We’ve all had experiences where we rave about someone or something. Have you ever stopped to analyze why you are raving, whether it’s about restaurant service, the barista at Starbucks, or your auto repair gal? My readers know I often like to write about personal experiences to make a point translatable to your practice. Today is no different.
A few years back, I had to purchase a router so I could have wireless in my home. I dreaded it. Why? The last time I bought a router I had to have my father install it. I know what you’re thinking: a router installation is four easy steps. I know it is. But it never for me and I never knew why. So, the router he installed up and died. I happened to have two people who know computers look at it to install it, again. Neither one could do it. And they are computer people. Smart, tech-savvy computer geeks. No go. So, I went without my own router for a long time getting erratic wireless from my neighbor’s unprotected router.
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His wireless was just too erratic so I realized I had to try, again. My father had good luck with a Linksys. But the reason I went with Linksys was because he said he was very impressed with their customer service. (First lesson — a referral made based upon the client experience).
I bought the Linksys and waited until 10:30 at night to install. See, I can be as a cool as a cucumber in a car crash. Let my internet go down without help to fix it, and I become a stark raving lunatic and my blood pressure skyrockets (tech-induced high blood pressure!). I followed the four easy steps and on the fourth step there were problems. Aha! My father said customer service was great, which was why I bought the brand. I called customer service and tried to keep my blood pressure in check.
I got a very soft spoken person who started to walk me through the process. Every time my voice got high with anxiety, he calmed me down. Now hold your breath on this one. He spent THREE hours on the phone with me. 10:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. Yes, THREE full hours.
When the normal fixes were not working, he finally asked permission to access my desktop remotely. I know. That’s a no-no. But I called him, not the other way around. He said, “Do I have your permission to access your desktop remotely?” I agreed. He said, “IF I am successful there will be a charge of $9.99.” (OK, here’s my pain point — panic at loss of internet, having been on the phone for two hours at this point, I would have given him $100 to do this. 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 — but that’s for another post.) At this point, I would have given him my first born. I agreed.
Within the half hour the customer service representative worked his magic and the router worked properly. There were significant internal conflicting issues with my cable provider which no one else would have had the patience to figure out.
When I saw it was working, I felt all the tension leave my body and I became giddy. That’s how important this was to me. Linksys happens to be a good machine but without the customer service, it was worthless to me.
Moral of the story: I would recommend Linksys to anyone because of the client experience. And I was referred to purchase because of another client experience. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t install the router myself and needed help. What mattered was if I needed help, I got superior help. And now I am a fan for life because I will not give up the comfort of knowing I will receive this type of client service to try a different product. They have me for life. Is Linksys the absolute best product out there? I don’t know and I don’t care. Their customer service is, and my client experience was the absolute best.
Many of you are competent lawyers, but still learning the ropes, understanding you need mentors for the more advanced areas of your substantive knowledge. But today you can start creating an exceptional client experience and let satisfied clients be evangelists for you and your services.
My favorite lawyer story to exemplify this is from a girlfriend. Her husband had a worker’s compensation case which was languishing for years. They shopped for a competent attorney based upon a recommendation. They did their “internet” research and made their selection. When we started to talk about his case over lunch, she could not stop praising her attorney. I asked, “What makes him so great?” It wasn’t the results they were achieving, which were standard results. She said, “He knows how to deal with John. 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 20 years to understand the value of this unconscious prioritizing by clients when discussing why someone will refer you over another person. It doesn’t diminish the importance of competence and ethics. But it does show give you a glimpse into the pecking order in the mind of a client.
Isn’t this what you want to achieve every time a client chooses to hire you over another lawyer? A client for life who will become an evangelist for your services?
I suggest it should be.
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 [email protected].