Sometimes launching a tech start up can be a stressful and gruelling challenge.  Worrying about everything from building a best in class platform, driving continual revenue so that you can grow and invest, right down to ensuring the bins are emptied at the end of the week.  However, every so often you get to do something outside of the normal – and this week I am delighted to be at the 27th Annual Marketing Partner Forum in Miami.  It’s warmer than London!

I’m currently sat in a superb session called “Predicting Client Attrition Risks through Data Analysis”  which is being led by:

• Lisa Simon, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer @ Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie
• Jennifer Roberts. Senior Manager, Strategic Research @ Intapp
• Mark Medice, Principal @ LawVision

The session has gone into amazing detail about how to use Data Analytics to do things such as predicting the health score of a client and the tools you can use to help that do that or the simple use of Net Promoter Score to understand what a client really feels about your firm.

It all got me thinking about the importance of educating your client.  I was at a meeting with a law firm last week and they told me that had one key goal which was to

“… empower our clients by providing quality legal advice, insight and intelligence that enables them to achieve their goals whether personal or business.”

This can really be split into two parts:

1. Provide quality legal advice
2. Provide insight and intelligence

I am very lucky to be able to work with some of the biggest and most prestigious law firms in the world.  Traditionally they have all been very good at point 1 above – but point 2 has often been much more difficult.  Lawyers are often far too busy doing number 1 to be able to do number 2 on a consistent basis.

However, if you can provide ongoing insights and intelligence to your clients, this can be extremely powerful in keeping them as a client.  To do this effectively you must listen to your clients’ problems, the issues they face, the gaps in their knowledge and what keeps them awake at night.  If you can understand these things then you can create insights that truly answer they needs and plug those gaps in their knowledge - helping them to do their jobs more effectively then it is much more unlikely that you will lose them as a client.

Edelman’s annual trust barometer says that the number one most credible voice at a firm you work with is a “Company’s technical expert”.  The great news for a law firm is that they are all stuffed full of technical experts.  So enable these voices, it’s who your clients are saying they want to hear from and then you can enjoy long lasting, happy clients.