Entrepreneurism for Teens

The Small Business Administration's Office of Business and Community Initiatives (part of the Office of Entrepreneurial Development) has a great site for teens titled The Teen Entrepreneur Guide to Owning a Small Business. There is some great information for all entrepreneurs there.

Building Client Loyalty

I found this article on the MarketingProfs.com website (if you aren't subscribing to the e-mail updates, you really should) titled, "12 Laws of Customer Loyalty" by Jill Griffin. Her 12 tips:

Build staff loyalty
Practice the 80/20 rule
Know your loyalty stages and ensure that your customers are moving through them
Serve first, sell second
Aggressively seek out customer complaints
Stay responsive
Know your customer's definition of value
Win back lost customers
Use multiple channels to serve the same customers well
Give your frontline the skills to perform
Collaborate with your channel partners
Store your data in a centralized database

My favorite gem from the article:

Today’s customers are smarter, better informed and more intolerant of “being sold” than ever before. They expect doing business with you to be as hassle-free and gratifying for them as possible. When they experience good service elsewhere, they bring a if-they-can-do-it-why-can’t–you attitude to their next transaction with you. They believe that you earn their business with service that is pleasant, productive and personalized; and if you don’t deliver, they’ll leave.

As service providers, lawyers are not just competing against other lawyers, but airlines, dry cleaners, restaurants, and even internet retailers. When clients have gotten a high level of service from someone else, we need to match (or even exceed) that level of service, or we fail. That is one of the reasons I've been writing this blog. I want to look to see what others in business are doing to improve the customer experience and bring those lessons to my firm and lawyers in general.

Ask your clients to point out your faults.

In this post from his Duct Tape Marketing Blog, John Jantsch recommends that we should ask people to point out our mistakes and then reward them for doing it. According to Jantsch:

When you make this a policy and communicate it to the world you accomplish several things.

1) You get better or at least things get fixed. (Watch how fast your staff shapes up when they realize their every move in on notice.)

2) You admit you are human. Now more than ever people are looking for ways to connect with companies they do business with. Inviting them to participate in your customer service process is great way to connect.

3) You send the message that you care. You want to provide an absolutely perfect experience even if it means getting help from your clients to do it.

This idea isn't new among lawyers. Evan Schaefer at Notes from the (Legal) Underground has been offering a proofreading reward of $20 for each typographical error, $10 for each grammatical error, and $5 for each clever demonstration of how he can omit needless words.

Personally, I'm nervous about asking my clients to point out my mistakes, but perhaps that is why the idea is so intriguing.

Sometimes, its the little things.

Sam Decker has been writing his weblog, Decker Marketing: Marketing, eBusiness, Management, & Life -- from a Startup & Dell Marketing Guy since September 2003. I happend across it last week and have been consistently impressed with what Sam has to say. In a recent post, Sam talks about his friend's new restaurant and its amazing bathroom hand dryer. Sam's point:

I told my friends and wife to go wash their hands. And now I'm telling you about this. I'll tell others. Why? I've never seen this before, and thought it was cool. Mike spent a few extra dollars for this dryer...but it should quickly pay off.

I think little things in the customer experience can make a big difference in driving customer choice and word of mouth.

It's why I go to Mexican restuarants with great chips and salsa, despite the food. Or the tipping point for me to choose one sandwhich shop over another because they serve soft ice. Or the chinese buffet, just because they have free ice cream.

Think about the little things you can do in your business to stand out, be remembered, and perhaps lead to word of mouth.

What little things can you do to make your law firm stand out? I'm compiling a list of things we're going to try. I'd like to know your ideas too.

Redesigning the Customer Experience

Rob over at Business Pundit points to a Business Week article on IDEO, a famous design firm. The article focuses on IDEO's work in redesigning the customer experience for Kaiser Permanente, the largest health maintenance organization in the U.S.

After just seven weeks with IDEO, Kaiser realized its long-range growth plan didn't require building lots of expensive new facilities. What it needed was to overhaul the patient experience. Kaiser learned from IDEO that seeking medical care is much like shopping -- it is a social experience shared with others. So it needed to offer more comfortable waiting rooms and a lobby with clear instructions on where to go; larger exam rooms, with space for three or more people and curtains for privacy, to make patients comfortable; and special corridors for medical staffers to meet and increase their efficiency. "IDEO showed us that we are designing human experiences, not buildings," says Adam D. Nemer, medical operations services manager at Kaiser. "Its recommendations do not require big capital expenditures."

