Cross-selling and referrer management

March 18, 2024|Accountants, Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Marketing, Relationship Management|

Here are the highlights from the recent PM Forum workshop on “Cross-selling and referrer management accelerator”. The delegates were mostly marketing and business development (MBD) managers – legal, accountancy and consultancy firms (one joined form Germany and another was a qualified lawyer). There was an even split between those focused on client advocates/cross-selling and those tasked with building plans for external referrers. Many were tasked with creating first ever cross selling strategy or referrer management plan and others were looking for best practice and inspiration. This note forms part of the learning resources from the session. From the discussions and exercises three issues emerged: Cross-selling and referrer management – Data, focus and behaviour.

Data

Throughout the session, delegates talked about the data challenge. For both internal cross-selling and external referrers.

Many felt their CRM and other systems didn’t capture the right data. Whether on existing clients and service gaps. Or external referrers – relationship history, decision-making contacts, reciprocity arrangements and action plans. Even simple “Who knows who” (for organisations and individuals) analyses was beyond some firms. Few have automated triggers to alert fee-earners of opportunities.

Many felt they had too much unstructured and inconsistent data about referrers. There was talk of “secret spreadsheets” and silos. Some firms rely on secretaries and assistants to record data. The general view was that there was a need for more transparency about good sources of work.am

There were comments that the culture and motivation prevented fee-earners recording and sharing relevant information. “Knowledge is power” and client protectionism were active barriers and imperfect systems and patchy data were passive barriers.

There are systems to assist with data cleansing (eg Marketing technology system review – Clean contact data with Cirrom (kimtasso.com)). Some firms have improved interrogation and reporting systems with Law Firm Business Intelligence Software – Katchr (used by Rollitts and Birketts)

Focus

Improvements to cross-selling and referral management are natural ambitions for most firms. Particularly those reliant on transactions and litigation. A key takeaway for most delegates was the need to understand expectations and set realistic goals.

Cross-selling and referrer management must be located within the broader strategic aims of the firm. And reflected in marketing and business development plans generally. Either by integrating them into existing plans or allocating separate resources for their implementation. Often, time for cross-selling or referrer management takes time form other MBD initiatives.

Too often, senior leadership teams expect cross-selling and referrer management initiatives to take place without additional resources (or diverting resources from other MBD initiatives). Conflicting priorities need to be addressed.

The lack of objectives (see poll results below) meant that it was difficult to develop performance and ROI calculations. And this led back to the data challenge.

We discussed the nature of realistic goals and “What does good look like?”. And explored the difference between volume and value referral goals – as well as positioning and reputation aspirations.

Ways to rate, grade or prioritise individuals and organisations were considered to improve focus, decision-making and commitment. Onboarding and matter closing activities could provide automatic prompts.

Internal champions and campaigns were considered vital for education and promoting action. Targeted know-how sessions, toolkits and client stories were amongst the most frequently mentioned activities for broader internal communications. Personalised prompts – whether automated or sourced by MBD – were also valued by fee-earners.

We observed that many cross-selling and referrer management programmes were too broad in scope. The lack of focus meant that projects and initiatives were therefore unwieldy and unmanageable. Thus, they gained little traction with fee-earners.

Behaviour

The behaviour of frontline client and referrer staff is a major challenge and a barrier to the success of cross-selling and referrer management initiatives. Various remedies were explored:

Engagement and buy-in This is a major topic in its own right and applies to most aspects of marketing and business development (see, for example: Achieve more engagement and buy-in (kimtasso.com))

Encourage them to ask – Build the confidence of fee-earners to ask about referrals and recommendations once they’ve identified an interest or need (rather than remain in passive ambassador roles)

Integration Integrate cross-selling and referrer management activities into existing initiatives such as client planning and KAM programmes

Front of mind It’s a constant challenge to keep cross-selling and referrer management front of mind for busy fee-earners when so much is happening. Effective tools included internal campaigns, training programmes, preparing fee-earners with the right questions and personalised toolkits (driven by data on their clients and referrers)

Allocate responsibilities – Assign specific referrers to partners or fee-earners to co-ordinate action and report on progress

Client plans Create simple client plans which focus attention and drive specific actions in the short term to prompt action amongst fee-earner teams

Coaching MBD professionals play a key role in coaching fee-earners before, after and in between meetings to ensure that cross-selling and referral opportunities are pursued on a consistent basis

Client advocate programmes These can be driven centrally by MBD teams. They maintain goodwill, offer events and provide an effective channel to remain front of mind to elicit recommendations and referrals from client advocates

Valued relationships Sometimes fee-earners continue to invest a lot into relationships despite them not generating work. Sunk costs (sometimes called retrospective cost) bias can keep them locked into unproductive relationships. Sometimes relationships are perceived as having a moral imperative (e.g. with not-for-profit organisations). Find ways to reduce time input whilst maintaining these relationships and/or provide ideas for other potentially more valuable relationships

