Going the Extra Mile: How to Make Your Clients Feel Valued

When you think about the best customer service experience you’ve had, what comes to mind? Whether your experience includes a detail-oriented waiter at your favorite restaurant, a phone call with helpful customer service representative, or a great meeting with your financial advisor, one thing remains the same–you walked away from the interaction feeling informed and valued.

This same idea can be translated to your small law firm’s legal clients. You want your clients to feel like you’re providing them with the best customer service possible, but how do you make them feel secure in that?

Here are three ways you can go the extra mile to make your clients feel valued:

• Provide explanations. If you’ve been working in the legal industry for years, it’s sometimes easy to forget all of your clients come to you with different degrees of knowledge about the legal process. Take the time to figure out their level of understanding and explain what they can expect in the process. As their matter progresses or evolves, make sure to communicate what is happening and why it’s happening. This level of communication informs your clients and helps you build trust–an important part of the lawyer-client relationship.

• Stay on top of your matters. This one should go without saying, but with the volume of clients and daily to-dos lawyers must deal with, sometimes a thing or two can slip through the cracks. Doing simple things like planning out all of your tasks a week in advance and creating calendar reminders for important dates will keep you on track and shows your client they’re a priority of yours.
• Get feedback and act on it. Not sure how your clients feel about the services your small firm provides? Ask them! Asking clients for feedback and implementing their suggestions is an excellent way to show your firm cares about their opinion and is committed to improving client service.