Tag: Client Retention

How to Get Loyal Clients

For the purpose of running a successful law practice, all clients are not created equal. As a lawyer, a critical element to running a fruitful practice is managing your time in an efficient manner. How and where you invest your time can make all the difference.

As a history buff, I love thinking about government, war, and political change what discussing topics that are relevant in business today. The Declaration of Independence states “all men are created equal.” While this may apply to how we treat others with respect and dignity, we can choose to be more selective with whom we invest our valuable time with.

Invest in Clients Who Have Already Invested in You

Imagine you’re standing in front of an apple tree teeming with fresh apples. Some of these apples are literally right in front of your face, while others are way up high in the tree. For the sake of efficiency, which apples would you select? The lower apples may seem like an obvious choice. And yet, many attorneys are still climbing ladders for those elevated apples. When discussing low hanging fruit with my attorney clients, I always start with a discussion of their existing clients. Our goal is to uncover opportunities, which will produce the highest possible value for the time invested.

As we all know, before you can begin selecting apples you must first plant the seeds and water the trees. As this relates to leveraging existing clients, there is a myth that must be eradicated first. The myth is simple; if you service your client properly, they will be loyal to you. If you believe this for even a moment, welcome back to the ‘80s!

Learn How to Develop Client Loyalty with Intent

Times have changed and so must you in the way you manage your client relationships. Statistically, it’s six times more work and energy to find a new client rather than to keep an existing one. That being said, we all have to step up our game to insure that client loyalty is developed with intent. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to develop a client retention and loyalty plan.

3 Steps to Plan for Client Retention and Loyalty

Before groaning at the idea of writing a plan, I assure you this shouldn’t take more than an hour to accomplish and can make the difference between success and failure in maintaining and building your law practice. Here are the three important elements of a client retention and loyalty plan:

Step 1: Rank Your Clients in a List

Develop a list of your key clients and rank them as an “A, B or C” client. As I stated earlier, all clients are not created equal, so be careful in how you rate these folks. I suggest three qualifiers for determining what makes up an “A, B or C” client.

Ask yourself the following questions about each client — and be honest.

  • How good is my relationship?
  • Can I develop and expand this relationship?
  • Are we friends socially or is our relationship more transactional in nature?
  • Does the client call me for general business advice or just about the deals?
  • Have I helped my client in ways beyond providing legal advice?

Next, try to determine how much opportunity the client has to grow or how connected this client may be.

  • Does the client have a solid network of decision makers that she can introduce me to?
  • Is the client’s company growing and expanding?
  • Are there opportunities to cross-market and share work with my partners?

The last factor in determining who to invest the most time with relates directly to the amount each client has invested with you and if you like or dislike this client.

  • Does this client invest a significant amount of dollars with you or did they invest almost nothing a few years ago?
  • Was this client a complete nightmare to deal with?
  • Did the client cost my firm money due to poor follow-through?
  • Did the client continually question and argue my rate?

Based on these three factors and any others that you believe to be important, invest 20 minutes to create a master list of your top A, B and C clients so that you can move on with step two of this plan.

Step 2: Use the Ranked List to Determine Which Clients to Invest In

Develop a list of contact and relationship building points to help ensure that we are investing the right amount of time with the right clients. Based on their ranking, you are going to do more for the higher-ranked clients and less for the lower-ranked clients. To be clear, if you have a “B” that you want to make an “A” then be sure to increase the amount of touch points with that specific client.

Here are a few examples of different touch points that you can use to develop stronger and stickier relationships:

  • Schedule a lunch or coffee meeting with your client.
  • Go out for drinks and get to know one another better.
  • Send a card on her birthday and for the holidays.
  • Take your client to a game or concert. (It’s important to know what she’s into.)
  • Call your client to see how you can help her business.
  • Email or call your client to congratulate her on something she’s accomplished professionally or personally.
  • Email your client with an article that is relevant to her business. (You can use RSS feeds for this.)
  • Invite your client to a firm event or another high level networking event.
  • Be a resource for your client. Find her a new vendor, strategic partner or an actual new client.

Use these ideas as a guideline to create your “A” column, where a number of these type activities would be used. The “B’s” would receive less contact and the “C’s” less again. For example, you might want to have lunch with your “A” clients four times a year, call each one monthly, email each one monthly and find a solid contact for her twice a year. Again, the “B” clients would get less of your attention and time, unless you want to make that client an “A-lister.”

These are just a few of the many things you can do to stay in constant contact and help ensure longevity with your clients. The side effect of this activity will be to open up more doors for additional business and much needed referrals. The stronger the relationship becomes, the less likely it is that a client will leave over price and the more open to referrals she will become.

