You Gov Conveyancing research in 2014 showed that the three most important factors for those looking for conveyancing advice were;

• a service provided by experienced and qualified professionals
• speed of delivery
• price

So no surprises on speed of delivery and price – but what about “experienced and qualified professionals?”

In fact of the 4,000 buyers and sellers surveyed a whopping 80% of Home Sellers and 79% of Home Buyers rated experience and qualifications as “Very important” or “Important” ahead of both speed and price.

Which comes back to the title of this article – is your law firm too modest?

Lawyers in general don’t like to blow their own trumpet as much as some other professionals and many prefer to keep a dignified silence on what they achieve.

In a world of tripadvisor and customer reviews it is vital that your firm projects the correct image to your potential customers.  One easy way of doing this is through asking your customers what they think through customer satisfaction surveys.

Here at Legal Eye (subsidiary of ULS Group) we introduced customer satisfaction surveys in July 2013. Our law firm customers in 2014 rated us 91.6% delighted or satisfied and 9 out of 10 would recommend us to another firm.

Relevant accreditations also give a huge amount of confidence to potential customers. With proven research that Home Buyers and Sellers want experienced and qualified professionals to handle their conveyancing then achieving relevant accreditations should be top of your firms priority list.

Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) is now a hygiene factor for law firms wanting to carry out residential conveyancing work. Nationwide, the UK’s biggest building society followed other major lenders last month when it announced that it will only accept CQS accredited solicitor firms on it’s panel.  Having to admit to your customers that you are unable to act for a lender not only loses you business but also gives out a poor message to your customers.

Lexcel is an accreditation many law firms aspire to but put off year after year. Could 2015 be the year that you devote resources to achieving that aim? With the right support you could achieve Lexcel this year and set yourself apart from your local and regional competition.

Legal Eye has assisted hundreds of law firms to achieve accreditations such as CQS and Lexcel. We even have our own Legal Eye Quality Standard you can work towards.

So is your law firm too modest? Is it time to change? At Legal Eye we think so. After all competition is coming from companies outside the legal industry and you can guarantee they won’t be quite as humble.

Karen Babington

Consultant, Legal Eye (subsidiary of ULS Group)

23 March 2015