Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2020 Edition

–higher-ups with sweeping demands, budget holders to convince – and all with different concerns. Finance directors will be questioning the cost and return on investment, managers will care about the impact on their teams’ workloads. And the fear of what they might lose by making a poor decision can outweigh the gains they hope to achieve from working with you. That’s why producing great content is crucial. Firstly, it can be created to answer the exact questions and concerns likely to arise. Secondly, it’s shareable: videos, articles and reports can help your point of contact answer their colleagues’ many questions. Five content tips for closing new business leads: 1.Produce onboarding articles that make it really clear what will happen in the weeks, months and years after a client signs a contract to work with your firm. This should include a guide that explains ‘how to get the best from us’ with a clear overview of how you work and communicate, what clients can expect from you and what you need from them. 2.Introduce your people. A team page that fits your brand goes a long way to humanising your firm. Well-produced videos starring your employees aren’t only good for recruitment drives, they also tell clients they’re in the hands of real and capable human beings. A ‘day in the life’ video* of an industrial disease solicitor at Slater + Gordon is overlength at four minutes (keep yours below 90 seconds) but their employee comes across as passionate and genuine. This video joins the dots between Ashurst’s global workforce and its international client base. 3.Don’t be afraid to use humorous content to humanise and differentiate your firm. A video* by US firm Pasha Law PC pokes fun at how the sector invoices clients, to neatly make the point that it doesn’t charge hourly fees or hit its own clients with surprise bills. 4.Make them feel like you’re a safe bet. Draw on case histories to show the *Find video links at www.lawyer-monthly.com many people and/or businesses you’ve represented. This content, which can be featured in client newsletters sent periodically to your database, is also really powerful in upselling services to existing clients, who will gain a more rounded picture of all the ways you can help them. Filmed interviews can be even more powerful, due to higher engagement levels with video than written articles. 5.Communicate your crisis contingency plans. In the tech sector, prospects will check out companies’ support pages to see how they deal with customer issues. This can be replicated by the legal sector. Do you have a tried and tested complaints procedure? How do you protect client data? A comprehensive FAQs page can put many such concerns to rest. LM 25 FEB 2020 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM Special Feature Written by Jason Ball, Considered Content “The second consideration is how clients ‘buy’ your services. Remember the people to whom you’re selling your services also have to sell your services internally to their own.”