High street conveyancing: the gloves are off

The AA and Saga are only the latest to
join the inexorable rise of big brands achieving alternative business structure (ABS) status and, as a result, conveyancing competition is likely to get a lot hotter.

Will small firms – punch-drunk from unfair financial competition, overbearing compliance and regulation – be relegated to mere spectators, gawping at the large conveyancing firms standing toe-to-toe trading blows with newly formed
ABSs in a bid to reach the next level of critical mass? Can smaller conveyancing firms ever
be contenders again?

First, it is important to consider that the internet has changed client behaviour for good. Put yourself in the shoes or mindset of a potential client looking to instruct a conveyancer. What would you do? Ring straight away for a quote? Is that what you would do if you were booking a flight or a holiday?

I would ask around. Clients are now increasingly using the internet to get information about conveyancing services in advance of contacting a firm, even when business has been recommended or perhaps, more importantly, where the conveyancer has been referred.

Online is set to become the new high street, and smaller firms without a viable digital strategy will find it increasingly difficult to survive and thrive. Potential clients are looking for more in-depth and detailed understanding of the conveyancing process, what it entails, what to look out for, and any tips and advice before making key decisions.

Clients are able to read reviews, digest content (in multi-formats such as articles, blogs and video) and start conversations with people they’ve never met. And they want to do this when it suits them at any time of the day, night and/or weekends.

Be a good helper and encourage clients to buy your services.

Pricing and testimonials

Traditionally, law firms have performed poorly on pricing their services, notably in conveyancing

However, according to Richard Burcher, a legal services pricing consultant, if you increased
your turnover by 8 per cent (on, for example,
a net profit of 30 per cent) you would have achieved a 27 per cent increase in profit.

Clients want pricing certainty and budgetary predictability but it’s dubious as to whether they all want a Rolls Royce service.

What most firms offer is a one-size-fits-all approach when we should be considering minimum, maximum and in-between pricing.

Testimonials can help with firm differentiation: think about the last time you made a purchase on Amazon without first reading at least one review.

More so than ever, firms must be able to differentiate from their competitors in this manner, yet so few bother to include testimonials on their websites or in their marketing.

Google, however, loves testimonials. It sees it as positive proof that a particular company should be given more prominence in search results.

It isn’t easy, as clients are not comfortable
with the concept, but asking them to put a testimonial for your law firm directly on the
search engine means potential clients don’t have to navigate around your website. Better still, posting testimonials on specific profiles around
the web, for example local Google+ pages (formerly Google Places) is increasingly influential.

Castles and moats

American business magnate Warren Buffett looks for “economic castles protected by unbreachable moats”. The castle is the well-made business and the unbreachable moat is the strategy or market dynamic that “heightens the barriers to entry and makes it difficult or ideally impossible to compete with, or gain access to, the economic castle”.

In the internet age, the challenge for firms and their websites will be how to fend off other competitors and ABSs from gaining traction in their local, regional or national markets. If you visualise your law firm as a castle made up of staff, the brand, intellectual capital and existing clients, your moat should consist of search engine optimisation (key words and phrases strategy), social media and internet marketing techniques.

Content powers an online presence and attracts more potential clients; used strategically, it can help defend the castle. Think about it: helpful, high-quality content available from your firm but not others makes you the safe and trustworthy choice for conveyancing. This content is too precious to be farmed out to third-party suppliers, so be original. Find the time to do it as it will pay dividends in the end.

Also, don’t be afraid to display fees online. So few firms are bold enough to do this, worried that only competitors would check the pricing and >> >> offer £5 less to win the client. Consider whether an email request is an easy way for a potential client to get what they want – an online conveyancing calculator is surely an easier system.

Emotional equity

You will need to audit every single step of your business process. This means revisiting every single interaction with clients and potential clients to discover how to make their experience better.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, has an ‘empty chair’ at every meeting with his key staff. The empty chair is reserved for the customer so that the whole focus of meetings can concentrate on how the experience of the customer in the empty chair can be improved.

In spite of what still seems to be too many
lawyers’ opinions, the law is not a different business compared with others. Rules do apply, such as the law being a people business and firms existing because of the people and clients they serve. The way forward for firms is to embrace the tools that the internet gives them but also to return to old-fashioned values of client service that served previous generations so well.

The butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker all knew their customers’ backgrounds, conversed in real time about their lives and gave added value when it was most unexpected. Social media allows for the same.

Law firms need to secure the emotional equity
in their clients, as one of my social media heroes, Gary Vaynerchuk, would say. Clients don’t want a so-called ‘quality’ lip service and social media
offers an opportunity to be real.

Social media ROI

Firms often question what the return on investment (ROI) is on social media. The answer
is that social media is about humans and communication – and it takes time.

Social media has turned the world into a village again where people can communicate and interact one to one, it allows us to get closer to our clients as our grandfathers and great grandfathers did with their businesses: first-name terms, knowing their likes and dislikes, and demonstrably showing we care. Law firms, small or large, must make caring more scalable.

The cornerstones of what our businesses stood for and made them successful are probably more crucial in the ABS and digital age than ever before. Build your firm’s ethos and brand around ‘out caring’ the competition. Caring about your clients is imperative. If you do not, your firm will ultimately die out sooner or later.

Reaching out and listening to clients has never been easier in the digital age and the traditional means of telephone or face-to-face contact have never and will never go out of fashion or relevance.

Client acquisition is important but client retention is key; firms can often pay too much attention to client acquisition. We have been pretty useless in keeping in touch with our clients. However, if we keep them happy and loyal, it is possible to ring-fence against the marauding ABSs.

Internet meritocracy

The good news is that for most conveyancers, we, for now, still remain ahead of the game. Charles Darwin said: “It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”

Yes, the conveyancing landscape may well be dominated by ABSs and huge conveyancing factories, but the internet is a great enabler for smaller firms who are able to compete on a level playing field with their bigger counterparts. Innovative legal services can be quicker to market and be viewed by a greater audience. The internet is a true meritocracy where great content (and blogging is a great example) will attract a new audience for law firms.

Blogging is a wonderful marketing tool that works as part of an overall content strategy, and
it can catapult the firm into previously uncharted waters, leading to new business as well as retention of existing clients and unpaid-for referrals direct to your law firm website.

Smaller conveyancing firms can still choose to adapt and fight full-on the challenge from the bigger players, and ABSs, and have their destiny
in their own hands.

It is too risky a strategy to rely on your pool of existing clients and the fickleness of estate agents and conveyancing panels. We must be prepared to turn our law firms into media outlets for great legal content and ‘out care’ the likes of the Co-op, Saga and the AA.

Is there a future for smaller conveyancing law firms on the new digital high street? Gumshield in; gloves and business suit on. Seconds out. Ding ding. There definitely is. SJ

Paul Hajek is a solicitor and principal of Clutton Cox Solicitors