Clear on value

Your company brand must clearly demonstrate value to the prospective client, now more than ever, in order to quickly build trust with them.

“The other thing that I believe will change is – business owners/executives trying to save more money and, therefore, asking themselves, ‘Do I really need a lawyer to look at this or can I DIY without losing control of risk?’ Lawyers will have to work harder than normal to demonstrate their ‘value’ and why they’re an important part of the organisation’s value chain.”

– LOD director Anthony Wright in Lawyers Weekly, ‘What 2021 will look like for legal tech and innovation’, by Jerome Doraisamy 22/10/20

Lawyers and other advisors are quickly having to adjust from a time when the value of their services was unquestioned, to a new world where finding new ways of doing things, at a cheaper cost, has become the main driver for business decision-makers.

Service businesses need to communicate clear value like never before, and this requires consideration of both business strategy and brand strategy. Advisory firms without strong expertise in these fields are at a disadvantage.

Clear on point of difference

How are you different from your competitors?

These days it’s unlikely to be because of new technology or pricing strategies – at least, not for long, as other firms get on board with implementing innovative ideas.

Your real point of difference as an advisory firm is more likely to be about your people – what they stand for as a collective, what strengths and value they bring as individuals, and how well they are able to connect, serve and build trust with clients. But how well are you communicating this in order to attract new business?

“Although positive word of mouth and strong referral networks have always been a good source of business for many practitioners, this pandemic has called into question how firms will attract new business moving forward… With many firms already signalling that they’ll continue to operate at least somewhat remotely, they will need to consider additional touchpoints beyond the traditional phone call or in-person meeting to secure new clients. This is what I foresee as being one of the most prominent challenges for practitioners moving forward – firms giving themselves a genuine competitive advantage that continues to bring new clients through the doors. I think one of the most undervalued ways to do this is through offering truly exceptional client service.”

– LEAP Australia CEO Donna Broadley in Lawyers Weekly, ‘What 2021 will look like for legal tech and innovation’, by Jerome Doraisamy 22/10/20

Your genuine and sustainable point of difference as a team of advisors will start with clarity on what you do in-house… but you must also find ways to make this outwardly visible and clear – such as ways to stay top of mind with existing clients and referral sources, and ways to demonstrate your point of difference to wider audiences online.

Clearly demonstrated through your people

We have seen that business growth comes from trust and visibility. For a brand to be trustworthy, it must be visible in the right ways – that means that what your team members do and say, in person and online, aligns with and reinforces what the company represents.

With so much more of business being executed virtually and online now, the ways your staff present themselves and communicate to others is amplified further. I’ve talked about some of the ways we learn about a company culture through online interactions in the current environment in talks and articles such as this one.

In my work with people on how they represent themselves and the company brand, I have found that gaps in brand alignment are usually to do with a lack of clarity on what the brand stands for. When team members are brought in on the process of clarifying brand values, they begin to embody the brand. In addition, developing confident personal brands is necessary to empower and motivate staff to build trust with stakeholders through everything they say and do.

From collaboration to client service to networking to online thought leadership, your advisors and wider staff have the opportunity to demonstrate confident professionalism united with a clear company brand. Developing a cohesive team of trusted advisors is an edge that will encourage business growth beyond 2020.

References

https://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/newlaw/29766-what-2021-will-look-like-for-legal-tech-and-innovation

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Takeaways from discussion on BD strategy for 2021 (relevant to all advisory areas)

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From Brendon Burchard to Vishen Lakhiani, I love hearing highly successful business speakers talk about what motivates them to achieve more than the average person. As far as I know, there aren’t too many exceptions to the rule ‘Get clear on what you want to achieve, and work out a plan to get there.’

From over 20 years in 3 different careers and running two very different businesses, I have found it essential to my success to get clear on the following 5 areas:

1. Vision / Purpose

Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you gooey, feel-good stuff here. I just mean: How do you see your ideal life and what is the reason behind doing what you do?

Ok, not ‘just’. These are BIG questions, but stunningly rewarding if you do the hard yards and figure out the answers for yourself. There are some great exercises and workshops out there to help you do this both for yourself and your team/organisation.

