This article was first published in the Internet Newsletter. See also the interviewes on which it was based in the posts below.
There can be very few solicitors unaware of the arrival of the Quality Solicitors brand on the legal landscape. With their pink and black colours, launch parties, and snazzy advertising, they have made an immediate impact on the High Street.
Last year I wrote an article about Quality Solicitors (QS) as part of a series on referral organisations, which at that stage is essentially what they were. Why the change? It is all down to the Legal Services Act, and the effect it will have on the market, says Craig Holt, the dynamic CEO and driving force behind the QS brand. He explains:
“When the LSA comes into effect “find a solicitor” type services will become extinct. Why? They only operate successfully now because of how fragmented the legal market is. When people need a lawyer there is no brand name they immediately think of and go to. So they have no choice other than to ask a friend or browse the Yellow Pages or go online and type in “solicitors in Liverpool” etc.
The LSA will change all this. The biggest impact will be the entry – in a wide variety of forms and demographics – of brands in the legal market. We took a decision to ensure that alongside Tesco, Virgin and Co-op , QualitySolicitors was one of those brands. In fact, our aim is for it to be the legal brand.”
So the decision was taken to alter the model of QS.
“The most effective way of establishing a new “high street” name brand alongside the banks, opticians, travel agents etc is to be amongst them and to have a national physical presence.
We therefore refined the QualitySolicitors model to be more akin to a franchise arrangement. QualitySolicitors members now actually become QualitySolicitors. They retain their name and therefore their own goodwill and reputation but brand as “QualitySolicitors [firm name]”.
It has been and is a huge undertaking. The first fifteen ‘founder members’ launched in May. How was it for the firms?
The QS firm in Brighton is Howlett Clark. Partner Warren Clarke :
“It was a massive undertaking for us. A full rebrand of our offices, website, stationary. Every facet of the business had to change. It was all done in around two months as we signed on the dotted line to become Founder Partners only in March.”
The QS firm in Wigan is Stephensons. They have a number of offices but only the Wigan office was re-branded. Partner Tom Bridge:
“Change of signage , internal branding , new uniforms for staff etc . As we deal with so many different work types we had to ensure that the staff in that office could deal with any type of enquiry across the board . A lot of training was required and a lot of input from the various worktypes”.
A lot of work then. Was it justified? The QS firm in Hull is Lockings. Partner Richard Swaine is enthusiastic:
“Being part of the QualitySolicitors brand has, in a short time, very significantly raised our profile locally both amongst fellow professionals from other law firms and disciplines and with our existing and prospective client base. It has also given our staff a real boost and a feeling of belonging to something big new and exciting”
Tom Bridge is more cautious:
“It has not impacted massively in terms of the fees generated so far but the major benefit is that it has provided us with a lot of free publicity, it has created a lot of interest locally and has provided an opportunity to potentially work with a firm in London on a new QS retail unit in a shopping centre .”
While Warren Robertson is reserving judgment:
“It has not been a cheap undertaking! As to whether we have recouped our costs, we will not know for some time. The television advertising is due to start in September and the key time for being able to gauge the success of it will be say in six months to a years time”.
Not all the initial QS member firms will go forward to become branded QS firms. Some have decided not to take this route, others have been dropped as the QS model only allows one QS firm per town or city. Last year I spoke to Brian Inkster of Scottish firm Inksters, not one of the new branded firms. What is his firms position?
It will, he says
“depend on how well current initiatives on the part of QualitySolicitors, work out. The Legal Services (Scotland) Bill has not finished its passage through the Scottish Parliament and when it does it may well be somewhat different from the Legal Services Act in England. This could dictate if and how we rebrand in association with QualitySolicitors”
Although he would prefer ‘Inksters QualitySolicitors’, to ‘QualitySolicitors Inksters’.
So what of the future? Craug Holt again:
We are due to launch 35 new QualitySolicitors ‘branches’ next month and will have 100 nationwide before the end of the year. We have received enquiries about becoming a branded firm from over 1,000 law firms. Our aim for this time next year is for approx 250-300 ‘branches’ providing total UK coverage. We have had applications now from firms in most towns and cities however we have yet to reach decisions in most areas and therefore are happy to still receive applications.
As Warren Robertons points out, the LSA will change everything :
“being good lawyers will no longer be enough, as we will be competing with the most successful companies in the country, with bottomless pits of money, colossal marketing machines, massive retail presence, potential client databases well into the millions and at least some with an utterly ruthless approach.
But Tom Bridge has faith in the QS model establishing “a national presence in advance of the implementation of the legal service act reforms . Being part of it provides us with a vehicle to potentially compete with new entrants to the market”
What is Craig Holt’s advice then for the rest of us?
“Do something and do it now. Complacency is not an option.”
You have been warned!
With thanks to Craig Holt CEO Quality Solicitors, Warren Robertson of QualitySolicitors Howlett Clarke , Tom Bridge of QualitySolicitors Stephens, Richard Swaine of QualitySolicitors Lockings , and Brian Inkster of Inksters .
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Tessa
That’s a really interesting article. I have my doubts about QS. I think there are two problems with it;
1. The brand will only be as strong as its weakest member – how can quality standards be enforced rigorously across the network? Will the firms who have bought into the re-brand be kicked out if not maintaining those standards?
2. Will the network be able to enable access to justice any better than any other law firm? The branding may get clients in through the door but will they be offering different ways of paying for legal services?
Having said this, I wish it success and it will be interesting to see how it develops.
Mike
I suppose you can say that about any brand. But if the brand is recognisable and generally has a good name, I expect people will use it. However if there is a big problem or scandal with one of the branded firms all will suffer.
I don’t think they aim to be a particularly cheap brand. We did not discuss pricing of their services.
Hi Mike,
Short answers:
1. We have extremely rigorous methods of ensuring consistent quality, from the initial vetting through to ongoing monitoring. For example, we request feedback from every single client of every single QS firm. If a firm’s service delivery consistently drops below acceptable standards they will indeed be “kicked out”. That is our ‘promise’ to the consumer. Likewise in Tessa’s ‘scandal’ scenario – I think provided we deal with it approriately (i.e. the firm is immediately ejected) the brand does not have to suffer more widely. Indeed, in the sense that it demonstrates to the public that we mean what we say about kicking out unsuitable firms, it arguably would strengthen elements of the brand.
2. The branding (signage, TV adverts etc) is just the beginning. We have a range of innovations planned in the coming 12 months which will very much increase accessibility of legal services, including innovative fee models.
Thanks for the best wishes,
Craig
I’m really highly sceptical about this project. Whilst the reasoning behind it seems sound, I can’t help but make a few observations.
First my understanding is that the whole rebranding process has taken a significant amount of resources for member firms both in terms of cash and time but to date it hasn’t produced much if any new work directly.
Second it seems to have failing to the classic trap that most businesses do when linking the question of branding to gaining new work. Branding is about more than changing your name and gaining a flashy new logo. It’s about producing a service that unique to you and deliverable quality again and again, and delivering that message to the public. Just calling yourself “quality” doesn’t give you quality and I doubt that the public will fall for that one.
Sadly the danger is that this whole conference of rebranding process detracts from the essential work that remains to be done — making law firms more efficient, providing a regular and consistent quality of service, finding new ways to deliver that service in ways that clients want, and both marketing and selling to the public.
Finally I do wonder at the wisdom of using the Quality Solicitors name in rural areas such as mine. People buy people — perhaps even more so in a small and tight knit community. Changing a name from something that is recognizable and familiar to a bland “national brand” may actually be counterproductive. However only time will tell.
Dear ‘Salisbury solicitor’,
I thought I’d also reply to your comment which I think betrays a couple of misunderstandings about QS.
Firstly, of course it hasn’t yet produced a deluge of new work. We are at the very beginning of what we are trying to achieve. Our first TV advert only went on air a couple of weeks ago. We are currently at 15 branded locations. By next January we will be at over 100 locations and a permanent presence – that is when the brand will really start to achieve our aim of becoming a “household name”.
In terms of your second point – it is a very incorrect assumption that QualitySolicitors is about just changing your name and a flashy new logo. QualitySolicitors will be revealing a huge number of innovations and service focused developments in the coming months. The advantage we have over individual firms is that we can deliver such innovations across the UK, making them infintely more powerful than a single firm in isolation. We can also market them in a truly visible way. We are well aware that there is much more to being a truly successfully legal service that a “flashy” logo. Nevertheless, becoming a recongised name in an industry with a virtual absence of the same does bring significant advantages.
As for the rural point – the whole point of QS (as distrinct from the Co-op, Halifax, etc) is that we retain the local branding of the firm alongside our own. We emphasise that we are a brand consisting of the best local, community based, law firms. This provides the ‘best of both worlds’ – a national, recognised brand alongside good, local firms. Incidentally, those that think “small and tight knit” communities are immune to the threat posed by ABS’s in due course are likely to be mistaken. The “recongisable and familiar” local firm is much less so than most firms like to think – one only need be reminded of the Yougov survey last year in which over 60% of people couldn’t name a single law firm…
Good luck QS – I envy you!
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Good Luck QS
The Salisbury chap has a point as no fancy marketing will alone make you quality. This means choosing good partners which I hope is the case.
Having said that, I’m hopeful QS will use an electronic revolution to shame the broader legal community into acting faster for their clients. QS could perhaps stand out as more efficient than the competitors. By the looks of it their websites intends to keep their clients posted. What a great idea.
Best of luck.
Dan
Michael Scutt – well founded point re the weakest link!
QS is a very clever idea and is clearly dominating a cottage industry. It will be interesting to see how they hold up against the looming ABS’s…
At last solicitors looking after themselves.
Unfortunately, with a shallow title such as ‘Quality’ in it I fear that they will be akin to Premier.
Why rebrand if you are already a success. I do hope average firms have not just come together.
But healthy competition is great, so whatever helps the businesses, but the WH Smith idea is not a good one, talk about bringing the profession into disrepute (my view) with clipboard pestering staff when I am trying to buy a paper. It is bad enough when you go into shops and get pestered by someone shouting ‘is there anything I can help you with’. That deal may well have sunk any hopes of trading on the ‘quality’ image.
Time will tell.