Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners

Happy Clients, Happy Life

You can create a great client experience from the moment you open your doors, and you should make it a priority for the life of your practice.

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We’ve all had exceptional customer service experiences where we can’t stop gushing about something or someone who made our lives better in both big and small ways. It could be the parking attendant who gave you the best spot for a speedy exit, the hotel concierge who upgraded your room for free, or the cable company representative who didn’t hang up on you after you waited 20 minutes on the line to complain (said no one ever to the last one!). Have you ever stopped to analyze why you are enthused and telling the world about your great experience?

My best experience which highlights this point is one I’ve told often. It happened when I had to buy a new router to replace the one which unceremoniously conked out at a very inopportune moment.

There are two major lessons to draw from my experience:

Lesson 1: A Referral Made To You Based Upon Client Experience Is Pure Gold

I truly dreaded having to purchase a router. Worse than going to the doctor or dentist. The last time I had to go through this process, I had to have my father install it. I know what you’re thinking; router installation is four simple steps. Unfortunately, not for me, ever. The two people I know who are computer whizzes couldn’t fix it, so I went without a router for weeks, relying instead on hijacking my neighbor’s unreliable and unprotected wifi. Finally, her wifi was so erratic I had to pull the trigger and get a new router.

My dad had good luck with Linksys routers, so I ultimately chose Linksys because he was very impressed with their customer service. After purchase, I waited until 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night to install it. I can be as cool as a cucumber in a car crash, but let my internet go down and I become a raving lunatic. I followed the “four easy steps” and, of course, on the fourth step there were problems. Blood pressure spike. But wait! My Dad said Linksys customer service was awesome, which was why I had bought the brand in the first place. I called customer service and tried to keep my anxiety in check but I was sweating.

I got a very soft spoken young man who started to walk me through the process. Every time my voice rose because I couldn’t keep the hysteria in check, he calmed me down. Now. Are you sitting down? He spent THREE hours on the phone with me — 10:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. Yes, THREE hours.

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Lesson 2: Value Pricing = Profit to the Client – the Cost of the Result

When the normal fixes weren’t working, he politely asked, “Do I have your permission to access your desktop remotely?” I agreed and he said, “You will see everything I am doing on your desktop. If I am successful there will be a charge of $9.99.” At this point, I had reached my pain point: panic at loss of Internet, already on the phone for two hours. I would have given him $100 to make this problem go away.

This is the second lesson: Value pricing. When you know someone’s pain point you can establish the value to them for resolution. It’s not a function of time, but “profit to the client” less the cost for the result — he could have charged me $100, but he was charging a fixed rate without ever considering value to me, the customer. (But that’s for another post.)

I agreed to the terms immediately. Within the half hour, this miracle worker performed his magic and the router was working. Turns out there were significant internal conflicting issues caused by my cable company, and no one else would have had the patience to figure them out. (So, I’m not that technologically inept!) Or they would have charged me $30 or more per hour while they scratched their heads and then said they couldn’t figure it out or blame other vendors.

Once we tested everything and confirmed the router worked, all the tension left my body and I became giddy. That’s how important this was to me. Linksys happens to be a good machine but without their customer service, it was worthless to me. Now, their customer service is priceless.

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Moral of the Story

I would recommend Linksys to anyone because of the client experience. And I was referred to Linksys originally because of another client’s experience. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t install myself and needed help. What mattered was if I needed help, I got superior help. I’m officially a fan for life, and in writing this post I am sharing my experience, too. I am a fan for life because I will not give up the comfort of knowing I will receive this type of client service. They have me for life. Is Linksys the absolute best product out there? I don’t know and I don’t care, but as of this writing I’ve had it for several years without incident. Their customer service is the absolute best for me.

How This Applies to You

Many of you are competent, but still learning the ropes, understanding you need mentors for the more advanced areas of your substantive knowledge. But from the day you open your doors, you can start creating an exceptional client experience and let these happy and well-serviced clients be evangelists for you and your services.

My favorite client story which is illustrative of this point is one shared by a good friend. Her husband had a worker’s compensation case which was languishing for years and years. They shopped for a competent attorney based upon a recommendation. They did their “Internet” research and selected. When she shared the experience she could not stop gushing about her attorney. I asked, “What makes him so great?” It wasn’t the results they were achieving which stood out, although they were ultimately pleased with them. She said, “He knows how to deal with Jack. He listens and answers all his questions, always returns our phone calls, and this gives us peace of mind.”

You don’t need to be practicing law for 20 years to understand the value of creating a client-centric practice. Prioritizing the human experience during an emotional process is invaluable to the client and can influence referrals. It doesn’t in any way diminish the importance of competence and ethics and proper pricing. But it does show a very close pecking order in your client’s mind and at the end of the day, it influences the recommendation they will give whether in person or online.

Isn’t your goal a client for life who will become an evangelist for your legal services? Isn’t your goal to have people sharing their positive experiences with others to drive business your way? There are lawyers who get great results but the experience is so awful for the client they would never refer to them. Then you have lawyers who don’t get as great a result or a different result, but the clients love them and refer business.

You can create a great client experience from the moment you open your doors, and you should make it a priority for the life of your practice.

(P.S. We’ll get back to our series on Building Bridges between Clients and Solos soon.)

Susan Cartier Liebel is the Founder and CEO of Solo Practice University®, an online educational and professional networking community for lawyers and law students who want to create and grow their solo/small firm practices. She is a coach and consultant for solos, an entrepreneur mentor for LawWithoutWalls.org, a member of the advisory board for the innovative Suffolk School of Law – Institute on Law Practice Technology and Innovation, an attorney who started her own practice right out of law school, an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law for eight years teaching law students how to open their own practices, a frequent speaker, and a columnist for LawyersUSA Weekly, The Connecticut Law Tribune, The Complete Lawyer, and Law.com. She has contributed to numerous legal publications and books offering both practical knowledge and inspiration. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+, and you can email her at Scl@solopracticeuniversity.com.

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