Service culture: Giving clients what they want

In the ’70s, I drove a Mini. If it broke down, I could fix it. In fact, it was pretty easy to take the whole engine out. Today I have a Saab. I once opened the bonnet; the engine was surrounded by so many wires and tubes that I would have had no idea where to begin if I was trying to do anything more than top up the radiator.

If your car breaks down, then you may try to fix it yourself. But if the problem gets too complicated, you will take it to a garage. I may not understand exactly what the garage will have to do to fix my car, but I will have a clear idea of the service that I expect from my garage.

I would expect to be given an idea of the likely cost of the work. I would also want to know how long it would take. I would expect a courteous and efficient service. Communication would be important to me, so that I know when the car is ready to be collected and how much I have to pay.

Our professional relationship with our clients is the same as the relationship I have with my garage. Clients need to see their lawyers when something is broken and needs to be fixed.

Other clients need legal services to support their businesses and these clients, to stretch the metaphor, are like fleet managers who use garages on a regular basis. Their relationships with us are more complicated because of the greater number of transactions and their value as clients.

I am going to explore how those relationships can be managed for the benefit of both the client and the firm and how we can all learn from our clients.

Moving with the times

Just like cars, the environment in which lawyers operate today is far more complicated than it used to be. There is simply more law. The needs of a successful business can involve complex problems around such subjects as, for instance, data protection, competition law and employment law regulations, in addition to the more traditional areas of real estate, litigation and corporate work.

In the past few years, the factors that influence the relationship between adviser and client have shifted dramatically. The economic downturn has meant that there is simply less legal work to go around.

This has meant that there are too many lawyers and, therefore, the market has forced the price of legal services down in many, though not all, areas. Even when prosperity returns, the legal landscape will have changed as new entrants to the market provide legal services in different ways.

Such a competitive world can loosen many of the relationships with clients that we have for many years been able to take for granted. So, how can lawyers strengthen and retain these relationships?

There is no doubt that the starting point is to learn from our clients. To maintain a relationship, it is vital to understand what the client wants. So, we need to work out what it is the client wants from us and to give it to them.

What do clients want?

Clients buy legal services when they cannot solve a problem for themselves. We can do something that the client cannot (in the same way that my garage can fix the problem with my car that is beyond my skills).

Sometimes we make the mistake of wrapping our services in legal jargon and making them seem more mysterious than they really are. This may put off clients or make them suspicious.

But, a more serious problem is when we try to solve every problem by reaching for a precedent. Too many of us are very good at telling clients something but not very good at listening to clients. In the context of what we charge and the skills that we have, every client is entitled to a bespoke service.

Taking instructions is about far more than understanding the legal issues that are involved in a client’s problem. It is equally important to understand the client’s objectives in respect of the issue. Consider the following:

• What impact will the matter have on the client’s business?

• How does the client want the advice delivered?

• Do we actually know better than our clients what they really need?

It is not just about asking clients what they want. It is also about asking clients how they want their services to be delivered. If we adopt a way of operating that is the same as our clients, then we will work together more smoothly.

For instance, if the client is operating a sophisticated IT system and runs a paperless office, is there any point in sending letters to the client? The client would expect everything, including bills, to be delivered electronically.

If clients are going to be so impressed that they come back to give you more work, they need to feel that their lawyers understand their business objectives and are part of their team.

Clients are very proud of their business. They should be encouraged to talk about it. We can then learn more about the client and what the client is trying to achieve with its business, and may even find opportunities for further work.

However busy we are, a visit to a client is invaluable. It shows commitment on the part of the adviser. Showing genuine interest in the client’s business can deepen the relationship and provide invaluable information about how the client operates.

This is not simply an academic exercise. If we are not happy with the service provided by our garage, few of us complain. We simply do not go there again. On the other hand, if we are impressed by the service of our garage, we may well recommend it to our friends.

The service we provide to our clients, and how we manage it, will have a direct impact on client retention. We have to understand that client management has a direct impact on the bottom line.

What do clients think of you?

