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

Tom Kane's recent post touches on a nerve for most lawyers: asking for business. He closes with this comment:

The point is that there ways that lawyers can ask for work in a professional manner that doesn't involve groveling. It is part of the closing process that comes with business development.

I really do not disagree with his post. In fact, I highly recommend reading it. I'm going to offer my naive opinion, though, that the firm that really gets client service right will at least ask less often than others. Clients will want them to handle their additional work badly enough that they'll often ask.

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Dan Hull has a good question about whether you need to like your clients or not to do a good job? His answer is yes, you need to like them (at least for his firm). Okay. I'm not so confident, but I do respect his opinion. Moving on, here's what caught my eye:

"....When we perform well, the client appreciates us and signals that appreciation. So then we like the client even more, and want to do an even better job or keep doing the good job we are doing so we can derive more real pleasure from the engagement, and obtain more work.

...We have never, ever had good long-term relationships with any organization client (1) which did not genuinely appreciate what we were doing for it or (2) which had disturbing corporate personalities (i.e., mean-spirited Rambo cultures, groups with employees given to blame-storming, or companies with disorganized, internally-uncommunicative or just plain lazy staffs.)"

I'm not taking issue with him on this statement. In the context of client service, however, we should at least ask the following questions: 

Could it be the reason they don't genuinely appreciate us is we haven't earned it?

With the mean-spirited employees is it a matter of nature or nurture? (In other words, did we create the monster?)

I've been married long enough to know that if my wife is mad at me there's typically a reason for it. And "she's just plain psycho" isn't the right answer.

Sometimes we really do need to fire a client. Sometimes they are just plain nasty. But before we place the blame there, we should first honestly ask ourselves if we caused the problem.

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I just received an e-mail from a co-worker of mine. In the process of trying to move he contracted with a national truck rental company. I'll refrain from stating the name of the company (hint: their name means a list of all planned expenses and revenues).  Here are his comments:

"We were notified less than a day before our scheduled pick-up that our truck wasn't available at the arranged location, no one could bring it to another location, and we'd need to drive 45 minutes to pick it up. An hour and a half was wasted with calls to their beyond-useless customer service.

Today...it wouldn't start. Contacting their "24-hour Roadside Assistance," two hours later I was met with a guy from a shady local towing company with nothing more than a set of jumper cables. That did not cut it. The entire move is now a day behind schedule. Customer service doesn't seem to care."

Mistakes will happen. View them as your chance to shine. If you make a mistake but bend over backwards trying to correct it, I'll forever adore you.

I'm just curious, Ches (although desparately trying not to visualize this): If the shady tow truck guy showed up with nothing more than a set of jumper cables, what did he hook them up to, and didn't it hurt?

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Taken from a post by Patrick J. Lamb is an excerpt of an excerpt of a speech Mark Chandler gave:

"Put most bluntly, the most fundamental misalignment of interests is between clients who are driven to manage expenses, and law firms which are compensated by the hour.....those who can differentiate themselves by providing the top notch of customized services, where that is needed, will also win.... My bet is that despite the consolidation trend we’re seeing today, top quality boutiques will thrive while the cost structures of larger centralized firms will put them at risk."

Can I get an "amen" from the choir? Regardless of firm size, I think good service (whatever it's shape or size) should be rewarded, and bad service should be given a red card!

My wife and I just moved. One sales rep, in the process of getting estimates, whined about not being able to move her time up because she had to mow a yard. No kidding, and during working hours!! I think we had her come out anyway. After much angst we decided to go with a different moving company, even though she probably has some beautiful landscaping.

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I just have to relay a story from my own life. I've on numerous occasions given out my mortgage guy's name as a great person to do business with (his name is Scott Creighton of Seattle Mortgage). He's handled several of our real estate transactions and those of friends. We don't price shop him; we go straight to him and stay there.

As I've alluded to before on my blog, we are in the process of buying another house. My wife, having worked in real estate, knows that the best laid plans can go awry. And they did yesterday, on the day we were supposed to sign documents.

