<b>Op-Ed:</b> The Land of Wannabe

It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this piece that law firm marketing is still, for the most part, not getting the respect that it has so desperately sought. For the past 17 years, I have watched with great anticipation as to whether law firm management would embrace marketing as a vehicle to enabling law firms to better compete. But alas, all I have been witness to is a revolving door of directors and, more recently, Chief Marketing Officers who come and go at a rate that belies understanding.

I'm certainly not the first to report on this constant rotation of marketing executives, but I think I'll be the first to give an honest assessment of why there is such a turnover in our industry.

Welcome to the Land of Wannabe

In the beginning ' law firm management sought to fill the marketing function by either hiring someone with great credentials from outside the world of law or elevating someone who had done a good job in other areas of the firm and thus was 'awarded' the title of Director. The credentialed hire for the most part had never seen the inside of a law firm and soon discovered that operating in a horizontal management structure where every partner is a boss and has something to say about their own personal objectives didn't allow for a successful marketing effort to move forward. The 'promotion' to marketing of the otherwise loyal employee, who had possibly been at some administrative level within the firm, didn't get the respect of the partners because they basically continued to view the individual as an employee without the background of having worked in professional services marketing. Both of these scenarios were doomed to failure ' and so it was for the first 10 years in professional services marketing.

Over the last 10 years things have improved ' but only slightly. Law firms started thinking that perhaps there was something to this marketing thing. After all, the accounting industry had successfully used marketing to leverage their services and introduce new areas of expertise, such as forays into litigation consulting, which in the final analysis created its own brand of problems. But I digress. Law firms began making an effort to find the right individuals to do marketing planning and implementation. Budgets were approved that captured the essence of a marketing program and permitted Directors and more recently CMOs (a title that for the most part has been highly overused ' there are only a handful of true CMOs in law firms) to begin the process of leveraging the firm's services. This was met with both acceptance and rejection. On one hand, you had partners who said they 'believed' in marketing, and on the other hand you had partners who either gave the marketing program lip service or who never, ever used marketing to build their book of business and thought it was a waste of time ' and yes, money. There was still the disconnect and the revolving door continued.

At this point, let me open a door or two to fully understand what really happened during the adolescence of law firm marketing. Most law firms are set up in a caste system. Lawyers are the professionals and everyone else sits on the other side of the moat seeking recognition. The 'administrative staff' of law firms are people who were either hired for a specific position (such as the controller or, more recently, the CFO), or as I said previously, grew up in the firm and were promoted into positions that did not give them the required gravitas to garner the respect of the lawyers. While some marketing types were hired from other professional service industries such as accounting, their tenure was doomed to fail because they had too much gravitas and tried (or attempted to try) to actually educate the lawyers on how to market. Once again, doomed to failure because, as many of us can testify, there are those partners who are not willing to open their eyes or pockets to allow someone to teach them a thing or two that actually might lead to more productivity and business.

Experience Required

The other factor, and let me say that this is at the heart of the recent wave of failures, is that most directors and CMOs do not have wisdom of age or the gravitas to command the respect of law firm leadership whose average age is the mid-to-late-50s. Law firms need to stop hiring kinder to fulfill a position that is rooted in how a firm will be perceived by the public and how it will prosper. I cannot tell you how many lawyers I have spoken with who say that their marketing people want to act important, hire enormous staffs, ask for lots of money and haven't a clue as to how to execute a meaningful marketing program. (By the way, empire building is a sure road to failure. Many kinder think that this is the key to being taken seriously. For certain it is the key to the door out of the building!)

I have no desire to denigrate that small number of younger directors and CMOs who have actually succeeded in putting together successful marketing programs. Truth be told ' they are in the minority. What I see among the most successful CMOs (and by the way in these cases the title fits the individual), is that they: 1) have the ear of management (including having a seat at the management table); 2) have come from a corporate environment where marketing is recognized as part of the executive suite; 3) are judicious about building a staff; 4) understand budgeting and accounting measurements; and last but not least, 5) have been given the green light to be a change and/or growth agent.

Select the Right Marketer

One of the key elements to attracting and retaining a high caliber Director or CMO is to not leave the search to an internal human resources department. The search for this individual should begin at the top with management deciding the hiring process and ultimately selecting the Director or CMO. If the function for hiring is outsourced to a recruiter or executive search firm, that company or firm needs to be one that has experience with professional services and does not have a roster of resumes that are either non-practicing lawyers (there are exceptions, but these are rare), mid-level to senior law firm marketing managers, or directors that have moved from one firm to another just because they have been employed at large recognizable law firms.

In the selection process, there are several factors that are paramount in making the right decision as to who should lead the firm's marketing efforts. Among them: Personality (being able to move people's thinking); capability (going beyond the actual previous employment record and garnering information on measuring the successes of the individual from the prior positions); and most importantly, being able to balance the marketing program to ensure that the firm, its practice groups and the individuals that make up the firm are given 'equal time' in the implementation of the marketing program.

I'm hopeful that with time we will see a shift in the thinking among law firms on how marketing can move the agenda forward. Someday I want to be able to say that the 'Land of Wannabe' is no more.

