LPM Tiger Team with Access Legal: Finding your firm’s competitive advantage
A set of legal industry experts assemble to solve challenges around messaging, business development and pricing.
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The SME law firm of today needs to stand out from the crowd – both to compete for business and retain it. With client demands evolving at unprecedented rates over the pandemic, a segment that has long relied on its expertise and relationships is now having to develop prowess in marketing, social media, and customer experience. The journey is difficult, and efforts are underway to address critical pain points along the way – as addressed in episode three of LPM Tiger Team with Access Legal.
Moving targets
A big part of winning business through marketing and social media activity is knowing your target audience, and tailoring your presence accordingly. But for a full-service law firm – as many in the SME segment are – the target audience is wide and varies from one practice area to the next, or even one geographical region to another. Trying to appeal to different audiences while having a core message as a law firm is a challenge.
Martin Whincup, associate director of marketing at Berwins, suggests deriving a relevant core selling point through internal conversations, or operating sub brands to appeal to different audiences. Sub-brands are under consideration at Greenwoods GRM too, according to sales and marketing director, Sara Blackwell, although the firm’s current focus is to create a brand agile enough to be dialled up and down based on the target market.
According to Collin Willett, head of strategic business development at Thompson Smith and Puxon, having a value proposition or message is not a feasible avenue for law firms – the competitive arena lies in the quality of service delivery and a firm’s purpose. Stepien Lake, which is a niche commercial property law firm, uses similar strategies to win out against competitors within their segment, according to CEO Richard Hill. And there is a range of tech out there to help firms find this balance, provided that they have a clear idea of where they want to go – according to Matt Newton, commercial director for Oosha at Access Legal.
Pricing game
Another challenge for SME law firms is to find the right pricing structure and level to remain profitable while also fending off competition – particularly from larger, more efficient, tech-powered firms. According to Willett, successful pricing boils down to a single equation – consumer value is equal to perceived benefits minus price. The key is to keep the value delivered higher than or equal to the price.
Hill, Whincup and Blackwell all explain how they justify their firm’s pricing to clients, while also exploring the pros and cons of a fixed pricing model. According to Newton, using a data-driven approach is critical for firms’ pricing strategy going into the future.
Magic spells
And given a magic wand that would boost competitiveness – Sara Blackwell would want all her lawyers to really love and be enthusiastic about sales and business development. Richard Hill would invite the best lawyers from large city law firms to spend a month at the Stepien Lake office, so they could fall in love with the culture and bring their clients with them. Martin Whincup would ensure his firm is focused on what it does best, while Colin Willett would make sure every fee earner in his firm devoted one day every two weeks to business development. Matt Newton would use his magic wand to make sure firms have taken stock and done a gap analysis of exactly where they are on their tech journey, and have an idea of how tech can help drive their business strategy.
Episode three is now available Watch now
