So What If People Say They Don't Legal Services From Supermarkets?
Here are some of my thoughts and replies to questions about Supermarkets taking business from solicitors and law firms. The whole conversation
is on law gazette pages.
"So what if some people say solicitors are better at servicing than a supermarket?
Does this actually mean anything?
Supermarkets will market their legal services to people and they will get clients that law firms won't.
That's because they are better at marketing. So it doesn't matter if your product is better. As long as it is good enough. Colgate sells lots of toothpaste. It's not the best - it's good enough. Tesco products are not the best. They are good enough.
I can tell you I'm in the market for a Will. But I have never been targeted to buy one, not even by my solicitors who did my conveyancing.
Supermarkets will be after my money, over a period of years, with an offer, a clear call to action and with a product that is neatly packaged to make it easy for me to sign up.
If you have lots of people you have done conveyancing for, for heaven's sake write to them and make them a special offer on a Will.
And don't do it just once. Put them in a marketing sequence of months and years. They will buy when they are ready, not when you want them to remember. And stop listening to surveys which say solicitors are better than supermarkets. Just get out there and prove it by taking some action."
"For law firms branding should be as a consequence of direct marketing and other pull marketing. In other words it should be a spin off.
Nike do branding because they have a commodity product, same as Coca Cola. The only difference between soft drinks or trainers is the brand perception. But that's not what you are about.
If you have 12% brand recognition? What does that mean? Does it mean you get 12% of all the business in your area?
What I'd really like to see your marketing do is get you into the top three results on Google, Yahoo and MSN (now Bing) so that you get quality "hands up I want to spend some money on you" business that the Co-op doesn't.
Have you checked your website ranking for all the major search terms in your area? For example "Solicitor in Reading" "Lawyer in Reading" etc? And what do people do when they get to your website? Do you provide them with truly valuable information that proves you do what you say you do? With video?
Likewise do you measure your current marketing systematically so you know exactly how much it costs you to get a lead and which marketing is the most cost effective? If you don't measure it I would say stop it all. Because if you don't know something is working why keep doing it?
Have the definite of purpose to try things and take action. As long as you are on the right path that is a good start. One this is for sure. "Defending yesterday is far more risky than making tomorrow." (Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Drucker 1985)
The figure that astounds me is 69% of people don't have a Will.
That's a fantastic market to aim at because a Will leads to Estate Planning, Trusts etc etc.
That's why it's a massive disservice for anyone to ignore their conveyancing list - you must market to them on a regular basis to get themselves a Will.
A company I worked with had written just one letter asking for money in a decade. With a list of 7000 clients I expect that 200 new Wills a month can be sold if it is done in the right way.
There's money in peoples' pockets that they want to spend. You just have to make them WANT to spend it on you and JUSTIFY spending it.
People don't buy things they need. They buy things they want. Even if it's dispute resolution. They are buying it because they WANT the right result. (ever make a special one off trip to the supermarket just to buy a tube of toothpaste you really want? If you did it's not because you needed the toothpaste. It's because you wanted clean teeth and fresh breath.
Let's look at an answer Why Joe Public will choose you first.
What is your answer as to why he should choose your firm over anyone else's?
Because that is the question you have rightly identified is going on in your prospects "Theatre of the Mind".
Do you have a USP (unique selling point) for your business? Because without one it is difficult for someone to make a choice.
After all what sales person can sell something as nebulous as "good service".
People have too many choices to make and not enough time. So making people confident in choosing you because of your USP and the way that you prove and communicate it is the way to go. And make it easy.
Examples of USP is Dominos - "Piping Hot Pizza Delivered To Your Door In 30 Minutes Or Less - Or Your Money Back." (Nothing about quality in it it at all - you see it's good enough and they make it easy.)
One you have your USP nailed you should find it easy to build your business and your communication around it. And I don't mean just out bound communication.
Marketing is everything that anyone from outside your firm sees, hears, touches or smells. So if your receptionist puts someone through to someone at your firm, make sure they say,
"I'm just putting you through to the Family Law Expert, Michelle Mann" rather than "I'm just putting your through."
Now let's take something you have said and examine it.
Personal recommendation and internet are two things that will work for Mr Joe who is looking for legal experts.
How do you systemise personal recommendations through a referral programme?
Have you done this? If you haven't then that's a good place to start. But you have to make it easy for the referrer.
And on the internet are you offering valuable information in a non-archaic legal way. By Audio/Video?
I hope so. Because if people are visiting your site you better make them raise their hand and say they want you.
Attract Joe and keep in front of him so when he is ready to buy he comes to a trusted source. Let's take an example of something you can do.
Are you the celebrity for your town or city? A
re you the one that newspapers and radio stations come to for quotes and to appear on programmes? That's free. And you aren't going to be able to compete with Direct Line or Tesco for marketing budgets so you have to use Guerilla tactics.
As soon as a hungry prospect comes in to your firm for bait (valuable information) keep him hooked forever with a marketing sequence.
That is the key. Because it takes sometimes years for someone to be ready to buy. But that's when you want to be in front of the prospect. And in that respect you can be even better than Tesco et al. (As long as you know your customer lifetime value of course, which tells you how much you can spend on this).
But it's all there for grabs. Just Do It. As Stephen Covey said, rule number one is Proactivity.
Do you have a formalised system that generates your firm's ideas to solve these problems? If you haven't get one going.
(You might have to make it anonymous because I have found the Partners to be the ones who may pooh pooh ideas which is terrible for those who put things forward. Remember how you felt at school to be singled out).
PS On the internet, I bet you aren't looking at who calls you once they look at your website? Because you will be getting calls and not just email forms filled in. And I wonder if you have unique phone numbers for all your marketing channels because I haven't seen a law firm that has all their marketing channels measured this way. Maybe you do. Maybe you don't."
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