January is notoriously a mess. But Seriously, 6 months of planning this reorg seems like 6 months of just saying “let’s do a reorg! I’m excited!”
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We need the Glengarry leads.
@nuwr+1qptkLPO - it’s all about money. If the business feels it’s not a growth business or part of their overall strategy then they sell it. Period. It’s happens here and at other organizations. He-l they could even spin it off as a separate business entirely.
As a business they can decide they don’t want to address lawyer advertising. The core business is about information and helping attorneys do the work. FindLaw is about attracting clients. Yes there is a symbiotic relationship, but FindLaw is not in a duopoly, it is a commodity.
There are lots of marketing firms that exist today. The margins are not as high. They have not been gaining customers. Only sometimes enough to replace the ones they lose. Yes the revenue looks good because the pricing goes up. But when they only keep at most 78%-80% of their clients every year it’s not a growth business.
They have had significant trouble with their salesforce. They are set up to fail. I don’t blame them. The quotas get higher and higher. If you don’t hit quota in a 2 month period (missing even by 1%) then you are put on a PIP. Over 60% of new-highers do not make it past 12 months.
They have lost 1000’s of website clients since I started. They are just not growing. They have less clients than when I started many years ago.
The directories are the cash cow. But if you’ve seen them, then you’ll have noticed they only are growing as they add in more paid top spots to each listing. They have no other monetization strategy. This is the same death spiral that the yellow pages went through. Keep stuffing in more ads and pages and keep making money.
If the directory performance su-ks, which it has in the past and is currently not doing the best either, then it’s only going to exacerbate the issue.
The company has no control over it either unlike they do with their core business.
So I ask you, why as a business would you want to keep this business if it’s not growing but just staying a float.
Additionally there has been little to no investment into FL from the business over the years. The business website lawyermarketing.com doesn’t get any funding to attract business. Ask the reps how many leads they get vs how many do they have to source.
Lastly there has been no strategy laid out for the teams to rally around for how the business is to grow. If you are in FL, ask your manager what the plan/strategy for growth is. I guarantee you will get blank stares. They might even slap your hand for asking. Just “keep your head down” and “hit your numbers”
So yes, they would just walk away with a sale. It would be a bloodbath. The sharks would be all over taking over clients who would be now at a loss of what to do and asking themselves what they should do.
That is why I think it’s possible.
@ktyk+1qptkLPO Quite possible? How would TR then address the law firm advertising market? In your view would TR simply walk away from it?
It’s quite possible. They have been bleeding website clients for years. They have lost thousands. The directories are profitable, but they have been plagued with inconsistent performance for law firms over the years. They may almost not money running Google Ads as only 20%-25% of the $$$ goes to FindLaw before you count sales commission and other overhead. They have been squeezing their staff and losing top talent both in sales and in those who run the campaigns.
The hard part to digest would be Super Lawyers. That is the only product I can see would be difficult to spin off as it is part of the FindLaw package, but it is also a standalone print offering as well.
Will Findlaw be divested like Elite?
A re-org today, FindLaw carved out from Small Law Firm, a new leader for FL and tbd on a new leader for SLF. The only thing consistent thing is re-orgs.
Six months to organize a reorg but they forgot to send the email. I'm tired of cleaning up after them. This is not fun anymore and affecting my physical and mental health.
@gso+1qptkLPO TAP sales had a reorg at least
What’s the reorg?