Client relations Archives - Page 29 of 38 - The Attorney Marketing Center

I hate my clients

April 30, 2013 by David M. Ward

You: I hate my clients. They’re angry, stressed out, demanding, and impatient. They blame me for everything and are making me miserable. I don’t know if I can do a good job for people I can’t stand to be around. Do you have any advice?

Me: If you are delivering a perfunctory service–preparing a document, a few court appearances, basic work where you don’t have to see the client that often, just focus on the work. Or, focus on the money they’re paying you.

If you’re talking about an ongoing relationship, where you have to deal with the client closely over a long period of time, a difficult client is more challenging. The way I see it, there are three things you can do:

1. Be honest. Tell the client you need to talk to them about something important and ask permission to be candid. Then, tell them how you feel. Explain that you understand what they’re going through, but when they take out their anger and frustration on you, it makes it more difficult for you to do a good job for them. Remind them that you are on their side and that you need to work together. Once they agree, establish some ground rules so you can move forward.

2. Get a buffer. Have someone else in the office deal with the difficult client. You step into the picture from time to time, briefly, and then step out.

3. If you can’t change your clients, change your clients. If you still find it difficult to work with an individual client, despite your best efforts, ask them to find another lawyer. If you find it difficult to work with most of your clients, you need to consider a new practice area (or new career).

You don’t have to like your clients to do a good job for them, but it helps. If you do like your clients, they’ll be more likely to like you, and that is always a good thing.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. Here’s the formula.

Filed Under: Client relations, Personal development

Promote someone else’s business or practice today

April 26, 2013 by David M. Ward

I’m sure you know other professionals or businesses you would recommend to your clients and contacts. If someone asked you for a referral, you would enthusiastically offer up their name.

Instead of waiting to be asked for a referral, I want you to take some time today to tell everyone you know all about this outstanding individual or company.

Write an article and publish it on your blog or in your newsletter. Send a solo email to your list. Make sure you tell everyone you see in the office today or talk to on the phone.

Tell them why you recommend them. What makes them different? What do they do that is remarkable?

If you’ve used them personally, share the story. If your clients or friends have used them, mention that, too.

Give out their website. Tell people to subscribe to their blog or newsletter, download their report, or Like their page. Ask people to buy their products or services and refer everyone they know.

Promote someone else’s business or practice today.

Do it because you want to help the people you know find quality products and services. Do it because you appreciate the business owner or professional and want to support their good work. Do it because it feels good to say nice things about someone.

But don’t do it because you want that business or professional to do something similar for you.

Yes, they might reciprocate. If they do, be happy for them. It’s nice to receive, but the true joy is in the giving.

Marketing is easy when you know what to do. Here’s the formula.

Filed Under: Client relations, Marketing legal services, Referrals, Relationship marketing

How to invoke the law of reciprocity to get more clients and more referrals

April 23, 2013 by David M. Ward

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I had a termite inspection. Just routine. It had been awhile and it was time. We got the all clear once again, and once again there was no charge for the inspection.

However, we now have a pest control maintenance contract with this company and told our previous company adios.

We had been with the other company for 15 years and we were satisfied with their work. They showed up when they were supposed to and were reasonably polite. They always called the day before, to remind us they were coming and to ask if there were any problems they needed to address.

So why did we switch?

No, it wasn’t price. Our previous company had never raised their rates and the new company actually charged a bit more (but was willing to match the first company).

Actually, there were two reasons.

The first reason we switched is that while we were satisfied with our first company, we were only satisfied. They didn’t do anything to tip the scale from satisfied to delighted.

Of course we didn’t realize what was missing until we had the new company come out. They were more organized. And cleaner. And more thorough. The man who came out was articulate and patiently explained everything. You could tell he wasn’t just doing his job, he really enjoyed what he did.

The first company was competent. The second company made us feel like they cared about having our business.

The second reason we switched? We’d had this company out twice and it was the same guy both times. Both times, there was no charge. And so when he offered the maintenance contract, the law of reciprocity kicked in and we took it.

The law of reciprocity says that when you give someone something, they have a psychological compulsion to reciprocate. Buy someone lunch, for example, and the next time you go out together they’ll pick up the check. It’s not politeness or friendship. It’s the law of reciprocity.

If you doubt this, the next time someone you know says good morning to you, don’t say anything in return. That awkward feeling you have is the law of reciprocity.

So, did we hire the new company out of guilt? In a way, yes. We had two free inspections and had never given them anything in return. We might have reciprocated by sending them referrals, but we liked what we saw and hired them.

