Today a package of materials from a new client of mine arrived overnight, first AM delivery. The delivery surprised me and exceeded my expectation as our scheduled meeting is weeks away. There was nothing urgent about me receiving the materials, but it sure was nice to have them in hand so far in advance. Then I recalled how earlier communications with the managing partner and his staff had clued me in that I was dealing with a first class organization with great respect and value for everyone they do business with, even those outside the direct revenue stream. Their treatment of others goes beneath the surface and is the heart and soul of their success.

They are successful not only because the firm has excellent, experienced lawyers, though they do. Not because they discount services or offer alternate fee arrangements, they don’t. They are successful because they have a law firm culture that operates on mutual respect, consideration, and honesty. CLIENTS like that. A successful firm will not take for granted the impact their internal culture has upon its success.

Culture is a law firm’s DNA.

Truth be told, you can actually tell A LOT about a law firm’s culture by the way they treat their vendors. When someone told me this, years ago, I thought it was absurd. Now, after 15 years in the legal profession, both as an employee and a vendor, I can tell you its true. [Too bad more prospects don’t know this or they’d be interviewing a firm’s vendors, not their lawyers, to uncover what they might expect from the client/attorney/law firm relationship.]

I can now predict, with accuracy, client satisfaction levels in almost 100% of cases simply by my dealings with the firm as a vendor. I have found that there is a direct correlation between the degree to which I am treated respectfully and the degree of the law firm’s success.  Weird, I know….well, maybe not.

In a new book by Barry Libert of Mzinga, “Social Nation. How to harness the power of Social Media to attract customers, motivate employees and grow your business,” (Wiley, 2010), Libert posits that the power of culture is not to be underestimated where business and community intersect. (Yes, your clients are a community!) Among many golden nuggets the book has to offer (full review to follow shortly*), Libert proposes that clients can sense when your culture is a healthy one, and a healthy culture is a healthy company.

“If the DNA is healthy, the company is healthy. If it is not, the company, just like your family, will falter and eventually fail. In business, it means your customers will leave in pursuit of a competitor that will care more about them and better meet their needs.”

I couldn’t agree with Libert more. To wit, I’ve worked inside law firms that had a DNA of respect, honesty and action. They respected their employees and their vendors, i.e., valued their expertise, engaged in fair contracts, didn’t haggle, returned calls, and paid invoices promptly. Not surprisingly, they also had a lot of loyal and happy clients and are still going strong today. Conversely, I’ve also worked where it was exactly the opposite. Ironically, in once such instance, the law firm no longer exists!

Observations from the vendor trenches. [ Or, what shoppers can learn from vendors.]

It starts in the evaluation stage. When a prospective client law firm and I are getting to know one another I’ve noticed that the best firms have taken the time to prepare good questions. They might also have an idea for how they want to proceed, and they have determined a range of fees they’re willing to pay.  Some even have an idea of the specific results they are seeking. (They’ve done some homework or they tell me up front that they are clueless. Honesty is always a good start.) Though this often evolves as we talk, their preparedness is a sign that they take the project, my services, and me seriously. Following the logic, these law firms would also be those that are not afraid to tell one of their prospective clients the truth about the prospects for their case. They would reasonably estimate fees and, if necessary, refer them to another attorney or law firm that is better suited for the matter. In essence, they are prepared and preparation is a hallmark of great law firms and great cultures.

Alternately, I can immediately tell when an evaluation call is a fishing expedition for FREE expertise. In these cases I can fairly accurately assess that the firm is not successful enough to pay for expertise or that they believe their own expertise is the only kind worth paying for; both are bad. Avoid these firms and you avoid disappointment.

After the evaluation stage, I learn a lot about the firm by the length of time it takes to return phone calls or respond to emails. It is illuminating.

For example I am often asked to submit a proposal TOMORROW, i.e., “This is an urgent project for the firm. Can you get that to me tomorrow?  Our committee is meeting on Friday.” “Sure,” I say and work through the evening hours to deliver on my word only to hear silence for weeks. Now, I know that my proposal is not always at the top of the list, but is it too much to ask for a quick email response to say; got the proposal, the committee did not have time to discuss it on Friday, but it’s on the agenda for next month? Non-responsive behavior from a firm that has an URGENT need is likely to be a firm that communicates poorly (or even dishonestly) with their clients. (Note: a distinction should be made between lawyer and law firm, i.e. the law firm may be unresponsive but an individual lawyer can be very responsive. However, when you hire a lawyer you essentially hire their law firm. It’s a 360-degree relationship, and it takes both to make it work.)

The pricing stage is also often a very telling sequence. Being the Pollyanna that I am, I assume that once past the evaluation and the proposal there is sufficient understanding of the value of my services and respect for me as a business owner; that I’ve priced my services competitively and that I intend to deliver value along with the price tag. If I say my day rate is X, it is X. If there is variation in what you’re asking me to provide there may be room for a discount, but if the project is as quoted you can be sure that is what I believe the project will cost—and for me to remain in business to help you in the future. The law firm that doesn’t understand this equation distrusts me. And, not in all cases of course, but such a law firm could actually be over charging or under-delivering their services and they are projecting their behavior on me. [Note to shoppers: There are some firms that just can’t help themselves from negotiating everything! While that’s fair, beware; they will likely be tough negotiators when it comes to writing down your legal bill too!]

