Kane: Does a “Market of One” Approach Make Sense?

By Tom Kane (Reprinted from Tom’s LegalMarketingBlog.com dated December 5, 2016)

I recently ran across The BTI Consulting Group’s concept of “Targeting Clients with a Market of One Approach.”  Their “market-of-one” approach does not literally mean marketing to only one client.  Obviously, starvation would quickly follow.

What they mean is that instead of focusing your marketing on your firm/practice area or concentrating on a geographical area, you should approach business development and marketing from the client’s side. You should direct your efforts, especially toward key clients, as if each was your only client. More specifically (extracting from the brief BTI video snippet), you need to be:

Seeking client feedback, and yes, act on what you hear;

• Making sure that the responsible attorneys’ objectives are in line with the clients,
  i.e. the client’s objectives and strategic plans are the partners’ key concern and focus;
• Increasing value, for instance, by providing specific client-focused CLE; and
• Treating each client so they perceive themselves as your most important client.

This is also commonly referred to as client-centric marketing and business development. BTI’s terminology is just another way of stating that if you put the client at the center of the universe (rather than yourself or the firm), your marketing efforts will pay much greater dividends. Not only in improving your bottom line, but making more sense than a shotgun or scattered (brain) approach to marketing.

Hope everyone had a Happy Holidays Season; and best wishes for every success in your marketing in 2017!