Joshua Lenon – Clio’s Lawyer-in-Residence – as he discusses the impact of customer service on gaining and keeping clients with your practice. Lawyers who attend this webinar will learn: - how customer service attracts clients through word-of-mouth promotion - ways to work customer service into all stages of a case file, from intake to closing - tools to make your customer service efforts easy to maintain

1. Marketing through
Customer Service
Joshua Lenon
Lawyer in Residence
Clio

2. Instructor
Joshua Lenon
• Lawyer, admitted in New York
• Lawyer-in-Residence for Clio

3. Agenda
• Customer Service at Clio
• Product vs. Experience
• Transactional vs. Relationship
• Customer Service Drives Business
• Build Customer Service into Your Firm
• Questions

4. CUSTOMER SERVICE AT CLIO

5. Customer Service at Clio

6. Customer Service at Clio
Methods
• Toll free number
• Email
• Chat
• Twitter
• Support website
Numbers
• 100,000 tickets answered
• 8,000 man hours
• 22,000 clients
• 12 people
• 2 continents

7. Customer Service at Clio

8. Customer Service at Clio
Satisfied – 39.45%
Very Satisfied – 44.62%
!2013!Clio!Customer!Sa2sfac2on!Survey!

9. PRODUCT VS. EXPERIENCE

10. Create an positive experience
for your client.
!2013!Clio!Customer!Sa2sfac2on!Survey!

11. Experiences

12. Public Views Lawyers
as Interchangeable
0!
500!
1000!
1500!
2000!
2500!
3000!
Popula2on!per!Lawyer!
United!States!
UK!
France!
South!Africa!
By!Ahmed!Raza!Khan/Mint!

13. What makes you stand out?

14. TRANSACTIONAL VS.
RELATIONSHIPS

15. Most Common Complaints
• Fee disputes
• Failure to obtain consent and/or keep the
client informed
• Failure to follow client instructions
Source:!Wisconsin!Lawyer,!October!2012,!“Managing!Risk:!Top!OLR!Complaints:!Grievances!on!
the!Rise”!

16. Trusted Advisor

17. Trusted Relationships
• Less fee resistance
• More future work
• More referrals to new clients
• Effective and harmonious work relationships
with the clients.

18. Transactional vs. Relatioship
Transactional
• Prevail over all
• Impersonal, detached
• Short-term benefit
• Them
• Opponents
Relationship
• Preserve relationships
• Give and be helpful
• Commitment
• Us
• Understand the other side
Source:!“Do!You!Really!Want!Rela2onships?”!by!David!Maister!2005!

19. It’s the difference between a
one night stand and romance.

20. Transactions are common
because they involve less hard
work and demand fewer skills.

21. Ultimately, however, they are
not in the best long-term
interests of either professional
or client.

22. CUSTOMER SERVICE
DRIVES BUSINESS

23. Word of Mouth
57% of C-Level Executives hire
law firms on the basis of a
single, unprompted, peer
recommendation
Source:!BTI!Consul2ng!Group!

24. Clients Don’t Want Lowest Price
• Transparent pricing: We want to
understand how/why the price is set and
have the opportunity to discuss changes -
36.4%
• Lowest pricing: We want the lowest price
available - 9.6%
Source:!Altman!Weil!14th!annual!Chief!Legal!Officer!Survey!

25. Listening to Clients = Revenue
• Only 58% of law firms conduct client
feedback.
• Firms acting on feedback generate 2.7
times more:
– revenue generation
– client retention
– year-over-year growth.
Source:!BTI!Consul2ng!Group,!“Firms!Ac2ng!on!Client!Feedback!Perform!2.7!Times!Be[er!Than!
All!Others,”!03/12/2014!

26. Listening to Clients = Revenue
Law firms whose clients see them as being
best in client service enjoy:
• 30% higher profitability
• 7% rate premiums across all staff levels
• 35% higher client retention
Source:!BTI!Consul2ng!Group,!“Client!Service!Leaders!Boxing!Out!the!Compe22on,”!02/27/2013!

27. BUILD CUSTOMER SERVICE
INTO YOUR FIRM

28. Success as a lawyer
is 10% technical
and 90% people skills
Source:!“How!to!Stay!Digitally!Relevant,!Raise!the!Bar,!and!Give!Your!Clients!an!Excep2onal!
Experience!”!Law!Technology!Today,!03/19/2014!

29. Mitch Jackson’s Tips
• Connect with clients where they already are,
like social media
• Use tools to be available 24/7
– Client portals
– Secure messaging
– Website chat
– Telephone answering service
• Use the web to provide value
Source:!“How!to!Stay!Digitally!Relevant,!Raise!the!Bar,!and!Give!Your!Clients!an!Excep2onal!
Experience!”!Law!Technology!Today,!03/19/2014!

30. Beginning Stages
• Take the time to listen to the clients wants
and needs.
• Gather information, including preferred
means of contact
– Store this information in most accessible system
• Set expectations to avoid future conflict
– Communications policies
– Best and worst outcomes

31. Ongoing Matters
• Communicate early and often
• Communicate clearly
• Take time to solicit feedback
• Take time to explain process and reasoning
• Leverage technology to make you seem
more available

32. Leveraging Technology
Have multiple communication channels.
Software and hardware should work together.

33. Cloud Services
• Access to files for quick reference (practice
management)
• Sharing of documents and information
effortlessly (Box or Dropbox)
• Communication tools that transcend devices
for seamless experience (Social Media and
Webmail)

34. Client Portals

35. Closing Matters
• Solicit feedback at the close
• Quantifiable tracking helps.
• Use survey services like SurveyMonkey to
create a consistent means of soliciting
feedback
• Use automated calendar reminders to set
post-closing “checkins”

36. CONCLUSION

37. Conclusion
Customer service attracts increased business
for law firms by generating loyalty and referrals
Minimal efforts in customer service can lead to
large gains for a law firm
Technology can make good customer service
an effortless task

38. QUESTIONS

39. Thank You
Joshua Lenon
joshua@goclio.com
@JoshuaLenon
Linkedin.com/in/joshualenon