How many times have I heard the words “full service” mentioned?
What does it (actually) mean?
Full service of what?
Or, all the services, of whatever hue, your client (or potential client) is ever likely to need and or buy?
- Law;
- Accountancy:
- Insurance;
- Motor;
- Utilities;
- Shopping;
- Training or further education; and
- Financial.
Is this even the full panoply?
- Unlimited;
- Packaged services;
- Employers/employees/board/stakeholders (subject to conflict issues); and
- Dealing with the supply of all services.
Why do you insist on limiting your offering?
If you truly want to reinvent the wheel, then how about changing more than the colour.
What does a new professional services firm look like?
Is it or should it be limited to leveraging (only) its intellectual capital around legal services?
What is stopping you marketing or supplying other parts of your practice to the market: IT, HR and facilities? If you need a elucidation of the point, go read The PSF 50 by Tom Peters.
If you truly want to emerge into the new daylight, then start thinking how your trust in and of your brand can be extended. Financial services is easy, but it provides evidence that your clients trust you enough beyond the slither of work that you might hitherto have developed.
You have to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, and even though this might appear a half-cooked attempt at dealing with a complex area, nevertheless I am challenging you to stop looking at the label and think about what it actually means to be a full service law firm.