Richard Hinton of Pitsford Consulting Limited has just launched the Conveyancing Map — a new business intelligence tool displaying on an interactive map all residential property transactions in England and Wales with the name of the firm acting in each purchase. Today’s Conveyancer asks why the map is a useful commodity for law firms….
What is the Conveyancing Map?
“The Conveyancing Map is a new product that has extensively refined, cleansed and improved authoritative Land Registry housing transaction data. Crucially, it includes the name of the conveyancing firm acting in each purchase. This data is then made available as an online service that allows a user to search, filter and export using an online mapping tool. It already holds the details of more than 1.2 million transactions and is updated quarterly.”
In what ways is the map useful for law firms?
“Competition in the conveyancing market has increased dramatically in recent years. The growth of national and regional conveyancing firms, the arrival of external funding and new entrants and the growth in panels have all contributed to an ever stronger focus on competition. More than ever before, conveyancing firms need an early understanding of how they are performing, when they are under threat and where their growth opportunities are.
“The Conveyancing Map allows a firm to track its market share month by month and compare it to its rivals. Market share is the acid test of a business’s performance as opposed to simply relying on file opening stats. A rising market can hide the stronger performance of rivals and a falling market can disguise opportunities. Market share KPIs should be viewed as the Gold Standard.
“As well as this new operational transparency, the Conveyancing Map is being used by law firms to craft factual-based marketing messages for clients and introducers; to shape geographical marketing campaigns and in some cases, provide due diligence in support of mergers, acquisitions and office reorganisations.”
How long have you been producing the Conveyancing Map?
“It’s brand new — less than two months old. I’ve been delighted by the reaction to it. People warm to its simplicity and the strength of the data. I’m pleased, too, by the endorsement of well-respected organisations in the field — The Bold Legal Group, Legal Eye and LawNet amongst others have all seen it in action and have been quick to endorse it to their membership.”
What inspired you to launch it?
“I have a background in law firm marketing — for 12 years I was the marketing director at Shoosmiths, then I worked at LexisNexis on the legal case management side and most recently I was with SearchFlow. So I have 25 years of experience in the property industry and throughout that time I’ve been conscious that there’s a dearth of good business intelligence for lawyers to use when planning how to develop and grow their businesses — it’s been niggling at me. I’ve been in roles where I’ve been required to understand what the conveyancing market is doing as a whole or trying to understand the competition and it largely comes down to hearsay. So that’s the inspiration behind it.”
How easy is to use the Conveyancing Map?
“It’s all hosted. Clients have a user name and a login and all the information is there — immediate and accessible — at their fingertips. I’ll produce a report if a client wants it but the software is so easy to use that most would rather access it themselves.”
How much does it cost?
“Pricing is based on the size of a firm’s conveyancing operation and online access starts from £595 pa, including the quarterly updates. Alternatively, firms can commission a bespoke report, the price of which is again linked to the size of their conveyancing operation and starts from £295.”
What are your long term plans with the Conveyancing Map?
“At the moment it’s just focussed on residential property but we could move into the commercial side. Equally there’s other data out there that’s relevant to the home moving industry that we could add to build an even richer picture. So we’ll see.”
So what does the Conveyancing Map tell us about the West Midlands?
“Well, it tells us that there are 142 law firms based in the region that acted in more than 25 purchase cases a year and that together in 2013 bought 27,346 residential properties. The two largest conveyancing firms based in the region are both members of the Quality Solicitors network — QS Talbots and QS Davisons. The full top 20 firms are shown below.
“The relative performance of the top five firms shows the strong and broadly comparable performance of each (notwithstanding the stellar June for QS Talbots) that no doubt underpins their status as leading firms.
“When looked at in terms of a league table of firms who acted in the purchase of properties within the region, a different picture emerges with six of the top 20 firms located outside the Region. [see below]”
For further information and an online demonstration please contact Steve Vickers on 01829 307 075.
