Over the last few years, it seems that the divide between vendors and firms has grown.  For example, at last year’s ILTA annual conference, I heard two attendees talking and one noting what a great conference it was to which the other one replied that it would be if it weren’t for all the "damn vendors". I was quite shocked to hear this since ILTA is known for having the least separation between the attendees and the exhibitors at the shows.  I can say that from my point of view, I can clearly see both sides of this argument.  Based on this backdrop, it was very refreshing to see ALA offering a session for their attendees entitled, "Vendors are not the enemy".

The message of fostering healthy, friendly, and most importantly, mutually beneficial professional relationships between legal vendors and law firms was the main theme and it drew a crowd of over 90 administrator attendees.  The panel consisted of both administrators as well as a vendor, which was really effective in discussing both sides of the relationship.  The panelists were Patti Lane (Moderator), Administrator of McKenna Long & Aldridge, LLP; Lisa Neitzel, Administrator of Balisle & Roberson, S.C.; Marshall Fletcher, Business Development Director of All-State Legal; and Michael Stephens, Director of Human Resources Operations for Alson + Bird, LLP. The session covered a slew of topics related to vendor-firm partnerships and relations. Here are some highlights:

Existing Relationships

Truly successful relationships operate like partnerships and are beneficial to both sides. The administrators on the panel discussed that they have a few choice vendors that they have built a trusting relationship with and that they are always the first companies they reach out to.  In addition to positive past experiences, those chosen vendors step above the typical vendor relationship and offer more assistance in planning, goal setting and are good communicators.

Selecting Vendors

Another portion of the program focused on selecting vendors.  This is typically where the problems with the vendor-firm relationship begin.  The attendees talked about what it is like to try to field all the incoming sales attempts from the vendor community – cold calls, direct mail, and "drive bys".  We were shocked to hear that vendors would actually drop by law firms unannounced expecting to get an audience with an administrator!  As you can imagine, this type of approach in sales doesn’t exactly start the relationship off on the right foot. 

As vendors, it is important to think beyond the immediate sale and work on building a last relationship instead.  Think about their workload when setting up cold call programs, emailing to setup appointments at shows, etc.  In return, law firms need to understand the vendor’s position as well.  One of the biggest frustrations on the vendor front is reaching out to law firms and never getting a response.  It is important for law firms to return calls even if the answer is "no" – especially when the answer is no!

"Inherited" Relationships

Another big problem the administrators discussed was problems with "inherited" vendor relationships.  It seems that most administrators deal with at least one vendor that was either there before they joined the firm or has a connection to a partner, etc. that makes them "untouchable".  We heard quite a few stories about their insurance vendor being the Managing Partner’s brother and have to navigate issues that arise from those situations.  Remember, when firms seem hesitant to speak with you about your product or service, sometimes there are extenuating circumstances.

Sales Process

We will focus on this topic a bit more in future posts, but one thing that was addressed numerous times in this discussion was RFPs.  The administrators on the panel gave advice to their peers about being realistic with RFPs and think of the amount of work that goes into responding to them.  Also, when asked about a fair deadline for responding, 30-45 days seemed to be the consensus, obviously depending on the intricate nature of the proposal required.

Moving Forward

It is important for the vendor community to think long-term when planning their sales plans to target law firms.  It is in no one’s interest for this separation to grow and to further divide the vendors from the firms.  Last year, ILTA created Vendor Guidelines to ensure that vendors were respectful when reaching out to their members and ALA has a similar Code of Conduct. 

Many thanks to ALA and the panelists for being the first (that we know of) to offer this program and for the way they examined both sides of the argument to shed light on the vendor’s position to their administrator audience.  It will be nice to see if other shows learn from this and offer this session to their own audiences.  Also, as a parting note, I was surprised that I only saw about 2-3 vendors in attendance at the session.  Perhaps in the future, that number will increase.