SolutionSellingLawFirmExample
The Law Firm/Golf Pro Case Study
Brymark.com wants to
break into the legal market and develop promotional product sales there.
Before calling a local
lawyer he knows slightly, a Brymark.com salesperson, Dale, ponders his next
move.
He can ‘cold call’ and
tell the prospective client nice things about Brymark.com like the fact that
Brymark.com has been in business for 25 years or that Brymark.com does a great
job on its QA. But Dale has tried this before and his success rate on cold
calling has been pretty low.
He’s heard about
‘Solution Selling’ from his boss, Mark, and he has been nodding his head every
time Mark talks about it but, in his heart, he knows he doesn’t really get
it—it sounds suspiciously like another one of these guru-driven, self help,
jargon filled consultant ‘thing’. Dale thinks about ‘Solution Selling’ that way
but can’t bring himself to hurt Mark’s feelings and tell him this.
Dale knows that
Canadian legal firms don’t much like to promote themselves; they are not like
American firms who shamelessly self promote on late night TV.
One thing that Mark
did say that is still ringing in Dale’s ears (Mark tends to make his points in
a forceful manner) is: don’t think about the client; think about the client’s
clients. So Dale starts doing that. Where do a law firm’s potential clients
actually come from; where do they hang out?
That’s where he gets
an idea—they hang out at golf courses, don’t they? This law firm has big
corporate types as current clients; so they would probably want more of that
type of business person as clients for their firm.
Dale plays golf too
and he is thinking about this new link (so to speak) between Brymark.com, the
law firm and golf. What if he went to his course and somehow pitched them on
handing out promotional material for the law firm. Would they do it? What type
of stuff would they hand out and what type of ‘political cover’ would be
appropriate so it doesn’t look too brassy? Law firms in
Dale can’t think of
anything so he puts the thought away and doesn’t
make the cold call that day. In frustration, he goes off to play … golf.
Dale Looking Good with Richard
and Friend
While at the club, Dale
sees his pal, Richard, the local golf pro. Dale goes into the Pro Shop because
he has forgotten his golf gloves and, darn it, he’s going to buy a new pair and
cheer himself up—he’s had a rotten week, sales have been sucking.
While in the Pro Shop,
he asks Richard how things are going. “Actually, it’s not been a great this
year, Dale,” says Richard. “Pro Shop sales are way down and the number of
teaching rounds are down too—there are just too many new golf courses being
built and the KJVIDVIKH Course that
opened this Spring is just down the street and they are killing us.”
Dale asks if Richard
is doing any marketing and Richard says he can’t really afford to do much.
“It’s kind of like a death spiral around here—business is down and we can’t
afford to do much marketing, and because we can’t do as much marketing as KJVIDVIKH is doing, business is down.”
That’s when it hits
Dale, here is the missing link. Dale gets excited. “What if I could get you
some promotional items free of charge with your name on it and announcing, say,
a sale on equipment or a special rate on teaching, would you give it out to the
golfers here and maybe hire some students to give it out at local offices where
golf is big?”
“Like what kind of
promotional items?” asks Richard.
“Well, they would have
to be classy and they would have to be things that folks would keep and that
they would see when they are planning their next golf outing. How about … mouse
pads? If we give them out, people will keep them on their desks at work or at
home. Every time they get frustrated, they can book a round of golf or come
here for some teaching—our mouse pads will have all the info they need and a
really nice picture of people playing here and having a great time and some
catchy line like ‘I’d rather be playing … golf’. Ha. Ha.”
“Well, that sounds
good, but aren’t mouse pads expensive and didn’t you say they would be free?” adds
Richard with a worried look.
“Well, there is
another half of the story—I am going to call a guy I know a bit at a local law
firm on Monday. Here’s what I am going to day: ‘I have a friend (you, Richard),
a real pro who will give out mouse pads to all his clients that co-promote his
Pro Shop, teaching and golf course with your legal firm. The law firm will be
discreetly mentioned on the mouse pad—your services and specialization. It’s a
good connection to have. Potential future clients will have on their desk next
to their PCs a mouse pad basically saying if you need legal work call
__________ and, to keep your perspective, go golfing too.”
“The law firm pays for
the mouse pads and you, my friend, are the delivery mechanism,” concludes Dale.
A couple of weeks
later, Dale is thinking about solution selling again and he thinks it would
have been a lot better if his manager, Mark, had not only told him about
solution selling but also given him a simple, straightforward example like the
one he has created for himself.
The law firm did agree
to purchase the mouse pads and they liked the fact that Richard would hand them
out to his clients. They nixed the idea though of hiring students and getting
them to hand out mouse pads to office workers—not dignified enough for them.
It doesn’t matter to
Dale, however, because he is working on extending the program to 17 other golf
pros in the area—they will all get free promotional items like mouse pads and
coasters—stuff that stays around and carries the twin messages of good golf and
clever legal work.
In fact, Dale is
working with Mark to come up with a Brymark.com Library of Solution Selling concepts; so the whole firm can use it
and grow much faster. Dale has realized that many clients have cupboards,
indeed, roomfuls of promotional stuff that never got delivered. He knows that
Brymark.com has to be thinking of not only Brymark.com’s clients but their
clients too. The latter is not only made up of the existing clients of
Brymark.com’s clients but the promotional items have to reach folks who are not
yet clients of Brymark.com’s clients too. So Dale and his firm need to be
thinking of three things:
- what is the right mix of promotional items
for their clients’ clients;
- how to deliver these items to their
clients’ clients;
- how to deliver them to future, prospective
clients of their clients too.
It isn’t easy but Dale
has a powerful new tool and he has noticed that not only is his success rate in
cold calling going up but the average sale is going up too in dollar terms—a
double whammy. He also has happier clients because their sales are going up as
well.
Dr. Bruce M.
Firestone,
http://www.dramatispersonae.org/GuerrillaMarketingAndFinance/GuerrillaMarketing.htm