Developing a deeper preference: the key to developing a long-term client base

What message are you sending out to potential clients? Does your website and your firm’s literature spell out the qualities that differentiate you from your competition? Looking at most law firm websites, it seems unlikely, as differentiation seems to be lost within the abundant use of the terms ‘professionalism’ and ‘integrity’, making it unlikely that a potential client would notice one firm any more than another. Nina Cooper, a senior consultant at Dragon Brand Consultants, argues that firms shouldn’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd even if some clients don’t like what they see.

For every law firm, wooing, winning and keeping clients has taken on a new impetus, a sharper edge of professionalism, and certainly a greater degree of investment. Despite this, few are grasping the opportunities to create a truly distinctive position that is compelling not only to clients, but to others who are key to long-term success.

Trawl through the websites of the UK’s leading law firms, (not a bad indicator of how firms want to introduce their reputation), and they appear, if not quite nterchangeable, at least very close cousins. ‘Excellence’, ‘integrity,’ ‘international,’ ‘client focus’ and ‘teamwork’ are recurring themes. Any detail, if it exists, of the values that drive the firm or its style of working are tucked away under ‘careers’ and, again, the descriptions are remarkably similar – ‘informal’, ‘diverse’ and ‘open’.

But if integrity, specialist expertise, integration or global reach is what clients want from their legal advisers, does it really matter? Well, yes it does. On a superficial level, it is pretty obvious that effort and investment in client communication and relationship building aren’t maximised if every competitor is offering more or less the same reputational message. Integrity and client focus are important, but should be fundamental to many or any law firm – the basic price of entry into the game. They don’t help a prospective client understand what is outstanding about this particular firm.

Even more fundamentally, your message can affect your core business. When it comes to setting your firm’s professional standards, clients are more likely to choose a law firm that clearly delineates its service offerings, business scope and working ethos. Developing a message that merely uses the ‘norm’ words can prove less than convincing to a client looking for a particular service. Words like ‘integrity’ and ‘professionalism’ become undervalued through over use – verbal wallpaper, driving and influencing very little. Post Enron, they begin to ring hollow.

If firms want their clients to trust in their services, they have to show externally that they have developed a strong and clear culture, based on clear standards – one that they have properly defined and know how to manage.

Internally, they need to give a strong guide to behaviour. If not, people take their lead from the behaviour they see around them or develop their own set of rules and standards, which can be far from what is professed on the website or in the corporate literature.

So why do many firms end up in the same reputational space? The answer is probably that they all start from the same point and respond to the same stimuli: what do clients want? Which way is the market moving? Looking at trends and current client demands is good intelligence but it’s only part of the story. Ultimately, if a firm wants to create a strong differentiator, it has to start from the inside, with the people who run and work for the firm. The question should not be what do clients want?

But, what can we, as a firm and team, offer that nobody else can and where do we want that to take us in the future?

It ought to be a question that law firms, based around partnerships, are well placed to answer. The heart of the offer is the experience and expertise of the firm’s people and the dynamics of their relationships with others. Partners need to take a rigorous look at what makes the firm tick and ask themselves where they want to take it. “What is the principle that guides us?” Choose just one, not a list. “What is the touchstone that helps people within the firm understand what to do and what not to do?” “What league table do we want to dominate – is it purely size and fees or is there a different qualitative measure of success?” “What do we want to be known for among our peers as well as our clients?” And in terms of personality and style: “What should we be like to work with as clients or partners?”

Only when these kinds of questions have been answered, in a way that can’t be replicated by competitors, does it make sense to take the view of the market. If you merely ask clients or prospective clients what they want, they are likely to give you and your competitor exactly the same answer, meaning that you have already missed an important opportunity to gain the advantage. If you have a clear mission-statement and business plan that you can immediately present to the prospective client, you

will get more meaningful client feedback on how motivating that is, how it fits with their own business ambitions and how you can develop a rewarding long-term relationship. This advice doesn’t just apply to dealing with clients, but with employees, prospective employees and partners, too.

With the positioning clear, it then becomes a process of making sure it’s embedded right the way through the firm – not just in communication, but in behaviour as well. You need to close the gaps between where you want to be and where you are now. How do you, as senior partners, illustrate ‘the way we do things here’? What kind of behaviour is or should be rewarded? What is the style of your client relationships – if a client arrives for a meeting, who comes down to reception to guide them to the meeting room, you or your secretary?

What does your new positioning say about the kind of sponsorship you get involved in: opera, rugby or new art? It shouldn’t be a whim. In the area of community involvement, which most firms say is an important culture builder within the firm, what do you do? Reading schemes and mentoring with local schools has huge value, but is there something that you, uniquely, can put back into your local community?

The positioning should also help planning for the long term. What do you look for in potential recruits? The instant response may be ‘the best’, but what is the best for your firm, over and above qualifications and track record? What kind of person will work well with the existing team or, indeed, what kind of person is needed to add a new dimension that will bring the firm closer to the positioning you want?

In this respect, the need for an effective definition of what you stand for is never more acute than when firms are contemplating cross-border mergers to offer clients international reach and service integration. If the cultures are incompatible, then it’s obvious that integrating processes and people will be, at best, a slow, painful experience. Yet without a tight, tough, challenging definition, it becomes much harder to identify the potential conflicts and pressure points pre-merger and deliver consistent standards and smart working practices post-deal. If both parties come to the table talking ‘excellence’ and ‘integration’, what’s to disagree? Yet these words could be masking the harsh realities of very different priorities and ways of working.

Getting tough in the definition of a firm’s positioning has enormous benefits – not just in the area of marketing communications. Recruitment should be smarter, more streamlined and effective because you are working with a clearer specification. Most importantly, people within the firm should find it easier to understand, believe and abide by the firm’s standards and this should flow through into consistent and differentiating services to clients and a stronger basis for long-term relationships.

But it also takes a commitment to clarity and a certain amount of courage. If you stand out from the crowd, there may be some potential clients who do not like what you have to say – it may not fit with their view of the world or the culture of their business. But others, who you might have previously left unmoved, may find a kindred spirit. Ultimately, few firms find short-term client dalliances the best way to sustain a business. The long-term relationship or the deeper preference is what it’s all about.

Nina Cooper is a senior consultant at Dragon Brand Consultancy. She can be contacted at: nina.cooper@dragonbrands.com.