This article got me thinking about how IDEO would redesign the customer experience for most law firms. Seeing a lawyer is also a social experience often shared with others (spouse, parent, business partner) and, like medical care, often starts due to some unpleasent situation. Read the full article, it is a fascinating take on the IDEO process.

Great Client Questionaire

A great profile of Harvey Mackay, the well-known author of multiple business best-sellers, on About.com. The story contains a link to the Mackay 66, a tool Mackay uses in his businesses for gathering information about customers. The instructions:

It's critical to have information about your customer. Armed with the right knowledge, we can outsell, outmanage, outmotivate and outnegotiate our competitors. Knowing your customer means knowing what your customer really wants. Maybe it's your product, but maybe there is something else, too: recognition, respect, reliability, service, friendship, help - things all of us care more about as human beings that we care about malls or envelopes. Once you attach your personality to the proposition, people start reacting to the personality, and stop reacting to the proposition.

Use this questionnaire to develop a profile of each customer. Some of your resources for the information might include secretaries, receptionists, suppliers, newspapers, assistants, trade publications, and the customer themselves. Look, listen, and learn all you can about the customer, both personally and professionally. You'll find topics for opening conversations, which can open doors for you and your company.

My favorite is number 66: "Does your competitor have better answers to the above questions than you have?"

What do Clients want.

Wayne at Cutting Through asks, "Now why can’t I get my Estate Agent and my Lawyer using RSS the next time I move house? I don’t then have to spend half my life on a phone finding out whether I have a house to move into in 6 days, 6 weeks, or 6 months?" Why indeed?

Some Catching Up

So involved with the cool stuff we're doing here that the blogging has been sporadic. That will change come Friday, but for now, here are a few interesting reads I've come across:

Dane at Business Opportunities Weblog picked up a great piece from Jeff Wuorio at the Microsoft Small Business Center on ways to diffuse angry customers.

Curt Rosengren at The Occupational Adventure has another thoughtful post titled, Your Money or Your Life - rethinking money.

Jennifer Rice at What's Your Brand Mantra comments here on a great post from Dispatches from the Frozen North about marketing and the customer experience.

Johnnie Moore has list from the ecustomerserviceworld newsletter about the difference between managing and coaching that I thought included good lessons for lawyers.

And finally, the best of the bunch. Scheherazade writes:

When you get invited to someone's place for dinner, and you say, "What can I bring?" and they say, "Just yourself," bring flowers. I feel like a champ every time I do this, and like a bit of a chump every time I don't ."

The Silver Lake Group, Ltd.

Well, the Silver Lake Group, Ltd. is open for business. My partner is Jeffrey Mollet, a lawyer with expertise in agribusiness, real estate, and banking law (I'll post his biography here in another post). Jeff shares my passion for innovation and we both recognize how important it is to get our new venture off on the right foot. To that end, I'm shutting down my legal practice for the next month to concentrate on everything we need to do to start fresh, and most importantly, start right.

To be sure, I'll still be here for client calls and meetings, and the occasional motion or hearing, but I have no trials scheduled and will be taking on no urgent matters this month. On June 1, we will be meeting with every client and sharing with them our vision for our practice -- and more importantly, learning from them how we can better serve their interests. Some things on my agenda for the next four weeks:

1. Complete our Satisfaction Guarantee.
2. Prepare our announcements and finish our marketing materials.
3. Settle on our slogan/tagline. Right now, "Innovative Lawyers - Guaranteed Service - Uncommon Value" is the one we like best.
4. Revise our Mission Statement and draft our Client Care Agreement.
5. Interview for our Client Concierge Position.
6. Talk to the Placement Offices at St. Louis University, Washington University, and Southern Illinois University Law Schools about a first or second year student for some research projects.
7. Work on the SilverLakeLaw.com website.
8. Finish our migration from Word (him) and WordPerfect (me) to OpenOffice.
9. Introduce Jeff to blogging. He's going to be starting a Farm Law/Agribusiness Blog soon as a service to his existing clients. We will use weblogs as an alternative to newsletters for clients in specific industries.
10. Keep blogging (though a bit sporadically).

I've never had more to do and been more excited about doing it. Look for updates here and thanks for your support.

The Problem with Being a Young Lawyer.

I've been practicing law for ten years now, and don't feel like a young lawyer anymore. When I saw this post on Dana's Blog, it got me thinking about how screwed up the legal business is.

Are you a recent college grad? If so, my advice is to start with a sales position. You can never underestimate the value of working directly with clients and customers to better understand the purchase decision-making process. As you move up the marketing ladder within organizations, you oftentimes get further and further away from the customer. Starting in sales can help ground you in being customer-focused.

