Is your estate planning law firm properly positioned in your marketplace? Positioning a law firm requires you to take a step back and answer some important questions. You may think you know your firm and your marketplace, but have you considered their relationship? That’ positioning.
1–Do you want to target a specific type of client to serve? Get more granular than just looking at asset levels. For example, does your community include a group of professionals who would be excellent clients? What kind of professionals are they? If your practice is located in a market with a lot of high earners in banking and finance, you will want to position your practice differently than if you are in a community of policy wonks and lobbyists. In other words, are you in Manhattan or Washington DC?
2—Who is in your practice already? Take a look at your client list. Are there groups of people that share a common occupation or belong to a social organization or charity? You may have already developed a position without knowing it. Is it the one that you want? If your client list includes twenty people who all belong to the same professional organization, is that a group you want to focus on and expand?
3—Do you have a position statement? Much like a mission statement, a position statement defines how you want clients to think of your firm. You’ll want to look at your competitors to see how they have positioned themselves. Your position statement should be different, because you are different. It needs to be positive, include a value statement and showcase your strengths. Now, boil it down to two sentences or a phrase.
4—Be real and be specific. Use your positioning statement to convey what you do, what matters to your firm, and how you help clients. Don’t fall back on buzz words or jargon. No, it’s not easy to do this, but it will help you to clearly convey why your firm is different and why clients should chose your firm instead of any other estate planning practice.