People will feel this sincerity and respond in kind. Be sure to communicate securely with your clients, whether it be by email, phone, or social media. Keeping your clients in the loop and communicating with them regularly helps build trust and a connection with your clients. All of this thought and planning for your client experience only works if everyone at your firm is onboard. You will need to develop workflows and documents policies and procedures so everyone at your firm knows how the client experience journey goes and what their responsibilities are within the workflow.
You will want to keep track of all client interactions and data in a single place. Most CRM software and law practice management software has features to consolidate client communications into a single system, so. Most importantly, everyone at your firm should have a common purpose and idea of what you want your client experience to be on every level at every stage. One way you can get feedback is by asking clients to leave reviews on Google, Yelp, or Avvo, for example.
You can also gather testimonials and use them in success stories or on your site and other marketing materials. You can get immediate feedback from clients by simply asking them. An easy way to get feedback is through surveys or online questionnaires. Depending on whether they were just visitors to your website or current clients, you could ask them:. Your clients know about client experience with your firm better than you do.
Start by reviewing your client experience journey and asking yourself what meaningful feedback you could get from each step of the journey. You could see how being more active on your Facebook profile increases visitors to your website. A positive or negative client experience can affect anything from referrals, reviews, retention, and revenue.
As you establish metrics to measure ROI, make sure they focus on capturing client feedback that links to business outcomes. Embracing clients and providing a positive client experience can help shift the attitude and perspective of your firm to become more client-centered.
Log in to Lawyerist. Register here. Many law firms have begun outsourcing initial client responses to call centers, or use a chatbot to field initial questions.
Younger consumers frequently report annoyance at having to use their phones to, get this, actually make phone calls. In fact, they would rather communicate with lawyers by text or email.
Over 50 percent of consumers between the ages of 21 and 50 years old report they prefer web and mobile communication over phone calls, according to Clio data. Consumers want lightweight modes of communication. Frictionless interactions. Why do you think more people prefer ordering a ride from Uber with a few clicks over calling a taxi company?
If your firm is onboarding new clients by phone, then you are missing out. But your firm does not have to be a leader in cutting-edge legal tech to deliver the kinds of seamless experiences consumers are accustomed to. It could be as simple as allowing consumers to complete an intake form online, then allowing them to schedule a consultation online. Other ideas include a secure online portal for document sharing, allowing clients to sign documents online and setting up an online payment system.
There are many things but perhaps the most important is the ability to listen. In the law one size does not fit all. How do you differentiate your offering in an increasingly crowded marketplace? We are litigation only, we focus on high value and complex disputes through highly specialised practice areas. We focus on excellence claimed by many but not delivered by all. Our starting point is to recruit the very best lawyers. Profitability is a key driver as it funds attractive remuneration packages at the most senior level, making it more straightforward to recruit and retain the stars.
Perhaps most important is the focus we place on recruitment at all levels. My colleagues will judge technical excellence. It is my job to examine the softer skills and fit within the business.
How important is innovation at Stewarts? Our main focus on innovation is centred around alternative fee arrangements for clients. We have developed market-leading experience in litigation funding. Internally we have a risk and funding committee which I chair and which is responsible for all investment decisions on cases.
In these cases we share risk with our clients, enabling them to litigate from a position of financial strength. What do you think clients value most from their law firms? That advice is delivered on time, on budget and on point. Clients are interested in a lot more than just the law — they want commercial, solution-oriented advice from lawyers who understand their business and strategic objectives.
What have been the biggest changes in the way your firm delivers service to clients over the last few years? The most successful firms have understood the need for seamless collaboration across teams, involving the right people at the right level delivering the service, and leveraging support from professional business teams who have deep expertise in project management and tech solutions among other things.
How is technology changing the way you meet client needs? And which areas will be most affected by new tech? Significantly, but to date possibly more slowly than we might have once thought. But the pace of change is speeding up and will never be slower than it is today! Technological integration with clients is a must — being the best lawyer is no longer enough. For the time being, the more commoditised bits of work are being impacted most by tech, but while we may once have overestimated the speed at which tech would change how we provide our services, we underestimate it going forward at our peril.
Our priority is to ensure that our services to clients remain high quality, high touch and hi-tech and of course, provide value for money. How do you differentiate your offering in an increasingly crowded and competitive market? Deep expertise from market-leading teams, platinum standard client service and, most importantly, being a pleasure to deal with.
The highest quality legal advice is a given. As is hiring the best possible lawyers and giving them both the support and freedom to exercise their skills.
Beyond that, we know that clients value a deep understanding of the personal and business contexts in which they operate: every client is also a human being with complex and interlinking motivations and priorities.
