At some point in the summer, it’s time to sit down with a good book. You may have started last July 4^th weekend or this week. Maybe you are planning ahead. I share the following 8 recommendations for the summer and beyond:

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor

An interesting and helpful discussion of the impact of breathing on how we feel and what we do as people. This is true whether you focus on your breath or just breathe throughout the day.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

Greatly influenced The Mad Clientist and the family.

Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink

Filled with short motivational paragraphs and snippets. The kind of book you can open to any page and find a stand-alone message.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

Not at all what I expected not a lot of other people expected. This is a counterintuitive approach to getting things done – personal and professional.

Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells by Tommy James

The story behind one of the iconic rock stars of the 1960s and beyond. Offers a look into everything from the rise to stardom, music production, and the business side of things and industry luminaries. Tommy James and the Shondells is known for No. 1 singles for “Hanky Panky” and “Crimson and Clover” along with a dozen other Top 40 hits, including “I Think We’re Alone Now”, “Mirage”, “Money Money”, “Sweet Cherry Wine”, and “Crystal Blue Persuasion.” Soon to be a major motion picture.

Never a Dull Moment: 1971 The Year That Rock Exploded by David Hepworth

You may or may not agree this 1971 is the year everything changed in rock– but it does not matter. It’s a piece of music history defining an era. This is the basis for Apple TV’s hot docu-series “1971”.

And, getting down to clients. Relationships and client service are more important than ever – as are the principles, strategies, and tactics in these 2 books:

Clientelligence: How Superior Client Relationships Fuel Growth and Profits by Michael Rynowecer

Learn how to drive growth and develop the best relationships with clients—based on in-depth research with 14,000 top decision-makers who hire professional services firms. The decision-makers point to 17 activities described within Clientelligence as driving superior client relationships, service, and new business.

The Mad Clientist’s ABCs of Client Service by Michael Rynowecer

This fully illustrated book is a light-hearted look at a deadly serious skill: learning how to improve client service. The Mad Clientist distilled 14,000 in-depth interviews with top executives into 26 pithy, pointed actions for you to start using today. Spend just 26 minutes with The Mad Clientist and his ABCs of Client Service and improve your client service immediately.

Learn and enjoy.

MBR

The Mad Clientist

Law firms are throwing money at associates in the hopes it eases the pain and makes them happy. More importantly, it will make them want to stay and deal with the soaring workload.

But, compensation is only number 3 on the list of things associates really want in their law firm jobs. So will the money do the trick or do law firms need to do more? You decide. Here’s what they are looking for:

Skill Building and Learning

34% of associates say skill-building is an essential factor. Money can beat a lot — but not skills. These aspiring attorneys want to learn the skills they will need to get to where they are going. This trumps compensation — money talks but developing skills helps associates walk the walk — and build future wealth.

Serious and Substantive Work  

At 18%, these associates want meaningful work. They are looking to avoid the repetitive and expected work — they want the intellectually challenging plums. Interestingly, these individuals think the money will be the same at all the firms they would consider — so their work makes more of a difference to them.

Compensation

Coming in 3^rd at 17%, these associates are all about the money. They may want the skills and substantive work — but they want to be paid at the highest rates while they are at it. They believe the more they make now the more they will make later.

Money helps with short-term pain. Ultimately, more than ½ of these associates are willing to give up some money to build their resumes. And they are betting this will bring substantially higher returns over their careers.

As we discussed in our annual webinar — The BTI Market Outlook and Client Service review 2021 — 40% of clients want to see more associates on their work. You can figure out which clients want more associates and match the associates to the work. This gives you the opportunity to leverage the salary increases to building career skills — and boost client service.

Good luck.

MBR

The Mad Clientist

(Based on 310 telephone and online surveys conducted with associates just after new salaries were announced.)

Trying to stand out in a crowd, or at least vying to get your client’s attention? Here are some stats about the activities in your client’s daily life against which you compete:

The typical corporate counsel:

• • Talks to 26 different partners a month — almost one a day.
  • Sees only 4 of these partner calls adding new value — the rest are functional; exchanging information which may be in the critical path but does not change the process.
  • Works with between 9 and 35 law firms — all these law firms vying for attention or needing care and feeding in some way.
  • Receives 140 email alerts a week — as one top legal decision maker put it “They look interesting, but I don’t read them. I read whatever (relationship partner at a key law firm) sends me.”
  • Manages 10 to 12 potential acquisitions — there are always deals in the works. Some are more active than others but most need attention. Clients will ultimately close 4.
  • Has over 300 substantive matters in litigation. Many are on hold or about to get more active — and more than half of clients are looking to settle before things really ramp up.
  • Submits the first draft of their legal budget for 2022 in June or July of this year (2021). Your clients are assessing where and how much money they will spend on legal affairs.

