[OLD - Removed per HelpSpot request #12674] Client Service for Law Firms : Client Satisfaction, Surveys. Repeat Business Drivers & Criteria

According to the Church of the Customer Blog, a new Nielsen study confirms, once again, that word of mouth referrals are still the most trusted form of advertising out there.

This news is about as groundbreaking as a new AMA survey that reveals cigarettes are hazardous to your health and licking electric fences can cause severe discomfort. While we all appreciate the confirmation, and I'm definitely grateful to McConnell and Huba (publishers of the awesome CotC blog), it strikes me as another one of those why-did-Nielsen-even-need-to-bother pieces of research.

The real question is: How do you get/increase those word of mouth referrals? 

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Thanks to JD Hull for linking to an old post of his on what he tells his associates. The comment by Mr. Robins below isn't bad, either. Here's the (partial) quote from JD Hull:

Every day, the client service...should be good enough to permit those employees to actually steal any client, and take them to another law firm...if they were to leave your shop tomorrow morning.

If you are not...willing to go that far with your own employees...you are neither confident about client loyalty (not to mention employee loyalty) nor really serious about delivering outrageous client service to your clients.

That's  fabulous. However, one might pause and rightly ask what level of client service the senior partner delivered if the decision were that easy for the client!!  :-)

A great concept to live by, though. (Don't miss the "employee loyalty" comment, too!).

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Thanks to a friend, Jack Mowreader, for an HBR link of Jeff Bezos being interviewed. Feel free to read the entire thing, but here's the kicker as it relates to client service. I love this quote:

"You should wake up every morning terrified with your sheets drenched in sweat, but not because you’re afraid of our competitors.Be afraid of our customers, because those are the folks who have the money. Our competitors are never going to send us money."

Well put!!!  Anything else I add will just diminish its beauty.

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Michelle Golden covers an annual rite of fall in her post on developing marketing budgets for marketers. Since I like Michelle's work I'll look forward to her additional posts on the matter. But I want to emphasize one thing she alludes to already (and hopefully will be expanding on):

When planning your spending, bear in mind that it is far (FAR) easier to keep an existing client or get additional business from that existing client than it is to generate new clients altogether.

Your spending should reflect that reality.

If your scheduled expenditures are largely geared towards acquisition of new clients expect a lower ROI. Conversely, if your dollars are geared towards things that help you serve your existing clients better expect higher ROI.

And for goodness' sake avoid the temptation to spend your dollars on things that are "sexy" but shaky in their ROI. Unless, of course, you're paid to be sexy but ineffective (i.e. your name is Anucha Browne Sanders and your boss is Isaiah Thomas). OOPS. I digress....

Tom Kane agrees, apparently, but with less verbiage.

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