Giving Your Clients What They Want

Hello, I'm Sue Edwards. The M d of law honed on For the past 25 years, I've been helping professional service providers improved their business processes to maximize profits. As an employment law specialist, I understand the challenges legal providers face and share the techniques I've used in creating an online business model with others. But let's get straight into discussing giving your clients what they want. If we want a successful and profitable business, then we need to devote as much time and effort as possible into attracting on retaining clients unless may sound very clear and obvious. But in a pressurized professional services environment, taking the time out from doing the fee earning work can often mean that less time is devoted to working on the business to grow it. And it's the challenge for all of us who love the practice of law and working with clients. This session will provide an overview will reminder about the importance of understanding the needs of your external clients as we work through some of the practical steps you need to take to give your clients what they want whilst focusing on what you and your business needs so looking at the background. I love the quote from Mahatma Gandhi, a lawyer and someone who devoted himself to the service of others in the civil rights. What he said about clients or customers is that a customer is the most important visitor on our premises, is not dependent on this. Where dependent on him is not an interruption in our work is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He's part of it. We're not doing him a favor by serving him. He's doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so. Over the years I've spent working with practice, owners have identified five essential elements which for me represent the core that we need to look at when giving clients what they want. So recognizing who your clients are will go into this in more depth. In a minute, understanding those clients needs meeting those needs using research and feet, but to improve change and grow our business on our relationships with clients on building longer term relationships with clients, let's look first at recognizing who you clients, all that it's essential that we know the different types of clients that we want to serve, because every type of kind of a different set of challenges on requires a unique management skills in dealing with them, looking at the groups of clients. So when we're dependent on your business, she might have married many different types. So you might have consumers commercial or those in business, those thinking about business but have never owned a business before, not for profit clients and international clients. So looking first of consumers was an increasing confidence within consumers on that generally means they expect a lot more for their money on demand of much higher level of service across the board, not just with legal services. The Legal Services Research by the SRE tells us that around 50% of legal services provided to consumers are on a fixed cost basis, and hourly rates now account for less than 10% of consumer transactions. Currents will haggle over fees, and they will set limits on fees and work spent so commercial those in business is different. In the recent risk outlook report, the S R. A. Found that although there around five million small to medium size businesses, SMEs in the UK, who on average experience eight legal issues every year. These businesses are more likely to turn to their accountant for legal advice than a solicitor. We're looking out the types of service so most firms provide different types of service. So, for example, a client requiring criminal law services is likely to have very different needs to A client is looking for conveyancing services. Everything that happens to that client with their unique, neat needs from the first contact with your firm will influence their choices in working with you again on how they view your expertise and that experience with you, the once you've established the fundamental client types and their individual needs, you can then go on to further categorize clients as they apply to your business. For example, most businesses will have first time clients those who've never used legal services before and who may be nervous in more quiet, a lot extra. A lot of extra initial important support. Frequent clients, those of use legal services many times so may appear to need less initial input. But these clients might, for example, want to take control of a matter rather than take your advice. They may have had an adverse experience with the previous lawyer on Be a lot harder working, gaining their trust for looking at knowledge now, no knowing your client's needs. Now there's many management studies already out there regarding client or customer service is. But one thing they all agree on is that good service means meeting and preferably exceeding a client's expectations. And to do this, you need to, firstly understand your clients and how they buy or engage you. Onda understand your clients need so that you can anticipate them and serve them. Let's make means breaking down on paper. What you already know about how your clients think on understanding what they consider before engaging you in your services. This is behavioral marketing at its core element. So, for example, understanding of consumer clients starts with knowing how they make their decisions about purchases in general. So think about if you think about your own experiences in the last service you bought, why did you get the service in the first place? Who did you buy from? Why did you buy from that particular organization? How many organizations did you consider before settling on the one that you bought from and also ask yourself what influenced your decision? Was it price or something else that persuaded you to buy? Have you used that service before? And we're very happy with it. Did you use the organization because they were recommended? And if