For those of you old enough to recognise this lyric, it’s time to channel your inner Spice Girl … yes, it’s time to talk about asking your clients what they want, what they really want from you.
Have you connected with your clients recently?
Have you phoned or written to your database – including people who haven’t used you in the last 12 months – to ask them how you can help them?
You should be doing these things, to remind them that you are here, to demonstrate to them that they matter to you and to show that you recognise that things are VERY tough right now with high inflation, rising interest rates, national strikes, airport carnage, petrol and energy prices constantly climbing and the cost of living challenging us all.
So have you kept in touch? Are you being the trusted adviser that you always say you are?
In the LFMC What Clients Want Research that we published in December 2021 it was very clear that clients wants, needs and expectations are changing.
Did you know that 54% of your clients want to be able to access their lawyer in the evenings and at weekend?
Are you aware that your under 30 year old clients want very different things to the over 60s?
Did you know that most of your clients want to hear from you so you can keep them informed about things that might affect them?
These are just some of the things that we found out by asking over 700 people what they wanted from their law firms. We also asked them a bunch of other things around how they choose their lawyer, what they want to see in a firm’s online presence and other things.
But it’s not just the LFMC research that tells us clients’ needs have changed. The Hinge Research Institute has shared a detailed report called Inside the Buyer’s Brain that contains compelling data and findings having conducted wide research amongst buyers of professional services in the US.
A key point this research makes is around understanding the pressures facing our clients and ensuring that we are aligning our expertise with important client challenges.
We need to understand what is affecting our clients right now and be developing strategies and content to support our clients in these crucial areas.
Back to the key point I am making this week - do you know what your clients want?
You should be asking them. You should be proactively contacting them. Invite them to give you feedback, ask them to tell you how you can help them, remind them that you are here for them and remind them of the ways that you can help them and how they can contact you.
Don’t leave it to chance … and don’t leave them to choose another law firm when the time comes because they don’t think you care!
The LFMC has developed a template to help firms looking to conduct a ‘what clients want’ exercise. This comes in a package together with guidance, templates for communications, a checklist, a guide and a 1-hour consultation.
Get in touch if you would like to know more