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Commentary: Disciplined Marketing: Professionalizing Practice Development

Posted on: Sunday, 5 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By Wayne Davis, Esq.

Marketing, sales and overall practice development issues rank on the top 10 list of practice-management concerns among most legal practitioners today. Why is it that the legal profession continues to fall short of the target when it comes to professionalizing the practice-development function? Isn't it time we knock marketing and practice development off that list?

Now more than ever, it is critical for law firms (regardless of size) to put together a balanced marketing and business development plan. Many firms either have no plan or one that is unbalanced. An unbalanced plan is one that focuses a firm's resources in only one area, usually on support activities like brochures, advertising and Web sites.

A Balanced Approach

A balanced marketing and business development plan adheres to disciplined activities designed to drive measurable return on investment. The Juris Development Partnership breaks these activities into four disciplines:

Discipline #1 - Client Development;

Discipline #2 - Referral Development;

Discipline #3 - Attracting new clients; and

Discipline #4 - Support activities.

Client Development

Each year we survey hundreds of professional service firm clients about the quality of service they receive from their engagement team. Historically, the lowest rated response has been to the statement: My engagement team routinely offers advice and suggestions for improving my business and financial position. As such, it's important for a piece of your marketing and business development plan to revolve around proactively serving your clients, especially your top 50. Proactively serving your client is important for two reasons; it enables your firm to:

* Protect your client from your competition. Simply providing technically competent legal services in a timely manner is no longer enough. It is imperative for a law firm to proactively serve clients by anticipating client needs and providing the appropriate professional advice and service.

* Focus on business development. Your existing clients are most likely the largest untapped resource for new business. Illustrating to them your anticipation of their needs and then providing additional services further cements the client-firm relationship.

Referral Development

Regardless of changes in the legal industry, referral sources remain an important driver of new business. The key to an effective referral relationship includes three elements.

1. Education.

Referral sources (e.g., other attorneys, accountants, insurance providers, bankers) obviously need to know about the core services you provide clients (e.g., corporate, litigation). More importantly, these key resources need to understand your capabilities beyond those services (e.g., appellate practice expertise, class-action experience, international presence, etc.).

2. Learning.

An effective referral relationship needs to be a two-way street. As important as it is for your sources to understand the type of referral you want to receive, it is just as important for you to understand the type of work they want sent their way. Establish a profile of what a good referral is to them including details like revenue, industry, geography and type of work (e.g., corporate, real estate, etc.).

3. Long-term relationships.

Seek referral sources that match your personal style and choose quality over quantity; develop close relationships with a few rather than distant relationships with many.

The key is to develop programs and activities that enable your partners and associates to effectively accomplish referral development.

Attracting New Clients

While Disciplines #1 and #2 may be considered low-hanging fruit, Discipline #3, attracting new clients, can be more difficult. To address this challenge, we recommend a nurture marketing approach: the premise that after a firm has defined its ideal prospect set (i.e., future client set), it should demonstrate a sincere and ongoing commitment to securing those prospects as clients.

History has demonstrated that it is simply a matter of time until something necessitates a change in law firms (service delivery issues, lack of industry expertise, fees, etc.). For this reason, it is important for your firm to position itself as the #2 (backup to the incumbent) provider.

Nurture marketing follows a specific process designed to nurture prospects into client relationships, for example, through a series of direct mail and telephone follow-up campaigns. With the prospect's permission, you continue with regular contact, sharing executive summaries of industry-related articles the prospect will find of interest, demonstrating your firm's knowledge of and interest in the prospect's industry, as well as an ongoing commitment to gaining their business.

Support Activities

All law firms need to avoid falling into the marketing black hole by ensuring Discipline #4 activities support the first three disciplines. Support activities may include the development of testimonials, brochures, advertising, Web sites, public relations, etc.

The key is to engage in only those activities that support your strategies and initiatives in Disciplines #1-3.

Scientific and Predictable

Research continues to show that the profitability and length of client relationships today are increasingly dependent upon providing proactive advice and quality service. To this end, a firm's practice development efforts should be designed to directly support the development of profitable relationships.

In essence, an effective practice development program plan should be both scientific and predictable. At any point throughout the implementation of a plan, a firm should be able to assess progress made against projected goals. The key for your firm is to focus on implementing activities that will predictably generate the biggest return on your investment.

Disciplined marketing drives revenue and helps create desired business results. To get there, the first step is refusing to repeat the same practice development plan again, expecting different results. Change the process to a balanced, disciplined marketing approach, and the results will reflect that change.

This article was originally published in Missouri Lawyers Weekly, another Dolan Media publication.

Wayne Davis, Esq.,is the managing partner at Juris Development Partnership, a full service consulting firm solely focused on the legal industry.

Source: Daily Record and the Kansas City Daily News-Press

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