Strategies for success: A practical guide to strategic-client-service planning

For all the talk of improving internal efficiencies and financial procedures, nothing matters to a firm more than servicing its clients well. And where so many firms can now compete favourably on technical expertise, differentiation comes down to delivering a service that does not just meet, but exceeds a client’s expectations. With this in mind, Byron Sabol, CEO of Sabol International, provides a workshop on strategic-client-service planning, guiding firms through the steps needed to make a real success of this key area.

In his best-selling book, Winning1, former GE chairman Jack Welch crystallises strategy by stating: “In real life, strategy is actually straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell.” If the criteria for a winning law-firm market strategy includes applying the best use of partner time, then strategic-client-service planning (SCSP) is the key strategic initiative. As author Welch says: “Look, what is strategy but resource allocation? When you strip away all the noise, that’s what it comes down to. Strategy means making clear-cut choices about how to compete.” As firms look to compete more successfully, they often overlook the obvious market maker: a systematic method for focusing their time and talent on specific existing clients. SCSP has proven over the years to be a productive law-firm market strategy.

SCSP: What is it?

SCSP is a process for identifying and developing the needs of a specific client and matching a law firm’s capabilities to these needs. This process produces a more favourable and profitable relationship between the client and the law firm.

Fee earners who service a specific client follow a defined agenda, while meeting to communicate with each other on how to achieve specific client relationships and revenue-generating objectives. The overriding objectives of SCSP are:

To protect existing areas of work;
To be one of very few suppliers to this client;
To identify realistic new business opportunities with this client;
To raise client-contact levels without offending senior management;
To be the best in terms of technical legal services and quality of service delivery.

Simply put, SCSP is a means of bringing together client-focused lawyers to produce an achievable strategy to maximise the utility of the client relationship.

Why implement a SCSP culture?

The answer to this question is simple: because it is in the best interests of the law firm to do so. SCSP strengthens client relationships, helps fend off competition, enhances the firm’s practice visibility and reputation, identifies client expectations, provides a benchmark for service performance, demonstrates service commitment to the client, and generates additional profitable new work. Another reason: there is a track record of success for firms that produce SCSP for their clients.

Adrian Bland, group leader, real estate, for UK-based Wragge & Co LLP, is among the top client-care partners in the legal profession. With an extensive background in serving and caring for clients, Bland is quick to point out that the time has probably passed when lawyers said: “We provide a great service… When our clients call, we jump.” Most now understand that such a reactive approach is too complacent.

According to Bland, with so much competition, you need to be very proactive to keep those calls coming.

Bland emphasises that one crucial aspect of client-service planning is to ensure a firm-wide understanding of who will do what – and a firm-wide monitoring of roll out. “Most firms have some great client partners. Most also have some pretty poor ones who are in the role for all kinds of wrong reasons, like history, spare time on their hands, or an ‘it would be good for them’ approach etc. Poor client partners are a menace and can undermine the best efforts of a whole service team. They can often act as a gatekeeper rather than a facilitator. This may be because they fear that colleagues will undermine their relationship with the client. It may be because they fear being found out,” says Bland.

Bland refers to one instance where a law firm was conducting its very first independent partner review. The review partner bowled along to the client having been blissfully assured by the client partner (who had been appointed for a wrong reason) that all was well and that some recent problems had been smoothed over. The client greeted him politely but not warmly. As they took a first sip of coffee, the client said: “We’ve recently switched 90 per cent of our new work to two other firms. But you don’t seem to have noticed. I had thought you didn’t care. Now I guess you do care if you’re here today – but not enough to have come sooner!” It was a sobering experience. However, with some strong diplomacy, a swift change in client partner, some careful client-service planning and some meticulous implementation, the situation was turned around. Ten years later, that client was one of that firm’s top billing clients and part of the bedrock of the practice.

Why is SCSP effective?

SCSP has proven so successful for several reasons. First, this activity avoids the ‘strategic success – tactical failure’ syndrome. We have all seen this scenario before: lawyers leave a strategy session energised about the subjects discussed during their meeting only to find themselves devoting time and talent to more pressing issues. They don’t follow-through and they don’t achieve their strategic intentions. Testing I have conducted with more than 2,000 lawyers in seven countries concludes that the majority of lawyers are primarily analytical and controlling – not a surprise for anyone in private law practice. Nor is it surprising to know that lawyers are attracted to the analytical challenge presented by planning. To put this issue in common vernacular: lawyers love to plan; they just don’t love implementing quite as much.

SCSP generates follow-through because the process answers the all-important ‘What’s in it for me?’, which is a very legitimate question that needs to be answered for any initiative that separates fee earners from client work. If a partner is regularly meeting his or her income threshold with an attractive clientele, what incentive is there for that partner to follow-through on marketing initiatives that may or may not produce a motivating increase in his or her personal income?

The lawyer may attend an initial meeting out of curiosity, peer pressure or a legitimate interest in the subject. But unless that meeting demonstrates some personal advantage that can be attained, the lawyer’s follow-through becomes paralysed.

SCSP stimulates lawyer follow-through because it is the lawyer’s client that is at the centre of the initiative. Lawyers will not only show up, they follow-through to protect their own self-interest in this client.

