Insights from Legal Fees and Pricing Report

RainToday.com recently came out with its 2008 Legal Fees and Pricing Benchmark report. As a result of their survey of law firms and how they price their services, Rain Today came up with a number of recommendations for law firms seeking to maximize their fees. (And who isn't?) Their recommendations include:

Establish a brand to become well-known in your target market. This includes establishing a brand for the firm's services, not just for a 'look' (logo, advertising, etc.). What is your firm's mission? What is it that you do for your clients and how is it different? Are all of the members of your team aware of and living your brand every day?

Lead and innovate.The report cites several common law firm complaints, including problems with getting things done as a result of the firm's structure, inability to get individual attorneys (including partners) within the firm to carry their weight, and turnover from associates who don't seem to want to work. According to RainToday, the solution to these issues is leadership and innovation:

[F]irms that innovate grow larger, have stronger pipelines for new business, and get higher fees. To do this yourself, you must have the energy, passion, enthusiasm, and talent to find your own path and make your own way down it. Many firms don’t, which only serves to create opportunities for firms that do.

Maintain the right focus on the competition. RainToday recommends asking questions such as, "How can we offer more value than the competition?"

Improve business development. While it is challenging to develop business and meet existing  clients' needs at the same time, to be successful, it must be done. As RainToday points out, the best business developers are those that have an intimate knowledge of their clients' needs and create solutions specifically targeted to meet those needs. If you want to go through my process of identifying your ideal clients and your needs, see the How to Grow Your Law Practice on a Shoestring Budget Home Study course - particularly sessions #3, 5 and 7, which focus on identifying your ideal client, creating marketing messages that target them, and focusing your practice on your clients' needs (sessions sold as a package or separately).

Focus on value. While this is a repeated refrain, it's amazing how few firms actually assess how well they do this and whether their clients feel that they've received value as a result of working with the firm. Firms often assume that they know what their clients are thinking, instead of asking - missing valuable opportunities to strengthen the attorney-client relationship. And focusing on value eliminates or reduces many of the typical pricing challenges law firms face.

Do you need help innovating or creating better business pipelines? Has your marketing and business development fallen through the cracks? Do you need someone to help you find the path? Do you want to change your structure or motivate your team, but don't know how? Contact me to see how I can help.