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THE 60/40 RULE FOR CLIENT ATTENTION AND CLIENT RETENTION: LISTENING

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
October 15, 2010

THE 60/40 RULE FOR CLIENT ATTENTION AND CLIENT RETENTION: LISTENINGWhat's the best way to ensure that you're giving your cloient the attention and focus s/he deserves and that they will pay attention to what yu have to say? Try following the 60/40 rule, where you get the client talking 60% of the time and formulate your responses in a way that takes up a smaller percentage of the conversation.The iconic author and poet Henry David Thoreau once said that “the greatest complement that was ever paid me was when one asked what I thought, and attended to my answer.” And David Bartlett, author of “Making Your Point,” agrees that brevity is important when he suggests we “focus on a clear message supported by just a few carefully chosen and well-focused pieces of evidence.”One of the best ways to be brief and still make a big impact is to use simple and attention-getting statistics, or to develop analogies or comparisons to help prospects quickly grasp the whole story. Whether your legal marketing efforts are being put to work in a speech, or you're simply trying to maximize the value of a one-on-one meeting, you'll benefit by using a few key techniques that allow your focus to stay on the client while you deftly and convincingly make your point.

THE 60/40 RULE FOR CLIENT ATTENTION AND CLIENT RETENTION: LISTENINGWhat's the best way to ensure that you're giving your cloient the attention and focus s/he deserves and that they will pay attention to what yu have to say? Try following the 60/40 rule, where you get the client talking 60% of the time and formulate your responses in a way that takes up a smaller percentage of the conversation.The iconic author and poet Henry David Thoreau once said that “the greatest complement that was ever paid me was when one asked what I thought, and attended to my answer.” And David Bartlett, author of “Making Your Point,” agrees that brevity is important when he suggests we “focus on a clear message supported by just a few carefully chosen and well-focused pieces of evidence.”One of the best ways to be brief and still make a big impact is to use simple and attention-getting statistics, or to develop analogies or comparisons to help prospects quickly grasp the whole story. Whether your legal marketing efforts are being put to work in a speech, or you're simply trying to maximize the value of a one-on-one meeting, you'll benefit by using a few key techniques that allow your focus to stay on the client while you deftly and convincingly make your point.

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