However a buoyant market often heralds fiercer competition as companies vie for business hoping that will act as a catalyst for their own growth. In such a market, having a strong proposition can help clients differentiate one broker from another.
One area of client service that makes a real impact is the quality of information shared with the client during their ‘journey’. The legal aspects of buying a property can involve some of the most complex information within the transaction. As specialist property solicitors one of our priority initiatives has been to make legal services more accessible not only for clients but also as a benefit for our brokers to offer to their clients. This initiative has involved the repositioning of our website www.goldsmithwilliams.co.uk to function as a Business to Consumer site and the production of client friendly marketing collateral including brochures, videos and infographics.
Infographics are a recent development in marketing – literally information graphics they are visual representations of information, data or knowledge and they are now often used where complex information needs to be explained quickly and clearly. Such techniques are well suited to explaining some of the legal background to the conveyancing process in a customer focused way.
In Goldsmith Williams we’re developing an extensive catalogue of infographics to explain topics ranging from Stamp Duty to the benefits of going to a broker and we share these with the brokers we work with so they can use them with their clients. The communications strategy for these is simply this: we recognise that the legal sector is shrouded in mystery and many clients perceive the law as complex and, unable to understand that part of the property process, they become frustrated. Our infographics in particular but indeed all our marketing communications collateral is structured so that communication of the law, far from being opaque is open.
We’ve been delighted with how our infographics have been received and we regularly share these via social media. Indeed, as a firm we were an earlier adopter of social media, developing a series of profiles on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ to support our primary business areas. Whilst some law firms use this platform as an out-and-out sales tool, we use it to drive engagement and expand our communication channels to meet customer preference.
Providing a professional yet personable service has remained at the core of our business. Customers can have a negative preconception of legal services and we see it as our responsibility to change this by providing clear, high quality information to support the client as they progress through their conveyancing journey. We know from feedback that the developments we’ve made in client-centric marketing collateral have not only benefited our business but also the businesses of those brokers we work in partnership with.
