By Nancy Roberts Linder of Nancy Roberts Linder Consulting
Cross-selling current clients is a law firm's best resource for additional business. However, cross-selling can fail because of a number of factors impede its effectiveness, including a fear of having other attorneys work with a particular client, the lack of compensation or recognition for cross- selling successes, and the misguided belief that clients would be offended if approached by other attorneys in the firm or offered additional services the firm could provide.
Components of Successful Cross-Selling
To encourage effective and successful cross-selling, do the following:
Perform the analysis. Effective cross-selling starts with studying and understanding the firm's client base. Look at client revenue data for the past three to five years. For each client, identify what the firm is already providing in the way of legal services. Then, ask yourself (and/or your partners) what work the firm could be doing for clients that it currently does not handle.
Listen to clients. Pay attention to what your clients have to say, otherwise you may miss potential business opportunities. For example, suppose that one of your clients for which you provide patent prosecution and trademark registration services, but no litigation, mentioned in passing that the company was seeing an increase in "...
