Create a Client CARE Center:
Client Service is a #1 priority. The Client CARE Center is a Concierge Service, fresh and unique in the legal industry, and provides clients and potential clients the level of white-glove attention and great service that consumers expect when contacting any type of business. Gone are the days of unreturned phone calls, being transferred to the wrong person, or waiting weeks for a reply. A successful law firm must understand that its clients pay the bills, keep the lights on, and deserve amazing service.
Why is Client Service in a Law Firm Environment Important:
Every business in America has a dedicated client service department (if they’re smart); however, law firms have traditionally not employed such a practice. Most attorneys consider client service to be “soft skills”, and will say that they “did not learn that in law school” and have no desire to “hold the client’s hand”. They are correct that there are usually no classes in law schools which focus on client service, client satisfaction, or client retention. However, client service is not hand holding, and it is not soft skills… it is making money skills.
There is a direct correlation between client relationships, client satisfaction, client retention, collections, and new matters. If law firms want to continue being relevant in the age of Artificial Intelligence, they will stop thinking of client service as a tedious task and start making it a priority. Any law firm down the street can produce comparable motions, pleadings, and research memos. If law firms want to differentiate themselves from that law firm down the street, then they should start thinking about these imperative and important skills as being fundamental and necessary to keeping the doors open. Bottom line: If you want to make money, you need to do more than write a good brief. You need to put clients first. And that means returning phone calls within 24 hours. At a minimum.
Client Service Initiative Benefits also Include:
*Significantly Reduces Malpractice Premiums *Fewer Malpractice Claims
*Fewer Bar Complaints
*More Bar Complaints summarily dismissed *Higher Client Retention Rate
*Revenue Generating
*Differentiates from the firm down the street
What are Client’s Looking For in a Law Firm:
Clients appreciate the “one stop shop” to get their questions answered expeditiously, potential new clients and new clients to the Firm are welcomed by CARE, and as much time as needed is spent to ensure that clients understand the abundance of free resources that are available to them as a client of the Firm, including access to its blogs, newsletters, guidebooks, classes and events.
The Client CARE Center should also make outgoing calls each year and reach out to clients to discuss how the firm is doing and if there is anything that it could be doing better to serve them. A Director of Client Service or Professional Development Director may visit the firm’s clients to get to know them and strengthen the client relationship.
Becker & Poliakoff was the first firm in the country to have a dedicated client service department, and the firm has been quoted in various industry publications and books, as well as having received service recognition awards in the business industry. Now this type of service model can be available to every firm.
Initiatives Include:
Incoming Client Calls: Clients call with questions, suggestions, concerns. CARE answers the questions and/or directs them to the proper person to handle and then follows up with both the attorney and the client to be sure it has been handled to the client’s satisfaction. (On average, firms can expect approximately 50-100 calls per day, depending on the size of the firm). These calls may be simple billing questions or more substantive or service related.
Potential New Clients: Other than a handful of lawyers and staff, very few receptionists or lawyers know who handles what in which office and how to refer such calls. CARE can handle all Potential New Clients and get them to the correct Practice Group Leader with the necessary information for a conflicts check to be done (this helps turn an administrative department into a profit center).
Client Course Inquiries: Clients have many questions and may want to be signed up for a particular course; CARE can answer these without taking up the lawyers’ non-billable time.
Website/Blog Inquiries: Website and all blogs should have links which allow clients and non-clients to ask questions or comment. These can be automatically sent to CARE to handle accordingly. Each one should be followed up with an email or call to that person to get more information before it can be cohesively entered into a CARE request.
New Client Calls: CARE welcomes new clients to the Firm and educates them about all of our services and practice groups. We make them feel valued as part of the family.
Non-Renewal Calls: CARE should call any retainer clients who have not yet renewed and/or have decided not to renew to determine the reason and encourage them to do so. CARE retains many clients each year. (approximately a 96% retention).
Outgoing Calls: CARE calls clients each year in a proactive manner to check-in with the clients and make sure that the firm is doing a good job for them, they are satisfied, and see if there is anything the firm could be doing better. It heads problems off at the pass.
Client Visits: If the Firm has a Director of Client Service, she or he may do this personally to see how clients are doing, make them feel appreciated, identify problems before they fester and invariably return with new work for the attorneys. (This helps originate for the attorneys and generate revenue for the firm).
Annual Retainer Outreach Calls: If a firm has a retainer based practice, CARE makes calls to encourage clients to re-up, make sure they understand the retainer, explain all the services that bring value to the retainer, connect with the client, and handle any potential issues that are communicated to by the clients.
Service of Court: The new law allows Service of all Court related pleadings to be sent via email to anyone in a Firm, which is deemed notice, and the attorney is responsible for answering/attending as the case may be; accordingly, it is imperative that these notices get routed to the correct attorney in a timely fashion.
