Legal Services — Commercial (B2B)

This industry's radar is spiked: strong on Retention & Loyalty (+7.7 vs average) but pulled in on Acquisition Performance (-10.1). A spiky profile means the capability is there but it's concentrated. The risk is that strength in one area masks weakness in another until revenue starts telling you otherwise.

Dimension Breakdown

When relationships are not enough: the new pressure on commercial law firms

Commercial law in Australia has historically operated on the strength of partner relationships and institutional reputation. The composite of 62.0 shows a sector that is strong on retention and brand but weak on the active marketing that increasingly matters.

Retention at 70.1 with 35% weight is the foundation. Long-term client relationships in commercial law are genuinely valuable. General counsel prefer working with firms that understand their business. The switching costs (new firm learning the business, new trust building) are real and significant.

But acquisition at 52.8 reveals a vulnerability. As corporate legal procurement becomes more sophisticated, as panels are reviewed more frequently and as new firms compete more aggressively, the "partner network" model of client acquisition is insufficient. The firms winning new mandates supplement relationships with visible expertise: published insights, industry conference presence and digital thought leadership.

Brand at 65.3 is the firm's accumulated reputation, and it matters in every pitch. But brand in commercial law is not built through advertising. It is built through the quality of advice, the calibre of partners and the firm's track record on matters that define the market.

The firms at the top of the marketing scores have invested in two things that their competitors have not: content infrastructure (regular legal insights, client alerts, sector-specific publications) and CRM systems that track relationships and opportunities systematically. These are not glamorous marketing investments. They are the plumbing that turns a partner-dependent model into a scalable one.

This industry keeps its customers but struggles to find new ones. Retention at 70.1 says the product or service is good. Acquisition at 52.8 says nobody knows about it. The marketing problem here isn't quality. It's visibility.

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Frequently Asked

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Legal Services — Commercial (B2B) scores 62 on average. That's one number across 6 dimensions. Your number will be different, and the breakdown will tell you exactly where to invest and where to stop wasting money.