so, was that an online review or from a friend? So what is the type of information that you need to collect about your clients? It really will depend on the sort of clients that you haven't obviously where you use your starting point. But this sort of behaviour in terms of where you go to look at services is a good place to start. If you haven't done this exercise before, more and more of us turn to the Internet to look for things we don't necessarily stay on. The Internet will take some of those relationships offline, but it's always interesting. I mean, now I know myself. If I'm buying something ill very often, look on Amazon to see if it's been reviewed. If it's a product, if it's a service are looking. Whether that Google has reviews are look on their social media on. I also look on social media city, how proactive they are if they're not proactive on there, but they've got a social media account that's been laid fallow for a couple of years. I'll tend to think that probably not going to be that proactive with me, too, rightly or wrongly. That's just the way I think, because that's that's how I make my decisions. And I think you know, everybody has their own, but those sorts of things, a good trick is to start with in terms of looking at what clients do and how they behave. So then, how to find out about what your client's needs? Well, obviously, effective communication sits at the heart of this to establish their needs. Onda, whilst clients will have some group or common needs, each one of them is an individual with unique and specific needs and a personality which you is a lawyer going to have to handle. So, by way of a reminder is, you know, extensive studies into legal buying features have shown that every client requires you to be friendly and approachable. No over familiar but friendly and approachable clients, for example, never want to feel that they are a nuisance or an intrusion on your day or that you are there, interrupting you in doing something more important than them. If you have a tendency to be grumpy in the mornings or grumpy if you're interrupted, you need to manage that because it's not going to be going forward anywhere like is acceptable if indeed, it have a husband with a certain type of client, particularly younger clients who expect this friendliness and approachability on different types of relationships from those that they're working with them in terms of professional services on, Put yourself into that client shoes. So show understanding and empathy. Think about what your clients riel needs might be and show that you understand and appreciate the circumstances and feelings, and they're not gonna going to be able to help them without criticism or judgement. Listen to what the client says and ask any questions you need to clarify the issue, explaining before you start why you need to ask what may for some clients appear to be brutally invasive questions and be aware off a new spatial cues and body language to help you anticipate a client's needs, sometimes simply asking, is there anything else can make a big difference? Watch how the client responds. This requires patience and in a busy practice with another two appointments. Waiting downstairs for you at this time in active listening can be real challenge, but it pays off dividends and builds trust. Be open, receptive and accommodating. If you are defensive reluctant and ensure the client will soon pick up on this instead, find a way to be both interested and reassuring. Clients who are less than graceful and distress as a lot of them are may appear to be directing their anger at you on by not reacting to it personally, you will naturally diffuse and calm Situation will calm down the conversation and get to the root of the issue. Somebody who is very angry might also appreciate you suggesting a break so that they can compose themselves before continuing their story. You being human is always, in my experience, appreciated also being just informative and helpful, providing the necessary information to them in a variety of different formats so that your client can choose on any given day the way that suits them best. This bit takes workers you need to create and maintain those assets which worked for your clients to save time at scale for you later on on the sooner that this starts. If you've not already done, it's the better. It becomes much easier to manage clients expectations that practice wide if you have assets to support you doing that, and it becomes obviously because it would create Selena business model, it ties in Teoh some of the other subject areas that we're discussing on data law at the moment, which is how you manage fixed costs. It'll go. It also goes into running Alina business bottle and using technology to be able to support you. In addition, obtaining regular feedback throughout the lifetime off a case on on a regular basis, which are deal with separately here will help you establish a clearer picture of the types of clients you work for. On the gap between what they will say to you face to face or on the phone on what they will provide you with an on with on anonymous ized feedback form is really valuable. It's not always comfortable, but it's always valuable. So market research. So one way to examine clients needs is using market research in the international code on market and social research describes market research is systematically and objectively collecting data, analyzing that data to identify and assess all of the factors that may have a significant effect on your organization and its operations. This increases understanding and assist Ewing, creating a competitive advantage. It's already always useful when we're looking at market research to look at anything that already exists, which might be beneficial on many organizations. Regular carry out market research, which you can access and use to your advantage, such as the S r A on the legal on. But Smith, for example, SRE research in the recent Risk Outlook report has shown us the most consumers prefer fixed