InsideLegal

ALA Session Spotlight: Vendors are not the enemy!

Over the last few years, it seems that the divide between vendors and firms has grown.  For example, at last year's ILTA annual conference, I heard two attendees talking and one noting what a great conference it was to which the other one replied that it would be if it weren't for all the "damn vendors". I was quite shocked to hear this since ILTA is known for having the least separation between the attendees and the exhibitors at the shows.  I can say that from my point of view, I can clearly see both sides of this argument.  Based on this backdrop, it was very refreshing to see ALA offering a session for their attendees entitled, "Vendors are not the enemy".

The message of fostering healthy, friendly, and most importantly, mutually beneficial professional relationships between legal vendors and law firms was the main theme and it drew a crowd of over 90 administrator attendees.  The panel consisted of both administrators as well as a vendor, which was really effective in discussing both sides of the relationship.  The panelists were Patti Lane (Moderator), Administrator of McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP; Lisa Neitzel, Administrator of Balisle & Roberson, S.C.; Marshall Fletcher, Business Development Director of All-State Legal; and Michael Stephens, Director of Human Resources Operations for Alson + Bird, LLP. The session covered a slew of topics related to vendor-firm partnerships and relations. Here are some highlights:

Existing Relationships

Truly successful relationships operate like partnerships and are beneficial to both sides. The administrators on the panel discussed that they have a few choice vendors that they have built a trusting relationship with and that they are always the first companies they reach out to.  In addition to positive past experiences, those chosen vendors step above the typical vendor relationship and offer more assistance in planning, goal setting and are good communicators.

Selecting Vendors

Another portion of the program focused on selecting vendors.  This is typically where the problems with the vendor-firm relationship begin.  The attendees talked about what it is like to try to field all the incoming sales attempts from the vendor community - cold calls, direct mail, and "drive bys".  We were shocked to hear that vendors would actually drop by law firms unannounced expecting to get an audience with an administrator!  As you can imagine, this type of approach in sales doesn't exactly start the relationship off on the right foot. 

As vendors, it is important to think beyond the immediate sale and work on building a last relationship instead.  Think about their workload when setting up cold call programs, emailing to setup appointments at shows, etc.  In return, law firms need to understand the vendor's position as well.  One of the biggest frustrations on the vendor front is reaching out to law firms and never getting a response.  It is important for law firms to return calls even if the answer is "no" - especially when the answer is no!

"Inherited" Relationships

Another big problem the administrators discussed was problems with "inherited" vendor relationships.  It seems that most administrators deal with at least one vendor that was either there before they joined the firm or has a connection to a partner, etc. that makes them "untouchable".  We heard quite a few stories about their insurance vendor being the Managing Partner's brother and have to navigate issues that arise from those situations.  Remember, when firms seem hesitant to speak with you about your product or service, sometimes there are extenuating circumstances.

Sales Process

We will focus on this topic a bit more in future posts, but one thing that was addressed numerous times in this discussion was RFPs.  The administrators on the panel gave advice to their peers about being realistic with RFPs and think of the amount of work that goes into responding to them.  Also, when asked about a fair deadline for responding, 30-45 days seemed to be the consensus, obviously depending on the intricate nature of the proposal required.

Moving Forward

It is important for the vendor community to think long-term when planning their sales plans to target law firms.  It is in no one's interest for this separation to grow and to further divide the vendors from the firms.  Last year, ILTA created Vendor Guidelines to ensure that vendors were respectful when reaching out to their members and ALA has a similar Code of Conduct. 

Many thanks to ALA and the panelists for being the first (that we know of) to offer this program and for the way they examined both sides of the argument to shed light on the vendor's position to their administrator audience.  It will be nice to see if other shows learn from this and offer this session to their own audiences.  Also, as a parting note, I was surprised that I only saw about 2-3 vendors in attendance at the session.  Perhaps in the future, that number will increase. 

