Page 214 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (n)
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When focusing on client retention, one way for firms to differentiate is through client
service. Legal marketers continue to play an important role in this function by implementing client
service initiatives using the following techniques:
1. Establish Client Service Standards Immediately – Instituting a process for client intake,
therefore ensuring a smooth onboarding with the firm, can really set a positive tone for a
client relationship.
2. Understand the Clients’ Business – In addition to helping attorneys study and grasp client
objectives, industry trends, news, and policies; legal marketers also recommend attorneys
take time to visit the client and really ingrain themselves in the working of the company.
3. Keep Clients Informed – Attorneys should be the source of information pertinent to a
client’s business. Rather than relying on general firm emails as a means of informing clients
of legal developments or upcoming events/webinars, legal marketers counsel attorneys to
email content directly and/or pick up the phone to discuss. They also recommend that
attorneys establish benchmarks for delivering regular status updates on legal work. Feeling
uninformed can result in client frustration. Clients should never have to ask for an update.
4. Request Feedback – Legal marketers work with attorneys to conduct post-matter reviews
so they can hear directly from the client what the firm did well and what could be improved
upon. Legal marketers make note of the feedback, develop a tailored action plan for the
next matter, and leverage that information across firm clients. Conducting annual client
assessments are another avenue for securing feedback on the firm’s overall performance,
responsiveness, quality, and consistency. These in-person meetings typically yield
valuable, actionable client intelligence, and are often more open and productive with legal
marketers in attendance to help facilitate the conversation and provide an objective
assessment.
Communications
Effective communication includes knowing the audience; communicating in a clear,
concise, and timely fashion; maintaining a good demeanor; ensuring accuracy (and moving quickly
to correct any inaccuracies); and maintaining a resourceful mindset.
Consider this: A marketing liaison on a high-profile project that involves a firm’s IT
department and senior partners is instantly faced with three different audiences, each with its own
communications style. Some issues that need to be considered are how to effectively communicate
the project timelines to these audiences; how often to provide updates; and how to receive
information from one audience and distill it for another so that all understand the status of the
project at any given time.
The adage is true: Your knowledge is useless unless you can effectively communicate it to
an intended audience. This is why having a resourceful mindset is so important. In the scenario
above, the strategic legal marketer understands basic IT lingo and then how to translate that into
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service. Legal marketers continue to play an important role in this function by implementing client
service initiatives using the following techniques:
1. Establish Client Service Standards Immediately – Instituting a process for client intake,
therefore ensuring a smooth onboarding with the firm, can really set a positive tone for a
client relationship.
2. Understand the Clients’ Business – In addition to helping attorneys study and grasp client
objectives, industry trends, news, and policies; legal marketers also recommend attorneys
take time to visit the client and really ingrain themselves in the working of the company.
3. Keep Clients Informed – Attorneys should be the source of information pertinent to a
client’s business. Rather than relying on general firm emails as a means of informing clients
of legal developments or upcoming events/webinars, legal marketers counsel attorneys to
email content directly and/or pick up the phone to discuss. They also recommend that
attorneys establish benchmarks for delivering regular status updates on legal work. Feeling
uninformed can result in client frustration. Clients should never have to ask for an update.
4. Request Feedback – Legal marketers work with attorneys to conduct post-matter reviews
so they can hear directly from the client what the firm did well and what could be improved
upon. Legal marketers make note of the feedback, develop a tailored action plan for the
next matter, and leverage that information across firm clients. Conducting annual client
assessments are another avenue for securing feedback on the firm’s overall performance,
responsiveness, quality, and consistency. These in-person meetings typically yield
valuable, actionable client intelligence, and are often more open and productive with legal
marketers in attendance to help facilitate the conversation and provide an objective
assessment.
Communications
Effective communication includes knowing the audience; communicating in a clear,
concise, and timely fashion; maintaining a good demeanor; ensuring accuracy (and moving quickly
to correct any inaccuracies); and maintaining a resourceful mindset.
Consider this: A marketing liaison on a high-profile project that involves a firm’s IT
department and senior partners is instantly faced with three different audiences, each with its own
communications style. Some issues that need to be considered are how to effectively communicate
the project timelines to these audiences; how often to provide updates; and how to receive
information from one audience and distill it for another so that all understand the status of the
project at any given time.
The adage is true: Your knowledge is useless unless you can effectively communicate it to
an intended audience. This is why having a resourceful mindset is so important. In the scenario
above, the strategic legal marketer understands basic IT lingo and then how to translate that into
199
