is needed? What sort of contact?

Implement plans and activities – staying in front of clients

• Implement systems to ensure regular focused contact with each important client.

• Formal meetings, cross-selling, casual catch-ups, phone calls, personalised emails and letters, entertaining, networking, newsletters and electronic direct mail.

• Use client-tracking templates to track progress in relation to all key clients and discuss this as a priority at regular team meetings.

• Ensure everyone is taking responsibility for maintaining and developing client relationships.

Communicate information

• Let everyone know key client relationships are being managed.

• A list of key clients and key partners, as a minimum, should be made available to all staff, so they know who to contact regarding matters affecting these clients.

Regularly review progress at team meetings

• With pressures on fee-earning, it can be difficult to keep partners focused on relationship management.

In team or partner meetings:

• go through the list of key contacts and ask for an update from the coordinating partner, so gentle pressure is applied for partners to complete their action points

• note any major client contact since the previous meeting, with plans for further action

• use a client-tracking template to monitor progress and confirm actions/objectives.


Stage Description

Client relationship reviews

• Although many solicitors are reticent about asking clients for feedback, client relationship reviews or satisfaction surveys are a valuable tool that reassures the client that you value the relationship and their opinions.

• An annual relationship review should be arranged for each key client.

• Following each client relationship review there should be an internal meeting of the client team to discuss progress and how best to manage the relationship in the future.

• Refer to the Client Service unit for further information.

Annual reviews and measurement

• When implementing a CRM program, measure its success.

• Try:

• client surveys

• rates of client retention

• client billings

• positive feedback, both through direct comments and through referrers or directories

• initial and subsequent categorisation of clients by nature of the relationship (ie client, good client, business partner and advocate).

7.1.2. Coordinating partners

Responsibility for a client relationship should be with a coordinating partner, with clear roles and responsibilities.

Roles and responsibilities may include:

• managing the relationship

• monitoring work completed and ensuring the client is happy with the service provided

• finding out what the client really wants by way of service, now and in the future

• acting on the client’s comments and demonstrating progress

• deciding on objectives and action points for client development

• building relationships at all levels within the client organisation

• assuming responsibility for cross-selling opportunities and coordinating as required with other partners or practice groups who work with the same client

• ensuring there are no gaps in communication with an important client for more than two months

• entertaining key contacts at least once each year – from formal events and client entertainment to lunch or coffee.


7.1.3. Staying in front of your clients

Maintaining and developing client relationships requires a disciplined approach, particularly in the context of fee-earning and other practice pressures. You have to find the right balance between what needs to be done and the available time.

Be realistic, but don’t neglect your responsibilities.

Consider how many:

• formal client meetings can you have a week? One or two?

• casual catch-ups can you have a week? Two or three?

• client calls can you make a week? Eight?

These are reasonable figures for maintaining relationships with 50 important clients – seeing each of them at least once every three months with a couple of calls in between.

Set targets and use the client-tracking and activity templates in the appendices to monitor progress. Allocate regular time slots in your diary each week for informal meetings (ie coffee catch-ups) and phone calls –make sure you prioritise these appointments and phone calls during the allocated time.

7.2. Client service Excellent client service:

• gives people a reason to choose you

• builds a positive reputation

• drives repeat business and referrals from clients

• gives confidence and reassurance to potential institutional and professional referrers

• reduces downward pressure on fees and costs disputes.

The delivery of excellent client service is addressed directly in the Client Service unit.

7.2.1. Client service as a marketing message

Most practices recognise the importance of service to their branding and emphasise service and client care within their promotional literature and websites. Caution must be exercised as these messages can often invite cynicism or create client expectations that may not be met.

Don’t make ‘service’ part of your marketing message unless you can make your claims convincing or you can back them up with evidence. If clients are going to respond cynically, you might be better off focusing on other messages, such as price, experience or expertise.

If you are going to claim service excellence, ensure that:

• any claims are convincing

• your client experience justifies the claims

• each individual in your practice can explain how the practice delivers on the claims.


Make your claims convincing

What messages would make the discerning client challenge their natural cynicism about service claims and start to believe your practice can deliver?

Suggestions to address this issue include:

• Defining ‘service’ – what do you mean when you say ‘client service’? Explain what you mean by client service or explain what you understand about clients’ service needs.

• Explaining how –how does your practice deliver excellent client service?

• Providing proof – do you have any proof? Are there any statistics on satisfied clients, client testimonials, professional or business awards to support claims of service excellence?

Ensure that every client experience justifies the claims

Delivering consistently excellent client service isn’t easy and requires more than rapport building skills and good intentions. Unsatisfied clients talk more about their negative experiences than satisfied clients talk about their positive ones. You have to be delivering excellent client service – and actually exceeding client expectations – around 90% of the time before you start to benefit in terms of increased referrals and positive reputation.

Delivering excellent client service involves a mix of personal skills, practice systems and practice culture – all supported by active performance management of service delivery and effective client feedback arrangements.

Tips for key actions may involve:

• Agreeing, communicating and keeping focused on your objectives.

• Publishing internal and external service standards.

• Publishing your standards and policies, including costs.

• Knowing your clients.

• Keeping your staff happy.

• Talking to your team about practice culture.

• Reviewing administrative systems and processes with client service in mind.

