<b>Sales & Service Strategies:</b> Nine Ways to Provide Superior Client Service

Attorneys who manage client relationships are in a bind. They are skilled and experienced at delivering legal solutions to their clients, but they are not expert at marshalling their firm's resources to the benefit of its clients. Their firm may not, in fact, have a simple menu of value-added services from which they may choose.

Below is a list of nine services that most large (and many smaller) law firms can provide clients to improve client service ' and they don't require a lot of the relationship attorney's time. More importantly, clients value attorney's 'willingness to help' very highly, so many of these suggestions don't take more time, they suggest that you deliver your service slightly differently.

1. Provide your clients with legal advisories.

Legal services are a derivative business. Clients must be acquiring companies, divesting divisions, suing, being sued or dealing with other transactions to generate the need for legal services. Laws, however, always change. These laws may affect your client and they might not know about them. Does the recent law change affecting foreign companies in China affect your client? Information that a client didn't know he needed to know is often highly valued. Most law firms publish legal alerts. Make sure that your client contacts are signed up for appropriate advisories. Having a client perceive that you are looking out for his interests will build stronger client loyalty.

2. Sign up for client research and alerts.

Law firms can often get an advantage by being aware of client developments before their client is. 'You were just sued on a patent in Denver, and we have IP litigators there that could help.' There are a number of e-mail services from Google News Alerts to court system alerts that will send an e-mail whenever there is an important news report or court development for a client. Speak to your library staff to sign up for alerts for your most important clients.

3. Provide a client extranet.

Often your clients work from several locations and have less sophisticated document management systems than law firm. By providing an extranet where the documents related to the clients' matters can be stored, you provide a convenience and organization that could make them think twice about switching law firms. Your Information Technology department can usually set up an extranet for your client easily.

4. Provide an on-site seminar or CLE program for your clients.

Larger law firms have significant ongoing education programs set up to ensure that their attorneys are updated on the most recent legal developments and are in compliance with state regulations for Continuing Legal Education. These programs usually can be offered at a client's site. People inherently trust their teachers so opportunities where your law firm can provide legal training on the topics of interest to your client.

5. Sell the value of your services.

BTI's survey reveals that in-house counsel increasingly have to justify their legal budget to their management. If you have billed a client $1 million on a case that saved them from $100 million in liability, make sure firm management knows. Conversely, be sure you know the value of smaller transactions that you are working on so that billings do not exceed the legal budget. One law firm is so committed to delivering client value that their bills explicitly ask the client to pay less or more than the billed amount based on the value that they have received.

6. Survey your clients' satisfaction level.

Surveys show that there is a large gap between when attorneys think that clients want to be surveyed ' once a year ' and when clients want to be surveyed ' after every significant matter. We have all gotten that call from the auto dealership asking how our service experience was. In-house marketing staff as well as outside consultants can survey clients ' take advantage of them.

7. Open your relationship networks to your clients.

Law firms are privileged work with a very wide range of clients, experts, financial institutions and lawmakers. Perhaps your client is trying to raise capital. Next time you talk to your clients, find out if they are looking for referrals and tap your internal network either through your CRM database or by sending an e-mail to your partners.

8. Provide speaking platforms for your clients.

Law firms sponsor and speak at dozens of seminars and conferences per year. Rather than speaking on a specific topic yourself, consider moderating and creating a panel of clients and potential clients to speak as experts on your topic. By providing a podium for your clients, you create deeper relationship with your client while promoting the network of experts and resources that your firm has at its disposal.

9. Ask your managing partner to visit your client with you.

Surveys show that a client visit by a law firm's managing partner is a proxy for improved client service. By including the managing partner the client will often invite the general counsel or a C-level executive to join the meeting. This provides you a better platform to discuss the larger issues facing the client that your firm might provide service to solve.

Most businesses have come to recognize that it takes 'an entire company' to provide superior products and services. Multiple surveys of outside legal services purchasing by Fortune 1000 General Counsel have shown that superior client service delivers greater client loyalty, higher fees and nearly twice business, yet few law firms tap the 'non-legal' resources readily available to deliver superior client service.

Improving client service is especially important, as general counsels of large companies have revealed to BTI Consulting that more than two-thirds would not recommend their primary law firm, 50% plan to try a new law firm for a substantive matter this year and they plan to cut nearly 40% of their outside firms by 2008. With decreasing client loyalty, firms need to spend more time improving client service as well as building barriers to entries to other outside law firms.

