The coronavirus crisis is providing excellent grounds for firms to do law differently. We’re all being challenged to rethink the ways we engage with our clients and the kinds of services we offer.
A business pivot is about making a change to your business because your service isn’t meeting the needs of your market. Given the rapid rate at which so many aspects of the world just changed, making a pivot is probably something most of us need.
There are 3 areas you need to consider when pivoting your business:
- Your positioning
- Your solutions
- Your delivery
Positioning
Your positioning is the image that you create that tells prospective clients about who you are and what you do.
You might position yourself by practice area expertise; as being the go-to law firm for a certain regional area; by price or by the prestige of your brand.
Your positioning needs to be relevant to your clients, so when their circumstances change, so too should your positioning.
Take estate planning, for example. Lawyers need to be careful marketing wills in the context of COVID-19 so as not to be perceived as being insensitive or as taking advantage of bad fortune.
Solutions
Rather than selling time, lawyers should sell packaged solutions to their clients’ problems. Those solutions should be a direct response to clients’ problems, so once again, if the problems change, so too should the solutions.
When planning your pivot, spend time learning about your client’s problems. Think bigger than the legal issues here. How can you solve the whole problem, not just the legal part?
Delivery
Perhaps the most obvious pivot in the wake of COVID-19 is the need to pivot your delivery. New rules about social distancing and isolation probably mean that face-to-face meetings are off the cards. Consider how you can change the way you deliver services. Don’t just default to video conference in place of a meeting. Instead, think about how you can deliver services in a way that is useful but that also engages your clients and provides an enjoyable customer experience.
My challenge to you is to think about your positioning, solutions and delivery. What tweaks or pivots do you need to make to remain relevant, to remain front of mind and to see your business through?
Do you need some guidance, training, mentoring and accountability to help you implement your solutions, not just come up with ideas. Get in touch.
