Doing a good job for your clients, keeping them informed, not overlawyering or overbilling, treating them with respect, and visiting your clients off the clock are just a few of the ways you can bring value to your client relationships.

Jim Durham, formerly CMO at Ropes & Gray in Boston, spoke to the Delaware Valley Law Firm Marketing Group recently and equated the phrase “Listen to Your Clients, Stupid” with the KISS truism.

Not only is listening to clients simple, it is vital IMHO.

Jim’s speech, as recounted by Julie Meyer on Law.com’s Small Firm Business, addressed successful marketing principles AKA listening to clients by providing value and seeking feedback.

Some of Jim’s suggestions included:

  • Asking clients for input to your business plans,
  • Communicating effectively,
  • Seeking and responding to client feedback,
  • Listening to clients (at least 50% of the time, I might add),
  • Showing clients you care, and
  • Offering alternative fee options.

Retaining clients basically boils down to whether they value your services, and that may equate to whether they had a good experience in dealing with your firm.

Jim also highlighted two signs where clients may not have had a good value experience:

  1. When a firm is asked to respond to a client’s RFP, and
  2. A client mentions the name of an attorney with another firm in response to the “Who is the best lawyer” you have ever worked with?

So again, how would your clients value your services?

Law firm clients often complain that their lawyers do not understand their business. It frustrates them to have to educate their outside lawyers about the issues they deal with, and which their attorneys need to understand, to represent them properly.

And that is only part of the relationship a law firm should seek with their clients. At a client meeting last week, I emphasized to a group of lawyers the importance of making friends with their clients. My point was that if the lawyer and client have a true friendship, there is no reason to worry about another law firm taking the client away.

In addition to knowing a client’s business, lawyers can build on a friendship by helping their clients prosper in their business. Ed Roach over at Small Business Branding discusses a number of ways to do that in his article “Feel the Love”, or what I might suggest shows that you’re a real friend by:

  • Talking them up to others, when the opportunity presents itself,
  • Referring potential customers to them and let them know about it,
  • “Be(ing) honest” and admit when you make a mistake (helps avoid malpractice suits),
  • Buying their products, if at all possible,
  • Supporting their favorite charities, and interests,
  • Treating everyone in their organization with respect,
  • Increasing your face time with the client (see my No. 1 Marketing Tip), and
  • Of course, delivering your best effort every time.

To borrow from the quote by J. Wallace Day about keeping friends close and enemies closer, I might suggest that in a down economy, one should keep their family close and their clients closer. 

My colleague Jim Hassett over at Legal Business Development blog talks about some scary stuff that is occurring to law firms in the current economic climate . He recounts layoffs of lawyers and staff in NLJ 250 law firms, the large and well-known firms that have closed in recent years, how it is harder to become an equity partner, and so on.

 

Not all firms are hurting, and with the state of the financial world, there will be plenty of litigation for sure. But, there will be plenty of pain to go around as well, and the legal industry will not be spared.

 

His point: stay close to your clients and colleagues, and one way to do that is to “set up a free meeting with a top client or referral source.” I would include all key clients in a “client visitation” program, since it is the single most effective business development tool, as I have mentioned before. And, I would do so whether your firm is experiencing pain in the current economic downturn or not.

When you look at your “To Do” list, do you always do those things first that are important, necessary and urgent? Heck no, if you’re a talented procrastinator like me. I’m more likely to attack what is easy, uncomplicated and will result in instant gratification.

So too, my friend Trey Ryder admits in an article in his recent newsletter entitled "Your Marketing Efforts Sink, Swim Or Soar Depending On How Well You Satisfy The Big ‘C’" (by that he means “convenience”). He advises his readers that prospective clients are not unlike the rest of us in seeking the easy way. Therefore, lawyers should be smart by making it convenient for both clients and prospects to reach them when they have a need to do so.