PMAs: People You Ought to Know

[This post is the first in our series of expert guests' posts for InsideLegal.  Thanks to Laura Calloway for taking the time to let us in on how vendors can work more effectively with bar associations!]

What in the world is a PMA?  In this age of acronyms, PMA is an especially useful one to know if you market to the legal community.

Background
PMA stands for Practice Management Advisor.  It’s not always an official job title (although it can be), but has come to be used within our community as a generic term to describe someone who works for a national, state, county, local or specialty bar association; a provincial law society or a mandatory professional liability insurance fund and provides information on law practice management to the association's members. 

As such, PMAs come in many flavors.  They may be directors of law offices or practice management assistance programs created by their bar associations while some are directors of ethics and professionalism programs.  Some are member benefit directors while others provide risk-management information.  Some have been practicing attorneys, some are trained and have worked as legal administrators and others have backgrounds as diverse as accountants or school teachers, but the common denominator is that all are committed to educating their members about best practices in the modern law office.  They believe that they best way to increase the quality of legal services provided by their members is to help those lawyers better manage their firms.

With the recent addition of programs at the North Carolina and Vermont state bars, there are now 27 organizations which now provide some sort of vehicle for making sure their members are able to obtain this type of information. 

PMA Services
So how can knowing the PMAs help you and your company?

While each PMA has his or her own special interests, skills and channels for delivery of information, they are all committed to being aware of and knowledgeable about products and services in the four major practice-management areas (finance, management, marketing and technology) that can improve their members’ practices – both the delivery of services and the bottom line. They do one-on-one consulting with their members, organize solo & small firm conferences, manage legal expos and organize and speak at continuing legal education programs for their own associations and others.  Thus, they are a great way for you to both determine the needs of the legal community and to make the members of that community aware of what you have to offer.  PMAs keep their ears to the ground, and they are always interested in knowing what’s new that will help law firms get their work done better, more easily, more cheaply, or all three at once.

Partnering with PMAs
The best way to work with a PMA is the best way to work with any customer or client - get to know them, build a relationship with them and understand the job they do.  Like most legal professionals, they’ve usually got more work than they have hours in the day in which to accomplish it.  They are always on the go, but are more than willing to stand still long enough to pick up information that will help them do their jobs better.

A good opportunity to get to know them is at ABA TECHSHOW.  Since most of them attend every year, they generally gather the day before to renew friendships and swap information about their programs and what they’ve been doing to advance their shared cause since we last met.  They also use TECHSHOW as an opportunity to meet as many legal vendors as possible and learn what’s new.

Be prepared when you call them to come to the point quickly.  They’re accustomed to gathering information about products and services for lawyers, so if they haven’t heard of your company they are still probably aware of the type of products or services you provide.  If they’re not, they’ll tell you so.

Tell them what you’d like for them to do to help you.  Sometimes they can help and sometimes they can’t, but either way it helps if they understand what you hope to accomplish through a strategic relationship with their organization.  And understand that some PMAs are the ultimate decision maker – and some aren’t.  Whenever possible, they’ll do what we can to get you to the right person if they think your offering would benefit their members.

Be willing to provide them with samples and product literature.  They can speak much more authoritatively about your product or service if they’ve actually experienced it.  Many PMAs operate computer labs where their members can get a “hands on” look at your products.  Some PMAs are trainers and some of them don’t do anything more than pass out information to their members.  So understand that their programs are very different and what may work in one state or with one association may not work with another.

Most importantly, be available to answer their questions.  Nothing enhances their credibility with their members like being able to respond to their questions about your products and services.  And this pays off for all of us.

About Laura Calloway …     Laura Calloway is the Director of the Practice Management Assistance Program at the Alabama State Bar.  In addition to being a member of the ABA Law Practice Management Section's Practice Management Advisors Committee, she is Chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2009.

ALA's Educational Program for Exhibitors

The ALA Annual Conference is underway today in Seattle.  We'll have more details to come on the conference, but we wanted to highlight the exhibitor-tailored program they are hosting Tuesday afternoon.

