Happy, raving – fan clients are what we all want. Right? They make running your law firm less stressful, and they lead to more 5-star reviews and more referral-based cases.
But we all know the drill – You can be busting your butt, driving your cases forward, and doing quality legal work, but clients can still be royally pissed off with your firm. They don’t understand the process. They don’t know how hard you are working on their case. They don’t understand the various stages of the case and the inherent waiting game involved. And even if you’ve explained everything to them at the start of the representation, it just doesn’t register.
One of the biggest reasons lawyers get Bar complaints is lack of communication.
But it’s never been easier to keep your clients in the loop – to adjust their expectations so that they are thrilled with your law firm – at any stage in the process – and to drive up the value of their cases.
Here’s how:
The Big Tip: USE AUTOMATED VIDEOS and AUTOMATED TEXTS TO TOUCH YOUR CLIENTS THROUGHOUT THE LIFE OF THE CASE SO YOU CAN ADJUST THEIR EXPECTATIONS AND KEEP THEM HAPPY AND INFORMED!
Make it your goal to though base with your client at least every 30 days. But wait – Don’t roll your eyes just yet. Read on.
Today’s technology gives you golden opportunities to work smarter and not harder to build a happy client base.
Use a full-court press approach to client communication that is built into your case Management checklists. Client contact doesn’t mean having busy case managers spending 20 -30 minutes on the phone with each client every 30 minutes.
Instead, leverage postcards, zoom calls, videos, and automated texts to keep your clients “touched” and informed every 30 days throughout the life of the representation.
Today’s technology makes keeping your clients informed easier than ever before.
Your clients are probably married to their iPhones, as most people are these days. Why not have your case managers reach out to them and communicate with them via text whenever possible?
Your staff invariably spends an inordinate amount of time on the phone with clients. Make your staff’s lives easier and give them the opportunity to be more productive by leveraging firm-wide texting software. It’s one of the quickest and easiest ways to reach out to your clients and keep them in the loop.
Look for a texting program that integrates with your case management system so you can trigger texts to go out at specific time frames and/or stages of each case.
Take it one step further and put together a series of videos that you can push out in these texts that tell clients what they need to know at each particular phase of their case. By adjusting their expectations proactively, you will be much less likely to get angry calls from these clients venting their frustrations to you and your staff.
You can also use these automated texted videos as an opportunity to increase the evidentiary strength of each case, by explaining the need for consistent treatment, and admonishing the client to tell their doctor about their pain at every single visit.
Big Tip #2: Live Zoom Calls – Crafting Client Expectations and Recording them
COVID forced us all to become Zoom experts – Now that the Pandemic is minimized, there’s no reason not to continue communicating with your Clients via Zoom.
Determine the strategic points in a case where it is imperative that your client have a clear understanding of how the process is going to work, how fees and expenses and med liens are handled, etc. By having these critical conversations via a recorded Zoom call, you can forever memorialize the conversation and share it with the client later, should they “forget” the information you clearly explained. This simple move can quickly diffuse unnecessary drama and keep clients informed.
Big Tip #3: Set up a Client Portal
We are all familiar with client portals – Medical Providers have been using them for years. However, law firms are starting to leverage this concept to keep clients informed without the hassle of constant communication. If clients want answers and info on the status of their case, they can take matters into their own hands 24/7. This kind of technology can be a game changer, resulting in happier staff and happier clients. That’s definitely a win-win.
If you are a PILMMA member, and sat in one of our recent Marketing Roundtables, led by Cassidy Lewis, then you heard this new concept discussed in detail. If you missed the Roundtable, you can access it on the PILMMA website in Member Resources under recordings.
Here’s the bottom line: We all know how important it is to keep clients in the loop and informed. We know that when we drop this ball we have angry clients and unnecessary office drama. But running a successful law practice means working cases and moving them through the pipeline efficiently – Spending hours on the phone with angry clients is a time vampire. Fortunately, embracing today’s technology and using it to keep your clients informed can be a game changer.
**We discussed many of these big tip strategies during our latest Mastermind Meetings in the Bahamas this month. If you are serious about growing your law firm, join PILMMA so you can have 24/7 access to the latest legal marketing and management strategies to help your law firm GROW.