He discusses what he calls 12 “smart ways” on how you can do just that. He suggests that you make sure:

  1. prospects find it easy to learn about you (informative website or blog, and packet about firm you can send by email).
  2. prospects find it easy to reach you (invite inquiries by a toll free number or by email that you that you respond to promptly).
  3. clients find it easy to reach you (give clients your pager, cell phone and home numbers, where appropriate).
  4. prospects find it easy to get to your office (give excellent directions, and even a map on your web site, and by email).
  5. prospects find it easy to meet with you (offer night or weekend hours, visit their office or home if it’s hard to get to your office and park, and have directions on your web site).
  6. prospects find it easy to hire you (don’t require an office visit; fax or email the engagement letter, and can prospects hire you without a retainer? (hmmmm, not sure I’d offer that if I had a criminal defense practice)).
  7. prospects find it easy to pay you (offer credit card payments, or payment plans, and send bills with a self-addressed stamped envelope).
  8. prospects and clients find it easy to provide you with the information you need (send forms that are easy to fill out and fax/email back, offer prepaid self-addressed envelopes, and self-addressed UPS/FedEx labels).
  9. prospects and clients find it easy to remember appointments and other important dates (do you remind them of scheduled appointments by letter, phone or email – heck doctors and dentists do so routinely).
  10. clients know when to call you to update documents (again, remind them).
  11. clients find it easy to refer their friends and colleagues (give clients copies of your brochure, offer free educational seminars, or offer free consultations).
  12. clients find it easy to remember you (give out calendars, pens/pencils, refrigerator magnets, etc.; send newsletters, and other relevant information; and host client events).

Some of these ideas may not apply to your particular practice, but I’m sure there is a kernel or two in the above that should prove helpful.

Click here to download a copy of Trey’s article.

The beginning of a new year is as good a time as any to take a look at your office as it might look to a visiting client or prospect. Yes, this is a legal marketing and business development issue. The image your office projects is very important, as I mentioned in my post “Work on Image for More Clients” that I did last spring.

Well, it seems that two bloggers I really like have recent posts on this topic as well. And they are not just about how your office looks but the visitor’s experience while there. Dan Hull at What About Clients? refers us to an article by Ann Macauley on making your office more client-friendly that appeared in the Canadian Bar Association’s CBA PracticeLink. The article is lengthy, but worth a read. Here are some topics covered:

  • Location and Signs
  • Reception Area
  • Greetings
  • Business Centre (for visitors)
  • Wireless Access
  • Designated Parking Spots
  • Magazines/Newsletters
  • Firm Brochure/Literature
  • Coffee and More
  • Cleanliness and Organization
  • Accessibility by the Disabled
  • Art
  • Plants/Floral Arrangements
  • Moot Court
  • Food and Drink

The other post was by Michelle Golden at Golden Practices. Her slant is based on an actual experience in visiting a new client’s office, and deals more with the behavioral side of things.

Both are worth reading, and will likely give you a few ideas about how you might improve the experience guests have when visiting your offices.

More than a quality legal product is necessary to retain clients.  Both quality service and trust are keys to keeping clients happy (the best source of new business and referrals). Since most clients are not lawyers themselves, they do not understand the quality of your legal work. They only know about results and the quality of the services rendered.

The better clients feel relating to how they and their matter were treated, the more trust they have in their lawyer. And that results in more work and referrals from clients which are critical for the success of any law firm.

With that in mind, here are ten golden rules for keeping clients happy thanks to John Remsen:

  1. Give new clients a starter kit (with contact names, telephone and e-mail info, firm’s policy and procedures in handling matters),
  2. Get to know their business and the big picture (take time to ask smart questions and listen, even visit the client’s place of business at no charge),
  3. Learn your client’s expectations and exceed them (goals for matter, frequency of communications, deadlines and the like),
  4. Keep your promises (especially on deadlines),
  5. Promptly return phone calls and e-mails (preferably the same day),
  6. Ask client for the preferred method of communications (telephone, mail, e-mail)
  7. Introduce (in-person, if possible, or by letter or e-mail) each member of the team (staff and professionals) who will work on their matter,
  8. Don’t overlawyer (client may not want the “perfect” solution. See No.3 above),
  9. No surprises (as to invoices or anything else for that matter), and
  10. Show your appreciation to the client for their business (by sending a gift, a referral, entertaining them, offering free advice, etc.

Here are some earlier, related posts of mine that you may also find helpful on this topic:

As John reminds us, a lot more is involved in lawyer marketing that just providing quality legal work.

When I saw a post by Miriam Lawrence at Automatic Referrals entitled “Client Comfort Inspires More Referrals,” and referencing a post by John Jantsch, I hesitated reading it thinking that it was probably a little too warm and fuzzy for me.  I was wrong.  The point I came away with relating to legal marketing is worth sharing.

