And after CRM comes RRM (referrer relationship management)
03 January 2012
It’s great firms are becoming more focussed on CRM, offering cross-selling opportunities internally and higher levels of service externally but what about referrers? Doug McPherson of Size 10 ½ Boots argues the need to manage referrers of work in an organised systemised fashion is equally – or, in some cases, more – important.
It finally seems as though the legal sector is waking up to the fact CRM is about relationships and a bit of good old-fashioned human interaction rather than software and data entry.
As a result I’d love to promote the fact that client retention and cross-selling opportunities have increased and that the clients themselves feel generally more cared for. Unfortunately I don’t have any hard data (and nor do those firms who still don’t offer any meaningful client review or satisfaction programmes to be fair) so let’s just say it’s just the impression that I get.
The only trouble is - with the focus on the client - who’s taking care of your referrers?
I think it’s still fair to say referrers are probably the single most productive source of new business open to law firms of any size and in any sector but I am aghast (literally … aghast enough to get my laptop out in fact!) that the majority of fee earners still rely on what’s in their heads to manage referrer relationships and nothing more scientific than instinct to measure the success of and return from each relationship.
It’s the idea of measurement that sometimes pushes referral relationship management (RRM) out of shot. With ‘new business’ it’s easy, you get the call saying you’ve got the job and everyone can see the result. But with referrers it works the opposite way – you don’t notice they’ve gone (most likely to one of your competitors) until the flow of work you took for granted stops.
I’d actually go further to try and explain the impact not taking care of referrers more actively will have on your business; I am confident enough to say in print that if your firm was to discontinue all of its advertising and sponsorship tomorrow, you’d notice a minimal difference to the level of new enquiries your firm generates.
However, if you were to discontinue all of your contact with your key referrers, the results would have severe repercussions on your pipeline almost immediately.
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