Discovering hidden gems

Now, more than ever, law firms need to be thinking about 'clever selling' rather than 'hard selling'. The secret lies within our existing databases. By Helen Foord.

Recently, my mother decided that my father needed a new pair of trousers and marched him off, sulking, to the local gentlemen’s outfitters. They had been to this shop before, but they weren’t loyal (or even impressed) customers.

You can imagine my surprise, when I met them both later, at seeing my father laden with bags and bearing a huge grin. He was evangelical about his shopping expedition and described the shop with a reverence usually reserved for malt whiskey.

The success of this trip hinged on the sales person. On arrival, they were both warmly welcomed, mother was offered a chair and a cup of tea and, once she was happy, full attention was transferred to father.

He was furnished with the requested pair of trousers to try and, before he could blink, three more pairs. Without asking, he was provided with things to try that, until that moment, he hadn’t known that he needed. The salesperson knew his stock so well he was able to suggest additional items that repeatedly satisfied the customer. He was also able to ensure that my father never tried on anything that wouldn’t fit and never thought to ask for anything that was out of stock. It was this expert attention that impressed. At no point did it feel like a sales pitch. An hour later my father left with four pairs of trousers, three shirts and an assortment of socks.

The shop had turned an occasional customer into a loyal one. Rather than just satisfying the one request that my father made, he left knowing, without any doubt, that this was the shop for him. He didn’t need to go anywhere else, ever again.

So how does this relate to us?

How many of our ‘key’ clients are actually only clients of one department, or using this example, only buy one pair of socks? How many arrive asking for employment law assistance and leave having only been offered that? We are so worried that we might annoy them that we don’t attempt to anticipate their other needs.

This salesperson is an example for us to follow – he was able to use his knowledge of the shop’s stock to anticipate customer needs and go on to satisfy them.

The facts
Recently, I conducted research across a number of firms, prior to their client-relationship-management technology implementations. The results were clear:

1. It costs eight times as much to get the same amount of instruction from a cold contact as a warm one;
2. 75 per cent of key clients, listed as such on databases, only instruct one area of the firm;
3. 50 per cent of key clients, listed as such on databases, only instruct one fee earner.

And yet we spend more time trying to bring in new clients than anything else. What’s stopping us from tapping into these hidden gems, which are already on our files?

The personalities
The expensive partner
Why is it we only allow our most expensive people to do business development? We take someone who could be charging out their time at several hundred pounds per hour and spend hours with them doing non-chargeable work.

The blinkered partner
They can talk for hours on their practice and the key market trends within their own field. If challenged, though, most can’t tell their clients what the other departments offer.

The protective partner
It’s easy to understand that, when you’ve spent hours of chargeable time then stepped outside of your legal comfort zone into the seedy world of sales, you get protective about the few contacts that have turned into clients. You put the work in and you’re pretty certain that if they talk to anyone else, you’ll lose them.

The ‘sales is evil’ partner
If we don’t like getting a phone call when we’re just tucking into a nice fleurie of an evening, it is clear that all salespeople are evil. Clients will feel the same way if we try and sell any other services to them. Clearly, we should be pleased that they instructed us in the first instance
and leave it at that.

The complacent partner
‘Well they keep on instructing so they must be happy with the service’. There is no need to develop the relationship, it's probably best not to rock the boat. We’re clearly doing something right.

The intellectual partner
‘But selling legal services isn’t like selling socks; you can’t approach it in the same way as a shop and stock.’ They always have to argue about the detail – often missing the global picture.

The ‘back to front’ partner
‘We don’t have a brochure, our database is out of date, we don’t have an intranet, house style needs some work, aren’t we meant to be going for Lexcel?’. Best to get our ducks in a row before we actually work out how we’re going to use all of this marketing collateral.

Although these are stereotypes, they do represent some of the challenges we face. Perhaps this is why we always target new clients rather than tackle the internal challenges and enable ourselves to maximise the potential of our existing contacts.

So what should we be doing?

It would be impossible to cover every angle of this problem in one article – it takes a lifetime of trying things out and tailoring them to particular organisations to make it work. As a starting point, however, there are three key areas to consider:

Know your product;
Know your market;
Play to your strengths.

Know your product
Here, you need to know what are you good at and where your strengths lie, both in terms of the organisation and your people. Don’t try and be something you are not. If you are really excellent at employment law but not property, then it makes sense to cross-sell the areas in which you have strengths, first. Similarly, if you have some members of the team that are great at face-to-face meetings and some who are not, then delegate accordingly.

