Inside out CRM

Internal communication and a well-established platform are at the heart of effective client-relationship-management technology at UK firm Cripps Harries Hall LLP. By Suzanne Cawsey.

Internal communications is something of a Cinderella subject. At its worst, it suggests indoctrinating sceptical employees with ‘the firm ethos’. At best, it conjures images of a thousand newsletters heading for a thousand waste-paper baskets. Surely it is external communications that matter: the skillful public-relations campaign and the methodical client-relationship management (CRM) programme.

Of course, these things are important at any law firm. However, just as coherent action depends on coherent thought, the way a firm talks to itself can have profound effects on the way it communicates to the outside world. This is particularly true as firms grow in size and increasingly market the brand rather than the individual. It becomes even more essential that they present a coherent, consistent image to clients and this is where effective internal communication plays a key role.

At the most basic level, if client-relationship managers are not communicating well with each other and those involved in firm-wide marketing initiatives, the results can be embarrassing. For example, it looks bad if a client is asked to dinner twice in the same week by different partners, neither of whom knows what the other is doing.

Communication is also vital in coordinating cross-selling campaigns. Here, client managers need to be aware of how clients are being handled across the firm before they can take the initiative and suggest the most appropriate opportunities.

In such cases, knowledge management is not simply collecting relevant information and storing it somewhere – in an accounts or CRM system, for example. You also need to ensure that it reaches the right people. In many ways, this is the hardest part. The emphasis is often placed on busy heads of department checking what is being done. All too often this is not made easy and they are swamped by day-to-day demands. In the end, good intentions are never enough and the cross-selling campaign or CRM initiative falls by the wayside.

This article will consider the benefits of building a firm’s external communications on a solid internal platform and discuss how we implemented this at Cripps Harries Hall LLP.

Client-management challenges
For a mid-sized commercial firm, Cripps is in an unusual position due to the size and diversity of our client base. This currently numbers around 10,000, all of whom need to feel valued by the firm. With just 39 partners, however, our client-relationship managers face an enormous task just to keep in touch with the clients in their care, which can number more than 400 each. Time is hard enough to find outside of fee earning; finding time for this amount of clients could easily turn into a second job.

Key-account management, which we introduced at Cripps a couple of years ago, has helped. The senior partner visits the firm’s major clients independently of the client-relationship manager to seek feedback and review our service, which has been well received. However, it is extremely labour intensive and only really appropriate for our larger, corporate clients.

Project brief
In a competitive marketplace, Cripps was keen to devote resources to good client care and effective cross-selling at all levels. We were also intent on putting in place a mechanism for smooth and efficient succession planning. For this, we needed a tool to effectively analyse and coordinate our marketing and communications efforts, as well as draw on information about client preferences and buying patterns for future planning. This needed to be performed quickly and easily, with the capability to measure success more rigorously.

In-house system design
Of course, the most workable solution often turns out to be the low-tech option. But this wasn’t one of those cases. After much thought it was clear that the only way to facilitate effective communications throughout the firm was to develop a client-management process and support it with a bespoke IT system, designed jointly by the Cripps marketing and IT teams.

The resulting system has enabled a more comprehensive, back-office process. This means that more partner time is freed up for what is really important in client relationships: personal contact. Placing the role of relationship manager within a formal process also increases accountability, as partners are made clearly responsible (to the firm) for working with the clients in their charge. This makes it harder for that unhealthy but all-too-common opinion, that certain partners ‘own’ certain clients, to arise.

It is this mixture of factors – the incentive of an easier, more ergonomic system with good back-office support, coupled with the knowledge of greater accountability and the ease with which information can be obtained – which has made the project a success.

System mechanics
The system uses InterAction and Elite technologies, together with specially tailored content, which enables partners to manage their client relationships with a couple of mouse clicks. Web designers call this ‘the two-click rule’, whereby you will lose interest if your readers cannot find what they want within two clicks. We have used this principle to good effect, making the site easy to work with for our staff. Importantly, it is also delivered to fee earners in the familiar environment of our central intranet, ‘Purple Pages’, which is the natural home for all internal communication around the firm and the first thing lawyers see when they start up their computers in the morning. ‘Off the peg’ databases are typically more complex than tailored varieties, so this familiarity with the main system has quickened adoption.

Each partner’s homepage includes a CRM link. When the user follows this, they reach a list of their clients that includes basic information, such as file references and information about recent work.

