Differentiate! Differentiate! Differentiate! Law practices are getting the message re positioning, specialisation and differentiation, and more and more are making an effort to more clearly differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market. But not everyone's nailing it: here are some of the mistakes I'm seeing: Going too broad Broad...
Most solicitors would run a mile from service guarantees. They'd strongly caution their clients against offering them, and very few solicitors use them for themselves. Why? Well they're a risk. (and risk is bad!) What if somebody takes the option of complaining? You'd have to do more work,...
The full-service model has served larger firms well over the years. It made perfect sense: once a client is captured, work can be cross-sold to all relevant practice groups, both leveraging and hopefully entrenching client loyalty. To be confident of meeting all client needs, however, these...
"How's you day going?" "Lovely weather isn't it?" "That's a nice shirt" "Did you see the footy last might?" Having to navigate retail checkouts and the well-intentioned efforts of various staff to improve the customer experience by building rapport can be extremely tiresome at times. I had a dreadful experience...
I've been doing a fair bit of work lately with lawyers on pricing issues - looking at the communication challenge and how lawyers can achieve the double whammy of both generating more revenue and ensuring their clients feel good about it. At some point in the...
Is it enough for solicitors (at any level of seniority) to just keep their heads down, focus on their technical excellence and clock up their 6(?) billable hours each day? Can't they just leave the running of the practice to the partners and managers? Maybe, but...
More and more practices are specialising and differentiating themselves in new and innovative ways. Clearly positioned practices can charge higher fees, attract clients from broader geographic areas and can engage in more focused, more cost-effective marketing activities. As I've discussed before, the legal services market in Queensland is...
How's everyone going on their new year's resolutions? Still committed, or is it already too much hard work? Having clear goals is always important but for many busy professionals adding a few more 'to-do's' to an already long and growing list is pointless and counterproductive. You need a...
Has anyone seen the current Les Miserables at QPAC? No, me neither, but the show's promotion has reminded me of this great verse from 'Master of the House' that has relevance for solicitors' pricing strategies. "Charge 'em for the lice, extra for the mice Two percent for...
Recent years have seen a lot of talk about new business models in legal practice, in terms of using technology, outsourcing, flexible staffing arrangements, value pricing and more. Before you get to the stage of considering specific innovations however, it is important to consider - at a...