LPM Tip
Group Psychology: Focus groups can help attorneys launch marketing projects
Companies use focus groups
all the time, in order to test and refine products and product
offerings for the market. Most of the time, this strategy works out
quite well -- sometimes, less well: notable exceptions being made
for brownies, candy bars
and whatever product development team greenlighted the Edsel.
Many attorneys, especially
solo attorneys, get boxed into their original ideas, which
remain unrefined by constructive feedback. But, it is the rare idea
that is perfect from its embryonic state (though, I think, replacing
hamburger buns with donut halves is pretty close), such that
almost every product/product offering could likely be improved with
honest and germane input. If you think of your pricing and service
offering as products that you sell (which you should), the efficacy
of using focus groups to refine lawyers' 'products' becomes more
obvious.
When you think about it, this is not all that much different from
what you do when you
access your mentors: you're sourcing a group (preferably) of
colleagues to get useful pointers respecting case-specific or
general business strategy.
In addition to making you think more fully about what you're
doing, and offering you starting points for tweaking your sales
pitches (pricing, service; the comprehensive
elevator speech) utilizing focus groups can offer these
specific advantages:
- You're allowed an advance preview of consumer reaction -- and,
you can always
test your jokes. (It's a good idea to include laypersons, who
are trusted advisors, in your focus groups (when client
confidentiality is not at issue), in order to gain a better sense
of a client or potential client's possible sense of what you'd be
offering them.)
- A more relaxed trial atmosphere (think: spring training) in
which to get
the kinks out. (This is also a good time to develop feedback
surveys, and to gain perspective on whether you're asking the right
sorts of questions.)
- Picking up verbal, body language and other cues is an important
skill for anyone to have; but, this is especially so for business
people, who are far more successful when they can pinpoint personal
needs and provide solutions that answer for same. Your use of focus
groups can be an effective method to test your ability to pick up
these cues . . . because you can ask the group participants if you
were right about what you were anticipating.
So, if you've got a seminar series to launch, or if you're
tweaking your pricing model or adding a new service offering,
consider utilizing a focus group, in order to get yourself ready
for launch. Just keep in mind that folks are busy; and, if you want
them to serve as focus group members . . . you may just have to buy
them lunch. Might I suggest the
following?
Tip courtesy of Jared Correia, Law Office Management Assistance
Program.
Published September 20, 2012
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To learn more about the Law Practice Management
Section, which is complimentary for all MBA members,
contact LPM Section Chair Thomas J. Barbar or Vice
Chair Cynthia E.
MacCausland.