When you offer a free consultation, your prospective client feels like they owe you. So, unless you give them a reason not to, they will be inclined to hire you. If they can’t or don’t need to hire you, they will be primed to send you referrals.

The same goes for anything you do for others. Send a lawyer friend a referral and they will probably send one to you. Give your newsletter subscribers helpful information and they will tell their friends to visit your website. Help a neighbor set up their new computer and they’ll be looking for ways they can return the favor.

The “Golden Rule” says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Now you know how it works.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you how to earn more than you ever thought possible.

Filed Under: Client relations, Closing the sale, Marketing legal services, Personal development, Referrals Tagged With: law of reciprocity

How do you find out why they didn’t hire you?

April 10, 2013 by David M. Ward

In yesterday’s post, How often should I call a prospective client?Â I said you should follow up with a prospective client after a free consultation, but not call them because calling is bad posture. In response, I got an email from an attorney who said, “If you don’t call them how will you find out why they didn’t hire you?”

It’s a good question.

If they don’t call you within a suitable period to give you the go ahead on their case or matter, you can send them a form letter seeking feedback about your office’s “customer service”. Were you well treated, Did we answer all of your questions, that sort of thing. Then, ask if they plan to go ahead with their case or matter and if not, why not. You might provide multiple choice answers for them to tick off, and room for additional comments.

Send this with a cover letter about how you are constantly seeking to improve your services to your clients and you would greatly appreciate it if they would fill out the survey and return it in the envelope provided. You might offer to send them a free report or a $10 Starbuck’s gift card to say thank you.

Anyway, this should give you some feedback on what you’re doing right and what you need to improve. But there’s an even better way to find out why someone doesn’t hire you: ask them while they are still in the office.

Before you hand them a retainer agreement and pen, ask if they see the need for your services and how it will help them. If they do, ask if they are ready to get started. (There are other ways to close). If they aren’t ready, politely ask why.

If they need to discuss it with someone, that’s your cue that the next time you set an appointment, you need to find out if you are speaking to the decision maker and if not, make sure they come, too.

If they are reticent to share their reasons, there’s a good chance it’s money: they don’t have it or they think you’re too expensive. If they don’t have it, you can remind them that you take credit cards or have a payment plan. If they think you’re too expensive, you need to do a better job of building the value of what you do before they see you (i.e., on your web site) and during the consultation.

By the way, “I want to think about it,” almost always means they have another objection. Ask them what they want to think about: Is it the need? Is it the fee? Is there something else that’s holding you back?

The best time to get feedback is when they are in the office, feeling a little guilty for turning you down.

Do you have The Attorney Marketing Formula? If you want to get more clients, you should. Click here.

Filed Under: Attorneys fees, Client relations, Closing the sale, Law office management, Salesmanship

Why clients stay with a bad attorney

April 5, 2013 by David M. Ward

Ever wonder why clients stay with a bad attorney? Because human beings are creatures of habit. They’ll stay with the same dry cleaner, mechanic, or attorney, even if they aren’t thrilled with the service, because it’s too much work to find a new one. Plus, the next one might be even worse.

So things might be bad but until they get bad enough, they stay.

But sometimes it doesn’t take much to go from bad to bad enough. How many clients are just one unreturned phone call away from leaving?

How about your clients? You may think everything is fine but is it?

You need to know.

Survey your clients. Take a poll. Talk to them privately. Do whatever you have to do to find out how they really feel because if your clients don’t love you, you will never be able to build the kind of practice I’m sure you want.

But here’s the thing. Other lawyers’ clients are staying with them because things aren’t bad enough. That’s an opportunity for you.

No, don’t go courting other lawyers’ clients. There’s someone at your state bar with a stick up his ass who’s just waiting for you to do that.

What you can do is write and talk about how important your clients are to you. How you bend over backwards to keep them happy. And how any attorney who doesn’t do the same just doesn’t get it.

Post articles on your web site. Do a video. Develop a talk.

Become an advocate for treating clients with respect and kindness and appreciation. If you do, it won’t be long before you are approached by clients whose lawyers didn’t get it.

Marketing is simple. If you know The Formula.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations

How to get lots of five star reviews and social media mentions

March 1, 2013 by David M. Ward

I found out how my wife’s new dentist is getting so many testimonials and five star reviews. Yesterday, she got an email from the dentist that said:

“Would you please take a minute to let us know about your last experience with our office? You will be able to share this information with your friends via Facebook, or you may choose to keep your identity anonymous to everyone – including us.