Who benefits from SCSP?

The client benefits because one of the primary objectives of SCSP is to increase the client’s level of satisfaction with the technical legal product and, where possible, with service delivery. What client would balk at receiving an increase in lawyer time and attention to the client’s interests? Clients appreciate knowing that their outside lawyers are proactive in thinking about the best interests of that client. The client also benefits by not having to pay for the learning curve of bringing on a new provider.

The client partner benefits in several ways. The client partner is often viewed in a more appreciative light by the client for ensuring that all lawyers and support staff focus on the client’s interests. The SCSP identifies realistic new business opportunities with this client, reducing the amount of time lawyers spend pursuing new business. More often than not, the role of the client partner expands horizontally, meaning that the client partner interfaces with more client principals outside of that partner’s specific legal area of service. This leads to an increased scope of representation and a higher use of the law firm’s lawyer and support resources. As the principal at a UK consumer products company serviced by a law firm client of mine said to the client partner: “I didn’t know you did that kind of work, I have been sending it down the street for years.”

The law firm benefits because the SCSP reduces exposure from the competition taking away work. The SCSP stimulates effective cross-fertilisation of the client, providing other lawyers with new work opportunities. The firm benefits from a reputation for having lawyers and support staff that demonstrate that the client’s interests are the number-one concern of the law firm.

Thomas Brennan, partner in the corporate practice of the US-based international law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, LLP, is a strong proponent of the client-service-planning process. Brennan notes how often lawyers enthusiastically leave a discussion about a specific client only to find that the best of intentions easily get lost in daily routines. “A focused, written plan that has lawyer follow-through is a benefit to both the client and to those lawyers servicing that client”, says Brennan. “Client-service strategy work helps lawyers manage the follow-up required to meet important timelines and implement goals. I find clients appreciating lawyers who are willing to invest their time and effort to regularly gauge the client’s level of satisfaction and put in place a strategy to manage that relationship.”

Clients for the SCSP session

While all clients are important to a law firm, some clients are just a little more important than others. Clients selected for the strategy session include:

Those that would represent a substantial loss to the firm if they were to cease giving work to that firm;
Those that have a need for services that the law firm is capable of delivering, but, as yet, does not provide;
Those that have a client partner who will actively support the strategic process;
Those that are large in size or, if small, represents substantial growth potential;
Those that are pleased with the law firm’s work (all the more reason to conduct client reviews to determine just how pleased or displeased a client is with its outside provider);
Those that pay their invoices;
Those clients that the lawyers want to work for.

Most law firms select ‘crown jewel’ clients for this activity. Law firms will realise substantial benefits by putting this strategy in place for the firm’s top two per cent of clients.

How is SCSP implemented?

While most SCSP sessions can be completed within four to six hours, the exact time required to conduct a SCSP session will depend on the following: the complexity of the client; the number of lawyers servicing this client; the number of client matters the firm’s lawyers are handling; and the number of legal contacts within the client organisation.

A briefing book is produced for the lawyers to review prior to the session.

The following information in the briefing book is designed to bring the lawyers up to speed on issues of importance to the strategy session:

Fees collected for the past three years – preferably for each practice specialty. Some law firms can produce this information; some cannot. For those firms unable to identify fee income by practice specialty, it is recommended
to take a best ‘guestimate’ at these amounts than to ignore this valuable information;
Brief description of major matters conducted for this client. This information is often provided in narrative form by the client partner. Because lawyers serving large clients with multiple matters will not be likely to know the nature of all of the work being performed for this client, the client partner needs to assume responsibility for educating the lawyers. This is an opportunity for a marketing staff person to interview the client partner and produce the narrative for inclusion in the briefing book;
Most recent annual report for plc;
News clips of important client activities during the past six months;
Background information on client principals.

The lawyers are encouraged to review the briefing book prior to the strategy session. Some lawyers will; some will not. The session facilitator, therefore, must be prepared to lead and to stimulate active participation in the strategy session among as many lawyers as possible.

The SCSP session agenda

The SCSP session produces a series of achievable objectives and action steps for client-specific lawyers to complete within 12 months. During this session, action steps are identified and agreed; lawyers are matched with activities to be completed by a specific date; and the method for managing plan implementation is determined. The session agenda reviews – in detail – the following key issues:

Client’s level or satisfaction;
Revenue;
Practice areas;
Company organisation chart;
Competitive landscape;
Goals of the plan;

– Protect existing work;
– Identify realistic new work opportunities;
– Complete within 12 months.
Strengths and weaknesses;
Problems and opportunities;
Objectives and action steps;

– Team leader completes draft action plans;
– Team leader finalises action plans with team members;
– Team initiates action plans.

The team leader, normally the client partner, manages the status of the plan’s implementation. The team leader’s responsibilities include communicating with team members, delegating, sharing responsibilities with team members, motivating team members and leading by example.

In less than one day, SCSP creates an achievable strategy that can bring a lifetime of lasting value to a firm’s prized clients.

Reference
1. Welch, J., Winning, published by HarperCollins, April 2005

Byron Sabol is CEO of Sabol International. He can be contacted at byron@byronsabol.com