How to write a thank you note

August 6, 2013 by
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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, people used to use a pen to write thank you notes. When someone did something nice for you, or even when you just wanted to acknowledge that you enjoyed meeting them, a hand written note was de rigueur.

Today, not so much. Email is the new standard. Therefore, if you really want to make an impression on someone, take a few extra minutes to write a note, on a note card, and put it in the mail.

What do you say? I found a great article about how to write a thank you note. The author, who sent a gift (books) after his conversation with a subject matter expert who generously gave of her time and information, made sure to include in his note specific details about the conversation and about the expert.

He used a G.R.E.A.T. format:

G stands for Grateful: Express appreciation for the other person’s time or graciousness or other contribution.

R stands for Reference: Tell them what you got out of your conversation –what you learned or what you will remember.

E stands for Explain: He told her he was sending her a book related to the problem their conversation helped him solve.

A stands for Action: If you talked about working together or the next time you might meet, mention this “next step,” but don’t focus on it.

T stands for Thanks: End your note with “thanks again” or something similar, followed by your signature.

You can see the actual note the author sent, using the above points, in the article.

Your thank you notes don’t have to include all of these points, nor are you obligated to send a gift. But when someone does something especially nice for you, such as providing a referral or taking extra time to provide advice, you should do everything you can to acknowledge their help.

Think about the last time you received a heartfelt thank you note. It felt good, didn’t it? Like you made a difference in someone’s life? You make others feel that way when you send them something similar.

Sending a thank you note is not just an act of courtesy, it’s good for business. It makes people remember you and want to see you again or help you again because they know you appreciate them and what they have done.

Thank you for reading this post and sharing it with others.

Marketing is simple. Say please and thank you and in between, try not to mess things up.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Thank you letters, Writing Tagged With: ,

Do you have complaining clients? That’s good!

July 19, 2013 by
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The other night my wife and I went to a well-known Mexican restaurant. We ordered the fajitas “combo” which was billed as having chicken, steak, jumbo shrimp, and scallops.

Yummy.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t yummy, it was just okay.

I could accept that. What I couldn’t accept is that there were only two pieces of steak, two pieces of chicken, two (small) shrimp, and no scallops. None.

I told the waiter I was not happy and he went to summon the manager. He came back and said the manager couldn’t come over, he was busy talking to some customers.

I’m a customer! An unhappy one! He should be talking to me!

The waiter said he’d had other complaints about the size of the portions and offered me a free dessert. I declined and asked for the check. I told him I wouldn’t be back and I would tell everyone I knew not to come.

And I will.

Because I can.

What kind of manager won’t come to talk to a customer with a complaint? An idiot, that’s what kind.

When a customer (client) has a complaint, you must talk to him, validate him, and offer to fix the problem. You do not want a customer going away angry, ready to tell dozens of other customers about his bad experience.

You must do this, because it’s the right thing to do.

You must do this because it can stop a dissatisfied customer from spreading negative messages to other prospective customers, which will lose business and generate ill will.

You must do this because when you turn complaining clients into satisfied clients (through validation, apologizing, and various make-goods), that client often turns into one of your biggest advocates, spreading the word about how you took care of him properly when something wasn’t right.

Customers (clients) don’t expect perfection. They expect to be treated right. When there’s a problem, they don’t want it to be ignored.

And so if you own a restaurant (law firm), you definitely want to know when a customer has a problem because it is an opportunity for you. You should welcome complaints, and embrace clients who have them. They are doing you a favor by telling you how to improve.

Unfortunately most clients who are unhappy don’t complain. They just stop calling. You don’t want that to happen. You want to know if they are unhappy with your services, your staff, or you. You want to know so you can make things right for them and so you can fix the problem that is probably causing other clients to be unhappy.

At the very least, give your clients an “exit survey,” asking them to rate and review your performance. Ask them what you did well and what you could improve.

