Ditch the desk and get to know your client

Public exhibitions and fairs are not thought of as the natural habitat for legal services. We don't have physical products as such, (waving round a will or decree nisi is not the most tasteful approach), we are not an entertainment of leisure pursuit, and we all know the law can often be tricky to position in a positive light.

However, since becoming managing partner at my firm, one of my main ambitions has been to make the firm bolder, break new ground and explore marketing initiatives we had not attempted before.

It was with that entrepreneurial spirit, we signed up to the Life Begins 50+ Show at Bournemouth's International Centre. It was on a Sunday, people would be coming at their leisure. And as the event took place in our neighbouring county of Dorset, we were also broadening our reach.

Branded panels

We had planned our stand with branded panels, comfortable chairs, a table displaying our brochures, goody bags with branded items, and more than 400 mini cupcakes with gold decoration and '50' on them to celebrate our golden anniversary year.

We decided to steer away from branded polo shirts (I'm not convinced that is the look for lawyers) in favour of professional clothing in keeping with the colours of our brand. Men wore suits and open-neck button shirts and women wore dresses or skirts and blouses.

We were given a stand at the end of a row and on either side behind us were two more law firms, one of which had...branded cupcakes. Our hearts sank momentarily, but then the event got going.

I quickly saw that these events are not about the cakes or giveaways. These distractions may be a way to break the ice, but it was when my staff got into conversation with people that we made the most impact. Simply asking why people has come to the exhibition resulted in a conversation about a particular service. We would listen to people's responses and hear them talk about their lives. And it was all led by the potential client.

Natural leads

We found people in property disputes, having problems seeing their grandchildren, thinking of downsizing after retirement and needing to update their wills. Evidently they knew why we were at the event, but once we settled into a routine of just meeting people and chatting, we stopped selling and new leads came quite naturally.At one point, things got competitive. Despite being told we could not move out of our booth's immediate vicinities, one of our neighbours broke out and started shamelessly standing in front of our stand. Thankfully, we managed to rein them back in with good humour, but I never thought these things could be so ruthless.

Another great moment happened at the end of the event when we had about 20 cupcakes left. It was just like the end of one of the challenges on BBC's The Apprentice, where the contestants start giving away their products. One of my staff stood crying: "Cakes! Cakes! Have a cake! And they went like, well, they were hot.

The event proved very worthwhile and, whether they were potential clients or not, we met many interesting people. With the mantra of the legal profession being one of clarity, approachability and a client-orientated approach, this seemed the perfect environment to achieve just that.

Catherine Maxfield is managing partner of Eric Robinson Solicitors