Client relations Archives - Page 22 of 38 - The Attorney Marketing Center

Would you hire you?

July 3, 2015 by David M. Ward

I’ve got a question for you. Something for you to ponder over this weekend. Don’t just answer and move on, give this a bit of thought because it is important.

The question is, “Would you hire you?” Knowing what you know about your skills and experience and what you really bring to the table, if you needed a lawyer who does what you do, would you hire you?

If you would, great. Write down all of the reasons you would do that. In fact, keep a running list of reasons because you can use these in your marketing. Make sure you do this for each of your practice areas and/or services.

If you would not hire you, why not? If you have doubts about some things, what are they?

Be honest. Nobody else is listening.

What could do you better? What skills do you need to improve or acquire? Where are you “just okay,” when you know you should be great?

Since you might not be able to see these things, or admit to them, you might ask others to help you with this. Ask you clients. Do exit surveys. Do anonymous online surveys and let them tell you what you need to improve. Ask your staff, your partners, and your spouse.

Can you see how this information would be helpful?

Good. Because when you’re done with this question, I have another one for you to answer:

Would you buy your practice?

If it was for sale, would you plunk down the cash to buy it? Would it be a good investment? Or would you just be buyingÂ yourself a job, and underpaid one at that?

I don’t have the answers. Just the questions. Because that’s my job, and I’m good at it.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Client relations, Increase your income, Law office management, success

It’s all about keeping your clients happy

June 30, 2015 by David M. Ward

Nobody would argue that keeping your clients happy isn’t vital. Clearly, it is the genesis for repeat business, referrals, and getting paid on time. But is keeping your clients happy paramount?

No. Keeping your employees happy is more important.

If you don’t keep your employees happy, you can forget about keeping your clients happy.

By the same logic, keeping yourself happy is more important than keeping clients happy. If you’re not happy, you won’t be much good to anyone else.

In response to yesterday’s post about not negotiating fees, a personal injury lawyer wrote and saidÂ he disagreed. “It’s all about keeping your clients happy, so they will return and refer,” he said.

Yes, smother your clients with love and attention. Remind them often about how much you appreciate them and want to help them. But just as a parent doesn’t need to buy his kid a pair of $300 sneakers when he asks for them, lawyers don’t need to buy our clients’ love by agreeing to cut our fees.

I showed my clients I cared about them by takingÂ cases with questionable liability and negligible damages. I showed them that I was on their side and would fight for them when they asked for my help, even whenÂ I thought we would probably lose the case, and even if we won, I knew I wouldn’t earn much of a fee.

I also waivedÂ my fee on many cases, or cut itÂ voluntarily. When it’s your idea, you are a hero. When the client asks (or insists), you’re just a commodity.

So be generous with your clients. But do it because you choose to do it, not because you might lose them if you don’t.

The writer also said he doesn’t think his other clients know when he cuts his fee for a client who asks him to.

Question: What happens when client A (who got a discount) refers client B? Does he offer the same discount to client B? If he doesn’t, what happens when the new clientÂ finds out that you charged his friend less?

And what happens when client A returns with another case? Does he get the discount on that, too?

CuttingÂ fees is a slippery slope.Â I know. I once had an office in a market where all of the PI lawyers ranÂ dueling ads promisingÂ increasingly lower contingency fees. You charge one-third, the next guy says he’ll take the case for 25%, three more lawyers advertise 20%.

When it got down into the 8-10% range, I’d had enough and closed that office.

With low overhead and high volume, I was still making aÂ profit. But I wasn’t happy.

For more, see The Attorney Marketing Formula and Getting the Check

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Client loyalty, Client relations, Fees and Billing, Law office management, Marketing legal services

Should I ever cut my fees for a client who wants to haggle?

June 29, 2015 by David M. Ward

A Mr. Richard Feder of Ft. Lee, New Jersey, writes. . .

Sorry, I’m stuck in the 70’s.

A lawyer emailed and says he has a client who is questioning his fees and wants him to reduce it. “Should I cut my fees,” he asks.Â He’s afraid it would open the door for her to ask again and again. Not to mention what might happen if word gets out and other clients and prospects get wind of it.

The short answer to this question is “no”. Don’t do it.

Don’t negotiate fees or cut them for an individual client. Doing so assails the integrity of your fee structure. “You will? Oh, so that means all of the other times I’ve paid $X, you were overcharging me?”

Explain that even if you were willing to lower your fee, this would be unfair to all of your other clients who pay your regular rates. It would also be unfair to you, since you would be working for less than the fair market value of your services.

