Quality Solicitors

This page is not a link to Quality Solicitors. To join them you need to head elsewhere.

We're simply offering a rival, an alternative. National Solicitors.

QS have done very well for themselves and we applaud them. They are developing a great brand. The Private Equity backing they have received will help them market their brand nationally. 

The questions we would ask, and our alternative, are as follows;

1. Why do firms have to demote their own brand to join QS ?
2. Will the general public lose awareness of your brand in favour of theirs ?
3. How easy is it to get out if you're unhappy with them ?
4. Why is their focus targeted on National advertising when law firms generally want local work ?
5. Will the brand ever break through into the forefront of the public consciousness ?
6. Why use the name Quality Solicitors ?
7. Will the proposed 1000 firms joining QS cause other lawyers problems ?
8. How do you know where your 5% is being spent ?
9. Are you a cash cow for them ?
10. The Equity investors behind QS stated, on a press release, they were happy to buy into the brand because it had "160 outlets"....   

We wanted to stick with ten points, here, but a final one would be... is a lack of competition to QS, healthy ? 

Damn. Another point comes to mind. As Quality Solicitors is the dominant name in the "lawyer / QS" relationship (ie. their name first) what happens when a QS lawyer looks over at his secretary, winks, and subsequently raids the client account to fund a life on the run ? Or an Intervention happens ? Will that fatally weaken the brand ? 

In response to the above points our thoughts, without wanting to sound negative, are....

Each firm is a regional commodity to QS. They want their name above your door. Overtime the awareness of your brand will be diluted, their name comes first after all, and a cynic might suggest you become an accessory to their brand.   

From what we hear it's very difficult to move away from QS. Plus at that point you'll most likely have switched telephone numbers, email addresses, signs, letterheads etc.... and it'll be like starting afresh with all the hassles that entails.

As a business it makes sense for them to advertise nationally because that helps them recruit new firms to plug the gaps in their network. ie. whilst they're advertising to gain new clients a cynic might suggest they're really angling for new lawyers.

We have a slight headache with the Quality name because, again, a cynical individual would suggest the name is tailored towards attracting lawyers. And a horribly minded individual might ask whether the general public perceives that lawyers do Quality work.

One comment would be that the general public have no understanding or interest in what lawyers do. To them legal work is a "box transaction" & folk simply want a competent job done, at the right price. 

Will a group of 1,000 QS outlets cause other lawyers headaches ? Yep. Whether the firms recoup the 5% they pay to QS, or not, if the millions being pumped into the advertising have an impact it may sway individual clients to their cause. It might only be a short lived swing, but it may not.

As a business QS need to make profit. They've attracted investment on the basis of that fact. The Equity investors will either pump more money in or seek an increase in fees to make the business succeed. The lawyers will become a commodity, an outlet, to be profited from. 

Life as a cynic ain't easy.... 

Our solution is slightly different although, for the avoidance of doubt, we are a business that enjoys being profitable. That's what we're all in business for.

As a complete aside. Yahoo existed before Google. The latter now dwarf the former. Facebook weren't the first to do what they do. Neither were Youtube.  

As a piece of vaguely interesting trivia 14 years ago a couple of young chaps first approached Yahoo for investment but were politely turned away. At the time the new kids on the block were calling their search engine "Backrub" . Life changed for them when they changed their name to Google.

My point is competition makes things better. It also serves to highlight the need for a decent name. Ronseal captured the idea by saying, "it does what it says on the tin". They had to heavily, massively, advertise to get that point across.  

You may like our "me, too" brand or you may not. You may use the comments made here to secure a better deal from QS. Regardless our scenario is based around the term "National Solicitors". The public would see your name first and then pick up the inference from the following two words. ie. the N & S.

The tag line would, again, be "Local knowledge, National strength".

We would work on a rolling 12 month contract. We'd advertise locally. You'd expect your work would come from local individuals so it makes sense to advertise your services in your area.

From a brand perspective we're trying to build on your name. And add the National Solicitors brand. We're not looking to reinvent the wheel. Or start afresh. We believe the NS brand echoes the Ronseal concept. We believe that's what clients want. Local knowledge, national strength.  

If we get the the metadata (web geek terminology) correct for your website, and the "real world" advertising right then it doesn't matter how successful QS are. ie. they're using a scatter gun approach whereas we'll target your specific audience.

Incidentally our bread & butter is the online world and we currently generate bucket loads of Conveyancing referrals. 

In terms of fees we have a nominal initial fee & then simply a £250 + VAT per month charge. You then decide how much you want to put into marketing your brand. That can be a minimal amount or the same as QS ask for.

Ideally we'd like, as a services company, any reciprocal work you can send us but that's not necessary. 

In a long winded precis... You're the solicitor. We're the marketeer. You provide legal services. We'll find clients... does this sound of interest ?

Please call us for a chat on 0345 603 0708 or email marketing@legalbrokers.com. 

Jon Hilton

Legal Brokers Ltd