On Thursday 22 October 2020, professionals from across the wills and probate sector came together to celebrate the successes and achievements of the industry is what has been a challenging year, at the British Wills and Probate Awards 2020.
The awards, which was back for it’s third year, took to the virtual stage and was hosted by ex-Royal correspondent, Jennie Bond, alongside headline sponsor Arken.legal (UK), and champagne sponsor Executor Solutions.
500 people watched the winning organisations take the crown this year. The full list of winners is available here. The online event is available to watch here.
Let’s hear from the Highly Commended, Best Use of Social Media and Marketing Award, WillSuite
About the Best Use of Social Media and Marketing Award
This award looks at all aspects of how a firm or legal supplier markets itself. This firm or legal supplier has shown that its use of marketing and social media has created an effective platform and online presence through which customers/clients can reach them.
The winner of this award must:
- Have shown exceptional originality and innovative thinking within a marketing campaign
- Be able to prove success through improved client awareness and knowledge, and company/firm profitability
- Have demonstrated outside the box thinking, surpassing campaigns of competitors
WillSuite were shortlisted alongside:
- Parker Bullen (Winners)
- Finders International
During the judging process, the judges decided that WillSuite were the worthy winners saying:
“A good submission demonstrating a different approach to the marketing of legal software with dedicated and pro-active marketing strategies..”
How did you feel being Highly Commended in the Best Use of Social Media and Marketing Award this year?
As you can see from the attached video, we were delighted to have been highly commended. Just imagine what we would have done if we had won. Being in the business of technology, people assume that we’re going to be great at social media and we don’t post for posting’s sake. Also, seeing what others put out, we feel it’s important to be different and we’re not afraid of that. That’s why you see our director in the bath in our posts or posts and quotes about our company and software by famous people.
So, who are WillSuite? What do you do?
We’ve got a dedicated and hardworking team who are all passionate about WillSuite and our clients. If you cut them open you’d see that they have green blood (WillSuite Green). We’re a progressive and forward-thinking legal tech and software business. We’ve built software that legal practitioners use to be able to deliver estate planning documents to their clients quickly and efficiently. WillSuite is one of three brands within our group.
How has your firm developed in the last 12 months and navigated the added complexity of the coronavirus pandemic?
Despite some practitioners reporting challenging times, we’ve grown in the last 12 months. We’ve not sat back and in fact we’ve pushed harder than ever in recent months. We’ve seen an electronically signed LPA accepted by the OPG (the saga continues), we’ve provided marketing workshops to industry practitioners (not just WillSuite users). We have also expanded the team. We have a team of in-house developers and we don’t outsource that development. That’s what allows us to keep bringing new features to our clients. Additionally, we’ve brought Tom Stansfield in as Head of Growth. He’s spearheading plans to keep us moving forward and we’re engaging even more practitioners than ever.
What’s next on the cards for you?
We have vacancies within the group of companies to bring in fresh talent and ideas (info on our Love Legal website). We’re also working on a couple of projects which are nearly complete (can’t say anymore right now) but they will certainly help our clients to automate even more of their processes saving more time and money.
What advice would you give someone thinking of joining the Wills and Probate sector?
To anyone new to the profession they are welcome to have a chat with Tom in our team. Over recent years, he’s helped hundreds of practitioners to grow a business. It wouldn’t be a WillSuite sales pitch and no one will be funnelled into a pipeline. If they wanted some practical advice, it would be to automate their processes as much as possible freeing up time to grow the business and market more. No one wants to get into a cycle of peaks and troughs (we call it strikes and gutters).
Why is the British Wills and Probate Awards event, which recognises excellence and highlights achievements in the industry, so important to the industry, especially this year?
I think it gave us all a chance to breath a little, to relax and to reflect on the achievements we’ve all made. It was great for businesses who were entered to engage in friendly competition and certainly brings practitioners together at a challenging time.
Everyone at Today’s Wills and Probate congratulates all those who were shortlisted in this year’s awards.
More information about the British Wills and Probate Awards can be found here.
