Shifting your perspective can open up a world of change…and possibly affect your bottom line.

This week we asked: How easy it for clients to do business with you?

1) Very easy – 24%

2) Easy – 28%

3) Difficult – 0%

4) Very Difficult – 0%

5) I’ve never thought about it – 48%

My Thoughts: Nearly half of you had never even considered this question. But now that your attention is here, it’s something to consider, correct? As Jay Fleischman writes in the piece I mentioned Tuesday:

It’s been said that your role as a business owner (and yes, you are a business owner if you run your own law firm) is to make it as easy as possible for people to do business with you.  You need to grease the wheels and create a friction-free experience for the potential client.  When you fail to do this, you run the very real risk of losing business – sometimes, without even knowing it.

Fleischman goes on to suggest five practical ways to make your client’s lives easier:

1. Make sure there are magazines in the waiting area– and that they are geared towards your client base.

2. Ensure your retainer agreement is easy to read and understand.

3. Make sure you have a warm, friendly receptionist.

4. Minimize the amount of work your client has to do.

5. Make sure that your clients can count on you to answer their phone calls- or return them in a timely fashion.

What I like about the piece (link below) is that all of the advice is so simple. It echoes many of the themes we’ve discussed here (market focus, personalization, availability, customer service) but truly applies them to the everyday nuances of running a law office. They are simple, highly effective changes you can make immediately that will make your business life easier by making your client’s experience easier.

Black Pearl: Here’s the article, entitled “5 Ways To Reduce Friction In Your Legal Marketing Efforts.” Read it, consider the changes suggested, and let me know what you think in the comments section below.