In addition, put a form on your website with language that encourages visitors to share feedback anonymously.

And, if you forget the scallops, make sure you don’t ignore the client. There are too many other lawyers who offer a good fajitas combo.

Marketing is everything you do to get and keep good clients. Here’s The Formula.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management Tagged With: , , ,

3 ways to leverage every case or client to get your next case or client

July 15, 2013 by
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Get a client. Do the work. Look for the next client.

That’s what you do, isn’t it? It’s always been that way. It always will be that way. It’s the circle of life.

Hakuna matata.

You can’t change the process. But you might make it more fruitful. Before you move from one case or client to the next, take a few minutes to reflect on how you can leverage that case or client to expand, enhance, or streamline your practice.

Here are three ways to do that:

TALK ABOUT IT

No matter how routine or boring, there’s always something you can talk about. It could be as simple as saying, “I have a new client who. . .” or, “I just finished a case where. . .” and then sharing a detail or two about your client’s background, industry, occupation, demographic, or niche, as well as their issue and what you did for them.

Talk about your cases and clients in conversations with clients, prospects, and professional contacts. It gives you ways to start a conversation or validate a point being made by someone else. It gives you ways to illustrate points in your presentations. And it allows you to remind people about what you do and for whom you do it without talking about yourself.

WRITE ABOUT IT

Every case and client is a story. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end. You should be telling those stories in your blog, newsletter, and articles.

If it’s a great story, feature it. If it’s routine, mention it in connection with other mentions about other cases or clients, e.g., “my last three clients.”

Use these stories to illustrate points in your reports or marketing documents. Or use them as prompts when you don’t know what to write about.

At the end of every case, make a few notes and put them in an idea file. You won’t write about every one but you never know which one might provide you with exactly the idea you need.

THINK ABOUT IT

At the conclusion of every matter, take five minutes and ask yourself two questions:

  1. What did I do well?
  2. What can I do better?

By answering these questions, you will almost always find ways to improve your work, your client relations, or your marketing.

There’s one more thing you can do at the end of every case.

Send thank you notes.

To your clients, to expert witnesses, to opposing counsel. Thank them for putting their faith in you, for their help, for their professionalism.

Every case or client presents an opportunity to connect further with someone and set the stage for a deeper relationship. Thank you notes will bring you repeat business, referrals, and a reputation for being someone worth knowing.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. Here’s The Formula.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Networking, Presentations, Thank you letters, Writing Tagged With:

You screwed up. What are you going to do about it?

July 11, 2013 by
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My wife ordered vitamins online. The wrong order came. No, it’s not a tragedy, just one of life’s little annoyances. She has the hassle and expense of shipping it back and then waiting for the correct order to arrive.

She called the company to ask what to do.

“No problem,” she was informed. The rep explained that they company has a “one time courtesy policy” for situations like this.

My wife immediately got a 100% credit for the purchase.

No need to return the vitamins sent in error. My wife could use them, give them to someone, or throw them away.

The correct order was shipped out that day. No charge for shipping. And the 15% discount she got on the original order would be applied.

Yes indeed, no problem. In fact, a very nice experience, all things considered.

For a nominal one time cost, the company not only prevented the loss of a customer (they have to assume that an unhappy customer will leave), they made a fan. My wife will indeed use them again and, as she often does, recommend them to others.

But it wasn’t just what the company did that mattered, it was what they didn’t do.

They didn’t suggest that my wife was the one who had screwed up. (It is possible. Maybe she did click the wrong box.) They didn’t even ask. They gave her the benefit of the doubt and they did it immediately.

That’s their policy.

So, do you have a similar policy?

You know you’re going to screw up something. You’ll forget to return a call, there will be an error in your bill, or something will go wrong on a case and the client will blame you.

Law happens.

The question is, what are you going to do about it?

You need to think this through and decide in advance.

How will you handle it? How will you make it as pleasant and beneficial for the client as possible?

