Five Things Every Law Firm Should Guarantee
Most businesses are afraid of guarantees. The believe that people will take advantage of them way too often and drive firm into the ground.
Law firms are no different.
In most states law firms cannot even allude to the potential positive outcome of a matter without facing severe penalties. So you can forget about guaranteeing anything…right?
Wrong!
The state bar rules, in most cases, do not forbid SERVICE LEVEL GUARANTEES. They forbid outcome guarantees. Your law firm can guarantee that you will treat your clients with respect and common courtesy.
Many of my clients (I only work with lawyers) have strong guarantees and they ask their clients to hold them accountable.
Here are the five things that every law firm should guarantee:
A Return Phone Call
I hate the fact that most attorneys do not return phone calls in a timely fashion. I do not care how busy you are, I do not care if you spend your entire day in court, I don’t care if you commute 3 hours one way to work; all client phone calls should be returned within two hours. Period.
You don’t have to personally call your client back (it would be great if you would). But your assistant should call people back within two hours and schedule a return call to your clients at the next possible opportunity.
By they way there is no excuse for ever letting a client go beyond 24 hours without a phone call. If you don’t get out of work until 10PM, call then. The client will be glad you did. They will not be upset when you interrupt their TV shows.
Proper Preparation
I have seen many attorneys walk into the lobby of the courthouse and get introduced to their client for the first time.
Sorry but that is crap.
Proper preparation means having at least one conversation with your client before they put their legal future in your hands.
It also means that you have read the file before walking into the meeting with opposing council for the first time (yep I’ve seen and heard about that a few times too). It also means proof reading the settlement letter before sending it – you know – to make sure that the client’s name is spelled correctly…
An Answer to Every Question
You must give your client an answer to every question he/she asks. Helping your client understand what is happening to him/her is an essential part of your job.
If you don’t know the answer to the question at that moment, simply say: “I have to do some research before I answer you.” And then get back to them as soon as possible.
That’s not only a nice thing to do, it’s your job. You work for the client.
Attorney Timeliness
No one client is more important than any other.
If they are you should choose not to represent the lesser of the two clients because they deserve someone who will give them their full attention.
Be on time.
Just like the phone call situation – there are few acceptable excuses for being late to a meeting.
The Right to Speak with the Boss
All clients should have the right to speak with the ultimate decision-making authority in the firm.
If you are a solo or small firm attorney then you might want to consider a “speak your mind guarantee”. This is a guarantee that states that if the client is ever not happy with something, they have the right to speak their mind and not worry about any repercussions. Of course this is not the same as introducing an objective third party into the situation, but it demonstrates your concern for the feelings of the client.
So just what happens if you let the client down?
What happens if you fail in one of these areas?
In most cases, the attorney agrees to forgive some portion of the fee.
That’s right; they put their money where their mouth is.
These five items are foundational elements of client service. If you are not guaranteeing them, there is only one reason: You are scared that you cannot control yourself enough to treat people properly.
Why don’t you implement this five point guarantee today?
Need help? Call me. Dave Lorenzo 888.692.5531
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EmailThe Fastest Way to Lose a Client
Most solo practitioners and small law firms can’t afford to lose a client.
Yet most do the one thing that absolutely infuriates their clients.
What am I talking about?
I’m talking about the lack of responsiveness that has become pervasive in the legal profession.
Consider this scenario:
A client engages you to handle an important matter, a matter where time is of the essence. The client is nervous, maybe even down right scared. Their financial health and quite possibly their physical wellbeing rest in your hands. They call your office with a question at 10:30AM on a Tuesday.
What is a reasonable time for the client to expect a return call?
Not necessarily an ANSWER to his question but a call acknowledging the issue.
What is reasonable? Four hours? Before the end of the day? Later that week?
How about never?
Is that acceptable?
Obviously not.
This is a true story.
A client was fired from her job as an executive at a telecom company. She engaged an employment attorney to help her work out a financial settlement with her former employer. The attorney worked on a contingency fee basis and the settlement negotiations were in the mid-six figure range.
As negotiations progressed, the executive began to become more and more anxious. She had no current income and two kids to feed. Her savings would last at least six months but she had hoped to avoid spending it down.
But that wasn’t even the key issue.
She was also looking at a terrible (and probably illegal) noncompete agreement that she signed ten years earlier. Reworking the terms of this agreement also needed to be part of the deal.
One Tuesday (about three weeks into the negotiation) the executive left a message for the attorney at around 10:30AM. When her call was not returned by Friday morning, she called again. She was able to speak directly with the attorney who said he did not return the call because he was: “Busy with an important case.”
The executive was taken aback but believed that she was too far into the negotiation to make any waves with her attorney. So she swallowed her indignation and hoped for the best.
Things progressed and the settlement worked out fine. During her review of the paperwork, the executive again left a message for the attorney. This time a week passed and after the executive left two additional messages, the attorney finally called back.
In this case, the client was angry at the attorney’s lack of responsiveness. But she felt handcuffed because of the nature of the situation. Make no mistake; the client in this matter has not forgotten how she was treated. She is now a senior executive working for another telecom company in the same town where the attorney practices law. She regularly tells EVERYONE about her former council’s lack of responsiveness during this encounter.
In this matter, the attorney did not lose the client but his past behavior has kept him from realizing several new potential client relationships.
In the past few months I have heard similar stories four other times.
Four other incidents of attorneys virtually ignoring client phone calls.
And intent is irrelevant.