Please answer a couple quick questions for us here:”

A link led to a survey page that prompted her to

Rate the service with one to five stars for (a) Staff, (b) Facilities, and (c) Overall Experience
Provide feedback by answering four questions:

1. “Did the staff take the time to listen to you?”
2. “Did the staff take the time to communicate with you?”
3. “Would you recommend our office to friends and family?”
4. “How long after your appointment time did you wait to be seen?”

There is also a box to add comments and another for suggestions.

You can then submit your review to be publishedÂ anonymously, with your name, or your name and post it on Facebook. You can also keep your review private meaning it is sent to the doctor without any name attached. The patient is also prompted to refer other patients through the web site.

The dentist uses a service that automates this process for him.

So, a few thoughts come to mind:

If you use a service like this (or do it yourself), you’re going to get a lot of reviews and mentions on Facebook. If you deliver great service to your clients, this could bring you a ton of new business through Facebook, through referrals, and by virtue of the positive reviews you will then be able to post on your web site.
If you do this and you don’t deliver great service, you’re going to kill your practice. Of course if you don’t deliver great service, your practice is already dying; this will just speed things up.
If you want to deliver great service so you can survive and prosper and get lots of positive reviews and referrals, set up something like this because it will force you to work hard to deliver great service.
If you’re nervous about what your clients might say, do it in two steps. First, send clients a questionnaire and ask for feedback. Ask for permission to quote them by name, first name only, or anonymously. If they send back positive feedback, contact them again, thank them for taking the time to respond, and ask them to post their review on Facebook (or whatever). If the feedback is less than positive, apologize and ask what you need to do better.

When he was mayor of New York, the late Ed Koch, was famous for walking around town and asking people, “How am I doing?” He heard a lot of criticism and complaints from his constituents, but he also heard a lot of praise.

Your clients will help you grow your practice. All you have to do is ask.

If you want to earn more and work less, get this.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Marketing legal services, Social media marketing Tagged With: attorney-marketing-blog

Where will your next client come from?

February 27, 2013 by David M. Ward

Check your records. Where did your last twenty clients come from?

It’s important. You need to know because the odds are that’s where your next client will come from.

If most of your clients are coming from ads or search engines or social media, that’s not good. Most of your clients should be coming from referrals.

Nothing wrong with ads or search or social media. But if you’re doing a good job for your clients and you’re building relationships with professionals and other referral sources, at least seventy to eight percent of your new clients should come from referrals.

If your clients aren’t thrilled with your work and the way you treat them, you need to fix that. If you’re not letting clients know that you appreciate their referrals, you need to start. If you aren’t sending referrals and helping to promote your professional contacts, this needs to be a top priority.

Referrals are waiting.

Now, if most of your business does come from referrals, congratulations. But don’t rest on your laurels. You need to figure out how to get even more referrals.

And better referrals.

Better referrals? Yes. Bigger cases, higher paying clients, clients with lots of legal work, and clients who have lots of contacts they can also refer.

Better referrals.

You can get better referrals by continuing to improve on what you’re already doing. Even better service and more value. Not just sending referrals to your professional contacts when they fall in your lap, but actually going out of your way to look for people you can refer or introduce to them.

To get better referrals, you also need to make room for them.

Prune your client list and dismiss clients who aren’t the best. Get rid of the trouble makers, the no-pays and slow-pays. Let go of clients who can’t or won’t pay top dollar. Decline to take the smaller cases.

If you continue to accept less than the best clients, you’re telling the universe that you will settle for less and that’s what you’ll continue to attract.

It’s like cleaning out your closets: if you want new and better, you have to get rid of the old and tattered.

Marketing for smart people: The Attorney Marketing Formula.

Filed Under: Client relations, Marketing legal services, Referral sources, Referrals Tagged With: knowing-your-clients-odds-are, video

Your clients hate when you do this

February 20, 2013 by David M. Ward

When you have a client in the office, have you ever said “hold my calls” to your receptionist or whoever answers the phone? You shouldn’t have.Â It should be understood that unless there is an emergency, when you have someone in the office, you don’t take calls.

And yet, I know many lawyers do. Not you, of course. But we all know someone.

It’s rude. People don’t like it. It tells the client, “you’re not as important as the person on the phone, or as important as me, and I don’t care if I’m wasting your time.”

Even if the call is just a few seconds. Your next appointment calling to tell you they are running late, or opposing counsel telling you the case is settled and you don’t have to go to the settlement conference that afternoon.

The same goes for text messages. Unless your wife is about to go into labor, you shouldn’t be looking at your phone. And if your wife is about to go into labor, you should tell your client that’s why you’re checking your phone so he doesn’t think you’re a boob.

Aside from being rude and selfish, it’s bad posture. It tells your clients that you are poorly organized. Or hungry for new business and lacking self-confidence. You answer the phone because it might be a prospective client and you don’t want to lose them.

