PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: THE NEXT PHASE FOR LAW FIRM MARKETING.

• Author: Kusibab, Stephanie

When we think about product development, we think about the big, tangible things we buy such as cars, laptops and televisions. These are products where we can quickly see the results of product development efforts in the form of new designs, features and capabilities. Plus, the manufacturers spend a lot of money telling us about these improvements via television, newspapers, billboards and other forms of advertising.

But do you ever stop to think about the development of new services? Think Geek Squad or the many shop-online, pick-up-in-store options available through big-box retailers. All of these services came from somewhere, and, most likely, it was a new services development manager within the marketing or product development department at the organization's headquarters. Yet we seldom think about or hear about new service development.

We see the emergence of pricing specialists, process improvement professionals and project managers. Yet new service development is exactly the discipline needed in today's law firm to respond to the changing demands of clients. The market is changing; clients are demanding that law firms engage with them in new ways such as fixed fee arrangements, mediation services, risk mitigation training for client staff and virtual offices. But who is leading the charge to understand the new needs and adapt the firm's practices to successfully deliver to clients in these and other new ways? Drawing on the experiences of other industries, it could be you. All you need is an understanding of the marketing discipline of new product development.

Market Research

To get started, consider how the traditional new service product development process followed in other industries could be applied to a law firm environment. The first step is market research to understand the common needs of clients. Consider not just what they are asking for but why they are asking. Determine the underlying business concerns within their own organizations that are driving them to ask your firm to do business in new ways. Remember, you are looking for similarities across clients in order to develop solutions that could be marketed to more than one client--not trying to solve each client problem individually. In this way, you will be able to create new services that can be proactively marketed and sold, rather than reacting to each new client situation. Also, at this stage, begin to understand the financial value to your clients of solving these...