If she owns a business, ask what she would do if her clients or customers asked her to cut her fees or prices. If she has a job and her employer asked her to work for less pay, would she do it?

Ask her to explain why she is asking you to cut your fee. If she says you charge more than other attorneys charge, explain to her how you are different or how you are worth more, e.g., you have more experience, you have a better track record, you get the work done faster, you offer other benefits they don’t offer, and so on.

Show her that you charge more becauseÂ you are worth more.

If she says she just doesn’t want to pay it, that’s a different story and it’s easy to handle.

Let’s say she’s asking you to cut your fee from $7500 to $5500. After you explain why you cannot do this, tell her that you would be happy to provide her with $5500 worth of work if that is more in line with her budget. At her option, she can get the rest of the work done later.

Or, you might suggest different terms, where the work is done in phases, over an extended period of time.

If this is not acceptable, graciously offer to provide referrals to other attorneys you know who might help her at a fee that is in line with her needs andÂ herÂ budget.

Be strong. Don’t negotiate your fees. If a client leaves because of it, they weren’t worth having as a client.

For more, see The Attorney Marketing Formula and Getting the Check

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Client relations, Fees and Billing

Do you make clients feel welcome?

May 27, 2015 by David M. Ward

Most people have never hired an attorney before. When new clients or prospective clients come to your office, they are nervous. Do you make clients feel welcome? Do you make them feel comfortable?

If you do, you take a big step towards ensuring that they like you, hire you, and recommend you.

First impressions count.

What are you doing in your waiting room to make clients comfortable? What do they experience when they talk to the receptionist? What impression do they get when they meet you for the first time?

Take inventory of what it’s like to come to your office for a first appointment, or any appointment.

Here are some suggestions:

Reception Desk

Greet client with a smile
Ask about traffic, parking, weather
Make it easy to fill out paperwork: sticky notes, highlights, clipboard, pen
Tell them how long it will be before attorney will see them
Offer coffee, water

Waiting Room

Something to read , TV–take their mind off their situation
Kids: coloring books, toys
Plants, pleasant decor, comfortable seating

You/Your Office

You come to get them
Business attire, well groomed
Handshake, smile, eye contract
Greet by name, ask how they are doing
Comfortable small talk
Offer coffee, water, refills
Explain what will happen at the appointment
Free consultation: explain no cost or obligation
Ask open-endÂ questions, take notes, ask”confirming” questions
100% attention: no calls, texts, emails; continue making eye contact
Summarize plan of action before they leave
Walk them back to reception room
Consider: brief office tour, introduce staff

Make clients feel welcome and appreciated. Help them relax. Show them that you are a professional and that you will take good care of them. Show them that they made the right choice when they chose you.

Filed Under: Client relations, Law office management

The lifetime value of a client

April 23, 2015 by David M. Ward

Most lawyers invest more time and money in acquiring new clients than in retaining existing ones. And yet the cost of retaining clients is a fraction of the cost of acquiring new ones.

If you want your clients to keep coming back to you, the first thing you need to do is to realize that it’s worth making them happy.

And it is.

Your average client is worth so much more to you than what they pay you for their initial engagement. Their value is an average of all of the fees they are likely to pay you in the future, over their lifetime as a client.

Some clients won’t come back because they don’t need you again, but others will hire you frequently. Some will have small cases, others will have big ones.

And every client can send you referrals, which also count towards their average lifetime value.

Once you understand that the client who pays you $5,000 this year might contribute an average of $150,000 to your bottom line over their lifetime, you will appreciate why it is worth investing in them.

If you only look at the $5,000, you might resist the idea of spending $50 per client per month to stay in touch with clients via a newsletter, birthday cards, and small gifts. If you look at their lifetime value, however, you might look for ways to invest even more.

Consider the cost of acquiring a new client. Take everything you spent last year on anything that could be considered marketing (and don’t forget the value of your time) and divide that number by the number of new clients you signed up.

If you spent $2,000 to bring in one new client who pays you $150,000 over their lifetime, you did well. So I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to bring in new clients. Just that it’s more profitable to keep your existing clients coming back.

It’s also much easier to get existing and former clients to hire you. They already know you and trust you. You don’t have to find them or convince them that you can do the job. If they need your services and you kept them happy in the past, you don’t have to do much to get them to hire you again.

The most effective marketing strategy for any professional is to make an ongoing effort to keep their clients happy. Find out what they want and give it to them. Encourage them to tell you how you are doing and what you could improve. Find out what they expect of you and do everything you can to give them more.