Step 3: Make Time to Communicate with Your Clients

While it’s great to set up a plan like this, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on if you don’t implement it. My best suggestion here is to find 30 to 60 minutes a week and schedule time as “client loyalty and development time.” Without making the time and setting it aside, it will never happen for you.

There will always be work and distractions keeping you from this important task. Look at your calendar and find a spot weekly where you are least likely to be distracted or busy. You can even do some of this work on the train, in the evenings or on the weekends.

Develop Client Relationships to Retain Clients

What is a better use of your valuable time: choosing between retaining and developing relationships that already exist and have high potential for growth OR attending local networking events to essentially meet groups of strangers?

Though there is value in both activities, investing time with people who already know, like, and trust you bears fruit much more quickly.

© Copyright 2020 PracticePanther

ARTICLE BY Practice Panther.
For more on legal client management, see the Law Office Management section of the National Law Review.

Law Firms Are Increasingly Using Case Studies to Build Client Trust

Case studies are one of the most powerful forms of marketing communication.  This is hardly a controversial stance; a survey of 600 marketers by the B2B Technology Marketing Group found that case studies were viewed as “the most effective tactic and format”. But while they are widely deployed in the tech industry, case studies are far less common in legal.

That’s changing, as more law firms realize the immense potential. For this reason, case studies were included in the “2020 Legal Marketing Trends Report”, which identifies the year’s most significant developments.

There are many differences between marketing a SaaS platform and marketing a law firm, of course, but let’s look at the commonalities. In both industries, marketers need to demonstrate that a service solves a problem. They need to articulate an approach and show how this provides value to clients.

Too many law firms expend all their efforts telling prospective clients why they are great. Case studies show why a firm is the best choice. They go beyond vague claims about “client service” to show what that looks like in action. They offer concrete evidence that a firm has what it takes to solve complex problems and they do so in the form of a compelling narrative with a problem, a cast of admirable characters, and a resolution.

Why has the legal industry been so slow to embrace case studies? Client confidentiality is a real concern. But often this barrier is less absolute than imagined. Ask your clients—you might be surprised how many are willing to speak openly about their experience with your firm.

It is interesting that law firms, which are built on the expertise of their people, tend to avoid telling stories and putting a human face to their marketing. You can often find more emotive storytelling from a financial tech company than from a corporate law firm. Part of this is the legal industry’s aversion to risk and the widespread belief that it’s better to be safe and boring than flashy and gimmicky.

The truth, however, is that people are expecting more concrete information from the companies and firms they interact with. The internet has trained us to check reviews, rating, testimonials, and case studies before making purchasing decisions. We no longer accept marketing claims at face value. Instead, we look for social validation.

Purchasing legal services is not the same as filling up a shopping cart on Amazon, of course. It’s far higher stakes. This means that social validation and concrete evidence are even more important.

In 2020, we’ll see more firms investing in video case studies. Video production is costly and some firms will have sticker-shock. But others will see the value in investing in core marketing content that can be repurposed for blog posts, newsletters, advertisements, podcasts, pitches, and proposals.

To choose your firm, clients need to know you and they need to trust you. Trust begins with a good story.

© Copyright 2020 fSquared Marketing

For more on building law firm client trust, see the National Law Review Law Office Management section.

How Are You Investing in Business-Building Relationships?

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment” – Jim Rohn, international business management expert

Some things appear to be so simple that we assume (dangerously) that everyone “gets it.” Bear with me a moment.

For lawyers, it is imperative to consistently and persistently cultivate and nurture their relationships within their network; with clients, to receive more work and strengthen the loyalty bond; with referral sources, to receive more referrals; with prospects, to develop new work; and so on.

Why, then, is it that a significant number of lawyers either have no system — formal or otherwise — for getting and staying in touch with these people or do a dismal job of staying connected?

‘Getting and Staying in Touch’?

Again, a seemingly obvious question, but in my legal marketing practice of more than 25 years, I have worked with very few lawyers who realistically understand, as a practical matter, the fundamental principle of this phrase.

It is a widely known statistic that it takes 7-10 “touches” to achieve “top-of-mind awareness” status. Lawyers are implored to develop – often with the support of their legal assistant/marketing or IT team, a consolidated contact list including clients; industry and professional contacts; referral sources; prospects; friends and family; school classmates — law school, college, high school, etc.; co-workers and former co-workers; contacts from former clerkships; association contacts; community contacts; holiday card recipients; and so on.

Though it may be an arduous task to assemble all the business cards, old Rolodexes (yes, I’m showing my age), database printouts, etc., it is important to have all your contacts in one system. Can we say “CRM” (contact relationship management) system?

As I often relay to my clients, no list equals no connections, no communications with friends, peers, industry contacts and prospects, and, ultimately, no clients. Remember, we’re in the “relationship-building” business, and it becomes much more daunting to foster relationships if we don’t proactively get and stay in touch.

