Here’s where you’ll find our latest thinking…
Blog
Branding – an accountant’s view
Guest blogger, Harry Hilliard, a specialist in legal accounting at Monahans Chartered Accountants, has helped many legal practices to prepare themselves for the changes that have followed the implementation of so called “Tesco Law”.
Co-op Legal and the Brand
There are several major UK brands who have stated that they are interested in offering legal services including The AA, Saga, Which?, Halifax and The Co-operative Group, although Tesco themselves have stated that they have no immediate plans to move into this area. Organisations like these will really shake the industry up and traditional legal firms had better be ready.
Jonathan Gulliford is the Sales & Marketing Director of the Co-operative Legal Services company and at a fairly recent conference called firms in the legal profession “dinosaurs”. He feels that they have not yet come to terms with the new competition they will be facing and will become extinct unless they react positively to the challenge which is coming.
His exact words were “It’s all about the brand.” The Co-op are convinced that the vast majority of people will choose their legal services provider based on a brand which they trust and the Co-op is trusted by millions of people.
They are already the largest funeral directors in the UK and account for a large percentage of the insurance market. So if they add Wills at one end and Probate at the other, with a price structure that pulls all of these services together into a one stop shop and an immensely strong brand, the vast majority of their clients, who use them already for insurance and funeral services, will quite likely make the leap to buying the whole package.
They are therefore ideally positioned to challenge virtually every Probate department in the land. They view their main competition, not as traditional legal firms, but other major brands such as Saga and The AA. Their customers already trust them for their holidays, insurance and car recovery and Wills and Probate, again, would be simple add on services.
New brands coming into the market such as Quality Solicitors will also have an impact, irrespective of the ‘quality of service’, due to extensive advertising, a high street presence and low prices.
How to compete
So how will traditional legal firms compete and thrive. My view is that firms need to be smarter and more service orientated than they have been in the past and adopt practices which were not in the minds of many solicitors when they first joined the profession. This means that marketing and networking skills will become as important as technical knowledge and firms will have to provide the very best service possible.
And make no mistake about it, there are firms who are already doing this by for example going to see their clients at home in the evening when it suits them and are there with flowers and a box of chocolates to celebrate when they move into their new house. This is all about placing clients at the heart of your business, because that is the most effective way of keeping and attracting new clients into your practice.
This will probably entail a change of culture, which may well be very difficult but will have to happen in order to survive. Many firms are considering moving to an LLP structure and this can help to kick start a change of culture, but there are pros and cons to this and it is not the complete answer in itself. Of course the impact of these changes is not going to happen over night, but it will come and it could come so gradually and stealthily that in a few years time you will look back and wonder what on earth has happened to your industry.
Therefore now is the time to focus on where you will be in five years time, how you are going to meet the challenges represented by these brands and how are you going to differentiate yourself from other firms of solicitors who are all competing for the same clients.
Contact Harry on 01225 785520 or email harry.hilliard@monahans.co.uk for help in preparing your business for the future.
What are your clients saying about you behind your back?
Every year realityhouse runs a client survey and, to be honest, I hate waiting for the results. Are we getting our messages across? Have I made the most of our marketing budget? What do our clients really think? And now – what’s being said about the realityhouse team on social media and review sites?
The waiting may be painful but by feeding the results into our annual brand audit, we’re able to assess whether the values and expertise that we’re aiming to promote are being received by our clients – which is what branding should all be about.
Measure, measure and measure again
Also feeding into the audit are the results of our various marketing campaigns. The great advantage of living in a digital world is that you can measure and track marketing performance in so much more detail. From assessing the success of each search, email or direct marketing campaign to gaining feedback on customer service and reading comments online, you have information at your fingertips that will drive the evolution of your brand and focus your marketing planning.
Increasingly, we’re helping firms to use online marketing Dashboards to track campaign performance in real-time. What the brand audit adds is the ability to step back, review day-to-day results in the context of feedback from clients and to ensure that you are achieving your brand vision.
Every Comment is an Opportunity
The other area that is now feeding into our brand audit is public statements about realityhouse. In the real word, not every comment made about your business will be 100% positive. The ever increasing obsession with social media and review websites means it is vital to listen, to respond, to apologise when necessary and to treat every comment as an opportunity to win back an existing client as well as showing prospects that you take criticism seriously.
You can’t please everyone. The website “solicitors from hell” (apparently soon to reappear in a new guise) is a classic example of where no amount of reasonable comment can help. But, in our experience, most clients are reasonable and will respond positively if you respond to their expressions – no matter how extreme they may initially appear to be.
Making a Brand Audit Count
The real joy of a brand audit is that to enables you to see your successes as well as revealing where you need to try harder. In addition it raises questions that feed not only into your marketing plan but back into the core business plan itself – and that is surely where marketing should add value.
Co-operative Legal Customer Service – Just how good is it? – Part 2
You may remember that back in November, I decided to test the Co-operative Legal Services by asking them to redo my will – the results were a classic example of how not to treat customers.
But what happened next?
The short answer is a massive improvement. After the initial problems making contact, my case was managed by a named individual who scheduled a call to take details from myself and my partner on our wills.This time we received the scheduled call at exactly the right time; the brief for my other half’s very simple will was taken in less than five minutes; my will was more complex and we were on the phone for almost an hour but the questions were relevant and showed a real understanding of what I was aiming to achieve.