For years (this is my 9th ALA!), ALA has had an hour session for vendors on Tuesday afternoon during the show break.  I attended a few times in the past, but it was the type of session that was mostly for newer vendors, so once you heard it there wasn't much reason to go back the next year.  As of last year, that changed.  They are working in conjunction with the vendor advisory panel and the Tuesday exhibitor session has turned into an extremely valuable opportunity for vendors to find out more about ALA and how to maximize their ALA exposure.

Here's the breakdown on this year's session called "Business Partner Bistro", being held Tuesday, May 6th from 2:15-3:45 PST in Rooms 3 A/B in the Washington State Convention Center:

"Please join ALA's Vendor Relations Committee, Vendor Advisory Panel and Regional Projects Officers for refreshments, networking and round table discussions.  The idea exchange topics were selected based on issues YOU expressed interest in discussing...

• Maximizing Your Advertising Experience
• Understanding ALA's Trade show and Members
• ALA Regional and Chapter Opportunities
• A Live Chat with Administrators

Facilitators include administrators, ALA staff and fellow exhibitors.

Jim Dow, Chief Real Estate & Facilities Officer for Latham & Watkins, LLP, with more than 2,100 attorneys in offices in 11 countries around the globe, will present "Purchase Trends in the Legal Industry".

Exhibitors who attend will receive the 2008 edition of the booklet titled, "Resources for ALA's Business Partners".  This booklet includes demographic information by region, information on speaking at ALA events, writing for ALA's publications and more!"

This is also a great opportunity to meet Katie Roski, ALA's new Exhibit and Sponsorships Manager.  See you there!

ARMA's New Legal Technologies Symposium to be held in October

ARMA, the association of records and information management professionals, has announced a new area on their expo floor of their Annual Conference & Expo to be held October 20-23 in Las Vegas.  The Legal Technologies Symposium will be an expo-within-an-expo and will be targeted towards their legal, IT and records management attendees.  The area will consist of exhibitor space (about 26 booths), hands-on workshop sessions and vendor panel sessions - both of which can be sponsored by vendors.  The conference will draw 4-5k attendees and 200-220 vendors.

More Information:

Current list of all 2008 exhibitors

Conference floorplan (note Legal Technologies Symposium on left)

For more information, contact Elizabeth Zlitni, the Exposition Manager at ARMA at 888.279.7378.  She will also provide you with a list of the titles and companies of attendees from the 2007 conference to give you a better idea if it's a fit for your company.

Demystifying Roadshows

The term “road show” conjures images of rocks stars and back stage parties.  In actuality, marketing and sales road shows, which have been a popular marketing tool utilized in Australia and Europe for quite some time, are now also gaining more popularity in the United States.  Until recently, most road shows held in the United States were strictly for investor relations.

For face-to-face marketing on a grand scale, there is no greater vehicle than a tradeshow.  Large industry trade shows allow companies to reach thousands of prospects in just a couple of days.  Sometimes the number of leads from a large show can be overwhelming and it becomes a chore picking through all the contacts to get to the ones that are a qualified prospect.  Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way to bring pre-qualified leads directly to you?  There is.  Road shows differ from tradeshows in that they focus on a much smaller, targeted audience and allow for a much more in-depth presentation.  Road shows can be multi-city events that enable your company to reach pre-qualified prospects and serve as a supplement to your trade show program. 

As in any successful marketing endeavor, the first step should be to determine what you would like to gain from your road show program and, equally importantly, what benefit you can offer to your attendees.  Begin by deciding what type of road show will best fit your goal.

There are two types of sales and marketing road shows – for new prospects and for your client-base.  Goals for a client-focused road show could include the following: 

• More referenceable clients
• Develop stronger relationships with clients
• Collect research/customer feedback
• Generate add-on sales “leads” from client base
• Increase awareness of range of products and services
• Cross selling of products and services
• Introduce key decision-makers from firms to your executives
• Educate client base to your vision and direction in a controlled environment

Goals for a prospect road show could include:

• SALES!  Create interest in your product/service
• Build market awareness of your product/service
• Build relationships with key players in market

If you are planning on hosting a prospect road show program, there are many ways to come up with the names for your invite list.  In addition to your internal sales lead list that you have compiled from trade shows and your sales team, lists can be obtained from industry associations/companies such as ABA, ILTA, ALM and the Leadership Directories (Legal Yellow pages).  Once you have selected your list of invitees, you can send invitations via mail or email. 

