Law Firm Competitive Strategy – Daring to Be Different

Question:

I am the managing partner of a 16 attorney business transactional firm in Chicago. Over the last five years we have lost several core clients due to client consolidation of their outside law firms and mergers of the clients themselves. Competition is getting fierce in our market, our services are being viewed as commodities, and it is getting harder to stand out. What can we do to differentiate ourselves from everyone else? We welcome your thoughts.

Response:

Creating a competitive advantage that is sustainable over time is difficult at best. It is so easy for your competitors to copycat your recent innovations. Clients of law firms advise us that they hire the lawyer – not the firm. However, this only partly true. The firm – its image – its brand – provides a backdrop for the individual attorneys marketing efforts as well – makes marketing easier – and provides backup and bench strength that many clients require before retaining a lawyer.

In general the law firm is faced with the dual challenge of developing a reputation (brand) at both the firm and the individual lawyer level. In general – client delivery practices and behaviors that are part of the firm's core values and have been burned into the firm's cultural fabric are the hardest to copycat.

Areas in which you can consider differentiation strategies:

Services offered clients
Fee pricing (amount and method)
Methods of producing, staffing, and all other aspects of service delivery
Promotional methods used and messages used
Client service
Managing client expectations

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Posted at 08:01 PM in Competitive Business Models, Marketing, Strategy
Tags: Be, Competitive, Daring, Different, Firm, Law, Strategy, to

Oct 20, 2015

Law Firm Competitive Strategy – Daring to Be Different

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