Delivering Value to Clients
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Legal Business |
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Delivering Value to Clients
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The article emphasises the need to maintain a close rapport with your clients.
Good client rapport is becoming increasingly important in obtaining and retaining clients. With the number of lawyers in the marketplace, clients have more choices now than ever before. Clients know there are plenty of good lawyers from which to choose. As a result, new aspects of the lawyer-client relationship are gaining weight in the client’s decision to retain or refer. One of the most important of these is rapport.
Naturally, affinity by itself is not enough to make clients refer their friends or to stay with your firm if they are not convinced your firm delivers good legal services. However, lack of rapport with clients can cause them not to refer prospects even if they perceived the firm did a good job on their matters.
The client perceives value when the benefit received is believed to be worth more than the money spent.
The critical factor here is that value depends on the client’s perception, which may have little to do with legal issues. Thus, you can get your client a great result and still not get any referrals if you did not address his or her non-legal needs.
To deliver value to clients, it is important to understand what the client expects. Since clients can have different expectations depending on the case and the client, there is only one way to know how to deliver value. Ask the client. Before taking on the matter, try asking the following questions:
1 What results do you expect of me in this matter?
2 What are you looking for in the lawyer/firm retained for this matter?
3 What do you not want in a lawyer?
4 Have you ever had a bad experience with a lawyer?
The answers to these questions will provide a good idea of how to please clients and how to avoid disappointing them.
As you continue working with a client, ask the following questions periodically:
1 Are you satisfied with the service thus far?
2 Is there any way I can serve you better?
Questions like these tell the client that you are dedicated to providing personal service. They appreciate the opportunity to give input. There are several areas that surface repeatedly when clients are asked what dissatisfies them about their lawyer. The following are the most frequently aired complaints. Deficiencies in these areas reduce the value of your service in the eyes of the client.
How many times have you been told the importance of this one? Yet most lawyers freely admit that they are so busy they can’t get to all their calls. Make no mistake about it. It is estimated that, worldwide, lawyers lose up to 50% of potential business simply by not returning telephone calls to clients.
To bring value to clients, never let the sun go down on an unanswered phone message! If you can’t answer the call personally, have your secretary or paralegal get back to the client to see if they can help. If they can’t help, have them ask the nature of the call. You can then prepare for your return call. Call back the next day without fail. Don’t neglect your phone messages. It’s like throwing referral business down the drain.
Many clients go into shock when they see their invoice.
Even large corporate clients sometimes reel at the sight of their legal bills.
Clients are often sceptical of hourly billings. They usually think the work
could have been done in fewer hours. The best way to overcome this is to be sure
the itemisation is adequately detailed. Clients get less perturbed when they
know exactly what they are
paying for.
You can also ease the pain a bit by sprinkling in a few N/C’s (no charge) in the invoice. Most lawyers will do some work they don’t charge to the client. If you do this occasionally, make sure you note it on the invoice so the client knows that he got something for nothing. This creates goodwill and those non-billed hours will multiply into repeat business and referrals.
Most lawyers can size up a situation quickly, especially if they have a lot of experience in a particular area. When they get the gist of the situation, they tell the client what he or she needs to do. Isn’t that what the client hired them to do? Well, yes and no.
Part of what the client has hired you to do is to understand their personal needs regarding legal issues. Most lawyers listen selectively to the client. They focus on the facts and ignore the emotions. However, the best lawyers take time to find out how clients feel about the facts. This creates the impression that the lawyer is really listening to them and cares about them. Even large corporate clients like to know that you understand their anxieties and frustrations.
Take the time to acknowledge your clients’ feelings. If you recommend a course of action, ask whether they feel comfortable with it. If they have reservations, reassure them. This kind of personal attention pays big dividends in additional referrals. The building of rapport with clients is vital to really understanding what a client is going to value in the relationship with your firm. We will discuss this in more depth later in this article.
Commitment is like a magnifying glass. If you make a commitment, no matter what the results, they will be amplified. If you deliver on your commitments, your stock will soar. You will gain credibility. If you are late for your deadlines, the results are also magnified. You are now undependable. Missed deadlines are always displeasing to the client.
Lawyers often commit to unrealistic deadlines. To please the client, they promise work sooner than it is likely to be done. It’s far better to be conservative and deliver the goods early, than to be aggressive and miss a deadline. If you promise the work Monday, and you have it Wednesday, the client is annoyed. If you promise it Friday, and deliver it Wednesday, the client is ecstatic. The client usually has no idea how long it will take to complete the work. However, the client does know what you are committed to do.
When making commitments, give yourself a cushion wherever possible. You’ll make yourself look good when you come in ahead of schedule.