A large part of devising your road show strategy involves determining what will draw your audience to you.  It will take more than free food and the promise of a day away from the office to draw quality attendees.  Make sure the benefits to your attendees are highlighted in your invitation.  Let them know what they will be receiving in return for sacrificing their time.  A few examples are peer networking, industry news, product updates, increase in efficiency, and general education.  In addition, offering CLE credits is an excellent way to add value to your program and increase the attendance tremendously.  You can coordinate through a legal event planning/marketing agency to get your programs approved for CLE credits or work directly with the applicable state bars to accomplish this.  Also, teaming with an industry consultant/training company is a great way to take the pressure of the program off of you and many of them have presentations that are already approved for CLE credits.

In addition to your audience, there are many logistical things to consider in planning your road show program.  The format for your program is completely up to you.  Will you have it at a hotel or have a client host it?  Will you invite end-users or high-level decision makers?  Will you plan for a full-day or half-day program?  Will you offer sponsorship opportunities to your partners and help offset the costs?  Do you plan on a keynote speaker or matter expert to add sizzle? Your opportunities are virtually endless.

No matter what route you choose, a road show program can be an invaluable addition to your sales and marketing plan.  It is one of the few times you can completely control who your marketing dollars reach!

Writing Web copy your competition will envy

When is the last time you surfed a b2b website that satisfied you with useful content, clever navigation, and extras you simply did not expect? In my case, it’s been a while. While many consider the net the "great equalizer", affording even smaller companies the same web presence of much larger organizations, the questions beckons - equal to what? Mediocrity. Without conducting any scientific polls, it seems a vast majority of sites are online brochures, information repositories at best.  Creating compelling web content is primarily a matter of taking the time to find out what your site visitors want and crave when they come to you. Why are they going to your site in the first place? If the site is your introduction to the outside world then why do you want it to replicate something found on marketing slicks or brochure-ware.  Beyond applying creative writing skills, why not try adding value from a content perspective as well (this lies in vast contrast to “dolling” up the site with sophisticated graphics and animation - read cumbersome to load). A great example is Esquire Innovations’ site that houses a collection of content designed to enhance the user’s overall knowledge of how to use not only the company’s document production tools, but in general be more diligent when it comes to the topic.  There’s no hidden agenda, no hard selling, just useful information, and, more importantly to me, the content gives you a good flavor of what the folks behind the words are like and how they might engage you as a client, prospect or whatever. 

Have you seen any great sites lately? Let us know...

Competitive Intelligence That is Too Easy Not to Use

Of all the programs/services I have used over the years to track things going on in the legal vendor community, none has worked as well as Google Alerts.  You can enter any search terms (competitors, law firm names, industry thought leaders, etc.) and the frequency you would like to receive information (as it happens, daily, once a week) and Google will email you with links to information found on those topics.  Very easy, very comprehensive and very free!  The only requirement is that you have a Gmail account, but then again, everyone needs a Gmail account anyway!

{Dennis Kennedy just happened to have written a great article about this very topic in this month's ABA Journal.  Check it out for more info...}

The Anatomy of a Succesful PR Campaign: What are we dealing with anyway? (Part 2 of 2)

Recently, we talked about the strategic components you might want to consider when orchestrating a PR initiative or campaign. While strategy (where are we going?) is the foundation for any effort, the tactics (how are we getting there?), and more importantly, the timely execution of these tactics, provide the framework and details that make any initiative unique and define its success.