It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this piece that law firm marketing is still, for the most part, not getting the respect that it has so desperately sought. For the past 17 years, I have watched with great anticipation as to whether law firm management would embrace marketing as a vehicle to enabling law firms to better compete. But alas, all I have been witness to is a revolving door of directors and, more recently, Chief Marketing Officers who come and go at a rate that belies understanding.

I'm certainly not the first to report on this constant rotation of marketing executives, but I think I'll be the first to give an honest assessment of why there is such a turnover in our industry.

Welcome to the Land of Wannabe

In the beginning ' law firm management sought to fill the marketing function by either hiring someone with great credentials from outside the world of law or elevating someone who had done a good job in other areas of the firm and thus was 'awarded' the title of Director. The credentialed hire for the most part had never seen the inside of a law firm and soon discovered that operating in a horizontal management structure where every partner is a boss and has something to say about their own personal objectives didn't allow for a successful marketing effort to move forward. The 'promotion' to marketing of the otherwise loyal employee, who had possibly been at some administrative level within the firm, didn't get the respect of the partners because they basically continued to view the individual as an employee without the background of having worked in professional services marketing. Both of these scenarios were doomed to failure ' and so it was for the first 10 years in professional services marketing.

Over the last 10 years things have improved ' but only slightly. Law firms started thinking that perhaps there was something to this marketing thing. After all, the accounting industry had successfully used marketing to leverage their services and introduce new areas of expertise, such as forays into litigation consulting, which in the final analysis created its own brand of problems. But I digress. Law firms began making an effort to find the right individuals to do marketing planning and implementation. Budgets were approved that captured the essence of a marketing program and permitted Directors and more recently CMOs (a title that for the most part has been highly overused ' there are only a handful of true CMOs in law firms) to begin the process of leveraging the firm's services. This was met with both acceptance and rejection. On one hand, you had partners who said they 'believed' in marketing, and on the other hand you had partners who either gave the marketing program lip service or who never, ever used marketing to build their book of business and thought it was a waste of time ' and yes, money. There was still the disconnect and the revolving door continued.

At this point, let me open a door or two to fully understand what really happened during the adolescence of law firm marketing. Most law firms are set up in a caste system. Lawyers are the professionals and everyone else sits on the other side of the moat seeking recognition. The 'administrative staff' of law firms are people who were either hired for a specific position (such as the controller or, more recently, the CFO), or as I said previously, grew up in the firm and were promoted into positions that did not give them the required gravitas to garner the respect of the lawyers. While some marketing types were hired from other professional service industries such as accounting, their tenure was doomed to fail because they had too much gravitas and tried (or attempted to try) to actually educate the lawyers on how to market. Once again, doomed to failure because, as many of us can testify, there are those partners who are not willing to open their eyes or pockets to allow someone to teach them a thing or two that actually might lead to more productivity and business.

Experience Required

The other factor, and let me say that this is at the heart of the recent wave of failures, is that most directors and CMOs do not have wisdom of age or the gravitas to command the respect of law firm leadership whose average age is the mid-to-late-50s. Law firms need to stop hiring kinder to fulfill a position that is rooted in how a firm will be perceived by the public and how it will prosper. I cannot tell you how many lawyers I have spoken with who say that their marketing people want to act important, hire enormous staffs, ask for lots of money and haven't a clue as to how to execute a meaningful marketing program. (By the way, empire building is a sure road to failure. Many kinder think that this is the key to being taken seriously. For certain it is the key to the door out of the building!)

I have no desire to denigrate that small number of younger directors and CMOs who have actually succeeded in putting together successful marketing programs. Truth be told ' they are in the minority. What I see among the most successful CMOs (and by the way in these cases the title fits the individual), is that they: 1) have the ear of management (including having a seat at the management table); 2) have come from a corporate environment where marketing is recognized as part of the executive suite; 3) are judicious about building a staff; 4) understand budgeting and accounting measurements; and last but not least, 5) have been given the green light to be a change and/or growth agent.

Select the Right Marketer

One of the key elements to attracting and retaining a high caliber Director or CMO is to not leave the search to an internal human resources department. The search for this individual should begin at the top with management deciding the hiring process and ultimately selecting the Director or CMO. If the function for hiring is outsourced to a recruiter or executive search firm, that company or firm needs to be one that has experience with professional services and does not have a roster of resumes that are either non-practicing lawyers (there are exceptions, but these are rare), mid-level to senior law firm marketing managers, or directors that have moved from one firm to another just because they have been employed at large recognizable law firms.

In the selection process, there are several factors that are paramount in making the right decision as to who should lead the firm's marketing efforts. Among them: Personality (being able to move people's thinking); capability (going beyond the actual previous employment record and garnering information on measuring the successes of the individual from the prior positions); and most importantly, being able to balance the marketing program to ensure that the firm, its practice groups and the individuals that make up the firm are given 'equal time' in the implementation of the marketing program.

I'm hopeful that with time we will see a shift in the thinking among law firms on how marketing can move the agenda forward. Someday I want to be able to say that the 'Land of Wannabe' is no more.