Scott stepped up to the plate, and never once sought to figure out where the problem occurred (translation: place blame). He just quietly solved the problem. We signed as planned, because the problem was resolved. He probably was not to blame. We have no idea; no effort was made to figure it out.

All that matters is he solved the problem.

Two questions for you law firm folks:

1. Do your clients brag about you and actively try to send business your way?
2. Do your clients view you as being completely trustworthy?

If the answer to both isn't "yes" then something is wrong. With your firm, not with your client.

My wife just called. I asked, "What's the news?"  She replied back, "What news?"  Perfect!  Love you. Oh, and you, too, sweetie!!  :-)

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While I certainly have reservations about some of what he recommends, there are some great ideas posted on Jim Hassett's blog containing suggestions for improving client service.

I highly recommend checking it out, but let me add my disclaimer. I especially have concerns about #11 (Deepen and broaden contacts at your top clients). Sounds great on the surface, and you're almost sure to get a 4.0 grade from your Sales101 professor. But personally I wouldn't do this unless you are delivering great service already. Or at least good service. If not, you may end up spreading more ill will. It's sort of like when you have a cold. If you sneeze on one person, it's bad, but if you sneeze on a bunch of people you may have a mob riot on your hands.

I have one other concern. Once you go to the client with any of these suggestions, you are on the hook to deliver. Please DON'T ask if you lack the will power or the resources to carry out their suggestions.

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I just read an article about Gisele Bundchen speaking out against the Roman Catholic church's  position on condoms and abortion. Okay, what gives? I read her biography on Wikipedia. As far as I can tell she has no credentials whatsoever to speak out on matters medical or sociological. It's no different from other entertainers who blab about their political and economic philosophies. Can anyone tell me why I should heed the advice of a person who makes their living in a make-believe world? I can only imagine Plato is turning in his grave.

Because of my education, I can speak with some degree of authority on things philosophical or things theological. But if I'm giving a finance or economics lecture, caveat emptor.

You'll often hear lawyers say they know what their client wants. Really? It is worth asking how they know this. Have they asked their client? Has anybody at the firm asked? Be careful of transferring their legal expertise into client service expertise. It's sometimes a nice way of saying, "Don't touch my clients." But if you want to solidify the fact that they are your clients, some proactive measures should be taken.

In all my conversations with in house counsel very few said they had ever been asked what they wanted with client service. Maybe I talked with the wrong people. Maybe not.

By the way, I'm not really sure what the big deal about Gisele is, other than the fact she's worth about $150 million, which is roughly $150 million more than I am.

(Postscript: I know what you're thinking: The picture doesn't really look like Gisele. Give it a few years, except maybe the beard).

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I ran across a post on client service and exceeding expectations. Here's what the post says in part:

"But what about over delivering? It sounds great in principle. Your client or customer is wowed....And then you realise, with a sudden sinking feeling that you’ve raised the bar. The client’s expectations are higher. Your idea of outstanding excellence has just become the norm.... And guess what, you can’t go back."

I'm going to disagree. Trust is built up over time. Proof of your client service excellence is also built up over time, and not in a single act. Continue delivering on your promises, and I'll rate you as excellent.

The bar doesn't have to be raised. I'm not even sure I want to keep raising it. Just don't try to lower it on me.

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My oldest son's soccer team is now in the process of their biggest tournament of the year, the so-called League Placement Tournament.  It determines for the entire year what level of play they're placed at.  They lost their first two games, in identical fashion.  They both ended in penalty kicks after two scoreless halves and two scoreless overtimes periods.  A shot over the crossbar here, a header wide there, another opportunity to feed a teammate for an open shot missed, and no goals the result.

They should've won these games.  Instead, they are now 0-2 and in danger of dropping out of their anticipated division.

On the other hand, my youngest son is in his year-end baseball tournament.  After a dismal performance Friday night, they were in a win-or-go-home situation.  Some adjustments were made, and they have won 4 straight to stay alive (convincingly, I might add). Along the way they have ripped through the top two seeds.  The team tonight will play a winner-takes-all game for the championship.

