Articles
With the limited exception of a small number of national law firms that “own” a specific specialty practice (M&A and IP), not to mention the proverbial back-of-the-Yellow-Pages personal injury attorneys, or the top of the pyramid AmLaw 100 firms with offices littering the landscape in their quest for domestic and global coverage, the bulk of the local and regional practices have a hard time distinguishing themselves from their competitors. Certain partners and practitioners may carry a personal cachet, and some of the older, more prominent firms may be known by the company they keep (their clients), if in fact the company is worth keeping.
But review the list of the top 25 law firms in most significant markets and confusion generally trumps clarity when it comes to a definable brand positioning for each firm–positioning being defined as “what you (the firm) stand for in the mind of the client or prospective client.” Few multi-practice law firms possess the same singularity of image or distinctive brand focus as their consumer counterparts who service customers for a living, whether a high-end Ritz-Carlton and Neiman-Marcus, or a low-end Waffle House (for those on the East Coast), or In-N-Out Burger (for those in the West).
Branding Is Essential
A law firm’s need for distinctive brand image is driven by two imperatives. First is the necessity to semaphore a clear signal to external clients as to where the firm’s strengths or advantage to the client lie—whether it’s in specific practice expertise or within the firm culture, which can cover a multitude of attributes from street-fighting smarts and grit to responsiveness and commitment to the client relationship. Second is the requirement to articulate a clear brand understanding to the internal clients comprised of attorneys and support staff. Given the silos and fiefdoms that populate law firms large and small, an annual partner retreat or occasional email directive from the managing partner is hardly enough to cement a clear understanding of the firm’s raison d’etre within the firm.
From a business development perspective, the failure to distill and communicate that clarity of brand image is, at worst, a major barrier to strategic growth, and at best, a simmering complacency that guarantees flat-line growth. It also telegraphs the inefficiency that accompanies a “too comfortable” attitude in attorneys and staff. The admonition is simple. Every client audience, external and internal, needs to know who you are (for the established law firm) or what you intend to become when you grow up (for the firm on its way up).
Hire A Professional To Create Your Brand
Firms that lack brand clarity need a marketing facilitator, internally sourced or hired from outside, to identify the appropriate brand image. Preferably this is someone with experience in competitive B2B battles; with enough wisdom and common sense to appreciate nuance; and with the sensitivity necessary to steer the process that begins with unearthing self-awareness and ends with developing a brand positioning and marketing posture that everyone can agree to. That’s not always the easiest of tasks within a partnership of equals and in a conservative legal environment in which self-promotion has been historically abhorred.
Through a process of genuine “listening,” thoughtful discussion and a willingness to confront, with honesty and acceptance, the realities of the firm’s existence and perception within the competitive marketplace (call it internal focus-grouping, if you will), the ideal brand positioning will ultimately emerge. After that it’s a matter of implementation. Internal and external communications must sing from the same play book. Every marketing and business development activity must support and enhance the firm’s positioning or POV. It’s why we believe that BMW is “The Ultimate Driving Machine” or that George. W. Bush was a “compassionate conservative.” Those images are imprinted upon the consumer brain via a process of message repetition, a benign form of marketing water torture, supported by consistency at every touch point between firm and client—from email responsiveness to hand-holding in time of crisis. In short, it’s talking the talk, many times over, and then walking it.
Keep Your Firm Top-Of-The-Mind In The Mind Of Referrers
From a tactical viewpoint, most firms can ill afford or are unwilling to invest in the costly marketing and business development programs that deliver market leadership or dominance. Brand ad campaigns are, in the main, inappropriate to most professional service environments, and thought leadership initiatives can chew up the dollars at a rapid clip. That’s why referral becomes the first line of offense. It’s highly-effective, involves no marketing cost and can carry a credibility that a thousand ads will never match. There’s only one problem—remaining top-of-mind in the mind of the referring party so that your firm becomes the automatic response to the question, “Can you recommend an attorney who…?”
But because we never know when or where the question will be asked, positioning your firm so that it becomes the subject of immediate recall demands a 24/7 commitment with constant communication as the primary tool. Examples abound. With existing clients, call them before they have the need to call you. For prospect referrals, maintain a steady diet of community activity, speech making, event attendance, and professional association service—all those horrid networking activities that keep your name at the forefront in the minds of those connected business influentials who are asked to provide referrals.
Within the firm, the failure to communicate has a more profound effect when one considers the dollars that are left on the table by not cultivating current client opportunities. An attorney’s unwillingness to cross-sell the firm’s other services arises most often because she fears losing client control, sometimes from simply not knowing what else the firm has to offer, and quite often from a lack of inquisitiveness about the client’s other legal needs and resulting failure to pitch the firm’s solutions to those needs. An effective attorney, operating in the groove, committed to the immediate matter at hand, will most often ignore the business development opportunities that reside within reach. Effective business development technique calls for attorney vigilance, a constant prowling for opportunity, a radar-like approach to client opportunity and a willingness to shill for the firm and its various component parts (with professional grace and tact).
Institute Key Client Initiatives
To that point, the law firms that are aggressive and effective in business development are now instituting key client initiatives charged with focusing firm resources on a small number of existing clients who represent realistic growth opportunity for the firm. It’s nothing more than the old 80:20 rule. The process generally entails the following steps:
• Assess the current client list and identify those within growth industries and those indicating an increasing need for and investment in legal services.
•Review the firm’s skill set and attorney experience in order to match client need with firm experience and networking contacts.
• Assemble an internal team committed exclusively to the client in question comprised of appropriate attorneys and supported by a business development catalyst who provides the backroom support (logistics, research, planning, follow-up) and who allows the attorneys to do what they do best—pitch the client in a knowledgeable and prepared fashion.
• Appoint a lead attorney to spear-head the initiative and head the team, someone with the time, experience, commitment and personality to forge a following and make it happen.
• Seek outreach to the client in a professional manner, with poise and finesse. First, it’s lunch with the GC at which relationships are more fully developed and “listening” unearths the potential opportunity. From there, nature runs its course…meeting, leading to lunch, leading to presentation, leading to follow–up, leading to more meetings.
• At all times, follow-up and constant communication keep the client-firm channels connected so that existing opportunities play out and new ones arise to take their place. Incidentally, the number one failure in business development within professional service firms is failure to follow up, accompanied by the irrational belief that it’s up to the client to make the next move. To quote an actual, yet not unique example, “We bought them dinner and followed up with a presentation. I can’t understand why they haven’t called!”
In Cool Hand Luke, Luke got the message a little too late. We Americans, attorneys in particular, love to hear the sound of our own voices. But in the noisy world of business development, true communication works best when the message is clear and unadorned, is repeated with consistency, and builds to a relationship between firm and client based on authentic listening and disciplined follow-up. That’s how you get the business.
