No, I don’t mean you – the internal market. I mean should you be focused on those people who don’t like change.
Even though as a nation we are prone to look for the best deals, on-line or otherwise, there is still a significant cohort of the population who don’t like change. They have banked with the same institution for 20+ years. They have used the same utilities supplier. And they make a routine out of going to the same prized shop because they can’t be bothered to shop around.
We don’t yet have a mature price comparison market for legal services but that will come. Also, more and more of our legal services will be consumed on-line which will make the battle ground much more about SEO than networking face to face.
I am sure no client will want to be thought of as apathetic – you certainly don’t want to come up with a catchy tune on radio – but stop and focus on those loyal clients (and yes they still exist) who are going to be less, much less likely to want to change.
Even if that is too vague a notion, you need to be focused on making it hard for clients to go elsewhere. How will you secure then to your firm so that when the offers come they will have no incentive to move?
If you think that your discounted hourly rate will cut it then think again.
Next time you sit down to discuss the issue of client retention don’t assume anything. Yes there will be clients who love you and may have no reason to change but there will be many others (and it is an expanding group) who will be only to happy to look elsewhere for their legal services.
~ Julian Summerhayes~