This Calls for a Round on the House
Next time you find yourself having a cold beverage with friends or clients, remember this list of toasts, courtesy of Modern Drunkard Magazine. Just a few of my favorites:
Here’s hoping you live forever. And mine is the last voice you hear. — Willard Scott
It is better to spend money like there’s no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there’s no money. — P.J. O’Rourke
Wise, kind, gentle, generous, sexy. But enough about me, here’s to you. — Anonymous
Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold drink—and another one. — Irish
Blogs are Child's Play
According to this study, 78% of young people have a personal website or blog. These are tomorrow’s clients and customers. They will judge you based upon your online presence, or lack thereof.
What are you going to do about it?
The Client is Not Broken
Have you ever come across something so forward-thinking you read it several times and said “Wow” after each read? Maybe it’s the caffiene or lack of sleep talking, but I came across this post, titled The User is Not Broken: A Meme Masquerading as a Manifesto, from K.G. Schneider on Free Range Librarian that hit that spot for me.
I’m cherry-picking the best ones (OK, almost all of them), but they are all that good. If you are not a librarian, and I know many of you aren’t, I’ve taken the liberty of replacing “librarian, library, and user” with “lawyer, law firm, and client.”
All technologies evolve and die. Every technology you learned about in [law] school will be dead someday.
You fear loss of control, but that has already happened. Ride the wave.
The [client] is not broken.
Your system is broken until proven otherwise.
That vendor who just sold you the million-dollar system …doesn't have a clue what he's talking about, and his system is broken, too.
Most of your most passionate [clients] will never meet you face to face.
Most of your most alienated [clients] will never meet you face to face.
Your website is your ambassador to tomorrow's [clients]. They will meet the website long before they see your building, your physical resources, or your people.
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to find a [law firm] website that is usable and friendly and provides services rather than talking about them in weird [legal] jargon.
Information flows down the path of least resistance. If you block a tool the [clients] want, users will go elsewhere to find it.
You cannot change the [client], but you can transform the [client] experience to meet the [client].
Meet people where they are--not where you want them to be.
The [client] is not "remote." You, the [lawyer], are remote, and it is your job to close that gap.
The average [law firm] decision about implementing new technologies takes longer than the average life cycle for new technologies.
If you are reading about it in Time and Newsweek and your [law firm] isn't adapted for it or offering it, you're behind.
Stop moaning about the good old days. The card catalog sucked, and you thought so at the time, too.
If we continue fetishizing the format and ignoring the [client], we will be tomorrow's cobblers.
Your ignorance will not protect you.
This kind of work is what’s so amazes me about the Blogosphere. K.G. Schneider is a writer and librarian. As I sit here today, this “Meme Masquerading as a Manifesto” is at least as good (and frankly, IMHO, much, much better) as anything I’ve seen Tom Peters or Seth Godin write this year. I’m looking forward to reading what she has to say next. Your thoughts?
Only Four Decks of Cards Left
I was going back over some old posts this morning, and found this one. Seems there are only 209 days left in the year as I write this. That’s only four decks of cards “worth” of days left of your original seven decks.
What do you expect to accomplish before year’s end? Even more importantly, what did you expect to get done by now? If you are looking for ideas, I’d suggest reviewing my Resolutions for Lawyers series.
For your clients, maybe you could schedule a “mid-year meeting” (at no cost to them) and use the opportunity to ask your clients what they want to get done before the year is over? Then use the decks of cards as a visual planning tool to help them accomplish their goals.
technorati tags: client+service, resolutions, lawyers
Who Can Your Potential Customers Call?
Ethics considerations aside for just a moment, can anyone imagine a law firm doing this?
Here are over 100 people from around the world that know our software better than anyone else (except us of course). Feel free to ask them about our software, our service, tech support, anything you like. There is nothing better than getting an answer from someone like you!
Your Customers Don't Want to do Business With You
Mark Cuban said something Friday that really struck home for me. Writing about the struggles of promoting movies through traditional newspaper and magazine channels, he tells those industries:
Each of us is looking for the holy grail of promotion. A way to leave you as a customer.
How scary is that ? A huge customer of your industry would prefer not to do business with you.
I think the same can be said for most people who deal with lawyers. If there is a real alternative to using lawyers, how many of our clients would jump at the opportunity? What are we going to do about it?
Mark’s advice to the magazine and newspaper businesses:
So its time to buck up. You either squeeze what you can and cry when it happens, or you step up and create cost effective alternatives. The days of a movie review and the ad for the movie wont cut it for much longer.
So those of you in the entertainment sections and sales groups of newspapers and magazines have two choices, come up with new ideas, or a new version of your resume…
I have some more thoughts on this issue and will share them soon.
A Lesson For Lawyers ... and Buick?