costs will buy services. Unbundled would like to be able to more readily compare sit legal services and need more information about your services. I would prefer that information in formats other than in writing, for example, video on downloadable checklists and info sheets. And almost 2/3 of people rely on recommendations from peers on online review platforms. I was always caveats to using somebody else's research, but using current and recent research which applies to your profession could be a really low impact starting point to get you going, you might prefer to ignore any existing market research INTs or supplemented by undertaking your old on the really is no set former to carrying out market research, which, just like any other research, must be designed and undertaken to meet your needs. So you'll need to use the correct research tools, such as interview surveys, questionnaires, focus groups toe identify critical information about the port, important issues to you on to be a both open minded on adaptable because some of the feedback you he will not be what you were expecting or hoping for. And you may have to tweak your larger scale ideas and plans and adjust it to meet their clients demands. As a result, on this live, ongoing research on your own client base on a really life work that's happening in your business is absolutely gold ist. It's invaluable and removes all of the illusion. Andi Happiness. Sometimes that goat that we all labour under when we think everything so okay and in fact it isn't eso, it can be really useful to, you know, always comfortable, as I said before. But when you're planning service provision, you need to be working with the facts, not not with what you think it might look like from from from where you are within the organization now, like with any research to certain limitations with market research. So obviously we've got a look in costs and budget. It can be expensive and in any even, no matter how you doing it, it requires money and time to be applied to it on there, Obviously constraints. Sometime. We need to build that balance. The need to build up a detailed picture is possible about clients needs against our desires to make decisions as quickly as possible to maintain or improve our position within the market. Very difficult because a lot of the surrender pressure to do this all of the time on guy find it easier to cut these things into, to cut a year. Sometimes a two year plan into a 90 day micro plan with just a couple of major goals, and I get it done. If I start planning the whole year ahead, it's you just feel the heart sinking and you become defeated before you've even got going 90 days with really measurable things that every week of those 90 days, really works on it works, I mean and that it works for a lot of practices and then reliability. So ensuring that the method you choose for data gathering provides consistent results, for example, creating questions that offer consistent responses when asked multiple times, asking the same questions of everybody that you survey asking number, using unbiased interviewers and obtaining a large enough sample. So it's representative of the people who will use on buying your services. This is because it's too easy to compromise the quality of data by asking leading questions or using biased interviewers who are looking to achieve a specific outcome from their answers from different answers taken on leading the interview subjects procreating, unrepresentative samples by two using too few in the sample selection. So look atyou client database and randomly select a percentage of clients, including aged clients. And in there I'm talking about when they last instructed your firm, so those that have instructed some years ago and been dormant since then on then current clients across all types of work you do, and all three n is involved. So you you look at what's going to be statistically viable. Impossible for you, but the start of that, I would say, looking in terms off 1/3 off your whole database with then working out 1/3 each of the the percentages Ben of that third, in terms of looking at age client aged clients, live clients and then looking across the various sectors that there were you working the tap taps of work that working with them Um oh, um, legal and ethical constraints. So you've got obviously comply with restraints from your professional obligations on legislation such as those relating to data protection on. Then we're looking next really into client feedback, so it's essential for all businesses for the following reasons. Establishing clients needs, as we've already discussed. Measuring client satisfaction levels. Identifying which components of your clients experiences correlate most strongly to the rover rule percent perceptions of your firm planning for new services or products. Planning, marketing activities, training staff on client service and client handling. Continual improvement Change in growth on predicting new instructions on cash flow, So do we have satisfied or delighted clients for clients will obviously often expressed their satisfaction or dissatisfaction to those closest to them, but not to the seller of the service So, for example, you might find, as I do, that your tell friends and colleagues about a good restaurant. But you must much less likely to tell the restaurant itself about it. Even if you had a poor meal, you're more likely to not go back and tell of this rather than to complain to the restaurant directly. So what's the difference between a satisfied client in a dialect? Delighted one? Well, a satisfied one will be one that they get what they expect. Where is the delighted one will be. That gets a lot more than they expect. And that's obviously going to be measured not only in experience of the whole process, but also in terms of the outcome. Maintaining very delighted or satisfied clients over time is considerably mawr difficult because, for example, a client who is delighted by the initial service on the feel of the firm and the documents that