In an effort to better align services with client needs and differentiate the firm from competitors, many law firms have adopted some form of an industry focused strategy. These efforts have seen varying degrees of success, in part driven by the firm’s internal organization of the industry effort. Like many aspects of running a law firm, there is no one size fits all model.
As part of our strategy work for law firms we have interviewed hundreds of clients of firms. Despite variations in perspective, one theme has been particularly consistent – companies have very clear views about which firms or types of firms are best suited for particular segments of their work. Their message to law firms is: stay in your lane.
…as many firms have learned, cross-selling in practice is difficult to achieve. There are both internal and client related hurdles to cross-selling. Simply telling partners to cross-sell rarely produces the desired results. Succeeding at cross-selling requires an awareness of the hurdles, and a proactive plan to overcome them.
Client feedback can be a valuable predictive indicator of the future intentions of a firm’s current client base as well as a method to uncover emerging trends in industries on which the firm is focused…In this month’s Insight, we share some themes from these interviews and the implications for law firms in today’s market.
Until recently, law firms have seen little need to innovate…Of course, those days are long gone, and while most law firms today recognize that it takes more than being a great lawyer to be a market leader, and a follower strategy isn’t necessarily a winning one, only a limited number of firms are seriously innovating.