July 20, 2006
The Myth that Companies Hire Attorneys, Not Law Firms
There it was again! I was reading the current issue of the ABA Journal and there it was—the old myth: “Companies hire lawyers, as apposed to law firms.”
It isn’t always true. Companies, in particular, look for companies to do business with. Law firms have a life beyond the attorney. Law firms have organizational depth. Law firms have reputations that go beyond the resume of an individual attorney. Companies negotiate engagements with law firms not with individual attorneys.
What does occur is that a dependency and trust develops between the company’s representative and the individual lawyer that they deal with. Thus, when clients are given the choice of following a departing attorney or staying with the existing law firm, some will elect to stick with who they know. Departing attorneys are always surprised, however, by how many of those clients elect not to follow them.
The legal profession compels its participants to cooperate during separation so as to respect the client’s right to choose their representation. Given that professional mindset, many attorneys would be surprised to find that some business clients consider such separation and competition for their business as an act of disloyalty. In the commercial world, employers don’t play nice with departing employees who intend to compete.
In the commercial world there is a similar myth. It is the mantra “first you sell yourself, then your company and finally the product.” It, too, is a myth. I once had a very important senior partner tell me that he didn’t have time to talk to a salesperson and besides, “when we decide to do something, we will already know what we want to buy and the company we want to buy it from.”
It is clearly true that the lawyer and salesperson has to sell themselves to win the business, but often it is the image and reputation of the organization that gives them the opportunity to do so.
Yes, relationship building is extraordinarily important—in many cases, essential. It leads to business; but don’t kid yourself, you always represent a law firm. For most business buyers that is the important part of the mix. When you can add to that, a law firm representative [the attorney] that the prospect feels comfortable working with, then you have the winning formula.
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Filed under Marketing by Tom Collins