Starting Right

I've been looking up a few clients today - it seems to be officially the first day back from holiday in most Chambers.

In between hearing about holidays and adventures and quite a bit of drinking in the sun, I've had a couple of discussion about the things to focus on when just back at work. From a management point of view, this is a good time to check some of the basic - Risks, Staff, Marketing & Processes. Yes - it sounds a bit boring, but now - before the work of chambers winds up properly - is a good time to get some of these things done.

So - let's just have a quick look at these four areas. There are some things that you can check quickly...

Risks

Check your Risk Register - you do have a Risk Register, don't you..? Make sure that your list of risks is up to date and reflects any changes that have happened since the last time you checked. Make sure that your Risk Team/Group/Committee think about all the risks and have thought about how Chambers might react if the incident or event happened (and, of course, you do have a Team/Group/Committee...). Then see what you could do now to reduce the possibility of the incident or event happening. Simple.

Staff

Are the staff motivated for the year ahead? Do they know what Chambers is trying to achieve (and it really isn't obvious, I assure you). Make sure that they know the Plan (you do have a Plan..?)  and make sure that you have spoken with them about their role and Chambers' expectations. Talk with them about their expectations - you're likely to be pleasantly surprised. Are the staff happy? It is well documented that happier staff are more productive staff, so it is one of those rare win-win situations where everyone ends happy.

Marketing

Check your marketing plan (you do have...) - is it still appropriate and does it address the needs of Chambers. Have you got the required resources and budgets and to all the right people know what the plan is,, what they can spend, what they should spend and how they and the plan will be measured. Make sure that members of Chambers know what their role is and what they will be expected to do - and how they will be measured. Make sure that the marketing is part of the members' practice reviews.

Processes

This is the most boring one, sorry. If Chambers has some standard ways of doing things (we consultants like to call them processes because it sounds more complicated that way) then members of Chambers and staff will finding doing those things a little easier. Things like Petty Cash; Expenses; Marketing Spend; Practice Reviews. If the standard ways of working are available in a process then everyone can do them in the same way, be measured in the same way and know that their 'thing' will be done fairly, just like everyone else'.

Simple - honestly.

Of course, I would be delighted to help with any of this. See my web site for more details - http://www.mar-aon.co.uk.

Get a Professional

The days of the enthusiastic amateur - so far as running a legal business is concerned - are over.

In the past a law firm - even a large law firm - was entirely run by a management board headed up by a Senior Partner and/or a Managing Partner. In some cases the Managing Partner might have a discount from his or her billing target in recognition of the work they did to run the firm - but I've seen law firms with a turnover of nearly £50million where no-one got a discount. This means that the management of the firm - the discussion and setting of strategy, the planning to implement the strategy, the measurement of performance, fee-earner motivation and management, staff management, etc etc - is all done part-time, often at the end of the day, at night and at the weekend.

In a set of chambers, there are no billing targets to discount and so, if the member of the management committee, Head of Chambers or Chair of the management committee (assuming there is one) do not want to see a reduction in their own incomes, the situation is the same.

This has meant that for far too long, legal organisations were often run by enthusiastic amateurs. Some of these people have an extraordinary talent for management and so some firms have been able to perform very well. It is, however, too much to expect that someone will be an expert in their field, attracting high quality clients and high paying cases and that they will be an expert in business management.

Most law firms start to notice this problem as they get bigger and the management problems increase. They are often forced to 'outsource' some of the management of the firm to a professional manager - although that can lead to communication and expectation difficulties.

In this current and very difficult market for the law, the need for professionals has never been greater. More direct and public access means that members of chambers and clerks are suddenly dealing with a type of client with whom they are unfamiliar and who has a completely different set of requirements. Professional clients in law firms now have marketing teams who expect to be able to talk with their peers. Professional marketing from one part of the profession needs to be answered with professional marketing. Homely and home-made will no longer work.