Here's a snapshot of what to look for on the tactical front:

• Press release creation and distribution: A well-crafted press release consisting of concise, straightforward (read jargon free), and accurate content, presented in an easy to read (or browse) format sets the foundation for your PR program.
• Media alerts and advisories: While the release announces a new product, feature set, partnership or corporate development, a media alert or advisory is more timely and geared toward promoting something immediate such as an event of interest to the media, an executive's keynote speech, or a local or national event that might interest media.
• Success stories/testimonials: Clients can be the best champion of your products and services through thought leadership-focused articles and stories.  Also, editors appreciate contributions that have no sales-pitch quality and actually help their readership better understand and deal with every day technology challenges.
• Media tours: Depending on the scope of your new product announcement or initiative, you may want to plan a series of media stops designed to brief the editors on what's going on. Of course, this can also be achieved when scheduled around major trade shows. Often times, publication editors provide media briefing opportunities to vendors on site.
• Speakers bureau development: Another effective way of espousing your expertise and thought leadership on a given technology topic is to conduct an internal audit of subject matter expertise and then make this "topical intelligence" available to editors and event management who might be interested in either using your experts as sources in future stories or offering up speaking slots at conferences that correspond with your expertise. However, always keep in mind that your ability to participate in these type of activities is a direct function of the quality (and uniqueness) of content you have to provide, and the ability of your subject matter experts to provide educational, factual and market-based content versus blatant or thinly-veiled sales pitches and advertorials.   

The Anatomy of a Succesful PR Campaign: What are we dealing with anyway? (Part 1 of 2)

We routinely work with technology companies who realize that public relations can add tremendous value to ongoing marketing efforts, new product introductions, and even future initiatives. This is a good start but if you dig a little deeper and ask companies to tell you what they mean by PR, most folks we talk to define PR as press releases with the occasional feature article mixed in. They have obviously scratched the surface of an array of initiatives that make up a comprehensive PR program. With that said, an "anatomically correct" PR campaign consists of the right blend of strategic and tactical initiatives. Here's a snapshot of what to consider on the strategic front:

Media relations: The foundation of an effective PR campaign is based on:

• Relationships:  The relationships you develop and hone with members of the media community - editors, reporters, freelancers, editorial assistants (often the gatekeepers), and publishers - are key.
• Messaging and Positioning: When communicating with the media, and indirectly with your target legal audience, what do you want them to remember and identify you with? What are your core messages, approaches, differentiators, and what value due you provide to the media and their readership?
• Goal Setting: Carefully define what you want to achieve with each PR effort with quantifiable goals and create a method of delivering on those goals and providing accountability for achievement.
• Audience ID and Targeting: Who do you want to reach with a campaign and how can you cut through the clutter of competitive messages and slogans? This translates to crafting the appropriate messages for the appropriate targets and, equally important, delivering this content via the right medium. For example,it makes little sense to promote a new technology/software program to an audience that is not tech-savvy, but more interested in the business and best practice aspects of law.
• Spokesperson Selection and Media Preparedness: While you are deciding what you want to tell the world and the best way to do it, do not forget to identify who will be your poster child. You can position different spokespeople for different initiatives. For example, you might have a corporate spokesperson (i.e., CEO or exec level), but also rely on a series of subject matter experts to represent your product set, expertise within the marketplace, understanding of market trends and developments, etc.

ABA TECHSHOW Wrap-up

TECHSHOW 2008 was the best TECHSHOW yet - at least according to Jobst and me and the many vendors and speakers we spoke with.  Although the new location, Hilton Chicago, was a beautiful property with incredible sleeping rooms, I found myself missing the Sheraton a bit, but I'm thinking that is due to the fact that I spent seven TECHSHOWs there and became quite familiar with the property and the surrounding area.  From my point of view, the only real downsides to the new location were the lack of cell phone service in the building and the "basement" feel of the exhibit hall.  With that said, there seemed to be more exhibitors and it was especially nice to see more new vendors participating than I can remember in years past.  At the media panel we produced Wednesday, it was amazing that we did not recognize one vendor in the audience!  It's always nice to see some new blood getting involved in the industry and I'm sure it's especially appreciated by the attendees. 

