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Occasionally I do a little crowd sourcing via Twitter. Last week I asked lawyers what their main source of work is. The number one answer was via referral from former clients. That in and of itself is amazing. Basically, your clients are out there talking about you because you are excellent. There isn’t a business out there who wouldn’t walk over broken glass for that type of marketing.

What this means is that the public see you as an expert. Essential to them at their time of need. Whatever it was you did for them, you added value at the time, such that they are prepared to put their name to backing you.

In fairness, the answer wasn’t a surprise to me. I spend my days speaking with lawyers, and always ask that question. The answer is invariably the same. My next question is how the contact comes to them. Inevitably the answer is via the ‘phone. I say the answer is inevitable because what you are providing is a solution to a problem, and anyone with a problem wants to talk to a human, not seek the answer through a machine, however fantastic computers may be.

My next question tends to shift the mood in the room. My question is:

“What do you think about delivering some of your service online?”

At this point the lawyers I speak with tend to become a little suspicious. There is a sense that:

• It can’t be done (yes it can)
• It won’t be compliant (yes it is)
• It will devalue the brass plate (no it won’t)
• It’s only use will be for cheap and cheerful commoditised services (nope).

This is where there is a gap. A gap between what lawyers think online delivery is, and what it actually is. Online delivery is there to add value. Not detract from your expertise, not to make you as cheap and cheerful as Tesco own brand beans, but to assist you in delivering the expertise that clients come to you for.

Now lets move to the recently published report by The Legal Ombudsman and Legal Services Consumer Panel on public attitudes to legal services. It confirmed what I believe, that lawyers are highly respected (yay) and that the web is useful but talking to the lawyer is considered more valuable. I am relieved because I have been preaching this on my tour of law firms. However the report did suggest that starting to find via the Internet will gather pace. Even when that happens I still believe that the human to human bit will remain in high demand.

But hang on am I not the guy who preaches online delivery that will wipe you all out? No, I am not nor have I ever said that. I am the guy who preaches online tools to help develop your delivery, because what will wipe you out is your internal inefficiency. The battlefield for legal services will always gravitate to your cost to serve. I want to emphasise that ‘cost to serve’ because that is different to ‘client cost of your service.’ Now the two are connected but to assume that everyone wants cheap is also to assume that no-one buys into your value offering. And I don’t believe that because you tell me that clients come to you via recommendation.

Now there will be clients who will want cheap and cheerful but maybe they aren’t your clients. That could change over time if you let it because if brands come into your market they will have far better client reach than you will ever have. Don’t forget either, you are letting the brands in. A brand may start at the ‘cheaper’ end of the market but I place emphasis on ‘start.’

However if you start to deploy smart, affordable online tools, (and its my job to help you understand them), for specific clients (and there are a lot of them), you can build a compelling virtuous circle of ‘serving client well = client recommending you.’ In other words, get to the deck chairs before the Germans.

Don’t forget that clients want efficiency too, they want to get to their solution. Tools like DirectLaw will bring you and the client together when the need is appropriate. Better for you, better for the client…this keeps the virtuous circle spinning.

But…

You have to embrace the tools. Ignore them at your peril. They are not there to be cool and funky, not to make your website more whizzy or to just serve Generation ‘Y’ (whoever they are) and definitely not to cut you out. They are there to leverage your differentiators; local, (even national in some areas of law) accessible expertise and make you more efficient. They are there to strip out routine processing but maintain high value engagement.

You should embrace them (or at least kick their tyres) for one reason and one reason only…so you are more efficient and more smart in the client capture to build a sustainable and profitable future.

I don’t want you cut out. I am very passionate about that. I want you right at the centre; capturing quicker, matching your services faster to the clients need, driving out unnecessary cost, increasing profit.

If any of those appeal to you…we need to talk…lets start on the telephone.