Alumni programmes – Keep in touch with former employees who might provide recommendations and referrals Employee Communications and Alumni Programmes (kimtasso.com)

Case studies on cross-selling and referrer management were explored including those for: Bird & Bird, Eversheds Sutherland, LawNet, Menzies, Mercer & Hole, Travers Smith

Impact of culture

Underlying all three issues is the organisational culture – particularly the drivers (motivation) and barriers to cross-sell and share referrers. Various challenges needed addressing:

Strategy – Perceptions of the strategic value of such work

Motivation – Aligning recognition and reward systems

Internal trust – Ensuring good internal relationships and trust between different teams (proximity marketing and international visits were mentioned here)

Business development responsibilities – Articulate expectations for all levels of fee-earners

Complex projects – Collaboration across MBD, HR, L&D, IT, KM and other teams across the firm to achieve change

Delegate key takeaways

Analysis
- Look at how we can improve data recording to get the best results
- Identify potential clients and sector partners that we can collaborate with and formalise our referral approach
- Review the tools and implement most useful
- Workflow mapping for cross-selling – working out where is the best / biggest source of cross-selling potential
- Find out more about our external referrers – who knows them and how well
- Complete due diligence before embarking on a programme
- Take time to better understand the businesses, meet with BD counterparts and conduct client listening exercise
- Create a heat map for each key external referrer
- Obtain a list of current referrers and grade these
- Assess what data we can use (better)
- Think creatively about who could be a referrer
Aims
- Explore what good and success would look like
- Set clear objectives (and agree ROI)
- Agree key messages for referrers
- Identify goals for referrals and up-selling
- We have a good foundation in place – need to build in milestones
Action
- Get buy-in
- Keep referrer programme small and manageable to begin with
- Create a hierarchy of referrers
- Feed my key learning back to my senior team/key account managers
- Remind fee-earners to say “Thank you” for referrals
- Help internal teams with relationship development and monitoring
- Review the internal communications programme
- Build in the ‘how well do you know them’ questions

Delegate poll results

Throughout the session, delegates answered polls:

Which aspect is of the session is of most interest?

31% Strategy and planning of referrer programmes
38% Referrals from existing clients and cross-selling
31% Referrals from external referrers and intermediaries

Do you have a plan for referrer management?

7% Yes, but it’s not being used/implemented
36% Yes, but it’s only for a few key referrers
57% No

Are your referrer management aims and plans:

14% Firm wide
7% For a particular market or segment
14% For a particular territory or office
7% For a particular service line
36% A combination of the above
21% None of these

One delegate mentioned that the firmwide programme was managed by a different team. With teams for sector plans separately. “It is too much to manage it solo”

Do you have clear goals (and ROI measures) for your referrer management plans?

71% No
21% Sort of
7% It’s complicated

How would you rate your information systems and policies for supporting referral management?

7% Very good
43% Average
43% Poor
7% Non-existent

Which methods do you use to promote internal referrals?

64% Client satisfaction/listening surveys
57% Service line campaigns
57% Internal communications campaigns
57% KAM and ABM
50% Client relationship management targeting activities
50% Matrix management (eg sectors)
36% Internal workshops
29% Client workshops
7% Recognition and reward systems

What do you perceive as the biggest barrier to cross-selling at your firm?

31% Lack of information
23% Fear/risk and protectionism
15% No reward or incentive
15% Lack of time
8% Lack of knowledge of other teams
8% Other

It was noted that the client where we have the relationship with is not always the decision maker, and not always influential in their organisation. They might not have enough influence/weight to be able to recommend us as a supplier to other teams/departments in their organisation

Which methods do your firm use to promote cross-selling

71% Key client analysis and planning
43% NPS and client listening programmes
36% Internal knowledge systems
36% Internal campaigns
36% Cross-selling training
29% Relationship mapping
14% Client grading systems
7% Onboarding process
0% Workflow and referrals analysis
0% Automated prompting of gaps/opportunities

Which external referrers does your firm target?

79% Law firms
71% Accountancy firms
50% Banks, financial institutions and IFAs
43% Property firms
43% Charities and associations
29% Private equity/corporate finance
29% Other (Barristers, Design and PR agencies, Cyber experts)
21% Insolvency firms
21% Government and local authorities
7% Regulators

How well do you rate your firm’s knowledge of different types of referrer organisations?

57% Good
14% Average
14% Patchy
14% Poor

Which methods does your firm use for generating more work from external referrers?

93% Joint webinars/client services
71% One-on-one or team meetings
36% Targeted mailings
36% Collaborative/joint services
29% Dedicated plans for specific referrer organisations
29% Targeted social media
29% Joint articles
21% Campaigns
7% Other