Here’s a piece from The Truth About Cars arguing that GM should abandon its desire to lure younger buyers to Buick, and instead position Buick squarely as “The Pensioner’s Best Friend.” Like the piece on Ford I’ve already highlighted, this article contains some pretty radical advice that should not be ignored by lawyers looking to find their elder-law niche. For example:
With a little development, Buick is the logical choice. “Beyond precision” lies simplicity: a brand offering vehicles with cost-effective innovations and equipment levels. Cataract-friendly gauges at the heart of basic instrumentation. Oversized switchgear. Heated, cooling, massaging seats that swivel to ease entry and exit (remember those?). Extra wide door apertures with reinforced hinges to ease entry and exit. OnStar. Electric everything, with power sliding trunk floors for easy loading and unloading, and power pedals within a Rockport’s reach. Adjustable warning chime/turn signal volumes. Electronic medication reminder timers. Run-flats. Oversized sunglasses bins for granny’s favorite set of Terminator shields. Two words: Rascal storage.
Every possible safety feature should be standard, from lane-departure warning systems to self-parking. Electronic nurses? Loads: SRS + ABS + EBD + DSC + ASR + BA = AARP. The ordering and purchasing experience must be simplified as much as possible. This author has railed against illogical options bundling, but the geriatric niche is one segment where simplified trim levels actually make sense. If higher-end features like satellite navigation are deemed a marketplace necessity, so be it— but designers must ensure that they’re simple, intuitive designs, preprogrammed with relevant waypoints— drug stores, casinos, cat hospitals and Cracker Barrel restaurants, say.
If you were building a firm from scratch to only serve a certain population, where would you start and what would you do?
Four Eyes for Clients
Ever have clients come by your office who need to read documents? Get a load of this tip (for waiters and waitresses) from Tricks of the Trade:
Keep a pair of reading glasses at hand. At least once every few days you'll get a customer who forgot their glasses and are unable to read the menu. Produce your spare pair and a good tip is secure.
Reading glasses are cheap at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Grab a few pairs and your clients will “see” what a great lawyer you are. I know, bad pun.
Legal Widget
How about a dashboard widget (like this one) for tech-savvy clients to request a call/e-mail/im chat from their equally tech-savvy lawyer? Kind of like a legal Bat-Signal.
Edit Your Dictionary
Here are four words to take out of your vocabulary:
I have removed several words from my own “client relations” vocabulary through the advice of friends, colleagues and books I have read over the past few years. These words tend to put the client on edge, and especially for a new client, can form a barrier across the relationship that you are trying to form with them.
The words: Just, Honest, Simple, and Actually. Check out the post for the reasons why. Here’s what the author has to say about simple:
The great thing about the word simple is that it almost always can predict that the future of your statement will be anything but. To say something is simple, implies that it is too small for the client to worry about, but what really ends up happening is that it is usually this item that the client will fixate on because you have tried to downplay it. This word also comes in the synonyms of easy, no problem,and likity split. Yes, I’ve really heard a colleague say that last synonym before!
What words should lawyers take out of their vocabularies?
Face to Face wins the Race
Yesterday, I posted on the importance of making house calls. I think that fits in nicely with some things Kathy Sierra has written on the importance of face-to-face interaction. She summarizes a talk at a recent conference by Dr. Thomas Lewis, a psychiatry professor:
One of the key points he made was that we are fooling ourselves into thinking that text is even half as effective as face-to-face at communicating a message.
[Why?] We never had to learn to process body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. We evolved this capability...it's innate. But we had to spend years learning to read and write with any level of sophistication. The brain needs and expects these other--more significant--channels of information, and when they don't come... the brain suffers (and so does the communication). And the problem goes way beyond just an increased chance for misinterpretation.
This is something we all know, but ignore at our peril. Get off the phone. Get clients in your office — or go to theirs. Your message will be better understood in person, you will better connect with your clients, and you will truly hear (and see) what they have to say.
Let me introduce you to ...
Ever wanted to introduce two people, but couldn’t figure out how to send an e-mail to both of them at the same time? Me neither. But if you want to make introducing two people even easier, with some Web2.0 goodness thrown in, check out You Should Meet. If anyone out there knows somebody I should meet, give the (free) service a whirl. My e-mail is Matt “at” LexThink.com. I look forward to meeting them.
Do You Make House Calls?
Potential clients feel more comfortable in their offices than in my office, no matter how plush. So it is a good idea to meet them in their office whenever possible. When meeting anywhere else, they tend not to reveal their whole hand.
I understand why some consultants prefer to meet in their own offices -- it increases efficiency. But what I lose in efficiency, I gain in trust and strong connections. I also get to speak to all managers, executives and some employees if necessary -- something that does not always happen if I were holding meetings in my office. If others in the organization see me in action and give positive reports to the owner or other person-in-charge, I have a better chance of acquiring them as a client down the road because they trust me.
Lessons for Ford, and for Lawyers
In The Truth About Cars, Robert Farago offers up his prescription for an ailing Ford:
You want bold moves? Kill Jaguar. Kill Mercury. Sell Volvo. Sell Mazda. Sell Land Rover. Cut half the remaining models and plow money into the ones that survive. Re-invigorate your rear-wheel drive, box-frame car with new sheetmetal, a bad-ass motor and a killer cabin. Build a world-beating Lincoln luxury sedan. Make the Ford Focus the world’s best small car. Get the Explorer’s mileage into the mid-20’s. Develop a more powerful engine than the Hemi and stick it into everything-- including a new minivan. Set SVT loose on the entire model line-up. OWN quality interiors. Don't badge engineer ANYTHING.