Finally, much can be read from the payment process. As a responsible contractor I always include terms of payment in my letter of agreement.  When a client signs that agreement I believe they, in good faith, intend to conform to the terms. (Lawyers must understand this, right?) But to my surprise, even when the situation is black and white, i.e. product or service delivered and approved, there are some law firms that purposely sit on the payment for months, ignoring the terms of our agreement. How this reflects a firm’s culture is crystal clear. In one example, I waited over a year to get paid! It was no surprise to me when I learned that the named partner of that firm was found guilty of fraud and his license suspended.

If clients aren’t raining from the sky…

Word of mouth marketing can be the life-blood of a law firm, i.e. referrals. It can also be what’s standing between success and failure. In today’s social marketplace,  people are talking. The insight we receive from social interactions and communications that take place among and between our clients, employees, vendors, and partners reveal a lot. Decisions about purchasing products and services are more frequently based on how the outside sees our “inside” culture. If clients aren’t raining from the sky for you or your law firm, you may want to step away from the sunshine and look inside at your culture.

“Everybody talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.”– Mark Twain

Perhaps I could have saved a lot of words and simply said “actions speak louder than words.” Or, perhaps corporate culture, like the weather, is impossible to change for anyone but the Heavens. So, our only recourse is to talk about it and make us feel a little bit better-though totally not in control.

Whatever the case, weather happens. So does culture. Only difference is you can influence your law firm’s culture. Like it or not, how you do business with others outside your revenue stream will impact how you do business with your revenue stream, i.e. clients. And, as Libert suggests….”take good care of your personal values and you will energize your customers, partners and employees.”

__________________________________________________

*Disclosure: I was given a complimentary copy of this book to review.

Nothing makes me more confused and frustrated than when I anticipate one thing and get something entirely different. When this happens I think that I have failed to communicate clearly or manage my own expectations. (I.e. “How could Santa leave me a book when I clearly asked for a doll? Maybe the North Pole wasn’t making dolls this year and I shouldn’t have expected one.”) Lately however, I realize that the primary reason for mismatched outcomes is caused by how well people are listening. There’s a lot of  hearing-what-you-want-the-person-to-be-saying going on rather than listening to what they are actually saying.  (Yes, even Santa suffers from this condition from time to time —matching what’s in the inventory to what’s being said rather than what the client is actually saying.)

The Cross-Sell.

Think about the last time you set up a casual lunch with a business client to go over some “things” and at the last minute you decided to make it into a “cross-selling” call by bringing along a few other lawyers from your law firm—a tax lawyer and an IP lawyer. Your rationale was that all business people have taxes and most have intellectual property issues, right? And, since the law firm has put a significant emphasis on cross-selling lately, why not? Although the client was probably polite about the two new “products” you introduced, they really weren’t interested because they didn’t anticipate the scenario or want what you were trying to cross-sell. Quite possibly they were expecting the meeting to be about their agenda, not yours, and they were disappointed. In that case, hopefully the cross-sell moment died a quiet death. But, don’t believe for a minute that the client didn’t leave the lunch feeling confused or even frustrated because they didn’t accomplish what they anticipated. Cross-selling legal services, or any service, requires a delicate balance of timing and presentation that comes from active listening and trusted relationship.

A recent experience brought this to my attention in a dramatic fashion.

Listening.

This past January, I joined a newly established health club. Though it was five months later and I had not yet used it, mainly because the opening was delayed and they failed to communicate when they finally did open –bad way to start a business relationship—I stopped by the club to inquire about an orientation of the facility. Specifically I explained that I was promised when I bought the membership that someone would help me design a simple work out program. I also explained to the woman behind the counter that I was interested in the circuit equipment. She said she’d be happy to help me tomorrow at 2pm.

She got everything wrong…

I arrived at my scheduled time.

My objective: a friendly orientation of the facility’s features and a suggested work out routine on the circuit equipment.

The employee’s objective: sell me personal training services.

Although I had again explained to the very personable (and knowledgeable) employee that this was my first visit, she did not show me around the layout of the gym, instead she walked me to her “sales” desk…hmmm. I again, yes again, explained my objective for our meeting—set up a circuit program. She nodded her head and began to chitchat about my exercise history, my goals, my level of commitment, and etc. Fine. I gave her all that good stuff thinking it would help her help me get started using the membership I had purchased and had not yet benefited from. Several times during our conversation I again mentioned that I was most interested in circuit training and some cardio. I explained that I was not a big fan of classes or “exercises” that I could do at home.  When we finished the chat at her sales desk, we were ready for my sample workout.

She walked me past the circuit equipment and over to the exercise floor. For ten minutes I did what she directed me to do; stand on a wobbly ball while lifting weights, lunges and leg kicks, i.e. exercises I could do at home without paying a membership fee –trust levels were dropping by the minute.  Before the 10 minutes were up, I began to resent her for wasting my time, though I remained polite. I decided right then that whatever she was trying to sell me I didn’t want. It was apparent that she had HER agenda and was not interested in helping me with a circuit. The only voice she was listening to was her own. At that point I just wanted to get out of there.

