Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal editor, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, marketing consultant, legal consultant, business development

What value does your firm bring to its clients? It's a tough thing for lawyers to articulate.  That's because lawyers think the legal services they offer and practice groups they belong to.  But that's not how clients think.

It is NOT a value proposition to say that you:

• Can impeach the other side's expert.
• You can bury the other side with interrogatories for the adversary's  emails and depositions for all their executives.
• You can draw the case or transaction out for years.

These are legal results, not business results.  Here's what clients want:

• You will make the client more money.  (Think: stopping employees from hijacking trade secrets or getting rid of forces that are choking the client's revenue pipeline.)
• You will get the client's product to market faster. (Think: eliminating regulatory obstacles.)
• You will save the client money. (Think: making a problem go away fast or achieving efficiencies by taking over all their work in a particular area.)
• You will make their operations more efficient.  (Think: auditing their business practices and eliminating activities that create liability.)
• You will increase their market share.  (Think: your will find a way to make the deal go through -- you will not be a deal killer.)
• You will reduce employee turnover.  (Think: audit the client's employee handbook or set up a cafeteria benefit plan.)
• You will improve their customer retention.  (Think: rewrite the client's contracts to be more customer friendly.)

All this involves studying the client's business and learning how they make money.  Lawyers should inquire into how you can deliver the seven added values listed above.  That will be a value proposition that will create great clients who stay with your firm forever.