Increase Client Lifetime Value: Become a Trusted Advisor
One of the first tasks I have my clients undertake is a sample file audit.
Here’s how it goes:
We pull ten files at random from the past year.
I ask who the client was - name, job responsibilities, etc.
Then I ask what role he (or she) plays in the company, community, and/or industry.
Next I ask what issue is keeping him awake at night.
Finally I ask when the last time my client spoke with his client was.
I only have to get through three or four files before the client realizes that he is sitting on a goldmine.
Here’s the problem you (and most other business people) face:
You don’t know how to transition from being a functional professional into being a trusted advisor.
You don’t ask the right questions and then you don’t know what to do with the answers you receive.
Today is your lucky day.
I have prepared an audio program that pulls back the curtain on how to become the person your best client cannot live without.
That’s right.
I lay it all out for you in 20 minutes.
WARNING: To execute this system you may need to dedicate some time to past clients and you will not be able to bill for it. This means if you work in a firm that charges by the hour (like a car mechanic, a parking garage or a lady of the night) you will probably never become a trusted advisor. Ah, it’s probably just as well, anyway.
Here’s the audio program that gives you a glimpse into how you can do research like a pro and become the person you clients call when they don’t know who else to call.
How to Increase Client Lifetime Value by Becoming a Trusted Advisor
In case you missed them, here are the best articles we published last week:
My offer for a powerful CD that will help you build your law firm around your lifestyle. Even if you are in a big law firm, this CD will help you discover how you can make a great living and live a great life ®. Visit this page today to get your copy: Million Dollar Lawyer Secrets. I cover all of the costs, including shipping. I am making this investment in you because I want you to make an investment in your future.
Marketing So Simple Even a DUNCE Can Do It
I’m not calling anyone names in this article. DUNCE is an acronym designed to help you understand the elements of great legal marketing. You many not realize it, but all powerful legal marketing plans have these five components.
Listen to this audio program today and take action.
Talk is cheap.
Actions speak louder than words.
These expressions have been around for as long as anyone can remember. They become commonplace because they are true.
People judge you based upon the expectation you set and the action you take. This week I drive this point home in this article.
Sometimes, action is the only thing that separates winners from losers.
If you were wondering how you can change the nasty habit of complacency you’ve gotten into, this video is for you.
There was a brand slogan not long ago that advised you to “just do it.”
Here’s how that happens in real life.
This is your last opportunity to get involved in this program in 2013. If you want to work exclusively with me in a one-on-one setting to get ready to make 2014 the best year you’ve ever had, click the link above.
In this six week exclusive relationship I will personally walk you through the 10 disciplines of law firm leadership.
This will be such a competitive advantage for you that you don’t have to pay the bulk of the fee if you are not thrilled.
See for yourself: Law Firm Leadership Action
Print
EmailHow People Judge You
Have you ever met with someone and thought they were the perfect client or perfect referral source yet nothing happened?
Did you ever see a long-time friend at a gathering or event and give him a big, warm “hello” only to have him act a bit aloof or standoffish?
Has there been a time when you left a voicemail for or sent an email to a business associate only to have it go unreturned?
If you answered “YES” to any of these questions, the time you invest with me today will be the most valuable time you spend this week.
Each of the scenarios I painted for you describe a situation where your expectations do not match the actions of another person.
A meeting and no further relationship.
A warm greeting and a cool response.
A voicemail request and no reaction.
These are subtle cues that indicate something is wrong with you.
Yes. It would be easy to say the people in each of these scenarios are rude jerks who are acting with malicious intent.
In reality, that’s only a small percentage of the cases. Very small.
In most of the situations that unfold as I describe above (or in hundreds of other ways) this behavior is triggered subconsciously as a reaction to something you did… or more likely didn’t do.
That’s the issue.
Your failure to take action.
Whenever we tell someone we are going to do something, no matter how small the commitment, if we do not follow through with some action, we damage our relationship with that person.
Sometimes, the action can be as simple as calling them to tell them things are not going to happen as we would have hoped. That’s still taking action.
People don’t expect everything to go right all the time. But they do expect you to take action.
This is how people judge us.
Did he do what he said he would do?
If no, did he do something?
If no, do I want to be around someone like that?
This is also the way we judge ourselves.
Example:
I want to lose 30 pounds. I must exercise and eat better.
Did I exercise today? No.
Did I at least eat a healthy lunch? No.
I suck. I’m never going to lose weight.
That leads me to the good news for you…
It is never too late to take action.
You can start now and still wind up achieving the outcome you desire.
To those people who did not respond the way you expected them to…
Reach out to the right now and explain what you are feeling and see if they will allow you to rectify the situation.
