Law Practice Management Asked and Answered Blog

Category: Marketing

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May 03, 2016

Law Firm Management Structure – Firm Administrator and Marketing Director

Question: 

I am the founder and managing partner of a 27 attorney firm in Dallas Texas. I own 90% of the stock in the firm. I have a three member management committee that serves as a sounding board, a firm administrator, and several people in accounting that work for the firm administrator. We are anticipating hiring a marketing director and are trying to think our way through how to structure this new position as well as future management positions down the road. I would appreciate any thoughts that you may have.

Response:

It will depend on the depth of experience of the marketing candidate that you hire and the level that you want them to perform. If you hire a heavy weight, they will be expected to have "director" in their title" and you will want them to have the respect of other attorneys in your firm, your clients and prospective clients. Therefore, they may carry a title such as Director of Marketing, Director of Client Development and Marketing, etc. If this is the case this position should report to either you, the managing partner, or the management committee, not the firm administrator. Depending on the level of your administrator it may be appropriate to retitle the position as Director of Administration and have it also report to you, the managing partner, or the management committee. Before long you may need a Human Resources Director and when that time occurs that position also could report to the you, the managing partner, or the management committee. Accounting and administrative staff would report to the Director of Administration, marketing staff would report to the Director of Marketing, etc. I would develop job descriptions for each position as well as your position and the management committee.


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

Mar 01, 2016

Law Firm Marketing – Estate Planning Firm & Importance of Lawyer Referrals

Question:

I am the owner of an estate planning firm in Oklahoma City. I have four associates that work for me in addition to two billable paralegals and three staff support members. I am looking for ways to improve our business development and marketing. The majority of our business comes from past client referrals and referrals from employees and friends. We spend a considerable amount on advertising which includes our website, print ads, collateral materials, newsletters, etc. We would like to do more to increase client business. I would appreciate your thoughts?

Response:

I find it interesting that you did not mention referrals from other lawyers. I have many estate planning/elder law clients that receive a major portion of their clients from referrals from other lawyers. This should be a key component of your marketing plan. Your business development and marketing efforts should address this potential referral source. You should be investing targeted time:

Review your website and see if it speaks to both your individual clients (mom and pop clients) as well as professional referral sources such as other lawyers.
 

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

 

 

 

Feb 09, 2016

Law Firm Marketing Director – Are We Ready For One – What Should we Look For?

Question:

We are a 25 lawyer insurance defense firm in Northwest Dallas. We are managed by a managing partner, firm administrator, and director of human resources. We have been discussing the need for a marketing director. Are we too small? If we decide to hire one what should we be looking for and where should we start our search?

Response:

There is no magic size. I have seen five lawyer firms effectively use a marketing director and thirty lawyer firms that do not have one. It all comes down to your firm's specific need, what you are wanting to accomplish, and what the lawyers are willing to let a marketing director do.

While the popular title is marketing director, director of client and business development, etc. some marketing staff in smaller firms often function more as marketing coordinators and event planners. If you are looking for someone to help the firm devise a competitive strategy, lead the firm's strategic planning effort, help diversify the practice, etc., you need to look for an experienced marketing director with five plus year's experience in law or other professional service firm marketing at a director level.

If you need someone to update the website, write bios, write blogs, update social media, create brochures, and plan and coordinate events – you may only need a marketing manager or coordinator with excellent writing skills. Prior experience in law or professional service firm marketing is a plus but not required. Journalism and mass communications are popular degrees for this position.

The Legal Marketing Association (LMA) is an excellent source for finding candidates. Here is a link to the LMA job bank

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

 

 

May 12, 2015

Law Firm Marketing and Advertising – How Much Should a Bankruptcy Firm Spend on Marketing

Question:

I am the sole owner of a debtor bankruptcy practice. I have one other attorney and three staff members. Last year we spent $50,000 of advertising. Our fees collected were $550,000 and Net Income was around $160,000. Are we spending too much?

