Client-focus marketing is all the rage. I preach it myself, because I truly believe in it. If a law firm’s marketing strategy is really focused on the best interests of the client, it will ultimately come back to them in spades. But the motive can’t be for gain to the firm vs. what’s best for the client. It must honestly be the latter.
The trouble I fear is that too many firms are more interested in how they will gain from acting like they are focused on the client. On this point there is a very good article by Charles Green at Trusted Advisor Associates. He refers to this type of client-focus as the “focus of a vulture.” Pretty strong words. He goes on to say it is a question of trust:
“We trust those we believe to have our interests at heart, and we distrust those we believe to have their interests at heart. But we partiuclarly distrust those who pretend to be the former, while behaving like the latter.”
He argues that the lack of trust is the basis for the breakdown in the relationship between physicians and pharmaceutical reps as the drug companies sought bigger and bigger profits. Interesting tale he tells. He concludes:
“The good news is the field is wide open for firms willing to practice what everyone else only preaches – serving the client, believing that to do so will ultimately return more than the self-serving, narrowly calculating strategies of the vulture can ever hope to do.”
Good stuff there, and well worth a read.