Move beyond offering common “price of admission” value-adds!

Move beyond offering common “price of admission” value-adds! To be truly different, law firms, lawyers and other professionals need to offer something better, cheaper and/or faster, not simply all the existing value-adds already offered by most competitors.

Below is a list of the eight very common “price of admission” value-adds that most clients are already offered in RFP responses or already receive from most law firms and lawyers with whom they work:

1. Firm hospitality, event access, periodic entertainment – as acceptable under company policies.
2. Requesting a lunch or meeting without a specific objective that has something in it for the client.
3. Newsletters and alerts that are not relevant to the client’s needs.
4. Seminars, workshops, training, CLE, boardroom lunches.
5. Private extranets in some form. 
6. Precedent databases.
7. Complimentary access to firm’s resources or professionals such as library, knowledge management specialist, pricing or public relations professionals, etc.
8. Secondments that cost the client money.

According to results from the 2019 Legal Procurement Survey @Buying Legal Counsel, client’s favorite value-adds are complimentary:

1. Hotlines/access to experts for quick questions 
2. Pre-matter planning sessions, and
3. Tailored seminars and business-level training.