Joshua Lenon – Clio’s Lawyer-in-Residence – as he discusses the impact of customer service on gaining and keeping clients with your practice.
Lawyers who attend this webinar will learn:
- how customer service attracts clients through word-of-mouth promotion
- ways to work customer service into all stages of a case file, from intake to closing
- tools to make your customer service efforts easy to maintain
3. Agenda
• Customer Service at Clio
• Product vs. Experience
• Transactional vs. Relationship
• Customer Service Drives Business
• Build Customer Service into Your Firm
• Questions
15. Most Common Complaints
• Fee disputes
• Failure to obtain consent and/or keep the
client informed
• Failure to follow client instructions
Source:!Wisconsin!Lawyer,!October!2012,!“Managing!Risk:!Top!OLR!Complaints:!Grievances!on!
the!Rise”!
17. Trusted Relationships
• Less fee resistance
• More future work
• More referrals to new clients
• Effective and harmonious work relationships
with the clients.
18. Transactional vs. Relatioship
Transactional
• Prevail over all
• Impersonal, detached
• Short-term benefit
• Them
• Opponents
Relationship
• Preserve relationships
• Give and be helpful
• Commitment
• Us
• Understand the other side
Source:!“Do!You!Really!Want!Rela2onships?”!by!David!Maister!2005!
23. Word of Mouth
57% of C-Level Executives hire
law firms on the basis of a
single, unprompted, peer
recommendation
Source:!BTI!Consul2ng!Group!
24. Clients Don’t Want Lowest Price
• Transparent pricing: We want to
understand how/why the price is set and
have the opportunity to discuss changes -
36.4%
• Lowest pricing: We want the lowest price
available - 9.6%
Source:!Altman!Weil!14th!annual!Chief!Legal!Officer!Survey!
25. Listening to Clients = Revenue
• Only 58% of law firms conduct client
feedback.
• Firms acting on feedback generate 2.7
times more:
– revenue generation
– client retention
– year-over-year growth.
Source:!BTI!Consul2ng!Group,!“Firms!Ac2ng!on!Client!Feedback!Perform!2.7!Times!Be[er!Than!
All!Others,”!03/12/2014!
26. Listening to Clients = Revenue
Law firms whose clients see them as being
best in client service enjoy:
• 30% higher profitability
• 7% rate premiums across all staff levels
• 35% higher client retention
Source:!BTI!Consul2ng!Group,!“Client!Service!Leaders!Boxing!Out!the!Compe22on,”!02/27/2013!
28. Success as a lawyer
is 10% technical
and 90% people skills
Source:!“How!to!Stay!Digitally!Relevant,!Raise!the!Bar,!and!Give!Your!Clients!an!Excep2onal!
Experience!”!Law!Technology!Today,!03/19/2014!
29. Mitch Jackson’s Tips
• Connect with clients where they already are,
like social media
• Use tools to be available 24/7
– Client portals
– Secure messaging
– Website chat
– Telephone answering service
• Use the web to provide value
Source:!“How!to!Stay!Digitally!Relevant,!Raise!the!Bar,!and!Give!Your!Clients!an!Excep2onal!
Experience!”!Law!Technology!Today,!03/19/2014!
30. Beginning Stages
• Take the time to listen to the clients wants
and needs.
• Gather information, including preferred
means of contact
– Store this information in most accessible system
• Set expectations to avoid future conflict
– Communications policies
– Best and worst outcomes
31. Ongoing Matters
• Communicate early and often
• Communicate clearly
• Take time to solicit feedback
• Take time to explain process and reasoning
• Leverage technology to make you seem
more available
33. Cloud Services
• Access to files for quick reference (practice
management)
• Sharing of documents and information
effortlessly (Box or Dropbox)
• Communication tools that transcend devices
for seamless experience (Social Media and
Webmail)
35. Closing Matters
• Solicit feedback at the close
• Quantifiable tracking helps.
• Use survey services like SurveyMonkey to
create a consistent means of soliciting
feedback
• Use automated calendar reminders to set
post-closing “checkins”
37. Conclusion
Customer service attracts increased business
for law firms by generating loyalty and referrals
Minimal efforts in customer service can lead to
large gains for a law firm
Technology can make good customer service
an effortless task