A general rule of thumb in business is that maintaining repeat customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones, and this could not be farther from the truth. ThinkImpact conducted a recent survey on the impact of client retention and found that it costs organizations five to 25 times more to acquire new clientele than to retain existing ones. Additionally, the survey showed that returning customers spend an average of 67% more than new customers: in other words, under normal circumstances, the former is likely to account for a higher proportion of organizations' profits than the latter.
Given the above stats, there should be no question as to why most companies invest ample time, resources, and research to foster and maintain sustainable relationships with their key clients. This post will expatiate six different ways in which law firms can establish and manage client relationships such that they reflect positively on their yearly returns.
6 Ways in Which Law Firms can Enhance Client Relationships
-
Improve Customer Service
A study conducted by Dimensional Research showed that 50 percent of customers are likely to become returning customers if their first patronage was met with positive customer service.
As with many businesses, customer service is the client's initial point of contact with the law firm; therefore, legal organizations must instill strong customer service qualities, such as empathy, patience, and consistency, among lawyers and customer care staff. The objective here is to make effective and consistent communication with your firm's brand.
Exceptional customer service also includes the ability to accept negative feedback, review them and work to ensure enduring changes are made in those areas. While, of course, maintaining other positive qualities clients have appreciated your firm for.
If improving client relationships is the ultimate goal, getting customer service right is the first step in the right direction!
-
Learn their Needs/Goals
To impress a new client knowing their business needs and the specific goals they aim to achieve by consulting your firm or expertise is a must. This most often involves carrying out in-depth research on the client's organization to provide personalized and specific solutions to their case.
When you are intentional about learning about your client and their unique business needs and objectives, you are more than likely to impress them when you eventually meet, as such efforts send the message that you care. Additionally, these efforts put your clients at ease, allowing them to get personal with you, while increasing client return rate.
-
Set Expectations and Exceed Them
If 'under promise and over deliver' is not a business maxim yet, it should become one. Setting expectations with clients and then going out of your way to ensure that the quality delivered exceeds what was promised will surely win the heart of any new client.
Law firms that exceed their clients' expectations show clients that they are more than capable of handling their cases and legal projects. As a result, client trust increases, their relationship with your firm strengthens, and the likelihood of choosing to do business with your firm in the future becomes a possibility.
-
Follow-ups After Projects have Ended
Post-service check-ins are largely underrated. To begin with, following up with your client is an excellent way of showing that you value them and that you're not just about figure chasing.
Secondly, post-service check-ins give room for one-on-one engagement with clients, which creates an avenue for establishing personal relationships with them. Lastly, when you check on clients after wrapping things up with them, you can easily ask them for insightful feedback on your firm's delivery and impact on their businesses.
-
Share Your Knowledge/Expertise
Sharing expert knowledge is a great way to establish constant communication between your law firm and clientele. Concerned clients, for instance, may wish to gain more understanding in aspects of the law that are recurring in business, such as the Law of Contract. Firms that desire to improve client relationships can seize this opportunity by providing an avenue to share their expertise with their client base.
The ripple effects of sharing expert knowledge includes improved engagement, better social media presence, and the conversion of a firm’s client base to an interconnected community of loyal customers and patrons.
-
Deploy Effective Technology
In this day and age, there's hardly any area of life or business in which technology is left out of the conversation. In addition to the strategies mentioned above, law firms can also deploy software that enables them to keep in touch with clients and enhance overall client communication.
NextChapter’s Tools that Can Help Law Firms Enhance Client Communication
Legal Software Provider, NextChapter provides two essential resources adapted to enable lawyers to foster amicable and sustainable relationships with their clients, viz: NextMessage Client Texting and NextChapter Client Portal.
NextMessage Client Texting
This feature allows users seamless communication with debtors through unlimited SMS texting. Through NextMessage, users can text clients and access conversation history via a local phone number, which NextChapter will assign to each firm to protect the lawyers' privacy and ensure streamlined communication across the firm.
Furthermore, the Client Texting feature allows users to set automated reminders based on Credit Counseling Course, 341 Hearing, and document collection dates so that debtors never miss important dates, as the lawyer will always give a reminder.
NextChapter Client Portal
The NextChapter Client Portal is designed to fast-track the bankruptcy filing process by providing an online bankruptcy questionnaire for clients to fill out. Essentially, the lawyer creates a new bankruptcy case in the NextChapter software and shares the details with the client so he can fill his financial information into the database. Afterwards, the client submits the questionnaire, and the lawyer reviews, making any necessary changes using the in-built edit tools on the software.
The NextChapter Client Portal is adequate for personal and business bankruptcy clients.
In a Nutshell
Renowned business consultant Ken Blachard said it best when he asserted, "Just having satisfied customers isn't good enough anymore. If you want a booming business, you must create raving fans."
Customer really is king, and once your firm has hacked how to get through to customers and keep them around for time, the benefits will range from increased sales to effortless advertisement through referrals by satisfied customers, and a solid reputation in the legal industry, giving your firm a competitive advantage over other legal organizations.