Client Service

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One of the things I think a lot about is client service – I’m regularly trying to figure out how I can bring more value to my own clients, but also looking critically at how others meet their clients’ needs and wants. 

For all of us, no matter what work we do, we are all acting as providers and receivers of client service. As a receiver of service, I can be quite demanding – I’m very detail-oriented, I know the level of service I deliver to my clients, and I expect the same attention to detail and passion in those I’m working with. 

Unfortunately, it’s fairly rare that I’m impressed by someone’s level of client service. Which got me thinking this afternoon about two ways we can "up our client service game." Although these are two separate tips, they generally have to be undertaken together in order to really wow someone. 

Tip One: Responsiveness

I almost can’t believe that I have to include "responsiveness" as a tip for great client service – we’ve talked about it SO much, and I’ve heard it mentioned time and time again, so it should be the norm today instead of the exception. Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Up Your Game

Today, we welcome to the General Counsel Corner Tina Rao, the Chief Counsel, Healthcare for Maxim Healthcare Inc. 

Our question to Ms. Rao was: 

What is your process for selecting outside counsel?"

She let us know that: 

There are many ways that you can select outside counsel but personal relationships and connections are most significant. Additionally, showing expertise as a subject matter expert in a particular area by writing articles and client alerts are helpful. Once engaged in a matter, regular communication updates are a must. It is very off-putting if you find out after the fact that motion was filed and you were not alerted."

Ms. Rao’s response is something that we’ve heard a number of times – "personal relationships and connections are most significant." But she further expands that, suggesting, as we would expect, expertise is important – and showing that expertise through articles and client alerts is helpful.  Continue Reading General Counsel Corner: Selecting Outside Counsel

The more I see of Taylor Swift, the more of a marketing genius I realize she is. And not just because I can’t get "Shake it Off" out of my head this week. 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? 

While I don’t picture your clients lining the streets of your offices and swooning at the mere sight of you anytime soon (though the image of that does bring a smile to my face), there are a few things that Taylor does REALLY well that you can adapt to your own business to help drive client loyalty. Let’s look at two of those tips today. Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Tips from Taylor Swift

The advice to "think like a client" in order to improve your client service is not a new one – but today, I want to offer you a little bit of a twist on that advice, which will help you to up your game. 

The idea of thinking like your client can be a daunting one – while we all endeavor to understand our clients’ challenges, concerns, and pain points no matter what field we’re in, unless we’ve spent time there ourselves, we’re only privy to second-hand knowledge (for the most part). 

But whether we’ve been on the client side in our own industries or not, we’ve all been and are clients – as lawyers, you are purchasers of various services, from consultants to building services to office products and more. In our personal lives, we are consumers of goods and services, including everything from groceries and electronics to personal care, travel, and more. 

I’ve asked you before to think of yourselves as the client in these cases, and to identify what it is you want from those interactions – things such as understanding of what you’re really asking, common courtesy, on-time delivery, exceeding expectations, etc. Continue Reading Client Service: Think Like a Client!

For this month’s installment of our General Counsel Corner, we are pleased to welcome Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Director of Internal Operations for Jacam Chemical Company, Jayson Macyda.  

Mr. Macyda is not only a lawyer for Jacam, but also a general business manager. Because of his dual function, he is keenly aware of how legal decisions impact business operations, and vice versa. Jacam Chemical Company is a division of Canadian Energy Services, and provides chemical solutions to the oil and gas industry worldwide. 

In his role with them, Mr. Macyda assists in managing their North American and overseas legal operations, focusing on transactions and litigation matters regarding a number of different areas of law.  He is also responsible for the general business management overseeing the operations of Jacam’s IT, HR, safety & Department of Transportation, health & environment, and public relations and marketing divisions. 

This expertise, along with his diverse educational and employment background, means he has interacted with hundreds, if not thousands, of lawyers – so Mr. Macyda can quickly identify those who will be able to assist him in managing Jacam’s legal and business affairs.Continue Reading General Counsel Corner: Clients Want a Partner

As I was thinking about client service this morning, I wondered to myself whether there was anything left to discuss that hasn’t already been said. Of course, there’s an old adage that roughly says something about there being no new ideas, just new people discussing them, but even here at Zen, we’ve already talked about things like: 

And more. 

So instead, I started to think about issuing a challenge – to ask yourselves

How did I make a client happy today?"

Of course, there’s the obvious answer that doing their legal work, solving a problem, addressing a challenge, getting a big win, etc. all would make a client happy. Continue Reading Client Service: How did you Make a Client Happy TODAY?

This morning, Nancy Myrland wrote an excellent blog post on one of the most important questions you should be asking your clients, both new clients and long-term clients: 

What can I do to keep you as a client for the long haul?"

Nancy must be reading my mind again, because I have "client service" down as the subject to focus on for today’s post.  Her post got me thinking about the counter-question to this one, which is "What would make you leave?" 

Clearly, finding out the reasons that a client would stay with you and your firm long term is essential – you want to be doing the things that make your clients happy, and what better way to find out what those are than to ask them? 

But I’d argue that almost as important is finding out what might make a client leave. 

Continue Reading Client Service: What would make you leave?

This week’s Two for Tuesdays suggestion comes straight from my friend, Nancy Myrland of Myrland Marketing – Strategic Social Media, who has two tips for what we should avoid doing when speaking with clients – and these are excellent ones. These are bad habits that we’ve all gotten into (not just with clients, but in general), and I’m certainly guilty myself! 

Tip One: Don’t Interrupt – Let Them Finish Their Thoughts

Ah, interrupting. I’m terrible about this. I’m a bit like the word predictor on my iPhone, where I’m three steps ahead, thinking that I know what the other person is going to say, and I start answering them before they’re finished saying it. 

Not only is it terribly rude, but I’m not always right about where the conversation is going. And I’m making it about me – I’m in too much of a rush, and I’m thinking too many steps ahead to let them finish their thoughts. 

So although it’s difficult, let’s work on pausing. Wait until the person you’re speaking with has finished their thought…completely. I’ll work on it too. It will make us better listeners, which will in turn make us better advocates for our clients. How can we properly do our jobs if we don’t get all the facts, because we’re too busy butting in?Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: What NOT to do When Speaking with a Client

Last week, when we talked about thinking like a marketer, I shared the following statistic from Blue Kite Marketing: 

People use hundreds of products and services every day. About 95 percent of those interactions go completely unnoticed. Another three percent of those experiences are ones that you are complaining about."

What that tells us is that people will share bad experiences and great experiences, but the "good" experiences just get forgotten.  Creating excellent experiences for your clients are obviously the goal here, but just as important is avoiding the bad ones that will stick with people and motivate them to market on your behalf…in a negative way. 

There are two little words that can diffuse an unfortunate situation, and they are just not used enough these days: 

I’m sorry."

Continue Reading Client Service: The Power of “I’m Sorry”