Response:

You are spending 9% of fee revenue. I believe that in a consumer practice such as personal injury and debtor bankruptcy you have to spend around 10% of fee revenue to get the business you need to sustain the practice. I have some practices spending 19% of revenue.

So, I don't think you are necessarily spending too much if the advertising is working for you. You have to constantly measure the ROI on your advertising and fine tune it when needed.

Also, insure that the business is actually coming from the advertising – in other words don't advertise to get business you would have had anyway or in a market that you have saturated and more advertising will not yield any additional business.

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

Jan 07, 2015

Law Firm Marketing – Focusing on a Niche

Question:

I am with a 17 attorney general business firm located in Boston and chair of the firm's three member marketing committee. At this year's planning retreat we discussed the concept of niche marketing and whether we should focus on a specific niche. Your thoughts would be appreciated.


Response:

A niche marketing strategy can help you stand out from the crowd by focusing on a particular segment. Here is an outline of a typical niche marketing program.

  1. Reach Out to Existing and Potential Referral Sources
    1. Contact existing and past client that would be willing to provide leads, give you written testimonials/references and involve you in their professional and trade associations
    2. Contact non-client influentials – attorneys, bankers, editors, executive directors of industry associations, media, and community leaders and work with these people.
    3. Existing practice profile and factors as well as referral sources form the bedrock of a law firm.
  2. Targets of Opportunity
    1. Additional targets of influence
  3. Offer Silver Bullets – Solutions to hot button issues that potential clients have.
  4. Targeting a Niche
    1. Selecting a Niche Target
      1. Size
      2. Location/Zip Codes
      3. Type of Business/Industry
      4. Practice Area
      5. Competitors
    2. Develop an insider understanding of the niche industry (industry success factors)
      1. Critical success factors
      2. Key ratios
      3. Key publications of the niche
      4. Writing, speaking, leveraging memberships with key organizations
    3. Objectives and desired outcomes
    4. Prospective niche client profile
    5. Library of niche publications
    6. Niche database
      1. Existing clients
      2. Prospective clients
      3. Non-client influentials

Often a niche strategy does not involve a new area of practice – it may involve delivering services that you already perform – but marketed to a specific industry group. In essence you are learning the unique needs of a specific industry group, learning their language, and demonstrating that you understand their business better than your competition. An example would by an insurance defense firm that handles the defense for a couple of trucking cases and then creates a niche around the trucking industry.

Place your niche marketing strategy carefully. It takes time, financial resources, and commitment to successfully pull off a niche marketing strategy. Don't try to focus on more than one or two niche markets and insure that the niche that you are targeting is large enough to satisfy your objectives and justify the time and resources that you will be required to invest.

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

 

Oct 28, 2014

Law Firm Marketing – Should We Advertise?

Question:

I am the managing partner of a six attorney general practice firm located in Arlington Heights, Illinois. We have been in practice for ten years. In the past most of our business has come to us through client and attorney referrals. We have not advertised. However, several of our attorneys are pushing us to embark on an extensive advertising program. I am interested in your thoughts.

Response:

Keep in mind that advertising is only one form of promotion and promotion is only one of the four elements of a firm's marketing mix. Other elements such as service strategy, pricing strategy, and service delivery strategy are often more important to the firm than its promotion strategy. For firms that are providing commodity type legal services such as personal injury, divorce etc, extensive advertising can work very effectively. However, for firms that are providing customized differentiated legal services this form of promotion is usually not effective nor appropriate. This is why it is so important for law firms to formulate their business and marketing strategies and plans before implementing specific marketing promotional programs.

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

 

 

 

Jul 01, 2014

Law Firm Marketing Investments – Investing Wisely

Question:

I am a partner in a 16 attorney firm located in Baltimore, Maryland. Our clients are primarily business firms. I am the chair of our three member marketing committee which was formed three years ago. Our firm is increasing our commitment to marketing and have increased our budget over the past three years. However, we are not sure what we should be spending our money on. Your suggestions would be appreciated.

