As someone with a sales and marketing background, it was drummed into me that anybody worth their salt will attempt to enhance any sale by offering complementary services. In doing so, it gives the opportunity to demonstrate expertise and knowledge of the product, attends to and anticipates the needs of the client (who may not know what he needs until you tell him) and, crucially, stops the client going elsewhere. Often this isn’t merely a case of immediate sales, but of maximising potential future sales. In certain instances, providing such an additional service may even be at a financial loss but goes towards the bigger picture of offering a conscientious, comprehensive first class service that enhances the firm’s reputation.

AN EXAMPLE...

Consider a Letter of Wishes: a non binding document to accompany a Will which attempts to guide executors about specific things that should happen after death. Whilst this sometimes refers to the management of trusts and the appointment of professional advisors, it is just as likely to refer to the wider issues which accompanies end of life issues, such as funeral arrangements and the distribution of belongings.

Recently, I was chatting with a solicitor about the subject. He stated, without hesitation, that his clients wouldn’t complete my book Last Orders; (The Essential Guide to Your Letter of Wishes). It was far too comprehensive for them to cope with it. A second solicitor said he had a copy of Last Orders, but hadn’t considered the possibility of giving copies to clients. He thought it was for professionals.

On a more positive note, a third solicitor proudly produced his own firm’s Letter of Wishes. It had tackled this most difficult and sensitive of subjects by producing a series of photocopied A4 sheets of tick lists.

A fourth solicitor bought copies of Last Orders in bulk and told me that he would be giving a copy of the book to all the firm’s Will-making clients and I am currently negotiating with a fifth solicitor who is considering buying copies in bulk to give to every single client going through the firm’s doors in order to promote the Will making branch of his firm.

So, there we have it, five very different options on a single topic amply demonstrating the differing lengths firms will go to make their mark. But then there is the sixth option which, if my research at the sharp end is representative of the whole, appears to be the most prevalent of all: the issue is entirely avoided. Of those I present talks to, the majority of people who have made Wills, (mostly prepared by solicitors) have not heard of, let alone written, a Letter of Wishes. This is disappointing.

Leaving a tidy estate generally revolves around two issues: making a will, and writing a Letter of Wishes; having completed the former, is there not a natural progression for solicitors to recommend the latter?

For many of the lay public, approaching end of life issues is a significant ordeal which they may have postponed for many years and they are likely to need support and guidance. Solicitors are in a privileged position to offer that advice. They are likely to have witnessed family fall-outs which can ensue over seemingly innocuous matters such as funerals, cremation versus burial, choices of cemeteries, distribution of belongings (the list is endless) any or all of which can lead to family disagreements and even litigation.

What is unsettling is, that on relaying this to audiences, the response is nearly always one of bleak acceptance and typically along the lines of “But solicitors want that to happen don’t they?”

Whilst offering such advice may fall outside solicitors’ remit if a firm wishes to demonstrate a unique and distinctive approach, it may be worth advising on the ramifications of ignoring such things. Whilst some may consider a Letter of Wishes as a peripheral issue, it is one which could become anything but.

The advice proffered need not be extensive, a simple handout or factsheet to accompany the final Will may be enough to prompt the actions that a testator could take to minimise the risks. It may well be that that guidance falls on stony ground, but at least it would show the holistic approach by solicitors willing to tackle this most difficult of subjects.

For those firms which already have such a practice in place, hats off to you; for those who don’t, it could be a strategy to engage in contacting your clients for a reassessment of the legacy which they will ultimately leave.

CONCLUSION

If law firms are serious about rising to the forthcoming challenges and wish to outshine the competition, the key lies in demonstrating diligence, offering an enhanced service and cultivating a personalised and bespoke service with clients.

Solicitors have a duty to act in a client’s best interest and whilst probate solicitors may well fulfil their brief by drafting a Will, I believe there is a need to look holistically at the effects of death in relation to not just the individual testator, but to advise that client of its wider consequences too.