What does this mean to me?

For purposes of communicating regularly with your various constituents (clients, referral sources, prospects, etc.), no one communication message will be of interest to everyone on your contact list. That is to say, if you develop an e-newsletter or legal update on the importance of developing social media policies for the workplace and send it to your human resource clients, that topic may be of little interest to your charitable organization contacts unless they are involved in employment law issues. There is great efficiency and merit to tailor your message to an intended audience and there is no better way than to develop “categories” of contacts.

When it comes to knowing how, when and how often to reach out, paramount on most attorneys’ minds is that they do not want to be perceived as “too pushy” “aggressive” or otherwise annoying. Understandable. One principle I often convey to my clients is that most people are so involved in their own world, business, family, etc.; you are not capturing 100 percent of their attention most of the time. In other words, to adequately “register” on your targets’ radar, there must be regular, consistent and persistent “touch points”, be they via e-mail, phone call, face-to-face contact and social media outlets. You get the point.

Check Motivations

To build and grow a healthy practice, it is imperative to develop a system of getting and staying in touch but doing so with the appropriate mindset. In short, “It’s not about you.”

Lawyers often query, “What is it that I’m saying to all these people?” Lawyers sometimes say, “I don’t want to bother these folks”? Understandable.

My response is usually a variation on the theme of reaching out with a service mindset and with authentic intentions of checking in on your contacts’ business, seeing how they are making out with a recent transition or starting a new position, or a company move, etc. The universal sowing of seeds of goodwill will ultimately reap only good things. Or, relating another way, employing Newton’s Laws of Motion, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” The more “goodwill” you put out, the more it will come back to you … usually multifold.

Time Considerations

Lawyers are very busy. Where do they “find” the time to get and stay in touch with everyone and have the oft-needed downtime?

Just today, I explained to a junior partner client that, if addressed productively, his contacts will soon become his friends. Consider this: we all have certain people with whom we enjoy sharing time. What if those special individuals could be the same ones in your categorized contact lists? How cool would that be? Kill two birds with, well, you know.

Many successful senior attorneys have worked most of their professional careers to create this very scenario though it didn’t happen overnight. It took years, in some cases, one contact at a time. This brings me to my next point.

Leverage Technology

In our digital age, it has never been easier to “get and stay connected” via a host of technological tools (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogging). Not a technophile? No sweat; there are “people” who make a career of helping clients “connect”. One such job title is “certified social media specialist”.

Net-Net

In the fiercely competitive legal services arena, cultivating strong relationships is more important than ever before. As a successful lawyer and business owner, you must find a way to get and stay in touch with your desired audiences, targeted constituents and those folks who ultimately can help you grow a healthy practice. It is most easily done by:

• Commit to making it happen.

• Seek buy-in from your support resources (internal and/or external) so everyone is on the same page.

• Develop a viable and workable system for gathering, categorizing and maintaining contacts on an ongoing basis.

• Schedule dates/calendar regular communication with your contacts in addition to the other regular “touches”.

  • For example, on Mondays, review last week’s business development actions. Schedule in two blocks of 15-minute increments to follow up with each contact, offering something of value to them…a copy of a new relevant report, a link to an interesting article, a professional announcement of a common acquaintance.
  • On Tuesdays, place three phone calls to inactive clients to check in on their status/business. Ask if there is anything with which you can help them.
  • On Wednesdays, invite three referral sources to schedule a coffee in the next month. Mark your calendar and make it happen.
  • On Thursdays, research upcoming targeted networking events in an industry you serve, a Bar association event and/or other relevant organization.
  • On Friday, consider what concrete steps you’ve taken during the week and consider next steps to nurture the relationships you’ve cultivated. Take the afternoon off to recover from a busy week.
  • Repeat.

 

© 2019 KLA Marketing Associates.

For more on legal marketing, see the National Law Review Law Office Management page.

Embracing Technology of Tomorrow

Posted in the National Law Review an article by Kristyn J. Sornat of Much Shelist Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein P.C.  on what innovative technology will be available in the next five years or by the end of the decade. 

 

Think of what new platforms have become available for marketing in the past ten years —social media sites (including YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn) and the smartphone/tablet with mobile applications and paid search tools, such as Google AdWords. It makes it hard to imagine what innovative technology will be available in the next five years, let alone by the end of the decade. Plenty of gimmicky technology with a significant “cool” factor will be developed by the year 2020; however, the more important trends to watch involve the transformation of legal marketing staples.

