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21 de Abril de 2008A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Meaningful Client Teams, by Terri Pepper Gavulic
En los últimos años, muchas firmas de abogados han puesto en marcha iniciativas para formar a los equipos de clientes. Por una serie de razones de peso, los despachos de abogados están llegando a la conclusión de que estos equipos tengan sentido tanto para el cliente como para la empresa.
Client teams can help gain an in-depth knowledge of the client and their industry in order to help the client achieve their business objectives. They enable the firm to provide coordinated and integrated advice. They provide a portal into the firm for a speedy response when client needs arise. Teams offer the client enough depth and breadth to serve all of their needs without having to constantly retrain outside lawyers about the business. They allow for the planning of the eventual succession of the client relationship from one relationship partner to another. With a client team in place, the client is given the appropriate accessibility and availability of resources as soon as those resources are needed. They help the client achieve their goal of cost-effective legal services. They also help the firm build client loyalty and extend their relationships with existing clients.
Unfortunately, a number of law firms do not handle the implementation of these teams particularly well. When an implementation gets bungled, lawyers, clients, professional staff and firm management become disenchanted with the entire concept. They then often decide that client teams don’t actually make sense, despite the mounting evidence to the contrary.
Breaking Down the Process
At a basic level, the implementation of client teams can easily miss its mark. In these instances, rather than reaping the benefits of client teams, everyone involved is left with the general feeling that the client team is little more than a lot of meetings and a bunch of meaningless projects. In order to avoid such problems, it is important to consider a number of practical steps at the beginning of the team’s formation. These will help make the team’s existence more meaningful for both the client and the firm.
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Terri Pepper Gavulic Terri Pepper Gavulic is a vice president of Hildebrandt International and a senior member of the firm's Client Development & Growth Practice. She leads the company’s client assessment team. Terri provides strategic client relations and business development counsel to professional services organizations, with a special focus on law firms. More than eleven years of Terri's 28-year career were spent as an in-house law firm client services and marketing specialist. She has pioneered many initiatives in the law firm environment, which shaped her personal philosophy about how professional service firms can have successful relationships with their clients. That philosophy is to understand each client so deeply that the delivery of professional services is completely aligned with the client’s business goals. Ms. Gavulic’s commitment to these beliefs has enabled her to be a change agent and coach at every level, from Boards of Directors and management committees, to practice groups, client teams, industry teams, and marketing teams, as well as individual attorneys and their staff. Additionally, it has gained her industry recognition and she is a sought after speaker at conferences and other forums. Client relationship strategies (such as feedback and client teams), sales and business development training, strategic marketing planning and positioning, and marketing staffing and support analyses are particular areas of expertise for Ms. Gavulic. Prior to her legal marketing tenure, Ms. Gavulic worked on Wall Street as a manager of IPOs; in the non-profit sector, serving as Director of Marketing and Director of Development for the National Kidney Foundation of Georgia; as Director of Marketing for a national real estate franchise organization; and in a public relations agency. Presently she is studying for her MBA at the Warrington College of Business of the University of Florida.
E-mail: tpgavulic@hildebrandt.com |
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