Could I have benefited from a personal trainer? Probably, but I wasn’t ready. At that moment I didn’t want a personal trainer, I wanted a quick orientation to a circuit program.  I wanted to experience some benefit from what I had already paid for. Had she done a few things right, for example listen to and act upon what I requested, I might have considered a few personal training sessions. Instead, I walked out with a strongly negative feeling toward the WHOLE CLUB.

How to earn my trust.

1. While I’m not closed to learning more about the additional services you offer, first I want you to show me the value of what I already purchased.
2. It’s really about me and you can’t miss that point. It’s not about you making your sale, it’s about me getting to know, like and trust you because you understand my goals.
3. My time is valuable and I want you to show me that you understand that. If you can’t, why should I trust you?
4. Once we’re on the same page, I want you to build a relationship with me, so when I need additional services I can trust you to steer me in an intelligent direction.

Lost opportunities.

The fitness instructor/sales person followed up with a phone call a week later and asked if I was ready to sign up for personal training. I laughed to myself and told her I was out of town and would contact her when I was interested. NOT!

What could have changed my response? If over time this fitness instructor saw me around the gym and stopped to ask how I was doing, give me a few pointers, and demonstrate her helpfulness, I might have purchased some training. Or, better yet, if the fitness instructor would have given me what I anticpated during that first meeting I might have been so convinced I’d have purchased more sessions on the spot. These few things could have turned around the outcome. How often do lawyers miss the forest for the trees? It’s so much easier to “sell” their services when the preparation is in place and that can only come from listening.

Which brings me to a final thought…if an opportunity (prospect or cross-sell) mysteriously disappears, you might want to ask yourself how well you were listening. It could be that you weren’t dialed in to what they were actually saying. And that happens to everyone as circumstances and communication styles differ…but when it happens to me, I’m going to make it a learning experience so I can do better next time.

In these changing times, we all need fresh ideas and inspiration.

Delivering Happiness delivers.  

Tony Hsieh’s recently released book, Delivering Happiness | A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose, is destined to be a classic Gen X must read business book following in the footsteps of other great Boomer reads such as Jim Collins’ Good to Great and Built to Last. I read it cover to cover and found tons of nuggets. Despite being a case study of an Internet retailer the nuggets should be pure gold for law firms who currently are struggling with their business model, culture or staff morale (law firm layoffs) in light of the recent economic landscape.

Here are just a few:

• Figure out the game when the stakes aren’t high. Get core values in place, know who you are as a culture so you will be ready when the stakes get high.
• Don’t play games you don’t understand even if you see a lot of other people winning at them, i.e. making a lot of money from them.
• Take the focus off of “making money” put the focus on people; happy people, and passionate people, people who want to go to work tomorrow. What would it take?
• Great companies (and great people) have a greater purpose and a bigger vision beyond just making money or being number one in the market…if you fall into this trap you never become a great company…the core values of your employees must go beyond the paycheck. The best gift you can give your employees is the perception that there’s something ahead for them…
• Help shape the stories that people are telling about you. Do you want to be about the VERY BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE? How many people in your organization want to be known for the VBCS? Your culture is your brand.
• A customer centric organization will execute exceedingly well on core competencies. A core competency of Zappos is shipping. They ship product. They promise customers delivery in 4-5 days, but they “upgrade” the service for almost all customers. It’s not something they have to do and it’s not something that increases their profits in the short term. It is something that creates a great customer experience.
• Never outsource our core competency. Trusting a third party to care about your customers as much as you do is a big mistake.
• What is the extra step? Think about some experience where you interacted with a person responsible for your satisfaction….what did they do?
• Life values apply to both work and life…that’s they way they should anyway.
• Make the transaction for the customer as easy and risk free as possible.
• Make customer service a priority for the whole company, not just a department.
• View each interaction as an investment in building a customer service brand, not an expense of time or staff you’re seeking to minimize….
• How a company treats its vendors is a reflection on the company.
• If you had to describe your company’s culture in two or three paragraphs, what would you say? If you asked your coworkers to do the same, what would they say? How different do you think their answers would be…

The World is Changing for Law Firms.

The power structure is shifting from the law firm to the client in the legal industry. That’s the word on the street from general counsel to clients, law firm leaders, marketers, and Michael Bremer, President of The Cumberland Group in Chicago. He addressed attendees last week in a keynote at the Legal Sales and Services Organization’s RainDance conference. He suggested that what is missing most when the average law firm tries to improve its position in a competitive market is a focus on customer value, engaged employees, and an executive mindset that knows these are the most important things.

According to a Gallup poll, in an average organization less than 30% of people say they are ‘highly engaged’ at work. Certainly the average level thinking of law firms of today fit in that mold. Worse is that they don’t see a need to change, don’t want to change, feel they’re already working at it and routinely push back on fresh ideas. How long can that be sustained and keep employees engaged?  If we’re not giving employees a voice with open environment, learning environment we’re loosing engagement. The firm misses out on good ideas when employees are not passionately engaged. To remedy this, it is leadership’s primary responsibility to create an environment where people can do their best work (this does not mean a well decorated office space and stocked break room).  It’s easy to say we want this to happen and we aspire to this but to be successful organizations must have above average thinking and strategy. Leadership needs to understand that customer loyalty IS linked with business performance.

