Business to Business Law Firms and the internet; a curious mix.

In my experience, B2B law firms have generally had a strange relationship with the internet. Traditionally they have spent a decent amount of money on their web presence and in the main are good at keeping their sites up to date with content, without ever really analysing:

• what the outcomes are,
• what is working for them, and
• what they actually want to achieve.

The main reason for this, as far as I have been led to understand by business development directors and partners, is that the ‘man on the street’ is not our customer and the website is seen as a tool for the man on the street. Search engines even more so.

Who is this proverbial “man on the street”?

• Is it the schoolteacher browsing for information on cyber security or online bullying?
• Is it the finance director of a £2m turnover business searching on his phone for information on effective debt recovery techniques whilst waiting for his daughter to come out of the dancing class?
• Is it the IP enforcement director at Virgin browsing for more up to date information on illegal streaming platforms and methods of enforcement?

I don’t have the answer to this question but this proverbial man on the street has often been quoted to me by B2B lawyers as the reason why Google isn’t important to their firm. As a business owner who uses the internet extensively to find information, source suppliers and win business, this has been frustrating to say the least.

The ‘man on the street’ objection is really another way of saying ‘people we don’t want to work with’ or ‘companies who couldn’t afford our services’. The inference is that if we market ourselves to everyone on the Internet we will be swamped by time wasters as we will be trawling the web for clients.

If there is one thing I have learnt over the course of the past 15 years or so in business it is that one should never give up. Objections will always be there and our preferred route is to try and find ways forward rather than let obstacles hinder our progress.

Our way forward to overcome the ‘man on the street’ obstacle for B2B law firms is our new demand generation and marketing automation software Client.ID.

How does Client.ID overcome the ‘man on the street’ hurdle?

In simple terms the software allows you to engage your desired clients, nurture their interest in your services and when the time is right, convert them into clients.

In a touch more detail the process develops as follows:

Step 1: Together we build a pool of prospects

What is your business development priority? Which partner or department needs a push? What is their target market and who is in it? Depending on the area the partner is involved in answers could include:

• Finance directors in companies with turnover between £1m - £5m for debt recovery work
• The procurement teams of insurance companies to join the panel
• In house counsel in the oil & gas sector with a view to becoming a preferred supplier
• HR Directors with a view to helping with retained employment law advice

Once you have the answers the first step is to put together a database of potential prospects from either your CRM or available information. This database is expanded or contracted as the campaign progresses.

Step 2: We develop a comprehensive campaign designed to engage, enthuse and educate your target market.

We work together to establish what is likely to interest your target market, even those who may not yet have realised they require your services. From this we draw up a plan to produce valuable, insightful, useful content to attract and hold their interest.

Step 3: We nurture your targets and work on creating a demand for your service.

Using Client.ID as the hub of your campaign we will use our valuable content to engage with your prospects and arm them with information they need to make better decisions. In so doing will continually reinforce your firm as the firm to go to in your specialism.

Step 4: We won’t waste your time, or the time of your partners.

In the background your prospects’ interactions with your campaigns are being scored according to pre-determined measures. As such you can clearly see which of the prospects are cold, indifferent, or more importantly, hot. For the indifferent or cold contacts the objective is to continually work with them to move them into the hot category. For the hot contacts the next step is a business development meeting with a clear understanding of pain points to hand.

Step 5: Convert the hot prospects into clients

Enough said.

With Client.ID there are no more ‘man on the street’ discussions. Our software and supporting consultancy services, delivered by a crack team of legal sector marketing specialists, will move your business development activities from trawling to spear fishing.

For more information on the software, our unique experience in the legal sector and what we could do to help you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.