Research, carried out by mystery shopping and sales experts Shopper Anonymous, has shown that the legal sector is falling behind in customer service.
A recent study showed that, when compared with the retail, optical and restaurant sectors, legal lagged behind on customer service and selling skills. It found that many solicitors don’t believe that they are sales people until you ask them about how they influence potential clients to come to them with their case.
Sector | Customer Service Score (%) | Presentation Score (%) | Selling Skills Score (%) |
Legal | 69 | 90 | 32 |
Restaurants | 83 | 90 | 64 |
Opticians | 84 | 85 | 56 |
Retail | 88 | 92 | 68 |
No data was included on cross selling although most law firms admit they could do better.
Chris Lowe, Stockport and the North West’s Regional Director of Shopper Anonymous, said: “In my past experience, very few law firms appear to be measuring conversion rates, although I am now starting to see this creep in. However, it is difficult to do this effectively unless the CRM system is used consistently by the team.
“Measures on call backs in response to initial enquiries also appear to be rare.”
Specific responses following research:
For telephone enquiries – 36% of law firms had not responded within 24 hours. 51% of fee earners did not use the potential client’s name during the enquiry. 73% would be encouraged to contact the firm again, but that means 27% wouldn’t……….. With web enquiries it dropped to 54% that would be encouraged to contact them again, and walk in came back at 65%.
Follow up within 5 working days on having the initial discussion with the potential client was low at 13%, giving huge potential to firms and individuals that do this well.
Chris explained: “Most fee earners hate following up because they feel it is hard sell, and they are out of their usual, professional comfort zone. But if they are taught to change the focus to a service call they will convert more clients.”
Jonathan Whittaker, Senior Partner at SAS Daniels, agrees that in this day and age legal practitioners certainly need to be commercially aware:
“‘Solicitors practice law’. That is their core, professional skill. I wouldn’t expect lawyers to have a natural tendency to sell. However, I do believe that firms who invest in training will have the edge over those who don’t.
“At its core, a law firm is simple. It sells legal advice. It sells it in the same way that Audi sells cars and Sainsbury’s sells food. It is a business like any other business.
‘Selling’ is done in many different ways. We all hate cold calling but it is just one way of selling.
“Law firms need to find the ways of selling their product which are best suited to their clients but as with any business, sales and marketing are essential ingredients.
“Any business that ignores opportunities, provides a poor service or which operates in a way which ignores its customers or makes them feel undervalued or uncomfortable, deserves to fail.”