This is derived straight from Elite, so that the information is always up to date. A further click on the client number takes them to a screen displaying all information that the firm holds on that client (see figure 1). For a company, this might include a link to the website, annual report and accounts, or any business development and client review-related documents. This is enabled through links to InterAction.

The same page displays recent history on client communications such as mailings, events, lunches and reviews. By ticking the appropriate boxes, fee earners can nominate particular clients to receive mailings, be added to invitation lists or suggest tailored events.

Partners can also identify clients for whom active marketing is less appropriate – for example, private clients who dislike direct mailings. By categorising clients into different bands (‘A’ for key clients, down to ‘D’ for one-off clients with little scope for development) the system also helps ensure that marketing resources are efficiently targeted.

The marketing team is intimately involved in this process at all levels. It monitors the information being input, sets up reminders for the fee earners and makes sure that suggested activities are discussed and followed up. Fee earners are also prompted to make suggestions for cross-selling opportunities. Once again, all they need to do is tick the right box and the marketing department will ensure that communications are developed between all relevant parties to a cross-selling initiative.

It can then give fee-earners the support they need to organise meetings, follow up feedback and arrange tailored, written communications, such as specific bulletins and updates. This means that our partners can focus their efforts directly on the personal side of relationships, while ensuring that business development is coordinated effectively across the firm.

Enhanced client management
Overall, the process takes much of the pain out of client-relationship planning for partners, while giving the marketing department the tools to prompt responses and follow up opportunities. In addition, heads of group are given access to all the information, so they can ensure that the fee earners they are supervising are actively managing client relationships and that business-development initiatives are coordinated.

The system also comes into its own when there are succession-planning issues to consider. The fact that there are regularly monitored records covering the client relationship means that nasty surprises can be kept to a minimum. It enables activities to be set up quickly and easily to widen the circle of personnel that works with a particular client.

Finally, partners now have easy access to basic marketing information, which can be used in business-development planning. This includes their top ten, 20 or 100 clients by billing (including the percentage of billing accounted for by each), profitability and postcode, in order of work-type diversity (those clients to which the firm is already providing a wide range of services).

This does not make up for more comprehensive business analysis, but does provide a snapshot of important management information.

It is a little early to say how much of Cripps’ rising turnover and profitability is accounted for by the more effective use of our resources resulting from the new system. But one point is instructive: our partners keep it up to date. I need hardly mention that independent-minded partners are notoriously difficult to involve in marketing activities if they do not see the point. Clearly, they already understand how this is helping them to provide our diverse clients with a better service. And that has to be good for everyone.

Suzanne Cawsey is head of marketing at Cripps Harries Hall LLP. She can be contacted at: suzanne.cawsey@crippslaw.com.

Box one: Setting up an effective client-relationship management process

Set goals
Decide on exactly what the firm wants to achieve through establishing a more streamlined CRM process – for example, developing business or widening contacts. These goals should be expressed as objectives so that success can be measured.

Perform an audit of current practice
A careful audit of current procedures can bring to light examples of good and bad practice around the firm. It is also useful in understanding any obstacles to achieving effective client-relationship management, which can then be addressed at the start of the project.

Decide whether additional advice and support are needed
Cripps was fortunate to have the marketing and IT expertise to handle its project in-house. However, it can pay to get advice from a consultant who can help ensure that the process is carefully tailored to suit the firm’s specific needs.

Be realistic and draw up a project plan
Do your homework and ensure that what you will be asking of the fee earners is possible, given the other demands on their time.
It is important to set realistic timescales for project phases, including adequate time for testing and adjustment – it took us six months to take our project from drawing board to launch. A good plan will also explain the objectives and make it easier to secure buy in.

Get buy-in at a senior level
No large-scale project aimed at the entire partner body is going to work unless it has ‘teeth’ and there is support at board level.

Where possible, work with the firm’s current systems
This ensures that duplication of effort is avoided and that the process works on an interface that is familiar to the end user.

Don’t go live until you are sure
It is easy to be impatient about finishing a major project, but it is extremely important to ensure that everything works as it should before going live. Losing momentum at the start of a new process because of teething troubles is a disaster.

Plan training and a marketing launch
Ensure that the new process makes a splash around the firm and that this includes a thorough explanation of how it will benefit everyone, as well as how it works.

Follow up
Keep up long-term momentum by circulating and publishing results, constant reminders and reporting. Ensure that an introduction to the process also becomes part of the firm’s induction programme.