The problem with our business (law) is that it is absolutely impossible to take this advice and start in "sales" as a young lawyer. Instead, new lawyers start as far from the "customer" as the law firm can keep them. Then, when (if?) partnership rolls around, lawyers are suddenly expected to jump into "sales" and get business for the firm. By that time, they only know the law firm's view of billing -- not the client's.

Read these quotes from an article Kevin O'Keefe sent me about alternative billing methods (the emphasis is mine):

Michael Saunders, chairman of 120-lawyer Spencer Fane Britt & Browne LLP, said a majority of the firm's business still is done through hourly billing because many clients stick with what they know. "While a lot of people are talking about this, it's still a small part of how companies are doing business with their counsel," Saunders said. "No one wants to be guinea pigs. They're interested in, 'How can we get what we need done by the best people and the best way possible?' A lot have not seen the need or seen the advantage."

And this:

Larry Bingham, president of 37-lawyer Seigfreid Bingham Levy Selzer & Gee PC, said the firm deals with medium-sized companies and doesn't use alternative fees. "Not that we're opposed to that," Bingham said. "For a closely held company that doesn't have a lot of legal work ... you have to have a pretty big volume for a law firm to know how to bill for that."

Amazing, absolutely amazing. Is it possible that the clients have not "asked for" alternative billing because the law firms have not put it on the menu? And since when does a client have to have a lot of volume of work for a lawyer to "know how to bill for" it? If these lawyers (and thousands like them) had been in "sales" as young lawyers, might they have a different view of what clients want and need? Food for thought.

To Insure Prompt Service

Not sure how this fits in with legal marketing and client service, but I found a fascinating article over at Epicurious.com about one man's attempt to bribe/tip his way into New York's trendiest restaurants. Thanks to Marginal Revolution for the link.

How not to write like a lawyer.

Great non-disclosure agreement written by a non-lawyer for non-lawyers:

Confidentiality: Paul asks that you not show or tell anyone this idea without first calling him at 781-648-1500 to ask his OK. If you tell one person you trust, they will tell one person they trust, and so on. If this idea gets out too early, Paul's business could be ruined. Thanks.

Via Business Opportunities Weblog.

Things to remember when talking to clients.

Saw this post on the blog Knowledge Jolt with Jack about Wiio's Laws, kind of the Murphy's Law of communication:

1. Communication usually fails, except by accident.
2. If a message can be interpreted in several ways, it will be interpreted in a manner that maximizes damages.
3. There is always someone who knows better than you what you meant with your message.
4. The more we communicate, the worse communication succeeds.
5. In mass communication, the important thing is not how things are but how they seem to be.
6. The importance of a news item is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
7. The more important the situation is, the more probably you forget an essential thing that you remembered a moment ago.

Like Murphy's Law, these are all tongue in cheek, but remember rule 2 before you send that letter to your opposing counsel or your client.

Are you marketing to women?

I have really enjoyed reading Michele Miller's Wonderbranding weblog. In this post, Michele points to a Consumer Electronics Association report with these alarming statistics:

Nearly three-quarters of women surveyed by the industry group complained about being ignored, patronized or offended by sales people when shopping for electronics.

Forty percent of the women said they were treated better when accompanied by a man.

More than half said advertisements for electronics were confusing -- though half the men surveyed felt the same way.

A meager 1 percent of women surveyed thought manufacturers had them in mind when creating products.

Michele has this to say:

Note to consumer electronics executives.... have you looked at your numbers lately, beyond the bottom line? Are you creating a memorable experience for your most profitable customer, not to mention building a relationship with her?

I have spent the last several months "auditing" my legal practice. One area I have focused on is how women view me and the services I provide, as I am trying to better serve woman-owned small businesses. I have spoken with many women I know in this process and each woman has had similar experiences with lawyers as the women surveyed above had with electronics salespersons.

I challenge you to do a similar audit of your practice. The following questions are in no way an exhaustive list, but think about: Is your office woman-friendly? How do women feel when greeted on the telephone? Do you have woman-themed magazines in your waiting room? The last law office I visited had the following magazines: Car and Driver, Golf Magazine, and Sports Illustrated. Is there a place to play (or at least a place with books or other kid-friendly activities) for children who accompany a parent for a meeting? Can you name the two biggest civic organizations in your community whose membership is primarily made up of women? Have you spoken to these groups? Who are the three most influential women in your community, and do you know them? Do you send bills and correspondence to, "Mr. and Mrs. John Doe," instead of including the wife's name? Does your office sponsor charities women support? How does your firm entertain clients? Do you do more than the traditional golf outing or handing out tickets to sports events?

