Facilitating Follow-Up

Marketing and business development have become ingrained in today's law firms and, indeed, now are integral parts of virtually every law firm's operations. Firms of all sizes and geographic locations have hired Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Business Development Officers and a variety of other staff, and have adopted so many different marketing initiatives that by now many of these can be considered standard.

Law firms engage in client interviews leading to proactive client service teams; strive to increase website search-engine optimization; engage in in-depth knowledge management practices, and produce effective competitive analysis. It seems that the old standards of advertising, interactive and client-specific websites, press releases, CRM applications and alumni programs are routine. And lo and behold, a recent news report claimed that newsletters, alerts, memoranda, white papers and bylined articles sent to clients are not being read.

Integrating BD

Fortunately, whether to have a marketing budget is no longer an issue for 21st-century law firms and their management committees; the questions now focus on how much gets budgeted for Business Development functions and how does a firm integrate BD into its overall marketing function. However, an equally important dynamic of today's law firm marketing is that the marketing and BD professionals must actively manage the imposition on the attorneys' limited available time to market: maximizing business development output and results, while minimizing the attorneys' time invested in business development.

There is no doubt that the first 25 years or so of law firm marketing have seen lawyers and firms, and their marketing professionals, make great strides. Yet, after all of these years, after all of the demonstrated successes and experiences law firm marketing professionals still face the same key obstacle: how to get lawyers to consistently follow through on their individual or practice group marketing and client development efforts.

A primary reason for the inaction is not necessarily that lawyers do not value the marketing department's services, or that they disagree with its strategic recommendations or tactical efforts. The problem is much more pedestrian: lawyers are busy practicing law. Marketing/BD is not a lawyer's number-one priority, and rightfully so; servicing his or her clients is at the top of that list. And that is for the benefit of the lawyer as an individual and for the firm as a whole.

The Marketing Staff

When the firm's marketing staff thinks about this clearly, they will agree that lawyers doing well what lawyers do ' representing clients ' is in their best interests. That's because although the firm's clients are the primary focus of the firm, the marketing staff's clients are the firm's lawyers. The better the firm's lawyers do ' the more work they have, the higher their billings, the happier they are, the more impressive the quality of their client base ' the better off the marketing/BD staff is. (The same, of course, can be said for support staff and other firm employees, and even for the firm's lawyers ' all benefit when the firm does well.)

Usually, only the busiest of a firm's lawyers, or the most conservative and traditional of them, will pay little attention to marketing department requests or deadlines and will rarely, if ever, seek the department's assistance or ask to rely on its services. Other lawyers will cooperate, at least on some level. It is the marketing department's obligation to facilitate follow-up for these lawyers.

Filling the Lawyer's Plate

One tactic to try, although counter-intuitive on its face: Put less on a lawyer's plate rather than more. A comprehensive, extensive series of requirements can be daunting for a busy lawyer, leading the lawyer to delay taking even the most basic actions. Thus, a lawyer's marketing/BD obligations should not be his or her longest “to-do” list. When the number of business development steps that a lawyer has to take is limited, it is and appears to be more manageable than a lengthier list. In this situation, a lawyer would be more likely to at least begin to make an effort to get through the assigned, or agreed-upon, tasks. Given that, the issue for the marketing department is how to cut down on the lawyers' to do lists.

Obviously, a first step to take is to sit down with each lawyer individually, on a face-to- face basis. Together determine the lawyer's key objectives, referral sources, existing clients and the type of prospective clients that match the lawyer's skill set. Once the targets are decided upon, the lawyer and the firm's marketing professionals can focus on the kinds of tools available to the lawyer to reach that audience. These tools should be put down on one page in no more than four to six activities, and should only include assignments with which the particular lawyer is comfortable. In fact, the question the lawyer and marketing staff should analyze is what the targets want to know or do, and then the lawyer should consider pursuing those interests. They are, after all, the initiatives that have the highest chance of succeeding, because they focus on the clients' needs, likes and dislikes.

Developing a List

Ultimately, the goal of the meeting should be to develop a short, focused, bulleted list with a number of characteristics. It should be responsibility driven, setting forth the steps that both the lawyer and the marketing staff will take. The actions on the list also should be “measurable,” so that it is certain when they are completed or when more needs to be done. Each of the steps should be implemented quarterly and subject to being changed in the proper circumstances. Finally, the whole process should be fluid, ready to be altered when the parties deem it appropriate or necessary ' or valuable ' to do so.

Conclusion

A law firm's growth and success is never due only to business development and marketing. Said another way, the marketing/BD piece of the pie is not the only aspect of a law firm's services that will make it successful. The product ' the legal services ' has to be remarkable to have clients return a second and third time.

Assuming that that is the case, law firm marketers should realize that they cannot ask their lawyers to do too much. By setting clear guidelines and limiting lawyers' obligations, a law firm's marketing staff will make it more likely that their lawyers will be successful new business generators. It's on us, as professional law firm marketers, to get the information we need to effectively market the firm while minimizing attorney overload.

