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MARKETING
OF LEGAL SERVICES:
EMERGING CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Prof R K Gupta
ABSTRACT:
With
liberalization launched in India, it was natural that legal
services would also be thrown open to foreign firms like in
investment sector and other areas. There is great potential in
India for growth or organized legal services firms particularly in
view of fast coming up MNC network in India, increase in world
trade and international trade laws like patents, trade marks, copy
right and formation of local business organisations, besides
traditional civil and criminal jurisprudence. This article is
addressed to business sector potential and to those law firms
which operate in organized way. Since we define Marketing as an
important professional function of any firm, there are several
issues associated with legal services marketing:
Question
of Ethics: Providing best possible
legal know-how and services in best interest of client. But
delaying the suit proceedings in courts, objecting for sake of
objection, manipulating facts and court room procedures and trying
to save a client who has actually committed a default or an
illegal act do not construe the professional responsibility of an
attorney.
Commercialization
of legal practice: Could legal services,
which are noble and essential service in society like education be
allowed to be commercialized? There has been criticism of the ways
in which USA attorneys and law firms act and share rewards with
clients. Can this be allowed in India; certainly not.
THE
NATURE OF SERVICES MARKETING
Marketing
services is accepted as more difficult than marketing products.
Services have several qualitative differences and are:-
- Heterogeneous
/ customized - in other words they cannot be
standardised.
- Inseparable
- Unlike producing for instance baked beans, the production,
marketing and delivery of services is very often the same
process.
- Perishable
and cannot be stored. This means that supply and demand must
be matched or production will be lost { Presently it does not
apply in India where no one is in hurry in matter of law
implementation, until major legal reforms are embarked upon by
Union government which too is now essential}
- Intangible
- they cannot be seen and very seldom can they be objectively
measured.
Some
solicitors fail to recognize that only the most sophisticated of
clients will be able to value the functional quality of the legal
service. What clients do value is the quality of
solicitor/client relationship and firms will be judged on such
factors as:-
The
old adage that, in descending order of importance, solicitors
must be
1.
Available; 2. Affable; and 3. Able, illustrates that
technical competence is almost taken as read insofar as the
public are concerned. Today many marketing policies will be
based on the client-centered approach.
MARKETING TOOLS
When analyzing your client base, segment it along various
different lines such as area of work, local geography and source
of business. This will allow the firm to look at areas of growth
and decline and re-allocate resources where appropriate.
Another useful concept for analyzing legal work is the Boston
Matrix. The Boston Matrix can be applied to any business and can
readily be applied to analysis of a legal business and indeed
different types of legal work within businesses. The matrix
recognizes that business and products go through various phases,
namely:- Problem Child (e.g. when a venture is new and requires
capital/time); Rising Star (where the venture becomes successful);
Cash Cow (e.g. where the venture is not growing); and Dog (as
where the venture is failing). Legal firms usually provide a wide
range of services. The Boston Matrix can be used to analyze the
state of the firm but probably more appropriately the matrix can
be used to analyze the state of individual types of work.
Case of a law firm for
strategic marketing plans
Few
lawyers would ever set foot in court without exhaustively
researching their cases and meticulously planning their arguments.
Until
recently, though, such planning never really applied to selling
the firm's services.
"In
the past, it was a more shotgun approach," said Joseph
Curtin, a law firm's
managing director for professional practice and business
development. "Individuals would identify on their own, a
possible client and they might just go off on their own to see if
they could get the legal work."
Today,
the firm takes a more formal approach to mapping out when and how
to court potential clients. It's not alone.
Law
firms of all sizes across the country are mapping out marketing
strategies.
ATTORNEY MARKETING:
CREDIBILITY:
These tools help overcome your prospect's
hesitancy if it's due to his lack of trust in you or your ability
to solve his problem or achieve his goal.
WRITTEN SCHEDULE OF FEES: Prospects feel more comfortable when they see your fees in
writing. Some prospects assume lawyers set their fees based on
what they think the prospect can afford. Handing your prospect a
schedule of fees on paper helps overcome this suspicion.
TESTIMONIALS FROM PAST CLIENTS: Like published articles, comments from clients, colleagues
and referral sources cause your credibility to soar. The more
testimonials you have, the better. If a prospect is in doubt about
hiring you, show him 10, 20 or 50 testimonials and you'll see his
skepticism melting. (Check your rules of professional conduct. Not
all bar associations allow lawyers to use testimonials.)
SERVICE GUARANTEE: Show your client the guarantees you make in writing. You
might guarantee to return phone calls promptly, meet all
deadlines, always have a lawyer available, not exceed a quoted
fee, and so forth.
OVERVIEW OF SERVICES: In some cases, prospects aren't entirely sure what you plan
to do for them. By having a written overview of what you do for
clients -- and a breakdown of the major steps under each service,
you help your prospects see on paper the many things you do in
exchange for your fee. Also, by having these services in writing,
you reinforce that what your prospect is asking you to do is
consistent with what you do for many clients.