Every employee of the organization is capable of driving customer loyalty and this is exactly the message you’ll find in Delivering Happiness.

Back to Zappos….

Delivering Happiness is an action packed story, easy to read in a few sittings, documenting how Tony Hsieh and his associates at Zappos did exactly what Michael is suggesting for law firms who want to succeed in the value game…create a workplace where employees are fully engaged, do their best work and exceed customer expectations because they perceive a greater purpose than making money. Zappos provides an open, learning environment that has made them one of the most successful Internet retailers of the decade. ( On Oct. 31, 2009 Amazon purchased Zappos for 1.2B. In Jan 2010 Zappos moved up 8 slots and was ranked #15 in Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list.)

Gen X

So, the book is really great and I highly recommend it…with a few sidebars.

1. Tony built the culture of Zappos inspired by PLUR, an acronym for “Peace, Love, Unity, Respect” born out of the rave community.  (see here for Wikipedia description of Raves) (This may be a stretch of the imagination for anyone pre GenX. I had to adjust my thinking a bit and well, that’s exactly why I think the book is great. It made me think outside my box….yeah, hippies rule, right?)
2. Tony had a “mysterious” and brief encounter with a woman following a New Year’s Eve party that involved ear whispering: “Envison, create, and believe in your own universe” which became a sort of mantra for him. (Not dissing that, just pointing out that again, not exactly the stuff you’ll hear from a managing partner of law firm…tee hee)
3. Tony does not use proper grammar and sometimes the structure is weak. This was a distraction for me as I most enjoy well-crafted (written) books. True to his GenXer generation…he chose to write the book without the help of ghostwriter, and I get that but…. he also chose to use a lot of dangling prepositions to make his grade school English teacher cringe. I read an advance copy of the book and so some of the structural things may have healed themselves with an editor at the helm—hope so.

Otherwise, again, fantastic case study with lots of golden nuggets and inspiration for law firm leaders, marketers, human resource professionals and certainly anyone responsible for process improvement in an organization….

As a final note…gotta run down to my mail box….I looking forward to some happiness being delivered today…placed an order on Zappos last evening, got an email an hour later telling me it was packed and shipped and  already in route to my house  and may even get here today… LOVE YA ZAPPOS.

(Disclosure: I received an advance copy of Delivering Happiness through a call for bloggers who would write reviews. The criteria for receiving an advance copy was that I would give an honest review of the book, which if you got this far, you have read. Cheers!)

Following my post on Alternative Fee Agreements for law firms and their clients I had one of those days where I wished I had never heard of the phrase. I was sitting in the middle of a flat fee project. Had I priced by the billable hour, I would be rich and retired today. Instead, my hourly rate is clocking just above minimum wage and it’s not finished yet. That’s just how it goes sometimes, I guess.

Of course I was discouraged. Of course I started beating myself up for not having managed my time better. I kept thinking over and over wondering what went wrong and how could I have stopped the runaway train? There really was nothing unusual about the project, a pretty straightforward engagement that I’ve done successfully many times over, which is why I priced it the way I did. Still, things got out of hand. Some things that happened were out of my control but there were also things within my control and I was starting to get really angry…then I had the opportunity to speak on the telephone the next morning with Laura Colcord, the lead instructor for Legal Sales and Services Organization’s Legal Lean Six Sigma training program focused on process improvement for law firms. Yup, that was it…somewhere the LawGravity process broke down and the process needed improvement…

Laura is presenting a pre-conference workshop at Raindance next week. She told me that she and the team at LSSO has translated every six sigma concept, methodology and tool into an easy to understand and practical guide specific to the legal industry. I was pretty impressed. I thought Six Sigma was for car manufacturers…isn’t it that management strategy used to improve the quality of their products?

Indeed. She explained that essentially, Six Sigma process improvement identifies mistakes, defects, waste and seeks to reduce them as well as minimize variability in repetitive processes. When the automobile industry needed to reinvent itself they employed Six Sigma. Today these concepts, methodologies and tools are finding application in other businesses, including professional services firms; law firms, in particular, who in the past two years have been dealing with a lot of change. She was reminded of a quote that resonates:

“If the rate of external change exceeds the rate of internal change the end is in sight.” Jack Welch.

Well,  I think we have enough evidence to recognize that law firms can no longer just sit on their laurels, they need to keep ahead of the change. One place change is taking effect is in the pricing and delivery of services, thus the whole discussion of Alternative Fee Agreements. Laura suggested that by improving certain processes involved in doing repetitive tasks and managing certain types of cases, there is benefit for the client and for the law firm in light of these new fee agreements. It involves a combination of pulling together timing, knowledge and expertise into a repeatable process to maximize the probable outcome.

