How People Find and Choose Their Lawyers

All buyers, regardless of sophistication, and whether they are buying candy bars, cars, or legal services, go through distinct stages in the buying process. You need to address them all.

Finding Lawyers
The “finding” or “information-gathering” phase begins before people decide to hire outside counsel. Most buyers start by calling people they trust. Our research shows they are equally likely to ask someone inside their company for referrals (42 percent begin this way) as they are to ask someone in an outside firm (41 percent). Only 21 percent of sophisticated legal buyers resort to legal directories. With them, Martindale-Hubbell is still by far the most popular—whether on-line or in print. To find the “right” lawyer, buyers also attend seminars, read ads, search the Web, and look for articles authored by individual lawyers—in firm-sponsored newsletters or independent media.

The list of candidates usually narrows to no more than three or four, though the shortlist may double if the matter is of “bet-your-company” status. However, once the shortlist is created, all candidates are functionally equal; that is, one candidate may have more appropriate experience, but the other may be more likable. One may have international offices, but another more industry experience. The finding or information-gathering process is predominately intellectual, but once all the variables are weighed and valued, the process becomes predominately emotional.

Research shows the most important factors in the finding process are: (1) expertise (prior experience with the same type of matter with positive results), (2) cost (not the lowest hourly rate, but the best value when all factors are considered), (3) the individual lawyer’s reputation, and (4) innovation (a fresh way of treating a routine matter, or an innovative approach to a complex one).

Other factors that buyers consider, which may be more or less important, include knowledge of the buyer’s industry and company, chemistry, firm reputation, billing practices, and client orientation. Some of these factors can be learned through brochures, newsletters, or other communications, while others require in-person meetings.

Choosing Lawyers
Typically, people make decisions only because they run out of time—the matter is urgent, supplies have run out, or the car is waiting. Think about your own decision-making behavior. At the decision point, because choices cannot usually be measured on the same scale and are therefore roughly equal, the buyer must make a predominately emotional decision. This important fact of buyer behavior is at the heart of all advertising and other marketing communication tools. You must make the buyer feel good about the decision he or she is about to make and feel good afterward. (You will learn how to achieve that in the section entitled, “What Works, and Why and How It Works.”)

Two factors dominate the process of finding and choosing a law firm: expertise in the pertinent area of law is usually the top criterion, and cost/value considerations rank second, becoming relatively more important in the selection stage. However, as the list of possible firms narrows, personal chemistry and law firm reputation move up the ladder of importance. In our research, the reputation of the firm became the most important factor for some (19 percent). That is not surprising, because those who regularly buy legal services often must justify their choices upstream to management. A strong firm reputation makes that chore decidedly easier.

Other important factors include individual lawyer reputation, knowledge of the buyer’s industry, firm location, billing practices, responsiveness, and prior experience with the firm. Notice that the factors are slightly different—and in a slightly different order—than in the finding stage. Some are surprised to learn that responsiveness is so far down the list. But responsiveness is, in marketing jargon, a “post-purchase evaluation”—something that cannot be measured until the service relationship begins. Studies show that prospective buyers consider lawyers responsive if they deliver brochures or other materials within forty-eight hours. To prove you are responsive, start being responsive right away. But beware of building a market position premised upon “responsiveness,” for two reasons: (1) every firm promises responsiveness, so the claim rings hollow, and (2) until you can control the behavior of every lawyer in the firm and are willing to punish unresponsive behavior, your claim remains at risk. Better never to make a promise that cannot be kept than to promise and fail.

Prior experience with the firm is also near the bottom of the list in choosing lawyers. That should terrify every lawyer—and with good reason. On average, companies with revenues between $100 million and $1 billion use fifteen firms, and those with revenues in excess of $1 billion use sixty-six firms! Your firm will always be competing with others who have a piece of the same business. So, marketers, remember that the best defense is a good offense: Keep in touch with clients through regular communication, preferably phone calls and letters, or newsletters and other communications.

Buyer’s Remorse
Anticipating the buyer’s emotions immediately after the sale is as important as understanding the emotions immediately before the sale. “Buyer’s remorse” is that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach—the fear that you made the wrong decision. Everyone goes through this stage, just as certainly as everyone goes through confusion in the finding and choosing stages. You can address this issue through reassurance programs. For example, soon after buying a car, you may have received a communication with some reassuring message such as, “Hope you’re liking your new Jeep Grand Cherokee. Come in after three months and get a free oil change.” This message really says, “You were smart to buy from us.” Sellers of legal services can benefit from programs like this as well. The reassurance can be simple, such as a letter or useful gift (perhaps a booklet with the direct-dial numbers for all the lawyers in the firm).

Why is all this detail about buying patterns important to the law firm marketer? Imagine your brochure to be a hammer and your ads a power sprayer. Imagine your newsletter to be a drill and your announcements, saws. Each tool has a defined use and does poorly at the job designed for another. Understanding buyers’ minds and habits allows you to understand and use your tools efficiently and precisely. For example, if you understand all the strategic uses of a firm brochure, you will recognize that many different brochures are possible—as many as there are types of hammers! Other businesses have known this for years and are sophisticated users of marketing tools. Lawyers are quick studies for learning the rules, but still far behind corporate America in both understanding and measuring their efforts.

More information about the book The Lawyer’s Guide to Marketing Your Practice, Second Edition

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