Good client relations constitute the pillar of a successful firm. However, customer satisfaction remains the weak link in many firms. Some clients even go so far as to believe that lawyers constitute for them only a “ poor value » to use the terms of a study carried out with 20 customers. So how can we combat this perception? Here are some key actions to implement to improve your customer satisfaction.
Why is it absolutely necessary to place the client at the heart of the firm?
While a dissatisfied customer can take on many faces, several similar factors emerge when we closely examine the reasons for dissatisfaction. So what exactly do customers want?
Understand customer expectations
- A privileged relationship
The first of customer expectations concerns the quality of human relationships. If the professional must show the extent of his legal skills and the value that it can provide to the client, it must not drown the client in the technicality of legal language that is often obscure to them.
Be capable of a complete and complete listening is therefore one of the keys to making your customer feel heard and understood. Fully considering the customer in all their uniqueness also allows us to precisely target the result they are seeking to better understand their expectations. In short, the lawyer-client relationship must be placed under the sign proximity and trust.
In the same vein, we also find among the grievances, a problem accessibility lawyers. Today, clients consider it normal to get a quick response from the firm. To be reactive is therefore almost essential!
- More transparency
This is another recurring request made by customers: transparency. Most litigants fear the unpredictability of the costs of legal action. Also, having a clear vision of the lawyer's fees is essential even if it sometimes remains complicated by nature for the lawyer.
It is also a question here of making understanding the fees by detailing them to show what they correspond to.
Likewise, transparency implies good communication of all information relating to the file, always as quickly as possible.
What direct consequences can we expect?
First of all, a satisfied customer is a customer who returns. Satisfaction is therefore the lever of a strategy of Loyalty of its customers and a fruitful long-term relationship. Let us remember that as the adage goes, it is easier to keep a client than to find another…
A positive customer experience also plays a role in reputation of the lawyer. When we know that a large proportion of customers come through word of mouth, take care the image of the cabinet is essential.
Best practices to adopt to improve customer relations
A survey carried out by Mon-avocat based on 16 respondents indicates the most frequent reasons for failed collaboration with a lawyer. In 000% of cases, the reason given by customers is poor follow-up of their file and in 28% of cases, a lack of responsiveness and communication... So, how can you actually transform and develop your customer relationship?
Communicate better using digital tools
New technologies offer unlimited potential to enrich their communication which the lawyer must appropriate. Some examples :
- Create a secure customer area : you will be able to share heavy and voluminous files with your clients but also allow them to monitor their file in real time. In other words, it is the key to simple and rapid communication in a more collaborative mode of project management, no matter where you are.
- Create customer reports : Jarvis Legal for example, offers you the possibility of creating graphics and diagrams especially for your customers. Thanks to these supports, they can better follow the evolution of a file but also understand your actions in detail. They thus become aware of your work and your added value.
- Establish your online presence : who can still do without a website today? Creating a site is a way to work on your communication and improve your e-reputation, for example through customer testimonials posted online. Managing a website is also accompanied by additional action on social networks.
Measure customer satisfaction
Measuring the level of satisfaction of your customers remains the best way to shed new light on your professional practice. Informally during an interview or more surely through a questionnaire written at the end of a file, it is thus possible to get an idea of what your clients really think of your firm.
In addition to being perceived as a trivial process by the client, the questionnaire above all allows the firm to identify what is wrong and to put in place solutions. concrete and personalized actions drawn from a detailed analysis of the results. Free and easy to implement solutions, such as Google Forms, can constitute an interesting first step.
Many other possibilities exist to improve customer satisfaction, this is particularly the case with the essential CRM software. Reinventing your customer relationship will be at the heart of the issues facing tomorrow’s law firms. This is also why the Village Justice launched the prize for innovation for lawyers in customer relations in 2014. Other companies, such as Appointment, offer innovative solutions to proactively manage the relationship with its customers.