• Providing service training and guidance.

• Reviewing remuneration and promotion policies with service in mind.

• Reviewing time recording and billable hour policies.

• Making service a supervision and performance management issue.

• Developing client feedback arrangements.

• Developing opening and closing service assessments.

• Maintaining the profile and fight complacency.

Train staff to justify service claims

If a client asked a team member to explain why and how the practice delivers excellent client service, could they respond confidently?

For effective service delivery and to support any differentiation messaging, everyone in your practice – from receptionist to senior partner – has to understand (and be able to confidently explain) how the practice meets client needs and delivers excellent client service.


7.3. Key points • Client relationship management (CRM) is a systematic, managed approach for

sustaining and growing loyal, and profitable, client relationships.

• Winning a new client generally attracts more costs than maintaining an existing client.

• CRM systems, processes and internal policies should aim to ensure important client relationships are constantly developing.

• Excellent client service:

• gives people a reason to choose you

• builds a positive reputation

• drives repeat business and referrals from clients

• gives confidence and reassurance to potential referrers

• reduces downward pressure on fees and costs disputes.

• Attempts to promote superior client service as a major differentiator for your practice are likely to be met with either cynicism or resistance unless you can make your claims convincing, and back them up with evidence.


8. References ALPMA (Australasian Legal Practice Management Association) and Julian Midwinter & Associates (2014), Taking the Pulse Report: benchmarking business development and marketing in Australasian law firms, www.alpma.com.au.

Tim Ambler, Chris Styles, (1997) "Brand development versus new product development: toward a process model of extension decisions", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 6 Iss: 4,

Google Business Solutions, Google, http://www.google.com/services/, viewed 15 December 2014.

Kotler, P, Armstrong, G, Cunningham, P H (2005) Principles of Marketing Toronto: Pearson Education Canada)

Kotler, P (1991) Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control, 7th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall)

Shepherd, S (2013) Seven ethical sins in social media, Ethics Centre, Queensland Law Society, viewed 15 December 2014 – http://ethics.qls.com.au/content/materials/seven-ethical-sins-social-media.html

Willmot, R (2014) Professional Services Marketing Wisdom, WIley Milton.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/action/doSearch?ContribStored=Ambler%2C+T

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/action/doSearch?ContribStored=Styles%2C+C

http://www.google.com/services/

http://www.atkinsmarketingsolutions.com/wp/2011/12/16/dr-phillip-kotler-lists-25-segmentation-variables-for-consumer-markets/

http://ethics.qls.com.au/content/materials/seven-ethical-sins-social-media.html

http://ethics.qls.com.au/content/materials/seven-ethical-sins-social-media.html


Appendix 1: Key client tracking template Tracking key clients and prospects/targets can assist you report on the progress, momentum and the overall success of key client activities.

This information is best stored in a central system or document. The template provided below may assist you to track key client activities and should be reviewed, and updated, on a regular basis.

Client Coordinating partner(s)

Objective(s) Current status/last action (dated)

Next steps (include by whom/when)

ABC Mining

Dave Diamond Gain higher value work

Gain finance instructions

Coffee with General Counsel

Meeting with ABC

Finance Director (Managing Director /2 August)


Appendix 2: New opportunities tracking template

How many new prospects have you met recently? Are you in the process of pursuing these opportunities and converting prospects into clients? You can think of this in terms of a funnel.

The template provided below may assist you to track opportunities through the sales pipeline and should be reviewed, and updated, on a regular basis.

Client Name Last Action Next Action

Recent contacts/prospects (Number = 20?)

ABC Toys • Met at charity function

• Forwarded Fair Work article

Phone call to seek coffee catch-up

Good prospects for development (Number = 8?)

Specific work discussions /bidding (Number = 3?)

Recent converted clients (Number = 2?)


Appendix 3: Monthly activity chart A monthly activity chart can be an effective means of monitoring an individual or team’s regular business development activities. Once targets have been set ensure they are review regularly.

The activity chart template below can be adapted to a time period that suits your practice.

Target Actual Notes

New clients 10

Referrals received 8

Referral thank-you notes 8

Networking events attended 5

Networking follow-up actions 10

Ads placed 1

Client bids/presentations 2

Media releases/publication articles written

1

Speaking engagements 1

Formal client meetings 4

Client catch-ups 8

Referrer catch-ups 2

Client phone calls 20

Newsletters articles written 1

Client satisfaction survey follow-ups

10


Appendix 4: Client engagement form and new client tracking template Client engagement form

Create a separate form or integrate the below questions into your client engagement processes and forms to track the effectiveness of marketing and business development activity.

1. What prompted you to come to us?

2. Were you aware of the practice through any other means?

3. If someone recommended/referred you to us, who was it?

4. Is there any reason you have chosen us rather than another advisor?

New client tracking template Primary Secondary

Prompt for instruction Number % Number $

A referral

Met practitioner at business networking event

Met practitioner socially

Advertising –Google AdWords

Advertising – other

Street/signage

Media item/Publication article

Saw speak at event

Website search

Reason for instruction

Trust in referrer

Price

Reputation for quality

Reputation for speed

Fee structuring and flexibility

Size

Close to my home/work

Experience

Other

practice management course · 1. marketing is the process by which an organization relates...

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