For example, if a law firm uses an alternative fee agreement and they spend too much time on it they are not going to make a profit. [Ask me, I know!] Therefore, they need to break down predictable tasks and allocate them to the correct level of talent. When you can staff the work appropriately, the high paid brain power will be engaged only for the high value portion of the work, making the whole arrangement satisfactory for the client and profitable for the law firm. Sigma methodologies focus on looking at how people work and finding ways to improve them–eliminating the need for a clean sheet of paper every time something needs to get done. The organization asks: what is the best way we know how to do this? This applies to more than just how a law firm structures case management.

Beth Cuzzone, a founding member of LSSO and Director of Marketing at Goulston Storrs, speaking on a panel at the 2010 Marketing Partner Forum gave a number of examples how process improvement can be applied to administrative tasks in accounting, IT and marketing, and other client facing experiences, such as the intake process or even what happens when they visit the law firm’s physical location. Almost anything that has a repetitive element can be improved through the concepts, methodologies, and tools of Legal Lean Six Sigma as long as the quality of the outcome is satisfactory to the client.

By the end of my conversation with Laura, things became clear….surely I need to improve some processes at LawGravity. We’re a young business, and growing. Just took off the training wheels, have a couple scrapped knees to show for it, but all the same, ready to get back on the bike, keep peddling forward and with some process improvement we’ll be better prepared to maximize the probable outcome, stay profitable and continue to make the quality of the outcome satisfactory to the client.

Legal Lean Six Sigma offers a private label training experience as well as a twice yearly open enrollment two day course and an annual introductory level training during the pre-conference session of Raindance. More information can be found here….

I’ll be reporting live from Raindance next Wednesday and Thursday here on VMO and Twitter (Follow #RD10). Hope you’ll check in on all the action….

Where does your law firm stack up? Are you creating experiences or are you delivering “business as usual?”

I wish I had some really good excuse for not publishing to my blog in over a week; like I tripped, fell and broke both my hands. But I don’t. Fact is, I’m still in the belly of the beast finishing up my manuscript for social.lawyer due to my publisher Thomson/West this week! Yikes!

Even if I had an a good excuse for my readers or my publishers, I’d be falling beneath the Amazon standard of Disney delivery,  the very thing I strive for in every business encounter and encourage my law firm clients to do: deliver Amazon or  Walt Disney to your clients.

Every time I order from Amazon (or Zappos – thanks for your support of professional tennis – love ya!), it amazes me. I get the feeling I’m a kid at Disney World.  It starts with the appeal: millions of choices, millions of visuals, with hundreds of people standing beside me saying I liked that and you might too.

From start to finish it’s an experience, not just a purchase. It’s so easy to use their one click button and buy with confidence knowing they they back up everything they distribute. (True for me in over eight years and counting.) But the crème de la crème is the delivery…it is an experience like no other online vendor. It is so efficient and they always seem to exceed my expectation even though they clearly state when the delivery will be made. As they say, they are in the business of delivering happiness.

What I don’t understand is why other online vendors can’t or don’t have the same standards of service? Why can’t they deliver happiness?

Amazon isn’t instant gratification; it’s better. Schlepping to a store and buying something that I immediately take home and use isn’t nearly as gratifying as shopping (with my unknown friends who review products and give objective advice) and getting that package in the mail a day or two later. For a few dollars more per year I sign up for Prime Shipping on Amazon, which means I get most items virtually overnight or second day delivery. Whether or not they beat their deadlines it always feels like it. It’s VIP treatment and it works. (Shouldn’t your law firm be doing this?)

It’s the Disney formula: book the trip, anticipate the day, then have it delivered perfectly exceeding expectations and leaving the client with good memories to share with others (or at least the perception thereof). Disney doesn’t sell rides and Amazon doesn’t sell products; they sell experiences. (And shouldn’t your law firm be doing this, too?)

No offense to the “other” online stores I’ve made purchases with over the last few weeks while I’ve been locked down to my computer drafting my book, taking only a few minutes to contemplate the things I need and steal a minute to order them online—yes, I have the iPad in my shopping cart on Apple.com but have yet hit the purchase button. I still have the capacity to see the difference between needs and wants. Quite unfortunate for my bank charge accounts.

Sorry but, Nordstrom and Gap you just aren’t cutting it. If the only time I have to shop online is on a Saturday morning and you tell me that it will take five to seven business days to arrive (excluding Sat and Sunday when your offline stores are open) after the order is acknowledged (Monday) you are NOT delivering a happiness experience.  You’re not making me mad and it doesn’t stop me from buying your stuff- yet-you are just not making me happy. I recently purchased from both vendors and waited and waited and waited, till it was so anti-climactic that when I got the box my feeling was “Finally! I thought you had forgotten about me.”

Maybe most people are used to that lag time; it’s business as usual. Maybe I’m just spoiled because Amazon rocks and I use them religiously. Still, when it all comes down to where I’m going to purchase something, I’ll choose happy—the one that ensures my experience always exceeds my expectations—over one that is doing business as usual. Better still for those who exceed my happiness quotient, I’ll tell my friends and my blog readers. How’s that figure into your business model…pretty solid I’d say.