they get in the whole process of what could be called on boarding or bringing them into your organization, they just might get used to it and subsequently expect everything more so they expecting the bar to be raised on a regular basis, which becomes completely on viable for most firms. Consider it normal for all solicitors to do. The savages think it's a standard practice AST. The first experience of your firm has led them to believe that all firms operate that way and as well as you do. So it's your job to remind them that it's not fitted to standard on that. It's something special from your firm, and you can you can raise it by asking them questions along the lines of How did you find whatever X feature? It's one unique new design by our firm, and I'd love your opinion on how easy, difficult, useful you found it. Eso you? It's your job, basically, to keep on telling them that that things are are not like this elsewhere and that they're getting added benefit from you. Measuring client satisfaction means also that you can improve future performance, but that's pretty obvious, so you can correct any issues which can give rise to complaints. I mentioned earlier Clients will often expressed their satisfaction or dissatisfaction to others, such as friends and colleagues, but not directly to the business, which must which means that you've got to actively seek out feedback continuously. There are many ways that you can measure sir client satisfaction and obtain feedback, including complaint and suggestion systems, to the main problem again with this approach is that very few people contribute comments and they're often done. Is the client is leaving or thinks that then they're never coming back. So timing here is important, and you need to factor in a review with ongoing cases where the client understands it's part of your case management process. Andi. It's necessary, and they've agreed to engage with it. Surveys. You can choose to contact a percentage of recent clients and us for their opinion or ongoing cases, and us for a particular opinion on a particular level of service. On this approach can mean that it's used sometimes after the services or a matter have been concluded with. Any initial problem may have already been sorted out, so you can skew your own results by getting a really great feel good factor. Because, of course, what won't show up at that stage is that you process that you've operated on that there's a process floor which you've dealt with by the time you check the feedback. So it's really important to be doing this on specific areas of your service as you go so that you're not scaring those end results to make everything continually reinforce that float anything that's flawed and then mystery or go shopping and out. This obviously come from retail, but it's great with professional services. So somebody phones your business or comes in on the counter, assesses your excessive their experience to you in writing, introduces report that could be asking for a quote. But what's that? A quote. They get what sort of time line is involved, that the nature of the quote, how helpful it is and how they felt about it on that approach could focus on very specific questions, such as whether the receptionist can answer initial queries or quit how quickly your firm across the whole is arranging appointments and quotes on then lost client analysis, where you focused on clients who were no longer using your services on you have an interview with them as they're about to leave. Obviously, that's again quite difficult sometimes because clients won't always engage with you at that stage, but that again giving them a little time and then going back to them can be very useful is to see what's going wrong and then the timing off. Obtaining information is also important. For example, it's better to measure client satisfaction in the very early days of using your service. I'm also a supposed service, which I think we all do. Periodic satisfaction Survey surveys on continuous satisfaction tracking so that I would say, can be linked very much into outcomes on specific events. Or you can do it at a one month, two months, three months stage. And it depends on having good processes in place, which can be properly planned and created A to scale across the practice so that it's based. These key questions are very simple ones. So do we ask the right questions? And do we asked them at the right time? So good communication and continue to client service Feedback is also sits sitting at the heart of building a relationship with clients, and this involves the creation and management of a Siris of communications and exchanges between your over time. So, just like in any other relationship, there's a strong emphasis on both parties being satisfied with the relationship. And that means you, too, because out of the lessons learned here. We're going to take your ideal clients into the next part of your marketing, which is that those sorts of clients that are needy that are on the phone by the minutes that are Win Jing when the slightest thing goes wrong and they have very unrealistic expectations and you don't want them. You don't want to attract them. You don't. You want to be able to easily identify them, and you don't want them around your practice because they don't make you feel good basically, and they're not good for business. So regular communication enables you to get to know your clients and also what works for you in terms of what they need in their buying habits. And then you can identify those same type of clients that what you were best within your business honor enjoyable and interesting and fun to work with on guide you to create services and communications everything from your marketing letters, your flyers, your the way. You answer the phone on your website. Andi, bring in mawr of those types of clients. Thank you for your time in joining me on this short seminar. Please look at the other titles around this subject and other practice management topics on the date of your website