Take some time to consider this. Meet with your partners and staff. Brainstorm problems and solutions and make some decisions.

Then, when something does happen, you can surprise and delight your clients with your own “client courtesy policy” and keep those clients coming back and recommending you to others.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. It’s easier when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Marketing legal services

Do you and your clients speak the same language?

July 2, 2013 by
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Why do app developers who aren’t fluent in English insist on writing their own app description? Do they think their English is good enough? Do they just not care?

Whatever the reasons, here’s what happens when you don’t have someone “translate” your broken English:

Description

Support sending international fax! !
Functions:
Phone pictures or mobile phones to take pictures of the file obtained images into the nearest scanned copy binarization pictures, and sent to anywhere from any fax machine.

Features:
Approaching the ultimate speed of processing image! !
Most satisfied with the effect of processing pictures! !
Send a fax, the cheapest price! ! !
The fastest speed of service of the destination fax machine! ! ! !
In short, pack your satisfaction.

Not kidding. This is the actual description of an app I looked at. And no, I didn’t buy it.

I don’t care how good the app is, when I see a description like this I move on. I don’t want to invest even two dollars in a company that doesn’t pay attention to detail or care about it’s customers.

It’s not about the app. It’s about the total user experience.

The same is true in a law practice.

If clients don’t speak your language and you don’t speak theirs, you must have someone available to translate. I’m sure you do.

But what about that other language lawyers speak? You know, legalese?

Lawyers need to be able to communicate in plain English. We all know lawyers who hide behind overly ornate language. Clients don’t get all warm and fuzzy about a lawyer who continually says things like, “With respect to. . .” and “Notwithstanding. . .”. (Anyone remember Marcia Clark?)

Plain English, please.

Get rid of unnecessary words. Don’t use a ten dollar word when a fifty cent word will do.

Use the active tense. Action verbs. Specific nouns.

Don’t write (or speak) to be understood. Write (and speak) so that you cannot possibly be misunderstood.

If you need help, get help. Take lessons. Get an editor. Practice.

Or clients won’t buy your app.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Communication, Law office management, Public Speaking, Writing

Waterboarding our cat

July 1, 2013 by
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We took Seamus to the vet to get his teeth cleaned. They found a problem and had to pull a tooth. The vet sent him home with instructions for his care, which included eating only soft foods for ten days.

As you probably know, cats are fussy about everything. And stubborn. Seamus doesn’t like soft foods. He wanted his regular food and when it wasn’t forthcoming, no matter what we offered him, he wouldn’t eat more than a few morsels.

He wasn’t drinking water, either.

We were concerned. The vet said that if he didn’t get water, his kidneys could shut down. She said we should probably bring in him to be hydrated via IV.

My wife went online and found an alternative. Some cat owners in this situation used a big syringe to force feed their cat during their recovery period. And so for the next several days, that’s what we did. I held him tightly and my wife fed him baby food and water. He didn’t like it. Not one bit. It was torture, but it kept him alive.

But he was still unhappy and listless. He wanted his regular food, in all its crunchy glory. But it wasn’t ten days post surgery and we didn’t want him to bust his stitches.

Do we wait three more days and watch him suffer?

My wife went online again and found another vet’s website that discussed the issue. He said that one week on soft food was enough and the animal should be sufficiently healed by then.

We crossed our fingers and gave Seamus a bowl of his regular food. He devoured it. He looked at us like he wanted to say, “oh hell yes,” and when he was done, he drank water.

And today, he’s fine.

Anyway, here’s the thing.

When you give your clients advice, are you telling them what’s best for them or what’s best for you? If you tell them ten days when seven days is probably okay, are you doing that to cover your tush in case something goes wrong?

This is why two thirds of our population is on some kind of medication. Physicians don’t want to suggest anything non-traditional. If something goes wrong, one of our kind will will come at them with our six-shooters a’blazin. So they take the easy way out and prescribe the medically accepted pill of choice. It’s best for them, even though it may not be the best for the patient.