When I brought this up to one of the attorneys who was a particularly egregious offender in this regard he responded:
“I am only one person. I want to talk with my clients – in real time. I would love to present them with the issues as they arise and get their feedback and ultimately conclude the matter in a couple of days. The fact is that each client is just a drop in the ocean. I have almost 120 clients. How can I return all those calls, and go to court, and negotiate with opposing council, all at the same time?”
Something is dreadfully wrong with this situation.
There is no excuse for not returning a client’s phone call or email.
None.
I do not care how busy you think you are.
The easiest way to get fired is to be nonresponsive.
One of the first things I drill into the heads of the attorneys who hire me is the response standard that their clients expect. This standard is not only common courtesy, in difficult times it serves as a harbinger of practice integrity.
In the offices of my clients they adhere to these two communications policies:
- All phone calls are returned within 90 minutes
- We respond to all email within 24 hours
I work with law firms that bill over $1 million annually and somehow manage to adhere to this standard. I also work with solo attorneys who bill in excess of $750,000 per year and follow this policy to the letter.
There is no reason why you cannot do this.
Yes, I know you sometimes go to court and there are days when you are in client meetings and you can’t get to your calls for more than 90 minutes. That is where a good administrative assistant comes into the picture.
Here’s how the system works when you are away from your phone for more than 90 minutes at a time:
On your outgoing voice mail message let callers know that your assistant is picking up your messages while you are in court. Ask that the caller leave only his name and phone number. Your assistant must check messages every hour and call back each client and schedule a return call with them for you. She should put it right on your calendar.
The client feels good and you remain in control of your time.
This system works if you give it a chance.
If you think it can’t work for you, call me and I’ll help you work through it.
If I’m busy, I’ll get back to you within 90 minutes.
Dave Lorenzo 888.692.5531
In Law Firm Marketing, It’s All About The Client
One of the easiest things to lose sight of when marketing your law firm is the importance of maintaining strong relationships with current clients. Every attorney will agree that acquiring new clients is a critical element in growing a legal practice. However, keeping current clients happy is just as important. Having satisfied clients improves your firm’s reputation, while also increasing the likelihood of client referrals and repeat business.
Marketing is not just ads, websites, and commercials. Every time you, or anyone else in your law firm, interacts with a client you are marketing. When you perform well for clients and when you perform poorly for clients, you are marketing, because marketing is not all about advertising; it is also about relationships.
Know and Manage Client Expectations
Client expectations are not the same as legal needs. Many clients are great at detailing their legal needs. However, they don’t often express their more specific expectations. As their attorney, it’s your job to do two things: 1) uncover a client’s unspoken expectations and 2) manage client expectations.
To uncover their unspoken expectations you need to ask a lot of questions. Ask about past legal experiences your potential clients have had. Were they satisfied with how previous legal cases were handled? Get very specific details about why or why not. Ask potential clients why they chose your firm. You may have had luck by winning a very challenging case in the past. However, it may not be a feat you can repeat anytime soon. If a client thinks that working with you and your firm means guaranteed success, you will need to help them understand that every case is different and there are no guarantees.
This is where a strong retention letter will be very useful. After you have figured out what your client is hoping for and you have helped to provide them with realistic expectations, put it in writing. Map out with as much clarity as you can, what it is that you and your new client have agreed upon.
No matter what, don’t give false hope. If the odds are against your client winning, they deserve to know that from the start. This does not have to be explained in a way that is discouraging or makes you appear anything less than able. Remember, you may not be the only attorney they are considering, someone with less integrity may give the impression that the case is stronger than it is.
Take this opportunity to educate the client, let them into your thought process about the case. Explain that, while you have an uphill battle ahead, the case is still a worthy one to pursue. You can be optimistic and in their corner, without misleading them about possible outcomes.
Stay in Touch
Many attorneys feel that if nothing is happening with a case then they don’t need to be in touch with their clients. Wrong. Most clients will begin to believe that nothing is happening with the case because of their attorney’s inaction. If a case is taking a long time to process for reasons beyond your control, you still need to be in touch with your client. Let them know that you’ve made calls on their behalf, or that you have thought about what steps to take once the case gets moving again. Also, you can simply check to see how they’re doing and to let them know that you regularly review their file as you wait for the next step in the process to occur.
Don’t think that because a client isn’t calling you that they’re not thinking about you. Most clients don’t want to bother you by calling too often. Nevertheless, they may still have questions they want to ask about the case. Make sure that your client knows that they can ask you anything, anytime.
Remember to use proper etiquette when speaking with clients. Don’t interrupt. Repeat what they’ve said in your own words to confirm that you have listened and taken in what the client has expressed. Return phone calls. We all know how frustrating it is when we call someone and they don’t call back. How much more frustrating is it when you are paying for a service and you can’t get updates or get your questions answered? Returning calls is a must if you want satisfied clients.
If you truly believe that you don’t have enough time to return client calls, then you need to start thinking of ways to free up time in your schedule. Do you have too many clients? Are you spending time doing office work that could be handed over to a virtual assistant? Don’t try to wear all the hats, delegate when needed and put client needs first.
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With Clients - No Sex on the First Date
Remember back in the days when you were young, dumb and running around like an alley cat in heat?
Remember how you only had one thing on your mind?
You were boy crazy, girl crazy or basically just sex crazy. Remember when that was the only thing you could think about?
And if you say it wasn’t, you’re either kidding yourself or hormonally challenged.
Just thinking back to those days can make your heart beat a little faster.
That feeling still exists with many people and if it doesn’t exist for you I’ll tell you how you can revive it and use it to build your law practice.
