Client Intelligence: IT, Marketing and Library Services Unite

This multi-sourced gathering of intelligence is the current method employed by law firms when they go on an existing client or new business hunting expedition. It is time consuming and often does not produce the kind of results that enable a law firm to intelligently pitch for expansion of existing business or successfully develop new business.

Let's take a look then at how law firms can utilize a client intelligence software product with one-stop shopping for the gathering and delivery of this information. The first part of the process would involve the creation of an amalgamated department whose sole mission is providing, preparing and formatting this multi-sourced information in a manner that can be readily processed and delivered. This information can then be disseminated to the team pitching for either the expanded business or new business in formats that can include raw data or an actual question/answer response to an RFP presented in a clear, concise and informative manner. Back in the days before IT became as sophisticated as it is today, when a firm wanted to get on the inside of an existing client's thinking or go after a new prospect, the only way to gather this type of intelligence was to hire an outside consultant. On a personal note I have had the experience of hiring a consulting firm to assist me with the expansion of an existing practice group. Armed with this type of intelligence, the lawyers in the group were able to have a comfort level with the formation of an expanded practice group in which there was real legal expertise and specialized knowledge of the relevant industry that could be successfully marketed.

So what is the function of this amalgamated department that houses this type of software and consulting services? Among other things, the department can:

• Deliver real time research and information specifically related to each lawyer's clients directly to the lawyer's desktop
• Eliminate the time it takes a lawyer to do research
• Significantly increase the number of researchable databases available
• Reduce the cost of research
• Process and deliver information in a formal (response to RFP) or informal (raw data) manner that can make attorneys smarter to better serve existing clients and new business prospects

Which brings us to the relevance of this next generation of law firm business development. It is after all no longer about brochures and seminars. It is about value-added marketing to both law firms and their clients. And it is certainly not just having a CRM software tool. With big ticket items like technology and marketing on the minds of owners, COOs and CFOs, an interdisciplinary, multi-faceted department that can collect, manage and deliver information in a controlled and cost-effective environment would be the coming of age. A department that actually delivers usable information that can be translated into responses to RFPs, the creation of new practice groups and best of all provide sales team talking points for existing clients and new business prospects can be powerful. The best thing an attorney can hear from an existing client or a new business prospect is: “You've done your homework on us.” This client intelligence can also be useful in establishing a conduit between attorney and client as they do business together. The sharing of intelligence can provide shortcuts to all types of engagements, including staffing of matters and budgetary concerns. This is more than people using research software; it is a type of in-house consulting department that until now could only be achieved by hiring an outside consultant who had access to multi-source information similar to the firm I mentioned I hired for a specific business development project. This type of in-house consulting intelligence department is that the next generation to providing sophisticated solutions to expanding and managing existing clients and creating new business opportunities.

The software solution that I am describing is being beta tested at several law firms here in the United States. Stage one of this beta testing is the actual roll out of the software to selected desktop users with appropriate training technicians. Stage two will be the interdisciplinary department education process. This will involve the creation of the Client Intelligence Department (the amalgam of IT, Marketing and Library Services) that houses the software and the consulting services. Stage three will be the creation of the in-house consulting side of the department whose function will be to work directly with the lawyers to take the software solutions and place them in real situations like the creation of practice groups and sales teams, responding to RFPs and the implementation of client-focused CLE programs. This three-stage process will enable law firms to become smarter at understanding their clients and how they can service them more efficiently. On the new business development front, the process will provide law firms with something far better than an “intuitive” knowledge of the prospective client. Law firms will no longer be on a “flavor of the month” course for the development of practice areas. They will be in a position to add and delete practice areas that will impact their bottom line. They will be able to make informed decisions regarding business expansion. And finally, law firms who do establish this type of multi-faceted Client Intelligence Department will be in a position to lead the charge on how information is provided to a professional services industry that traditionally has not been known for its innovative approach to information delivery.

As a futurist to what law firms need to be thinking about, I am always excited about “out of the box” methodologies that can impact the marriage of technology, research and marketing. Over the last few years, as IT and marketing departments have played a more prominent role in law firms, IT departments have rolled out software programs to assist marketing with the capturing of basic client relationship information for mailings, law alerts, programs and the like while at the same time working in tandem with the library to upgrade their legal research tools. Happily, with the advent of solution-based client intelligence/relationship management products, a new method of delivering all of this information can now be aggregated in one interface. These products and services are specifically designed to provide better and clear intelligence on how to add value to existing client and new business relationships.

