Lawyers: Do you want to excel at
client service and market less? If so, consider upgrading your new client
intake process by asking your clients key questions about their communication
preferences and expectations.
Why? For at least
these three reasons:
1. Clients of all types stop using certain firms and
lawyers mainly due to:
1) a lack of responsiveness,
2) a lack of perceived
quality of the work/results obtained, and/or
3) the perception that the
total costs they are paying are too high for what is received.
2. Attorneys and law firms are rarely told “you’re fired”
in a formal manner. Instead, clients simply stop sending their work to any
firm or lawyer they are not satisfied with and start sending work to a new
firm or lawyer. The prior firm receives a letter requesting that files be
transferred.
3. Eighty percent of law firm clients expect a response to
a text or email “immediately” –which most clients define as two hours. But
attorneys tend to think in four- and eight-hour blocks as responsive.
Between all their commitments, court dates, filing deadlines and a
consistent stream of client inquiries, most lawyers think that responding
within four to eight hours (or even 24 hours) is appropriate – TWICE what
most clients expect. So, attorneys’ definition of “immediate” is TWICE as
long as their client’s definition of “immediate.” These are bona fide
statistics based on decades of client interviews conducted by Michael
Rynowecer of the BTI Consulting Group.
Interestingly, the
New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct requires lawyers to “fully inform a
prospective client of how, when and where the client may communicate with the
lawyer.”
If every lawyer
initiated this type of conversation before starting work for a new client, and
if every state bar’s rules had this requirement, client satisfaction would
increase, and malpractice cases based on lack of responsiveness would likely
decrease. Plus, outside lawyers would receive more referrals and positive
word-of-mouth, and – as a result - would have less need to market their
services.
Here are some additional resources:
