The vital role your support staff play in client satisfaction is often overlooked. However a client’s experience at reception, or their first phone call to your firm can colour every other interaction - for better or worse. Here are 12 quick tips your support staff can use to represent your firm even better.

1. Represent clients well - Always be a good ambassador or envoy for your clients.

2. Thank clients - Don’t take your clients for granted. Remember to thank clients for their business.

3. Return clients calls ASAP - This is a meaningful way to show your client just how important s/he is to you. If the lawyer isn’t around, return the call yourself.

4. Keep your clients informed - Your clients have every confidence in your firm’s ability to solve their legal problems, but they feel a whole lot more comfortable and secure when you keep them informed, frequently and regularly.

5. Learn what clients expect, then do it - You’ll never please a client unless you know what they expect, and then act on it.

6. Be completely discreet and loyal - Respect the confidentiality and commercial sensitivity of the information you come across. Reassure clients on this point. Be loyal: whatever you think of their behaviour, remember that - in the end - the client is paying the bill, and that without them, you wouldn’t have job.

7. Be a problem-solver - Clients want your help with their problems. Come up with solutions rather than excuses.

8. Constantly seek feedback - Ask clients how you can do better and listen to what they have to say.

9. Get to know clients - Show a genuine and sincere interest in each client.

10. Be helpful - Help your counterpart to do a better job and offer any guidance that you can.

11. Be flexible - Try to do things the way clients want, rather than the way that is convenient to you. Become more flexible and easier to deal with than any of their other advisors, especially other law firms.

12. Care about your clients - There is no substitute for genuine concern and a sincere interest in your client. If you don’t care, it will show. If you do, it makes all the difference.

Help your support staff understand their importance to your clients and your firm, and you’ll find client and staff satisfaction quickly improve.

Copyright 2008 Julian Midwinter & Associates Pty Ltd

As I write eTips each week, it’s often the product of business development challenges and behaviours I’ve observed among our clients, or learned second hand. Now, I need your input on the eTips topics you find most relevant, how eTips can improve, and what you’d like more of.

This week, please take this brief, three to five minute survey, and tell me, and the whole JMA team, what you think.

As a thank you, you will be entered into a draw to win a bottle of fine wine.

Of course, if you have any queries or other comments, do get in touch.

Thanks for your support and important feedback.

Linda and the team at Julian Midwinter & Associates

When leading and large clients determine their professional service relationships, one factor influencing their decision is how well prospective service providers fit with their own values, culture, and aspirations. Will your firm governance and management make the cut ?

Sensible clients don’t expect exactly the same standards and processes of every prospective professional adviser.

Just like in corporate life, organisation size is an important determinant of the nature and extent of formal
governance protocols and management practices.

Here’s a guide to what you should implement to make sure that your governance and management don’t put you at commercial disadvantage.

If you are a micro-professional practice or sole practitioner, you need:

· fair employment practices - both in document form and in practice

· a documented policy on conflicts of interest

· preparedness to make disclosures of pecuniary interests to certain public sector clients

· evidence of a management system covering professional and financial functions and workflow

· ethical professional and business behaviour.

For small firms to avoid elimination on grounds of inadequate governance and management, you should also
establish:

· an organisation chart which defines functional roles and accountabilities

· a risk management framework

· a process for detecting and avoiding conflicts of interest

· client service standards

· a framework for eliciting and responding to client feedback

· financial reporting at better-than-average standard as evidence of competent financial management

· formal human resources management practices.

Mid-sized professional practices need to do more, commensurate with their scale:

· self-assessment framework for legislative compliance

· formal systems for identifying and monitoring possible conflicts of interest

· increased emphasis on and evidence of internal monitoring of risk

· a client complaints and disputes management protocol

· policies and procedures which evidence ethical dealings with the wider business community

· movement toward the ASX best practice governance framework.

Expectations of large professional service firms are similar to those of highly regarded ASX-listed corporates.

Compliance with OCED and best practice in annual reporting will get you there.

One size does not fit all - and this is not an exhaustive list. Just as governance and management sensitivities and requirements vary across clients, there is no uniform approach for each professional firm.

The advantages of getting governance and management to these standards are wider than making the cut in
competitive selections. In time, there should be considerable business benefit.

The author gratefully acknowledges the important work of Bob Lewis and Phil Scott from Local Government
Procurement whose recent presentation ‘LPG solutions on improving outcomes for local councils and suppliers’ (2007) stimulated and provided a foundation for this article. Details can be found on their website at www.lgp.org.au.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

Stephen Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) popularised the phase; “start with the end in mind.”  Never was it more true than of meetings.

If you want to get the most out of meetings, take a few moments to clarify your objectives.

Connect these objectives into an agenda - written, mailed, whiteboard, or simply spoken plainly.

However an agenda is prepared, you’ll make the most of meetings by having one or a limited number of clear objectives:

• Agree objectives at the outset
• prior to the meeting gather together and share any useful background information
• by-pass small talk early in the meeting which can take your meeting right off track
• be clear about
   o decisions
   o take out items
   o “to dos” and other tasks
   o accountabilities
   o what’s next
• confirm that you’ve achieved your objectives.

If you start a meeting with the end in mind you’re a whole lot more likely to reach your desired destination.

Copyright 2008 Julian Midwinter & Associates

So many professional service firms we meet bemoan the track record of most of their folk in developing new work and new clients in attractive niches. More than occasionally a practice leader confides that their technically competent team knows only how to “feed on the carcasses I kill” or “live like a leech on me”.Want things to change ? Well remember the management consulting mantra is “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”.