As promised, the draft wills arrived within 5 days. We both checked them – and I had some additional questions. This time I was put directly through to my named contact who discussed some small points. I emailed the changes and we received final wills for signature again within 5 days.
The witnessing procedure was well explained and the wills have now been returned for storage – two wills created for less than £140.
So after a dreadful start – the co-operative legal services have delivered very well. But they are not infallible and for those law firms working to compete in this market the main lesson would seem to be to focus on front end customer service (who is answering your phones out of hours etc) as well as the legal process.
How easy are you making it for prospects to buy from you?
In this guest blog, Jon Baker – a social media expert – looks at some of the ways we make it harder for our potential clients to buy from us.
Once being called easy would been an insult; nowadays it costs you money not to be easy!What have your bad experiences as a customer, being a member of a gym, the “dumbing down” of society and my recent building works got to do with helping you sell more of your products/ services?
They have certainly made me think about how I can make it easier for my prospects, and more importantly my customers to interact with me.
Have you ever bought something, and not been happy with the product, service or both? In fact, you were really annoyed with them and on reflection said “I am going to write/ email/ phone and complain”? Did you complain on every occasion?
I had a holiday last year where the accommodation was appalling and the attitude of the owner even worse; I never got round to posting the photos onto a website and complaining though (even though that is what I said to my friends I would do). Even with strong emotions and the best intent, life gets in the way.
Imagine three piles of things you are going to do the “B pile” is full of things you really want to do, but are not quite as important as the “A pile”. My complaint sat in the “B pile”. There is a “C pile” for things that are a nice idea but even I accept I won’t get round to. If your proposal is sitting in somebody’s B pile (let alone the C pile) you won’t get the sale.
Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter (good job you’re not thinking of stopping reading this though). We live in an age where interaction can by simply by clicking on “Like”, not even having to write a comment (do click on “like”). We may hark back to when people still thought things through properly and took time over things, but we are all too busy. The easier you make it to get interaction, the more likely you are to get it. Interaction is good; it helps you to progress sales or judge how well you are doing. Inertia kills sales.
Have you ever belonged to a gym, or dance class? I love going to ceroc (a dance class), but got out of the habit. It is so hard to get back to going each week, despite wanting to. It has moved into my “B pile”, if you have ever stopped going to the gym, despite your best intentions, you have experienced this too.
So imagine what it is like for somebody that you are asking to change the way they do things (i.e. buy something from you), you want to hold their attention for long enough to get them to commit to something. Consider what you are asking them to do – from their perspective not yours! Unless you get their attention, in their language, their intention of buying from you get stopped by inertia and sits in the “B pile”.
Honesty time (and apologies to the three suppliers concerned)
Over the last few weeks I have been involved with three purchases; all of which are for things that I genuinely want to buy (in fact am desperate to have the results of). I am embarrassed when I speak to or see the providers of these services, as I do want to spend my money – but I haven’t. Now it heads towards Christmas and money may be (temporarily) diverted elsewhere (inertia and life get in the way); meaning these suppliers/ friends don’t get their sales for another couple of months.
Let me explore “easy” a little more:
The proposal
One job is for some building works to my house; all I want is a hole knocked in a wall and a door fitted. I have had somebody that I trust and want to give the work quote for it. The quote came back in a format that made me think a bit harder about it than I want to (note, think about not spend more). I will need to arrange a surveyor, tell him that he missed a bit of the work off and that he didn’t quote for the larger piece of work I mentioned. Result: it’s sitting in my “B pile”, not my “A pile”. What would have made the difference? A document worded the way I expected would help, but then something as simple as “you need a surveyor to look at this; we will arrange it and have included this in the price”. I see “simply knock hole in wall”, he sees “potential problem with joists”; that is all that has prevented me buying something I am desperate to buy.
The job I’ve already paid for
Another is from a business supplier, who I am already paying. But the document didn’t immediately make it clear to me what I need to do next; I can work it out if I sit down and read through it carefully. I really want to progress this issue, but the result? I haven’t done anything with it yet – it’s in my “B pile”, not my “A pile”. A very simple and clear line in the document, stating what I need to do and I would have just said “Yes”.
The “this will make me feel really good purchase”
The third involves me spending about £10,000 and I really want to proceed. It’s on the “B pile”, not the “A pile”. There is one or two simple things that could help me move it. Again some simple wording in the documents, or the way the follow up calls have been phrased.
This has made me look at my services, how can I make it easier for existing customers? How can I make it easier for prospects to say “yes”?
What advances in technology, simple language changes, or other little offers could make a difference? Think about your offer, from their life.
Easier to complain – Good, you get feedback.
Easier to understand – Cool, they think for less time.
Easier to act on – You are more likely to sell.
Easier to pay – Fantastic, you get your money.
Easier to buy – Brilliant, you get the work
What little differences would make it easier for you to buy things from other people? How can you learn from those and adapt your offer?
Categories
- B2B (1)
- Branding (2)
- Legal (21)
- Marketing & Sales (4)
- Marketing Strategy (4)
- Mobile Web (3)
- News (21)
- Professional Services (7)
- Recruitment (6)
- Social Media (7)
- Web Design (3)