Edge International

Insights

Sell the “Whole” Legal Product

Sell the “Whole” Legal Product

“We partner with our clients.”

“We build relationships with our clients.”

“We understand our clients’ businesses.”

Blah, blah, blah. . . .

What does all this really mean? Generally speaking, not very much!

Clients don’t have time to tell you how to add value, but they are very open to working even more closely with law firms that anticipate their needs, particularly outside of the legal silo. For example, the firms that relationship-broker, measure and report on their results, and help law departments look beyond the day-to-day to envision how work will be managed “tomorrow,” will be delivering “the whole product.”

So how do we build real partnerships with clients? There is no cookbook, but a law firm might start with the following:

There are legion opportunities for law firms to become helpful to clients around the edges, but you need to learn what those contours look like. Of course, you will necessarily find some gaps and priorities that are pretty far removed from anything you can impact. These are great opportunities for you to marshal your own stable of subject matter experts (e.g., investment bankers, strategy consultants, etc.) and put them in front of your clients.

So, become a “whole product provider” and begin your intellectual field trip of your best prospects and highest potential existing clients. In the words of Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the places you’ll go!”

Mike White
Author

was a practicing attorney for seven years prior to founding and operating two enterprise software companies — Sirius Systems (sold 1997) and MarketingCentral (sold 2007). He owned and managed ClientQuest Consulting, LLC for 10 years serving law firms. He holds an AB in History from Duke University and a JD from Emory University School of Law.