In the grind of the day-to-day, it can sometimes be easy to forget who is at the center of everything we do – our clients. I’d like to offer you two contrasting stories that serve as a reminder of putting clients first (which I know we all strive to do!) and show how going that extra mile can really make the difference in adding value. Continue Reading The Good and the Ugly: Lessons in Putting Clients First
In today’s ever-evolving legal landscape, maintaining strong client relationships is more crucial than ever. Clients expect not only legal expertise but also personalized service, empathy, and a deep understanding of their unique needs and concerns. To truly succeed as a lawyer, you must adopt your client’s perspective and tailor your approach accordingly. Here’s how you can achieve that in today’s legal environment:Continue Reading Beyond Legal Advice: Understanding Your Clients for Better Service
I’m on hold, listening to what I’m sure this company assured itself was jazzy music, while I try not to grind my teeth together.
It has been four weeks since the dishwasher repairman was here to assure me that it would only be “a few days” before a new dishwasher was installed. Continue Reading Dishwashers, Luggage Cake & Client Retention
In today’s hyper-connected world, our devices keep us tethered to work even during off-hours. While taking breaks is crucial for well-being, being responsive remains a cornerstone of client and business relationships. Yet, it’s surprising how often this simple aspect is overlooked.
It’s a major pet peeve of mine when emails go unanswered, and I know many share this sentiment. Let’s delve into why responsiveness matters and how it’s an easy fix.Continue Reading Responsiveness: The Overlooked Key to Building Successful Client Relationships in the Digital Age
As we edge towards the end of the third quarter of 2020 and a great deal of uncertainty still remains, the one conversation I’m having over and over again with lawyers is around how to keep current clients happy and bring in new work with them. While we’ve already addressed the importance of business development activities here on Zen, we haven’t talked much about client retention, which is clearly also essential – we all know the adage that it’s cheaper to keep a current client than to do the work of bringing on a new one.
Some of us may be walking on eggshells at the moment, hoping that if we are just quiet enough, clients will be grateful that we’re here and keep using us as they have been without making any changes. But I think we can all recognize that that’s a false hope. We’re ALL under increased pressure to find ways to cut costs and show more value. Lawyers who are able to have an open and honest conversation with their clients about the ways in which they’re doing this will be the ones who continue to be valued business partners of their clients – now, and in the future as the market picks back up. So, how do we do this?
Continue Reading Client Retention: Tips for the Pandemic’s Secret Weapon
We’re at a unique point in our histories right now – everything seems to be in an upheaval, and our nerves are frayed. Many of us are finally getting to a place that feels like a new normal, but there are still some things that are a challenge. One of the things I’ve seen to be true over the past few weeks is that a lot of people seem to be in a mad rush to make things happen. In many cases, that’s necessary – as things close, we have to make quick choices about how to work from home, how to help clients move entire businesses to remote working, how to suddenly adapt to working next to children and spouses and partners, how to identify the tricky legal issues that come with challenging economic times.
Whenever there is a rush like that, the idea of “care” can often become secondary. We get more terse in our replies in an effort to be more efficient and we forget that there are real, scared and anxious people at the other end of the phone or digital line, who are trying to manage as many plates and emotions as we are.
Continue Reading Client Care in the Time of Coronavirus
For better or worse, we’re all uber-connected these days, between our desktops and our smart phones and our tablets. While many of us can and do (and probably should) take technological time outs for holidays and weekends and evenings, responsiveness is a key factor in keeping clients, potential clients, and yes, even referral sources happy when reaching out about business. And yet, it is STILL one of the most overlooked (and easiest to fix) complaints that I hear about relationship building.
It’s a rather HUGE pet peeve of mine when people don’t take the time to respond to emails, and I know I’m not alone. Let’s talk about the message that it sends, and why it’s an easy fix.
I know lawyers are busy. I know that their time, literally, is money. So I can be (somewhat) forgiving of the attorneys who may not read and answer all of the emails that I send them.
However.
Continue Reading It’s 2020. Responsiveness is Table Stakes for Good Relationships
A few years ago, I remember a woman I know posting on Twitter that her daughter had said “this is the best day of my life. We went to the park, we’re going to mcdonalds, I found a penny. The best day of my life.”
She was 5 at the time, but she had already been through a lot, dealing with a very scary brain tumor that year. And that, plus a few big things going on in my own life and friends’ lives, have me thinking – the best days of my life really have been about the little things.
Sure, graduating from college was exciting, buying my first house was exciting (well, more nerve-wracking and expensive than exciting), but were they the “best” days of my life?
Nah.
Those have been about the little things – the first time each of my nieces said my name for the first time (or any time they say it, frankly). Every time one of my dogs comes racing over to see me like I’m his favorite person in the world (I am). Slipping my hand into the hand of the person I love for the first time. Crossing the line of my first marathon (okay, that was kind of a big one). Really focusing to help a friend going through a tough time, and knowing that being there makes a difference. Laughing until I cry with women who really get me. Those are some of my best days.Continue Reading Building Relationships – It’s about the Little Things
Last week, we talked about channeling your inner Taylor Swift to connect with your clients – it seems silly, but no one understands her client base and instill rabid loyalty better than Taylor, and isn’t that all something we’d love to emulate with our own clients?
We may not have her reputation (see what I did there?), but that doesn’t mean we can’t practice some of her tactics in our own relationship development efforts with similar success. One of the things she’s got down pat is knowing when to engage directly.
Continue Reading You Can’t Delegate Relationship Development – Lessons From Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is my favorite client relationship genius.
That may seem a bit strange, but when you drill down into the brilliant marketing and business development machine that she is, you’ll agree that there are a few things that Taylor does that create rabid loyalty among her fans – and I mean rabid.
Before you start asking what Tay-tay and her music have to do with the law, first, ask yourself what it would feel like to have your clients feel the same way about you as Taylor’s fans feel about her? What if your clients trusted you so implicitly that they never took their business to anyone else? What if they called you first before making a business decision, because you’re their trusted adviser? What if your clients lined up every time you wrote or spoke, because they knew what you had to say was that valuable?
Continue Reading Channel Your Inner Taylor Swift & Connect to Your Clients