Back to basics

Without addressing internal service levels, you could fail to deliver on your brand promise to clients. Using a conveyancing practice as an example, this masterclass takes the inside-out approach to successful marketing. By Sean Bosse

Conveyancing is possibly the last practice area that remains truly under the control of us lawyers. It is a moot point for how much longer this will be, but it still represents the ‘crown jewel’ of many firms’ service offerings. Here in South Africa, it is often seen as a ‘cash cow’, which props up other service lines and keeps law firms profitable.

For this reason, conveyancers should make every effort to improve visibility, and communicate the value, of the conveyancing service – whether purely for revenue gain or to capture market share from competitors.

I believe that the heart of the marketing campaign is not necessarily found in external communication. Rather, it is an internal drive to structure the conveyancing department – its people and the service – in such a way that enables it to support the external marketing campaign. A thorough understanding of ‘what the service does’ is vital before you embark on any kind of marketing drive. This understanding should then dictate the direction and nature of any campaign to get the word out about the value of your offering.

Law firms have come of an age now where the practice of law is no longer enough to ensure survival, let alone profitability. Lawyers and law firms must now focus much more time on the business of law, to create competitive advantage in an already over-traded profession. Planned and implemented correctly, marketing goes a long way to achieving the ultimate goal, which is to be the law firm of choice in the minds of existing and future clients.

An intangible service
Any marketing initiative needs to begin with an appreciation of the fact that the service of conveyancing is an intangible one. It has no product that can be seen, touched, smelt or heard. This is in contrast to a tangible product, such as a car. A customer can appreciate the look, feel and experience of a Ferrari before they decide whether or not to buy it. They can use their reason to assess if it is good value for money.

In contrast, a prospective client has no tangible markers with which to evaluate whether the service they are buying is valuable and fully meets their requirements.

Marketing strategies should, therefore, be designed and implemented to make the intangible, tangible – as well as ensuring that your service stands out from that of other law firms.

Are your ready to market?
Service marketing is not just about communicating who you are and what you can do. When properly implemented, it is a tool that gives the client an understanding of what you can do and how your service will add value to them.

Seminars, brochures, workshops and branded novelty items are all used by firms to achieve this – commonly referred to as ‘push’ marketing. But while it is valuable in communicating your services to existing and future clients, push marketing falls flat if it is not supported by an internal workflow-management system, to ensure that the firm delivers on its promises.

When marketing your conveyancing department, the yardstick of success is to delight the client and meet all of their expectations. This is easier said than done given that this particular practice is very labour intensive and relies on the full cooperation of several people.

It is imperative to ensure that:

You have qualified and experienced staff, who are familiar with the specialist nature and work volumes found in conveyancing, to perform property transfers and registrations;
Staff have the technical resources they need to be able to deliver the service, for example, conveyancing software and internet access;
A workflow system is implemented and managed to ensure that staff are working effectively and efficiently to produce the service. Building a set of checks and balances into your system enables you to monitor performance and ensure ‘total quality management’;
Conveyancing attorneys must be actively involved in the campaign – not necessarily producing the marketing material, but they must know exactly what is going on. Regular work-in-progress meetings, weekly management reports and feedback reports can help;
A collaborative network is established and maintained with local service providers, such as councils and rates departments;
There is regular communication to the seller, purchaser, estate agent and any other interested parties. Letters, e-mail, text messaging and posting client-progress reports on the firm’s website are good methods;
There is regular training of both conveyancing support staff and attorneys. This does not only mean training in conveyancing skills, but also in areas such as communications, client-relationship management, workflow management and marketing skills.

Be more service orientated and look inwards at how you can improve every aspect of your conveyancing service. Highlight any strengths that can be capitalised upon, as well as weaknesses that need to be resolved.

You should also get staff and management to agree on a strategy and timeframe for the processes detailed above.

Test the success of your endeavours by encouraging feedback, from clients and agents, on your service delivery, friendliness of staff and efficiency of both paralegals and conveyancing attorneys.

You should also meet regularly with network collaborators and work together on service-delivery improvements.

It is only once the conveyancing department has put all of the above into practice, that I would recommend an active, external marketing campaign. Too many national and international firms have launched great push-marketing strategies only to see their efforts fail, because their workflow systems could not or did not support what they were communicating to the outside world. And vice versa. A good marketing strategy should be a combination of effective workflow systems and external marketing, sometimes with the use of less-traditional tools, such as print advertising, radio and television.

The real heart of marketing
Marketing should represent a dedication from all your firm’s team players to educate themselves and then stand up and communicate the strengths of the firm. Service marketing is about making sure that your promises to the outside world can, and will, be delivered. Failure to do that will not only ruin your marketing campaign, but could also be the deciding factor that makes clients and agents look elsewhere. Think about it.

Sean Bosse is marketing director and an attorney at Herold Gie Attorneys. He can be contacted at: sbosse@heroldgie.co.za