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2007 Leigh Dance
Legal Services Buying Trends: How to Leverage Them Into Wins For Your Firm
Leigh Dance 22 March 2007
ELD International, Inc.
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TREND: Regulatory Scrutiny and the Risks of a High Profile
Clients face… Increased pressure to ensure complianceChallenges to help the company keep its
promises and also achieve business goalsNeed to reduce threats, manage crisesDangerous stakes: unforgiving
enforcement and aggressive media
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TREND: Regulatory Scrutiny and the Risks of a High Profile
Clients face…Huge increase in reporting responsibilitiesNeed to understand changing laws and how they
are being enforced worldwideObligation to find and solve problems to surviveGet to the bottom of a ‘situation’ fastAvoid ‘creep’ of regulatory inquiries
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OPPORTUNITY: Regulatory Scrutiny and the Risks of a High Profile
Your marketing should…Emphasize firm name, reputation, firm integrityCommunicate empathy – don’t scare the horsesUnderstand client compliance demands and
provide component of compliance support Communicate specific talent in geographies,
sectors and practice nichesAssist in identifying and monitoring threats
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OPPORTUNITY: Regulatory Scrutiny and the Risks of a High ProfileYour marketing should…
Present information consistent with compliance reporting needs
Provide legal and regulatory info and connect dots to the client’s compliance pressure points
Demonstrate fast response, solid project managementProvide ‘dealroom’ context for crisis managementNot gloat-- show you are on their side
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TREND: Overload of marketing and pitches to largest global companies
Why are large global companies today’s target?Numerous multi-jurisdictional transactionsNeed for support in more than one geographyHigh profile, sophisticated, complex problemsPrecisely the work the aspirationally ‘global’ firms
want and need to justify investments
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TREND: Overload of marketing and pitches to largest global companiesClients ……receive dozens too many event invitations…and hundreds too many newsletters/client
alerts: few specific to their needs or sector…will rarely respond without follow up…always want more time with peers (prefer
to keep outside lawyers out)
[email protected] – March 2007
OPPORTUNITY: Overload of marketing + pitches to largest global companies
Your firm should…Take very good care of your current global
corporate clients – deepen/broaden your contactsExecute carefully targeted and highly
differentiated marketing initiativesBring corporate counsel together with each other,
not only to hear youGive them info to make their work easier
[email protected] – March 2007
OPPORTUNITY: Overload of marketing + pitches to largest global companies
Your firm should… Present information in tables and formats easy
to digestAdapt your communications to their systemsSpotlight personal professional relationships –
they countLook for windows: circumstances change
constantly inside large globals
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TREND: Procurement managers are invading corporate law departmentsCorporate counsel face…Arrival of procurement since all other major
corporate expense areas have been addressedConstant demand to prove value, yet little
reward for doing soA procurement manager’s tendency to look at
legal service purchase like buying widgets
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TREND: Procurement managers are invading corporate law departmentsCorporate counsel face…Procurement managers tactic to utilize
competition among firms to reduce costsDemand for measurable proof of value,
reporting that demonstrates worth: transparency
Pressure for convergence squared
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OPPORTUNITY: Procurement mgrs are invading corporate law departmentsYour marketing and business develoment should…Prepare to be one step ahead: measure and
prove your value proactivelyImprove transparency in budgets and estimates
and allocation of resourcesDemonstrate and promote efficienciesOffer value-added services free
[email protected] – March 2007
OPPORTUNITY: Procurement mgrs are invading law departments
Your marketing messages should emphasize : The needs to reduce risk trumps cost
- low-risk choice,- better coverage of legal services needs, - improved corporate governance
Firms must be able to produce sophisticated client information and sophisticated proposals
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TREND: In-house counsel tiring of client competitions, proposal processesClients face…Time consuming process, difficult to control Creation of tensions and disincentives in
future law firm relationshipsInefficient– prefer to just get the work doneErosion of power over purchasing, and
independence of choice
[email protected] – March 2007
OPPORTUNITY: In-house counsel tiring of client competitions, proposal processesYour marketing should…Identify and market differently the practices
that tend to fall outside scope of panelsBuild solid relationships with client to pitch
informally in advance of RFPContinue evaluating cost/benefit of
participating in RFPs, RFTs
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Legal Services Buying Trends: How to Leverage Them Into Wins For Your Firm
E. Leigh Dance 22 March 2007
[email protected] – March 2007