There’s a lesson in this for me and for you. Is your law firm creating a Disney experience or is it business as usual? What do you think? Can law firms deliver a Disney or Amazon experience to their clients? Or are some law firms delivering the experience but aren’t doing enough to brand it so we’d know about it?

Word is that in this economy law firm clients are willing to walk across the street just to get better value. Go figure. Value sells. Many law firms have begun competing on price—adopting alternative billing structures. I can’t help but wonder if law firms aren’t falling into the value box defined by their competitors instead of their clients? Is there more to value than price?

What if law firms focused their energies on creating loyal clients, the kind that love you, want to have legal questions just so they can be near you, and that readily refer your services to others?

What would that look like?  It is this humble author’s opinion that law firms that can consistently deliver on the generic category benefits—those things that essentially define legal services, the stuff every client expects from their law firm but some law firms are clueless about—better than the competition have a real opportunity to differentiate themselves.

Generic Category Benefits?

Generic category benefits of a coffee shop: things that people expect from a coffee shop:

• A convenient location
• Open early AM
• Cups, plates, stirrers
• Coffee
• Sugar, creamer
• A place to sit, maybe a table
• A server or cashier
• Pastries or breakfast

Starbucks stands out as a leader in consistently providing the generic category benefits of a coffee shop exceptionally well and that’s why we love Starbucks. We can trust Starbucks to deliver, and we love that!

• Convenient locations in EVERY CITY and even some towns
• Consistent and reliable hours
• Inviting surroundings: warm or cool, clean and welcoming.
• Attractive cups distinguished with poems and art
• Soft seating, work tables, take out efficiency
• Friendly Baristas; some with refreshing personality that delivers that “glad you are here” attitude
• Consistently outstanding coffee; lots of tasty varieties and more
• Fresh pastry, healthy choices; we like that
• Wifi, custom music CD’s, free music downloads to enjoy while we’re lounging and sipping coffee
• 100 other items you really don’t need but make it interesting to browse while you’re waiting for your coffee
• A local flair, art, charities, special events
• A commitment to the environment
• and etc….

I don’t know about you, but when I have a Starbucks I feel like I’m a member of a special club –a club that treats me right.  If I happen to have a errant experience I know who to speak to:  if I tell someone in management, or send out a Tweet, they will make it right and that gives me comfort; I trust Starbucks. There are many choices in coffee shops, but Starbucks sets the bar.

There are many choices in law firms. Which one sets the bar? Is it yours?

Generic category benefits of a law firm: things that people expect to receive from a law firm.

• Offices
• Conference room(s)
• Meetings
• Communications: telephone, email, fax
• Competent, ethical and confidential counsel.
• Bills
• Documents
• Filing documents
• Court appearances
• Ethical and confidential management of fiduciary accounts
• Communications: educational seminars, articles, etc.

What clients really want.

An anecdotal poll of consultants and law firm professionals who perform client satisfaction interviews reported these top 10 client service issues (complaints).  (Note: Conversely many clients also reported that they were completely satisfied with their legal representation and that they had no complaints.)

• #10 Not understanding my industry/business
• #9 The surprise bill
• #8 Inaccessibility; the age of Blackberries
• #7 Over-lawyering
• #6 Missed deadlines
• #5 Not discussing strategy and recommendations
• #4 Not being informed when the responsible attorney is away: who can the client call in their absence
• #3 Not keeping client informed
• #2 Invoices for time or work not previously discussed with the client
• #1 Not returning phone calls

Of these top 10 complaints how many are generic category benefits? All of them!

If you can get your law firm – lawyers, staff and other professionals to focus on consistently delivering generic category benefits you could have loyal clients who love you, wouldn’t think of leaving you for another firm and best of all….refer you to others. Simple, right? Not! If it were simple everyone would do it.

What are those extra special touches within the generic category benefits that you offer you clients and that keep them loving you? How can you be the Starbucks of legal services? The formula is as unique as your firm AND your clients. But if you aren’t working on it, you may want to get started.

I think many businesses [and law firms] are shooting themselves in the foot when they cut corners on the wrong stuff. For example:

Discount stores like Marshalls, TJX and Ross are perfectly positioned for a recession when discretionary dollars are tight. The other evening the mid-town Miami Marshalls was teeming with shoppers sorting through tons of new, deeply discounted items. I was one of them. After selecting my purchases I stood in the check out cue behind 10 other shoppers. There were 4 cashier stations at the check out area. There was one cashier. She was at the last cash register. The line snaked along the empty stations where there was empty counter space. I observed four of those ten customers reviewing their purchases while waiting in line. During the wait each set down on the empty counter space at least two or more items they decided not to purchase. These were not ten-cent candy bars. As far as I could tell there was probably at least $200.00 worth of merchandise left behind. Why didn’t Marshall’s management pay another minimum wage cashier that night? Who knows? Probably cutting back on staff costs? How smart is that? Let’s do the math.

I imagine that over the course of 4 hours that night they lost at least $800.00 of sales. Four hours for an additional cashier at $6.50 per hour is  $26.00. $26 minus $800.00 is $772.00 of additional revenue for the evening. I’m sure they have their reasons.

