How great client experience will generate your firm more revenue

By Consortium – more than marketing

A great client experience is integral to the success of a law firm. It builds a positive reputation for your firm which in turn makes you stand out from the competition. When your staff are a part of providing a positive experience for clients, they feel engaged with their work and are less likely to leave your firm to work elsewhere.

A positive reputation and happy staff are nice things to have, but the bottom line is that building good relationships with your clients can make you more money. Groove HQ research shows that “the probability of selling to an existing happy customer is up to 14x higher than the probability of selling to a new customer.”

Building a Great Client Experience

There is a lot that you and your staff can do to build a client experience that makes your firm memorable. It’s all about building strong and personal relationships:

• Make your team accessible to your clients by providing a variety of communication channels. Make sure you give out their phone numbers as well as their email addresses. Ensure that your team are responding to client inquiries in a timely manner and keeping them informed as work progresses. When communicating legal procedure, meet the client at their level of understanding – avoid using jargon and be clear in your explanations.
• Be transparent with fees and expenses, as well as how things are progressing. Demonstrate that your clients can trust your team’s integrity.
• Ask for feedback regularly and show that you’ve listened by addressing any issues that arise, and communicating the changes you’ve made.
• Train your staff’s hard and soft skills. A great team knows their stuff and can communicate it effectively.
• A common pain point in a client’s experience with a law firm is wait times. See how you can streamline your processes to make them more efficient and invest in technology that makes aspects of the process faster and simpler.

The very best thing you can do to provide a great client experience is to get to know your clients. Knowing them personally allows you to tailor your services to meet their needs and recommend additional services through cross-selling.

Cross-selling

Winning a new client costs a lot of money. The most cost-efficient way for your firm to make more money is to cross-sell to existing clients. If you’ve put in the effort to build a strong relationship with your clients, cross-selling won’t damage them, as the process is built on your knowledge of the client.

In essence, cross-selling is acting on extra opportunities to sell your services to your clients when those moments present themselves. Its success is hinged on your firm’s ability to provide a great client experience. Knowing your clients well will enable you to anticipate their needs and offer your services, which in turn increases client satisfaction. Loyal clients will feel as if their needs are being met and will be more likely to return to your firm for future assistance. You might have a client who has just finished working with your family law department to finalise their divorce. You could follow up with an invitation to work with your estate planning team to adjust their will to better suit their new circumstances.

There are plenty of ways to generate those opportunities to cross-sell. One of our favourites is Keep in Touch, which not only helps you with your cross-selling goals but builds upon your relationship with your clients.

Keep in Touch (KIT)

Keep in Touch (also known as Stay in Touch) is founded on maintaining great relationships with your clients, and therefore improving their experience of your firm. The goal is to keep your firm front of mind when an existing client finds themselves needing legal services. To do this, you will need to build ‘touchpoints’ – moments where your clients encounter your brand.

There are a variety of tactics that you can use as part of a Keep in Touch campaign:

• Host seminars or webinars that would be of interest to your clients. This tactic demonstrates the knowledge of your team, showing clients why your firm can be trusted.
• Use the personal touch on special occasions – send handwritten cards or gifts for birthdays and anniversaries. Invite clients to join you when your firm is celebrating its milestones and successes.
• Keep the firm’s presence on social media active and engaging with clients. Posting and commenting are great ways to connect with your audience.
• Provide useful content like legal updates, industry news or thought leadership to your clients via regular newsletters.

Bear in mind that a successful campaign is based on a good strategy that encompasses a variety of communication channels and methods.

Good quality data is vital to make Keep in Touch work effectively. You need to be able to segment your target audience to ensure that your communications are relevant to those receiving them. This is where a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) would be particularly effective – you may already have one built into any practice management software your firm is using.

Efficiently and Effectively

Keep in Touch should build on existing client relationships as part of your effort to provide a great client experience. Getting it right and keeping it consistent is a lot of work. With support from Consortium’s team of sector experts, you’ll be providing great client experience straight off the bat. Get in touch now to find out how we can help you Keep in Touch with your clients.