If you still operate your law firm from premises, one of the best things you can do from a marketing perspective is to make the best use of these premises to promote your legal services.
Whenever I visit a new law firm, I can almost guarantee what I am going to find when I walk through the door. For those of you reading this, even if I have not visited you before, I would gladly make a bet that if I did I would find (or not find) at least three of the following:
- Outside the office, there will not be any bright illuminated welcoming signage
- There will be no friendly advertising posters with offers in the windows
- As I walk in the receptionist will be behind a nice high desk ensuring they are well hidden from new arrivals
- When I am sitting waiting to meet you I will have various options of reading materials, from newspapers to charity leaflets, and if I look really closely I will find one practice brochure which is several years out of date, or worse still a selection of Law Society brochures telling me that I should go to the Law Society website to find the right solicitor for me
- On the walls there will be old legal pictures which perhaps the lawyers find mildly interesting, but clients find depressing
With just some simple changes you can make your reception and meeting rooms amazing cross selling tools that will bring in an abundance of new business for you. The question is can you be bothered?
Your client welcoming areas should be generating a good handful of new instructions for you at least every month, but preferably every week. If you want to make your life easier, please before you spend anymore money on advertising or an amazing website from a website design company that knows absolutely nothing about generating new business for solicitors, make these simple changes and then you can use the extra profit costs generated to look at other marketing methods.
Outside Your Offices
Stand outside your offices and look at your client’s first experience of your business. Is it bright and welcoming? Is there a nice bright sign with your practice name and the word “solicitors” boldly on display? If there is lighting are the bulbs all working? If not replace them. You are solicitors and your attention to detail is what makes you good at what you do. But what impression does your client have of your practice if the outside of your buildings is shoddy?
Do you have an A Board outside your offices to stop people passing your office without realising how you can help them? If not, ask me about my preferred suppliers.
Reception
An old gripe of mine is solicitors that still shut for lunch. If you do and this is the most prominent sign on your front door, expect to lose plenty of business to your competitors. It takes no time to set up staggered lunch breaks. As the legal world becomes more and more competitive it is these small changes that will determine whether you remain in business.
Reception Desk
Generally these days money is not handed over the counter so there really is no need for a high imposing reception desk. The reception desk should be no higher than a normal desk and should be free of clutter and welcoming.
Selling More Of Your Services
You now have a captive audience. A client or visitor is sitting in your reception area for five minutes or more and they are in the frame of mind of all matters legal. So what should you give them to read? The Times, a Rugby Magazine, Country Life? NO NO NO. Whilst they are in your offices they should be allowed to read about one thing and one thing only – your business!
If you have any of the above, along with charity leaflets, other local business cards and brochures etc, remove them immediately. Are you in business for your business or someone else’s?
You need a selection of promotional materials. You need a general practice brochure, but you also need much more. You need legal information sheets, guides to making a will, moving home essential checklists etc. Anything which is related to the type of legal services that you provide must be available for your clients to read whilst they are sitting targets for you to sell to them.
Any practice where I have made these changes and provided a range of promotional materials sees an immediate return. The LawKits that I have designed that cover all areas of law and are written in client friendly language will produce new enquiries for you, have you bought your own branded LawKits?
Free Advertising Space
Lastly, what is on your walls? If you think about your target audience, those people sitting there waiting to talk to you, or thinking about instructing you, what is their frame of mind? Nervous, wary, unsure? All of the above? So how can you reassure them? What if you had several client testimonials printed off, professionally framed and dotted around reception. Would this help to convince them you were the right firm for them? Absolutely it would, so have you done it yet?
I know that implementing any of these changes will have an impact on your business, but implementing all of them will have a dramatic impact. So what are you waiting for?
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Ready To Take Action And See Results Now?
Please call 0117 290 8555 to arrange a mutually convenient time for a telephone discussion, Email me or complete a Free Online Enquiry. There is no cost or obligation. We will have a chat about where you are and where you would like to be and I will suggest some things you can do to get there quickly.