Poor marketing opens the doors for sharks!
Regular blog readers may recall the relative who needed a lasting power of attorney, several months ago and was confused by the way prices were quoted. At the time of her initial enquiry, she also enquired about changing the way their property was held, amending their wills and advice regarding care homes fees.
Well nine months on, the lasting power of attorney is finally in place. Has the solicitor called to see if everything was to her satisfaction? And, would she like to come in to sort out those other matters? Of course, if he had I would not be writing this article.
However, she did get a call from 'a very nice man, who offered to come and see us at home…' and she agreed to a visit. Over the years of working with solicitors I have heard many reasons why follow-up calls are not made. Aside from possible personal difficulties, reasons might include:
- Inadequate notes being made at time of initial enquiry
- No system to capture such enquiries
- No system at close of matter to prompt selling on
- He or she is 'busy enough'
- He or she is not comfortable making this sort of call
- He or she is not comfortable with selling
- There are no other resources to make this sort of call
- This is not a priority for marketing
I often hear will-drafting described as 'not worth doing' or 'just a loss leader', but this is usually where there is little recognition of the lifetime value of a client to the firm, rather than short term value to the department. At the other end of the client scale, I often hear clients say 'we didn’t know they could do that' when debriefing on lost work due to lack of effective cross-selling. Whilst the client database in many law firms is a sadly neglected piece of intellectual property - to others it is seen as a goldmine.
The elderly lady is now on various healthcare equipment mailing lists and is therefore likely to have had her contact details passed to any number of providers of services to the elderly - some more unscrupulous than others. Thankfully, she sent me this adviser's details to check and a quick look at their (well-designed and impressive) website indicated that they were not solicitors. However, my relative is blissfully unaware of the Solicitors Regulation Authority and so had no idea that she could check credentials in this way.
A further check of the phone number on WhoCallsMe.com revealed that they were known sharks and I was able to point her back towards her not-so-proactive solicitor. Capturing and converting such opportunities is simply a case of being systematic, something which the likes of The Co-operative can be expected to excel at.
As those firms which have embraced marketing know, keeping in touch with your clients once or twice a year with a simple newsletter will remind them that you have their interests at heart. A call to check that everything that you did for them was satisfactory and 'if there is anything else we can help you with…' will earn their client's loyalty, secure more business and keep the sharks from the door.
Failure to take a proactive approach to client marketing simply provides a big window of opportunity for better organised providers, including the less reputable ones.
Sue Bramall is director of Berners Marketing and former head of business development at Pinsent Masons
Comments
You are selling marketing
You are selling marketing services, so of course you consider marketing is a good thing which works.
However, the world is awash with people "marketing" (i.e. selling) services and products which people quite simply do not want. My reaction to marketing phone calls, flyers, leaflets, newsletters and all the rest is to ignore/bin them-because they will be promising things they can't deliver-e.g.cheaper gas, electricity, refund on something, honest politics or possibly some green cheese from the moon. Most of the marketers are paid on commission and the job is "performance related" so the more people they con and sign up the better for them. They can then go elsewhere and leave the mess for others to sort out. Prime examples were mortgage brokers/insurance sellers-hence the property crash and PPI problems. I regard this as spivvery and have no reason to suppose most people are any different.
When I actually need a product/service, I usually ask friends/colleagues who they would use/what they would buy. With e-mails this is easy and produces results which are backed up by personal experience.
I have a feeling that the era of glitzy marketing is over because the products haven't lived up to the hype-and that when someone claims they are "the best" or whatever, laughter will be the usual response.
And the response above backs
And the response above backs up the article nicely. I think I can hear the Co-Op laughing from here...
That would be the same Co-op
That would be the same Co-op which despite having a ready made customer base couldn't manage to maintain, never mind increase, its share of the grocery trade, would it?
£25m turnover in legal
£25m turnover in legal services within 5 years, a huge database of customers, marketing savvy, significant capital and potentially taking the Lloyds branch network.
Surely there can't really be anyone who doesn't think the Co-Op is or will be a major provider of legal services?
Marketing savvy?
Marketing savvy? Hahahahaha.
Worked with groceries-and Co-op Bank-both forces to be reckoned with-not! And £25M in five years for an organisation like that-and that's good?
I'd rather talk to Del-boy
Sharks are, in their own environment, the top of the predatory food chain. What you seem to be complaining about are those 'lower species' that prevent the legal profession from gorging themselves to their own unending need for satisfaction.
For sure there are corner shop carrion-feeders around who are opportunistic in their approach, and take a wee nibble before something bigger frightens them off. It's a specialised business being one of those.
You don't make the distinction, and this is where your real concern seems to be, that Co-Op type operations are constantly seeking avenues of diversification, and looking to compete on level terms - at a lower price-point. Asda's in-house opticians offer an excellent service, much to the chagrin of opthalmists who thought they'd joined the professional elite.
Proposed changes to legal aid will fall more into the arms of the Co-Op than 'chambers'.
What you don't seem aware of is your own status in this. You're the symbiotic specie, tolerated by the host as long as you provide a service. If you fail to provide the service or the host disappears, deary me, how will you survive? Give the Co-Op a call before the opportunity is lost to another bottom-feeder. ♥
I note that the 'Acceptable use policy' is not a highlighted link.
You really should pay for all
You really should pay for all this advertising! But presumably the gazette doesn't mind because it increases the "hit" rate and the management can boast about how popular the Gazette is.
The key point about marketing is that there has to be a real product to sell, not just hype. More and more of the populace understand that a lot (most?) marketing is just rubbish and no matter how attractive the package, the product is pedestrian.
The political class has been "overmarketed" and many of the UK's "respected institutions" now suffer the same disease. "The City" was really tip top-err, no. The English courts-err, no. The EU was going to bring prosperity-err, no. The list is long.
Eventually marketing is counterproductive.