LEGENDARY
SERVICE FOR YOUR CLIENTS
How can you become an
indispensable source of value to your clients?
Only one ingredient will do that, and
it’s not on any restricted list. It is, simply, “legendary client service.”
How many minutes would it take, in a meeting
among you and your partners, to fill five pages of a flip chart with concrete benefits
that would accrue if you were known for providing legendary
service?
¨ Would you get more or fewer referrals from
existing clients?
¨ Would clients be more or less likely to pay
your bills?
¨ Would clients be more or less likely to
complain about the amount of your fees, the quality of your service, the time frames
involved, and the outcome?
¨ Would you more likely or less likely be sued
for malpractice?
¨ Would clients be more likely or less likely
to appreciate you?
Well, then … if the benefits are
obvious, why is legendary service so rare? Because our profession is fraught with barriers
and obstacles that discourage us from providing what we all know would be beneficial.
Even
though there are notable exceptions to each of the challenges described below, most of us
fall prey to a good number of them. Almost everything about the practice of law prevents
legendary client service:
¨ Lawyers are trained in the law — not
client relations. Sorry, but that means too many of us behave like geeks and not enough
like caring providers.
¨ The billable hour is so sacred that
non-billable activities are denigrated. We starve the client relationship in favor of
getting another hour billed.
¨ Lawyers believe clients are focused only on
solutions. We there-fore get to the challenge at hand without worrying about optics.
¨ Clients are really focused on effort. We
conceal most of ours.
¨ Lawyers bill in unimaginative ways
(hours-based). We frequently either under-bill or over-bill.
¨ Clients will happily pay fees commensurate
with the value of services offered. That would allow us to “afford” some client
relations time.
How do you choose to whom you should provide
legendary service? My mother, may she rest in peace, always told me, “Put your wife
first.” Good, sound matrimonial advice. If you want your marriage to last, you invest
in your spouse and make him or her your sole focus.
But when it comes to clients, most of us are
bigamists. We simply don’t stop at one! Unless you believe you put all your clients
first, then I’m going to take a risk and advocate discrimination. (Don’t worry,
this sort of discrimination will not offend.)
Some may assert: “Nonsense! One must put all clients first.” I do not yet understand all the principles of quantum
mechanics, and therefore the multiple universe theory may support the notion that all clients can be first. For those who can execute this notion to perfection, my unqualified
admiration. For the rest of us, we may need to narrow our focus.
To the mortals in our profession, I suggest
that we prioritize a little. We have to decide who to really put first. This may be
partially a dynamic exercise similar to a hospital emergency room — the patient seen
first is not a function of comparing that patient to the universe of patients, but to the
other patients in the emergency room at that instant.
Most law firms don’t have ambulance
en-trances (no cheap shots, please). In the practice of law, our patients tend to be
manifested by a creature called “File.” Electronic or paper, this creature is a
client surrogate with amazing powers.
The right file can cause physiological
changes to us just by looking at it — tighten our
stomach muscles, raise our heart and respiratory rates — just by
catching our eye as we sweep a look over our credenza.
The file most resembles the emergency room
patient when the client represented by the file deigns to phone or e-mail or fax (or, if
Neanderthal, write). When this occurs, one might be required to do an on-the- spot
assessment like our doctor friends. However, between such “emergencies,” we
might consider prioritizing our clients this way. Feel free to shuffle the list —
it’s your judgment call, not mine — but I hope the criteria might be helpful:
¨ Clients who have the capacity to give us
future work.
¨ Clients who will enhance our reputation
simply by being associated with them.
¨ Clients who have the kind of work that forces
us to continuously learn.
¨ Clients who are in industries we enjoy
serving (and know some-thing about).
¨ Clients who can afford to pay for the value
we give them.
¨ Clients we like.
We might exclude those who are the corollary
of these, including clients who feel it
necessary to test the limits of ethics and propriety on every file. The clients who do not
make it to your legendary service list should be treated well — but they may not
deserve of you the time and effort that it takes to really make them “first”
(like your spouse).
How can we practically provide legendary
service? Now that you’ve narrowed the field to those whom you are going to
“spoil,” you need to commit to spending some non-billable time on doing
just that. Here is the starter list of five ideas that you can modify or add to:
1. Visit
their place (even if an airplane is required).
2. Ensure
your team knows the names of the client’s key individuals.
3. Institute
a rapid response procedure:
a. Respond
within half a business day, maximum.
b. Give
the client pager/cell/emergency contact options.
c. Send
regular status reports in the form preferred by the client.
d. Listen
to the client to determine such preferences and others.
4. Learn
about the industry of the client.
a. Subscribe
to the client’s preferred business publication and read it (just one).
b. Attend
the client’s preferred industry seminar (just one annually).
c. Have
the client in to teach you about his/her business.
5. Talk
fees and fee arrangements and guarantee satisfaction.
Don’t think too much and act too little!
If this article has suggested a few ideas worth considering, it remains worthless unless
and until you “execute” one of the ideas (just one) that appeals to you
personally. Don’t close the page on this article until you’ve thought of at
least one thing you’re going to do as a result of reading this.
When you have done that, you have joined the
ranks of winners. Like Tiger Woods and Estée Lauder, they are not famous for what they
have thought. They are famous for what they have done.
Gerald A. Riskin, B. Comm, LL.B.,
is a lawyer, former managing partner and member of Edge International, which consults to
some of the largest law firms in the world. He can be reached at riskin@edge.ai or (800) 707-6449.