Bob Gero, principal of The Gero Group in Plymouth Meeting, PA, and formerly CMO of Milbank Tweed and other global, national and regional law firms, is a strategic business development, marketing communications and public relations consultant to professional service firms. He may be reached at 610.818.4619 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Marketing and business development have become ingrained in today's law firms and, indeed, now are integral parts of virtually every law firm's operations. Firms of all sizes and geographic locations have hired Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Business Development Officers and a variety of other staff, and have adopted so many different marketing initiatives that by now many of these can be considered standard.

Law firms engage in client interviews leading to proactive client service teams; strive to increase website search-engine optimization; engage in in-depth knowledge management practices, and produce effective competitive analysis. It seems that the old standards of advertising, interactive and client-specific websites, press releases, CRM applications and alumni programs are routine. And lo and behold, a recent news report claimed that newsletters, alerts, memoranda, white papers and bylined articles sent to clients are not being read.

Integrating BD

Fortunately, whether to have a marketing budget is no longer an issue for 21st-century law firms and their management committees; the questions now focus on how much gets budgeted for Business Development functions and how does a firm integrate BD into its overall marketing function. However, an equally important dynamic of today's law firm marketing is that the marketing and BD professionals must actively manage the imposition on the attorneys' limited available time to market: maximizing business development output and results, while minimizing the attorneys' time invested in business development.

There is no doubt that the first 25 years or so of law firm marketing have seen lawyers and firms, and their marketing professionals, make great strides. Yet, after all of these years, after all of the demonstrated successes and experiences law firm marketing professionals still face the same key obstacle: how to get lawyers to consistently follow through on their individual or practice group marketing and client development efforts.

A primary reason for the inaction is not necessarily that lawyers do not value the marketing department's services, or that they disagree with its strategic recommendations or tactical efforts. The problem is much more pedestrian: lawyers are busy practicing law. Marketing/BD is not a lawyer's number-one priority, and rightfully so; servicing his or her clients is at the top of that list. And that is for the benefit of the lawyer as an individual and for the firm as a whole.

The Marketing Staff

When the firm's marketing staff thinks about this clearly, they will agree that lawyers doing well what lawyers do ' representing clients ' is in their best interests. That's because although the firm's clients are the primary focus of the firm, the marketing staff's clients are the firm's lawyers. The better the firm's lawyers do ' the more work they have, the higher their billings, the happier they are, the more impressive the quality of their client base ' the better off the marketing/BD staff is. (The same, of course, can be said for support staff and other firm employees, and even for the firm's lawyers ' all benefit when the firm does well.)

Usually, only the busiest of a firm's lawyers, or the most conservative and traditional of them, will pay little attention to marketing department requests or deadlines and will rarely, if ever, seek the department's assistance or ask to rely on its services. Other lawyers will cooperate, at least on some level. It is the marketing department's obligation to facilitate follow-up for these lawyers.

Filling the Lawyer's Plate

One tactic to try, although counter-intuitive on its face: Put less on a lawyer's plate rather than more. A comprehensive, extensive series of requirements can be daunting for a busy lawyer, leading the lawyer to delay taking even the most basic actions. Thus, a lawyer's marketing/BD obligations should not be his or her longest “to-do” list. When the number of business development steps that a lawyer has to take is limited, it is and appears to be more manageable than a lengthier list. In this situation, a lawyer would be more likely to at least begin to make an effort to get through the assigned, or agreed-upon, tasks. Given that, the issue for the marketing department is how to cut down on the lawyers' to do lists.

Obviously, a first step to take is to sit down with each lawyer individually, on a face-to- face basis. Together determine the lawyer's key objectives, referral sources, existing clients and the type of prospective clients that match the lawyer's skill set. Once the targets are decided upon, the lawyer and the firm's marketing professionals can focus on the kinds of tools available to the lawyer to reach that audience. These tools should be put down on one page in no more than four to six activities, and should only include assignments with which the particular lawyer is comfortable. In fact, the question the lawyer and marketing staff should analyze is what the targets want to know or do, and then the lawyer should consider pursuing those interests. They are, after all, the initiatives that have the highest chance of succeeding, because they focus on the clients' needs, likes and dislikes.

Developing a List

Ultimately, the goal of the meeting should be to develop a short, focused, bulleted list with a number of characteristics. It should be responsibility driven, setting forth the steps that both the lawyer and the marketing staff will take. The actions on the list also should be “measurable,” so that it is certain when they are completed or when more needs to be done. Each of the steps should be implemented quarterly and subject to being changed in the proper circumstances. Finally, the whole process should be fluid, ready to be altered when the parties deem it appropriate or necessary ' or valuable ' to do so.

Conclusion

A law firm's growth and success is never due only to business development and marketing. Said another way, the marketing/BD piece of the pie is not the only aspect of a law firm's services that will make it successful. The product ' the legal services ' has to be remarkable to have clients return a second and third time.

Assuming that that is the case, law firm marketers should realize that they cannot ask their lawyers to do too much. By setting clear guidelines and limiting lawyers' obligations, a law firm's marketing staff will make it more likely that their lawyers will be successful new business generators. It's on us, as professional law firm marketers, to get the information we need to effectively market the firm while minimizing attorney overload.

Bob Gero, principal of The Gero Group in Plymouth Meeting, PA, and formerly CMO of Milbank Tweed and other global, national and regional law firms, is a strategic business development, marketing communications and public relations consultant to professional service firms. He may be reached at 610.818.4619 or via e-mail at [email protected].