They are busy. And here is how you can use this to your advantage — immediately:

• • Clients appreciate help with planning their budgets — especially in litigation and labor & employment. And they are preparing these budgets right now.
  • Send your top clients only the portion of the client alert impacting them. Leave out the intro and graphics: just include the facts and insights — short and sweet.
  • Add some little nugget of value to every phone call. Say something about what you are seeing about vaccine policy, settlement trends, large and small transaction trends, and a piece of news about a competitor. These little nuggets add amazing value and make your calls interesting.
  • Ask about where they are in the M&A process — even if they are not your deals. Being in the conversation can make you part of the next deal.
  • Share successful settlement strategies and how your clients are dealing with litigation matters from a volume standpoint.

Every client-facing attorney can help lighten the clients’ load. And helping with one task adds enough value to make you stand out. Use the move to the next normal to your current advantage. Pick one action, pick one client, and make a big difference.

Good luck.

MBR

The Mad Clientist

Clients still measure their law firms’ performance. Workloads are surging and workforces are heading back. And corporate counsel are looking at how their law firms are delivering for them more closely than ever. The newest phase of the next normal only heightened your client’s need to measure performance.

Corporate counsel have to figure out how to make their budgets stretch further than ever before. And clients know metrics work a lot better than cutting rates. Top legal decision makers rely on 5 key indicators:

24% of clients want the fastest path to the best answer above all else. This answer can differ by matter and client — meaning the attorneys who have insight into client preferences will deliver more value in the eyes of the client. Note, these same clients rely on client service as well — although it’s hard to deliver value without excellent client service.

21% of clients look at the total of the invoices. If it’s over the budget, you have some explaining to do. Their budgets are more important than ever before — but if the facts change — tell your clients, in real-time. They understand things change. They do not understand why you didn’t tell them.

Mostly litigators, this 19% of clients measure success by the end result. Oftentimes, these clients believe their law firms have somehow promised the outcome they were expecting. The antidote for unexpected results is frequent updates and assessments. Like budgets, clients understand things can change — but they expect their counsel to spot the unexpected.

4% of clients rely on a formal performance scorecard. These include quantitative and qualitative metrics, and formal measurement across all aspects of performance. These are large clients with big budgets and in-house staff. The clients share the results of the rankings with their law firms annually.

The most dominant measurement. 82% of clients rely on the sum of all the things your firm did (or did not) do. This includes everything from the smartest solutions to the ease of working with your firm. Clients distinguish between firms who they say provide more answers than questions. They pinpoint the firms who helped, are easier to work with, and even those who seem to care a little bit more. And staying in touch is an essential part of the client experience.

Client service is highly subjective, and it outweighs all other factors. The pandemic has only made it more vital to success.

Ask clients how they measure law firm performance. And right after you do — this would be a natural place to ask how you are doing and what you can do better. Or we can ask on your behalf.

Look for the definitions of client service to change as clients move back to the office and the next normal world continues to unfold. And always remember client service beats cost by more than a 2:1 margin. Excellent client service keeps you out of the cost game. This doesn’t mean clients won’t want your best rate because they will — but they picked you before picking the final rate.

MBR

The Mad Clientist

(Totals equal more than 100% due to clients using multiple metrics. Based on more than 240 interviews with top legal decision makers.)

Client attitudes towards using the Big 4 for legal services are undergoing a sea change. Our latest research reveals 29.6% of top legal decision makers are open to hiring Big 4 lawyers and law firms. This is up from less than 5% just 5 years ago. You can’t develop a market if clients don’t want to hire you — and this big barrier to entry is coming down.

We found 4 drivers behind this trend — and the first one will be pervasive while accelerating client openness to Big 4 law. These are:

The number of companies with new top legal decision makers is at a record high. They are most open to hiring new law firms in the first 2 years of tenure. These career moves are unleashing more unconventional options to solving legal problems. Fully 82% of top legal decision makers in their role 2 years or less are open to Big 4 law.

US-based counsel are coming face-to-face with Big 4 attorneys as they enter into agreements to do business all over the world. More of these US-based counsels are impressed than not. Each positive experience opens one more door for future legal business with the Big 4.

The Big 4 are the clear leaders in supply chain consulting. They are meeting US-based legal departments as they work through client agreements and deal with international trade regulations. Even with some supply chains moving back to the US — the Big 4 made their mark.

More GCs than ever have seen or dealt with the Big 4 in other parts of the world — and decided they are up to the task.

The pandemic convinced clients’ legal departments of the need to streamline and formalize work processes — and the Big 4 are aggressively stepping up to provide the consulting services to help while selling their attorneys.

In addition, top legal decision makers talk about a few other benefits Big 4 legal services might bring. These include:

• More agile in cross-border work
• Integrated law, accounting, and finance issues
• Increased institutional knowledge
• Larger teams
• Perceived deeper industry insight

No client is ready for the Big 4 to take on big litigation or a transaction. Clients see the Big 4 best suited for logistically complex work, work requiring deep regulatory knowledge, and the legal issues embedded in running operations.

The important insight is the fundamental change in attitude towards using the Big 4 at all. This is the most difficult market barrier to overcome. A substantial part of the market is now open to using the Big 4. And, the newest GCs are more open than all others. It can’t hurt to step up the effort — client teams, client service, and institutional client knowledge to help stave off the Big 4 before they get more traction.

The best law firm performances prove this makes for good business with or without the Big 4.

MBR

The Mad Clientist