So, how about you? Where do you draw the line?

Do you tell your clients they need to have certain documents prepared to protect themselves or do you let them “take their chances”? In a contingency fee matter, do you recommend settlement because it is best for the client or because you don’t want to risk losing your fee?

I admit, it’s often a tough call. But that’s the gig. That’s what we get paid to do.

I do wish for one thing, though. When a stubborn client doesn’t want to follow our advice even though it is truly what’s best for them, we should be allowed to waterboard them.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Law office management, Legal industry Tagged With:

Collection attorney sends wrong form letter to debtor, includes advice on debtor’s rights

June 28, 2013 by
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It happens. Someone screws up and the threatening letter that was supposed to go to a debtor inadvertently contains language advising the debtor about his rights and options in defending against collection.

Ugh.

I heard about it and I could feel the attorney’s pain. We’ve all sent letters out with mistakes in them or sent letters or emails to the wrong party.

It’s embarrassing, to say the least. It could present legal and ethical issues. And it has the potential to cause a good client to leave and never come back.

In this case, somebody keyed in the wrong code. The wrong boilerplate was included in the letter and nobody caught the error.

The problem was compounded by the fact that a draft of that letter was not sent to the client (creditor) prior to being sent to the debtor. The firm does a boatload of collection letters and they are nearly always the right letter sent to the right party. “Why add expense and delay to the process,” I suppose they were thinking.

Well, aside from the fact that the client would have caught the error the attorney and his staff missed, from a marketing and client relations standpoint, it is the correct thing to do.

It shows the client that you respect him and value his input. It allows the client to feel involved in the process. And it builds the value of what you do.

It may be a form letter, but you want the client to feel that you at least took a moment to consider what he told you about the case and put some thought into the letter you are sending on his behalf.

Unless there is a prior understanding to the contrary, an attorney should send everything to the client, before they send it out or file it and again after they send it out or file it.

Okay, it didn’t happen in this case. The client is upset. Instead of threatening the debtor and getting them to pay up, their attorney advised the debtor about his rights, making it less likely that they will pay.

Now what? What should the attorney do?

From a legal perspective, there probably isn’t a whole lot he can do. He can send a “oops, wrong letter” letter and hope to clean up some of the damage, but who knows whether or not that will work.

From a client relations standpoint, the attorney should:

  • Take personal responsibility for the error and not blame anyone else in the office or try to excuse it as a computer glitch
  • Apologize profusely, in writing, on the phone, and in person
  • Cancel the fee for the letter and send another letter at no charge
  • Offer to handle the collection for free or at a greatly reduced fee

In addition, the attorney should explain to the client what happened and tell them the steps he is taking to ensure that it won’t happen again, not just for this client but for all of his clients.

Clients understand that mistakes happen. They want to see you own up to them, fix them, and prevent them from happening in the future. Most of all, they want to see that you care about them and are willing to do whatever it takes to make them happy. Especially when you screw up.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. Here’s how.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Law office management, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , ,

Stop giving clients what they pay for

June 19, 2013 by
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Do you give your clients fair value? In other words, if they pay you 00, do you give them 00 worth of legal services?

If your answer is yes, stop it. Stop giving clients what they pay for and start giving them more.

Lou Vickery said, “Four short words sum up what has lifted most successful individuals above the crowd: a little bit more. They did all that was expected of them and a little bit more.”

When you give clients a little bit more than they pay for, more than they expect and more than they may even deserve, you really do stand out. Most attorneys don’t give more. And many attorneys give less. At least that’s what the public perceives, otherwise attorneys wouldn’t continually be described as expensive.

Have you ever been to Five Guys Burgers and Fries? When you order any size of fries (great fries, by the way), you get waaay more than you pay for. At least it seems that way because there are more fries in the bag that have spilled over from the cup than there are in the cup.