It's not just marketing. With the importance of IT, more and more firms - and more and more chambers - have noticed how little they can get done if their systems aren't working. It's all very well to go for a fully hosted solution, but you still need to have someone on-site who is knowledgeable and who can translate what the 'techie' has said the problem is - and who can switch the router back on when someone accidentally switches it off, thereby saving the cost of an engineer's visit and (more importantly) about 2 hours.

The timescales have reduced. Clients expect emails answered immediately; twitter messages need to be dealt with in minutes sometimes; IT problems have to be resolved as soon as possible. I remember the days of the five day turnaround to answer a letter - but they have long gone. Staff problems will not wait for the next meeting of the management committee.

Professional management is also required. Unless you are trained and experienced in staff management, the chance of making a huge and eventually expensive error are high. Chambers and law firms need to have someone who can spend all their time getting the business to run better, making sure that the staff are motivated and know what they should be doing to support the strategy. The other professionals need to be managed by someone who knows what they are doing and makes the time to do it - and the legal professionals need to be released to do what they do well.

Clients don't want to have part-time and amateur legal advice - why should solicitors and barristers have to put up with poor support. The days of the amateur are over - long live the professional.

Planning a Practice

I have, in recent weeks, spent a lot of time talking with clients and prospective clients about marketing. Anyone who knows me will be laughing by now, since they know that marketing is some distance from being a speciality of mine. In my defence, I understand it at a strategic level and know just about enough to know that I shouldn't do it on my own.

In offering suggestions to clients (usually along the lines of 'You need to speak with an expert - can I suggest someone..."), I am, as ever, forced to consider my own attempts at marketing.

I suppose I do market my business - I certainly do some client care and a bit of sales. I am, however, usually surprised by the directions that my practice takes me, which surely isn't the sign of a marketing plan in operation.

Let me give you an example. Since January, I have done a whole lot of bits and pieces. Smaller, one and two day jobs usually separated by some significant geography - with the odd week's worth thrown-in (usually at the most inconvenient time and in the wrong location to be helpful). I accept this as being the life of the self-employed. I had a pal who is a musician (who, to my shame, I haven't seen for many years now) who used to say that, when starting a business or working as a self-employed musician, you spent a lot of time just saying "Yes" when offered work - and then trying to sort out how on earth you would be able to get to Manchester and Bristol on the same day.

My practice has been a little like that recently. A few weeks ago, I was in Ipswich for a 7pm meeting - having been in Brussels the day before and Oxford that morning. Usually I quite enjoy this phase - but it does become a little tiring.

I am sometimes concerned, however, that saying "Yes" to jobs isn't much of a marketing plan. I will continue with the same defence - when self-employed in a difficult market, there isn't much else to do. When talking with clients - or rather when admitting to this reality - I usually describe it as being flexible, lithe, responsive.

We'll go with that description then...

Noticing the Mood of the Market

There are times when lawyers really don't help themselves.

Anyone who knows me will know that I do not profess to be a marketing person. I like to think, however, that I understand how to judge the mood of my market place. Sadly it would seem that, at least, the legal press either don't understand the mood of the 'ordinary person' (i.e. not a lawyer), or that they have judged the mood of their market (i.e. lawyers) perfectly and it is the lawyers themselves who are out of step. Let's hope it is the later.

I am talking about a headline in "The Lawyer" today (see their full story here):

Perhaps I'm being over-sensitive. To me, however, when I read this I have a mental picture of a money-grabbing lawyer delighting in suffering in order to win large fees from (ideally unnecessary) lawsuits. let me stress that I am sure this is absolutely not the case at Reed Smith or Bakers - however it would be easy to get that impression from the rather delighted tone of the headline.

Perception is an important thing, and these sort of headlines really don't help. 

Beginnings

Beginnings are great times.

I had a meeting yesterday in which I introduced an old friend to a new acquaintance and managed to bring in some other new great contacts.