I should also mention that the lonely cashier was neither efficient nor pleasant. In fact she was absent mentally from the whole scene. Of course she may have been aggravated by the fact that management did not give her support, yet I couldn’t help but think that she should be happy to have a job and happy that the store had customers to keep her at work.  If management were paying attention to their staff, encouraging them and teaching them the value of each customer instead of just signing the paycheck, wouldn’t that be a windfall for everyone? [Rhetorical question.]

I left the store with my purchases and a sigh. The whole experience was almost depressing. Finding a bargain used to be fun. Of course I don’t expect a discount store to offer outstanding customer service or care in good times or bad times, but what if they did? How would that impact success?

Is Marshall’s just short sighted or is the model broken?

So, what’s my point? People may not initially contribute to the bottom line, they’re overhead, but they can and should contribute to the top line, revenue. What is the difference between a barista at Starbucks and a cashier at Marshalls? Not the pay check. It’s in the brand and the brand is set by management. I have to say that with a few exceptions, the service I receive at Starbucks, anywhere, anytime, is usually outstanding. I spend $4 dollars and get better service than when I go to Marshalls and spend $50.00. What’s up?

I think, and I could be wrong, but aren’t law firms also shooting themselves in the foot by cutting staff at a time like this instead of paying attention to people –both customers and staff? Isn’t this the time law firms should be paying extra attention to the brand? Are they?

With fewer dollars to go around, all businesses need to change their thinking. What part of the law firm business model, besides billing, needs reinvention? Are they forgetting the people factor? Not just the client, are they paying attention to staff? Are they investing in training and rewards with the dollars they saved by the cutting?

Cutting back on staff definitely impacts the morale of the people who get to keep their jobs. Can they still smile and be enthusiastic workers? Or have they become sullen in fear that they are next? Is my job safe? Is your firm doing anything to motivate and reward loyal employees for the benefit of your clients?

Changing the customer care model –retaining staff to keep the client experience high, may create a bump in the beginning.  But, I believe that if you engage them in building a loyal client base the revenue meter would jump (up).

Sure, law firms may have the product people want and need in a recession, just like the discount store, but people still have a choice of which law firm or discount store to go to. If others are like me, we want to shop where someone is not only good at what they serve up, but are paying attention to the simple things; a smile and a little enthusiasm. It doesn’t cost anything to the bottom line, but oh how it can impact the top line.

What can you do to improve employee morale in times like these, beyond the paycheck? Penny for your thoughts.

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If you are still questioning the effectiveness or the role of social networks in “real” business transactions, just ask some of the the 32 law firms that have made it to the next phase of FMC Technologies, Inc.‘s law firm challenge:

• Abbott Simses (a 16-lawyer firm in New Orleans)
• Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
• Andrews Kurth
• Beirne Maynard & Parsons (a 60-lawyer firm based in Houston and Dallas)
• Brown McCarroll (a 120-lawyer firm based in Texas)
• Drinker Biddle & Reath
• Fulbright & Jaworski
• Law Offices of Tom Fulkerson (a four-lawyer firm based in Houston)
• Howery

to name just a few.  Notice this example includes both BigLaw and LittleLaw, RegionalLaw and BoutiqueLaw.

Over on the Watercooler, Heather Milligan is talking about the new developments in business development;  opportunities for regional, boutique and small firms to participate in some corporate legal department RFP competitions for outside counsel typically open to only a handful of BigLaw firms. Writes Heather;

“Whatever the reason, what I read in these stories is that the door is now wide open to a whole new crop of firms. Small. Regional. Boutique. It no longer matters. The questions are now: are you a good fit for the client? Can you meet the clients’ needs? And, that’s sounds good to me!”

FMC Technologies, Inc., the Houston-based oil and gas equipment company, named by FORTUNE Magazine as the most admired company in the Oil and Gas Equipment, Services industry,  wants to hire tech-savvy, innovative firms that are open to alternative billing arrangements.

FMC Technologies, Inc. is, well, tech savvy and innovative too.  And, they turned to social networking for help in finding the right match.

They used Legal OnRamp, the social networking site for lawyers, to spread the word last month. Firms were invited to download the RFP and submit it.

General counsel Jeffrey Carr says here, in a Law.com article, that:

He’s pleased with the response. “About 50 firms downloaded a questionnaire from the site and then submitted the forms to FMC. Of those, 32 will take part in the next phase of what Carr calls the FMC Technologies 1˚ Law Litigation Value Challenge.”

According to assistant general counsel Mark Wolff,  the cut wasn’t easy.  Those that didn’t make it were excluded for a variety of reasons including those that  didn’t offer electronic billing. “In this day and age, that’s very surprising,” said Wolff in the same Law.com article.

Technology Levels the Playing Field

Technology has always been the great leveler allowing firms to compete on efficiencies and convenience rather than merely numbers. But today, in this economy with companies looking for value, expertise and innovative approaches it is urgent that firms adjust their business processes and communications tools to encompass all that technology offers.

