Your clients want you to win. They are cheering for you and will celebrate with you when you win their case or favorably resolve their issue.
If you don’t win, they will be disappointed, but they will accept it, as long as you put up a good fight.
I’m sure you do your best for your clients. You advocate and argue and try every angle. You stay in shape mentally, so you can perform at your peak. You come in early and stay late, to prep for the game. You give your clients your best efforts.
But do your clients know this?
Do you let your clients know everything you do for them? Can they see your effort?
When a sports fan watches a game, they see the players in action. They see them execute strategy, take the shots, and suffer the blows. You need to show your clients no less.
That means documenting everything. It means explaining everything. It means putting everything you do in context, so they can see why you did it one way and not another.
Legal services aren’t like dry cleaning. The client doesn’t just drop off the clothing and pick it up when it’s done. Legal services involve important issues and great expense. When a client hires your law firm, they need to see what they are paying for and they are paying for your effort.
Your clients can live with the fact that you didn’t score the goal. But they have to see you take the shot.
Love this post David! Most clients don’t have a clue about how hard or how much work is put into their case. Sharing updates, pics (I use Google Glass but a smart phone will work) of files, pleadings… via text, email, private DM on social, are all good ways to let the client see each inning of the game. We’re going to print out and circulate this post around the firm to remind everyone that our fans need to know what is really going on 🙂