What gets measured attracts attention. If you want more of a particular behaviour or contribution, make sure you notice it, then recognise and reward it. Make heroes of those who do business development effectively. All tough to do, except anecdotally and sporadically, without tracking and dimensioning performance.

Here are some business development and client relationship metrics worthy of measurement, they will help you notice what matters.

Client relationship management:
• fees under management, exclusive of personal billings - that is, contribution to client retention and development beyond personal fee benefit
• fees under management, outside personal billings and own workgroup - that is, contribution to management of client relationships outside direct workgroup under supervision
• fees under management, outside personal billings, own workgroup, and practice group - that is, relationship management value contributing to the rest of firm and indicative of spread of fees and services.

These are relatively easy to measure.

You may not track the data for others, but it’s worth doing if you want to dimension and reward - then get more - new business.

Client development - new business:
• new clients introduced/sourced - fee value this year, fee expectation next two years, fee potential next two years
• new work/types of matters from established clients - fees relating to classes of business not previously sourced from this client - fee value this year, expectation next two years, fee potential next two years
• win-backs - that is work won back from key competitors - value of current year fees, expected next two years fees sourced from named competitors
• new services selling - that is current year fees and expected next two years fees from new services availed by both established/new clients in target areas.

Activity emphasis achievement:
• tracking current year fees and expected next two years frees deriving from specific “emphasis” services - for instance, if environmental law is one of/the agreed service emphasis for next year, fees relating to that activity.

Too often, in our quest for objectivity, we measure only that about which we can be absolutely accurate and precise. However, we can get a quantitative handle (not to mention all the qualitative indicators) on aspects of performance which matter as much - and sometimes more - than the readily accounted and measured.

From a financial forecasting and future strategic health perspective, these metrics can be useful. To manage and promote business development and fee formation, these measures will help you establish contributions of an individual.

Just as a direct, current contribution to the financial health of the firm matters - measured through fees and other items described in last week’s eTip - financial measures that matter - dimensioning individual and practice group contributions to business development and strategic success matters.

Copyright 2008 Julian Midwinter & Associates

Lawyers and expert professionals are supposed to be super smart people, but they sometimes make poor business development decisions and often flog dead horses.

Check that you’re not pursuing inappropriate strategies by falling into one of these common traps:

Underestimating uncertainty - we like to believe we can get the full picture and see the range of possible outcomes. Too often, important gaps in what we know mean that actual outcomes are way outside our predictions. The business environment is increasingly uncertain and outcomes unpredictable.

Underestimating chance - we tend to believe that success stems from what we do, when sometimes it’s in spite of what we do. Just because it worked (or didn’t) in the past, don’t assume it will (or won’t) work in the future. Accept that chance, an unpredictable factor, is at work.

Noticing only the data that fits - we often overemphasise the information or results that suit our plans and disregard the unexpected or inconvenient data. Take a hard look at all the data. Be especially open to unwelcome news.

Prisoner of previous strategy - succumbing to (sometimes overwhelming) pressure to continue to invest resources into old strategies and decisions is akin to flogging a dead horse, significantly increasing your cost of production.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

Are you sending unintended negative messages like these ?

“I’m already so busy, please don’t make things worse by giving me more to do …” “Your matter is just one of many … ” “I’m already such a success that I don’t need your help or referrals …”"I’m a bit out of control but will squeeze your work in …”

Check your behaviour for any hints of the above.

If you are:

• Distracted.
• Disorganised.
• Disorderly.
• Dishevelled.
• Delayed.
• Disaster-zoned.

When you see clients, you may be sending silent signals that you’re not the right choice. Check the messages you’re sending.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

The right training can make a big difference in performance in business development situations.

When designing in-firm training, or engaging an external trainer, check that the programme you have in mind is founded on these important principles of how adults learn.

Adults need to know why - check that the training passes the tests of “why bother with this anyway ?” and “why does it work this way ?”

Adults have a deep-seated need to be self directed - training must offer options, ideas, and materials from which to choose the best option or path for each individual.

Adults have a substantial volume and quality of experience - check that the training acknowledges the importance and relevance of this experience and does not set out to teach participants to “suck eggs”.

Adults become ready to learn when they experience the need to know - training must “sell” participants on the benefits to them of knowing about this: the WIIFM test (what’s in it for me).

Adults enter into learning experiences with either a task centred or problemorientation to learning - check that training uses case studies, role plays, or other active situations in which the new material can be applied to improve outcomes.

Trainer must have high credibility - check that the presenter has directly relevant credentials, knowledge, and experience, vocabulary and jargon to instantly relate to participants and cite examples of direct relevance.

Training based on these important adult learning principles has a good probability of being effective.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

If you are conducting sales and marketing training in your firm, here is how we recommend that you evaluate it:

Reaction - what was the direct evaluation and reaction by participants - did they like it ?

Learning - measure it by testing for knowledge about facts, principles, and techniques.

Behaviour - what business development behaviours have changed as a result of the training ?

Results - measure these individual, workgroup, and organisation levels in terms of greater success, reduced losses, improved quality, changes to fee profiles, and client satisfaction.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

Keen business developers often ask our advice about how to fire up their colleagues. Here are some conversationstarters and stimuli to help you get your colleagues to “think business development”.

What works for you in attracting new business ?

What are your secrets to keeping good clients ?

What kind of client do you do your very best work for ?

If you could acquire or improve one business development skill, what would that be ?

If you have a favourite client, who is it ? What do you think makes that relationship so successful ?

Is there an “alternative pricing strategy” you have used with a client that was very successful from both the client’s and the firm’s perspectives ?

If you could work for any client, which one would you choose ? Why ?

What has been your most successful relationship-expansion experience ?

Describe a client with whom you work who has an obvious need for much more help/services from the firm ?

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates