Oscar Wilde once said, “You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.”

When it comes to law firm marketing, the same can be said about your clients. In some ways you do know more than you think you know, although you may not have harnessed that information to benefit your practice. In other ways, if you haven’t taken the time to understand what makes your client base tick, you may know a lot less.

The more you can understand your clients, the greater the impact you will have on them.

A key to building strong, long-term client relationships, is to understand the trends, drivers and needs that impact client behavior.

Trends: What trends impact your clients’ legal needs? Trends typically fall into four categories: competitive, regulatory, technological, economic.

Drivers: How do your clients measure success? Success for business is often based on key metrics such as financial performance or shareholder value.

Needs: What keeps your clients up at night? Consider the risks they face with their current legal needs, costs considerations, the source of the problem, competitive pressures.

By taking a disciplined approach to studying the trends, drivers and needs of your clients, you will provide value to your client that goes beyond the specific legal matter you handle. This will position you for a greater share of work and help turn your clients into great referral sources.

For more lessons about client service teams, read, “Lessons from the Trenches: Client Service Teams.”