Getting Dressed for Success Starts with Your Client Data: Learn how to Leverage Legal Tech for Customer Success
By LexisNexis InterAction+
May 10, 2024
“I'm gonna get dressed for success” – a line from the famous Swedish pop band Roxette comes to my mind when I think of ways and means of becoming (and staying) successful.
In the legal industry, dressing for success goes beyond donning fancy suits or professional attire. It's about equipping your firm with the right tools to streamline operations and deliver exceptional client experiences. Just as a Formula 1 driver needs a high-performance car and a skilled pit crew to win races, law firms must leverage cutting-edge legal technology and harness the power of client data to outpace their competitors.
Implementing a professional Client Relationship Management (CRM) system is akin to securing pole position in a race. It gives your firm a head start by providing a centralized repository for client information, enabling seamless collaboration, and facilitating data-driven decision-making. With a legal CRM, you can identify opportunities for cross-selling, anticipate client needs, and proactively address potential challenges, ultimately driving client success and loyalty. Request a legal CRM demo today.
Prevailing in the competitive legal market is a race against time, economic uncertainties, geopolitical tensions, and evolving client demands. To navigate these pitfalls successfully, firms must meticulously examine every obstacle and identify factors within their control. By leveraging legal technology and harnessing client data, firms can gain valuable insights, streamline processes, and make informed decisions that directly impact client satisfaction and long-term success.
Each year, InterAction+ partners with the Hinge Research Institute who publishes the legal industry breakout report, High Growth Study. This is the largest study of its kind researching the marketing behaviors of the fastest growing professional services firms. The 2024 report is out now, InterAction customers should check their email inbox. Here are some quick takeaways from the new report:
To download the 2024 High Growth Study, click here.
Dressing for success in 2024 means that firms must consider the best mix of distinctive characteristics from the categories above. In fact, over one-third of high-growth firms in 2024 have seen a positive return. Most firms are indistinguishable to potential clients, dress the part to stand out.
A robust legal CRM is now a necessity for all law firms as it equips your office with the tools to capture data about prospects and clients, make sense of it, and share it with key decision makers. Of course, not all CRM technologies are the same. Firms should seek CRM solutions that are designed with the legal industry in mind and that fits your business development and marketing programs.
To appreciate the essential role CRM plays, consider its varied capabilities–whether in targeting contacts, tracking their activities, assigning them to projects such as BD and marketing measures, pitches and their involvement in matters and the resulting turnover. However, CRM is not limited to managing data related to external contacts for BD purposes. The CRM system not only records contact data, but also case histories, communication preferences and communication processes. This facilitates recognising individual needs and adapting the service accordingly.
The automation of routine tasks, such as the documentation of appointments and phone calls or the assignment of tasks and tracking of deadlines, provides lawyers with more time for their clients and the actual legal work. In addition to, respectively rather by reducing the workload of the team, this increases efficiency and ultimately the success of the law firm.
A major advantage of professional CRM systems lies in the improved analysis of data. With the help of analyses and reports, law firms can recognise patterns, identify trends, and adapt their strategies accordingly. This not only facilitates decision-making, but also enables a proactive approach to potential challenges. Staffing projects and pitches based on tracked experiences gained in previous matters rather than with focus on mutual affinity between team members, can also add a competitive edge.
You might even use CRM data when evaluating your junior lawyers on their partner track. Are they involved in BD initiatives and marketing efforts? Are they developing strong relationships with contacts at clients and prospects? Even professional development can be mapped using CRM data if, for example, training programmes are recorded as initiatives and participation is documented in CRM. This provides a comprehensive profile that can be used to assess potential opportunities for a successful partnership with one or the other young professionals.
To summarise, the use of a CRM system for law firms not only represents a technological innovation that can modernize your practice but also makes a significant contribution to increasing efficiency and success. The targeted cultivation of client relationships, the automation of work processes and data-based analytics create the necessary edge for lawyers in a highly competitive environment – regardless of the clothes you wear.
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Christine Kaiser During more than 25 years of professional experience in international law firms, Christine has gained substantial user experience with InterAction. From being a user assisting partners and their legal team, later a power user dealing with Marketing and Business Development work, she finally had the chance as interim CRM manager to roll out the CRM solution in a German major law firm with more than 400 users. Thus prepared, she started in June 2022 as Client Advisor Europe at LexisNexis InterAction and contributes her broad expertise in supporting continental European and South African clients in the strategic use of the system, working closely with Marketing and Business Development teams developing strategies to support the entire client lifecycle, leveraging the capabilities of InterAction to streamline processes and increase efficiency. She also provides guidance and support to ensure that users are able to effectively utilise the technology and make informed, data-driven decisions. |