I would love to hear from the women (and men) in the blogosphere with comments. What other questions should I be asking myself in my law office audit? How can women be served better by male and female lawyers? What can we as lawyers do to make sure our profession doesn't marginalize women like the consumer electronics industry apparently has?

Web Chat for Lawyers

This post in the Digital Practice of Law weblog talks about a Forbes.com article on the use of "Live Web Chat" for internet commerce sites and suggests, "A form of this type of web interaction will become commonplace in the legal profession in the coming year." Interesting prediction.

Create a culture of innovation.

In this article, in People Management, Guy Browning gives his tips on fostering innovation in your organization. My favorites:

There are three vital ingredients required to cook up a more innovative workforce. These are quiet, time and permission to think. People are normally working so hard to meet their targets that they don’t have time to think about how they could meet their targets in a different and better way. Managers need to make sure their people have real time and real permission to think differently.

Customers don’t just have money, they also have ideas. They’re also remarkably willing to talk to you about your products and services. After all, they’re the ones who are paying for them. Develop a method by which consumers and customers can be engaged in innovation and you can speed up and make more effective the whole development process

Ten Secrets of Business

Via The Nub is this post with the "10 Secrets of Business" from Stuart Craner and Des Dearlove:

1. Money is a by-product: purpose and values come first.

2. Culture is the differentiator: it's what makes you unique.

3. The customer comes first - and co-creating value with the customer brings an edge.

4. Talk the walk: communicate, communicate and then communicate some more.

5. Rules stifle: values are more important.

6. Distill it down: so the message is clear.

7. Kill complacency, don't let it kill you - and evolution is better than revolution.

8. Lead by example: credibility is important.

9. Best beats first: originality is not always enough.

10. Keep it simple - because business is fundamentally simple.

Sounds about right.

Be who you appear to be.

Thanks to Tom Asaker for this post from his weblog about a BearingPoint, Inc. study of the state of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the financial services industry.

From the study:

Among the survey findings is that fewer than a quarter of the executives interviewed said their customers promote their financial institution enthusiastically to family and friends. After spending more than $20 billion in 2002 alone on CRM systems to help them get closer to customers, financial institutions still yearn for the brand loyalty and rich relationships enjoyed by carmakers and clothiers. Why do people not feel as attached to the place they entrust with their money as they do to the vehicle in the garage or the jeans in the closet? The answer is not that CRM technology has failed. CRM has put powerful tools in the hands of the enterprise—new processes, integrated systems and rich stores of information—that improve service and take out costs. The problem, rather, is that these huge investments have focused not on building a bond with the customer and enhancing the customer experience, but on deploying technology to manage the customer relationship.

The study advocates a focus on "CEM" or Customer Experience Management, and gives three keys to implementing it in the financial services industry:

Adopt the customer’s perspective. By putting themselves in their customers’ shoes, financial services executives will avoid mistaking customer inertia for loyalty and forbearance for acceptance. They can then identify more easily what their institutions must do to win and keep customers and to inject more enthusiasm into their relationships.
Create mutual value. For many firms, customer strategy has long hinged on maximizing marketing effectiveness to increase sales. Financial services companies need to commit to creating value for customers at each point of interaction, rather than merely to operational excellence or fiduciary duty.
Guarantee transparency and trust. Financial services providers must build a comprehensive picture of customers that matches the picture customers have of themselves, and then organize their business and technology architectures to match. Only then can they reward customers for the totality of their relationships, provide a consistent and integrated experience across multiple points of contact, and infuse much needed transparency into relationships that many customers currently suspect are one-sided.

Some great stuff here. Registration necessary to read the study.

Yoga and the Law Firm

In this post in her Wonderbranding weblog, Michelle Miller says that, "Today's women are looking inward for balance, strength, and focus." She points to the explosion in yoga programs at fitness centers thoughout the country, and asks:

So... women are not only connecting with each other but are looking for personal ways to enhance their lives. What does your business or service do for these women that would serve a similiar need?

Good question.

The one question you should be asking your customers.

In this post at Brand Autopsy, John Moore reviews a Harvard Business Review article, "The One Number You Need to Grow," penned by Frederick Reichheld.

Reichheld’s research indicates that there is a strong correlation between a company’s growth rate and the percentage of it’s customers who are willing to recommend the company to a friend.

Moore quotes Reichheld, "You only have to ask your customers one question: How likely is it that you would recommend [company x] to a friend or a colleague." Do you ask you clients that question?

See my other posts on building customer relationships here, here, here, and here.