2. Values-aligned Goals

Now you know the ultimate dream and why it matters, can you break that up into some achievable goals? I’m not going to go into how to do goal-setting as I know you’ve heard it all before. All I will say, is make sure that what you are striving for is because it matters to you. Take time to get clear on what you really care about right now, beyond the clichés, ‘work/life balance’ or the obvious, ‘family’… you might surprise yourself when you get a little more specific. (If you don’t know how to do this, ask me about the confronting but powerful ‘What do you want?’ exercise, or check out some of the suggestions below.)

3. The Roadmap from A to B, and Today’s VITs (Very Important Tasks)

Now you have some exciting goals that really matter to you, how will you reverse-engineer the end point do find out what you need to do today? Map out the big milestones, and break them into smaller action steps. If you don’t know how to get there, find out. That’s the easy bit.

Then you have to actually do the tasks, and for me (as someone who shirks routine and ‘have-to’s’) this means writing down in big bold letters what my most important tasks are today. My non-negotiables. The needle-movers. Not the purposeless paper-shuffling and email-grazing that makes you feel busy and important for a little while.

4. How you describe your Brand

Whether it’s your business or personal brand, you need to know exactly how to introduce it to others with the perfect words to make an impact and spark curiosity. This may mean a confident description that sets you up as an expert, or it may mean getting to the heart of what you are passionate about making a difference in… but it never means doing a sales pitch on someone after shaking their hand for the first time.

I’m always amazed at how quickly I get rusty on my own business introduction. After a long break over Christmas, this week I found myself waffling at a coffee meeting with a new contact when she asked me to describe what I do. Huh?? I know what I do! And what’s more, I know why it matters! And yet, not taking adequate time to refresh on what my most important message is, before my meeting, meant I was not as clear as I should have been. I saw my companion’s eyes start to drift, along with her thoughts. Fair enough. But quite possibly a wasted opportunity for me!

5. Your Sales Process

As I described in my last article, getting clear on an exact process for moving prospects to new clients and then to long-term clients was a game-changer for me. Finding a process that is natural and right for everyone involved, yet equally clear and systemised, is vastly different from trying to ‘up-sell’ people or squeeze more out of them! Here’s a tip: Create a map that starts with the customer’s main NEED and produce a flow chart that takes them through a free option, a level 1 option, a stepping-stone (e.g. an assessment piece that comes out of the level 1 option), and then a level 2 option. The key to this is beginning with the end in mind.

If you are a consultant or advisor, ensure you have a process of creating proposals that involves your client at every step. It’s a journey you take together.

Tools to get clear

Within these 5 essential areas for clarity, I’ve already hinted at some ways you can begin to get clear on what you are trying to achieve. In addition to this, it’s worth pointing out that there is huge power in taking time out to get quiet and reflect – though this is so often underestimated and pushed aside.

I schedule quarterly ‘retreats’ (not necessarily away on holiday!) for taking time out of my business to reflect and brainstorm. The ‘writing on the wall’ was one such time. Some of my favourite activities for reflection include:

• Writing BIG on a whiteboard or large pieces of paper
• Listing
• Creating flow charts or diagrams by hand
• Journaling (either answering a question or a free-flow ‘brain dump’)
• Meditating on particular questions (Not mysterious. Simply getting quiet, breathing mindfully, asking myself a question, and waiting… sort of listening, while continuing to breathe. The more you practice this the quicker the answers come and the less weird it feels!)
• Taking my lunch break to run on the treadmill or walk on the beach and let my mind just unravel

Sometimes when I read advice like what’s in this article, I become overwhelmed by how much there is to do. I hope that is not how you feel, but if you do, be assured that what I have listed above has come from my own tried and tested experience along with learning from some real sages out there… and you don’t have to do everything right now; you can start anywhere.

The most important point, really, is to ask yourself: How intentional am I… in how I set up my year, my week, my day, this project, this meeting, this hour? What is it I am trying to achieve exactly, and what will it take to get there?

Wishing you a clear vision for success in 2020!

Related material

Clarity is key – Part 1

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