Managing Change By Learning From Past Mistakes

Originally Published In: Law Marketing Exchange

As a well-known historian once said, those who cannot learn fromthe past are doomed to repeat it. This is as true in law as anywhere else, and many of us have seen stalled marketing programs in law firms over the past few years. This article discusses ways to increase attorney and staff participation, ultimately yielding improved results.

Results of the First Wave

A few years ago, lawyers learned that marketing was not only professionally permissible, but also desirable. But when law firms dedcided to try marketing, many attorneys became frustrated that there were so few useful guidelines to follow. Consultants came forward and designed and implemented in-depth marketing programs, but there was still a high degree of frustration as teh inital excitement of the marketing programs soon faded. results were slim becasue the programs did not have built-in strategies for long-term success. In addition, law firm marketers, seeking to document marketing success, had difficulty producing either specific or measurable results.

With increased recessionary pressures, some law firms have even considered reducing dollars spent on marketing and putting them to more pragmatic uses, like payroll.

But is it smart to back away from marketing? In recent years, law firms have been introduced to strong marketing themes, which include providing the services the clients actually want, offering flexible billing arrangements, and maintaining clear communications with clients. Getting "buy-in" from all the attorneys and support staff, however, and getting them to actually implement these ideas is easier said than done. Partners, associates and members of the support staff look back at frustrated efforts and think, "not again."

As the saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." You can tell a lawyer about marketing, but you can't make him or her participate in a client development program.

What's Been Lacking

Three items have been missing from most stalled marketing efforts:

1. Specific objectives for the marketing attorney or director.

2. Strong leadership and commitment to the effort, including a lack of training for both the marketing attorney and the director of client development.

3. A well-developed understanding of how to effect a change in the law firm.

If professionals in others service industries, like accounting, can put the strategies of successful marketing into practice, lawyers can do the same.

Law firm marketing is evolving into a mature industry, and with maturity comes teh recognition that teh marketing director must set goals and objectives to gauge the firm's success. One benefit of setting goals and objectives is the creation of a vehicle to measure the results produced by marketing dollars. For example, the person in charge of directing marketing efforts will have succeeded if she or he: (1) creates a quarterly newsletter reporting updates in environmental law, (2) sets up a specific number of speaking engagements or publishing opportunities for teh attorneys, (3) increases the firm's prospect base by a specific percentage, (4) increases and tracks the number of communications with existing clients, or (5) directs a client survey program that includes follow-up with clients.

Strong leadership is vital to success in any program. In law firm marketing, a committed partner or marketing director can inspire the entire firm. In many firms, the initial excitement drops away, however, leaving little change in client development.

Because commitment and excitement in a marketing program are not teh same as haveing a leader who has been trained to effectively implement change, lawyers and marketing directors must be trained in specific leadership skills. Such training dramatically increasesd the probability of behavioral change in all the attorneys and support staff.

Skills in facilitation must also be developed. Running meetings, trying to create consensus, brainstorming, and focusing a firm's divergent energies all require training in the art to effective facilitation. It's a good idea to have meetings to gain input on marketing ideas; it's a beter idea to have a trained facilitator who can turn ideas into action items.

Research-Based Results: A Change Process Model

In 1981, the Universtiy of Texas published a model for producing effective change or innovation in a group. The process, which is called the Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM), provides a step-by-step model for implementing successful change, which can be a new marketing program, a new technology, or any other major change a law firm might consider.

The model assumes that individuals grow in both their feelings toward and their use of the new program. In order to enhance their growth, we must facilitate specific developmental needs. The model also assumes that the leader of the change process has been trained in effective leadership techniques. It tells us that the steps for creating successful change are fairly constant. By giving adequate and meaning ful planning and training time to the process, we can expect to greatly reduce training and implementation time, reduce the level of concern of all participants, increase effective levels of use of the marketing program, and create comaraderie and a sense of pride and accomplishment through the successful implementation of the desired change.

The CBAM model is one concrete example of what might have been missing in some client development programs attempted by law firms in the past. In the future, law firms must learn how to use change process research in order to achieve a permanent and productinve marketing program. Frims can either receive training in how to correctly implement change or use a consultant already trained in the process.

Conclusion

Law firms focused on the future can learn from past errors. Successful client development and retention programs will occur when law firms set specific goals and objectives for the marketing director as well as for the marketing plan, train leaders in both facilitation and leadership skills, and plan for the stages of creating successful innovation.

These three steps can greatly increase the probability of success in law firm marketing.

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Merry Neitlich is a managing partner for JM Associates, a law firm marketing consulting firm based in Irvine, California.