How do you know what your clients think of you? Ask them. (Some management ideas are extraordinarily simple.) When you are checking out of a hotel or have finished a meal, how many times have you been asked to fill out a satisfaction questionnaire? You may even have been encouraged to do this by the promise of being entered into a prize draw.

Many practices have undoubtedly made enormous progress in all of these areas. I know of firms that send out satisfaction questionnaires with every bill they issue. Others are developing client feedback programmes involving a mixture of questionnaires and client meetings.

But, feedback is only as good as the use to which it is put. Some of us still believe that getting a number of clients into the office to talk to them about a hot topic and then getting them to fill in feedback forms before plying them with drinks is a great marketing triumph. But that is only half the job done.

The feedback form is really feedback on the performance of the marketing team who put the seminar together. The value of the event is only fully exploited if the opportunities offered by each of the attendees is analysed and there is then appropriate follow-up for each individual.

Learning from clients

Many law firms run a relatively unsophisticated business. An ideal source of more sophisticated business ideas and practice is available to lawyers by learning from their successful clients.

The changing marketplace demands from law firms a wider set of skills. Those involved in large corporate deals or infrastructure projects need project management skills.

Pricing has become more complex as clients decide for themselves what elements of the legal process they consider valuable. We are challenged to explain our pricing model and demonstrate value for the client on the one hand and profit for the business on the other. This involves sophisticated pricing and procurement skills.

We need to look at our clients as a resource. We must always be looking at ways to not just improve our service to clients but also to run our own business more efficiently. Clients face many of the same challenges that we do. They will have developed innovative ideas which they may be prepared to share and may help us to run our business more efficiently.

Clients are proud of what they do and proud of being a success. So, usually, they will be entirely open about the reasons for their success and happy to share and exchange ideas that can contribute to the success of our firms. They can provide us with practical experience from a wider world.

For many of our clients, sales and business development are the lifeblood of their business. We can learn from this. Often, we are too cautious about marketing to clients. We worry about compromising our professional status by using techniques disparagingly called ‘the hard sell’ to develop our business. But, if our clients are themselves salesmen, they are not going to be offended if we try to sell to them. That is how they do business and they would expect us to do the same.

Companies that create services to be sold to the marketplace will divide their business into a department that produces and delivers the service and another department that sells the service. Should law firms adopt this model?

Could law firms develop sales and marketing departments staffed by lawyers who have the skills and enthusiasm to sell, working with experienced sales professionals? They would be selling the services of colleagues with specialist legal skills.

This challenges our traditional notion of the value of a lawyer based upon hours billed. But why should lawyers not be valued for the sales they generate and leave others to deliver the service and billable hours?

Management techniques are another area that we can learn about from clients. We have been slow to invite professional managers into our firms. We know from dealing with our clients that there is a professional class of managers who move from industry to industry.

Management skills are adaptable to different business models. For many years, I have acted for a successful language school. Before the current chief executive was appointed to run the string of schools spread across Europe, he was the chief executive of a company making power tools. Maybe one day he will use the techniques that he learnt from manufacturing power tools and selling educational skills to run a law firm.

We need to open our eyes to the breadth of management skills that are available to us. If we accept that, like so many businesses, we need a wide variety of skills to run a modern firm, then we need to design performance management systems and reward structures that value these skills and incentivise the individuals.

If we do not, then those professionals who can bring an extra dimension to our business and generate more clients and greater profitability will not be attracted to work in the legal sector.

To prosper, we need to move from the mindset of professionals and act, as our clients do, as businessmen. The availability of alternative business structures opens this door for those of us in the UK and allows us to share rewards with those who have other skills and to bolt on additional services that complement more traditional legal services.

Investing time in clients

Do we know better than our clients what they really need? Sometimes we do. But, many times we do not and so need to spend more time working out with them what it is that they want and how they want it delivered.

As we do this, we can at the same time learn from our clients and copy their skills and processes. If we do this, then we will have not only built stronger relationships with clients and ensured that they come back to us and recommend their colleagues to us, but also ensured that our firms will grow and becomes more profitable.

Next time you go to your garage, think about what you want from your garage, and if you get what you want, copy it.

Guy Vincent is a partner at UK law firm Bircham Dyson Bell (www.bdb-law.co.uk)