As the legal industry continues to shift in response to market forces, law firms are creating roles focused on business development and retention. One of those is of “Client Services Director.” These professionals typically concentrate on helping the firm’s attorneys, who are their internal clients, increase their business.
Candace Gill, Client Services Director at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, says her passion “is helping those around me succeed; colleagues, team members, clients, partners; that’s where I bring the most value.”
In her new role, in which she has serviced the Baltimore/Wilmington, DE markets for two months, Candace gets to express another passion -- business development and retention. Candace, who holds a degree from the University of South Carolina in Journalism and Mass Communications, helps attorneys take the collateral created by the firm’s marketing team and effectively use it to position themselves in the minds of current and prospective clients. The focus is on helping individual attorneys provide the best services to their clients.
“We listen to our internal clients, the attorneys, and, using our knowledge and past experiences, help put them in the best position to develop additional and stronger client relationships,” she explains. But, to do that effectively, she believes client services professionals must care about what drives people professionally and personally. That means learning what objectives they have for the firm and their career, if they’re internal clients, and for their company if they’re external ones, and helping them achieve their goals.
It’s also a matter of getting teams across functions to work together to serve client needs. “After we identify what the best prospects for attorneys are based on their goals, we do a whole build-out of a marketing program,” she says. “That involves working with marketing to create target lists and strategizing about initiating or advancing conversations with current and prospective clients to bring new relationships to fruition and deepen existing client relationships.”
This also can involve identifying the organizations that the client is a member of and having attorneys join those that align with the attorney’s own personal or professional goals, she says.
While Candace works integrally with the marketing team, her job often doesn’t entail direct contact with external clients. Instead, she helps coordinate the kind of pitch materials that might make sense based on what the marketing team knows about the client based on research about them and their needs. “We also identify where else we have connections, learn about the external client’s business and kind of how we can align with where their business is going,” she says.
Candace said the most effective client services professionals do what they can to help their clients grow. In terms of the firm’s external clients, Candace suggests that client services teams take a psychographic perspective. “Look at what’s driving that company, its CEO and its team to make their decisions to understand how you can help them get where they need to be,” she says.
“The key is empathy,” she continues. “Build rapport or credibility by learning more about the motivation behind what they’re asking you for or to do. Listen to people, listen to what they’re saying, help them realize their goal and gain more trust by showing them that you’ve helped people like them before.”
And, from a business development standpoint, it’s still key for firms to identify why they’re different and how they can add value to their client’s business in ways that other firms can’t. “The more we can be really clear about what we’re best at and why we’re better than anyone else at what we do, the better we can serve our clients,” she says.
Among the trends in the profession and legal industry Candace sees is the push for more engagement via technology and content marketing.
“Law firms and their attorneys should be using social media to reach out to clients,” she says. She suggests that attorneys and client services professionals connect with current and prospective clients on LinkedIn and that firms use technology like InsideView to track interactions and manage the sales and marketing process.
Another trend in client services she sees involves professionals, “establishing that role as a trusted adviser in the firm, being solutions-oriented, listening to needs and providing solutions to meet those needs,” she states. By listening and engaging with attorneys, “You pick up on things that are really important to them,” Candace adds.
But, she says, in doing so, you have to fight the urge to do everything for everyone in the firm. “Think strategically about your role and relationships and set a precedent for how you will interact efficiently with attorneys and team members,” she says.
That’s where she finds value in LMA.
“It goes back to having colleagues who understand what you're going through and what challenges you might come across as well as what's really exciting and rewarding about what you do.” Candace says that after attending a holiday party, where she stayed longer than she’d intended and grabbed dinner with a colleague afterwards, this experience made her feel supported. And, she looks forward to becoming more involved with the organization, particularly as she grows in her new role.
By Dahna M. Chandler, Principal, Audience First Communications, Inc. for the November/December 2015 Capital Ideas Newsletter