CRMs Will Be Easier to Use

Not only will CRMs be more useful, attorneys will be required to use them! By the year 2020, there will be no more excuses as to why attorneys cannot use their firm’s client relationship management (CRM) system to support business development efforts. The most common complaints I hear about our CRM are the following: “It’s too hard to use;” “The process of entering and maintaining my information is too cumbersome;” or “I don’t have time to learn it.” However, I’ve noticed that since the economic downturn (which necessitates working smarter and harder on business development) it has been a lot easier to get the late adopters on board. However, these users still struggle with the functionality of the product.

Over the past decade, software providers have made great strides in improving the user interface of CRM products, and they have gotten smarter by incorporating it into what attorneys do every day — check email. The leading CRM providers in the legal market now allow attorneys to access their products via their email client. Companies like CRM4Legal developed their product with this in mind while others, such as LexisNexis InterAction (with version 6.0), have finally integrated the majority of their main product functionality into Outlook. This integration will make future CRM versions much easier to use. Over the next decade, these companies will take this trend a step further. Not only will using the product be more intuitive for attorneys, but the amount of information automatically pulled into the system will be greater than ever before. In addition to looking up who at your firm “knows” a client, you’ll be able to see what the client was billed in the last year, what practice groups were utilized, where the growth opportunities are and which of your other non-internal contacts have a connection to the client. There may even be access to “personal” preferences for the client (like music and food), and best of all, attorneys will not have to enter this information into the database themselves. Firms have used portal technology to facilitate bringing information into one place, but CRMs will differ from portals by tapping into third-party resources, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and news sources, to deliver unprecedented, one-step access to information that can be useful in pitching a prospect or servicing a client.

The Demise of Email Marketing

In the year 2020, firms will have shifted their efforts from mass email marketing campaigns to other online distribution channels. The effectiveness of email marketing is already on the decline, and over the next decade email clients will become even stricter about the types of information they allow through their spam filters. Compounding this issue, users are now relying on tools like social media, RSS feeds, blogs, search engines and other resources, rather than email, to find the information they need. Firms will no longer have the luxury of knowing they can inform their clients of emerging legal issues just by sending a monthly newsletter or weekly alert. They will need to find new ways to get this information to clients and prospects, preferably through a myriad of distribution channels. To prepare, firms should concentrate on using search engine optimization (SEO) for their websites (especially on pages that tend to get a majority of visitors from email distributions) and encourage attorneys to use social media to proactively share their articles and experience in specific practice areas.

Also, targeted online advertising, such as on LinkedIn and paid search, can be used to promote practice groups and help supplement the lack of exposure for these groups through email alerts. For example, firms can advertise their healthcare practice group to LinkedIn users in the healthcare industry, who have General Counsel as a title and live within 50 miles of the geographic area to which that practice group targets. Another paid search tool that may be useful is Google Remarketing, which allows firms to target ads to users who’ve previously visited their websites. Through this technology, users that find healthcare articles on a firm’s website through Google would later see an ad for the firm’s healthcare practice as they visit other websites or check their Gmail accounts. Legal alerts will still be written, but firms will rely more heavily on searchable syndication services, such as Martindale.com’s Legal Library or The National Law Review’s searchable database. Firms would be wise to prepare themselves for the inevitable by scaling back now on the amount of information they send to contacts through mass email messages. They should start tracking article clicks, opens and other performance data and use it to eliminate contacts from mailing lists. For example, if a contact only opens healthcare alerts or clicks on healthcare articles, a firm should only send them email distributions having to do with healthcare. In the future, if a firm wants anyone to open their email messages, they will need to condition their recipients to expect relevant information in every distribution.

Design for Mobile First

Mobile devices are everywhere, and they are fast becoming people’s primary access point to the Internet and email. In the past five years, although mobile devices have been a consideration when firms design websites and email messages, it hasn’t been a necessity to design for them first. By 2020, mobile devices (including tablets) will play the role which PCs do today. It’s important that firms start preparing for that shift now by creating a pared-down mobile version of their websites if all the pages of the site are not already mobile-friendly. Firms working on a website redesign should make sure they are giving mobile devices and PCs equal consideration. For example, if there is a search section for articles, more search buckets with dropdown choices should be created so that mobile users will have to rely less on typing in search terms. If Flash is utilized to emphasize important information on the website, there should be an alternative way to get that information across to iPhone users, who cannot view Flash animation. Although designing for mobile may inhibit creativity, it is better for mobile users to be able to see and use a highly functional website than to become frustrated by (or unable to view) a beautifully designed website. Mobile apps (currently a hot topic in legal marketing circles) will also be important, just not the way we think of them today. Many firms that have taken advantage of this new technology have focused on providing information that is already accessible on their websites and in other places. In the future, successful law firm apps will have two purposes: to aid users in things they are doing every day and to provide better service to clients. For example, Latham & Watkins has already realized this trend and released a useful app that allows people to search a glossary of legal, business and financial terms. How will apps help firms better service their clients in the future? They may allow clients to view hours billed and balances due, or search a firm’s attorney experience database based on specific criteria for a new matter. As firms develop ideas for apps, they should keep usability in mind so they don’t end up with an app that clients download out of curiosity, but then fails to entice them to come back again.