Response:

Hopefully, you have developed a marketing plan and a marketing budget tied to the specific objectives outlined in the plan. Here are a few general guidelines, tips, and best practices:

  1. Money spent on good clients is money well spent.
  2. Allocate more money to specific practice areas or niches and individual lawyers than to the firm as a whole.
  3. Tie passive initiatives to active participation.
  4. Stand out as a major contributor to a single or a few campaigns rather than making many small contributors.
  5. Constantly measure and monitor your return on marketing investment. (ROMI)

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

 

 

 

 

Mar 15, 2012

Improving Relationship With Insurance Company Clients

Question:

Our firm, a 17 attorney firm in St. Louis, Missouri, is have a major problem with client defections. We practice in the area of insurance defense exclusively. We have lost several insurance company clients and for those that we are working with – our case assignments are dwindling. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Response:

Our firm recently completed client satisfaction interviews for several of our insurance defense law firm clients. Here are a few quotes and a summary of what these insurance company law firm clients told us:

1. We want to work with proactive attorneys that aren’t afraid to try cases.
2. Limit the number of people working on a file. I like consistent assignments.
3. I expect attorneys to get back to me by the next business day.
4. I like one partner and one associate per file.
5. Most of our billing issues with law firms is due to excessive use of associates time.
6. I get upset with attorneys that want to settle right before trial.
7. The primary reason that we terminate our relationship with our outside attorneys is not reporting to us in a timely fashion and poor communications.
8. I find that many lawyers are poor at managing their files and have poor basic communication skills. I work with lawyers that can do both of these things well.
9. I think that it is important that law firms provide value added services such as newsletters, legislative updates, e-alerts, seminars, etc on a “no charge” basis. These services are provided by most law firms these days. Such services help us do our jobs better, improves communications and the overall relationship between our organization and the law firm, keeps us up to date on changes in the law, and helps the law firm stay abreast of emerging needs in our business.
10. I will pay higher fees to lawyers that aren’t afraid to try cases.

I suggest that you start by talking to your clients. Much can be learned by talking to your clients. Structured telephone interviews conducted by a neutral third party can provide many surprises as well as answers. Client satisfaction interviews can be the best marketing investment that you can make.

Good Luck!

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

 

Sep 28, 2010

Characteristics of Successful Law Firms – Basic Building Blocks – Block 6 – Client Service

For the past five weeks I have been discussing the characteristics of successful law firms and introduced the following basic building blocks that successful firms typically have in place:

Partner relations, leadership, management, partner compensation, and planning blocks have been discussed. 

The sixth basic building block is client service. Successful firms deliver exceptional client service. They don't just meet client expectations – they exceed them. 

This is the decade of the client. Clients are demanding and getting – both world-class service – and top quality products. Many law firms have spent too much energy on developing new clients and not enough retaining old ones. For many law firms, obtaining new work from existing clients is the most productive type of marketing.

Delivering great client service is extremely important in today’s legal marketplace. More and more lawyers and law firms are competing for fewer clients while client loyalty continues to drop. It is no longer sufficient to simply be competent or an expert in today’s competitive legal environment – law firms must distinguish themselves by the service they provide. Lawyers and law firms must strive for 100% client satisfaction. Service is how many clients can tell one lawyer or law firm from another. 

Clearly, from what law firms' clients are telling us, lawyers and law firms need to improve client service by integrating a client-first service focus into everyday practice and getting feedback on performance.

Most clients can’t evaluate the quality of your legal work. What they can and do is evaluate the experience of working with you. 

Lets face it – customer and client expectations have changed across all industries. It is a buyers market and they know it. Today clients want it all – better, faster and cheaper. If you can’t provide it they will go somewhere else.

The key is to management client expectations – underpromise and overdeliver.

Click here to read my article series on client service.

I will address each of the other building blocks in upcoming postings.

John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC
www.olmsteadassoc.com

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