Picture if you will a software system that provides information solutions to law firms based on how they need and use information rather than the one-size-fits-all approach currently employed by most information providers ' a system that provides lawyers with client oriented information specifically tailored to the way individual lawyers work, and takes the “flood” of available Web-based information and leverages this multi-sourced data. Information needs to be pulled together from various resources within a firm. Most requests for existing client or new business information begins with the marketing department, whose assignment goes something like this: “We want to know more about our client X. We want to have an edge on getting to pitch for new business from client X. Client X will not think of us for this business unless we demonstrate that we have specialized knowledge about its business in this area so gather all the information you can including who our competition will be.”

The marketing department begins the process of gathering the information using sources from the Internet. In addition, the CRM database is in play to see who knows who at client X and who will have the stronger connection to the client (it's not always the relationship partner). Enter the library, whose role it is to provide more in depth research on Client X.

This multi-sourced gathering of intelligence is the current method employed by law firms when they go on an existing client or new business hunting expedition. It is time consuming and often does not produce the kind of results that enable a law firm to intelligently pitch for expansion of existing business or successfully develop new business.

Let's take a look then at how law firms can utilize a client intelligence software product with one-stop shopping for the gathering and delivery of this information. The first part of the process would involve the creation of an amalgamated department whose sole mission is providing, preparing and formatting this multi-sourced information in a manner that can be readily processed and delivered. This information can then be disseminated to the team pitching for either the expanded business or new business in formats that can include raw data or an actual question/answer response to an RFP presented in a clear, concise and informative manner. Back in the days before IT became as sophisticated as it is today, when a firm wanted to get on the inside of an existing client's thinking or go after a new prospect, the only way to gather this type of intelligence was to hire an outside consultant. On a personal note I have had the experience of hiring a consulting firm to assist me with the expansion of an existing practice group. Armed with this type of intelligence, the lawyers in the group were able to have a comfort level with the formation of an expanded practice group in which there was real legal expertise and specialized knowledge of the relevant industry that could be successfully marketed.

So what is the function of this amalgamated department that houses this type of software and consulting services? Among other things, the department can:

• Deliver real time research and information specifically related to each lawyer's clients directly to the lawyer's desktop
• Eliminate the time it takes a lawyer to do research
• Significantly increase the number of researchable databases available
• Reduce the cost of research
• Process and deliver information in a formal (response to RFP) or informal (raw data) manner that can make attorneys smarter to better serve existing clients and new business prospects

Which brings us to the relevance of this next generation of law firm business development. It is after all no longer about brochures and seminars. It is about value-added marketing to both law firms and their clients. And it is certainly not just having a CRM software tool. With big ticket items like technology and marketing on the minds of owners, COOs and CFOs, an interdisciplinary, multi-faceted department that can collect, manage and deliver information in a controlled and cost-effective environment would be the coming of age. A department that actually delivers usable information that can be translated into responses to RFPs, the creation of new practice groups and best of all provide sales team talking points for existing clients and new business prospects can be powerful. The best thing an attorney can hear from an existing client or a new business prospect is: “You've done your homework on us.” This client intelligence can also be useful in establishing a conduit between attorney and client as they do business together. The sharing of intelligence can provide shortcuts to all types of engagements, including staffing of matters and budgetary concerns. This is more than people using research software; it is a type of in-house consulting department that until now could only be achieved by hiring an outside consultant who had access to multi-source information similar to the firm I mentioned I hired for a specific business development project. This type of in-house consulting intelligence department is that the next generation to providing sophisticated solutions to expanding and managing existing clients and creating new business opportunities.

The software solution that I am describing is being beta tested at several law firms here in the United States. Stage one of this beta testing is the actual roll out of the software to selected desktop users with appropriate training technicians. Stage two will be the interdisciplinary department education process. This will involve the creation of the Client Intelligence Department (the amalgam of IT, Marketing and Library Services) that houses the software and the consulting services. Stage three will be the creation of the in-house consulting side of the department whose function will be to work directly with the lawyers to take the software solutions and place them in real situations like the creation of practice groups and sales teams, responding to RFPs and the implementation of client-focused CLE programs. This three-stage process will enable law firms to become smarter at understanding their clients and how they can service them more efficiently. On the new business development front, the process will provide law firms with something far better than an “intuitive” knowledge of the prospective client. Law firms will no longer be on a “flavor of the month” course for the development of practice areas. They will be in a position to add and delete practice areas that will impact their bottom line. They will be able to make informed decisions regarding business expansion. And finally, law firms who do establish this type of multi-faceted Client Intelligence Department will be in a position to lead the charge on how information is provided to a professional services industry that traditionally has not been known for its innovative approach to information delivery.