TECHSHOW Media & Faculty Reception

Immediately following the TECHSHOW Media Panel was a reception that combined the media, faculty and exhibitors.  This was a great opportunity to network with this influential crowd and was opened to the exhibitors for the first time this year.

[L-R Kevin O'Keefe, Dennis Kennedy, Tom Mighell, Dave Bilinsky, Matt Homann - Photo courtesy of Adriana Linares]

[Jobst Elster & JoAnna Forshee (me!) - Photo courtesy of Adriana Linares]

LexisNexis (formerly CaseSoft) Industry VIP Dinner

It was nice to see that the tradition of the CaseSoft Industry Dinner continued in 2008.  The event is hosted by Bob Wiss and invites approximately 40 industry thought leaders to an incredible dinner at the private rooms at Spiaggia.  The event was as fabulous as last year, but a noticeable difference was the new faces in the crowd from LexisNexis.  My table consisted of Matt Homann - Visual Strategist for XPLANE and Co-Founder of LexThink; Larry Smith - Executive Director of ABA LPM; Adriana Linares - Consultant, TECHSHOW Board Member and Owner of LawTech Partners; Jeffrey Allen - Special Issue Editor of the Technology & Practice Guide issue of GP Solo, and his lovely wife, Anne Marie; Scott Merrick - Director of Litigation Marketing for LexisNexis; and Lori Taylor - Marketing Manager of LexisNexis Litigation Services.

 

[L-R Bob Wiss, Dennis Kennedy, Dan Pinnington - Photo courtesy of Adriana Linares]

TECHSHOW After Dark Party

Another change to TECHSHOW for 2008 was the addition of a reception for the attendees, faculty and exhibitors on Thursday night.  We popped in for a few minutes before we had to head out to a client dinner and we were pleasantly surprised to see quite a crowd.  Entertainment was provided by the Empty Can Band, which is led Dave Glynn, who also happens to be the Director of Business Development for Law Bulletin Publishing, and they were great!  The rooms stayed full until the end of the reception at 8pm.  A great showing for this first time event and I look for it to build on this foundation in 2009.

[Dave Glynn with Empty Can Band]

Taste of ABA TECHSHOW - Friday Night Dinner Groups

For the second year in a row, the ABA TECHSHOW has coordinated dinner groups on Friday night.  This year there were 18 dinner groups consisting of 8-10 people including 2 speaker hosts. These dinners are at separate restaurants throughout Chicago and you can sign up to attend by either selecting a topic that interests you or speakers that you would like to meet.  This program was coordinated by ABA TECHSHOW Board Member Adriana Linares and was a huge hit for the second year in a row. 

Conference Concierge

Another program that was started last year and continued in 2008, was the TECHSHOW Conference Concierge program for the attendees.  This booth sits in front of the entrance to the exhibit hall and is manned by faculty and speakers that are available to answer attendees' questions and give suggestions on sessions for attendees to attend.  This is a volunteer effort by the faculty and was the brainchild of Adriana Linares, who coordinated the effort again this year.  Here are a few of the volunteers this year...Dennis Kennedy, Kevin O'Keefe, Adriana Linares, Toby Brown, Ben Stevens, Jeff Flax, Craig Roy, Judge Bob Moss, and Tom Mighell.

Conclusion

We'd like to thank Larry Smith, Executive Director of ABA LPM and Tom Mighell, Chair of 2008 TECHSHOW Planning Board.  We'd also like to thank the entire Planning Board as well as the Advisory Board (I served on as well).  I can't wait to see what Laura Calloway, who is the Chair of the 2009 TECHSHOW Planning Board, does to top this year's event!  No pressure, Laura...

[Tom Mighell - 2008 TECHSHOW Chair - Photo courtesy of Adriana Linares]

[Larry Smith & Laura Calloway (2009 Incoming TECHSHOW Chair) - Photo courtesy of Adriana Linares]