Weak.

I think some lawyers think taking calls actually gives them better posture. They think it says, “I’m very important. Look at all the people who want to talk to me.”

Notsomuch.

Here’s an idea you might want to run with.

Create a document, pledging your commitment to never taking calls or looking at texts during client meetings. Let people know that your clients are important to you and deserve your full attention.

Send this to all of your clients. Put it in your “new client kit”. Post it on your web site. Have it engraved and put it up on your wall. When a new client or prospect is in the office, call their attention to it. Let them know you really mean it.

It doesn’t matter that most attorneys don’t take calls during client meetings. Most of them don’t have a pledge. So when you do, you stand out. People talk about you. Remember you.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. This is one of those things.

The Attorney Marketing Formula will teach you how to get more clients and increase your income. Click hereÂ to learn more. Go ahead. You know you want to.

Filed Under: Client relations, Marketing legal services, Personal development Tagged With: hate-your-client, httpwww-attorneymarketing-com20130220your-clients-hate-when-you-do-this, what-attoney-think-of-there-client

How to get more clients like your best clients

February 18, 2013 by David M. Ward

Who are your best clients? You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones who pay more. The ones who cause the fewest problems. The ones who send you referrals and promote your practice. The ones you like being around.

You know, the clients you’d like to clone.

You can get more clients like your best clients. Here’s how:

DEFINE THEM

Who are your best clients? What attributes do they have in common?

Demographics: Industry, occupation, background, ethnicity.

Legal work: Most work, highest fees, bigger cases, repeat business.

Referrals: How many? How often? What quality?

Other factors:Â Who can they introduce you to? Do they have lists and are they willing to promote you? Are they influential on social media? Do they like you and want to help you?

PAY ATTENTION TO THEM

Give your best clients more time and attention than other clients. Call them, just to say hello. Write them, to share information. Spend time with them: coffee, lunch, networking events.

Thank them for their patronage, their referrals, and their friendship.

HELP THEMÂ

Business clients: Send them referrals. Help them find employees, suppliers and joint venture partners. Feature their business or practice in your blog or newsletter. Introduce them to people they might like to know.

Consumer clients: Help them find better deals. Â Introduce them to trusted advisers, reputable contractors, high quality service people. Help them get reliable information and advice.

In short, if you want more clients like your best clients, you should build relationships with them. They will lead you to people like themselves with similar needs and values.

We get what we focus on. Focus on your best clients and you’ll get more of them.

Need help identifying your “ideal client”? Click here.

Filed Under: Client relations, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing Tagged With: httpwww-attorneymarketing-com20130218how-to-get-more-clients-like-your-best-clients

How to break bad news to a client

February 14, 2013 by David M. Ward

A lawyer asked for advice on how best to break bad news to your client when a case is lost.

Great Question.

The answer is simple. Man up and tell them. Don’t make excuses, don’t cast blame, and don’t parse words. Tell the truth and tell it point blank.

If it was your fault, admit it, and deal with the consequences.

But here’s the thing: if you manage things right, the bad news shouldn’t devastate the client. Disappoint, sadden, yes, but not unreasonably anger. You shouldn’t need to hang a “Gun Free Zone” sign in your office.

What do I mean when I say “if you manage things right”? I mean that from the time you first take the case and throughout its execution, you should manage the client’s expectations about its outcome.

That means not sugar coating the prospects of winning the case or the potential size of the verdict. In fact, you should do the opposite. Under promise. Project low. Tell them there’s a good chance you won’t win at all.

Yes, they might have second thoughts about having you as their attorney and go somewhere else. Let them go. They’ll be nothing but trouble. You want clients who appreciate your honesty and openness, and who appreciate your hard work in the face of big challenges.

Throughout the case, keep them informed. Let them see the ebb and flow, the positives and negatives. Help them to detach emotionally from the outcome. When something is good, remember to show them the other side. That’s why God invented the phrase, “On the other hand. . .”. When it’s bad, do the same thing. You don’t want to be a Debbie or Dennis Downer.

If you’ve done it right, by the time the case comes to a conclusion, they will be mentally prepared for any outcome. Win or lose, big verdict or not so big. They may not be happy, but they will be prepared.

Need more clients? Better clients? Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and start gettin.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Personal development Tagged With: bad-news-letter-from-lawyer, breaking-bad-news-to-a-client, how-to-break-bad-news-to-your-client, httpwww-attorneymarketing-com20130214how-to-break-bad-news-to-a-client, www-attorneymarketing-comhow-to-break-bad-news-to-a-client