Website Overhauls

Websites will be vastly different by the end of the decade —not only will they be designed with mobile devices in mind, but they also may incorporate technology that delivers a different homepage experience to each user based on past visits. For example, tailored article and event feeds might display, based on previous visits to practice group descriptions, attorney bios or the user’s past site searches. Other website areas that will be affected will be attorney bios, practice group descriptions and resource centers. Firms should begin thinking about attorney bios more like social media profiles (maybe even connecting LinkedIn profiles with attorney pages), because the lines between websites and social media will be even more blurred. Video will be as important as text in getting marketing messages across on practice group pages, and firms will use articles and descriptions of experience to show practice group expertise rather than just “say”they have it in a lengthy practice group description. In the resource area of the website, firms will add more information that is useful to visitors. CLE webcasts may be a way to drive users to the website, much as articles do today. However, the trick to adding CLE resources will be figuring out how to give people their credit and comply with ethics rules for each state. Firms need to start preparing for what is to come in marketing technology — by 2020, tactics and processes will have evolved into a connected, mobile machine. To embrace this technology of tomorrow, firms should keep an eye on trends involving CRM systems, email marketing, mobile technology and websites, while maintaining caution from being distracted by a high “cool” factor that may not deliver real value to the firm or its clients.

This article was first published in ILTA’s June 2011 issue of Peer to Peer titled “Law2020TM: One Year In” and is reprinted here with permission. For more information about ILTA, visit their website at www.iltanet.org.

© 2011 Much Shelist Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein, P.C.

Just JDs — Business Development Strategies for Lawyers – June 8th Chicago, IL

Looking for new ideas on how to grow your client base?  Trying to determine if social media is a time waister or a great way to reach new audiences or stay in touch with current business contacts? Looking for CLE Credits before the June 30th Illinois Deadline?  The National Law Review  would like to bring your attention to a unique opportunity designed for attorneys by the legal marketing authorities (LMA).  

Just JDs — Business Development Strategies for Lawyers is a one-day program is designed exclusively for lawyers at firms of all sizes who want to build their personal books of business or have responsibility for practice or firm business development efforts including marketing partners, marketing committee members and administrators.

LMA members: Refer attorneys from your firm and they can register at the member rate, a savings of $100.

Click Here For More Details & to Register Online Today
$395 for LMA members
$495 for nonmembers

When Is Research Misleading?

Sue Stock Allison, the Managing Director of The Brand Research Company, as Sister Company to Greenfield / Belser Ltd.  was recently the National Law Review’s recent Business of Law Guest Blogger.  Sue shared five key things for Law Firms to keep in mind when performing opinion research.  

Sometimes, when it comes to opinion research, what you see is not necessarily what you get. For instance, focus group moderators can inadvertently (or purposely) create bias among recipients. Or when questioned about buying habits or intentions, people may tell questioners what they want to hear, rather than what they actually feel.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve cautioned against considering all research valuable or even accurate. But there are ways to ensure that your findings are sound when undertaking research among your clients, your organization members or your markets.

Here are five tips for making sure the research your firm is using is useful:

1. Know your Goals

I know you’re thinking, “Of course, we need goals!” but, alas, research can be initiated for nutty reasons. My personal favorite: “Everyone else is doing it.” That everyone else is doing it may make initiating a new study an excellent recommendation, but you still must match your research goals to your business goals. Do you define success by a measurable return on the research investment, or do you just want to touch your most loyal clients? Are you trying to guide or justify a specific marketing expenditure or, more loosely, gauge awareness in a particular market? Knowing what you want to achieve is crucial to obtaining the data you need. Detailing the specific information you want to know, even using hypothetical statements of finding, can help you to make your objectives clear. In this case, the cart (what you wish to carry away from the research) truly comes before the horse.

2. Fully Define Your Target Audience

Do you put stock in those general market studies that “rank” your business better or worse than others? Syndicated studies are great gossip and provide fodder for your website’s homepage

(“We’re #1 in reputation for excellence for the third straight year!”), but there is limited value in being considered number one for anything if those who provide the ratings do not purchase or even influence the purchase of your services.

When conducting research, or using research conducted by someone else, you need to ensure that respondents include individuals whose opinions you really need to know. Do you want to know what your top 25 clients think, your clients with the highest potential or your clients who seem to be fading away? Are you looking for guidance from prospects for a specific service, in a specific geographic area, or from a certain type of business? If existing research was conducted among exactly the right group of individuals–excellent! If not, you’ll need to conduct your own research to get what matters to you.