Your reception area and general office appearance is definitely worth taking a hard look at.  It projects a image, and it may not be the one you want.  Miriam shares the ideas of one of her colleagues at Horsemouth about poor office signage, lighting, paint color and offering beverages in styrofoam cups (vs. glassware).  All these things send a message that you may not want to be sending.  I also liked the suggestion about purchasing an oriental rug from Home Depot.

Whether that is your style isn’t the point.  What is important is the idea of projecting an image that clients, and visitors in general, will find comforting and pleasant.  It should also project success without being extravagant.  That’s good lawyer marketing.  If it’s also warm and fuzzy, that ain’t so bad after all.

Readers of this blog have most likely picked up on the fact that my number one most effective legal marketing tactic is to visit your clients at their place of business, off the clock, and not for the purpose of asking for more business.  It often leads to immediate work.

 
John Remsen has an article on “Client Site Visits” in his newsletter this month that has a number of helpful tips on the subject.  They include:

 
Prior to Meeting:

  • Set clear purpose for visit (and don’t mix purposes, as in if you are there to learn more about a client’s business, don’t ask for work; or you’re there to discuss a problem issue, don’t ask for work… you get the idea.  If you are there to ask for work, call it a “presentation” not a “client site visit”.), and
  • Plan your visit (do client homework, decide on best person(s) to meet with, and prepare specific questions),

 

At Meeting:

  • Start with small talk (office pictures will give clues to person’s interests – of course, you should already know your client’s interests.  Otherwise talk about the weather – just kidding),
  • Let client do most of the talking and really listen while taking notes,
  • Don’t ask for work (oh, I covered that), and
  • Don’t overstay your welcome.

 

After The Meeting:

  • Send handwritten Thank You note,
  • Follow up on points or issues raised at meeting,
  • Send information (especially if it is of personal interest to client) relating to topics discussed,
  • Develop a “client-specific action plan” as a result of the meeting, including calendaring your next client site visit.

 

As I have mentioned many times, in the vast majority of client visits, if done properly, will lead to new work even without your asking for it.  If you are relationship building, and you come across as being interested in the client’s business as well as them personally – as John suggests in order to become a “counselor or trusted advisor” – the work will indeed come.  

 

Folks who read my blog know that I am not a ranter by nature ….(well, maybe when it comes to the failure of law schools to prepare law students for the business side of law here, and here).
But, I visited a doctor’s office (not my regular MD) this week to get the results of a stress test (which was perfect, thank you very much). I was on time, sat in reception area cooling my heels for 40-minutes, to then have the privilege of getting 5 minutes of his time. Receptionist was stone-faced, people who came after me went in first, others came and went. When the nurse/assistant called me in and took my blood pressure, which she informed was a bit high, I responded “no wonder, considering how long I have been waiting.”
Silence …
Not a word. No “sorry”. Nothing!
Mentioned to the doctor (after waiting some more) that I “may” have annoyed his assistant by my comment.
Silence…
Not a word. No “sorry.” Nothing!
I gave up. Good report. I’m out of there. Not likely to speak favorable about the experience or that particular practice….. not that they give a darn. But, why work so hard at bad marketing!! It’s amazing.
So, PLEASE, if you must have a client wait in your reception area for ANY length of time, have someone, anyone (preferably yourself) explain the reason for the delay, when you will be able to see them, and at least render a perfunctory apology. Legal marketing is not rocket science, so why would a lawyer want to hurt him/herself by having clients/prospects getting ready to blast off in their outer office. Just doesn’t make any sense.

Sending information of interest (or even possible interest) to clients and contacts is another example of how you keep in touch and keep your law firm’s name in the forefront.
Since all businesses have intellectual property, consider sending your clients and other contacts the following information from the USPTO, whether you have an intellectual property practice or not:

“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has recently launched http://www.uspto.gov/smallbusiness/ to help small business owners protect their intellectual property from overseas piracy and counterfeiting. The new online resource is part of the nationwide www.stopfakes.gov awareness campaign to help educate small business on intellectual property protection. For such issues as patents, trademarks and copyrights, the Web site will provide information to help small businesses, home business owners, inventors and other entrepreneurs decide when, where and how to file for intellectual property protection.”

And,

“For more information about the USPTO effort to educate American businesses about intellectual property rights, [call (name of lawyer – if you have an intellectual property practice)] or [visit http://www.uspto.gov.]”

Small businesses particularly should know about this resource. I believe your clients and contacts will appreciate your sharing this information, whether it applies to them or not. They may just return the favor.