T-147 Days and Counting – The Impact of ABS’s
Our first day began with a presentation by the former managing partner of Eversheds, Peter Scott (Peter Scott Consulting). Asking some tough questions about the impact of ABSs, such as “why would an investor put money into a law firm if the capital is just being used to support the lifestyle of the partners?”; “do business people understand law firms?” and “how do you incentivise new staff if they cannot be partners?”, Peter lead a debate on the idea of branding, questioning whether the majority law firms have a "brand" to sell at all, and we were all left to ponder “who will be our competitors after October 6th?”
Testimonials
The following are some of the nice things attendees at our 2011 conference said afterwards :-
"Many thanks to you and your team for an enjoyable two days - interesting and stimulating sessions and good company as always. The Conscious conference is definitely becoming a fixture in the calendar."
Managing Partner
"Just to say a big thanks to you and all the team for the conference.It was tremendous value for money and I came out of it with so many ideas and tips. I will definitely be back next year."
Partner
"As always it was good to meet up with the Conscious team and your other clients. As law firm marketers we don't get many opportunities to get out and talk to people going through similar things!"
Marketing Executive
"Just wanted to drop you line to say thank you to you and the team for hosting a fantastic conference. It hit all the spots – information, education, contacts....."
Client Services Director
Business Development Masterclass/Workshop
We continued with a Business Development Masterclass lead by Bernard Savage (Size Ten and a Half Boots), Darryn Hedges (Pace Partners International), Jonathan Winchester (Shopper Anonymous) and Paul Shrimpling (Remarkable Practice). Each offered some great advice on increasing sales, building relationships, selling selling to solicitors, being “lowd”, showing your worth to the firm, implementing cultural change and which metrics you should measure.
Panel Discussion – Referrals/Branding – What are the Various Models
Many guest’s highlight of the day was a debate on the different branding and referral models offered by Contact Law, High Street Lawyer, Quality Solicitors and Wigster, with Dan Watkins, Gary Yantin, Craig Holt and Nick Miller representing each firm respectively. The discussion focused on the merits and problems with each system, price sensitivity of clients, targeting the right demographic, quality of referrals, ease of access for potential clients to find your firm and size of footprint, fixed price servicing, and the power of brands.
Becoming the Go To Professional – What Makes Your Fee Earners Distinctive?
Steven Pearce (Steven Pearce Associates) conducted a motivating session on building your personal brand. Steven’s presenting was a joy to watch, and the advice on building the P’s of your personal brand was invaluable. Don’t forget that Steven kindly offered to provide more information for attendees, email him if you are interested.
Professional Collaborative Working
John Tucker (ICFIB) and Nick Smith (Veale Wasbrough Vizards) concluded the guest presentations with a discussion about collaborative working and how they have implemented this with great success for family-run businesses. They encouraged law firms to give up the “baton-passing” “relay-race” referral model and see providing services more like a rugby game, passing the ball back and forth, and moving forward together.
Mobile Websites
Need one - we think you do! More Internet users will be on mobile devices than desktops by 2015. Download the presentation.
SecureForms
Friday morning began with a discussion of our new SecureForms product. If you would like more information (or you were too hung-over to remember what was said) please contact us.
SugarCRM
Friday continued with the use of SugarCRM as a Customer Relationship Management solution for Law Firms, and the developments we have made in this area. For further information please contact us.
Product Development Roadmap
Finally we discussed the future requirements of all the firms present and how we can best provide solutions over the coming year. Your feedback is very valuable to us and will shape our product development to ensure we meet your needs.
Acknowledgements
Beep. Beep. Beep… A quiet alarm was barely audible over the chatter and clinking of glasses in the bar. Andrew checked his clock, it was 3:15am and the social was still going strong. “Well, we’ve beaten last year” he said, which summed up the entire conference very well. It’ll be a tough act to follow next year!
Many thanks to all those who attended the event, to the presenters, Coombe Abbey Hotel and to all those who helped with the preparation and follow up.
Please feel free to contact us should you require any further information on any of the topics covered, or if you would like to provide us with valuable feedback. Please do not contact us about the bar bill.