The term “client service” often brings to mind robust, formalized programs, such as standing client feedback calls, office visits, dinners, or complimentary webinars. While these large-scale activities are crucial for maintaining happy clients and informed attorneys, client service is more than a one-off task. It is an ongoing process that should be engrained in the day-to-day activities of attorneys, regardless of the status of a matter. By incorporating small touchpoints into their daily routines, attorneys can stay at the top of their clients’ minds and show that they care about each client relationship. Here are a few ways to do this.
1. Track client news and personally circulate relevant pieces.
As your attorneys follow daily legal developments, they are already thinking about how they will affect their clients. Encourage them to take the extra step and show the clients that they were thinking of them. When an attorney finds an article or blog post that a client would care about, try having the attorney send the piece to the client with a personal email. This provides a service to the client by keeping him or her well informed, while simultaneously demonstrating the attorney’s knowledge and interest. Manzama and Google Alerts are excellent tools that you can use to track industry and client-specific news on an individual basis.
2. Work together outside of a matter.
Find opportunities for your attorneys to speak with a client on a panel, participate in a client philanthropy project, attend a conference together – do something to enhance the client relationship by working together in a new setting. Projects allow people to bond over a shared experience, and when that experience is less stressful than an investigation or litigation, there is an opportunity to develop a friendship or diversify the professional relationship.
3. Honor client achievements.
When your attorneys encounter a standout general counsel or in-house team, take the time to recognize the client’s achievements. From the Legal 500 GC Powerlist to association-specific awards, there are numerous opportunities throughout the year to nominate a particularly accomplished client. Whether you win or lose, everyone wants his or her hard work to be acknowledged.
4. Seek personal touches whenever possible.
Marketing departments send dozens of mass emails per week, from webinar slide decks and invitations to blog updates. Ask yourself, how can I make this mass email personal? One tactic is to provide attorneys with language that helps them personalize these missives and thus make routine emails more noticeable. For example, if you are hosting a webinar on a topic that is particularly valuable to 30 current and prospective clients, identify the top five the firm wants to develop, and work with the attorneys to send personal emails to key contacts at that organization along with the standard webinar invitation. An existing email thread on a topic is likely to encourage more conversation, and a personal message indicates that the attorneys are invested in the client relationship.
By Ashley Stockwell, Communications Coordinator at BuckleySandler LLP for the November/December 2015 issue of the Capital Ideas Newsletter