How to Maintain Law Firm Profitability with Cross-Selling

For law firms that want to grow, maintaining profitability is essential. One way to maintain your law firm’s profitability is cross-selling. Let’s take a look at how you can cross-sell successfully.

Understand Client Needs

If your law firm works in multiple practice areas, it’s important that you understand how you can serve all of your client’s needs, not just the one’s you’re currently working on.  For example, a client who just filed bankruptcy may also need estate planning services. Or, a client who just filed for divorce may also need legal help on real estate contracts. You and your associates must stay aware about all of your client needs so that you can cross-sell them on different services you provide when the opportunity arises.

Create a Marketing System

You must have a marketing system that includes a focus on promoting your various legal services to your existing clients. Automating this marketing system is for the best so that you don’t have to spend too much time personally moving the various parts of your marketing apparatus forward.

• Cultivate awareness. Let your existing clients know about your different legal services by including a link in your email signature to information on your law firm website. Also, consider setting up three to four informational workshops each year about all of your legal services.
• Leverage social media marketing. Platforms like Facebook allow you to place ads that will appear in the newsfeed of people who type relevant keywords. This can be very effective in serving as a “touch point,” reminding potential clients that you have the legal services they need.
• Email Marketing. Consider starting a monthly or quarterly email newsletter to clients. Smokeball integrates directly with Campaign Monitor, one of the most popular email marketing clients available and syncs your client information from Smokeball so you can avoid duplicate entry.

Reward Client Sharing

Some attorneys may be reluctant to introduce their clients to other associates working in different practice areas. To combat client hoarding, you must be prepared to compensate associates who make client introductions across practice areas.

Develop Cross-Selling Infrastructure

Not every associate will naturally take to cross-selling so you may want to conduct cross-selling workshops that teach the skill. You should also put in place cross-selling infrastructure that makes the internal sharing of client contacts second nature. Here are a few things you should setup to encourage cross-selling.

• Track internal referrals. Keep track of internal referrals and report out on who made the most referrals during the year.
• Require monthly introductions. Require all of your associates to introduce an existing client to another associate in a different practice area each month.
• Conduct client/associate meet and greets. Set up client meet and greets several times a year so that existing clients can meet the associates at your law firm.

Focus on Your Most Profitable Clients

As your cross-selling program delivers results you will notice that some clients are more profitable than others. Focus on cultivating the most profitable client relationships and cross-selling them on as many of your legal services as possible and then keep track of your law firm insights in Smokeball.

One of the most effective ways to maintain your law firm’s profitability is cross-selling. Develop a cross-selling program that will reward associates for internal referrals and integrate cross-selling into your daily business activities.