You can also take action on your personal desire to improve your ability to make a great living and live a great life ®.
Start by visiting the page for my six week almost free coaching program and sign up. In six short weeks you will immediately change your approach to your business and your life.
Six Week Almost Free Coaching Program
If you don’t take action, things will slowly deteriorate. Nothing stays the same.
In life, things either grow or they die.
Take action today. Visit this page right now.
Six Week Almost Free Coaching Program
If You Want Better Referrals, Be a Better Friend
Every lawyer I know wants more referrals. But few know what to do to receive more referrals.
Lawyers believe referrals happen serendipitously. They just appear out of thin air. You do a good job for enough people and legions of supporters will go forth from your office and recommend you to people they find in the street.
Obviously, that’s not how it works.
I work with many excellent lawyers but only a couple of them receive a substantial amount of referrals from past clients. Those who are best at it have a process in place.
Here’s how it works:
First: Provide a great experience during your representation of your client.
The practice of law is adversarial. Your relationship with your client is not. You need to provide a great experience for your clients when they engage you.
You must treat your client like he has given you the most important thing in his world – his trust. What you do with that trust is critical. Do you honor it by partnering with the client to help improve his situation? Do you respect it by taking every interaction with your client seriously? Do you answer every question as if it is the most important question your will be asked today?
In some cases, a lawyer looks at his representation of a client as a job and an interaction with a client is a task, necessary to complete your work for that day. Those lawyers receive no referrals.
In other cases, a lawyer views his representation of a client as a necessary act in order to achieve a greater good. These people also receive no referrals.
In many cases, a lawyer accepts a client because he believes in them and their matter and he zealously represents that client while remaining emotionally distant. These people receive no referrals.
Then in the final case, a lawyer connects with his client on a personal (and emotional) level. He may not agree with the client or the client’s actions or approach, but there is a connection. That’s called trust. Those people receive lots of referrals.
Next: Communicate before, during and after your representation.
This is where most attorneys fail. They do not communicate effectively. They get busy and the first thing that breaks down is their communication with the client.
Communication before the client comes on board is marketing. This sets expectations and positions your relationship.
Communication during representation is critical. You need to let your client participate in his matter and the way you do this is through communication in line with the expectations you set at the outset of your relationship. Set clear expectations. Live up to those expectations.
Communication after representation is the reason some lawyers receive referrals and other lawyers don’t. You need to keep in touch with your clients after your representation of them is over. This communication keeps you present in their mind and brings back the memory of the great experience you provided. If you have engaged that client emotionally, they have invested their trust in you, keep this relationship active by continuing to communicate.
Finally: Respect the person regardless of the situation
People need to maintain their dignity. Sometimes good people, under pressure, do unfortunate things. Never mistake the action for the person. If you treat everyone with respect and keep the relationship in focus, you will not go wrong.
Each person with whom we work has a network of at least 250 people who know them, like them, and trust them. The way you handle your relationship with your client will determine the amount of referrals you receive.
Do you treat him like he is a paycheck or do you treat him like he is a friend?
Here are three other articles you should review:
We all lose clients from time to time. How you respond to a lost client means everything. Here is a step-by-step guide to facing and reacting to this adversity.
Clients must overcome several different types of risk before they hire you. Have you made the case for your client to select you as an alternative to other “risky” choices?
Do You Know How to Target Referral Sources?
If you want referrals you need to target referral sources. Figuring out who the good referral sources are and what you can do to engage them is a big part of law firm marketing.
Essential To 25 Not Known By 25,000
I am physically repulsed by people who brag without having really accomplished anything.
Seriously, when I hear someone tout themselves as a “guru” or “rock star” when they’ve been on the scene for fifteen minutes, it makes me want to vomit.
What The Best Lawyers Have that the Fakes Don’t
A better way to promote your services is to have your clients give testimonials on your behalf.
But the “guru” or the “rock star” won’t do that. Why? Because for someone to give you a powerful testimonial they must view you as essential.
Think about that statement. Essential.
As in: “don’t make a move without consulting you.”
How many clients feel that way about you?
The best lawyers I know, regardless of practice area, possess this quality.
Clients call them before they make any life-altering decision.
How do you obtain this status in the mind of your client?
There are several key qualities you must possess, one of which is direct communication. This means telling people when things are not going well. It requires you to have guts and to be honest.
That’s not for everybody.
In fact, it’s not for most people.
The big ego, low self-esteem, guru will never do this because it will offend many and attract a few.
But the few it attracts are people who have enough ego strength of their own to handle direct feedback and adjust accordingly.