The subject was email encryption. I do a little bit of consulting about technology - but mostly in the area of user interface or in helping a firm to build a specification for the system they want. This does mean that I meet a few IT people and see some good software. Email encryption is the last great 'necessary' that has to be addressed. Almost no-one uses it because it is a real pain. Law firms have a regulatory duty to secure information they send - but they can get away with 'best endeavours' because dual key encryption is so confusing. The system offered by mKryptor uses no add-ins and no shared keys - and yet manages to offer instant, secure, communications to and from anyone. Superb.

A new colleague/acquaintance/friend had mentioned email encryption and I in turn mentioned the good people at mKryptor (see here). I set up a meeting for Simon and Beatrice to meet my new friend and was happy that the wonderful Paul Rodger from Bull Rodger (more details here) had come along. I've known Paul for a few years and he is a wonderful design/brand/marketing/communications guru (and I hasten to add that I haven't yet got round to getting him to re-design my own branding. Isn't that the way with old friends! So all the design mess you see here and on my website is my fault, not his). He is one of those people who can listen to you describe something and then offer a totally unique insight - and then find a way of describing your own USP in a brand and design. It's a special skill.

It was wonderful to see someone else 'get' mKryptor. That moment in which they suddenly understand the difference and what all the fuss is about. The moment in which they realise that this is all really rather special.

I hasten to add that I have no formal connection to either company - I just happen to think that email encryption is necessary and that mKryptor is, by far, the best way of doing it. I also think that Bull Rodger (who did all of mKryptor's design and branding - so have a look and be impressed) are the best at what they do.

This is the way of business amongst independent organisations - a loose network of expertise. Have a look  - I'm sure you will be impressed too.

Keeping Up To Date

I am not an expert in either marketing or in social networking. I don't think, however, that it needs an expert to know that:

1. Your marketing materials should always be up to date;
2. Your website is part of your marketing effort
3. If you wish to engage in social networking, then you need to actually engage in it and not simply ignore it after a while

This minor rant has come about as a result of some research for a number of different clients. I have been working with clients in the legal, educational and charity sectors in the last couple of weeks (I'm very lucky to have the variety) and have noticed that many of the companies/schools/charities I looked at seemed to get one or all of the items on the above list wrong.

I've seen blogs with the latest entry over a year old and have found links to non-functioning Twitter feeds. I've seen websites with broken links and links to events which are impossible to attend, what with them being in 2008. I've seen websites boasting that the company concerned (no names, no pack drill - but this was a law firm) could contact you by "post, fax and email" (wow).

I've looked at schools which offer the web visitor the chance to see content from pupils - only to find that eight of the ten pages were empty and the two that had content were ten months old.

In my opinion it is perfectly acceptable for small organisations - whether law firms, schools or charities - to have a small web site. Organisations this size are unlikely to have spare resources to support real-time engagement and may not have time for regular web updates. No problem. The problem comes when engagement is started or offered - and then not carried forward.

If you own or work for a small organisation, you should have a web site, I think. It can be very simple with basic information about who you are and what you do. Schools should have some dates on there and charities should have some way of accepting donations (which can be done from a link to a third-party) - and everyone should have contact information. That's it though. 

Much better to do a little well than to try to be all things to all people and to come unstuck.

PS - as a result of this research I had a good look through my own web site and did a little housekeeping!

Marketing Success vs. Business Success

I seem to have been talking a lot over the last few weeks about marketing and social media.

As someone who has fairly recently started a new business, I knew that I would be spending a great deal of time marketing and developing the business. What I hadn't really thought about too much was the difference between marketing success and business success - or perhaps I simply hadn't considered the measurement of marketing in any depth before.

I the time that I have been "trading", both solo and with James Dunning at Geotrupes, we have gained reasonable press exposure, spoken at two conferences, gained followers on Twitter and for our blogs, and undoubtedly raised awareness of our business. These can all be considered marketing successes.

What has been interesting, however, is the link to business success. No matter how many followers we have, and no matter how wonderful our websites are (and I think they are of course), none of this matters if it doesn't lead to business - i.e. to income.