3. Select the Best Methodology

As popular as they are, focus groups are one of the most misused research methodologies. They are a qualitative research method, statistically invalid, which necessarily makes them ill-suited for drawing conclusions about habits or actions. Whether you conduct one session with 10 individuals or 10 sessions with a total of 100 individuals, they are never conclusive. Focus groups are, however, an excellent way to come up with ideas about proclivities or intent that can later be tested with quantitative surveys. Focus groups can help you discover undetected problems with an ad campaign, potential challenges of a new service offering, or the usability of a website design. But when you want to understand what is most important among a number of choices, what really drives client loyalty, or how to best position your business in a market—these objectives require a quantitative method that can provide the metrics you need.

4. Ask the Right Questions the Right Way

Another common problem with focus groups and other forms of research is how easily respondents can be led to particular responses, and how hard it is for them to accurately assess and report their own motivations. When you develop your discussion guide, in-depth questionnaire or survey instrument, you need to make sure the questions are not leading, that your respondents are not primed to answer in a particular way. (In fact, when conducting focus groups, I often ask participants to write down their initial impressions before discussion even begins.) For telephone or in-person interviews, make sure your interviewers are skilled in the techniques that will bring even subconscious motivations to the surface.

5. Interpret with Caution

How do you know if your findings are truly reliable? Even if you’ve clearly laid out your goals, comprehensively defined your target, picked the best methodology, designed an effective research instrument, and used excellent interviewers, the results can still be misleading if your interpretation of the findings is flawed. Reliable interpretation begins with proper analysis of the data, which requires understanding how the target population was selected and ensuring that your resultant data includes the information needed to feed your conclusions. Perhaps the most common problems are conducting quantitative analyses with too few responses, or having a response rate that is too low–both of which beg the question: How do the non-respondents differ from those who are included in the research?

So, is research misleading? It certainly can be, but by using these guidelines, you can take the necessary steps to ensure that your research will more accurately provide the information you need.

©2011 Greenfield/Belser Ltd.

 

Top 10 Rainmaker Best Practices to Win in 2010 – Part 3

In the final installment of her three-part Business of Law guest blog posting at the National Law Review, Deborah Knupp of Akina Corporation details the final four steps to help focus and streamline legal business development.  

This week’s posts are identifying the Top 10 Rainmaker Best Practices, that when focused on with discipline and intention, distinguish you and your firm and help you gain a competitive sales advantage.  Our previous posts Part 1 and Part 2 focused on the first six Rainmaker Best Practices.  Today’s article focuses on the last set of four Best Practices and discusses WHAT works in any market and HOW to implement the best practices to impact your business with increased revenue, increased leverage of time and resources and improved accuracy and predictability in your sales pipeline.

7) Networking and Working a Room

Networking effectiveness has less to do with personality and more to do with readiness.  Simple answers to questions like, “What is my goal or objective for the event?”  “How many people do I want to meet at the event?”  “How might I follow-up after the event if I make a connection?” turn networking situations into productive treasure hunts.  Networking basics include having your Quick Pitch ready, having business cards accessible and managing your time to meet your objectives.  When possible, ask for the attendee list in advance and peruse the day’s headlines (news, sports, current events) to have small talk ready to break the ice.

8) Campaign Thinking

The ethos of Campaign Thinking is any single act of marketing or business development should be leveraged minimally for a 3:1 payback.   3:1 leverage could be turning an article into a speech and a webinar.  3:1 leverage could be turning a single event into a 3-part communication plan: pre-event communication, during the event conversation and post event follow-up communication. 3:1 leverage can also be geography based by utilizing travel as the authentic reason to connect, i.e. one meeting in NYC turns into three meetings in the Northeast Corridor.

9) The 6 Silver Bullets for Closing and Managing the Red Zone

Unfortunately, there is no magic phrase or silver bullet to close business.  There are however, six qualifiers that can be like silver bullets to understand when business should close.  Business will generally close if there is:

1)     A legitimate problem

2)     A good fit solution

3)     A sense of urgency attached to the timeline to make decisions.

4)     Access to the decision makers and their decision-making criteria

5)     Expectations that are in alignment regarding the level of effort it will take to initiate a relationship and work successfully with you

6)     Budget that fits with your fee structure

When your prospect’s interests align with your six qualifiers, business has a way of closing itself.  If you aren’t sure if your prospect’s interests align against a specific qualifier, asking additional Discovery Questions will provide clarity and a sense of what the appropriate next steps might be.

