What Law Firms Need to Do To Profit and Succeed

LawFuel spoke with law marketing expert Eric Fletcher about what law firms should be doing to cope with major changes in the legal marketplace.

Eric Fletcher has been speaking about, writing about and consulting on marketing and branding for professional service firms for over a quarter century, so he knows what he’s talking about when he discusses changes in legal marketplace.

He currently directs marketing and business development for Liskow & Lewis, as well as

authoring MarketingBrainFodder – a blog he’s written for the professional service sector since

2002.

For instance, while the pace of change is rapid, some things are in fact very slow to change.

Take the “billable hour,” – or more accurately, the “death” of the billable hour, for instance.

The death of the billable hour has been a “theme for at least 20 years”.

But the billable hour is still with most law firms.

“Firm’s of all sizes continue to wrestle mightily with how to innovate around the

way service is measured and billed.”

In 2002 the ABA published Winning Alternatives to the Billable Hour:

Strategies That Work, Second Edition by Jim

Calloway and Mark Robertson. In 2007 the cover story of the ABA Journal was The Billable Hour

Must Die written by lawyer-novelist Scott Turow.

“Yet few would characterize the “alternatives” now somewhat common as having been “rapid.”

“Firm’s of all sizes continue to wrestle mightily with how to innovate around the way service is

measured and billed. Certainly, part of the challenge stems from the fact that the hour is one of

the building blocks of the traditional law firm infrastructure.

“But the difficulties inherent in change are, to a significant degree, rooted in the fact that

innovation is proactive in nature, while the law firm is, historically, reactive.”

Changes Come Slow to Marketing & Business DevelopmentA strategic approach to marketing and business development represents an equally difficult

change for most law firms. The proactive identification and pursuit of opportunity can seem at

odds with recognizing and mitigating risk.

But what of how firms of different sizes are responding to the challenges presented by changes

in the market?

“Anecdotally I would suggest that it seems smaller to mid-size firms can adapt and change more

easily than a firm where changes to policy and process can have significant resource and

infrastructure implications.”

Large law firms have the strength and resources to embrace change, but they need to make it

happen properly and with a good sense of changing things at the coal face.

Social Media Significance

The rapid development of social media and its impact upon how law firm’s market themselves is

a further development that affects lawyers acutely.

The extent to which firms need to use social media is somewhat variable, he says.

“Social media is a tool. In my view it is a valuable addition to the law firm marketing arsenal; but I

would quickly add that it is not a be-all-end-all solution that should be automatically forced on

every situation.”

“Plans that begin with a focus on the tools or message are tantamount to the proverbial hammer in search of a nail . . “

Identifying specific targets for the development of the law practice is key to making any business

development successful.

“The strategy, message(s), tools and specific actions of an effective marketing and business

development plan are best determined by the smart identification of the targets you hope to

reach.

“Plans that begin with a focus on the tools or message are tantamount to the proverbial hammer

in search of a nail.”

Identifying the target of the “message” makes decision-making around media, where to speak

and which organizations to support, along with the measurement of the firm’s ROI become less

problematic when the target of the action plan is identified.

“With targets identified, the objective of a marketing/business development strategy is to 1)

create visibility; 2) enhance the value of the firm brand (and we’re not talking about a logo here);

and 3) begin building a bridge to the creation of professional relationship.

What Should The Message Be?The focus for growth for firms delivering a quality service remains with the client.

“Understand the client’s business drivers and you will have valuable insight into what innovations

matter to them, and where you must change in order to meet market demands.

“Listen carefully to what your clients say, and you’ll know precisely where your marketing efforts

and messages should focus.”

Just like many large businesses be they stores, service companies or anything else, law firms

are really not much different – the customer is right. And as someone said, client service is not a

department, it’s everyone’s job. And it is clear from experts like Eric Fletcher that client focus

and service one job that lawyers are certainly not spared.

This is an edited version of what has been covered in LawFuel.com - see the full version at this link here.