In terms of support, you are more likely to get buy-in from fee earners if you aren’t asking them to sell something that they don’t believe in, or asking them to do something that they aren’t confident with. Team belief is crucial, so make sure that everyone is totally on board before you move to the next stage.

You also need to believe in yourself. We often find ourselves agreeing with fee earners when every fibre of our being is shouting ‘no’. Have confidence in your own ability. You have been employed for your professional experience and expertise. If you think that actually selling professional services can work within the same structure as socks, then have some backbone and explain that to the intellectual partner.

Remember that trust is key. You will never win over protective partners if you ask them to risk their clients on something that they don’t trust. It may be that their lack of confidence is well founded, or that internal communication needs to be addressed, to publicise strengths. It may be
that lack of trust is actually hiding the fact that they are a blinkered partner (and don’t know what the other people do). It is our job to find out and do something about it if this is the case.

We are selling people and rely on whether the client feels comfortable with the culture of the organisation and the staff involved. With existing clients, we have half the battle won (assuming that the initial contact reflects the culture of the firm). Now, we need to ensure that we have a consistent message, then the relationship can be built with the firm, not just the contact.

Here, teamwork is vital. By creating joint responsibility for action, cross-selling opportunities are more likely to materialise. Dilute the protective partner, or the ‘sales is evil partner’, with a
‘we’d like your work’ partner from another department.

Once you’ve looked at all of these areas, you can begin to assess what it is that you can offer clients. Pull together a package and ensure that everyone buys in to it and understands it. It could be that you need to look at your CRM structure or internal communications to support this.

Know what you are bad at and be realistic. Whether you have areas of legal weakness or whether it is client care that needs addressing, you need to be aware of where your limitations lie. Remember, knowledge is power.

Know your market
Who do you want?
You can’t target every person who ever instructed you. These contacts are all ‘warm’ so we need some criteria to apply to our list to decide whom to target. Working with your management team, try to understand what is important to the client and what will achieve your goals. Your criteria for selection needs to have straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. You might want to include potential revenue generation, size of organisation, sector/market, opportunity for growth, nationality, regionality, history of instruction (new or longstanding) or legal requirements.

Apply your profile
Once you have your criteria you need to apply it to your existing client lists. Divide your lists into manageable chunks, tiered according to how closely they fit the criteria. You can then start with your ‘tier 1’ (or hot matches) and work your way down. Be ruthless; don’t keep people just because you like them when they don’t fit the criteria.

Get to know them
Knowledge is a whole other subject – and a vital one. When used properly a good CRM system and an experienced professional support lawyer can revolutionise your lives. As a starting point, though, get to know your tier 1 contacts. Always try to lean towards their specific needs and understand them as an organisation. Try to have 80 per cent of your know-how specifically focusing on the contact and 20 per cent on the wider market.

Unlock expertise
Remember that a great deal of know-how is locked away in the brain of the client contact. Use them. Try to understand their perspective too. Understand why they might be protective, what their issues are. This might be a clear case for developing your client-care policy and, perhaps, even bringing in a client-relationship manager.

The competition
You need to know any firms they might already use for other legal services, why, and what they provide that you don’t (or haven’t told them that you do). Thank heavens for Google.

What do you need to support you?
It is at this point that you can use the worries of your back-to-front partner to advantage. Now you have worked out what you can offer and who you’re targeting, you need to address how to get their attention. Maybe you need to develop a proper CRM structure, perhaps a client care policy/client-relationship managers, maybe marketing collateral or in-house training. Should you be organising more events, direct marketing, seminars or corporate hospitality?

With effective planning, knowledge, communication and teamwork you can realise the potential of the hidden gems within your existing database.

[Boxout] Play to your strengths – the ten golden rules

1. Each case is different. Tailor every approach;
2. You are selling people. Start with what you are good at;
3. It’s a team effort – work with the people you have to develop a plan everyone trusts;
4. Don’t try to be something you are not;
5. Develop a culture of cross-selling. Use internal communications to show that not all sales is evil;
6. Be prepared to change the plan if you think it makes sense. Don’t be a stickler for your rules if the targets change;
7. Take time to know your team. Understand their views and try to take them into account when planning;
8. Be realistic - don’t aim for the stars if you only have a stepladder. Bite-sized chunks are best;
9. You are selling the culture, not just the services. Use internal communications;
10. Review at every stage. Record progress and know-how – invest in CRM.

Helen Foord is a marketing and business development manager at UK firm Wiggin LLP.
She can be contacted at helen.foord@wiggin.co.uk