Estate Planning

Marketing an Estates Administration Practice

By Hull and Hull LLP

Certainly a firm's wills bank has traditionally been seen as a capital asset that generates work in the manner of files being opened both as estate solicitor and, oftentimes, executor. A recent e-bulletin released by Title Research elaborates on this basic premise to provide some interesting thoughts on the untapped marketing potential of an existing estates and trust practice.  

The author, Alistair Moyes (a consultant with U.K.-based Marketlaw), notes that "the value of the potential clients generated by a probate matter is increasing as the competition in the legal services market accelerates.... The question is how to retain them as clients and gain their next matter."  Because "people tend to go back to the last lawyers they used or had contact with" and because "probate (& wills) is third behind residential conveyancing and divorce (& family) it should be seen as a valuable access point to the profession and one that needs to be carefully managed to retain and gain clients within a firm." 

Essentially, an estates and trusts practice should look to its existing clients as being the source of future work after the Will or Power of Attorney has been drawn.  The key, therefore is to enhance the loyalty of the client to the lawyer.  The starting point is to "maintain a current, regularly maintained database of past clients that can be used to send them information about the benefits of your services."  Thereafter, regular (even as little as every 3 or 5 years) communication with these clients to remind them to update their will if required is a simple way to remain top of mind and show an interest in maintaining an ongoing relationship.

In addition, Moyes notes that any new legal developments can provide an opportunity to remind clients of the benefits of your services. "Writing to executors with brief details of their responsibilities can identify potential new clients." And suggesting your firm as an executor, when explained carefully to the client, similarly provides the potential for new work.

David Morgan Smith  

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on June 10, 2010 (boomark / email).