This gap between service capabilities and service delivery can be explained partially by the rapid consolidation of major law firms and partially by the way that client accounts are managed. With the continuing consolidation of major law firms ' the AmLaw 100 represent enterprises with annual revenues between $220 million and $1.6 billion ' there are increasing resources of technology, information and relationships that can be applied to needs and benefits of their clients. Client management, however, has not evolved as quickly. In most law firms attorneys the play dual roles of 'account manager,' the person responsible for the growth and quality of services, and 'primary service provider,' the person responsible for delivery of the services, and these roles are often at odds. Furthermore, the universal measure ' the billable hour ' puts a premium on doing work rather than examining better ways to deliver client service.

Attorneys who manage client relationships are in a bind. They are skilled and experienced at delivering legal solutions to their clients, but they are not expert at marshalling their firm's resources to the benefit of its clients. Their firm may not, in fact, have a simple menu of value-added services from which they may choose.

Below is a list of nine services that most large (and many smaller) law firms can provide clients to improve client service ' and they don't require a lot of the relationship attorney's time. More importantly, clients value attorney's 'willingness to help' very highly, so many of these suggestions don't take more time, they suggest that you deliver your service slightly differently.

1. Provide your clients with legal advisories.

Legal services are a derivative business. Clients must be acquiring companies, divesting divisions, suing, being sued or dealing with other transactions to generate the need for legal services. Laws, however, always change. These laws may affect your client and they might not know about them. Does the recent law change affecting foreign companies in China affect your client? Information that a client didn't know he needed to know is often highly valued. Most law firms publish legal alerts. Make sure that your client contacts are signed up for appropriate advisories. Having a client perceive that you are looking out for his interests will build stronger client loyalty.

2. Sign up for client research and alerts.

Law firms can often get an advantage by being aware of client developments before their client is. 'You were just sued on a patent in Denver, and we have IP litigators there that could help.' There are a number of e-mail services from Google News Alerts to court system alerts that will send an e-mail whenever there is an important news report or court development for a client. Speak to your library staff to sign up for alerts for your most important clients.

3. Provide a client extranet.

Often your clients work from several locations and have less sophisticated document management systems than law firm. By providing an extranet where the documents related to the clients' matters can be stored, you provide a convenience and organization that could make them think twice about switching law firms. Your Information Technology department can usually set up an extranet for your client easily.

4. Provide an on-site seminar or CLE program for your clients.

Larger law firms have significant ongoing education programs set up to ensure that their attorneys are updated on the most recent legal developments and are in compliance with state regulations for Continuing Legal Education. These programs usually can be offered at a client's site. People inherently trust their teachers so opportunities where your law firm can provide legal training on the topics of interest to your client.

5. Sell the value of your services.

BTI's survey reveals that in-house counsel increasingly have to justify their legal budget to their management. If you have billed a client $1 million on a case that saved them from $100 million in liability, make sure firm management knows. Conversely, be sure you know the value of smaller transactions that you are working on so that billings do not exceed the legal budget. One law firm is so committed to delivering client value that their bills explicitly ask the client to pay less or more than the billed amount based on the value that they have received.

6. Survey your clients' satisfaction level.

Surveys show that there is a large gap between when attorneys think that clients want to be surveyed ' once a year ' and when clients want to be surveyed ' after every significant matter. We have all gotten that call from the auto dealership asking how our service experience was. In-house marketing staff as well as outside consultants can survey clients ' take advantage of them.

7. Open your relationship networks to your clients.

Law firms are privileged work with a very wide range of clients, experts, financial institutions and lawmakers. Perhaps your client is trying to raise capital. Next time you talk to your clients, find out if they are looking for referrals and tap your internal network either through your CRM database or by sending an e-mail to your partners.

8. Provide speaking platforms for your clients.

Law firms sponsor and speak at dozens of seminars and conferences per year. Rather than speaking on a specific topic yourself, consider moderating and creating a panel of clients and potential clients to speak as experts on your topic. By providing a podium for your clients, you create deeper relationship with your client while promoting the network of experts and resources that your firm has at its disposal.

9. Ask your managing partner to visit your client with you.

Surveys show that a client visit by a law firm's managing partner is a proxy for improved client service. By including the managing partner the client will often invite the general counsel or a C-level executive to join the meeting. This provides you a better platform to discuss the larger issues facing the client that your firm might provide service to solve.