When business does close, it is understandable that when a prospective client gives you a verbal “yes,” it is tempting to celebrate and step back from your selling efforts.  However, managing the Red Zone means that you recognize that when you get the “yes”, the incumbent has gotten the “no,” which can often lead to desperate decisions and measures to retain the client.  Business is not truly closed until work has started.  Therefore, when you receive word that you have been hired you are on the 20-yard line.  You will want to continue to stay connected, step-up communication and set clear definitive next steps as you ready for the actual work.

10) Create SuperFans through Client Experience

Many professionals assume that if they do good work, clients will continue to hire them for more work. However, reality tells us that just doing good work is not enough.  The competitive market tells us that we need to continuously manage the client relationship to inspire client loyalty while simultaneously looking for additional problems to solve for the client. Recognizing that loyalty is usually a result of an accumulation of good experiences rather than one outstanding moment, we can create SuperFans by finding ways to deepen value within the client experience in seven areas of innovation:

1)     Client feedback

2)     Client intake process

3)     Communication and expectation management

4)     Client appreciation

5)     Knowing a client’s business

6)     Non-legal client project participation and facilitation

7)     Alternative fee arrangements

Summary

Whether you are new to business development or a seasoned veteran, the Top 10 Rainmaker Best Practices are designed to give you greater focus, greater control and greater results with more predictability.  When you remember to focus first on building authentic relationships and solving the problems that should be solved, you will have greater joy during the journey and greater impact in the communities in which you serve.

To see Part I of Top 10 Rainmaker Best Practices to Win in 2010 click here.

To see Part II of Top 10 Rainmaker Best Practices to Win in 2010 click here.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 AKINA CORPORATION

About the Author:

Deborah Knupp has worked globally with CEOs, executives, managing partners and attorneys as a coach and business executive for over 20 years. She has helped these leaders align their people systems and business objectives to create cultures based on the principles of accountability, integrity and authentic relationship building. Her work has focused on making the work environment a place where employees “want” to be; where clients “want” to buy; and, where leaders “want” to serve a bigger purpose in their communities and families.www.akina.biz /312-235-0144

Top 10 Rainmaker Best Practices to Win in 2010 – Part II

This week’s National Law Review Business of Law Guest Blogger is Deborah Knupp of  Akina Corporation . Deb authored a very helpful three part series on specific steps that attorney’s can take to increase business!  The following is part two: 

This week’s posts are identifying the Top 10 Rainmaker Best Practices, that when focused on with discipline and intention, distinguish you and your firm and help you gain a competitive sales advantage.  Our previous post focused on the first three Rainmaker Best Practices.  Today’s article focuses on the next set of three Best Practices and discusses WHAT works in any market and HOW to implement the best practices to impact your business with increased revenue, increased leverage of time and resources and improved accuracy and predictability in your sales pipeline.

4) Operate by the Platinum Rule through Discovery Questions

At Akina, we often speak about operating out of the Platinum Rule, which says “do unto others as they would be done unto,” or in more basic terms seek to serve another’s interest first, understanding that your own interests will be satisfied over time.  By operating from the Platinum Rule, we take on a posture of service over self-interest.  One of the best ways to evidence the Platinum Rule is through Discovery Questions.  “Discovery” implies that we are interested and care about others.  We often demonstrate more credibility by the types of questions we ask because our questions reveal our character.  Discovery Questions ultimately get others talking about the thing that they know best… themselves.  If new business is the natural outcome of solving problems, then the only way to understand what problems should be solved is to ask.

Getting into the habit of asking good Discovery Questions also enables us to find the most authentic way to stay connected over time.  When we ask good questions, it often becomes obvious how we can be most helpful to someone else, either through our introductions, information (knowledge) or invitations (access to events or opportunities).

Finally, good Discovery Questions help orient us as to where a prospective buyer might be in their decision-making process.  We don’t have to worry about “hard closing” if we’re paying attention to a buyer’s readiness to close.  Discovery Questions give us access and insight into a prospect’s perspective so that we can respond appropriately and adequately.

5) Time-Boxed Follow-up

Which brings us to the next best practice…great rainmakers call out Definitive Next Steps as they go.  Time-boxed follow-up is the opportunity to set next steps in the moment.  It’s saying “I’ll call you next Friday to set up lunch” or “I’ll reach back out to you in six months if we don’t connect again before then” versus leaving next steps open-ended or saying “we should do this again some time.”  Time-boxed follow-up concretely identifies what actions will be taken and by when.  Definitive Next Steps give us the chance to demonstrate that we are our word, that we are responsive, and that we care.

6) Prep/Plan/Strategy

At a high level, effective preparation demonstrates that you honor another’s time by caring enough to have a game plan designed to get to a clear destination. Tactically, effective preparation helps you control the variables you can in an uncertain market place.