ACTUAL CASE HISTORIES: Prospects are persuaded when they see that you have helped
other clients in situations like theirs. The more similar the case
history is to your prospect's circumstances, the more persuasive
it will be. Also, the more similar the client is to your prospect,
the more your prospect will be swayed.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
You help your client when you have a
document that answers questions prospects ask. The more questions
you answer -- before your prospect raises the issues -- the more
your prospect trusts that you are forthcoming with information. If
your prospect has to draw information from you, you risk his
concluding that you would not have disclosed these facts had he
not asked.
OUTCOMES: List on a sheet the various outcomes that could result from your
efforts. Ask your prospect to assume that you will get a positive
result, and then ask your prospect to identify whatever choices he
will make at that point. By helping your prospect see past your
efforts to future decisions he will face, he assumes you have
already succeeded and is thinking far into the future.
OBJECTIVES: Hand your prospect a form that includes a list of the objectives typical
prospects want to achieve. Ask him to identify the goals that are
most important to him. This helps clarify to him what you'll do --
and helps him see that you understand what he wants to achieve.
MINOR DECISIONS: If you've read sales books, you may know the story of the
car buyer who was afraid to make the major decision to buy a
Mercedes. The salesperson asked, "What initials do you want
me to put on the driver's door?" The man responded by giving
his initials and, at that point, agreed to the major purchase. By
asking the buyer to make a minor decision, which he perceived as
no big deal, the salesperson effectively sold the car.
When you use education-based marketing, you don't need to
"close the sale." The "sale" closes itself
through your process of answering your prospect's questions.
Eventually, your prospect says, "What do I need to do to hire
you?" You show your prospect your agreement, explain it to
him, and ask for his signature and a check -- and you've won a new
client.
THERE
ARE SEVERAL RULES FOR SUCCESSFUL MARKETING OF LAW FIRM:
It
is assumed that the advertising of legal services will be allowed
in due course.
Rule
1: If you'd like to get a feature article in a
newspaper or magazine, consider approaching a national
publication. Every day, lawyers and business owners compete for
space in local publications, but most never think about nationwide
publications. In some cases, it's easier to get into national
publications than local ones. Plus, a widely published article can
do a tremendous amount to enhance your image as an authority {Kapil
Sibbal, Ram Jethmalani, Dr. L M Singhvi}.
Rule
2: Trade publications allow you to reach a large
number of specific types of businesses. Many industries and
professions have publications and newsletters, even in local
areas. Therefore, rather than getting articles in broad-based
media, read by many people who are not in your target audience,
consider specific publications that reach highly focused groups.
Most editors respect lawyers and like to receive their articles,
providing they're written in plain English, not legalese.
Rule
3: Display ads in large daily newspapers usually do
not pull as great a response as ads in suburban and small-town
papers. This is because people who buy large papers usually scan
them, rather than carefully looking at every page. People who buy
small-town and suburban papers read them more closely, so they're
more likely to see and respond to your ad.
Rule
4: Radio commercials & Internet web pages may
often work well for lawyers. To make radio work, you need to
prepare information you can send to listeners who respond, or have
a web site to which you can direct them.
Rule
5: Fancy web sites that take forever to download do
more harm than good. Every week, People complain about
slow-to-load web sites. In most cases, the person tells that he
chose not to wait and moved on. The problem arises not only
because they didn't wait for your site to load, but also because
they later complain about your site to their friends and
colleagues. So rather than creating no impression, the impression
you create is negative. The website should also have a bit of free
advice and should be interactive.
Rule
6: A serious photograph that you think is dignified
often scares off prospects. If you want to see bad photos of
lawyers, look through the yellow pages. In many cases, lawyers
look worse than the criminals they defend. Hire a photographer to
take a professional publicity shot, with direct eye contact and a
warm engaging smile because before you make a stern impression on
your adversary, you must make a favorable impression on your
prospect.
Rule
8: High fees attract better clients than low fees.
When creating a marketing argument, it's much easier to justify
high fees based on the depth of your knowledge and experience --
than to explain why you charge so little. As consumers, we all use
price as a quick way of determining quality (In services
particularly). While price is not always reliable, still, we form
impressions about the other person based on what he charges. Most
often, people who want low prices get what they pay for and are
not the most desirable clients. On the other hand, clients who
want to benefit from your knowledge, skill and experience know
that those qualities don't come cheap.
The
future law firms shall have specialist attorneys on various laws
that the business houses will have to deal with.
REFERENCES:
1.
Services Marketing; Christopher lovelock & Jochen Wirtz;
Pearson 5th
Ed.
5. Marketing Legal
Services (Carswell Law Office Management Series)
by Donna
C. Wannop
Author:
Prof R K Gupta
Aravali Institute of Management, Jodhpur
cityju@rediffmail.com
rkgupta_india@hotmail.com
Phone: 0291-2542235
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