A few things about this news I find remarkable and maybe even revolutionary include: the fact that a company the size of FMC would invest the time resources in vetting 50 responses from otherwise unvetted, random law firms who saw the request on a social networking site; the fact that there is an element of transparency to the process, an RFP being reported in the media because it took place on a social site; and the fact that this little tiny step, posting an RFP on a social site,  has given FMC Technologies so many more choices than before. Firms they probably never heard of nor had the inkling to check out, are now positioned to compete and perhaps provide them the most valuable legal counsel they’ve ever had.

Revolutionary? You bet. This development may change the way companies buy legal services. As more companies seek to cut back on legal expenses and take a pass on the notion that the only choice is the “safe choice,” more general counsel may find the “best choice.”

Social networks are becoming the new global business community. Yes, even Facebook is evolving in this direction. Social networks have been a place to connect with new people, share content, participate in a virtual think tank, and now we’re seeing more often it is a place where opportunities for actual business transactions surface. (Not just the few examples trotted out by social media experts!)

I’m an optimist. It’s only going to get better. The communities will continue to evolve organically, the applications will improve, and within the next few years the Semantic Web will add a whole new layer. Meanwhile, don’t skip version 2.0. It may be difficult playing catch up.

Do you have any stories to share? Have you transacted a business relationship via a social network? How are you using social networks?

Get out of that air-conditioned cabana. Take a dip with your clients, their clients, friends of your client’s clients, and YOUR referral sources.

In an earlier post I suggested that if law firms and lawyers want to provide relevant counsel on legal issues related to their clients’ business, they should know if and how social media is changing the face of their business. To be really hip, they should tune into  the ways in which their clients’ customers interact with them and buy from them using the Web.

Jump in. The water is fine. You may be surprised. Here are a few ideas.

• Blog on a topic relevant to your clients, comment on their blogs, follow them on Twitter, and scan the netscape for things that may be relevant to their business.

• News travels fast; can you say light speed?  Imagine your client’s delight when you send them a link to a news comment on BusinessWeek.com that puts their company in a positive light, before they even know of it.

It’s so much easier than it was in the old days when you had to hang out at the newsstand and flip through all the dailies, weeklies and industry pubs to see what was going on in the world. Today it’s delivered to your desktop 24/7.

There really are no excuses, only opportunities. With some content management strategies, utilizing some of the aggregation services and browser portals available, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Here are a few basic ones I recommend to help get you started.

1. Alltop.com (The most comprehensive source for locating blogs by industry, major news media outlet, and topic.)
2. iGoogle.com (The easiest service for setting up browser portal to handle RSS feeds from major news outlets, blogs and Web sites. It delivers customized headlines, weather, sports, financial news, articles, and status updates from LinkedIn, Facebook, JDSupra, Twitter, and more. Note: much different than other portals. Try it. It will become your BFF.)
3. Smart phone apps.  (They give you mobile access to the ABA Journal, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and you can download podcasts of syndicated content that you can listen to during the commute.
4. iTrip Auto. If you commute by car, get an FM transmitter that allows you to plug your iPod or iPhone into the lighter or 12v auto outlet and play your podcasts through the car radio.
5. Evernote. Great little application that allows you to easily capture information from anywhere on the Web using whatever device or platform (Mac or Windows) you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. Replaces the fax. It’s free.

Whatever you choose to do, don’t let the process overwhelm you. Start slow.  Commit 15 minutes (use a timer if you need to) each day to finding a new site, a new service, or to perfect the settings of one you already feel comfortable using.

The really great thing about social computing tools is that the answers are everywhere. Don’t hesitate to ask others. We all learn that way in this space. Almost every social Web site has a help tab or a user forum with answers to your questions or that give you practical pointers to make your experience easier and more productive.

You owe it to your clients and yourself to …..get out of the cabana and into the sea of change!

Leave your tips in the comments below. Thanks!

Did I mention that the buyer is changing? Did you see the latest issue of Fast Company, the one that lists the Top 50 Fast Companies? Did you look at the photos of some of those CEOs? They’re wearing sneakers.

If you want to provide relevant counsel to the company who’s big toe is touching the digital waters of the marketplace or to the company who owns the wet suit and swims competitively 12 months out of the year, you should know what their footprint looks like and what Web 2.0 means to their business and their customers.

Yes, the buyer is changing. And the way the buyer thinks, looks, and acts may not be familiar to all of us, but let’s face it, the world isn’t going to stop changing just because law firms don’t like change.

So, how well do you know your clients?

While there are many aspects to a company’s business, this post will focus on why I think it is important for law firms to know how their clients are using Internet tools. Here follows is the short list.

1. There is an opportunity for law firms to help their clients navigate the legal issues surrounding online engagement. This could be a new practice niche or it can simply add value to existing engagements.
2. There is an opportunity to partner with your clients, feel what they’re feeling and learn where they’re hearing.
3. There is an opportunity to tune in and see what their competition is doing and offer valuable proactive counsel.
4. There is an opportunity to discuss new things that matter to them, but only if you’re there with them.

You can’t do that from the comfort of your air-conditioned cabana. You need to go down to the water and jump in. Everyone knows that the great sports coaches of all times were once participants themselves.

If you aren’t there yet, I’ll share a few easy ways to get started in my next post.