I spoke with a good friend of mine who has had (and is having) a long a glorious career in international media and marketing. I asked him about the link between marketing and business success. Only after I agreed to his anonymity did he admit that he (and apparently his industry) goes to huge lengths to avoid that link and to stop clients measuring business success by business success. It would appear to be, if not all smoke and mirrors, then at least most smoke and mirrors.

My point is this - don't get caught up in marketing for marketing's sake. Always measure your marketing in business terms. Enforce the link and make sure your marketing is paying off in real terms.

Social Media for Cost Effective Marketing

In my role working with James Dunning of Geotrupes, I presented (if somewhat briefly) at the NetLaw Media conference on Tuesday 20th October in Manchester ("Key Strategies for Law Firms during a Downturn"). I'd been asked (at slightly shorter notice than I'd prefer!) on the subject of "Social Media for Cost Effective marketing".

Rather than run through my whole presentation, you may be pleased that I'm planning to summarise my thoughts here.

The first thing to consider is why anyone should be concerned about the use of social media. We will all know lawyers who tell us that they are currently busier than ever and think that social media is a fad. These might be the same people who agreed with a famous study in the 80s which concluded that there was no mass market for the mobile phone...

So why bother? Well how about:

• 36.9 million UK internet users in May 2009
• Of whom, 29.4 million visited at least one social networking site
• 90% of 25-34 year olds use social media - use not just visit
• 3,226 % increase in use of Twitter in UK between May 2008 and May 2009

It's the third point above that is the reason that every law firm needs to sit up and take notice. This 25-34 year old group will be starting businesses, becoming managers, engaging in M&A activity, buying commercial and residential property, getting married and getting divorced - and, statistically, engaging in criminal and fraudulent activities. They use the web - use soicial networking - and will expect law firms to do the same. They do not believe conventional advertising - they have grown up with it and have learnt to ignore most of it and to despise a great deal of it. Over the next 2 to 5 to 10 years, these are the people who will be our clients.

So - what now. Well you can't engage with every form of social media out there so have a look around at what is available. For business, one of the best is LinkedIn (currently with 50 million users). Registration is free, so it is easy to step in and have a look around. Engage with the groups - that is one of the most powerful aspects of the site. Read before you write - by which I mean spend some time looking at the site and at the way that people communicate on it. That way you can learn the conventions before your start to say anything - and possibly avoid the embarrassing "dad dancing" syndrome of using inappropriate language.

There are some rules, however:

• Trust your users. You don't have time to censor what is said so - just as you do with any other client interaction - trust your people to communicate
• Use a personal voice. Clients deal with people and not firms - so have identified members of he firm writing blogs and Tweets.
• Read before you write - see above. Make sure that you are using the appropriate voice.
• Would you like this read out in court…? If you cannot answer "yes" to this, then don't press "send". This should not be a new rule - you should be saying exactly the same before sending an email.
• Listen to feedback and interaction - that's the whole point of new media
• Plan your engagement - don't let it take over your time. Regular is much better than frequent. So a weekly blog is better than ten blog entries one week and then nothing for a month. The same with Tweets - daily is good, twenty messages in a day quickly becomes a nuisance for your followers.

Many of these sites are currently free - although most are developing "premium services". Remember that you get what you pay for, and in this new media world, the technology is free while service is expensive - so many of these services have poor, or even no, individual customer service. Be aware of the hidden costs, too. Measure the time that you, or your staff, spend using these sites. Remember, as well, the cost of not getting involved (Carter-Ruck don't entirely seem to have got the hang of it yet...) or getting involved badly (as Habitat found to their cost).

It's a new world - step right in and get involved.

Conversion

I have a few lessons to learn...

One of the most difficult lesson is that of patience. In my time I have spoken with a good number of self-employed people who were setting up their business and have always suggested patience. And yet... It's me now, and I'm finding the requirement for patience very difficult - and starting to have real regard for those who have been through this stage.

I'd had a few weeks of speaking with potential clients and, so far, have converted.... none into clients. I know that this is the business, and that this is how things work, but it's still frustrating.

Looking dispassionately at how things have gone, I'm pleased. A little more, though, please!