At a minimum, they key elements of preparation include identifying: 

  • Your objective for why you want to meet
  • Your distinct key messages to convey interest and value
  • The discovery questions you will ask to deepen understanding and relationships
  • Anticipated scenarios and outcomes with potential definitive next steps, typically from a best case, likely case and worst case scenario

When done well, effective preparation, planning and strategy is done more than 24 hours before a meeting and is not conducted in a parking lot, elevator or car while driving.  Look for the final Rainmaker Best Practices in the following days!

To see Part I of Top 10 Rainmaker Best Practices to Win in 2010 click here.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 AKINA CORPORATION

About the Author:

Deborah Knupp has worked globally with CEOs, executives, managing partners and attorneys as a coach and business executive for over 20 years. She has helped these leaders align their people systems and business objectives to create cultures based on the principles of accountability, integrity and authentic relationship building. Her work has focused on making the work environment a place where employees “want” to be; where clients “want” to buy; and, where leaders “want” to serve a bigger purpose in their communities and families. www.akina.biz /312-235-0144

 

Three Keys to Increased Client Retention

Business of Law Guest Blogger Sarah Johnson of PDI Global discusses Three Keys to Increased Client Retention

Client retention is one of the top issues facing law firms today. Yet, for many firms, client retention is an uncoordinated and inconsistent effort. As a result, they lose both clients and revenue.

But smart firms know that retaining clients is critically important, especially in today’s highly competitive environment. Smart firms are placing a high priority on the three key elements of client retention: providing exceptional client service, adding value and being proactive.

Providing exceptional client service

Clients hire a firm because they expect great service. But clients remain with a firm because they receive exceptional client service. (Hint: This goes way beyond just providing the project deliverable on time or returning client calls and e-mails.)

To provide exceptional service, you need to fully understand client expectations. Because these are subjective, they will be different for every client. So start by directly asking clients what they expect in terms of deadlines, service quality, project outcomes, progress reports, communication and other factors. Then continually evaluate how well you’re meeting those expectations. 

Exceptional client service doesn’t stop with the partners. Firm leaders should communicate client expectations down throughout the firm so everyone involved with the client knows what’s expected and works to deliver that.

Adding value

Your clients need to feel they receive the maximum amount of value for the money they spend with your firm. But as professionals who live by the billable hour, we often start and stop the clock every time we pick up the phone or respond to an e-mail. This can lead us to equate the level of service we provide with the amount of time we spend on a client.

But clients define service not by how much time you spend on them but by how much you show that you’re invested in advancing their long-term success. Depending on the individual or company, this can mean different things. Some ways to show value might include:

  • Introducing them to other professionals who can help them solve a business problem or challenge,
  • Spending an hour to educate them on how to do their job better, or [gasp]
  • Giving them a free assessment or advice. 

Remember that the client is ultimately the one that defines the value, so start by asking them what that means to them and then make sure you follow through.

Being proactive

Clients don’t know what they don’t know. They’re looking to you as their trusted advisor to tell them what they need to know about matters that affect them and what steps they might take to achieve their objectives.

Oftentimes we expend a lot of time and energy when we are courting a potential client to show them what we will do for them, only to forget about our promises once they have signed with us. Proactively bringing ideas to your clients will not only help you retain them and add value to the relationship, but it may also help you generate additional opportunities for business. So what are ways you can be proactive?

  • Share articles, blogs, videos or podcasts of interest that will expand their knowledge.
  • Schedule regular meetings to discuss their business (not your services) to better understand what they might need in the coming year and then help them achieve that.
  • Bring them ideas that will help them succeed, even if it’s not one of your services.
  • Do you have a new or innovative approach to a common issue they might face? Share it with them.
  • Have you completed an industry survey recently? Schedule a meeting to share it with them.

If you aren’t doing this but your competitors are, clients may begin to question their relationship with you. Therefore, whether it’s through one-on-one conversations, a newsletter, a blog or some other media or forum, make sure you’re proactively providing ideas and information to your clients.

Building a loyal client base

Practicing exceptional client service won’t just help you retain your clients. It will also help you uncover new opportunities to generate revenue from them. By giving clients what they want and working to advance their success, you’ll secure your client relationships, win client loyalty and boost your success, too.

© 2010 PDI Global Inc. All rights reserved.

Sarah Johnson is the Director of Marketing Consulting Services for PDI Global and a marketing consultant to law firms. A highly accomplished marketing professional with a passion for success, Sarah excels in advising CPA, law and other professional service firms on ways to realize more of their profit potential. She is especially adept at identifying growth opportunities, formulating business development strategies, maximizing human capital and working with clients to meet the challenges involved in implementing change.  www.pdiglobal.com