Winning Legal Business from Medium Sized Companies

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be given a review copy of my good friends new book: Winning Legal Business from Medium Sized Companies (Ark, 2011). Silvia Hodges, PhD, teaches marketing and management at Fordham Law School in New York and in fact, based this book on her PhD research into the legal buying behavior of medium sized companies. The book covers 8 chapters:

• Chapter 1 – Introduction
• Chapter 2 – How do medium sized companies know what legal advice they need?
• Chapter 3 – How do medium sized companies search for law firms?
• Chapter 4 -How do medium sized companies evaluate law firms they don't know?
• Chapter 5 – How do medium sized companies select law firms?
• Chapter 6 - How do medium sized companies evaluate legal service delivery?
• Chapter 7 – Marketing to medium sized companies-strategy
• Chapter 8 - Marketing to medium sized companies-instruments

The book also has some useful appendices, such as a sample marketing plan and marketing assessment checklist.

There are several things which I really like about this book. Firstly, it is based upon rigorous academic research into the preferences and behaviors of medium sized companies, an area of study sorely lacking for what is such an important market for many law firms. Too many publications you see on the marketing of law firms rely too heavily on anecdotes or strategies aimed at large legal buyers which as Hodges shows, may not be appropriate to the medium sized company who couldn't care less about the size of your promotional budget. It was interesting to note the number of top management involved in the purchase of legal services despite these companies having in house legal departments, especially when compared to the buying behavior of larger companies. Another aspect I wholeheartedly agree with is the focus on strategy and making sure marketing and BD are embedded within the firm. This is something I go on endlessly about as it seems far too many law firms jump straight to marketing tactics without any real consideration of their value proposition and how they can truly differentiate themselves. It seems to be more of a 'business is not great, we better get out there a bit more, I know – let's give our partners some sales training'!

Chapter 8 is a particularly insightful chapter as it explains the various tactics available to a law firm. It explains the problems with many common law firm marketing tools (such as lunches, newsletters, brochures, sponsorship etc) particularly in the light of trying to reach decision makers in medium sized companies.

Overall this book offers a distinct and unique approach to law firm marketing, in terms of targeting medium sized companies, that is rarely seen in other similar publications. It is pragmatic whilst mixing in academic theory judicially and seeing whether the existing views support the research carried out by Hodges. If the medium sized market is important for you, I suggest you digest what this book has to say!