For Lawyers, Time Isn't Money: Relationships Are

The secret of successful rainmakers, writes “The Mad Clientist” Michael Rynowecer, are successful relationships. Because selling doesn’t make clients want to work with you time and time again, to refer you to their friends and peers, to let you be more than a useful-but-interchangeable problem solver. A superior relationship does:

"People who sell don’t develop nearly as much business as people who develop relationships. New business flows to those individuals and companies who can move beyond a transaction to a relationship.”

Read the post. Start working on your relationships. Because earning your client’s emotional investment will earn you lots of money for a long time.

Do You Hear What Your Client Isn't Saying?

It's important to listen to everything your client tells you. But, writes Michael Rynowecer in 13 Unspoken Rules of Client Relationships, it's probably more important that you hear what she isn't saying. Because you need to follow the same unspoken rules that your clients have made "part of their core personality, behavior and decision making." Like these:

1. Clients always find a way to hire the people they want when they want to.
2. Clients don't fire their law firms, they just stop giving them work.
3. “Your rates are too high” is a euphemism for “I want to give the work to someone else”.

Read the post. Let these unspoken rules guide your behavior. You may not master all 13, but you just might start hearing more of what your client wants. And isn't that the goal?

Got What It Takes to Join the Client Service A-Team?

What makes the 30 law firms that deliver "the absolute best client service" different from the 650 competitors they outperformed? For starters, they have established formal, systematic client feedback programs. And they've incorporated client service metrics directly into their strategic plans. And, writes BTI Consulting's Mad Clientist in 7 Lessons from the Client Service A-Team, they've adopted five other service practices to make sure their clients keep coming back. And so can you:

The good news—no law firm engages in all 7 lessons. You will benefit from focusing on even a single one. Jump in, pick one, start today.

Take a lesson from the A-Team. Better yet: take seven lessons from them. Read the post, and start changing the way you think about and manage client service. Your clients - and your partners - will thank you.