Lose the glass fishbowl; redesign Ford showrooms to look like a modern retail outlet. Trim the dealer network and sell cars on the web. Undercut everyone’s price with every vehicle. Interact with every single customer on a regular basis via internet. Institute no-haggle pricing. Make financing cheaper. Drop 80% of your print budget and dominate the web. Do it all, and do it all at once-- regardless of cost. Then sell value for money. Ford: the best car money can buy.
Imagine a big law firm (or any law firm) making similar moves. What would that advice be, and what would the resulting law firm look like?
Are Your Best Clients Those Who Pay Fastest?
Wells Fargo’s Small Business Roundup Newsletter features an Albuquerque printer APC, recent winner of a SBA award. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve seen in a while comes from APC’s owner, Pedro “Tony” Fernandez. Mr. Fernandez explains how his business focused on cash flow to stay in business after 9/11:
To regain momentum, Fernandez turned to his customer base. “Rather than concentrating our marketing on high-revenue or high-volume clients, we went after our best payers,” he notes. “We looked at those who paid their bills consistently and quickly. Revenue dropped, but the method helped us strengthen our cash flow, which brought us back to pre-9/11 profit levels by 2004.”
Your biggest clients aren’t always your best. If you are looking to focus certain marketing efforts on your existing clients, think about trying APC’s approach. Focus on your best payers, not your biggest accounts.
Total Client Awareness
Here’s a simple tip from Personal Tech Pipeline (via LifeHacker) that all lawyers should take advantage of:
Let's say you have a friend who lives on the other side of the country. Let's call her "Janet Birkenstock." You can set up a Google Alert using quotation marks around her name that searches both news stories and web sites. Then you can just forget about it. From then on, whenever Janet runs a marathon, gets promoted, is quoted in the local newspaper, or does anything that someone mentions in the news or on the web, you get an e-mail with a link to that page. You can always be the first to congratulate her, or whatever. The point is that you're staying in touch with and remain aware of your friend without any effort at all.
Now imagine setting up similar searches with all your friends, family members, former colleagues and others -- and, of course, yourself (to find out what others might say about you).
You can set up dozens or even hundreds of these Alert searches, and they will work for you forever, finding information on people you care about and letting you know what's new with them.
Now set up searches about your neighborhood or small town. If some developer is planning to bulldoze the local park and build a shopping mall, you'll be the first to know (and can visit the local city council meeting in time to provide input).
Easy, cheap, and your clients will wonder how you know everything about them (and their industry, competitors, etc.) before they do.
Just Say Why
But what nobody ever teaches us is perhaps the most important thing you can learn to be a successful working designer: How to not say "no." If I could give one piece of advice to the designer just getting into client work, or even some who's been doing this for a while, it's this: The next time you want to say "no" to a client, boss, or colleague, say this instead: "Why?"
Did Your Acquaintanceship Make Money This Year?
Angie McKaig has some fantastic e-mail tips. Here are my favorites:
Run a business, not an acquaintanceship.
Always respond promptly - same day is ideal; at least every 2-3 days at a bare minimum.Explanations go a long way.
Take the time, when you can, to educate. An extra 10 minutes spent writing a few paragraphs to explain something to a client can buy a priceless amount of goodwill.It's time for a mindshift, entrepreneur.
Email is not something that takes you away from your work. Email is a vital part of your work. It requires the same care, feeding and watering as the rest of your business, if not more so. You're not in Cubeville any more, with a sales department to back you up. You're it, bub. Remember that without those emails, phone calls and other "interruptions", you wouldn't have a business.
Is it all the same thing?
Will lawyers ever realize that it is all the same thing:
We don’t spend 2 hours every day on marketing, we spend all day on marketing. We don’t spend 1 hour every day figuring out the best way to communicate what our products do, we spend all day figuring out the best way to communicate what our products do. We don’t spend 3 hours on interface design, we spend all day on interface design.
When the edges are blurred, and one thing is many things, you can achieve so much more with less time, effort, and people.
Good work for clients is marketing. Sending a fair bill is client service. Returning telephone calls and e-mails is relationship building. It is all the same thing. Go read the original post and the comments. Great Stuff!
The Lawyer Sticker Test
Over at 37 Signals, they have a simple test to determine if a company respects its customers:
Here’s a great way to find out if a company that makes physical products respects their products and their customers: if there’s a sticker on the product, and it peels off cleanly (and without tearing), then they’re a respectful company. If it tears or leaves sticky residue that you need to scrape off with a razor, then they don’t.
It’s that simple.
What’s the lawyer corollary: If a client leaves a phone message, does it get returned by someone at the firm within 24 hours?