The legal profession is built on the assumption of scarcity. Scarcity of information, scarce distribution of resources and scarce choice. While this may have served us well in the past, all of those things are now abundant.
We’re in the midst of the sharing economy; the subscription economy; the Age of the Customer.
Law is a buyer’s market, and in this market, service excellence is paramount to success.
According to George Beaton, founder of research consulting firm beaton, a leading specialist on professional services, there are 4 main drivers for law firm selection, and they rank in this order:
- The benefits received
- How much effort is involved by the client in getting the work done
- How well a firm communicates
- Price
When you sell productised services, you hit the nail on the head of every one of these drivers. Effortlessly. Every time.
1. Benefits
You sell solutions. Not time, knowledge, skills and expertise or documents. Packaged solutions that solve a real problem.
2. Effort by the client
Services are delivered through refined systems, processes and workflows. The client’s work is effortless, as they’re guided seamlessly through your process. Information they need to provide, action they need to take and decisions they need to make are communicated clearly and with all the tools and resources needed to see them through. In other words, you make yourself easy to do business with.
3. Communication
Your processes make it really easy for your clients to understand the progress of their matter. Not only that, they include templates and precedents for standard communications, so no information or advice is overlooked. What’s more, those templates free up your time for the more personal stuff – time to spend on the human part of your relationship, not just the legal advice.
4. Price
The best part about price is that you can play it either way, depending on your market and business objective.
If you want to provide low-cost services, you can do so profitably by standardising and systemising your work.
Or perhaps you want to target the other end of the market. Productised services will help you to establish your credibility and position yourself as an expert in your field.
How do you stack up?
Be honest, how well do your current services address these drivers of success?
Do you sell benefits and solutions, or time and knowledge? How easy is your firm to do business with? What is your pricing strategy and how does the design of your services play into that?
Ready to simplify your business, escape the billable hour and do more of the work you love? Find out more about my coaching program Productise and Profit! or book a discovery call to learn how productised services can transform your business.
