Attorney? This is a must read…
The World of the Power Firm and Mergers
Firm Culture Clash = Firm Crash
Opportunities are expanding for every business in Nashville. Booming business is accompanied with legal questions and concerns. Business owners and busy professionals want one place they can call for their legal needs. Nashville is seeing a consolidation of law firms both large and small as firms try to keep and build their client base by offering solutions to all their clients’ legal concerns. The results can be rewarding for lawyers and clients alike, but the most prevalent problems occur when the professional brands of merging firms just do not mix or are not well-defined and communicated to each professional who works within the firm.
When good brands combine, everyone wins, but when confused brands combine it could be a disaster for all involved. After working with hundreds of attorneys and many law firms, we have seen the pitfalls that can arise.
3 reasons firm mergers do not work and solutions for ensuring success
- Clash of firm cultures and brand leads to a mass exodus and miscommunication.When merging firms fail to provide brand training to everyone associated within a firm, from the attorneys to the support staff, the result is a firm culture clash and firm crash. Clients see, hear and read mixed messages as each attorney acts (and looks) as if they are employed by a separate firm. Without a cohesive message being sent to one another, the public and the client, failure is certain. (Image, fashion, communication and all personal brand attributes).The Solution: Proper professional and corporate brand training. Clear brand attributes must be in place so everyone has a filter they can use to create consistency of behavior, communication, image and more. Brand education and acceptance creates a win win situation. Panic only comes from the unknown, but a solid brand is always a leader and lights the dark pathways many mergers take.
- Managing Partners fail to lead because they become self-serving or have big egos.
The Solution: Personal brand respect and evaluation is a must for every partner or associate. Clear brand identification leads to greater respect of individual strengths and less need for individual recognition. Successful personal and professional brands find a way to work together.
- Poor firm brand communication with existing clients at each merging firm.Clients are terrified of the potential time ramifications of working with a firm in the midst of a merger. We all love our particular attorneys with whom many of us have shared our weaknesses and dreams, so the idea of one leaving or being replaced leads to clients leaving the firm.
The Solution: Client brand education is a must. When the merging firms have taken the time in advance of a merger to explain and educate their clients on the brand of the firm and how it is the foundation of all the firms’ actions, then a merger can only mean an enhancement to the firm brand and thus an enhancement to the benefit of the clients.
Call us today to find out how we can help you.
Image | Brand | Fashion
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