Client service drives the coveted law firm recommendations. Top legal decision makers tell us the 140 most recommended law firms we discussed last week all stand out for delivering some key aspect of client service. Here are 11 acts of client service with the most impact:
-
Offer recommendations to help solve a problem, instead of asking how they can help
-
Share ideas in voice-to-voice communications
-
Offer industry-specific insight on key matters
-
Care more than others
-
Serve as a brainstorming partner without billing time
-
Drive ongoing communication
-
Provide insight into what other companies are facing
-
Personalize and highlight relevant portions of client alerts
-
Help recruit talent
-
Know how to help
-
Connect clients to other like-minded (non-competitive) clients
These acts of client service are all about behavior. Partners taking it upon themselves to act and offer help. Each partner who delivered excellent client service made a decision, however natural or not, to take action. The decision to act can be more important than the act itself (re-read item number 4 above) — clients want to know you care more than others. And, when clients believe you care more — everything you do somehow adds just a little more value than everyone else.
We recommend adopting one act of client service behavior to start. Add another if you already have one under your belt. Having 2 or 3 acts of client service in your client management toolkit is enough to separate you from the others. Adopt these across your firm and you will stand out from all the others.
These actions are powerful and learnable. There is no better day than today to put these to use.
Good luck.
MBR
The Mad Clientist