Posted on 30 January 2011
In-house Lawyers, Marketing Research, Social Media
When I worked at Big Law LLP, one of my responsibilities was the acquisition and distribution of client marketing research. Despite being personally responsibly for blowing thousands on the stuff, I can’t ever remember reading an insight that I couldn’t have worked out with a colleague on the back of an envelope. I’d hand over the corporate credit card details in return for a password enabling me to download several thousands words and a few pie charts that almost always concluded along the lines of “do more and charge less”. Hardly the earth shattering insight our partners were hoping for.
On particularly slow days, I used to imagine my perfect market research report. I say report, but it probably wouldn’t be a report at all. It certainly isn’t some crappy password-protected PDF report that the senior partner can’t even work out how to open. There is no executive summary, no methodology, no pie charts, and no reams of appendices. My perfect client research is personal and transparent and it comes straight from the horses mouth. It goes a little something like this:
About once a week, General Counsel at a leading FTSE 100 company writes to tell you exactly what is on his mind. He writes about what he likes about external lawyers and what he wants to change different. One week, for example, he’d write to tell you that he always hires lawyers, not law firms, and you’d be able to plan your campaigns accordingly. Another week he’d write and tell you that it would really make a difference to his relationship if you’d hire legally qualified account managers to look after his account, instead of the out-dated notion of the client partner. On this occasion he wouldn’t just float the idea and leave you to figure the rest for yourself, he’d actually list the pros and cons for your consideration, and spell out how to make a decent profit. His letters are full of the sorts of insights you could build a marketing plan around. Sounds valuable doesn’t it? But it doesn’t stop there.
Although interesting, one man’s view isn’t really scientific enough to bet the firm on, so our ever helpful advisor also circulates his views to a raft of other GCs. These lawyers are not only from his own employer, but also at other large companies with whom you’d almost certainly like to do business. Over the course the next week this team of busy, experienced, intelligent, and commercially astute in-house lawyers will debate the issues, documenting their discussion verbatim for your benefit. You can dip in at any time, and even ask questions if you feel so inclined.
How much would your firm be willing to pay for a subscription to such a service? £100k perhaps?
It sounds like a fantasy, but it already exists and those that take part don’t pay a penny for it. Leading in-house lawyers are blogging, and tweeting, and engaging with each other and the firms that serve them. It is a genuine opportunity, but so many big firms are missing out through shear ignorance. Reach out and engage with these people. Don’t try to sell to them or spam them with updates, but listen and respond to what the have to say. Invest in these relationships and you’ll never have to buy another crappy client marketing research report again.
I’ll try to maintain a list of in-house lawyer web presences on this page. The entry criteria is to have both a blog and active twitter account. Please let me know in the comments if you know of someone I should add.
UK In-house Lawyers
Tim Bratton
http://legalbrat.blogspot.com/
@legalbrat
Melanie Hatton
http://in-house-lawyer.blogspot.com/
@in_house_lawyer
Tom Kilroy
http://gcseyeview.blogspot.com/
@kilroyt
Anon
http://legalbizzle.wordpress.com/
@LegalBizzle
