FEATURE
Business development & acceptance
Elevating Client On-Boarding from an Administrative Process to a Business Development Tool at Bevan Brittan Engaging with a new legal advisor is an important moment for clients – and a significant risk. The firm is viewed as an extension of the client’s reputation. At the beginning of that relationship, there’s always a heightened sense of trepidation as change has happened either because the relationship with the previous legal advisor has broken down, or they have a major initiative that requires the legal advisor’s specialist skills to enable it to progress Tim Bartlett, Director of Business Development and Marketing at Bevan Brittan LLP, explains the significance of this process for the firm as it brings on new clients. “To welcome and on-board a client is an important first step to reassure the client they have made the right choice,” he says. “This is why the legal industry is increasingly learning from other industries about how you can make the process seamless: from ensuring the legal team is immersed in their client’s organisational need as swiftly as possible, inquisitive in their approach and building as wide a relationship as needed across the organisation; to the administrative process of fulfilling regulatory needs of setting up the first matter.” Bartlett explains that financial services have invested for decades in creating that “first impression” for bringing on a new corporate customer and recognising the level of investment required to win that customer. He has drawn on his experiences in the banking industry to review the client on-boarding process at Bevan Brittan. Rather than focus purely on it as an administrative process to get matters opened, the firm now focuses upon it as the beginning of developing an excellent business partnership. The retail and commercial bank where Bartlett had worked previously, had invested in customer research and identified key milestones within a new customer’s expectations of when accounts should be opened, when their relationship manager should be fully on-board with how their business worked, what they required, and the moment of reflection that they had made the right decision to switch banking providers. “Within the first couple of weeks, client viewpoints have been formed, within months, those views have been cemented, and potentially within a year, decisions have been made whether to review their banking arrangements again,” he explains.
work in that way, and ask those dealing with the day-to-day delivery what they think can be improved upon for the good of the client or customer”. In terms of the transformation of Bevan Brittan’s client on-boarding process itself, the team began by looking at the client engagement letter to find ways to distinguish between client and matter engagement, providing a welcome that sets the right tone as well as fulfilling their regulatory requirements. Making the most of CRM in the on-boarding experience A good client on-boarding experience means that clients feel their legal advisor has made all efforts to understand their business to enable horizon scanning within their market, who needs what support within their leadership team, and the law firm clearly knows how they are to receive instruction within the client’s own governance arrangements. All these factors form the basis of good client relationship management with a single source system to capture this knowledge. Bartlett sees CRM as not being the solution to all problems or something separate to this effort. But if CRM is used well, it becomes an additional member of the team. “It does so by prompting actions and becoming the trusted repository of data that informs relationships,” he explains. “Ultimately, it becomes the place where all of the intelligence about the client relationship is held – and the place that lawyers naturally check first.”
Reinventing the on-boarding experience At Bevan Brittan, the focus is on the client experience first and then operational efficiencies. The firm is ensuring lawyers are notified throughout the client opening process to take necessary action, or informed about progress to enable them to proactively manage the process with their client. Bartlett says, “As businesses develop, it’s always important to challenge where processes have originated, why we
26 | Wilson Allen CRM Supplement
Tim Bartlett
Director of Business Development & Marketing, Bevan Brittan LLP
