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September 27, 2010
Cross-Selling: You folks partners? Or just sharing space?
See Tom Kane's piece "Why Cross-selling Doesn't Work, But Could" at his Legal Marketing Blog, and the related links.
Few law firms cross-sell partners effectively. Lots don't even try. And then there's this problem: most law firms of any size or sophistication have been reduced to an aggregation of several (or many) smaller fiefdoms or, if you will, "collection of boutiques". These fiefdoms and boutiques tend to be disturbingly insular, with little overlap on anything, including issue-spotting for clients and marketing functions.
In these firms, partners are "friends" and space-sharers--but not true partners in an entrepreneurial sense. Such firms have a built-in prejudice against growth by cross-selling. They are legion. But they do have a few highly frustrated principals or leaders who recognize the problem. That's a start.
As Tom points out, there are five main "killers"--or reasons cross-selling is not happening at law firms. One is the personal insecurities triggered in partners by the notion of cross-selling other partners in the firm. This could be either (a) lack of confidence in the "receiving" partner's work (bad but understandable) or (b) outright fear of 'losing' the client to another partner (bad and wimpy). Tom, who I know to be a gentleman, has a much nicer way of talking about "Killer No. 1":
1. Lack of trust (that the other partner will treat the client well, or treat them too well thereby supplanting their own relationship with that client contact).
Posted by JD Hull at September 27, 2010 10:20 AM