Netflix, Spotify, Apple, Uber, Amazon, Google, TripAdvisor — each of these businesses understand what their customers want: ease of use; speed; transparency; accurate information in real time; constant innovation and improvement. The legal sector is not immune from this and our clients demand the same. They all will be and this is a revolution our industry has to embrace.
What are your top tips to firms on how to stay relevant? Put your clients first and at the centre of everything you do, every time. Building and maintaining relationships is absolutely critical and the work is never done. You have to be clear about where your strengths are and not try to be all things to all people. Focus on the areas in which you excel — for us this is predominantly in litigation and private client, both of which have been at the centre of our firm since Know what you stand for.
Demonstrate your difference — not through carefully crafted words on marketing materials but in what you do for your clients, your people and your community. Embrace change. In a fast paced, ever-changing world do not fall in love with your own ideas and do not believe your own hype.
Technology is an incredible opportunity for the sector. We are about to launch a new client product to support active management of legal assets. On a day-to-day basis the way we do our work has transformed — we have invested heavily in secure mobile working solutions and most of our lawyers nowadays spend part of the week working from home. The legal sector is, in my view, significantly behind many other sectors and the new world disruptors are massing on our borders — firms need to wake up and accept that tech will play a major part of legal services in the future.
The one thing that attracted me to the firm has not changed. We have a very welcoming culture which is not hierarchical. We empower people and trust them to do the right thing and we see the real benefit in investing in people and treating them as individuals rather than setting out to create wooden clones.
What innovation have you introduced that has added the most value? The firm went paperlite and paperless in most areas a few years ago by embracing a solid DMS iManage supported by proper document governance. The benefits to our people and our clients in terms of document access, security and productivity has been immense. As we now adopt new technologies to assist with disclosure, due diligence and matter intelligence we will take this to a new level. Successful firms know that our services must extend beyond legal.
For many years we have had a very successful HR service for our education sector clients comprising 16 consultants. Successful firms will continue to develop services and advisory functions that complement core legal advice. What have been the main changes in the way you charge for your work in recent years? Many of our larger contracts now use different pricing models including fixed-price retainers in areas such as employment.
We have also developed a product specifically targeted at GCs to assist them in obtaining fixed-price outsourced advice. Our client insight programme tracks what our clients are telling us about our services and how they want them to be delivered. More important than monitoring the progression of underlying technology is having a thorough understanding of what the client wants from us to begin with.
Looking to the future, we are exploring the use of AI, we have established an innovation fund for all employees to contribute ideas, and we are testing new technological concepts in relation to client interaction using digital tools. We pride ourselves on our excellent client feedback and our insight tells us that we are living up to our brand values. As survey after survey shows, too many lawyers deliver the legal expertise customers need, but fail to deliver the customer service they want.
Clients and lawyers vary, but the same core issues come up again and again. Address these and you win. Every lawyer knows that understanding client needs is an essential part of the service. Where lawyers differ is in how they put that into practice. Too often, the process is geared to identifying what legal services can be provided. Instead of really listening to what the client is saying, you're waiting for them to stop talking so that you can get started.
It's easy to be impatient, particularly when you've heard a similar story from dozens of clients before. But clients need the chance to tell their story. And they need to know that you are genuinely interested. Nobody likes being patronised or ignored. If you have a continuing relationship with the client, that interest needs to go further.
As well as paying attention to what they are telling you now, clients want you to anticipate their future needs. They expect you to help stave off potential problems and capitalise on opportunities, rather than just reacting to what has already happened.
You just can't do that if you don't know what those needs are" Heather Townsend , author and speaker, The Excedia Group. Lawyers tend to think in terms of input — the legal advice they can give and its quality. But clients take the quality of your advice for granted. What concerns them is the output — getting a good result and being able to move on.
It's by listening to them that you find out what the client thinks a good result would be — their priorities and expectations. You have the opportunity to manage those expectations, making sure that the client knows what is realistic. A precedent-setting settlement might delight you, but leave a client deeply disappointed. Don't underestimate the importance of speed. For a client in pain — upset about a divorce, or nervous about the future of their company, or under pressure from their boss to improve their performance — the longer it takes the longer they suffer.
Speed may not be of the essence legally — does it matter whether your client gets the decree absolute today or in a month's time? So they look for a track record of success working with similar clients or in the same industry" Bruce Roxburgh , co-founder, Roxburgh Milkins.
Frequent communication is vital to maintain a good relationship. Make it clear from the outset how and when you will keep the client informed. Clients want regular progress updates, even if that's just to hear that you're still waiting for something to happen. Clients who are happy with how you keep them updated are less likely to feel the need to over-communicate. In any event, be responsive when they contact you.
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