Small Law Firms

A Lawyer’s Guide To Boosting Client Loyalty: The Promised Land For Business Development

We all have to step up our game to ensure that client loyalty is developed with intent.

By  
on

happy women lawyers female attorneys walkingAs a business development coach and trainer exclusive to attorneys, I have the rare privilege of speaking with thousands of lawyers a year about growing their law practices. Part of my “Sales-Free Selling” strategy is to ask A LOT of questions. The goal of this is to understand what each lawyers’ strengths are as a business developer and even more importantly, where their gaps may be. In many instances a lawyer may be investing way too much time and effort in the wrong places. I joke sometimes that it’s like there’s a table in front of them with millions of dollars stacked up high.  They seem to be walking around it all day, and not into it. The goal of working with any BD coach isn’t to work harder, but rather smarter to bring in the business. So, let’s spend some time today talking about where the real money is hiding and how to get after it.

Imagine that you’re standing in front of an apple tree, which is loaded with fresh apples. Some of these apples are literally right in front of your face, while others are way up high in the tree. For the sake of efficiency, where do you select the apples? The lower apples may seem like an obvious choice, however many attorneys are still working entirely too hard climbing ladders reaching for those elevated apples. When discussing low-hanging fruit with my attorney clients, I always start with a discussion of their existing clients. Our goal is to uncover opportunities, which will produce the highest possible value for the time invested.

Before you can begin selecting apples you must plant the seeds and water the trees. As this relates to leveraging existing clients, a myth must be eradicated first. The myth is simple: if you service your client properly, they will be loyal to you. If you believe this for even a moment, you are in for a rude awakening. Times have changed and so must you in the way you manage your client relationships. Statistically, it’s six times more work and energy to find a new client than to keep an existing one. That being said, we all have to step up our game to ensure that client loyalty is developed with intent. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to develop a client retention and loyalty plan.

Before groaning at the idea of writing a plan, I assure you this shouldn’t take more than an hour to accomplish and can make the difference between success and failure in maintaining and building your law practice. Here are the three important elements of a  client retention and loyalty plan:

Step 1. Develop a list of your key clients and rank them as an “A, B, or C” client. The simple truth is that all clients are not created equal. Some love you and throw a ton of work your way, while others may be more distant, and the work is hit or miss. Whatever the case, I suggest three qualifiers for determining what makes up an “A, B, or C” client. Ask yourself questions about each client and BE HONEST.

  • How good is my relationship?
  • Is this a relationship that I can develop and expand?
  • Are we friends socially or is our relationship more transactional in nature?
  • Do they call me for general business advice or just about the deals?
  • Have I helped my client in ways beyond just providing legal advice?

Next, try to determine how much opportunity the client has to grow or how connected this client may be.

Sponsored

  • Do they have a solid network of decision makers to introduce me to?
  • Is the company growing and expanding?
  • Are there opportunities to cross-market and share work with my partners?

The last factor in determining who to invest the most time with relates directly to the amount each client has invested with you and your like or dislike of this client.

  • Does this client invest a significant amount of dollars with you, or did they invest little over the past few years?
  • Was this client a complete nightmare to deal with?
  • Did the client cost my firm money due to poor follow-through?
  • Did the client continually question and argue my rate?

Based on these three factors and any others that you believe to be important, invest 20 minutes to create a master list of your top A, B, and C clients so that you can move on with the next step of this plan. A simple excel spreadsheet works well for this task.

Step 2: Develop a list of touch points to help ensure that you are investing the right amount of time with the right clients. Based on their ranking, you are going to do more for the high-ranked clients and less for the lower-ranked clients. To be clear, if you have a “B” that you want to make an “A” then be sure to increase the amount of touch points with that specific client. Here are a few examples of different touch points that you can use to develop stronger and stickier relationships:

Sponsored

  • If they are on social media, comment and share their posts (LinkedIn being the go-to here).
  • Schedule a lunch or coffee meeting with your client.
  • Go out for drinks and get to know one another better.
  • Send a card or gift on their birthdays and for the holidays.
  • Take your client to a game or concert. (It’s important to know what they are into.)
  • Call your client to see how you can help their business.
  • Email or call your client to congratulate them on something they’ve accomplished (business or personally).
  • Email your client with an article that is relevant to their business. (You can use RSS feeds for this. Look it up).
  • Invite your client to a high-level networking event or to sit on a panel.
  • Be a resource for your client. Find them a new vendor, strategic partner, or an actual new client.

To make this super easy, take out a sheet of paper. Do it now, I’ll wait … . Start by drawing two lines down the page so you have three equal columns. On the top left, write the letter “A,” for the middle top, “B,” and on the right top, “C.” Then begin to write out the various activities or follow ups that you want to engage in with your A’s, B’s and C’s. Again, the goal is to invest more time with your higher-profile clients then with your lower-profile ones. For example, you might want to have lunch with your “A” clients four times a year, call each one monthly, email each one monthly, and find a solid contact for them twice a year. Again, the “B” clients would get less of your attention and time, unless you want to make that client an “A-lister.”

These are just a few of the many things you can do to stay in constant contact and help ensure longevity with your clients. The side effect of this activity will be to open up more doors for additional business and much needed referrals. The stronger the relationship becomes, the less likely that the client will leave over your rates or being charmed away by another lawyer.

Step 3. Scheduling time to execute on your plan is paramount to your success. While it’s great to set up a plan, it’s not worth the paper it’s written on if you don’t implement it. My best suggestion here is to find 30 to 60 minutes a week and schedule time as “client loyalty and development time.” Without making the time and setting it aside, this plan will never work for you. There will always be work and distractions keeping you from this important task. Look at your calendar and find a spot weekly where you are least likely to be distracted or busy. You can even do some of this work on the train, in the evenings, or on the weekends. I set many of my clients up with accountability buddy groups to ensure their biz-dev gets done rain or shine.

With this plan, you now have a clear choice to invest more time with client relationships that already exist, or you could go off attending countless networking events to meet total strangers. These two options aren’t even close with regards to investing quality time and have high potential for growth. While there may be value in both activities, investing time with people who already know, like, and trust you will typically bear fruit much more quickly.

The concept of having your client names in front of you and rated, isn’t a new one, but 95% of the attorneys I meet with don’t have anything like this in place. Between the names in front of you and the actions to implement to keep in close contact, you will find that the rewards for these efforts will be undeniable. I hope you reread this and execute on it right away. Like I always say to my clients, “Procrastination is the enemy of success.”

Steve Fretzin is a bestselling author, host of the BE THAT LAWYER Podcast, and business development coach exclusively for attorneys. Steve has committed his career to helping lawyers learn key growth skills not currently taught in law school. His clients soon become top rainmakers and credit Steve’s program and coaching for their success. He can be reached directly by email at [email protected]. Or you can easily find him on his website at www.fretzin.com or LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefretzin/. 

Topics

, , ,