The client service analogies are hard to miss.  I count 10 different ones, conservatively. 

I love sport.

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In a post by EarthTimes.org they highlight the new breed of young real estate professionals who are using technology to deliver new levels of client service:

"They embrace technology, develop new business models and create unique approaches to client service to add even more value to the real estate transaction."

So why am I talking about a few realtors when this blog is about law firm client service? Because having just sold and bought a house myself, I'm intrigued by the innovativeness of these folks. And (here's the point) I can't help but wonder how law firms will use technology and ingenuity to remake their client service experience.

There are all kinds of technology options that are available for law firms. Competitive intelligence solutions like Thomson's Firm360 or LexisNexis' atVantage (and others) keep you up-to-date on client issues. CRM solutions like LexisNexis' InterAction can improve customer service, too. Even something as simple as a Blackberry can help by making you more accessible. The list goes on. These technologies require a change in habits, and they usually aren't cheap, but the rewards are well worth it.

There's going to come a day when realtors who don't embrace these neat new tools will be left in the dust. That day is coming with law firms, too. Some will resist implementing new technology. The question is: how many law firms will wait until they've started losing customers before they adapt. On the flip side, which law firms will jump in front of the curve and benefit?

One final note: it doesn't do any good to have the technology if it's not used.

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What should someone do with delivering bad news and providing outstanding client service? Rick Turoczy has a helpful post about what you should do. Here's what he says:

"I’ve discovered that when a client has to ask for bad news, they tend to get pissy. In fact, having to ask tends to perturb them even more than the bad news itself. So, I thought it would be helpful to share some advice that someone much wiser than I imparted to me:

'Deliver bad news early and often.'

Because, lacking any information, the client makes the worst assumptions. Ignorance will cause them to make the situation much more dire than it is.

And really, when it comes right down to it, you can’t avoid delivering the bad news. And if you try, you’re only making it worse.

You’re just delaying the inevitable."

Not much more that needs to be said. I'll just note like I usually do that the driver behind this should not be a selfish motive (although there is a great business reason for doing it), but a genuine concern for your customer. And because you should seek to live by the Golden Rule. Nice job, Rick.

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In my previous jobs (for the last 10 years) I traveled with my job. I always stayed at Marriotts. They're nice properties, and very consistent. You always know what you're going to get. The hired help is always good, too. I don't recall ever having a bad experience. Never once was it knock-me-off-my-feet great, though.

  About three years ago I was flying into Edmonton, where there were no Marriott properties, so I stayed at the Westin. Now, I'm a runner, and the Westin sits on a bluff overlooking the valley floor where the running trails wind along a river (awesome trails, I might add, right in the heart of the city). To get there or back you must descend/ascend a very, very large bank of stairs, which I did at the end of my run. Immediately upon my entrance back onto the Westin property a valet noticed me, grabbed a bottle of water and a towel, and (literally) ran it out to me. Never once in my seven years with Marriott had anybody ever come close to that level of service.

Guess what? For the last 3 years I've stayed at Starwood/Westin properties. They've made tens of thousands of dollars off me; all for the price of a bottle of water and some employee initiative.

In case you've missed it I'll spell it out: the moral of the story is not that you should open offices in every city and every practice group to avoid sending clients somewhere else. The moral of the story is that if you're not "wowing" your customers, they will have very little if any loyalty to you. If you don't believe me, pick up a copy of the Harvard Business Review article by Thomas O. Jones and W. Earl Sasser, Jr. (sorry, the actual article is a pay to play deal, but there's how to get it; it's worth the money).

Let me finish the story with one more detail. I immediately reported the story to their corporate office! One week later I'm at the Westin in Los Angeles, and I happen to run into a hotel manager. She had already heard about my story. Outstanding organizations not only reward excellence, they make sure everybody else knows when it happens!

Guess where I'm staying this summer for vacation at Whistler?

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