Anything they can do, law firms can learn to do better (including CRM)

The next time you host a meeting related to implementation of a new cross-selling or CRM plan and sniff out the slightest resistance, you might consider sharing news about Google’s new timeline feature, this recent post about Amazon’s intimate knowledge of your personal life or popular privacy content on JD Supra. Why?

Google is a “free” service and Amazon sells plenty of items for less than $5 yet these companies have dossiers on each of their hundreds of millions of customers and know way more about each individual than many law firms know about the few hundred clients they serve.

Clients expect you to know who they are in relation to your organization – not just when you have a scheduled meeting, but when they call to speak with you by surprise. CRM tools are ubiquitous, relatively inexpensive and highly mobile. Sure, they require time, care and direction from leadership but the payoff far outweighs the associated cost.

If technology companies aren’t muse enough to inspire action, there is always fear. Consider this article from The Economist in March, “Attack of the bean-counters”.

Further reading:

• Discussion on Lawyerist re: Cloud-based CRM
• Anecdotal evidence that CRM helps generate revenue
• Follow Chris Fritsch, who’s written about CRM for years on JD Supra

Cross-selling as a Client Service: Why didn't you call me?

Cross-selling is often positioned as a relatively easy and cost-efficient way to increase revenue:  by reaching deeper into the pockets of existing clients, you extract more money and strengthen relationships without exerting as much as you would to acquire a brand-new client. Apart from the internal political strife cross-selling often causes, this view tends to place the burden of education and purchase squarely on the shoulders of the potential client.

Case in point, related to a matter of personal finance, a broker recently asked my partner and I, "Why didn't you call me about X? I could have helped you with that." My question back, "Why didn't you tell me you could help me with X so that I could have called you?".

From the broker's perspective, he was absolutely correct. It would have been mutually beneficial to call upon his additional services: we'd already filed most of the necessary paperwork with his office and established the relationship. However, the broker's question placed the responsibility of knowing his line of work on our shoulders. Without regular communication from him or his firm, how were we to know that in addition to A, he also offered X, Y and Z? He has the responsibility to educate existing clients about his expertise and that of his firm making future transactions more seamless all around.

Are you positioning cross-selling activities as a client service? Are your client alerts and newsletters regularly communicating your full suite of services to existing (potential) clients?

Some examples of cross-selling content on JD Supra include:

• Content written or translated into languages other than English  to communicate cultural expertise (see recent posts by Littler or Bilzin Sumberg)
• Consistent industry or geographic updates that focus on business rather than practice area - Are you familiar with the Northern Long-eared bat, for example? Firms that do work in the Northeastern United States certainly are.
• Continuing Legal Education like this upcoming CLE webinar from Foley & Lardner

Educating clients about your full range of services can improve your brand and the sales potential for each individual practitioner. This can alleviate internal strife and deliver value to your clients while increasing revenue. It doesn't mean you should attempt to become everything to everybody rather, as you craft content remember that your clients can only know as much as you share. More simply put, clients can only buy what you offer for sale.

Content as a Client Service: it's easier talking to someone you know

 Second only to, "Advertising doesn't work...", "What should I write about?" is a common refrain of attorneys and the death of many a great business development opportunity. One successful technique for turning this question on its' head is to start with who you know and think of content as a service to existing clients rather than an expansion into new relationships. This makes it easier to identify potential topics and less intimidating because you are speaking to a familiar audience.

1. To begin, have your authors identify their best (most lucrative clients) or the areas of practice they are keen to grow. Identify clients based on industry, size, title and any other demographic detail unique to the decision-makers in this target group.

2. Using this list, have them flesh out need to know topics for these clients. This could be new regulations or court decisions that impact their businesses.

3. By subscribing to any combination of news syndication email alerts or following social media feeds, capture news and information related to the topics identified in Step 2.

4. As your attorneys read through the email digests and feeds for these topics, have them capture their reactions and analysis of the news in written format and voila! a client alert is born.

Client alerts take many forms these days (blog posts, articles, LinkedIn Posts,…) but the sentiment is the same: to make certain that you are a valuable source of information and analysis for existing clients. To get your editorial juices flowing, here are examples of news from June that translated into content (and visibility) for JD Supra contributors :

• SCOTUS was busy in June handing down major decisions including the Affordable Care Act Decision and Same-Sex Marriage Decision. Scroll through the preceding topic pages to learn about the impact these decisions will have on employers and families in the U.S.
• Caitlyn Jenner graced the cover of Vanity Fair and trended all over the month of June. Simultaneously, OSHA announced new guidance for employers and transgender rights in the workplace. Contributors responded with both thoughtful analysis and quick updates on what it means to employers and employees alike.
• The Great American Pastime always makes headlines in June. This summer, the Cardinals' made the news for all the wrong reasons: hacking. Check out legal coverage here.

You can subscribe to follow any of these topics from JD Supra here. 

Image Courtesy of "Contre-jour talk" by I, Alvesgaspar. Licensed under CC