An Example
I’m lucky. I get to speak at some awesome events. Recently, I shared the stage with the General Counsel of one of the largest retail organizations in the world. People came to the event to hear this gentleman of extraordinary accomplishment and stature.
His speech was vanilla. In other words, he could have been welcoming the members of the Kiwanis Club to Cleveland instead of standing in front of a Las Vegas ballroom full of high-powered corporate litigators.
He finished to polite applause and a few people visited with him afterward.
I spoke after him.
I was, what is known as the “walk out” speaker. This is because most people leave after the keynote address and they throw someone like me up there to entertain the folks who want to wait out the traffic.
I started my speech as people were, quite literally, walking out.
I began by telling the audience that everything they learned about the practice of law – the business of law – in law school and at their big law firm was complete and total bull shit.
I continued to tell them, now screaming at the top of my lungs, in spite of wearing a microphone, that each of them was responsible for the deterioration of the profession because of the unethical and immoral practices they learned and continued to propagate.
I mused, again as loud as possible, how long it would be before some of them were led away in handcuffs and others stripped of their licenses to practice law.
By the time I got to the third part, the doors at the back of the room had closed and everyone had stopped in their tracks.
Some people were beginning to get angry.
Others were confused.
But everyone was listening.
I proceeded to give the speech of my life about becoming a Trusted Advisor and I was mobbed at the end of my presentation. Some people told me I was crazy but the majority wanted to learn more about me and what I could do to help them.
The way I communicated on that stage is the way I communicate with my clients.
I don’t have 25,000 people politely applauding me when I talk to them. I have 25 clients who hang on my every word. And they pay a premium to do so.
Do your clients feel this way about you?
I recently wrote a series of articles about this topic. They will help you achieve this type of status. You can find the first article and links to the others by clicking on the link below.
Achieve the Pinnacle of Success as a Lawyer
This article provides details about the topic of becoming a trusted advisor. It is your step-by-step guide to creating a law practice which will allow you to command a fee premium and differentiate yourself from everyone else who does what you do.
The Pinnacle Of Success As A Lawyer
The definition of success as a lawyer can be elusive. Some people define success by the amount of money they have. Others define it by the time they can spend with family and friends. We typically discuss it as having the ability to make a great living and live a great life. ®
All of those things may be true or false depending upon your goals and your dreams.
There is one thing you can look to as a milestone along your path toward success as a lawyer. It is more of a compass to help you determine if you are pointed in the correct direction. This is the lifetime value of your client relationships.
In the four articles preceding this one, we discussed the development and nurturing of client relationships. We talked about your ability to become a trusted advisor to clients who would readily pay your fees and view you as a peer.
Now we can examine the fruit of your labor. We can look specifically at what you can expect, financially, from those relationships.
In every law practice, clients have the ability to send more business your way. In a corporate setting, this means providing you with additional matters.
In a consumer-based law firm, the opportunity for repeat or recurring business may not present itself often (divorce lawyers, for example, will generally work with one client a maximum of twice in a lifetime). There is an opportunity to increase the lifetime value of those relationships but that opportunity is dependent upon the experience the client has while working with you and your ability to follow-up with him long after his matter has concluded.
What is Client Lifetime Value
Simply stated, client lifetime value is the profit realized from your relationship with your clients during their lifetime.
So a client who offers you $12,000 in work per year, with a profit margin of 50%, will have a client lifetime value of $60,000 after ten years ({$12,000 x 50%} x 10).
You can also use that same calculation to determine the value of referral business delivered by a client (or referral source) during the lifetime of your relationship with him.
These calculations, while valuable, are not the point of this article. The point is that lifetime value is dependent upon the relationship you have with your client.
But first you must focus on that aspect of your work. Practicing law may be the easiest thing you do in your law firm. Initiating, developing and deepening client relationships will ultimately determine your financial future.
Deepening your client relationships is not only good for making a great living; it is also good for living a great life.
Here are links to the other four articles in this series:
Part 1: What do clients want from a relationship with a lawyer?
If you have ever tried to read someone’s mind, you know how that turns out. This article helps you understand what clients want from a relationship with an attorney.
Part 2: How to Establish Trust
Clients invest trust in your relationship before they invest their money. This article not only explains the importance of that, but also discusses how you can deepen the trust a client has in you.
This part of the series discusses the risk tolerance necessary in order to become a trusted advisor. This is critical.
Part 4: How Do You Make the Transition to a Trusted Advisor?
This article and video offer some ideas on making the transition from expert lawyer to trusted advisor. If you want to make the leap, spend a few minutes with this video.
