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The Motor Insurers Bureau and Solicitors Marketing

What Is The Common Link?

When I was a practising solicitor (over five years ago now - tempus fugit.) my specialist subject was claiming compensation from the Motor Insurers'' Bureau. For those of you that do not practice personal injury law, the Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) was set up to compensate the victims of uninsured drivers. The MIB is funded by a levy from all insurers that provide motor insurance.

If you act for a client that has suffered injury as a result of an uninsured driver, you make a claim to the MIB. To receive compensation from the MIB you must follow a large number of procedures; fall foul of one of them and you could lose the claim and suddenly face a claim of negligence.

Somehow I became known as an expert on claims against the MIB (including having a book published - Claiming Compensation From The MIB) which led to me negotiating with the Minister For Transport (Stephen Byers MP at the time) to try and make the agreement easier to follow and less likely to trip claimant solicitors up.

In those days the MIB used to try to use every small point in the agreements to avoid paying compensation. Meetings used to be tense, often with two representatives from the MIB; one playing good cop and one bad. When I attended the MIB's offices for negotiations there was a general feeling of doom and gloom. As the "Claimant Solicitor" I was pretty close to the devil incarnate and was made to feel as such. One of the requirements under the Agreement was that on issue of court proceedings you had to notify the MIB within 14 days or your claim would not be accepted (another opportunity for negligence). Issuing was therefore an incredibly tense time. What made it worse was that the MIB would not accept personal service, the fax (one machine I think from memory) was constantly engaged, and they had a three to six month backlog of post. Therefore, you could never know if your documentation was received before it was too late to rectify any defect in service.

This was the MIB of old. The general lethargy ran (in my opinion) from the top to the bottom, even into the brickwork of the Milton Keynes building.

Last week I was invited back to the MIB to watch a course that was jointly presented by one of my clients, MASS Training (www.masstraining.org.uk) and the MIB. I know from working with the Motor Accident Solicitors Society that great changes have been happening at the MIB. I have also had the pleasure of working with Ashton West who joined the MIB as CEO just as I left practice in 2003.

Whilst the same agreement is in place, the interpretation of it has changed dramatically. More important than this though is the huge difference across every member of the MIB team. I met probably a dozen of the MIB team from senior management to reception staff and spoke to them all. They all are aware of their common goal: to provide compensation to the victims of uninsured drivers as economically and swiftly as possible. They are all very positive about finding ways of improving their service. They refer to Claimant Solicitors as "clients". Whereas post used to take three to six months to even be acknowledged, it is now dealt with within seven days.

I do not have the figures but I am confident that the MIB's improved efficiency has actually saved insurers a considerable amount of expense in funding the MIB. Ashton has recruited exceptional people. One of them was David Shutes who I sadly learned has passed away since I last saw him - an amazing, straightforward business brain and a thoroughly decent man. In addition to surrounding himself with good people, Ashton has invested in training them in the ways of the new MIB and thereby ensuring that they understand why the MIB exists. This has single handedly transformed the MIB into a business model that I am certain insurance companies could learn from.

So how does this relate to marketing a law firm? In two key ways:

1. Strong leadership and an understanding of the reasons why your practice exists and what it does well (your marketing message)
2. Ensuring that every single member of your team understands your message and communicates it well to all potential clients, referrers and friends and family.

If you could achieve nothing else except the above two points over the course of the next year I know you will reach new levels of success in your business. If you clearly define why a client should choose your law firm over a competitor, and communicate that to every member of staff, you are likely to achieve more in the next year than you have in the last five.

Would You Like More Advice Like This?

To discover what small steps you can instantly take to bring new clients to your law firm and to increase your profits please complete your details below to receive my free guide: "8 Ways To Instantly Increase Your Profits!". The guide covers the following vital matters for you:

• the fatal mistakes most solicitors make with their advertising along with a formula to use to correct them;
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• the best form of marketing for solicitors (and you will be pleased to hear it does not involve spending thousands of pounds);
• how to make more of your free advertising space (your premises);
• Website marketing - what you are missing and how can you improve;
• creating your army of salesmen for your services; and
• the one tip that could instantly increase your profits with NO COST whatsoever

I will not sell or pass on your email address, ever.
Nick Jervis, Solicitor (non-practising).

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