We know the importance of client experience, as we are clients or customers ourselves. In Legal Journey, if clients are not satisfied with services or products, they will not come back and spread negative publicity. Just getting a reply from the service provider increases our happiness and satisfaction. The same applies to the legal field. Lawyers’ products are legal contracts or services by which they communicate with their clients. Giving the best and most satisfactory legal advice can develop a healthy client relationship. Client services and client experience is two different but related things. Quality of client services creates client experience.
What is the legal client service?
Legal client service is truly about the sort of involvement and experience you give to your clients. To say simply, client service is “the experience that a business is giving, beyond a product or service”. For example, if a client visits your law firm to get legal advice related to some matter, how you will greet him/her and assist is called client service that will create a good or bad experience. if you ask your client to wait for 10 minutes and then forget about him/her, it will give a bad impression about your firm. How efficiently you handle your client determine the quality of your client service.
How to provide an exceptional experience with simple steps?
You don’t have to continuously wow your clients to give them a positive experience. you just need to act smartly to fulfill their requirements and give what they need to create an effortless experience. in simple words, you just have to listen to your client and analyze their case properly. After analyzing their problem, explain it to make things easy and just let them know what legal process is appropriate for their case. it will give the client an understanding that you are paying attention and providing the best possible solutions. Word will be spread out and more clients will come. There are the following indicators to ensure the quality of client experience.
Client service standards:
Set the client service standards for your law firm. You need to develop a framework to follow to give exceptional client service every time. Just make a checklist of things that need to be done to allow your team to give a consistent and elating client experience. Provide a detailed system to operate in your law firm. There are basic steps to set the client service standards.
1. You need to collect all the information about your clients to understand their needs.
2. Prepare detailed guidelines to fulfill their needs. Make clear steps that allow your team to
create a satisfactory experience.
3. You need to train your team to follow the guidelines efficiently.
Develop Empathy
Empathy is essential in creating a pleasant client experience. you need to understand the problems the client is facing and act upon them. You need to make an effort to show the client that you can understand what they are going through to help them. You can do this by simply calling clients’ names and occasionally repeating what they are saying to give them a sense that they are being heard. The secret to running a successful law firm is to use a client-centered approach. Clients need to realize they matter. Calling them routinely and having check-ins to make proper acquaintance, having a casual lunch, or having some tea/coffee shows you care about them. You don’t have to make every meeting or call work-centered. Instead, lead by recognizing their achievements not related to their work or by sending your greetings on a significant life occasion. Strong customer connections are based on genuine relationships, not simply transactions.
Trust & Honesty
Trust and honesty are the basis of excellent customer service. Clients are searching for trusted consultants that go past what the agreement says and are not always after money. Conveying sensible and proactive guidance that is in the client’s wellbeing is the right approach, regardless of whether it isn’t the answer they were searching for. if the mistakes occur, address the circumstances straight away and convey what is happening and how it will be rectified. Request feedback during and at the end of the project to avoid miscommunication. This can further develop how you cooperate and construct a deeper trust and client service.
Set the price to keep your clients in mind.
For some, clients, the cost is a touchy subject, particularly if they need to report legal expenditure to their investors or board members. Customers are searching for reasonable costs with flexibility where attorneys and other legal counsels are not continually charging their time. Alternative expense plans, for example, hourly charges are ideal as the customer knows the amount it will cost them and can build their financial plan as needed. No need to add unexpected billing in the end, whether it’s for additional consultation or an in-house workshop. It will break the trust and the client will be disappointed. Make your pricing strategy clear by creating pricing models according to your services. Also, give the option of online payment at the client’s convenience.
Follow up & Feedback
It will increase the value of your firm if you conduct annual client feedback surveys and set regular meetings to discuss the services. Ask them to rate how much they are satisfied with your services and what are areas that you can work on. Don’t take too much time, prepare your questions before the meetings.
After the feedback sessions, incorporate those suggestions into your work. When you conquer all the best strategies for your service, it will give you a sense of accomplishment. It will also make the journey of your clients smooth and satisfactory.
By following these steps you can upgrade your law firm from just providing services to a law firm that your clients recommend to others. They can happily return whenever they need legal consultation. You need to be patient and give time and effort to your work and see the wonders.