Their fries aren’t cheap. In fact, compared to other fast food places, one might say they are expensive. But because they give you more than you expect, and because they are really great tasting fries, you come away feeling good about the experience.

Stop giving clients what they pay for and start giving them a little bit more.

Marketing is easy when you know what to do. Here’s the Formula.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Image, Marketing legal services

Give your clients free onion rings

June 17, 2013 by
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My daughter sent me a gift card to Outback Steakhouse for Father’s Day. My wife and I were at the restaurant at 5 PM and not surprisingly, it was crowded.

We ordered a “Bloomin Onion” as a starter. We were served bread and drinks but a long time passed and no Onion. The waiter finally came over and apologized. He said they were backed up with orders for the Onion and it would be out in a couple of minutes.

No worries. It really wasn’t that long a wait. I had bread. I could see the San Antonio-Miami game on the TV screen and kept busy giving my wife reports of the score.

A couple minutes later the waiter brought the Onion and thanked us for being so patient. He said he checked with his manager and there would be no charge for the Onion.

Nice. Unexpected. Appreciated.

So naturally, I took out my iPhone and made a note to share this story with you. I wrote “comp clients onions”. And here I am.

When you give your clients something free, either to apologize for something like making them wait a few minutes because you were running late or to reward them for being a good client, you earn Brownie points. Your clients love it. And love you. And remember you. And come back to you. And tell their friends about you.

So look for reasons to give your clients free onion rings. “I should have returned your call last night instead of this morning. I’m sorry. I’m not going to charge you anything for the letter to Smith and Co. Thanks for understanding”.

Nice. Unexpected. Appreciated.

Your clients will say what my wife and I said when the waiter told us there would be no charge: “Wow. Thank you.”

It was a small gesture, but we will remember it. The next time my wife says, “Where do you want to eat?” there’s a good chance I’ll say, “Outback”.

And now, because I’ve told you this story, you may also go to Outback. May I suggest you try the “Bloomin Onion”.

Marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients. Here’s how to get more.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Marketing legal services

Sharing personal information online

June 13, 2013 by
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Look at your website and social media profiles. Are you sharing personal information online? You should be.

No, don’t be reckless. But don’t hide everything about your personal life, either.

Prospective clients, referral sources, and other people who find you online want to know what you are like. You, not your practice. What kind of a person are you? What motivates you? What do you do for fun?

People prefer to do business with people they know, like, and trust. Personal details help people get to know you, like you, and trust you. A few details about your personal life can give them a sense of what it would be like work with you.

Your photo is a must. They need to see what you look like.

Post a few details about your background, hobbies, or outside interests. Tell them a story that illustrates what’s important to you, perhaps why you went to law school or how you were affected by a particular case.

Personal information can also give people reasons to like you. You like country music. You grew up in a small town. You like to cook. When a prospective client sees that and thinks, “me too!” they connect with you.

But even if they don’t share your background or personal interests, they can appreciate that you are a well rounded and passionate human being, not just a legal technician.

Share a few details about your personal life, but not too many. Too much information can work against you.

You may enjoy playing Words With Friends, but if you tell people you have 32 games going, they may think you are weird or not serious about your work.

Don’t talk about your sex life, dating life or health problems. Do talk about your kids, your family vacation, and your love of sports.

Avoid politics and religion, unless you are marketing to people who share your politics or religion and you don’t care about losing everyone else.

It’s okay to mention that you like to have a glass of wine with dinner. Don’t talk about sleeping it off on a friend’s sofa.

Humor is tricky. If it is in good taste and truly funny, it’s a good thing. Too much of a good thing can make you look unprofessional.

Sharing personal information online or with your clients and professional contacts will bring you more business. You may want clients to hire you because you’re really good at what you do but if they hire you because they like your smile or you went to the same college, that’s okay, isn’t it?

Learn more about sharing personal information online in Make the Phone Ring.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Image, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing Tagged With:
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