It's personal

Law books are always a strain on the eyes. Pages packed with small print, which seems to be getting smaller as you grow older. The other day I realised that perhaps the print wasn't getting any smaller and maybe it was simply the case that I needed newer, more powerful lenses in my glasses.

For years I had obtained spectacles from Boots, who offered an all-singing, all-dancing eye test with fairly competitively priced frames. But then someone said to me: 'Why not go to Asda. They are so much cheaper, just as good and you won't regret it.' So off I went to a very large Asda store in North West London. My expectations were extremely low and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the facilities matched if not exceeded those of my local Boots store, and the price came in at approximately 50 per cent of my normal bill. The service was friendly, professional and there was no half-hearted attempt to sell me expensive designer frames which as we all know are made from exactly the same plastic as the cheaper frames.

So, why are we talking about spectacles? It's all to do with branding. Both Boots and Asda have a respectable brand. People go to them because of that branding. It is being suggested that with the introduction of alternative business structures solicitors are increasingly likely to be branded, and people will choose their solicitor on the basis of that branding. I am not so sure. The spectacle situation is so much different from most legal transactions. When buying a pair of glasses you pop into the shop for a test, choose your glasses and then pop in a week later to pick up the finished product and pay your bill. It is a two-appointment business. Nothing much happens in between there are no telephone conversations or email strings to slow the process down. A large amount of legal business is dynamic, fluid and needs several meetings. Clients often appreciate their solicitor most when they find them approachable, easy to contact and someone they can pour their heart out to. Whether it be divorce, litigation or even a complicated purchase and sale we are talking about countless telephone calls, emails and face-to-face meetings.

I have been contacted by a number of the organisations that are parading their 'brand'. There are now many players in this marketplace all attempting to stamp a brand on your notepaper or your shop window with the promise that if you are part of a well-known organisation people will flock to you. A bit like the way I found my way to Asda.

More than money

But I believe the vast majority of customers are looking for more than just price or brand. They are looking for a personal service. They are looking for someone who understands their problem and is able to talk to them about it in words they can understand. Once you start to break a matter up into component parts and insist that they do things in a certain manner you will start losing the trust of the client and with it all of the baggage that this involves.

I now realise that the best marketing tool that any solicitors' firm can have is a pleased client who will brag about how good their solicitor is to all their friends and acquaintances. Once you have done really well for a client they talk to people about you. They want their friends to know about you and the power of that kind of referral is worth more than any advertising budget.

Clients generally come to solicitors when they are at their wits' end. Either that or they have to do something that they simply cannot undertake themselves. They want somebody who can talk them through the process, iron out the problems and come up with a solution at a reasonable price.

That may mean that they are going to see that same old high street firm that their parents and friends have been approaching over the last 50 years. I regularly speak to people for whom I have done numerous transactions over the last 30 years and they would not dream of floating away to some anonymous brand that they have never heard of, they do not necessarily trust,

and they will not obtain the same level of service from.

The boutique high street firm is likely to live on. The reason for that is simple. We can provide the type of service that the client requires. The larger shops and superstores, which may come into existence with the introduction of alternative business structures, may pick up some of the smaller transactional work but it will never be suited to the more complex, emotional matters, which are the bread and butter of the work I do.

I also have the unique selling point of the friendliest legal labrador of them all!