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Nov302011
What value does your law firm bring to its clients?
Last week I introduced the Workshop Innovation for Attorneys. Focus point is the question What value do you bring to your clients? Our goal is to help attorneys to be more relevant for their clients, outsmart the competition by creating more value and grow their business. In other words innovate successfully.
I found an article during my research and thought that it would be applicable.
In 2007 Larry Bodine published a blog post asking almost the same question. At that time he was Editor in Chief of Lawyers.com, the top consumer-focused legal website.
"What value does your firm bring to its clients? It's a tough thing for lawyers to articulate. That's because lawyers think the legal services they offer and practice groups they belong to. But that's not how clients think.
It is NOT a value proposition to say that you:
- Can impeach the other side's expert.
- You can bury the other side with interrogatories for the adversary's emails and depositions for all their executives.
- You can draw the case or transaction out for years.
These are legal results, not business results.
Here's what clients want:
- You will make the client more money. (Think: stopping employees from hijacking trade secrets or getting rid of forces that are choking the client's revenue pipeline.)
- You will get the client's product to market faster. (Think: eliminating regulatory obstacles.)
- You will save the client money. (Think: making a problem go away fast or achieving efficiencies by taking over all their work in a particular area.)
You will make their operations more efficient. (Think: auditing their business practices and eliminating activities that create liability.)
- You will increase their market share. (Think: your will find a way to make the deal go through you will not be a deal killer.) - You will reduce employee turnover. (Think: audit the client's employee handbook or set up a cafeteria benefit plan.)
- You will improve their customer retention. (Think: rewrite the client's contracts to be more customer friendly.)
All this involves studying the client's business and learning how they make money. Lawyers should inquire into how you can deliver the seven added values listed above. That will be a value proposition that will create great clients who stay with your firm forever."
What's your opinion about the value proposition of a law firm or an attorney? Is it about getting legal results or about business results? Or both?
I found an article during my research and thought that it would be applicable.
In 2007 Larry Bodine published a blog post asking almost the same question. At that time he was Editor in Chief of Lawyers.com, the top consumer-focused legal website.
"What value does your firm bring to its clients? It's a tough thing for lawyers to articulate. That's because lawyers think the legal services they offer and practice groups they belong to. But that's not how clients think.
It is NOT a value proposition to say that you:
- Can impeach the other side's expert.
- You can bury the other side with interrogatories for the adversary's emails and depositions for all their executives.
- You can draw the case or transaction out for years.
These are legal results, not business results.
Here's what clients want:
- You will make the client more money. (Think: stopping employees from hijacking trade secrets or getting rid of forces that are choking the client's revenue pipeline.)
- You will get the client's product to market faster. (Think: eliminating regulatory obstacles.)
- You will save the client money. (Think: making a problem go away fast or achieving efficiencies by taking over all their work in a particular area.)
You will make their operations more efficient. (Think: auditing their business practices and eliminating activities that create liability.)
- You will increase their market share. (Think: your will find a way to make the deal go through you will not be a deal killer.) - You will reduce employee turnover. (Think: audit the client's employee handbook or set up a cafeteria benefit plan.)
- You will improve their customer retention. (Think: rewrite the client's contracts to be more customer friendly.)
All this involves studying the client's business and learning how they make money. Lawyers should inquire into how you can deliver the seven added values listed above. That will be a value proposition that will create great clients who stay with your firm forever."
What's your opinion about the value proposition of a law firm or an attorney? Is it about getting legal results or about business results? Or both?
November 30, 2011
Reader Comments (1)
Any business or service will thrive if it brings more value to their customers. Putting customers satisfaction first and the profit second will do a miracle to the business in the long run.
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