6 Tips to Improve Communication with Clients
Lawyers are communicators. Writing and speaking are our stock in trade. However, poor communication is one of the most common complaints that clients make against their lawyers.
That’s the bad news, but here is the good news: improving communication is easy to do and costs next to nothing. Investing time and effort in communicating more effectively is one of the best things you can do to improve client satisfaction and grow your business.
Here are 6 easy tips that can lead to better communication with your clients:
1. Make it clear how and when your client can contact you.
We at Umbrella Legal Marketing often recommend that lawyers create a “welcome package” for new clients that contains all of the information they need about the firm. Within this package is a single go-to contact page that contains all relevant phone numbers and e-mail addresses and the office fax number, address, parking information and hours of operation.
When you point out this page to a client you can let them know the best ways to contact you and inform them of any upcoming vacations or other matters, such as trials, that will make communication difficult during a particular period. 2.
2. Ask your client about their preferred methods of communication.
While you may be a text and e-mail person, it is important to realize that your client may be a phone call and snail mail person. It will make client feel valued and promote effective communication if you ask them which methods of communication work best for them and attempt to use these methods as much as possible.
3. Clearly explain how your client’s matter is expected to proceed.
A common complaint made by clients is that after they pass their case over to their lawyer, they no long know what is going on with it. This problem can be largely avoided by clearly explaining each step of the proceeding and setting out approximate timelines.
If you deal with certain matters on a regular basis, it may serve you well to create a document that sets out the steps involved in these matters in a clear, easily-understood way. You can then refer to this document when you are speaking to your client, or you may even choose to include it in your “welcome package.”
Set realistic expectations regarding timelines. When clients are confronted with the waiting periods and delays that are an unavoidable part of the legal process, they may feel you are ignoring their case. A wait is much easier to bear if it is expected, so it is good practice to let your clients know roughly how long certain steps of their matter will take.
4. Schedule regular contacts with each client.
Common complaints that lawyers make against their clients are that they are difficult to reach, don’t do what you ask them or call incessantly. While you will likely always have problematic clients, you may be able to minimize these specific complaints by scheduling regular contact with clients. For example, you may schedule an e-mail to Mr. Smith every two weeks or a phone call to Ms. Jones once a month to check in.
Even if nothing is going on in these clients’ cases, making contact will make them feel valued and keep them up-to-date with the progress of their case. It will ensure that you have done your best to keep in touch with hard-to-reach clients and to encourage hard-to-motivate clients of their responsibilities. It may also serve to head off overly-frequent phone calls and inquiries from clients. If you are proactively providing them with attention, they are less likely to demand it.
5. Employ K.I.S.S.: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
If you let your guard down, it is easy to slip into using legal terms that are not understood by the average person or to assume that your clients possess knowledge they do not have. Unfortunately, clients are often reluctant to admit that they don’t understand something, so rather than asking for clarification, many will pretend to understand and leave the interaction disgruntled. You will not know that they were dissatisfied with your communication skills until you receive a complaint from the Law Society or they switch to another firm.
You can avoid many of these communication blunders by putting yourself in your clients’ shoes. When you are writing to a client, re-read what you have written before sending it. Write from the perspective of a lawyer, but read from the perspective of a layperson. In preparing for a client meeting, think through how you are going to explain things beforehand. In both your writing and speaking, keep a lookout for legal terms and acronyms that may not be familiar to the average person. Try to use a simpler term or add an explanation.
It may help to think about how you like professionals in other fields to speak to you. For example, you may think about times when a medical professional has explained things in a way that went over your head in contrast to times when you have received medical information that was easy to follow.
Take the time to explain difficult concepts; check in with your clients to ensure they understand what you have told them; and end your meetings and correspondence with an invitation to contact you if any questions arise.
6. Avoid multitasking.
As lawyers are juggling more and more files and are expected to be constantly “connected” through cell phones, e-mail, social media, etc., multitasking may seem to be a necessity: sending off an e-mail while talking on the phone; glancing at Twitter while talking to a colleague. However, recent neurobiological research indicates that multitasking is myth. Our brains are simply not capable of focusing on two things at once. Multitasking actually slows us down and causes us to make more mistakes.
In addition, multitasking while we are interacting with someone can make them feel ignored and alienated. How valued can a client feel if your eyes are constantly straying downward to your phone while they are talking? Even if you have a hundred clients, you need to make each one feel as though they are your only client. Turn off your cell phone and keep your eyes off your texts and e-mails while you are with a client. Of course, some interruptions are inevitable, so if you are expecting a phone call that you must take, give your client a heads-up at the beginning of your meeting. That way they won’t feel deserted when the call comes in.
Need assistance improving communication with your clients? Umbrella Legal Marketing can help. We can help you design a communication strategy that will not only keep your present clients happy but will lead to free word-of-mouth marketing as your happy clients tell their friends and family about their amazing lawyer who explains things in plain English and checks in on them regularly.
Sources:
https://www.practicepro.ca/lawpromag/Communications-Lets-Start-Talking.pdf
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creativity-without-borders/201405/the-myth-multitasking
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201103/technology-myth-multitasking