Value is value. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lawyer or a mechanic. People appreciate considerate, personal service. Take care to do unto your clients as you would have your doctor do unto you and you will improve your referral business dramatically.
I’ve had more than one lawyer tell me they are running a law practice, not a popularity contest. Some even think that having a good relationship with a client is detrimental because it clouds their objectivity. As competition for clients gets more intense, this kind of attitude will lead to erosion in their client base.
Competition changes the general perception of the market. As clients discover they can get excellent legal services provided by amiable lawyers, they will begin demanding both qualities. This is already happening. Thus, rapport building represents an important weapon in your competitive arsenal.
When a client first comes to you, there are a number of factors that work against a feeling of rapport.
The client is usually uneasy at the first meeting. Most people have very little experience working with lawyers. Uncertainty provokes anxiety. Also, clients are usually there because they have a problem that has them preoccupied. This increased level of tension is not conducive to creating rapport with a total stranger.
The next barrier to rapport building is the unfortunate perception that lawyers are rather like dentists, people only visit them when they have problems and are in some form of ‘pain’. This causes the client to be on guard. Since rapport is built on trust, this initial caution is a barrier to rapport. It is deeply regrettable but most clients do not want to visit their lawyer.
Finally, the fact that you are a lawyer creates a barrier for some people simply because you are different from them. The profession is associated with a certain standard of living far above what most people enjoy (in reality, most lawyers don’t enjoy the standard of living that exists in the public’s perception. Remember, however, reality is irrelevant).
There are a number of things you can do that will help you connect with your clients.
The first barrier between you and your clients is your desk. If it is practical to do so, you should meet with your clients on the same side of the desk rather than across the desk. This creates a more benevolent perception. If you are meeting in a conference room, rather than sitting directly across from the client, sit at the end with the client on your left. For reasons that are unclear, the left side is perceived as more open while the right is more guarded (some have opined we show them our right side because we are subconsciously guarding against someone thrusting a dagger in our hearts). Speaking to someone on your left shows your willingness to be open to them.
Don’t rush right to the point. Some congenial conversation will take the edge off the meeting.
Look for opportunities to connect with things that are personal and positive in your clients’ lives. Show enthusiasm and interest in things they enjoy. If you share a common interest such as golf, sailing etc let the client know you share their enthusiasm. Most people constantly give clues about how to connect with them because they want to be liked. If you show an interest in the things that give them passion, they will perceive you as a person who cares about them. This will create a solid bond.
Some lawyers object that idle conversation is a waste of their time and costs them money. Nothing could be further from the truth. By focusing on being time efficient at the expense of rapport, you are only hurting yourself in the long run. Such time is not wasted, it is invested. You are investing in client rapport which will bring you valuable referrals in the future.
From time to time, take your better clients out to lunch. Make this an informal contact. Steer the conversation away from business. This allows clients to see you in a more relaxed environment and lets them connect with you as a person instead of as a lawyer. Even if you do talk about their legal work, don’t bill the client for such time while at lunch. The only exception is if the client suggests a working lunch meeting in lieu of a meeting at your office. In this case you should pay for lunch, but you are justified in billing the client because the client asked for the meeting.
Part of maintaining good rapport is staying in touch.
It is the nature of the legal profession that lawyers will work closely with a client for a period of time and then not for a long while.
In working with the client, you have invested a lot of time creating a perception that can result in referrals. If you don’t maintain the relationship, you will lose the benefit of the good perception you have established.
For a client to make a referral, it is necessary that there be a perception of a continuing relationship in the mind of the client. As time passes without any contact, that perception is lost. It is important that you remind your inactive clients periodically that the relationship continues.
Not all clients are desirable for follow-up. People tend to associate with others like themselves. If you didn’t find a particular client to be desirable, you will probably feel the same about his/her friends. The rule here is very simple. Stay in touch with the clients you would like to serve again. If they are in a good demographic group, have a business of a desirable size or type and/or were flexible and enjoyable to work with, you will probably want more clients like them. Staying in touch with clients who were difficult or couldn’t pay their bills is asking for more of the same.
You should maintain regular contact with your best clients. Give them frequent calls just to see how they are doing and inquire if there is any way you can serve their legal needs. Take them to lunch or a sporting event periodically, even though they are not currently active.
Maintain a list of birthdays of all the clients and contacts on your follow-up list. Many lawyers send Christmas cards but I don’t recommend this. People get dozens of Christmas cards but they might get only two birthday cards. Christmas is a day that belongs to everyone. Birthdays belong only to them. Make sure you include a short handwritten note in the card wishing them well.
The good job you do for clients and the good relationships you build will come back to you again and again in the form of additional business. Invest a little time in the personal approach. You will never regret it.
Sarah Fraser
High Tech Associates Pte Ltd
E-mail: sarah@hightech.com.sg