One of the most basic marketing strategies for law firm is getting additional business from current clients – yet many fail at doing this effectively.

A recent research report from Hinge Marketing – Inside the Buyer’s Brain – showed the two main reasons for this failure:

• Most providers underestimate the demand from current clients for additional services.

• Most clients are unaware of all the services provided by their current provider.

Even if you have done a good job educating your clients about all the services you offer, they are human, likely busy, and may forget.  Hinge recommends deploying these 4 strategies to do a better job of erasing that disconnect:

Designate a dedicated relationship manager.  Usually the person responsible for managing the relationship is the same one responsible for managing the daily work.  What happens is that the long-term relationship management gets lost in the demands of the current workload.  Consider designating someone in the firm to be a dedicated relationship manager, working closely with the person who does the day-to-day work so he or she understands the client.

Integrate a formal review of potential issues into your client management process.  Provide your clients with a monthly review to determine if there are any issues or opportunities they should be aware of.

Look for opportunities where you can help.  With the formal review, you are likely to identify a number of issues.  Some the client can handle on their own; others may need your attention, whether it is something you can offer to handle for them or give them a referral to another professional they may need on their team.

Review issues and your suggested approaches with the client.  Rather than waiting for a client to come to you, be proactive in putting potential issues on the table and discuss how you are able to help as a valued partner, not as someone with a sales pitch.

While this approach will not work for every practice, it can be adapted for many clients.  It’s all part of micromanaging the client experience – if you take the time to really know your clients and the problems they are facing, you greatly increase your chances for repeat business.