Making a Difference at Your Firm: A Checklist from Two Law Firm Chief Marketing Officers

It is a fact that none of us majored in legal marketing in college.  While some of us did receive a formal education in general marketing or business, it only takes a few months before you realize that working with lawyers is a whole different ballgame.  How lucky we are as LMA members, then, that veterans are eager and willing to share their wealth of knowledge with not just legal marketing rookies, but also other veterans, and everyone else in-between.

Anne Schuster chief marketing officer at Thompson Coburn LLP, and Lou Ann Wilcox, chief marketing officer at Armstrong Teasdale LLP, recently collaborated to create a checklist on how other legal marketers can make a difference at their firms, which they kindly shared with their colleagues in St. Louis.

 1)  Understand the Big Picture

Clearly, marketing is not carried out in a vacuum.  Our speakers encouraged everyone to know what the firm’s management is trying to accomplish (both short term and long term) along with their overall vision for their firm  and how marketing fits in.  In fact, understanding what the firm’s goals are will often guide you in developing your marketing plan.

 2)  Focus on What Matters

Anne and Lou Anne explained that there are two types of activities that legal marketers carry out:

• Business development activities that affect the bottom line
• Reputation enhancement activities that do just that – enhance the brand

This was further illustrated by the “Marketing Continuum” chart which divided activities into “Sales” (big seminars, networking events, face-to-face business meetings, etc.) and “Reputation Enhancement” (tables at events, PR, articles, golf hole sponsorships, etc.).  Lou Ann expressed that we should be pushing our lawyers towards the sales activities while teaching younger lawyers how to become more involved in reputation enhancement activities.

 3)  Know How Your Law Firm Works

In addition to knowing the basics of how your firm works, our speakers also recommended knowing how influence happens in your firm.  One specific way to determine who is an “influencer” at your firm is to look for the person your managing partner bounces ideas off of.

Furthermore, you should know your firm’s financials, or at least understand the six levers of law firm profitability:

• Leverage

• Demand

• Rates

• Productivity

• Realization

• Expense

Once you understand how the firm works, go forth and teach your lawyers!

4) Manage to the Numbers

Anne showed how analyzing your client base can reveal new opportunities in untapped practice areas.  Specifically, she illustrated the green-space chart that she attributed to Altman Weil.  In it, practice areas are plotted on the x-axis with top clients on the y-axis; dollar amounts are filled in the cell where the points meet.  Empty cells on the chart represent opportunities for client teams to market additional services to those existing clients

5) Create Opportunities to Listen to Your Clients

Lou Ann recommended a formal client feedback program consisting of annual client meetings, frequent visits and post-matter surveys.  If a problem comes up during the client feedback process, it should be fixed immediately and then the client needs to be notified that the problem has been fixed.  What’s more, Lou Ann discussed how during an annual client meeting outlining expectations, her firm also asks the client marketing-related questions such as, “How do you like to be entertained?” (what type of events?  What time of the day?) and “What are your expectations regarding how the firm donates to your favorite charity?”  Asking these types of questions not only opens up the lines of communication with the client, but also eliminates wasted effort on behalf of the marketing department and the client team.  In the end, we should be asking itself, “Are we doing everything we can for the client?”

Lou Ann also revealed that her marketing department frequently asks the firm’s lawyers how they are doing, as well.  This simple act shows that the department values the firm’s client feedback process while also putting the lawyer in the client’s shoes.

6)  Educate and Communicate

Anne and Lou Ann both illustrated a few ways that their firms have facilitated educating their lawyers on the practices and clients of other lawyers within their firm.  Methods included a deck of cards with facts on different attorneys, a splashy video highlighting opportunities for cross-selling and an innovative passport program that encourages lawyers to simply get to know each other.

The second component, communication, is necessary in order to keep the firm’s lawyers aware of the successes of their colleagues.  Lou Ann shared a newsletter her firm’s managing partner sends out that simply lists recent successes and awards.  This simple act builds trust among the practice groups and reduces the perceived risk of cross-selling another practice.

7)  Push Lawyers Out the Door

As marketers, we should be encouraging our lawyers to talk to their clients along with visiting them at their place of business.  This tends to take lawyers out of their comfort zone, so the panelists discussed ways we can make it easier for them, such as preparing talking points.

8)  Push Back on Bad Ideas

Anne and Lou Ann provided some great tactics on how to deal with lawyers presenting bad marketing ideas.  Overall, they both advised re-directing ideas that you know won’t work.  Instead of saying “No,” offer two or three alternative ideas to the individual.

9)  Know Your Strengths

Lou Ann recommended the book, “Strengths Finder 2.0” which helps individuals discover their strengths.  When you discover what you naturally excel at, operate within that strength at let others operate within theirs; this is what makes a truly effective team.

10)  Market Yourself

Anne began by stating that this item is the one we most frequently forget.  In order for marketing to stay relevant within the law firm, we need to tell our story ,since no one else will.  Additionally, we should be documenting our activities and results.  Lou Ann explained that her marketing department records their activities through a shared document which lists tasks and objectives stated for the year.  In it, marketing staff members enter when tasks are completed; the document then serves as a report on what the marketing department completed in that year.

This unambiguous checklist created and shared by Anne and Lou Ann provided a fantastic set of guidelines on how marketing professionals can make sure they are making a difference at his/her firm.  Moreover, the real-world examples and case studies our speakers presented further illustrated how these items can be carried out at any firm, simply and successfully.