Client & Prospective Client Management
Prospect management - building and managing your future clients
Prospect management falls into 2 distinct categories; the first is dealing with prospects and capturing them quickly and efficiently; the second is looking at how you can manage and build a future prospect client database of people who have sought advice but, for whatever reason, you haven’t been able to help them with their current need.
While many law firms do spend time on improving capture (although often not enough), very few consider the second. And yet, building a good prospect management system, that enables you to build a database that you can market to, so that prospects return to you when they have a future need, is an excellent low cost way to acquire future clients and grow your business.
Building a prospect management strategy, and putting in place the necessary processes and systems is not costly and will build future value for your business. It juts takes time, energy and a system that is highly effective and one that is integrated into you existing processes and IT systems.
Building client loyalty through client engagement
In simple terms, building client (and prospect) loyalty is the key output of a client lifecycle marketing strategy … and delivering meaningful engagement to build loyalty through different communication activities, materials and channels is a vital component of any prospect and client management process.
Indeed, good, well timed, accurate and relevant communication, delivered constantly and which positions your law firm as a ‘trusted friend’ who your clients can turn to whenever there is a need will create long term value in your business.
Experience has shown that clients who are engaged with regularly, with suitable and tailored material, based on their specific needs, are more likely to respond and engage with your firm … they are also far more likely to return if they have a need or recommend your business to a family member, friend or colleague.
Client Relationship Management
Client Relationship Management, or CRM, is a common phase which is often used to pull together all the aspect of building client loyalty and engagement. in essence, when CRM is mentioned, it usually means 1 of 3 things:
- Its often seen as a process, the way in which you deal with initial prospects through to capturing your clients and then building ongoing engagement that is delivered in an efficient and constant way. The process is under pinned by the wider CRM strategy and your CRM platform
- Secondary, it is a strategy, philosophy and approach to how you manage your prospects and clients and should ensure a consistent and effective engagement that builds loyalty and drives repeat business.
- Finally, effective CRM can only be driven through software which has been built to help you manage prospects and clients. These are often referred to as CRM systems and are used to record and analyse all interactions and touch points between prospects and clients and the firm.
Prospect management, building client loyalty and using a life time marketing approach are all really components of your full CRM programme and must all work in tandem and be fully integrated and driven through a CRM platform if you are to be in a position to derive real value from your prospect and existing client base.
Implementing a successful CRM programme, which supports your overarching prospect and customer management strategy is vital for a business to prosper. However while the aim is clear, a successful execution is often a significant challenge. From a lack of clarity and objective setting, to poor evaluation and diligence process in selecting the right CRM system, lack of true system compatibility or integration or a simple lack of dedicated resources and management capacity, the reasons for CRM failures are long.
Legal Reach have seen the issues first hand and can lead you through a well defined process that starts with mapping out your requirements and building your CRM strategy through to system selection and then implementation and ongoing management … a process that will reduce the risk and ensure that you are able to build considerable value from your prospects and existing client base.
Client lifecycle management -a formal process and platform to deliver client loyalty
Apart from the odd situation, law firms usually enjoy an excellent relationship with their clients during the length of the case they are dealing with, especially if you have helped them when they are most vulnerable or had no where else to turn.
But what happens after?
Most firms do not have a clear client lifecycle plan in place and have little or no idea on how best to build client loyalty, concentrating resources and investment on continuing to ‘feed the sales funnel with new clients’ rather than investing in building loyalty and repeat business.
Client lifecycle marketing is an approach that helps to build that loyalty. It builds on the premise that the majority of people go through a similar life cycle. And, through using profiling and geodemographic tools, focuses on understanding your client needs, based on their lifecycle, and building marketing engagement activities that provides support and help to your prospects and existing clients at given moments in their lives.
Lifecycle marketing will:
- Help you to improve your client experience, based on their identified needs
- Strength your connection with clients
- Transform your clients to ‘brand champions’ and advocates
Ultimately a well executed client lifecycle marketing strategy will help you sell more services and products to your existing prospects and clients while also seeing an increase in personal recommendations.
Upselling and cross selling -driving a greater share of your client 'legal spend'
There is so much time given to cross selling (and upselling) and the benefits that it should bring that, for the majority of law firms, it is still a major surprise to find that a successful cross selling strategy remains elusive.
But why is this,? The concept is simple and should be easy to execute and the benefits clear and measurable (from more sales to a lower CPA!). Well, experience points to several integrated reasons, from the legal teams through to internal processes and culture and reward.
Within the legal teams, capacity, fee earning and time pressures are often at play. In addition, a lack of training and being uncomfortable in asking questions that would identify cross selling opportunities, to a lack of understanding of the different services available within their firm are also the common issues. Wider, beyond the legal teams, there is often a lack of systems and processes that need to be in place to support and automate the identification of cross selling opportunities and the ongoing reporting and management of them.
But a successful cross selling strategy can be implemented cost effectively through a series of integrated ‘blocks’ that fit together to ensure that you are able to maximise your existing clients and, quite simply, sell more to them when they need it.
Legal Reach can support you in this. In first defining your processes and then putting in place the necessary sense checks to ensure that you increase the value of each of your clients … as well as maximising the returns from your client lifecycle and loyalty management programmes.
Client profiling and analysis - understanding your existing client base and building propositions that appeal
Client profiling (or even prospect profiling) is a vital tool in both understanding your existing client base and building propositions and campaigns that appeal to them. It will also allow you to identify and then focus on specific target audiences that you want to attract, enabling you to create products and services that are packaged in a way that is more attractive to that particular audience.
Profiling is simply the process of gathering information about your existing client base or potential clients you want to target, and grouping these ‘groups’ or categories together.
There is no right way to categorise your clients but there are some core profiling techniques ranging from demographics (such as age, gender) and geography’s (region, town or even street) to life stages, psychographics and behaviors, which, combined together, will enable you to fully understand your existing and future clients and how best to appeal to them.
Building such profiles allows you to build individual campaigns, with specific messages, using the right blend of different communication channels that appeal to that specific audience category and which will create a positive response.
Building client propositions making sure you appeal to your audiences
.Building your CRM strategy, profiling your client base (and future markets) and implementing an engagement strategy will deliver results … but it is missing a vital ingredient if you are not taking all of your data, information and knowledge and turning it into meaning propositions that resonate and appeal to your target audiences.
Whether that is in how or what you communicate, the channel or channels in which you ‘talk’ to your audience or the price, products or services you offer, building meaningful propositions that are clear, concise, compelling and which articulate how your firm can deliver the factors that are important to your clients (and will help them resolve their problems) will ensure that you are able to realise your true growth potential.
From defining the approach to putting in place formalised process that will identify and deliver appealing propositions and then managing and building on them so they remain ‘current’, Legal Reach has extensive experience of building, launching and managing a range of propositions from launching new products and services, bundling existing services together to establishing membership schemes to build existing client engagement and loyalty.
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