Because over their lifetime, they are worth a fortune to you.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Increase your income, Leverage, Referrals Tagged With: client retention, lifetime value

Charging clients more because you are worth more

April 16, 2015 by David M. Ward

I heard from an attorney who says he gets tongue tied speaking with prospective clients about fees and tends to lean towards charging less. Even then, he’s afraid they will think he charges too much.

I told him to write out what he would say to them if he was confident about his fees–why he charges what he does, the benefits he offers, why he’s worth more than other lawyers, and so on.

Write it, read it, contemplate it. And then post it, or a version thereof, on your website so that prospective clients will be able to read it before they ever speak to you. They will understand that youÂ charge a bit more but you’re worth it.

You might want to try this, too. Write down all that you do for your clients, from soup to nuts. Write down all the little things you do to make their experience with you as comfortable as possible. Write down all of the things you do to help them achieve a successful outcome.

You don’t have to post all of this on your site but you do need to see the value in what you do. You need to understand why you are worth more.

But what if you don’t believe you are worth more?

Then you have work to do. Because if you want to charge higher fees than you currently charge, if you want to charge more than other lawyers charge, you have to believe that you are worth more.

If you believe it, you won’t have any trouble talking about fees. You will do it confidently. It is a selling point for you. You want clients to know that when they hire you they get incredible value for what they pay.

Charging clients more comes down to believing you are worth more.

But keep in mind that when it comes to something as abstract as fees for professional services, value is relative and perception is everything. You’re worth what clients are willing to pay and you’re willing to accept.

No more and no less.

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Client relations, Closing the sale, Fees and Billing, Handling objections, Online Marketing, Personal development

Are you picking up what I’m laying down?

March 30, 2015 by David M. Ward

What do you do when a client doesn’t follow your advice?

I was discussing this with a subscriber-friend via email recently. He said: “You fire them. . . I can get clients who make me happy. If a client makes me unhappy for an hour, I can’t get that hour of my life back.”

Yes, but, if the check clears, I’m happy. If I can say, “See, I told you not to do that. Maybe you’ll listen to me next time,” I’m happy. If I can charge them even more to fix the problem they created by not following my advice, I’m happy.

Okay, it’s not that clear cut.

Clients can make us unhappy in so many ways. And theyÂ do blame us when things go bad, even when it’s not our fault and we have the CYA letter to prove it. And clients do make us want to tear our hair out when they post nasty-grams about us on social media.

So yeah, we should be prepared to fire difficult clients, and replace them with clients that make us happy.

Fortunately, most of our clients are decent and follow our advice most of the time.

But it wouldn’t hurt to spend a little more time explaining the reasoning behind our advice, making sure the clientÂ understands that reasoning, and agrees to do what we recommend.

And maybe we should be a little more tolerant when they don’t.

As long as the check clears.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Client relations, Law office management Tagged With: giving advice

Could you make it on Rodeo Drive?

March 25, 2015 by David M. Ward

Years ago, when I lived and worked in Beverly Hills, I wore Brioni suits, had a penthouse suite on Wilshire Boulevard, and was busier than a one-legged Irish dancer. So when I needed a haircut, naturally I shot over to Rodeo Drive and visited Vidal Sassoon.

Expensive? Yes. But worth it, at least to me at that time in my life.

They saw me on time and got me out quickly so I could get back to work. Everyone treated me like royalty. And it was peaceful–no chemical smells, bright lights, or incessant chatter.

There were other amenities: easy parking, pretty shampoo girls, soft drinks and snacks of my choosing.

A very pleasant experience, one that I looked forward to as a respite in my tumultuous day.

Oh, they gave a pretty good haircut, too.

I was reminded of those days when I read about a barbershop that charges more by providing better service than most barbershops. The articleÂ profiled a customer in New York City who couldn’t imagine paying more than for a haircut but who found, as I had, that it was worth paying more.

But enough about haircuts. The question of the day is, “How much more would your clients pay you for better service?”

Could you charge 20% more? 30% Double?

Doubling your fees is crazy, right? Well, I’m pretty sure I paid Sassoon triple what I would have paid elsewhere. Depending on what you charge now, perhaps double isn’t out of the question.

Next question: “What would you have to do to get that much?”

I can’t answer that for you, but I can tell you it always comes down to the little things. The little extras that make the client feel important, appreciated, and safe. The things that make them say, “Yes, I pay more but it’s worth every penny.”

Now, you may be thinking, “There’s no way my clients would pay a nickel more, no matter what I do.” I’m pretty sure that’s not true, but if it is, you need to get some new clients.

You don’t need to be on Rodeo Drive to be able to charge more. You might want to hire some pretty shampoo girls, however.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Client relations, Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services