Using Listening Platforms to Monitor Information That Matters to Clients and That Should Matter to You

zama-logoClients and potential clients have a lot of choices when it comes to selecting a lawyer.  As a solo practitioner, how can you set yourself apart from other solos and larger firms, and convince a potential client that you’re the best choice to be their lawyer?

Surveys consistently show that a critical factor to clients in selecting counsel is whether or not the lawyer has knowledge and experience in the client’s business and industry.  Being able to demonstrate that you’re knowledgeable and current on issues that matter to your clients can be a big advantage in helping you win and keep their business.

Large firms have known this for years.  They have business development and library staff to help their lawyers search for information and keep abreast of relevant developments.  Lawyers in large firms also have technology-based tools to efficiently become aware of information and developments relevant to clients and prospects.  Such tools include Manzama, InfoNgen, Attensa and Ozmosys.  These “listening platforms” search for information from high value sources throughout the internet and deliver them to large firm lawyers based on each lawyer’s needs.

A Listening Platform for Small Firms and Solos

At least one of these tools is now available to solo practitioners and small firms as well.  Zama (getzama.com) is the small firm and solo version of the Manzama listening platform.  Zama is a web-based content intelligence tool that automatically searches the web for information based on your personal preferences.  Zama analyzes and classifies this information for relevance and importance, and delivers that information to you, once a day, in a concise, readable format, based on what you want to know.

A tool like Zama allows you to quickly get a better, deeper understanding of your clients’ or prospects’ businesses, helping you land business and gain your clients’ trust.  You can track issues of interest to your clients, promoting yourself as a thought leader by easily finding and sharing interesting and relevant content via email, newsletters, blogs, and events.   By monitoring your clients’ industries, you can be in a position to alert your clients to developments that may matter to them even before they become aware of the information.  This can put you in a position to proactively reach out to your clients, which can result in new engagements.

A tool like Zama can also help you stay abreast of your own area of practice.  You can use Zama to keep up to date on the most recent articles, legal developments and court decisions that could affect your practice.

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Unlike consumer focused email alert offerings, where you have to individually set up an alert for each and every topic, company, and industry that you need to track, tools like Zama allow you to track those matters important to you in a dashboard, by company, industry, practice and topic.  The tool then delivers a consolidated daily email alert with the relevant information and most recent developments.

[Like an Amazon Kindle, the Zama platform also “learns” from your behavior what type of information is more useful to you, and gives priority to the type of information that your behavior suggests is most important.]  The idea is to give you the most important information as efficiently as possible, so you get what you need without spending as much time searching.

Zama is priced at $60 per month (or $50 per month for an annual subscription).

It’s no secret that the market for legal services is getting increasingly competitive and becoming more crowded.  In a solo practice or small firm, time is your most precious commodity.  A tool like Zama efficiently gets you the information you need to compete with larger firms and offer a higher level of understanding and service. Zama offers a free 30-day trial to all new users. Simply visit GetZama.com to get started.

Bob Wiggins, formerly a practicing lawyer, runs Law Firm Profitability Management, a legal management and marketing consulting firm.  Visit www.lawfirmprofitability.management.

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